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Metagaming? by Noodlehammer
 Harry Potter & Warcraft Xover Rated: M, English, Words: 131k+, Favs: 5k+, Follows: 6k+, Published: Sep 20, 2020 Updated: Mar 7 2,022Chapter 5: Loose Ends?
Many thanks to Joe Lawyer for beta reading and to Umodin for lore advisory.
XXXXX
Jaina had arrived at Harry and Luna's tower for the proposed dinner and sleepover with only a minor sense of trepidation. Their shared adventure of restoring Stormwind's king had given her a fairly positive impression of them, even if they did take far too much pleasure in embarrassing her.
The food had been excellent and the drinks even better. The alcohol made her hosts bolder with their flirting, but the slight buzz made it easier for Jaina to bear, even enjoy it a little. Said buzz evaporated like a snowflake in the path of a fireball when Luna happily commented to her husband that 'the real Jaina' was a lot more fun.
"What do you mean 'the real Jaina'?" The real Jaina demanded, confused and perhaps even a bit offended.
"Heh, I was wondering how this was going to come up." Harry chuckled. "There's no way to ease into this, so I'll just get right to it. Back on our homeworld, the events of Azeroth – all the wars with the orcs, the undead, the Burning Legion and everything else – is part of a set of fictional stories. Until we arrived here and had our perception of reality forcibly adjusted, we thought none of you existed outside of people's imaginations."
Jaina had no idea how to process that. She wasn't one to get angry and upset easily, but the thought of having everything she knew reduced to a fictional story was just too much. "So all our lives, all our struggles and the things we suffered, was just entertainment to you?!"
"Don't take it too personally." Harry shook his head. "If what is fictional in one world can be real in another, then it's pretty much a certainty that everything – and I do mean everything – is entertainment for someone in some distant dimension. It's enough to drive you crazy if you obsess about it."
That was a fair point, but Jaina was still extremely unsettled. Just the thought of someone looking at her life from the outside, probably knowing even her inner thoughts and fu...
"Wait, does that mean you know Azeroth's future?" She asked, wide-eyed.
"Well, not exactly." Harry scratched at his cheek with a faint sense of sheepishness. "See, back in my youth I was more focused on my magical studies than entertainment-"
"He mostly just used the stories to steal ideas for spells or magic items, or to look for sexy women for Nymphadora to morph into." Luna interjected.
"Thank, you, Luna." Harry said in exasperation.
"Who is Nymphadora?" Jaina asked slowly.
"She was one of my three wives, along with Luna and Fleur." Harry explained. "And she had a rare shapeshifting ability, nothing quite so extreme as what Azeroth's dragons have, but she could take the form of anything humanoid that was of similar size to herself."
"And you used this ability...to act out your perverted fantasies with Azeroth's women." Jaina stated more than asked, tone going frigid.
"We all thought you were fictional characters back then." He shrugged, paying no mind to her obvious ire. "Dora would never have agreed to it if she knew you existed somewhere out there, and it would have ruined my enjoyment as well. Haven't you ever read a romance novel and daydreamed over the male protagonist?"
"No." Jaina lied.
Harry smirked at her and she had the distinct feeling that he wasn't buying it. "Even so, I'm sure you agree that it feels harmless if you know it's just a fictional character."
"Is that what all this flirting is about now? You want a repeat performance with the real thing?" She asked aggressively, feeling strangely violated at knowing that this man's long dead wife had at some point used her likeness for sexual roleplay.
"No, we really do like you." Luna assured, urgently enough that it was clear she really wanted to be believed. She even scooted closer on the couch to give the archmage a sideways hug.
"You're smart, powerful in your own right and most importantly, single." Harry added pointedly. "We didn't flirt with Tyrande despite her being one of the more common targets for those kinds of games. I'm not sure if Alexstrasza has anyone at this point, but she probably likes her lovers big and scaly anyway. Don't even get me started on Elune…"
Jaina's expression had been growing steadily more incredulous as he listed out the women whose likenesses they had played games with, but she couldn't stay silent at that last one. "You had your wife shapeshift into Elune?!" She turned her eyes to Luna without waiting for an answer to the rhetorically question. "Aren't you her priestess? This really feels like it should be blasphemy."
"Elune thinks it's funny." Luna admitted with a giggle.
"Yeah, a goddess with a sense of humor, go figure." Harry snorted. "But putting that aside, we're going to need to work together even if this creeps you out."
"Why's that?" Jaina asked warily, sensing that the tone of the conversation had shifted.
"Because you tend to play peacekeeper between the Horde and the Alliance." He elaborated, staring at her seriously. "While my knowledge of future events is fairly spotty, there are some things I do know. If events progress the way I knew them, then your efforts will fail soon after Thrall appoints his successor, Garrosh Hellscream, the son of Grom Hellscream, who turns out to be even more of a stupid cunt than his father."
While that news was incredibly worrisome, Jaina still reflexively tried to counter that rather extreme statement. "The orcs consider Grom Hellscream to be a great hero, he freed them from Mannoroth's blood curse."
"Yes, but he was also the same smoothbrain that led his people in drinking Mannoroth's blood to begin with, fully knowing what it was. Twice." Harry's retort was very, very dry.
Jaina couldn't say anything against that, because it was true. She herself admittedly didn't have a stellar opinion of the former chieftain of the Warsong Clan, but had always resolved to keep it to herself because the orc in question was dead and Thrall held him in great esteem.
"But where is this son of his, then? Surely we would have heard already if Hellscream had one." She said instead.
"Garrosh was left behind on Draenor when the orcs invaded Azeroth. I'm not sure why, but it's not important. The important part is that he's trouble, especially for you."
"What do you mean?" Jaina asked worriedly.
"I don't know the exact sequence of events, but I do know that he really kicks hostilities up a few notches by dropping a mana bomb on Theramore, destroying it and everyone living in it, except you."
Jaina could only stare at him in stunned horror.
"It's true." Luna said sympathetically, reaching out to touch her hair. "It turns your hair white, except for a single streak of blonde."
"Thrall would never sanction something like that." She said, firmly believing it.
"Thrall wouldn't be the Warchief anymore at that point." Harry reminded her. "Do you see my point when I say that we're going to need to work together? Someone like Garrosh Hellscream cannot be allowed to become Warchief. I already have plans to neutralize him, but my information is too spotty to be considered reliable."
That was in large part because any kind of remotely in-depth reading he had done had been back when he'd still been a kid. He knew that Deathwing showed up to wreck the world at some point after the Lich King was defeated, and then there was something about pandas…?
So yeah, information was spotty.
"You can't just assassinate him." Jaina warned. "Even if what you say is true, he hasn't done anything yet."
"I don't care." He retorted flatly. "But don't you worry, I wasn't going to just straight up murder him. That would be politically messy. No, I'm going to sic Adrastia on him."
Jaina's brows furrowed in confusion. "That friend of yours currently in Stormwind? She doesn't look like a fighter."
"She's not." He nodded in agreement. "She is, however, the foremost expert in completely emotionally ruining men until they are nothing but pale shadows of themselves and more dead inside than actual undead. If Onyxia and a succubus had a child together, it would probably be a lot like her."
"And you keep a woman like that on retainer?" Jaina asked incredulously.
"Well, not exactly…"
"Adrastia didn't want to get old, so she sold her freedom to Harry in exchange for a steady supply of Elixir of Life." Luna explained.
"Elixir of Life?" She asked curiously, putting aside the 'sold her freedom' part until later. The topic was moving away from Garrosh Hellscream, but that was for the best. She needed some time alone to consider if she was going to take Harry's word for it, and if she could afford not to.
"Immortality, or at least ridiculously long lifespans, might be common on Azeroth, but it's extremely rare elsewhere in the multiverse. On our homeworld it was a prize that many people would gladly sell their souls for, never mind their freedom." Harry replied. "I would be willing to provide you with a steady supply as well by the way, no strings attached."
Such an offer would have been unthinkable not long ago, but on Azeroth it felt almost trivial. Everyone and their dog seemed to live for thousands of years here anyway.
"Why?" Jaina asked suspiciously.
"Isn't it obvious?" He grinned. "I want to keep you as young as possible for when you eventually fall to our charms."
