//------------------------------//
// Interlude: Securing the Tidestone 
// Story: World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

With the naga that had called the Eye of Azshara their base of operations defeated, and all of their allies disposed of for the moment, Lyra, Trixie, and their band of heroes teleported back to Dalaran, where they appeared on Krasus' Landing. With their return they were hailed by several of the Kirin Tor that protected the city, as well as some of the shopkeepers and the other adventurers, as they made their way towards the middle of the city. Allvar and Maraa told them that they would meet them at the tavern that they had been in earlier, before they had joined the group, to which Lyra, Trixie, and Azuregos watched as they walked away. None of them were concerned, as they were in a safe place and could easily protect themselves, though Trixie took them to the teleport pad that was in the middle of the city and teleported away.

When Lyra and Azuregos joined her they found themselves in what appeared to be a chamber with a large number of bookcases, spread through the three areas that the chamber had... though in the middle of the area in front of them, however, there were a few stands where the Pillars of Creation could rest while they, and the other heroes, could house the ones that they had collected.

"Where are we?" Lyra asked, because while she assumed that they were somewhere in Dalaran, she was unfamiliar with the city and had no idea where this chamber could even be.

"In Aegwynn's Gallery," Trixie commented, to which she looked at the four slots that were glowing, indicating that they knew the locations of four of the five Pillars of Creation and that her mentor had prepared these stands for the ones that they actually knew about, "This is supposed to be where Aegwynn, one of the most powerful Guardians in the history of Azeroth, kept her private collection and notes... but even Khadgar has had trouble finding anything that can tell us about the remaining Pillars of Creation."

A few seconds later Trixie levitated the Tidestone up and set it onto the stand that rested to the right of a path that would take them down to a set of portals, though once the artifact was in place she let out a sigh of relief... though that was followed by Prince Farondis phasing into existence near them, informing them that he must have been given permission to be here by Khadgar.

"It has been ages since I have seen the Tidestone whole, but there it stands." Prince Farondis commented, staring at the Pillar of Creation for a few seconds, before turning towards the trio once more, "I and my people owe all three of you a debt of gratitude that we can never repay. Please take a moment to rest and relax after your ordeals, before even thinking about returning to Azsuna. There is much yet left to do, but we can wait for our heroes to regain their strength before we prepare for the coming war that looms over all of us."

Lyra nodded her head to that statement, because now that they had acquired one of the Pillars of Creation she was sure that the Legion was going to step up their efforts in an attempt to acquire one of the other three that they knew about. That made her think about the other Illidari, who were no doubt gathering supplies and waiting for her to return, but she said nothing as Trixie and Azuregos nodded their heads. Once Prince Farondis knew that they, and their allies, would be in Azsuna to help them again, at some point in the future, he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, leaving them to their own devices.

"So now what?" Lyra asked, knowing that her next objective was to head back to the Fel Hammer and see what her forces were doing, though at the same time she was positive that they could do without her for some time.

"Now we head back to the inn that Allvar and Maraa went into," Trixie replied, to which she beckoned for Lyra and Azuregos to follow her as she headed towards the teleport pad they had used to enter this part of Dalaran, "there we will divide the treasure we earned evenly among the five of us. After that I think we'll have to take some advice from Prince Farondis and relax for the rest of the day, that way we'll be better prepared to face whatever trials that tomorrow brings... and we can also see what the other Orders are doing, in terms of finding the other three Pillars, so we can determine which part of the Broken Isles we should head to next."

Lyra nodded and followed Trixie and Azuregos to the teleport pad, to which the three of them teleported back to the central building of Dalaran and made their way towards the inn that their companions had headed into... where they found out that they had reserved the large table in the back of the room. Lyra was sure that taking that specific table made it easier for them to see who was entering the inn and determining whether something was going to happen, but she didn't say anything as she sat down with the rest of the group.

"Allow me to be the first to say that those naga had no idea what had hit them," Allvar commented, though at the same time he placed five small coin bags on the table, which immediately told Lyra that there was one for all of them, "Maraa and I have already sold off anything of little value, while you were busy storing the Tidestone away, and five hundred gold is what we have earned... one hundred apiece."

