#xaphias

What’s a guy to do when he’s confronted with a titanic monstrosity, and he’s not even a combat character?

Draenei monks have some of the best combat animations.

The first one is easy, if depressing: Xaph would carry on for Lila’s sake, but he’d be devastated. The entire reason he was so quick to marry Kudrelke is because his last partner was taken away from him after 80 years of loyal, but never formally recognized, companionship. His worst nightmare after Lila being hurt and/or killed is for the same to happen to his husband, because he knows he’s not strong enough to make it through another sudden loss as himself. He’d stop smiling so easily, his passion for life would be diminished, and he wouldn’t feel the sense of completeness that his family brings him now.

Vas is a little more complicated, because she has one living parent (her mother, Oriyaa) and one deceased parent (Maar). Currently, she’s not too happy with this arrangement, because her mother is a strict, scary authoritarian and a political powerhouse in main-timeline Shattrath. They don’t see eye-to-eye much, and haven’t spoken to each other in years. Vas blames her for not being able to save the rest of their family, and Ori thinks her daughter should be more grateful that she was able to save her hide.

Kudrelke's eyes gleamed in the dark of their bedroom. His arms wrapped around his husband, who was curled around Lila. Xaph was asleep, finally. He wouldn't speak about what had happened that night, and Relke didn't expect he would. He understood all too well what it was like coming back from the field. Relke had just guided Xaph to the bed, tucked him in, and brought Lila to him, cradling the little girl carefully in his arms as Eladea padded quietly behind him. The cat had given him a possessive flat-eared glare as he'd picked Lila up, then thrashed her tail and followed, begrudged from having to move from her warm, comfortable bed with the little girl - sharp tiny hooves and all. Gently brushing a long lock of hair back from Xaph's face, Relke nuzzled his face gently against his neck. What little he did gather from the night's events, he could see Lena's position, her reasoning. And he could tell that Xaph wouldn't like that news. So he'd kept quiet. It wasn't important right now. What was important was keeping his family safe, caring for his husband. He sighed quietly and rolled carefully onto his back. Somewhat needlessly, as Xaph was most definitely out. A selfish tentacle of smugness, relief, and guilt wormed through his belly. Now Xaph really understood what it was like to be expected to go out and fight, to be expected to kill others who had also been asked to fight, willingly or not, to be terrified of not being able to return home, come home safely to family. And it was affecting him in the same way it constantly affected Relke. Too many times, Relke came back from patrols, especially difficult ones, or from missions with the group, and collapsed in on himself. Hearing the broader strokes of news, of progression and tactics, was nothing in the face of being there, in the middle of the senselessness that was war.

It never really went away. On the other hand, his reason countered, Relke now knew what it was like to be waiting at home, trying to pretend everything was alright, keeping up appearances and routines while the one he loved and now depended on was being put in danger.

Relke would rather have walked alone and unarmed across the Crossroads in Ashran than see Xaphias anywhere in Tanaan. He’d rather swim a hundred laps through the fel moat around Hellfire Citadel than see Xaphias holding any kind of weapon. It wasn't enough, the day they'd had to train, to learn how to carry and hold a spear, how to take a hit, how to fall and roll back up to one's hooves. It was never enough. I'll have to train him more... just.. in case. Relke sighed heavily and closed his eyes, falling quickly into a fitful sleep. He was tired of "just in case".

A crystal timepiece on the mantle chimed gently, but Xaph didn’t bother to count the hour. It was late, and he could feel the day’s worry weighing him down, but Lila came before all else. Somewhere along the line, she must have picked up a bug - nothing as severe as Zangar Fever, but a fever nonetheless - and it hadn’t broken yet. He’d endured a number of hardships beside Lila like this in the short time they had lived together, but none of them had kept him up for so long, for so late, unable to do anything but wait and hope.

Beside Lila, a large purple panther flicked and ear, but she kept her paws at a distance. Xaph had already scolded her twice for trying to lick her face; Ela wasn’t happy with the current arrangement, but she respected it at least as long as Xaph fussed over the little girl. He supposed it was the druid’s way of trying to help, but all it did was rub Lila’s nose raw. Eladea lifted her head, her eyes glinting in the low light, and Xaphias sighed again. “I know. I know you want to help,” he mumbled, looking back. “We just have to wait it out.”

Just have to wait it out. How many times had he repeated that phrase since Lila came down with her fever? Often enough that all he could do was continue to repeat it. He wanted to pick her up and cuddle her, kiss the fever away and let her sleep soundly. He wanted to make her better, not just wait and relieve her symptoms as he could.

Lila stirred again, prying open her tiny eyes. “No, Sweetling, shh. It’s just me,” he tried to reassure her. She tried to roll over again, and her held her in place. “Just try to sit still. I’m here for you, you’re going to be fine.” She sank back into her pillow with a grunt. “Just like that. Lay your head back, and it’ll be morning before you know it.”

Ela gave him a scrupulous look, one that clearly said “you’re going to wear yourself out” despite being a wordless glance from a panther. Xaphias removed his hand from Lila’s forehead and ruffled the druid’s fur. “Yeah. But you expect me to just leave her?” he asked under his breath, scratching behind Ela’s ear. She made a contented noise and laid her head back down on her paws. “I’ll be fine. I just want her to feel safe.”

This seemed to satisfy Eladea, and she closed her eyes. He brushed his hand through her fur a few times, then straightened. He placed his hand back on Lila’s forehead. “I want to feel safe,” he muttered.

And that was the crux of it, wasn’t it? Since the beginning of the year, he’d been Lila’s caretaker, her mentor, her friend and guardian. She unthinkingly put her trust in him, and no matter how bad things had gotten, he had never felt like that trust had been misplaced. Even when the Shadows had come under attack, he’d felt powerless but not incompetent. Attacks could be fended off, and they weren’t his area of expertise. Taking care of people, making them feel safe and comfortable, that was his calling. And all he could do for his baby girl with her fever was to wait it out. “I just want you to be okay.”

I have a bit of time before I go under, so toss me some character questions. If I don’t get to them now, I’ll try to get to them after I come out of anesthesia.