She snorted, a little grateful for the return of the lighthearted flirting. The past few minutes had been entirely too heavy. "Thank you, but no. If I wanted to extend my lifespan I could just use a spell. I'm perfectly happy with my normal human lifespan."
A spell. A spell, she says. Eternal youth, something considered by many on Earth to be the pinnacle of alchemical achievement (though Harry didn't necessarily agree), reduced to being a mere spell. Because powerful mages could just up and decide to live forever if they felt like it, apparently. No great effort or secret knowledge required.
To be fair it probably did still require a good deal of skill and knowledge to cast, but still, a freaking spell. This universe really just gave no shits at all about rejecting supernatural alterations to the natural order. Did it even have a natural order or was everything such a chaotic mess of conflicting supernatural influences that physical reality simply threw its hands in the air and gave up?
"Oh, the cruel irony!" Harry bemoaned dramatically, burying his exasperation. "For centuries I refused everyone who asked for it, but now that I'm offering, it is I that am refused."
"Jaina, no." Luna cried, suddenly hugging her tightly. "Think of your belly! It would be a travesty if it got all wrinkly and saggy."
"What is your obsession with my belly?" Jaina asked, trying to wiggle out of the bigger woman's grip, with little success. "Please don't tell me you had your wife shapeshift into me just because of that."
"Actually, no. I was always a more traditional boobs and butts kind of guy – both of which you have plenty of by the way – but your dedication to keeping your midriff exposed won me over. You even refuse to put on armor when going into battle, just to convert people to the Way of the Belly."
"Way of the…?" Jaina sputtered, not sure if she should be amused or annoyed that he was once again ragging on her choice of battle dress. "That is not why I wear what I wear."
"Oh, did I get it wrong? My apologies." Harry didn't even try to sound sincere. "Why do you keep your midriff exposed, then?"
"It's getting pretty late." Jaina changed the subject, getting up since Luna had eased up on her grip. "We should probably get some sleep. I assume you prepared a room for me?" She asked before briefly turning to Harry in expectation of his next words. "And no, I do not want to sleep in the same bed as you two."
"It's not like we would be doing much sleeping." He smirked.
Jaina ignored that, as well as the heat on her face, and turned back to Luna. "Will you show me to my room?"
"Of course!" Luna chirped and grabbed her hand. "Come on!"
If her colleagues in the Kirin Tor could see her now, being dragged along by a childishly skipping priestess of the moon, they would never let her live it down.
"Luna, slow down!" She pleaded, seriously considering the use of magic to escape this predicament.
"Sorry, I'm just so excited." The taller woman apologized, restraining herself to a walk.
"About showing me to my room?" Jaina asked in confusion.
"About having a girlfriend sleeping over that I can talk with while we lounge around the bed in our pajamas." Luna's enthusiasm seemed barely contained and she was visibly having trouble not rushing ahead again. "You can tell me all about how it was like learning in Dalaran and I'll tell you all about Hogwarts. It'll be great!"
"Hogwarts?" Jaina muttered to herself, wondering who thought that name was a good idea. By context it was obviously a magic academy of some sort, but she simply couldn't imagine any organization of magic users picking such an undignified name for it.
But that wasn't important right now. "What do you mean 'lounge around the bed in our pajamas'?! I never agreed to that!"
Luna stopped and looked at her with the most devastating pout that Jaina had ever seen, and she had seen gnome children pouting before. A seven foot, centuries old woman should not be able to pout like that.
"Pleaaaaase?" The powerful and highly favored priestess of Elune begged shamelessly. "It's been almost three hundred years since I last did this with someone."
Her willpower relentlessly assailed by the naked hope shimmering in those moonlight eyes, Jaina desperately tried to wiggle out of what she expected to be a thinly veiled attempt to tempt her into joining Luna and Harry's unorthodox marriage. "Have you not had friends in all that time?"
"Of course I did, lots of them, even." Luna shrugged a little. "They were nice women, and some of them had children with Harry that I loved like they were my own, but they weren't like you."
"Like me?"
"They were weak, too weak to survive on their own. No matter how close we were, the fact that they were so dependent on us always made them too deferential. I want us to be friends because you don't need me or Harry."
Ah, now Jaina understood. Power had a way of separating you from others. What was challenging or impossible to them was trivial for you. That would be doubly true if what they had said about the previous worlds they lived on was to be believed.
Jaina treated everyone with respect, whether they were as powerful as her or not, but she could not deny that there was a distance between them. After so many years with only her husband to consider a true equal, it was little wonder that Luna was so pushy with her friendship.
"Alright." She capitulated.
"Yay!" Luna cheered. "Come on, it's this door right here."
The room was quite large and luxurious, easily on par with her chambers back in Theramore, the room she had as a girl in Kul Tiras or the royal apartments in Lordaeron. Only in Dalaran had she lived more modestly, but not by much.
"Here, I made us matching pajama sets." Luna said, interrupting Jaina's perusal of the room.
Taking the offered bundle from the excitable priestess, she discovered that the pajamas were a little…sparse. She had been expecting a night gown, or perhaps a shirt and pants combination.
What she received was something about the size of her customary vest, albeit thinner and made of silky mooncloth, with thin shoulder straps to hold it up. For below the waist, there was only a pair of panties, also made of mooncloth.
Jaina flushed slightly just looking at it, but knew that she could not protest without coming off as a bit of a hypocrite. It wasn't even all the exposed skin that bothered her…merely the setting.
She glanced towards Luna, only to get a face full of naked breasts as the priestess stripped and changed right in front of her with absolutely zero shame. Not wanting to let on to her embarrassment, Jaina quickly followed suit, divesting herself of her usual clothes and slipping into the skimpy nightwear.
"Hehe, now we match." Luna giggled, bouncing slightly on her toes.
Jaina felt a prickle of envy at the unnatural perkiness of her fellow blonde's breasts. The artificially created bodies had been mentioned during dinner and she had found the whole story rather difficult to believe despite Harry and Luna's unusual size, but seeing the skimpy sleepwear hang off her breasts so much that her entire belly was exposed, she could completely believe it. Breasts that big simply could not be so perky, it was impossible.
"Sooo, now what?" She asked awkwardly, having never actually done anything like this before.
Luna grinned wickedly and held out her hand, causing a pillow to fly into it. "Pillow fight!"
Jaina was taken off guard and took the hit full in the face. The strength behind it left her unbalanced and she was sent stumbling over to the bed. Before she could even get her bearings, another blow landed on her.
She managed to roll off the side of the bed before a third could get her and stared at Luna with wide eyes. "What are you doing?!"
"You're too tense." The priestess explained cheerily. "Face me in honorable battle."
"With pillows?" Jaina asked, skeptically, unable to keep her lips from twitching at the absurdity of it.
"With pillows." Luna nodded and grinned, swinging her pillow over her shoulders.
It was childish and completely below both her station and her years to act this way. Jaina still found herself grabbing a pillow and swinging it at Luna's grinning face.
XXXXX
Harry was just finished making a pot of tea when a still drowsy-looking Jaina showed up.
"You're right on time." He said, figuring that she would still feel a little awkward about being a guest. Most people who weren't Luna didn't get comfortable in other people's homes until such visits became a regular part of their routine. "Do you want some tea?"
"Please." She nodded, an almost imperceptible tension bleeding out of her shoulders as the figurative ice was breached.
Harry poured her a cup of mageroyal tea, one of the many plants that he and Luna had experimented making it with. The tea had a soft pink tinge from the flower's leaves and was heavily saturated with magic. Apparently it was a common ingredient in mana potions.
Harry was using it to speed up the magical saturation of his body, even if drinking it made him feel like he was about to float right out of his body.
"Did Luna keep you up?" He asked.
Jaina looked at him suspiciously over her cup, probably wondering if that was supposed to be a sexual innuendo.
Project 'give Jaina Proudmoore a dirty mind' was well underway.
"Yes, she did." She finally said. "First she attacked me with a pillow, then she wanted to talk about our school years and then she wanted to swap adventure stories…I don't even remember falling asleep."
"Her sleep cycle has been out of whack ever since she became a moon goddess." Harry shook his head. "I thought coming here would stabilize it, but then she becomes a priestess of Elune literally two minutes after our arrival and she's back to being a night owl. These days she just sleeps whenever she feels tired, whether it's day or night. Not that I have any room to talk."
