For the Whored Ch. 073

"The sooner we fix me, the better." Elunara stuffed a chocolate in her mouth. "Besides, Grogek's been feeding me, so to speak. I felt stronger before I ever touched the basket."

"I find it interesting that I don't feel like she's done anything." Grogek kissed her temple. "She may take energy from me, but not in a way that I can feel or drains me."

"Now that I am aware of it, I feel it." Elunara sighed. "It's not noticeable as a transfer, but like, the physical contact lifts me up somehow, and that feeling slowly builds and trickles and builds and trickles. I'll have to experiment with it more when I get home."

"The town will rejoice." Tulani grinned. "Speaking of which, Eloise will be pleased with me. I secured some nice fabrics to take back with me."

"Did you get any for your own studio?"

"Shoot, I didn't even think of that."

"Don't forget." Elunara wiped her hands on a napkin and stood up. "Let's go... purge or something."

Grogek stood up and turned to Tyrande. "She doesn't remember speaking to us in the Temple."

"What?"

"I remember closing my eyes and seeing this bright light... and then I woke up here."

"But that's impossible, you were completely lucid and foul mouthed."

Elunara shook her head. "Not me. Well, not that I remember, Grogek theorizes that maybe Elune used me to speak, and I could say that, using my body as a puppet, she was stuck with my words."

"Truly bizarre." Tyrande whispered. "Well, come with me."

Back in the Temple, the set up was arranged again, with Elunara sitting in the center.

"This time, I want Grogek and Tulani to be by her side, as they are the ones who gave us what we had last time."

Tulani pointed to a spot on the ground. "Darguni, sit here and be a good boy, OK?"

"Ok, Momma Tuly."

"He's already speaking better." Elunara sighed. She closed her eyes and leaned against the statue. The channeling began and she felt light headed.

Once again, Elunara was lifted into the air. Grogek and Tulani put their hands on her legs and watched as the tendril of light poured from her body and wrapped around her. The dark came out as well, larger than it had been when it fled. Tulani closed her eyes and focused on giving Elunara her energy. Grogek grabbed the creature again. It seared his hand, but still he grappled with the foul creature. It was like fighting a big oily snake.

"Gods damn you, you cannot have my wife." He growled at the thing.

"It's so strong!" Called Tyrande. "It fights us, even the purification ritual will fail if we cannot make head way."

Darguni stood up and ran over, jumping into the pool and sloshing his way to the center. He climbed up on the statue and wrapped his arms around Elunara's legs. "Momma!" He cried.

A surge of power caused the tendril of light to glow brightly and attack the dark with more ferocity. It broke apart in Grogek's hand and fell completely into the pool where it hissed and sizzled as it dissolved. Elunara was lowered back down and laid against the statue.

Darguni climbed in her lap and patted her cheek. "Momma?"

Elunara opened her eyes and looked around. She sat up and rubbed her head. "Is it me?" She asked.

"What?" Grogek peered into her eyes.

"Oh, it looks like I gained control this time. I can work with it."

Everyone stared at Elunara.

"Hello, my devout. I know I don't do this often, but extreme circumstances make the most curious outcomes."

"Elunara?" Tulani asked timidly.

She shook her head. "Forgive me, but no. Some may call me Elune. What I am is... unexplainable. I have been watching Elunara with great interest for some time now. While she was born from one of my most devout and powerful followers, her heart was locked to me. There would be no way I could reach her until she found a way to unlock her heart." She put a hand on Grogek. "You did that for her. Thank you." She put a hand on Tulani. "You aided in this, and I thank you as well."

She smiled at the room. "You see, I have always known of Elunara's strange gift and the reason she is how she is. One is just the result of another. It was... strange, but not necessarily bad. You see, Elunara requires physical contact to survive. She takes the freely given energy of another and turns it into... her. It's an interesting thing, because she never takes more than is freely given. When this... dark star invaded her body, it began to leech off that ability, preventing her from returning to full strength."

"So that means..." Grogek was afraid to touch her.

Elunara nodded. "You did her a great service, by allowing her to be who she is. Had you tried to prevent her... activities, she would have resented you; most likely killed you, and moved on, having never unlocked the ability she now possesses. Admittedly, being able to drag one's soul back from the nether is not an ability I would have attributed to Elunara. However, as I said before, extreme circumstances can lead to the most curious outcomes.

"So all this time..." Tyrande's eyes filled. "I was so cruel to her."