Lyra was somewhat surprised to find that they were able to find enough junk to earn that much gold, and wondered how the shopkeepers had that much on them, but she then decided that the gold system in Azeroth was something that she shouldn't be focusing on. She took the coin pouch that was offered to her and stored it away in her bag, though at the same time she knew that she would likely never find a use for it.

"Now then, on to the loot that each of the major enemies were carrying," Allvar said, to which he pulled a second bag onto the table, before reaching in and pulling what appeared to be a belt of some kind out, "Lady Hatecoil was carrying this belt in her treasure bag, though now we can put it to use in our fight against the Legion... and Maraa and I have decided that it should go to her."

Trixie and Azuregos nodded, to which Lyra silently nodded as well, but despite the fact that this was her first time running a dungeon she had no idea why the belt was even going to Maraa. Trixie, noticing the confusion on Lyra's face, explained that there was an intellect enchantment on the belt, meaning that Maraa's skills would be slightly better than they were before. Lyra then asked how Trixie could tell, to which the response was that she had dabbled in enchanting when she was trying to find out which professions matched her, and she had picked up a bit of knowledge on how to determine which enchantments a piece of armor or jewelry had.

Oddly enough Allvar said that Parjesh had been carrying a belt with him when they defeated him, another enchanted one, though this one was more attuned to strength than intellect, which meant that he was the only one in their group that could use it... to which he eagerly accepted it, though Lyra could tell that he was planning on using his new power to fight the Legion the next time they found the demons.

Allvar then turned to Trixie and Azuregos, who also used intellect by Lyra's reasoning, and presented them with a pair of items; a pair of mage boots and a set of gloves, though Lyra could tell that either of them could use both items. Trixie and Azuregos for a few seconds before the disguised dragon beckoned for Trixie to take an item first, indicating that he might not actually need either item, to which Trixie picked up the gloves. Azuregos, who was likely feeling guilty over Trixie's new half dragon form, could have also let her pick first to make up for what he had done, but Lyra wasn't sure about that and kept her opinion to herself.

"And now for the newest adventurer," Allvar said, causing Lyra to look at him, just as he set two items on the table, which had to be the last two based on the deflated bag he had been carrying, "a chest piece and a pair of gloves, both dropped from Serpentrix."

Lyra looked at the slightly dark purple colored gloves and wondered how much stronger they would make her, because at the moment she was still used to wearing her Illidari Robes and the rest of the outfit. She hadn't even considered that she might need to change her armor at some point in time, just to make sure that she didn't take a large amount of damage. She was fine with putting the gloves on, as it appeared that they wouldn't get in her way of wielding the Twinblades, but when she looked at the chest piece she could only stare at it in shock. The armor in question was more revealing than what she was currently wearing, as this actually showed off parts of her breasts thanks to the 'V' shape that was on the front of the armor... though she guessed that there was something good about it, as the back was open and wouldn't do anything to her wings when she needed them.

She glanced out the open door of the inn for a moment and noticed two of the Illidari, one a female night elf and the other a female blood elf, walking down the street to get some supplies from one of the shops... though she could tell that the armor they were wearing was identical to what was in front of her, and neither of them were embarrassed about it. She then glanced down at her own clothing and realized that a good portion of it had tears in the fabric and leather, though she had been so preoccupied with acquiring the Twinblades, awakening the Fel Hammer, and finding the Tidestone that she had never noticed how damaged her armor actually was. For a moment she mentally cursed Maiev, as a good portion of the damage was likely her fault from their duel seven years ago, but she then let out a sigh... she guessed this was better than nothing.

Lyra was also sure that she would be able to replace this at some point in the future, so she decided that she should suck up any embarrassment the chest piece brought to light and continue with their mission... once she found a private place to put the armor on. Trixie mentioned that sure was sure that no one would be upstairs at the moment, meaning that she could slip into her new gear without having to worry about anyone watching her while she changed. As the others started going over what they were going to do next, however, Lyra excused herself and headed upstairs, where she found her way to an area where she couldn't easily be seen and sighed. She quickly pulled off the chest piece she was currently wearing and slipped on the new piece that she had been handed, trying her best to ignore any embarrassment that she might have felt when she put it on.