Although in his case it was because of his meddling with time. It was hard to keep a regular sleep schedule when months could pass in the space of a few hours.
"Mmm." Jaina murmured, closing her eyes as she took a sip. "This is good tea."
Harry nodded and started drinking from his own cup, letting a comfortable silence settle over them. Plus, he didn't want to let on to just what the tea was doing to him.
"Are you looking forward to the celebration in Stormwind?" Jaina eventually asked.
"Not in the slightest." Harry snorted. "I was never one for social gatherings and I can already tell that Varian and I won't be getting along. We're both too pigheaded and stubborn."
Jaina's eyebrows shot up her forehead for a moment, before an amused expression overtook her face. "That's impressively self-aware of you."
"Thank you." He replied magnanimously.
She hid her smile behind the tea cup. "Hopefully you'll manage to stay polite while he honors you."
"I don't know, I might slip and ask him if he's compensating for something by mounting Onyxia's head over Stormwind's gates." Harry said casually.
Yes, he was still sore about that, not to mention all the blood that leaked out of Onyxia's severed neck. If not for his atrophied and well hidden code of honor preventing him from stealing an ally's share of the loot (and if he wasn't the obvious suspect, because who else would want such a thing?) he would go steal her head in the night.
Jaina let out a delicate snort. "Are you compensating for something with this tower?"
Harry knew immediately that Jaina had just blurted that out without thinking – the 'why did I say that?!' face she made afterwards kind of gave it away. Flirting was just another kind of battlefield and she had eventually gotten fed up with always being on the receiving end.
"Would you like to see and decide for yourself?" He offered with a wicked grin.
She could still win. All she had to do was say that, yes, she would like to see, and then say that he was indeed compensating. That, however, would require her to be a lot more shameless than she was currently capable of being.
"No, thank you." The young archmage capitulated with a flustered blush.
"Pity, I always enjoy having beautiful women inspecting my penis." Harry replied with the casual tone of someone discussing the weather.
Jaina decided to return to her tea, staunchly ignoring him. It wasn't until the red in her cheeks faded that she spoke up again. "Do you mind if I talk to Thrall about the things you told me?"
How polite of her to ask. She must really want to maintain good relations. Excellent.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't mention anything I said about Garrosh Hellscream, especially not my plans to remove him from play." Harry said. "Everything else – mine and Luna's extra-dimensional origins, my reasons for setting up in Ashenvale, my long and short term goals – feel free to tell him."
Thrall was another person worth working with, after all, even if most of the rest of his species was only good at destroying things.
"Shouldn't he know about a potential future problem?" Jaina asked with her brow furrowed.
"Normally yes, and I know that you also want to work with him to confirm if my words have any merit to them or if I'm just bullshitting." He nodded. "Thrall is the only orc that I know with absolute certainty can be trusted. Unfortunately, his emotional closeness to Grom Hellscream would blind him in this case. If you told him about Garrosh, he would more than likely become determined to save him and lead him on a better path, but from what I know of Garrosh, he's extremely prideful and would just find that infuriating. I don't think it's a good idea."
Jaina was quiet for a long minute before she shook her head. "It's doesn't feel right going behind Thrall's back like this, we've been friends and allies for years. I won't say anything about your plans for Garrosh, but I'd ask that you don't implement them until he's proven to be a lost cause."
"This isn't just a quick knife in the back." It was Harry who shook his head this time. "Adrastia's work requires both time and timing. The period where Garrosh is still adjusting to Azeroth would be ideal for her to slip into his confidence. Any later and he'll have become too hostile to all humans for her to approach him."
"You said you wanted the Horde and the Alliance to work together against the Scourge and the Legion, right?" Jaina asked rhetorically. "How can they do that, how can they trust each other, if you're always manipulating things from the background?"
This Jaina was still so painfully idealistic. Trust each other? What a laughable concept. Even culturally different tribes of the same species couldn't trust each other, and she wanted two complex multi-racial organizations to do it? Harry would consider it an astounding success if they could work together long enough to fully defeat the greater common existential threats before killing each other. Garrosh Hellscream was a problem not because he was a belligerent warmonger, but because he had no sense of priority.
"Fine, we'll do it your way." Harry conceded, because he still needed to work with Jaina and he could see that she wasn't ready to budge on this topic. Yet. "I still want Adrastia to eventually move to Orgrimmar as an ambassador of sorts for both me and the Alliance, but I won't have her destroy Hellscream."
There were other ways to get him out of the way. Less certain and less satisfying ways, but still viable.
People weren't machines that looked at the world with cold objectivity. Everyone, even Harry himself, had a personal narrative through which they processed life. Adrastia was very good at twisting that narrative. Usually she would slowly place herself at the center of another person's narrative and then use that position to chip away at them until they were a hollow shell of a person.
But she was capable of doing other things as well. Harry wasn't entirely sure what Garrosh Hellscream's character motivations were, but he could guess that daddy issues played a large part in them.
If he was right, then Adrastia shouldn't have much difficulty instilling a sense of inadequacy into the stupid orc so that he got himself killed in a blaze of glory, just like his old man. Garrosh Hellscream would die a hero, but he would be dead and that was the important part.
"An ambassador?" Jaina echoed, frowning. "The idea was brought up before, but Thrall admitted to me that he wasn't sure he could keep an ambassador safe if one of his people decided to take matters into their own hands."
"Now that would be a problem." The murder of an ambassador was grounds for war in any society that hadn't had its balls chopped off. Even if Adrastia wasn't a native of Stormwind, she would be affiliated with it by then and Varian Wrynn had come across as just the kind of testosterone-fuelled alpha male that wouldn't hesitate to declare war at the slightest provocation.
While that actually raised Harry's respect for the man, it did mean having to be a little more cautious. Plus, getting Adrastia killed like that would be wasteful.
"And some of the other projects I'm working on would make it even worse." He admitted.
"What other stuff?" Jaina asked warily.
"Would you like to see?" Harry offered. Normally he would never let anyone aside from Luna into his workshop, but there were reasons for giving Jaina that privilege beyond his attraction to her.
"Alright, now you have me curious." She eventually said, finishing off her tea and standing up.
"Excellent. Follow me to the workshop."
'Workshop' was perhaps not the right term for that section of the tower, as it implied a single room when it was in truth a small complex of interconnected rooms all sealed behind a single massive, rune-covered stone door. After seeing how busy he was going to be on Azeroth, he decided that it was better to just move everything into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber instead of keeping another, normal time workshop.
"How..?" Jaina asked, startled when she saw how large the area was. Too large by far to fit into the tower. "Space expansion enchantments. Pretty much any magical bag has them, of course, but as far as I know nobody ever figured out how to stabilize them for anything bigger."
"The magic in my home dimension was too thin for grand displays of power, but we did develop a lot more finesse." Harry explained, leading the way to a particular room.
"Impressive." Jaina commented, still looking everywhere. "I don't suppose you would be willing to teach…" She trailed off when she properly took stock of the room he had lead her in instead of its dimensions.
"Why do you have someone shackled to a stone slab?!"
"Meet Winna Hazzard, a low ranking member of the Forsaken's Royal Apothecary Society." Harry introduced, ignoring her reflexive shift into a combat stance. "She was researching the fel slimes up in Felwood to see if they could somehow be weaponized for use against the Alliance. Used to be a nice enough girl before she was raised into undeath, if a bit kooky, but that's nothing unusual for budding alchemists. Unfortunately, her weak will and general lack of firm purpose left her vulnerable to the corrupting influence of the necromantic magic clinging to her soul, so she was already more than a bit twisted by the time I got to her. When I found her, she was about to feed water from a corrupted moonwell to her kitten, just to see what would happen."
The bound Forsaken woman growled something into her gag, glaring at him furiously.
"You're experimenting on people?" She continued focusing on that point.
"Eh, it depends on your definition of 'people'." He made a wishy-washy gesture with his hand. "Winna here is one of a handful of Forsaken I've captured because they were causing trouble, but most of my captives at the moment are demons. Although I do plan to acquire a few qiraji soon."
"You can't just…experiment on people!"
"Not even if it's for the purpose of restoring them to true life?"
That brought her up short and she paused, caught off guard by the unexpected answer. "You're trying to find a way to restore the Forsaken?"
