Anasterian // Continued from here
Anasterian had been going through reports when his son arrived. He let out a sigh and held up a hand for silence as he read through the ranger general’s most recent update on the state of the villages. He shook his head and finally looked up to address the prince.
“I did your Highness, I am pleased you arrived in a timely manner.” He replied, hiding his tiredness.
The king cleared his throat and set down the report.
“As you may have heard the orcish horde came to our doorstep and burned our forests. They also sacked the villages according to Ranger General Windrunner’s report.” He started to explain in a tone befitting his authority as he once again read the report.
“They aligned themselves with our enemy, the Amani and invaded our lands.” He continued on unsure of how much his son had been informed.
“What I have brought you here for is the runestones protecting our lands, I need to know if they’ve been weakened. There will be meetings on those matters and more, but first I would have you speak with the other magister’s.” He said and then allowed some warmth into his voice, “other than this dire reason I brought you here, I am pleased to see you my son.”
Kael’thas watched the king set down the missive, seeming to falter in his resolve, but any hint of possible fatigue Kael could even begin to analyze was gone in an instant as Anasterian found his authoritarian voice again.
As he read the missive, Kael failed to hide the slight annoyance cracking in his otherwise passive countenance. Of course the Amani would seek an alliance with these green-skinned savages. No wonder they broke into Quel’Thalas so easily. Between the Amani’s knowledge of their millennia-old enemy and the red dragons that carried them to victory, the orcs seemed hell-bent on destruction.
And now he had come to survey the damage done, to look much more closely upon the once-glorious everbark trees, now cindered to smoke and ash. If they wanted to start a forest fire, they would no doubt fight fire with fire.
And not a moment too soon.
“I will gather information from Grand Magister Belo’vir and the Farstriders. They will know best what transpired here. Until then--”
He felt an odd sensation in the core of his chest when his father responded with a warmth that Kael had not heard in a long time. He wanted to, and didn’t want to, welcome it--half-wanted to treat the sentiment as matters of the crown to save face and half-wanted this to be a personal, heart-to-heart, father to son. He would never admit that perhaps he, too, missed the father in the king.
“It is good to see you, too, Father,” he said. “I... trust you have been well?”
