c12.2

"How do they keep roping me into these things?" Jaina asked plaintively as she patted down the folds of her dress.

It was a very nice dress done in her preferred colors of blue and white. A full length skirt with a top that showed only the barest hint of cleavage, much more modest than what she usually wore in other words. It was the kind of thing that she would wear when some function or other had required her to be present as a Proudmoore of Kul Tiras rather than as a mage of the Kirin Tor. She hadn't worn anything like it in years.

Of course, this was not one of those occasions. She was dressed like this because Luna had showed up in Theramore with her usual lack of warning, 'suggested' that they have dinner together and told her to dress nice.

Jaina had wanted to protest or ask for more information, but Luna had pretty much talked right over her objections and then mentioned that Harry had some important things he wanted to mention. Given that the man knew bits and pieces of the future and was currently neck deep into the effort to restore the Forsaken to life, she hadn't thought it a good idea to refuse to meet with him, especially not out some a petty desire to be contrary.

She could endure a few hours of flirting for the sake of Azeroth's future. She had at least managed to insist that the dinner be held in Theramore rather than in Harry's tower.

She could have disregarded the instruction to dress pretty, but her guests would definitely be dressed up, so she would just feel even more awkward.

"It could be because you actually enjoy it." Aegwynn suggested with a smirk, wearing a dress of her own.

The ancient sorceress had invited herself along because she wanted to finally meet Harry, the man who now wielded her old staff.

"Don't start with that again." Jaina huffed.

She did not need to get laid, no matter what Aegwynn thought.

The other woman raised her hands in a show of surrender, but the smirk didn't leave her face. "As you say. We should get going, it would be embarrassing to tell them that you weren't there to greet them because you spent too long making yourself pretty."

Jaina wanted to despair. Why did all the people around her have to be like this? And Aegwynn used to be so serious, too.

The two archmages made the short trip to the teleportation chamber, the room that Jaina used as a point of arrival when teleporting home. After Harry had blithely allowed her access through his wards, she had felt almost obligated to extend the same courtesy despite common sense telling her to never do such a thing unless you've known the mage in question for many years.

Her guests arrived only a few minutes later and Jaina immediately noticed that instead of the four she had been expecting, they numbered five.

The extra woman was just as big as the other three, with glossy black hair going down to her shoulders and deep blue eyes. Her curvaceous form was squeezed into a tight black dress that hugged all her curves and showed off a lot of cleavage and leg. Her small, pointed ears poked out from her hair.

For all of these changes, however, the face was easily recognizable even if it looked younger and more alive than when she had last seen it.

"Lady Blaumeux?!" Jaina blurted out in surprise. "What…?"

"Lady Proudmoore." The former death knight smiled at her. "Good evening."

"Why are you…?" Jaina cut herself off as she realized what must have happened, turning to Harry with an aggravated expression. "Please tell me you didn't seduce the former High Priestess of the Silver Hand."

"I was going to." The insufferable man admitted with a grin. "But Colette surprised me, came right up to us and asked to join the Battle Harem."

Arko and Jessir had a cloud of despair around them. "They called for a vote on what our name should be and Battle Harem received three votes..."

Aegwynn chuckled deep in her throat. "What an amusing group."

Jaina was more concerned about the other thing that Harry said. "You asked to join them?! Lady Blaumeux, why?"

She had never met the woman prior to their adventure in Naxxramas, but surely the High Priestess of the Silver Hand would have more dignity than that?

"I guess I got used to having a big stallion between my legs." The supposedly dignified woman purred throatily. The inflection was so lewd that Jaina felt dirty just from listening to her words. "I hear that you will be joining us one day? I would suggest you hurry up and give in. You really don't know what you're missing."

"I keep telling her that she needs to get laid." Aegwynn chimed in unhelpfully.

"I do not need to get laid!" Jaina snapped waspishly in embarrassment-fueled anger.

"Are you sure? You seem pretty tense." Luna asked dubiously, her concern entirely genuine.

"… Let's just head to the dining room." She sighed, already exhausted of dealing with their antics and it had only been a few minutes.

"Aren't we doing introductions first?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow. "I don't think we all know each other."

"Oh, right." Alright, so she'd forgotten about that bit of courtesy in her shock at Colette Blaumeux's appearance. "This is my chamberlain and the former Guardian of Tirisfal, Aegwynn."