"I've actually already found a way." Harry admitted. "It wasn't even that hard. The Lich King's necromancy is incredibly powerful, but it isn't especially sophisticated. He and his minions essentially just drown the souls of their victims in necromantic magic, turning their bodies into a sort of pseudo phylactery. That keeps them both animated and unable to pass on, while at the same time acting as a buffer preventing body and soul from being properly aligned. Restoring them is simply a matter of fixing their bodies enough that they are once again viable for life, anchoring their soul to it, purging the necromantic taint and blasting them with enough healing magic to revitalize the repaired body back to a living state once the necromantic taint was no longer there to get in the way."
"But?" Jaina prompted, being drawn into the discussion despite her initial resistance.
"Well for one thing, the process is excruciatingly painful. The necromantic taint clings tightly and doesn't want to go, resulting in immense spiritual torment during removal. In addition, having the body come back to true life is also unpleasant as the dead nerves are revitalized. The more powerful the subject is, the stronger their soul, the more necromantic magic they have clinging to it, and in turn the more pain they would feel as it gets purged."
"I imagine that many of the Forsaken would be willing to bear it if it restored them to life."
"Perhaps, but there is a genuine concern that some of their minds might snap under the strain. A restoration won't be much good if it leaves them as vegetables." Harry argued.
"A fair point." She conceded. "How are you planning to get around the problem?"
"The pain itself is unavoidable, but if I can streamline the process then I can at least make it quick. Hopefully that's going to be enough to preserve most of them. The bigger issue is that a lot of the Forsaken are missing parts and I'm having some trouble finding a way to fix up their bodies that doesn't involve needing my personal attention for every single one. Once I perfect the process I'll be able to present it to Sylvanas Windrunner."
"Why are you showing me this?" Jaina suddenly asked. "You're obviously dabbling in necromancy, along with who knows what else. You realize that the Kirin Tor might decide to kill you if I tell them about this? The order already kills warlocks on sight, even the supposedly 'friendly' ones, but after what happened with Kel'Thuzad…"
"Then I guess the Kirin Tor and I aren't going to be friends." Harry snorted, having never expected anything else. "And I'm showing you this because I want your opinion on how Thrall would react to it. The Forsaken are made up largely of Lordaeron humans and high elves, with a smattering of dwarves and gnomes and maybe a handful or orcs and trolls. Without their shared undead state to hold them together, the Forsaken as a faction will quickly cease to exist."
And if it meant that Sylvanas would be left without a faction to lead, but still possessing an unending hatred for the Lich King…well, wouldn't it be convenient if there was a friendly neighborhood wizard around to offer her an outlet for it?
"Which would rob the Horde of their only ally in the Eastern Kingdoms." Jaina finished, realizing where he was going. "How can you be sure that it's going to happen that way? The Forsaken might decide to stay together and in the Horde."
Harry shook his head in denial. "No, I've seen this kind of thing before. People want to be among their own kind. As undead, the Forsaken can't stay among their living kin, so they cling to each other. Once they're restored, most of them will no longer think of themselves as Forsaken."
Jaina thought about it for a minute before giving a reluctant nod, silently conceding the point. "I think Thrall won't mind losing the Forsaken too much. He accepted them into the Horde out of compassion for their plight as much as he did for military convenience. Either way, I doubt he would be able to bring himself to oppose the Forsaken's restoration even if he were so inclined."
"That's good to hear." Harry was pleased by this. While he had been reasonably sure that Thrall was basically orc Jesus, it was good to have it confirmed. A more pragmatic and ruthless Warchief would have tried to sabotage the whole thing.
"I don't think Sylvanas Windrunner is going to believe you can do it, though. Certainly not with that nathrezim she keeps around whispering in her ear." Jaina added.
"Yes, I had that conversation with Tyrande already, which is the other reason I wanted you to see this. Once I have the process of restoration properly refined, I'd ask that you use your connection to Thrall to arrange a private meeting between me and her so that I can demonstrate it. Tyrande already said she was willing to do that, but having it come from the Warchief of the Horde will make it so that Sylvanas can't really refuse."
"…I still don't approve of you experimenting on these Forsaken you took prisoner." She said glancing at the bound Winna Hazard once more.
"They aren't good people, Jaina." Harry shook his head. "In fact, the ones I've captured were on the verge of not being people at all. The necromantic magic animating them has already shifted their nature into something that hates all life. If I didn't take them prisoner, I would have destroyed them. Isn't it better than their existence benefits the rest of the Forsaken?"
Jaina sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Of course, this is just my luck. I should have been suspicious as soon as you started showing romantic interest in me."
"What are you on about?"
"Every man that has ever showed romantic interest in me turned out evil."
"Two men is not a sufficient sample size." Harry snorted. "And I'm not too familiar with that happened to Kael'thas, so I can't comment on him, but Arthas is mostly a victim of circumstance that made a few critically stupid decisions over the course of his journey."
Jaina was visibly taken aback by that opinion. "You realize that he's the Lich King now, right? The master of the Undead Scourge that you're so determined to destroy?"
"Frostmourne steals the souls of both those it slays and those who wield it. Arthas Menethil has been dead and gone ever since he picked it up, nothing but a meat puppet driven by necromantic magic following the behavior patterns given to it by the memories lingering in the brain. Bodies without souls are only imitations of who they used to be." Harry argued back, shaking his head.
Jaina was silent for a while, clearly thinking, before speaking again. "You're sure about that?"
"I got into a feud with an angry fire god in the last world and had to consider lichdom as one of the methods of protecting my soul from his influence. I never had to use it, but you can bet your sweet little butt that I researched it thoroughly." He nodded.
"I want to say that's comforting, but he decided to cull Stratholme well before he ever got his hands on that accursed sword." Jaina sighed gustily.
"So?" He raised an eyebrow. "Woman, that was the right decision. Stratholme was infected by the undead plague and all of its citizens were doomed no matter what. The best he could give them was a clean death."
"But there might have been uninfected people still among them!" She protested heatedly.
"He had no means to tell the difference and couldn't risk evacuating the infected along with them, to say nothing of Mal'ganis and his undead prowling nearby. Once again, a clean death was the best he could give them." Harry shot her down mercilessly. "War is an ugly business and civilians often get caught in the middle. I'm not surprised you didn't have the stomach to do what had to be done, but Uther should have known better. Then again, his power as a paladin depended on his faith and it's hard to feel righteous after you've helped slaughter a whole city. Either way, turning your backs on Arthas at that point was probably the worst thing you could have done and likely contributed to the irrational decisions he made later."
Jaina turned away with shaking shoulders and Harry heard her stifle a sob.
"Sorry, was that too blunt?" Harry asked, really not wanting to deal with a crying woman. "I didn't mean to imply that he wouldn't have become a death knight if you two stuck with him. If I recall correctly, Ner'zhul specifically chose him to be the wielder of Frostmourne, so there's a good chance that he would have contrived a way to get it into his hands eventually no matter what."
"It's fine." She sniffled. "It's just…I've often wondered if I did the right thing back then, if Arthas wouldn't have fallen if I had stayed by his side."
"I'm sure there are timelines where that happened, just as there are timelines where you stayed with him and ended up becoming the Scourge's most powerful lich." Harry shrugged. "There's no use in thinking about what ifs."
"Just keep looking forward, huh?" Jaina sniffled one last time and wiped her eyes.
"That's where you're going." He nodded and opened up his arms. "You want a hug?"
"I think I'll pass." She retorted drily, sounding more like herself again.
"Don't think you'll get away from Luna without one, though. That woman is like a bloodhound when people she cares about are upset. I'm actually surprised she hasn't come charging in to comfort you yet."
"Jaaainaaaa!"
"Ah, speak of the devil and she shall appear." Harry muttered, ignoring Jaina's alarmed look as seven feet of aggressive affection barreled towards her.
XXXXX
Jaina returned to Theramore shortly after breakfast, but with an invitation to return any time and a pass through the wards. Luna almost refused to let her go and demanded that they see each other at least once a week.
Still, she couldn't be too upset about not having her new friend to hang out with anymore, on account of her excitement. The day seemed to pass with excruciating slowness, but at long last the sun went down and the two moons began to shine brightly in the sky.