She looked over at the mirror and told herself that the moment she found something better, and less revealing, she was going to replace the chest piece... to which she sighed and walked back down to the others. When she reached the first level of the inn, however, she noticed that Asha had entered the building, though Lyra suspected that the demon hunter was looking for her.

"Lyra, Battlelord Gaardoun asked me to retrieve you." Asha said, though it appeared that she was somewhat happy to have found her so quickly, while at the same time her tone told Lyra that something must have happened if Gaardoun wanted her back so soon, "He says there is a very important matter that he needs your help with. He requests your presence back on the Fel Hammer as soon as possible."

"Trixie, Azuregos, if you'll excuse me." Lyra commented, turning to the group that was sitting at the table and nodded her head for a second, to which her friends nodded back to her, before she turned towards Asha, "Let us see what Gaardoun has to tell me."

Asha nodded and lead the way back to Krasus' Landing, where the two of them climbed up onto the ruined ledge and used their wings to glide down to where the portal to the Fel Hammer was located. Once they landed on the small floating island they approached the portal and stepped through it, to which they cross the space between Azeroth and Mardum, before appearing in the Fel Hammer. Lyra noticed that the Illidari were busy preparing themselves, as she suspected they would be, though she also noticed that the higher ranking ones that she had seen back down on Azsuna had come back here, meaning that they trusted whoever they had left behind. None of the Illidari said anything about her new armor, which she was thankful for, so she focused on the task at hand and looked for Gaardoun... who was standing in front of where the Broken were, no doubt trying to teach them.

"Commander Lyra, I am glad to see that Asha was able to find you so quickly." Gaardoun said, taking a moment to give Lyra a small bow, once again reminding her of her position as the leader of the Illidari, "There is something important that you must attend to as soon as possible."

"That is why I came back to the Fel Hammer," Lyra stated, knowing that she could easily be planning where to go next on the Broken Isles, but she was sure that this was just as important as finding the Pillars of Creation.

"The Matron Mother, Lady S'theno, and I have been watching you and the rest of the Illidari." Gaardoun stated, which wasn't something that surprised Lyra, as she had known that the three leaders had been watching her and the others since the day she joined the Illidari, "We have something of an outsider's perspective on things, which gives us a degree of objectivity. We have come to a unanimous recommendation: in order to keep the Illidari from splintering, you must begin to recruit champions. These exalted few will aid in projecting your power beyond the confines of the Fel Hammer. Our unanimous recommendations for the first two are Kayn and Asha."

Lyra could hear the shock in Asha's voice as she gasped, meaning that she hadn't been told about this when she had been ordered to find her in Dalaran, though Lyra was a little shocked. She knew that Kayn was a worthy champion of their order, just as Asha was, but she found it a little unfair that Altruis hadn't been mentioned at all, while at the same time noticing that the elf in question wasn't anywhere near them at the moment. Lyra quickly found Kayn and asked both him and Asha if they would consider becoming champions of their order, though she was surprised to find that they eagerly accepted their new positions as her champions. With that done Gaardoun beckoned her over to Kor'vas, who seemed to have something on her mind... something that was likely along the lines of gathering more soldiers for the war.

"I was told that you have something to tell me." Lyra commented, wondering what Kor'vas would even want to tell her, but she suspected that it would need to be done immediately.

"Battlelord Gaardoun has offered to recruit more broken warriors for the cause." Kor'vas replied, to which she beckoned to the Captain of the Broken for a moment, before looking down at the panel in front of her, "He just needs a few things first. He said something about the right tool for the job, or something like that. Time to put your new champions to the test. I'm sure it will be a grueling mission."

Lyra looked at the circular panel that Kor'vas was looking at and was shocked to find that, if she stared at it for a few seconds, she could see a list of missions she could send her champions on, though at the moment it appeared that the only one was the one that Kor'vas had told her about. Once she knew what she was looking at, and sort of understood the whole system that she was being taught how to use, she sent a command to her two champions and sent them on the mission that Kor'vas had prepared for her to send them on. The instant Kor'vas touched her back she knew that she had succeeded, to which she broke the connection between her and the circular panel, to which she decided to take a break and wait for her champions to return from their mission.

She was sure that there were a few more missions she would need to send them on, once they got back, so she decided to look around the Fel Hammer and wait for the two of them to return.