"Greetings." The ancient sorceress said cordially.

"A pleasure." Harry purred, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to the knuckles.

"So help me, if you try to seduce her I will turn you into an ice sculpture." Jaina threatened, despite knowing it would just give him more ammunition.

"There's no need to be jealous, honey." The expected smug retort came. "Aegwynn is clearly a woman with a great deal of past and not much future. She'd be a poor fit with us."

Now that was a little unexpected and Jaina glanced at her chamberlain to see her response. Surprisingly, the ancient woman did not seem upset.

"Anyway, you've already met Luna." Harry put a hand to his wife's back.

"Hi!" Luna chirped. She was wearing an airy silver dress that seemed to straddle the line between bold and modest. It wasn't deliberately provocative, but her curvaceous body made it so.

"A pleasure to see you again." Aegwynn nodded.

"These are Arko'narin and Jessir Moonbow." He put one hand behind each of their waists and brought them forward.

The two night elves wore similar dresses to Luna, favoring the simple designs of their race. It did not make them any less beautiful for it.

"Luna briefly mentioned you. It is good to meet you properly." Aegwynn shook their hands with a smile.

"Likewise." Jessir and Arko chorused before stepping back.

"And Jaina already blurted out the name of our newest member, Colette Blaumeux, formerly of the Silver Hand and more recently liberated from the Undead Scourge." Harry went on.

"I never thought I would meet Magna Aegwynn, it is an honor." Lady Blaumeux said, much more seriously than before.

"Just Aegwynn, please. I am not the Guardian of Tirisfal anymore." Aegwynn expression briefly twisted into irritation. It had taken Jaina quite some time to grasp that she genuinely disliked being referred to by her past titles.

"And I'm Harry, I'm sure Jaina has complained about me a lot." Harry finished off the introductions. He was as dressed up as the women, in a semi-formal half-robe that put a lot of emphasis on his large physique.

"She has." Aegwynn confirmed with a smirk. "But don't let that discourage you. You are the only man she talks about at all."

Why did Aegwynn have to be like this?

XXXXX

Dinner was heavy on the seafood. That made sense, seeing as Kul Tiras was a naval kingdom and Theramore sat right next to the sea. Jaina's chefs knew what they were doing at any rate.

"You're really missing out by letting other people do it for you." Luna was saying. "Cooking for friends and family is a wonderful experience."

"I bet she's a disaster in the kitchen." Harry commented with a smirk. "Did you choose to specialize in frost magic so that you could put out the fires, Jaina?"

"No." She replied quickly. "And I don't know if I'm a disaster in the kitchen – I've never tried to cook."

"I can teach you!" Luna was even quicker to offer. "I used to be pretty bad at cooking, too. The only thing I could make was dessert."

"I remember that you used to animate it." Harry reminisced, chuckling. You would think that any memories of sharing food with family would have blurred into an indistinct mass while he was doing his Odin impersonation, but Luna's creations could be… memorable. "Fleur and Dora had nightmares after that bowl of pudding that begged us to eat it in a seductive whispery voice."

"Oh, I remember that!" Luna bounced in her seat with bright eyes, not noticing the 'what the fuck?' expressions on all the other women at the table. "I still don't understand what the problem was." She finished with a pout.

Yes, what could possibly be the problem with your food forming a face and whispering desperate pleas about how much it wanted to be inside you?

Granted, Harry thought it was hilarious, especially when you stuck your spoon into it and the pudding moaned rapturously in response, but he was well aware that more normal people would be deeply disturbed. Maybe stirring his spoon in the bowl just to hear the pudding gasp and pant like the female lead in a hentai about how he was 'stirring up her insides' had contributed a little bit to Fleur and Dora's nightmares that day.

"I should start doing that stuff again." Luna pondered. "It's been so long that I got used to leaving my desserts boring."

"Are you not a priestess?" Aegwynn interjected before that conversation could go any further. "Animating objects is something only a mage would know how to do."

"I wasn't always a priestess." Luna shrugged.

"She's almost as powerful a mage as me, although much more focused on defense and support." Harry explained further.

"How interesting…" Aegwynn mused. "I do not believe there has ever been a mage that was also a priest, or vice versa. At best there were priests that could do a few of the simpler arcane spells, or mages that learned to power their spells with the power of either the Light or Void."