Luna walked towards the moonwell in their backyard with a skip in her step. She was completely naked and cradled a black dragon egg in her arms. Carefully, because there were spikes growing out of the shell. Just thinking about poor Onyxia having to lay those made her cringe in sympathy.
She lowered herself into the blessed waters and cradled the egg to her bosom, then she began singing a soothing lullaby. The song had no real lyrics, just nonsense made up words, but that didn't matter compared to the emotion in them.
Luna refused to believe that the unborn whelps couldn't be saved, that they were doomed to be monsters, even if their flight was born connected to evil abominations from the beyond. They just needed to be loved.
XXXXX
Elune watched her only human priestess, and could not help but be moved by her compassion. It had been thousands of years since anyone had shown anything but hatred for the Black Dragonflight. Perhaps rightfully so after Neltharion's betrayal, but the Moon Goddess had always been grieved by what had become of them.
There would be no swaying her from this. Neither mortal nor god could convince her that trying to save those whelps was foolish or wrong. Even if Elune herself spoke to her and told her to desist, Luna would refuse.
In the wake of such absolute faith, what else could Elune do except give her support?
XXXXX
Harry stared down at the moonwell from the balcony. He had been writing in his journal when he noticed that the moonlight streaming in from the window was way too bright.
The unusual phenomenon was explained when he saw the black scales on one of the eggs they had taken from Onyxia's lair slowly taking a blueish-silvery sheen, matching the moonlight glow beaming down at his wife.
"Tyrande is going to love this." He snickered to himself.
XXXXX
Before the festivities celebrating the king's return even began, Varian Wrynn called for a meeting in Stormwind Keep. The only participants were the king himself, Bolvar Fordragon, Jaina Proudmoore, Harry, Luna and Adrastia, although the latter only because Harry had anticipated what the meeting would be about and brought her along.
"I owe you both a great debt for exposing Onyxia, protecting my son and restoring me." Varian declared bluntly to Harry and Luna. "Lady Proudmoore has already asked that I give peace talks with the Horde another try as repayment for her part, but what would you ask of me?"
Obviously, the king did not like the feeling of being indebted to anyone and was trying to remedy the situation in the most direct possible manner.
"I don't know, I don't really need anything." Luna said, idly scratching her head.
"You are a priestess of Elune, are you not? One highly favored by the goddess?" Bolvar interjected. "We could build a shrine or small temple dedicated to Elune in the Cathedral Square."
Harry had to raise an eyebrow at that. Politics would usually make such an offer unthinkable, especially from someone that was a high ranking adherent of the local church's military arm. But apparently the Church of Holy Light was less involved in politics than he was used to from religious organizations.
It must help that power – real, tangible power – directly correlated with faith in Azeroth, so the usual slimy opportunistic fakes that infested such organizations probably never made it far up the hierarchy.
Seeing that Luna was about to turn the offer down – expected, since she wasn't the type to hang around a temple and preach all day – Harry quickly nudged her and indicated that she should accept.
He had some ideas that he wanted to try out and there really wasn't much that Stormwind could give Luna anyway.
"That sounds grand." Luna chirped. "I'll ask Tyrande if she can spare a priestess and a few acolytes to look after it when I'm not there."
If Harry had Tyrande pegged right, then the ancient night elf would be more than happy to do just that. While it was subtle, he had detected a distinct whiff of condescending superiority towards the younger races from the night elves.
A good attitude to have, as any race that did not prefer itself over all others was spiritually weak. In this case it also meant that Tyrande would see it as an opportunity to 'educate' the ignorant humans, even if she didn't think of it in those terms.
Harry was curious if he could contrive the creation of paladins of Elune. Not for any particular purpose, but just to see if he could.
"Then it is settled, we will build a small temple to Elune in the Cathedral ward in your honor, Lady Priestess." Varian nodded in satisfaction, clearly glad to have settled that part of his debt so easily.
"I understand that you have lost the services of the Stonemason's Guild thanks to Onyxia." Harry interjected. "I'm a master stonemason myself, so I would like to take control of that project if it's alright. I will charge no commission, of course."
That temple would be small on the outside, but it would be anything but on the inside.
"If you wish." Varian was puzzled by the request, but saw no reason to turn down free labor.
Jaina was giving him a suspicious look, though. Ah, how quickly they learned.
"And what of you, Lord Archmage, what boon would you ask of me?" Varian moved on.
Harry smiled and used one hand to push Adrastia forward. "You've met Adrastia already, I take it?"
"I have." Varian nodded cautiously. It had been during the three days it took to track down Onyxia's location, but their encounters had been brief.
"Your Majesty." The Black Widow gave a perfect curtsey.
"I would like you to temporarily take her into your service."
"Why?" The kind narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
Jaina looked even more suspicious.
"Because I eventually want to install her in Orgrimmar as an ambassador, but in order for that to happen she is going to need some credentials."
"I have no interest in risking someone's life by making them live among orcs." Varian grunted.
"And I have no interest in seeing the Alliance and the Horde fight each other until all other major threats are destroyed." Harry countered. "An ambassador is a useful tool for quelling conflicts before they can get out of control. Whether you use her to keep diplomatic channels open with the Warchief as well is up to you, but I intend to do this."
The king of Stormwind looked sour at the mere thought of working with the Horde. "Does she even have the qualifications to work as an ambassador?"
"I have over six hundred years of experience serving as one of Harry's principal advisors and as a tutor for his many children and wards. My primary expertise is in political and personal relationships, but I can also be of use to you as a spy and spymistress." Adrastia recited.
Varian looked even more disgruntled. "You ask me to take a spy into my service?"
"If I wanted her to spy on you, then I wouldn't have had her say that she's a spy." Harry pointed out reasonably. "I'm more interested in having her ferret out any agents of the Burning Legion or similar troublemakers that might try to infiltrate your kingdom, which is originally why I sent her here."
"Stormwind has SI:7 for such matters." Varian rebuffed.
"Put her to work there, then, or don't use her as a spy." Harry shrugged. "Hell, don't use her at all if you don't want to. It would be wasteful, but it ultimately doesn't impact my plans to any significant degree. I'm just asking you to keep her around so that she gains a reputation as someone of importance."
"Lady Adrastia did prove most useful in untangling Onyxia's schemes, Your Majesty." Bolvar weighed in.
"It wasn't hard, she was at best a talented amateur." Adrastia sniffed proudly. "For such an ancient being, she was rather impatient and left traces of her meddling everywhere."
The clear implication being that she would have left no such traces.
Varian by now looked downright constipated. It was more than obvious that he had enough of conniving women to last him a lifetime, but the debt he owed made it difficult to refuse such a reasonable request.
"I will give her a chance to prove her worth." He finally conceded begrudgingly.
"Thank you." Harry said, resisting the urge to give the king a mocking smile.
It really was for the best that the two of them avoided face to face interaction as much as possible. Their personalities were at the same time too similar and too different.
"I will not disappoint you." Adrastia gave a small bow and smiled.
The grouchy king dismissed the meeting after that, claiming a need to attend to some last minute details regarding the coming festivities. Nobody really believed him.
Jaina waylaid him and Luna before they could get very far.
"What was that?" The young archmage demanded.
"What was what?" Harry asked, smiling at her suspicious stare.
"Why do you want…her around King Varian?" She clarified, gesturing at Adrastia.
"Wait, you told her about me?" The Black Widow asked in alarm.
"Believe it or not, I was being completely honest back there." He chuckled. "As far as I know, Varian Wrynn won't be a problem, outside of his understandable anger issues with the orcs."
"Don't worry, Jaina, we're just trying to help this world." Luna assured, reaching out to rub the smaller woman's arm.
"Don't ignore me!" Adrastia said peevishly. "Why would you tell her about me?"
"We're bringing her into our marriage." Luna chirped.
"Don't say that like it's a certainty!" Jaina protested.
"You need confidence if you want to get anything done, so I choose to believe wholeheartedly that I will one day have you squirming in delight as I wiggle my tongue in your bellybutton." Harry argued.
"Why couldn't you pick someone else to fixate on?" Jaina bemoaned, hiding her blushing face behind her hands.
Although it was a rhetorical question born of embarrassment, Luna answered it anyway. "Because you're really cute and sexy. Besides, who says there won't be others? This world is full of interesting people!"