"Do not worry yourself. Mothers tend to have the worst reactions to their child's... antics. No, Elunara is one of my most cherished children. I have watched her this whole time, waiting to see if I could be of any assistance. Now that she is open to me, I can more freely work. She may need me again, but for now, I release her to the care of her loved ones."

"But I have so much to ask you..." Tyrande knelt. "My goddess."

"There will be time for that later. I have occupied her for far too long." Elunara closed her eyes and leaned back.

Elunara groaned and rubbed her eyes.

"How are you feeling, love?"

"Like a clefthoof is tap dancing on my head."

Tulani put a cool cloth on Elunara's forehead. "We destroyed the dark star residue."

"Yeay." She said weakly. "When we get home, I'm eating an entire carrot cake by myself. How long this time?"

"Only a couple of days. Do you remember talking to us after?"

Elunara winced. "No?"

"That's fine." Tulani smiled.

"I want to go home." She whimpered.

"It'll be a couple of days; Tyrande wants to monitor you for awhile longer."

She whined.

"Momma Ok?" Darguni patted her chest.

"Momma hurts."

He climbed under the covers and put his head on her chest. "Hugs feel better."

"Yeah."

"He has a point." Tulani climbed under the covers and wrapped her arms around Elunara.

Grogek grinned. "That he does." He slid under the covers and wrapped his arms around Elunara on the other side.

"Warm." She smiled as she dozed back off.

"Enter." Grogek called to the door.

Tyrande stuck her head in and blinked at the scene before her. On one side, Tulani's head stuck out, the other side was Grogek, and in the middle she could see the top of Darguni's head.

"I came to check on her."

"She was awake only briefly, in a lot of pain." Tulani frowned.

"We figured we'd offer our energy to help her." Grogek brushed the hair out of Elunara's face.

It was the soft, caring sweetness of the Orc that always threw her mind out of whack. She shook her head and moved into the room, sitting down near the wall. "I have done her a horrible disservice all these years."

"If you wish to help her, you may lay your hands on her. She would not be upset." Grogek turned on his side and propped up on his elbow. "In fact, it would help her to know you tried."

Tyrande stood up and walked over, kneeling at Elunara's head. She reached forward and put her hands on her shoulders.

"Whoever is singing really needs to knock it off." Elunara groaned.

"What are you talking about?" Ask Tulani. "I don't hear any singing."

"Me either." Grogek shook his head.

"Are you kidding me? They're really freaking loud." She sat up and groaned. "I will find them and my vengeance will be unmerciful." She put a hand to her forehead. "How are you not hearing tha..."

Grogek sat up and put his hand on her cheek, turning her face to him. "Love? Oh, it looks like she's in a trance."

Tulani sat up and looked. "Oh, dear."

"You have a really obnoxious way of making yourself known." Elunara looked around at the shuddering darkness. She stared at the pretty Night Elf lady sitting on a rock.

"Forgive the flair for dramatics; it's often difficult to get your attention."

"What are you doing to me now?"

"Well, hopefully this time you actually remember what I have to tell you. I am giving you your body back. Your family went a long way to helping you recover; I'm quite impressed by them. In any event, with a little more... affection you'll be back to bouncing every guy you deem attractive."

"Great, now you're a smartass."

"Oh no, I find it all quite interesting. You feed off of the energies of others. But not like a parasite. More like a willing transference. I've only found something like that in beings like me. You do it kind of benevolently. You offer yourself to them and in return, you feed. You only take what they offer, never more. Many have found this practice disgusting and vulgar, it goes against the norm. But it's beautiful in its own strange way."

"What are you saying?"

"All those men, and occasional woman, are the result of your need to feed on their energies. I use feed and it sound awful, but it's true. You have such a backlog of stamina, because of how you obtain your energy. Far be it for a being of purity and chastity to tell you to continue bonking the brains out of every man you meet. However, I think you'd do it regardless of WHAT I told you to do."

"Damned skippy."

She giggled. "I love your phrases. Anyhow, I helped protect you until you could be cleansed of the Dark Star. Now that you are, I shall be on my merry way, always watching you with a keen sort of interest."

Elunara blinked, Grogek's face filled her vision.

"Love?"

"Huh. My head isn't hurting anymore."

"How do you feel?" He ran his fingers down the side of her face.

"Pretty good actually. Elune wanted to have another one of her little chats." Elunara shook her head. "In fact, I remember all of them now."

"What did she say?"

Elunara looked back at Tyrande. "That she has such a huge interest in me, because I have an ability that she has only seen in beings like her."

"Like her?" Tyrande whispered.

"Yeah, like the Naaru, or the light, or even spirits. She says it's all connected somehow, and I... feed off of the men. She called it benevolent."