"But doesn't Elune disapprove of mages?" Jaina asked curiously.

"No, actually." Arko cut in, but didn't continue because her mouth was full of shrimp.

"Elune was still worshiped during the days of the Highborne and the Kaldorei Empire." Jessir took over. "It was the teachings of Lady Whisperwind and Shan'do Stormrage that led us away from the arcane arts."

"That would give the impression that your goddess disliked magic." Colette hummed thoughtfully.

"A shame, really." Harry mused. "Night elves are particularly sensitive to magic thanks to all that time spent near the Well of Eternity. I can only wonder what you might have achieved if you continued practicing for the past ten thousand years."

"Had the night elves continued practicing magic, then those that became the high elves would have seen no need to split off from them." Aegwynn said thoughtfully. "And without the high elves to teach us magic, humanity would likely have been overrun by the trolls long ago."

Luna gasped. "But that would mean no Jaina!"

Said archmage looked at her fellow blonde with some annoyance. "That's what you focus on?"

"To be fair, you are easily our favorite human." Harry smirked.

"What about me?" Colette pouted theatrically, although the perceptive would note a hint of genuinely hurt feelings behind it.

"You're not entirely human anymore." He pointed out. "You're our favorite human-troll hybrid."

"I think you are just splitting hairs so you can flirt with both Jaina and I, but I will take it." The former death knight decided after a moment.

"I still find it hard to believe you would jump into this," Jaina gestured to all of them. "Lady Blaumeux."

"I already asked you to call me Colette." The dark-haired woman smiled, the corners of her deep blue eyes crinkling in amusement. "After all, we will be sisters of a sort if Harry and Luna have their way."

"I am not going to be part of anyone's 'collection' no matter how persistent they are." Jaina rolled her eyes huffily. "No doubt they are already planning to add one of these 'draenei' females to it as soon as they arrive on Azeroth."

"Of course not." Luna denied in offense.

"It would be crass to go after a woman merely based on her race." Harry added sagely.

"And it isn't a 'collection'!" Luna continued, still frowning. "It's a family, our family."

"There are standards to be maintained." Harry took over again, tossing narrow-eyed look over at the rest of his girls. "I won't accept anything but the best for and from family."

"I thought Razuvious was demanding as an instructor, I was wrong." Colette shuddered theatrically.

"He calls it training, but I'm pretty sure it's just thinly disguised torture." Arko grumbled.

"Now you're just being dramatic." He rolled his eyes. "You night elves are too used to taking your sweet time with everything."

"How is learning to Blink while balancing on one foot and holding two full buckets of water at full extension for not torture?! I was at it for five hours because you wouldn't let me stop until I could do it without spilling any of the water." Jessir cried out in protest. "I swear, if the massages you give us afterwards didn't feel so good, I would have quit."

Those massages had better feel good, they were quite literally tantric sorcery.

"But isn't Jessir a huntress...?" Jaina muttered in confusion. "Why would she need to know how to Blink?"

"No lover of mine is going to die because of a lack of training." Harry declared, turning a gimlet eye on the archmage. "Or equipment for that matter."

"No, I'm not putting on a suit of full plate." She pre-empted him. "And we aren't lovers, nor will we be."

"Just you wait, I will get you to wear proper armor."

"Have you ever considered joining the Kirin Tor?" Aegwynn asked amusedly. "A man like you would surely shake some dust out of the walls."

"I'm not much of a joiner." Harry waved off.

"Yes, I suppose you are far too independent." The woman similar in age to himself mused. "I hear that you managed to get your hands on Atiesh."

"I did." He admitted and brought the staff out of hammerspace. "I think it suits me well."

"Indeed it does." Aegwynn sounded a little surprised. "It resonates with you far better than it did with me or my son when we were first given it."

"It's the raven thing." Luna piped up. "Harry was always good with ravens."

"Is that so?" Aegwynn asked rhetorically. "Did you know that Atiesh also acts as a key to the wards of Karazhan?"

"Does it now?" Harry hummed. "Medivh's old tower was on my to-do list."

"Aegwynn, you seem to want Harry to go to Karazhan." Jaina said with a small frown. "Is there some kind of problem there?"