"You can't be serious." Jaina said in disbelief. "What makes you think I would ever consent to join…this!" She made a vague hand gesture in their direction. "Whatever this is, especially if you're planning to bring even more women into it?!"
"It's like Harry said," Luna took Jaina's hands in her own and smiled at her serenely, the expression of someone with unwavering faith. "you just need to believe."
Blush returning in full force, the smaller blonde retreated with a stutter. "T-that's not how it works!"
"Ah, the misconceptions of youth." Harry said fondly. "Come on, let's give her a moment to regain her composure. Save a dance for us, Jaina darling!"
"Don't call me darling!"
"Alright, honey."
"Arrrrgghhh!"
XXXXX
The following days were uneventful. Luna focused on the dragon eggs and Harry focused on his research. There was a quick dip down into Silithus to snatch up a few qiraji, but other than that neither of them really left the tower.
Harry also used a Glass Candle he'd brought with him from Planetos to keep a distant eye on the progress of the preparations for the assault on Ahn'Qiraj. Both manpower and resources were still arriving in Silithus, but the Scepter of Shifting Sands had been assembled and the Might of Kalimdor was looking close to ready to begin. It wouldn't be long before he and Luna would have to go there and present themselves to High Overlord Saurfang.
It was going to be weird taking orders from someone for the first time in his life, but Azeroth's continued pleas for help whenever he communed with the world soul were as desperate as ever. If a being like that could lower itself to begging mere mortals for help, then Harry could keep his own ego in check. Going at it solo would be just stupid in this case.
There was one more thing to be done before they went there, though, and it was heralded by the arrival of a pair of familiar faces.
"Jessir! Arko!" Luna greeted the two night elves gleefully, instantly glomping them.
"It's good to see you, too, Luna." Arko wheezed, returning the hug.
"How have you two been?" Luna asked once she got the physical affection out of her system.
"Good, all things considered." Jessir answered. "We've been helping the Silverwing Sentinels clear out the demons to the west of here."
Harry had been keeping an eye on that, too. Without the Warsong orcs to worry about, the Sentinels were able to shift around a considerable amount of manpower. None of the remaining pockets of demons in the west were overwhelmingly numerous, organized or led by anything worse than a moderately powerful warlock, so the battle-hardened Silverwing Sentinels had little trouble exterminating them.
Now they were moving eastwards, their goal being the last and greatest concentration of demons in Ashenvale, Demon Fall Canyon.
"Oh, is that why Della isn't with you?" Luna questioned further, looking around as if the wolf would materialize out of thin air.
"That's right." The huntress nodded. "Adventuring and small fights are one thing, but I couldn't in good conscience take her with us into actual battle. She was a bit sulky about it, but she agreed to wait for us in Astranaar."
"Commander Wolfrunner assured us that she would be taken care of. "Arko nodded. "Especially once we mentioned that we knew you personally, so she sent us as a sort of envoy to tell you that they're ready. They'll reach the bridge to Felfire Hill in two days."
"Then there's no time to waste, let's get you geared up." Harry decided not to mention that he had already used his rapport with corvid bird species to establish a network of avian spies, thus had a better idea of the Sentinels' position than they did. "Come inside and get naked so I can get your measurements."
"I know you said you would do this, but there's really no need." Arko insisted even as she let herself be tugged into the tower by Luna. "Our current gear is fine."
"No, it isn't." Harry categorically denied. "I'm not letting you leave here in anything less than arcanite full plate."
"Arcanite?!" The night elf warrior blurted out in shock. "Are you insane?! We can't afford that!"
"Why would you need to pay?" Luna asked in confusion. "We're friends, aren't we?"
"Well, yes, but…" Jessir stumbled over her words, trying to counter the simplistic logic. "…it's just that a gift like that feels like a bit much for someone you barely know…"
"We've had our heads between your legs." Harry pointed out with a smirk. "I think we know each other fairly intimately."
The two night elves faces turned a slightly darker shade of purple at the reminder.
"Haha, I guess so…" The huntress laughed awkwardly.
"Come on, let Harry measure you, then you can eat something and get some sleep." Luna grabbed their hands and pulled them along without really giving them a chance to respond.
In short order, the two night elves were naked and continued chatting with Luna unbothered while Harry measured them and wrote down their sizes and other pertinent information in a notebook for later.
"…then we tracked Onyxia to her lair in Dustwallow Marsh." The human priestess of Elune was saying enthusiastically, dimming slightly towards the end. "She was a beautiful creature, it's really too bad that she was evil."
"You killed the broodmother of the Black Dragonflight, I can't believe it." Arko muttered incredulously.
"I guess you weren't exaggerating when you said we would be dead weight." Jessir commented to Harry a little despondently, knowing that neither she nor Arko could challenge a full grown dragon and hope to survive.
"Just keep at it. If that entire mess with Varian Wrynn and Onyxia showed me anything, it's that anything is possible in this world. With better gear and unyielding will, you'll be carving up demons three times your size in no time." Harry spared her a glance, recalling the frankly absurd strength Varian Wrynn had demonstrated.
Seriously, the man boasted no magical enhancements, but he had been able to match blows with a twelve foot dragonspawn that was built like a brick shithouse. And that was while he was split in half by Onyxia's botched spell.
"Right!" Jessir nodded firmly, the brief pep talk apparently reaffirming her confidence.
Harry turned back to Arko, specifically her ears.
They were too goddamn big.
"Ow!" The warrior hissed, slapping his hand away. "What are you doing?!"
"Testing how flexible your ears are." He replied calmly and grabbed the other one, carefully bending it this way and that. "Making a helmet for these is going to be a pain."
"Why not just make holes for them?" Jessir asked, puzzled. "That's usually how kaldorei helmets are made."
"You want your friend to lose her ears?" Harry asked back archly. "Because that's what's going to happen if I leave them flopping out unprotected. You can risk going around without a helmet since you're an archer, and you need to keep your vision unobstructed anyway, but Arko is going to be fighting in melee. Sooner rather than later, something is going to hit her in the head and then she'll have her ears either crushed or sliced off. Troll's Blood Potion might be able to regrow them if it wasn't done by a particularly nasty weapon, but it wouldn't be pleasant."
The night elf in question reached up to grab them, as if distressed by the mental image. Or to stop Harry from fiddling with them any further.
"You know, I do recall seeing a few of the older veterans with missing ears…" Jessir said weakly.
"Well it's not like I can fold them into a helmet or something. That would get painful really fast and I'd just end up taking it off." Arko groused.
"Hmm." Harry hummed and turned to his wife. "Luna, you think you could sew some pockets into the inside lining of a helmet?"
"Cute little ear pockets?" She asked, obviously thinking of how adorable that sounded. "I can definitely do it. A space expansions charm will keep them warm and comfy."
"Excellent. I have everything I need for the armor, then." He nodded in satisfaction. "For the weapons….Jessir, does your bow have any special requirements? Materials? Construction method? Blessings?"
"Not really, it's just a bow." The huntress shrugged. "As long as I can draw it and it isn't too weak, I'll be happy."
"Hmm, I wonder…?" Harry mused to himself before shaking off the errant thought that had just entered his mind. Something to experiment with later. "I'm going to assume you have a sentimental attachment to that sword, Arko?"
The night elf warrior glanced towards Lightforge and nodded. "Yes, I'm going to keep using Trey's sword."
Trey's sword, hmm? If she didn't even think of it as her own now then it was even more important to get her away from it.
"That one was made for a man at least a foot shorter than you." Harry pointed out. "Would your friend want you getting hurt because you insisted on using a sword that wasn't fit for your size?"
"He's right you know." Jessir said sympathetically.
"But he died because of me!" Arko snapped in frustration. "I was the one who said we should investigate that barrow den. If I hadn't gotten impatient, he would still be with us. The least I can do is use his sword to fight the Burning Legion."
"I can reforge it into something more suited for you." He offered, not entirely altruistically. There was an idea he had that he wanted to try out and this was a good opportunity.
"It just doesn't feel right to do that to Trey's sword." Arko admitted sadly.
"Hey, you know he wouldn't mind." Jessir consoled her.
The other night elf went quiet, clearly weighing practical consideration versus sentimentality "…alright."