"All this time, I've done you so wrong."

Elunara waved her hand. "Don't even go there. My actions weren't exactly helpful, and Fandral would have lost his marbles if you hadn't banished me. Let's just call the whole mess even."

Tyrande wrapped her arms around Elunara.

"And... don't do that too often, it makes me feel weird."

Grogek and Tulani laughed.

Tyrande took Elunara's hands. "Come, it's been so long since you were here."

Sae stuck her head in the room. "Ma'am... I have a little problem."

"Whatever could it be?"

"Word of an Orc in Darnassus has travelled quickly to Stormwind and beyond, there's... a crowd."

Elunara heard a familiar whisper. "I left you a gift." She turned and looked, but saw nothing.

Tyrande walked to the window and looked out. "Oh! Oh no." She shook her head. "They misunderstand."

"I'll handle it." Elunara stood up and took Darguni's hand. She nodded to Grogek and Tulani. "Follow." She made her way downstairs and to the steps of the inn. In front of her, a mob of men and women of all Alliance races stood before her. Many were adventuring parties and she suspected there was a raiding party in there. They began to call names at Grogek.

Elunara flung her arms down at her sides. "SHUT UP!" She screamed. A band of light flew from the center of her being out into the crowd, knocking them all to their asses. They all sat and stared in confusion.

"That's BETTER!" She gestured to Grogek. "THIS IS MY HUSBAND, YOU ASSHOLES! He is MINE he is OF THE ALLIANCE! HE is NOT for you asswipes to attack or hunt down or otherwise cause discomfort! You try and you deal with MY WRATH!" She sent out the wave again, knocking down those who had tried to stand. "THIS is MY child! You will NOT HARM HIM! YOU UNDERSTAND, YOU MORONS?"

They scattered.

"You gotta teach me that one." Sae grinned.

"Sorry, that was Elune's parting gift. Not sure I could even do it again."

"Fascinating."

"Understatement."

"Well, that's one way to deal with them." Tyrande made a face.

"My husband. Mine. No one is taking him from me again." Elunara clung to Grogek's arm.

He laughed. "My vicious little she-wolf." He kissed her temple.

"Wait 'til we get home." She grinned. "I'll show you vicious."

"I await the moment." He stroked her hair.

"I do ask that since you are here, that perhaps you take a day or two to enjoy your ancestral home?" Tyrande smiled.

"Sure, why the hell not?"

"Forgive me for being forward..." Grogek turned to Tyrande. "But I've been curious to examine one of those glaives."

"He can be nice and let her try out his axe." Elunara grinned.

Tyrande turned to one of the sentinels. "Julia, can you let him hold your glaive?"

"Yes ma'am." Julia held up the weapon.

Grogek took it carefully and examined the blade. "I like the design, nice heft to it. And this is the thing you caught and threw back?"

Elunara laughed. "Sheer dumb luck, I assure you. I was just as shocked as Shylena was."

Grogek held up his hand and flexed it. He grabbed the handle of his axe and grinned. "Oh, I like that." He dropped it blade down and gestured to it.

Julia walked over and tried to yank up the axe. It didn't budge. She tried to lift it and barely got it off the ground. Curious, Tyrande tried to life the axe and gasped in shock. She tried several times to lift it, only to just get it above her knees.

"That thing is HEAVY!" She gasped.

Elunara put her hand on the axe handle. "This thing?" She hefted it up and on to her shoulder. "Yeah, it's a little heavy."

Grogek barked out a laugh. "You have no idea how much she enjoys doing that."

"How in the world?"

"Years and years of getting men off." Elunara winked and gave the axe a twirl. "It's a neat party trick to pull on asshole trainees who think they're so damned tough."

"How do I dismiss it?"

"Decide you don't want it anymore."

The axe vanished. "Nice." He handed the weapon back to Julia. "Yes, Elunara rules us all with an iron first."

"Is THAT what you call it?" Tulani giggled.

"No, that would be the velvet glove." He grinned.

"Is it any wonder I love these idiots?" Elunara grinned.

Tyrande shook her head. "After all this time, I finally understand Elunara. But I still can't believe I'm sitting here listening to you two discuss Elunara like you do. It just boggles my mind."

"Actually," Tulani smiled softly. "What's surprising are the things we have done in order to please her."

"Tulani..."

She shrugged and winked at Elunara.

"I think you like having that little thing to embarrass me with."

"Possibly." She put her hands behind her back.

"Do I even want to know?"

"None but the three of us will ever know."