"I don't know." The former Guardian admitted. "My son did much to befoul that place and all manner of dangers could be lurking there. I do not trust the Violet Eye to handle the situation properly."

"Violet Eye?" Harry raised an eyebrow, looking at Jaina.

"A secret sub-faction of the Kirin Tor known only to members of the Council of Six. They were formed to spy on Medivh and continue to maintain a presence near Karazhan even so long after his death." She explained. "They've reported some concerning activity from inside the tower recently and have been trying to breach the wards to investigate."

"My fear is that the wards are keeping something in as much as they are keeping intruders out." Aegwynn spoke up again, looking at Harry. "Now that you have Atiesh, you could enter Karazhan without disturbing them and clean up any messes my son may have left behind."

"If I go there, I'm going to loot everything that isn't nailed down, you realize that?"

Adventurer etiquette 101.

"That is your right." She nodded agreeably. "All I ask is that you treat whatever tomes and artifacts you find there with appropriate wariness."

"Naturally."

Before anything more could be said, their little get-together suddenly gained a new member. A little blonde gnome dressed in white and bronze.

"Ah, I'm right on time." The newcomer announced.

"Chronormu?!" Several people recognized the gnome for who she was, exclaiming in surprise.

Harry took a deep breath and put the staff back into hammerspace, then stood up and walked over to the disguised dragon.

"Yes?" Chromie blinked her big green eyes at him.

Harry bent down and picked her up by the armpits, ignoring the choked gasps of horror from Jaina and the night elves.

"Hey, let me go." Chromie kicked out her tiny legs helplessly. She could have used magic to get free of course, but wasn't sensing any threat.

"You told me to loot the corpse, no matter how disgusting it was." Harry said calmly.

"Yes, and?" Chromie tilted her head sideways in confusion. "You found the base of Atiesh inside C'thun, didn't you?"

"Yes, but I found it before we actually killed it." Harry explained, still eerily calm. "I figured that you were probably hinting at the base, but I couldn't be sure, so I went back and cut that ugly bastard up just in case. Of course, there was nothing else there, so I spent a good twelve hours wading through disgusting Void-flesh and bodily fluids that defy description, for nothing. Because you advised me to."

"Hey, don't blame that on me!" Chromie shouted huffily. "Future-you told me that you found the base of Atiesh inside C'thun, I didn't know that you found it before you even killed it! What were you doing inside C'thun before you killed it anyway?!"

Harry considered that for a moment before nodding. "Ah, so it appears I played a prank on myself. Future-me is a bastard."

"Present-you is a bastard." Jessir retorted drily.

"Beyond doubt." Arko agreed.

"I suppose I don't mind a bit of a mean streak, but yes." Colette nodded.

"Do you see the abuse I'm subjected to from my women?" He asked Jaina. "Luna is badly outnumbered now. I need you to balance the scales."

"You can continue your seduction attempts later." Chromie said imperiously. "Put me down now."

Harry did so, plonking the child-sized being into Luna's lap.

Luna was okay with this.

"Hello, I'm Luna." The priestess of Elune beamed happily, automatically wrapping her arms around Chromie.

"We've met. Or I've met you at least. Anyway, I'm Chromie, Emissary of the Bronze Dragonflight." The gnome-dragon introduced herself, tilting her head back so that she could look Luna in the eyes. This had the unintended side effect of nestling it right between her boobs.

The rest of the table was still frozen with indecisive horror at the potential consequences of treating a dragon in such a way, but they were slowly relaxing.

"So, is this a social call, or did you come to deliver any more vague advice?" Harry asked, retaking his seat.

"If you let her go off alone, she's going to die." Chromie stated ominously. Then she reached for some bread and fish stew.

"Who is 'she'?" He asked, already knowing what the response was going to be.

"Not telling." The bronze dragon retorted with all the smugness of a child that had a fancy new toy that they refuse to share with their sibling. "You'll figure it out… in due time."

"Nice pun." Harry complimented over the groans of Jaina and the night elves, and the chuckles of Colette and Aegwynn. "Any other snark disguised as wisdom you'd like to dispense?"

"Well, I could tell you that holding on to the Key to the Focusing Iris instead of returning it to the Blue Dragonflight is going to make them mad, but you won't listen." Chromie rolled her eyes.