"Then I'm almost ready to get started." Harry declared. "I'll have your weapons and two suits of arcanite platemail ready in no time."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Jessir interjected. "I know you said we aren't leaving her without anything less than that, but I prefer chainmail. Plate is too heavy for me."
"You will have chainmail." He assured her. "Under the plate. And under the chainmail, you'll have a mooncloth gambeson that Luna will make for you. All of it enchanted up the wazoo. Nobody is going to look at one of my designs and say I did a half-assed job."
"How am I even supposed to move in that much armor?!" The huntress protested. "I rely on speed and agility to stay at range more than anything. It's not like I'll be going toe to toe with enemy warriors."
"Don't be so dramatic, full plate isn't even all that heavy or restrictive, especially not one of my make. As long as you don't try something ridiculous like putting your legs behind your head, you won't be noticeably hindered."
XXXXX
While Jessir and Arko were told to get settled into their assigned guest room, Harry took Luna out near the moonwell.
"Sooo, what was it you needed my help with?" She asked curiously.
"Material acquisition." Harry nodded. "See, Jessir and Arko needing new gear and you being a priestess of Elune gives me an idea."
"What kind of idea?"
"I need you to reach up to the moon-"
"Which moon?"
"The White Lady. Anyway, I need you to reach up there and summon a big hunk of metal towards us."
Luna could have done any number of things at this point, among them point out that summoning spells generally aren't even powerful enough to tear metal from the earth at point blank range (unless it was already pretty loose), never mind doing it across hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
But this was Luna, and she was not one to concern herself with such trivial details. If summoning spells weren't strong enough, then she would just have to ask for help.
"Big Sis Elune, could I have a big hunk of moon metal please?" She asked nicely, directing a summoning spell towards the White Lady and leaving room for the goddess to intercede.
One should take note that none of Elune's priestesses had ever been mages, nor had any of them properly understood what a moon was.
For a few seconds there was nothing, but then Luna felt her spell be twisted into something else entirely and latch on to something.
"It's happening, Harry!" She exclaimed happily. "Something is coming, and it's coming fast!"
"Holy shit, I didn't think that would actually work." Harry muttered to himself in surprise.
He had expected to need some kind of complex ritual or shenanigans with portal magic in order to reach out towards the distant celestial object and extract some divine power-saturated metal ore. The only reason he had even tried it was to eliminate it as a viable method, figuring that Jessir and Arko would have to do with more 'mundane' enchanted weapons (if there was such a thing) for the moment.
Barely a minute later, there was a twinkle in the night sky and a hunk of pale blue metal about the size of a large boulder zoomed towards them, slowing down just in time to not pulverize them into paste.
"Thanks, Big Sis!" Luna beamed, feeling the hand of her patron deity recede as she levitated the acquisition to the ground.
"Yes. Thank you, Elune." Harry added. "You're easily my second favorite goddess."
"Who's your favorite?" Luna asked curiously.
"You are." He poked her in the ribs and smiled at her adorable squeak.
"But I'm not a goddess anymore."
"Irrelevant. Now let's go back to being proper hosts and feed our guests, but I'm going to need your help again when it's time to forge this stuff."
"Okay."
XXXXX
"You have no idea how much I missed this hot tub of yours." Jessir groaned in pleasure, sprawling out bonelessly.
After having their hunger from the journey taken care of, the two night elves were still sore and tired, so a little relaxation was the obvious thing to do.
"I thought you night elves were supposed to be at one with nature and dedicated to living simple lives." Harry smirked.
"Well, yes, but we've been walking all night and these 'water jets' feel amazing." The huntress replied shamelessly.
"Do you want me to rub your feet?" Luna offered.
The conflict on Jessir's face was plain to see, torn between thinking that it would be inappropriate to have a priestess of Elune rubbing her feet and really wanting her feet rubbed.
"Please." Desire won out.
Luna was quick to move so that Jessir could stretch one leg across her lap and start massaging.
"Oooh, that's so good." The huntress moaned, eyes drifting shut and head lolling back in bliss.
"Jessir!" Arko hissed, clearly embarrassed by the almost lewd sounds her friend was making.
"Don't judge me, Arko, you have no idea how good she is at this." Jessir retorted.
"Thank you!" Luna beamed, happy as ever to be making her friends feel good.
The warrior bit her lip and shuffled in place uncomfortably, but Harry spotted an envious glint in her eyes and moved closer to her. She turned to look at him with an obvious question in her expression, so he just pointedly looked at Jessir and Luna and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Arko's face turned a slightly deeper purple, but she still presented her feet, albeit a lot more shyly than Jessir.
"Oh, I see how it is." Jessir spoke up teasingly a minute or so later, having opened her eyes to see why her friend had suddenly gone quiet. "You just wanted to get your feet rubbed too, but you were too shy to ask."
"Shut up." Arko retorted, but was enjoying herself too much to really put any heat into it.
"Hot tubs, promises of powerful new gear and now foot massages, if you were trying to convince us to look elsewhere for an adventuring party, you're going about it the wrong way." Jessir sighed in pleasure.
"Maybe we're bribing you to get better?" Harry suggested.
"With incentives like these, we'll become heroes in no time." The huntress joked.
"We are also seducing you." Luna chimed in.
Both night elves' eyes shot open and fixated upon her. "Eh?"
"What, did you think we'd be satisfied with just one little taste?" Harry asked with a teasing smirk. "Of course we're going to do our best to seduce you now that we have you here."
"I wouldn't call what you did just a 'little' taste." Arko mumbled.
"There's no need to be nervous." Harry said, able to feel the tension in Arko's leg. "If you don't want to be seduced, then just don't let yourself be seduced."
"Easy for you to say, I'm about to have an orgasm from this foot rub." Jessir declared with a relaxed sigh.
"Oh, so it is working?" Luna asked in triumphant excitement. "I wasn't sure if I was doing it right since you seem to have those nerve clusters in slightly different positions than human women."
"You're doing that on purpose?!" Arko blurted out in shock.
"Of course we are." Harry gave her an evil grin. "Or did you think I was triggering those clockwork regular muscle contractions by accident?"
"Arko, I think we might be in trouble." Contrary to her words, Jessir didn't sound terribly concerned.
"Y-yeah." Arko shuddered, gripping the rim of the hot tub to ground herself.
Harry and Luna had by then abandoned any semblance of regular foot massage and were having a race to see who could bring their 'subject' to orgasm faster. Ultimately, his greater knowledge of the body had allowed him to find Arko's buttons faster, so he won, but Jessir was shuddering from her own release mere seconds later.
Harry and Luna swapped positions and held out their hands. "Other foot?"
Jessir and Arko exchanged looks, silently contemplating how bad of an idea it would be to keep going along with the games their human hosts were playing. Then they presented their other legs, because having just one sore foot was worse than two.
XXXXX
Jessir gasped as her naked back hit the cool surface of the smooth wooden door, but any further sound was swallowed as Harry's mouth assaulted her own in an aggressive kiss, plundering her mouth with his tongue and sliding curiously over the point of her larger-than-human canines.
"We…shouldn't…be…doing…this." She managed to get out in between kisses. Despite her words and her hands on his chest, it was clear that she was exploring the planes of his muscles rather than pushing him away.
His response was to press forward, squishing her against the door. His shaft was throbbing against her stomach and making her insides clench with anticipation. "Then tell me to stop."
Yes, she would do exactly that…as soon as he stopped ravishing that sweet spot on her neck that was giving her a full body tingle.
Then again, she'd had a full body tingle ever since those four orgasms in the hot tub. Footgasms, Luna had called them. It was an appropriate name.
Arko was in a similar predicament with Luna, knowing intellectually that things were moving far, far too fast for a night elf's sensibilities, but procrastinating on actually putting her foot down because it felt so good.
As for Harry and Luna…they knew exactly what they were doing. Night elven longevity and desire to distance themselves from the hedonistic ways of the Highborne might make them take their relationships glacially slow, but like any sexually dimorphic species, they had a libido and libido didn't give a shit about anything except getting you laid. Stimulate it enough and that instinct would gradually push all other considerations into the background.
Manipulative? Perhaps, but Arko and Jessir had all the time in the world to object if they truly cared to. That they made only token protests without ever saying 'stop' was telling in and of itself.
A quick fumble with the door had the foursome spilling into the room, the same mass of kissing, groping, stroking and fondling that they had been ever since getting out of the hot tub.
"That's a big bed!" Arko gasped out. Somehow she had ended up with the two humans nibbling on her ears while her old friend stood behind Harry and used both hands to guide one of hers to stroking his member.
It really was a big bed, easily wide enough for a dozen people to sleep side by side and still have plenty of space to themselves, and more than twice as long as a night elf was tall.
"It has to be." Harry rumbled into her left ear.
"We want all our lovers to be comfortable." Luna whispered hotly into her right.
All our lovers. Arko and Jessir weren't so far gone as to not grasp the meaning of that sentence. There would be other women, perhaps a lot of other women.
Had they been thinking clearly, they would have been put off. Their culture favored monogamous relationships and that was already being stretched a great deal by the fact that they were being seduced by a married couple.
But they were extremely aroused, and the thought of a tangle of naked flesh, bodies sliding against each other in a great mass of sexual ecstasy, come across as a very appealing mental image right now.
The foursome fell onto the bed and Harry immediately attacked the expanse of purple skin under him with his mouth, aggressively kissing and biting his way upwards until he made it to a nipple.
Arko sat on her knees on the bed and watched her friend writhe under the wizard's attention, biting her lip and unconsciously reaching up to fondle and pinch her own breasts to simulate the sensations Jessir was feeling.
Then Luna's hands crept around her body and took over. The tip of a tongue slid down the curve of her ear until she was pressed flush up against her back, soft lips ghosting over the entrance to the ear canal.
"I love to watch." Her voice was just a faint whisper, but it seemed to roar in Arko's head like a waterfall, while the ghostly touch and tiny gust of breath made her shiver. "Do you want to watch with me?"
Watch her friend mate with the human they had met less than two months ago, when night elves usually considered it rushed to mate after a decade of getting to know each other?
Why did it sound so appealing?
"Yes..." Arko shuddered, already imagining it.
"Then let's have them really give us a show." Luna was happy to nurture the hint of voyeuristic tendencies she had noticed in the night elven warrior. "Harry, Arko and I are going to watch."
The wizard let up on his assault on the huntress for a moment to look at them and grin. "Oh? Found a kindred spirit, have you? I'll be sure to put forth my best effort."
Jessir was laid out on the bed, silver hair splayed around her head and body practically thrumming with arousal, but her eyes went wide with surprise once she processed the fact that he intended to make a spectacle of their mating for Arko and Luna's viewing pleasure.
Arko herself was flustered at suddenly being put on the spot, especially with her old friend staring at her like that, but a kiss from Harry quickly cut through that mess of emotions.
"Enjoy." Was the only thing he said before returning to Jessir, though the smug little smirk that came along with that single word said so much more.
But Arko somehow couldn't find it in herself to be annoyed by the smugness. Maybe it was because Luna's feverishly hot body was still pressed up against her back, maybe it was the ache in her breasts or the throbbing between her legs, or maybe it was the way Luna's fingers trailed up her thigh, mirroring the path of Harry's lips and hands on Jessir.
Either way, all she could do was pant with arousal, unable to tear her eyes away from the sight in a way that had little to do with the fact that Luna had her wrapped in an embrace from behind.
Jessir was procrastinating and she knew it. Bathing together was common for night elves so she hadn't given it any thought. Massages were considered a 'friends only' activity, but Harry and Luna had saved Arko, so they were unquestionably friends. Orgasms were definitely crossing some lines, but did it count if it was from a foot rub that was just that good? Besides, there had been that incident in her house in Darnassus and it would be a bit silly to protest to a foot rub now, even if it was giving them orgasms.
The huntress had told herself that she would put an end to it if things got any more heated, but found herself enjoying it too much when the foot rub turned into a calf massage, so she delayed again. Before she knew it, those heavenly hands had gone further up her body and there was another tongue in her mouth.
She had expected that Arko would raise a protest at that point, but her friend seemed content to let things happen. Jessir reasoned to herself that it she shouldn't spoil her friend's fun, but knew she was just making excuses for her own sake. It had been over two centuries since she'd been with a man and while she hadn't exactly felt lonely during that time, it was turning out to be hard to turn him away now that there was a very attractive man making her feel good.
So she kept on procrastinating as they got out of the hot tub and a spell was used to dry them off, as they stumbled through the halls to the bedroom and ended up on the bed.
She almost managed to work up the will to put an end to what was happening when Luna announced that she and Arko were going to watch her mate with Harry, but the arousal in her friend's eyes froze her in place. Arko was looking…really into it. Should she really stop it now?
Then Harry gave Arko a kiss and returned his attention to her, and the moment was gone. His big, strong hands squeezed her ankles just tight enough to hint at the power in them without actually causing pain, then slid upwards, followed by a series of kisses.
Jessir really should have said something when that gleaming emerald gaze looked at her with such self-assured satisfaction from between her legs, but the memory of how good it felt the last time he'd been down there had her too busy quivering with anticipation to really think about how fast they were moving.
Then his tongue ran over her sensitive nether lips and any thoughts about stopping him were pushed aside. After he brought her to climax, then she would tell him to stop. It wouldn't be fair to just leave him hanging or put it on Luna to take over, so she would use her hands and mouth to bring him to release, but she wouldn't let him mate with her. That would be fair, right?
Resolution made, Jessir settled in to enjoy herself, putting one hand on his head and using the other to stimulate a breast. Her gaze slid sideways to Arko and Luna, almost balking at their heated, lustful stares.
Her friend had really gotten into watching, so much so that the intensity of it was almost embarrassing. Luna clearly had a hand in it, with how she was stroking Arko between the legs in a mirror of what Harry was doing to her and whatever she was whispering into the warrior's ear, but that couldn't have come from nothing.
Had Arko always been like this? Jessir did remember that her friend had spent a lot of time staring back in Darnassus when Harry had been licking her for the first time.
Whatever the case, it started feeling irrelevant as tension coiled tighter and tighter in her core from Harry's skilled application of tongue. Her fingers dug into his skull and her breaths quickened as climax approached.
And then he stopped, the abrupt cessation of pleasure having an effect akin to a bucket of cold water.
"Why did you stop?" She demanded, trying to push his head back into place. "I was almost there!"
Harry smirked and rose up, taking her hands by the wrists and repositioning himself so that he was lying on top of her. She could smell herself on his breath.
"I know." He purred and kissed her, making her taste herself. His member slid against her entrance and the touch of it felt divine.
Jessir remembered her resolution to not let him mate with her, but she needed release damn it! It was fine, if he wasn't going to give it to her with his mouth, then she would just get it from rubbing herself against his shaft.
That plan didn't survive long either, as he lifted his hips and rubbed the head of it against her glistening wet lips. The feeling made her eyes flutter shut in pleasure.
Just the tip was fine. Her climax was so close that she could easily reach it with just his tip rubbing against her a few more times.
But of course he didn't do that, instead pushing forward ever so slowly and penetrating her. Jessir's breath shuddered and she clung to him, not even recalling when he had let go of her hands.
This is fine, as long as he doesn't release inside me then it doesn't count. The huntress amended her rationalization again. She was distantly aware of the fact that she was playing a dangerous game and that Harry most likely had no intention of pulling out, but that whisper of reason was drowned out by the roar of lust.
His member pushed deeper and deeper inside, spreading apart muscles that hadn't been used in centuries. He was long and thick, larger than any male she'd been with before. No doubt a deliberate feature of his handcrafted body. Jessir had never felt so full.
Harry hooked his hands under her knees and raised up her legs. That let him push in even deeper and she was able to feel him poking at the entrance to her womb. Although her hands were halfheartedly pushing at his abs, her legs hooked around his waist, wanting more of the sensation.
Jessir gasped out almost silently when he pulled back, only to thrust back in, sending a shock of pleasure through her whole body. She clawed at his back in search of more and he obliged, setting a steady rhythm of hard thrusts that quickly had her climbing back towards climax.
Her head fell sideways, a mess of silver hair over her eyes, but she was still able to see Arko and Luna. The priestess of Elune was now using her fingers to thrust into the warrior in time with Harry's thrusts into her. Arko was clearly enjoying herself if the deep flush on her body and the half-lidded stare was any indication.glow from the heat, eventually melting down into