"If they want it back then they can send someone to negotiate for it." Harry insisted stubbornly. "And what even is the Focusing Iris?"

"I have only heard legends of it." Aegwynn spoke up. "It is said to be an artifact in the possession of Malygos himself, an artifact capable of magnifying any spell cast through it a thousand-fold."

"Is that so? Interesting…" Harry purred, but then frowned. "And also concerning. A feat like that could only be achieved either by channeling the spell through Azeroth's ley lines or pulling magic directly out of them. Either way, it could very easily have serious repercussions for both the planet and the slumbering titan world-soul."

"That's… rather wise of you." Jaina said in surprise.

"Jaina, please don't be so hard on yourself." Harry said sympathetically. "Just because I want to make babies with you doesn't make me unwise."

"That's not the only use of the Focusing Iris." Chromie interjected over Jaina's flustered sputtering. "But yes, it is a very powerful artifact. Which is why the Blue Dragonflight won't be happy with you holding one of the keys to it."

"It's all the more reason to keep hold of it." Harry nodded to himself. "I don't actually trust Malygos to keep his shit together."

"More of your future knowledge?" Jaina prompted, having recovered from the embarrassment.

"Somewhat." He admitted, having some vague idea that the blues, or at least Malygos, would be enemies at some point. "But mostly it's just the fact that according to Tyrande, Malygos hasn't been quite right in the head ever seen Deathwing's betrayal."

"I can't imagine Lady Whisperwind saying that." Jessir said dubiously.

"Well, she didn't say that specifically, but that's what it amounted to."

"I have to admit that the blues have always been the least personable of the Dragonflights, not counting the blacks." Aegwynn admitted. "All mages learn to step lightly around blue dragons, should they encounter one."

"I suppose you would know better." Arko said with a frown. "I don't think we night elves have had much interaction with the Blue Dragonflight at all since the War of the Ancients."

"What do you think, Chromie?" Luna asked the gnome-shaped being on her lap.

"I think you make a very comfortable chair." Chromie quite blatantly dodged the question.

"Thank you!" Luna beamed. "Hey, do you know why the Red or Green Dragonflights haven't gotten back to us yet? The Moonlight eggs have already hatched and we still haven't heard anything."

"If this was the prime timeline, then Nozdormu would be very upset with me for telling you this right now..." Chromie said, scratching at her cheek a little nervously. "but he doesn't pay much attention to this one, so it should be fine. Probably. Anyway, Ysera and her brood have their hands full trying to contain the Old God corruption spreading through the Emerald Dream. As for Ally, she's still recovering after what the orcs did to her, but she should be rousing herself soon."

Harry assumed that 'Ally' was Alexstrasza, and could certainly understand why she would still be recovering even decades after being freed from the Dragonmaw orcs. They had forced her to lay eggs for them to use as mounts, only to kill them later when they got too large to control. Given her title as the Lifebinder, that had probably hurt her far worse than any torture she was subjected to during her imprisonment.

Forcing her to act so fundamentally against her nature as the protector of life would have definitely messed her up really bad. Harry's own soul squirmed uncomfortably when he imprisoned people and even demons, and his domain of 'freedom' was specifically aimed at slavery more than anything. He'd rather not contemplate what kind of damage it would do to him if he was somehow forced to aid in the enslavement of others.

"The Old Gods got into the Emerald Dream?!" Jessir and Arko shouted in alarm, actually jumping to their feet. Jaina and Aegwynn were less vocal, but looked similarly alarmed.

"Wait, I think I know something about this." Harry said, frowning in concentration. Some mix between his hazy memories and his frequent attempts to communicate with Azeroth was sparking something. "Yogg-saron, right? The roots of one of the world trees reached too deep?"

"That's right." Chromie confirmed. "If they take it over completely, they'll be able to break down the barriers between the Emerald Dream and the physical plane, effectively corrupting all of Azeroth."

"That doesn't sound good." Luna understated. "How can we help?"

"Aside from killing the Old Gods' avatars and finding a way to destroy their main bodies, you in particular would be able to beat back the corruption." The bronze dragon twisted her head back to look at Luna again. "Elune's power can purify the corruption and you're much better at channeling that aspect of her than even Tyrande."

"I wanted to see the Emerald Dream anyway, so I'll definitely help." Luna nodded firmly. "How do I get into it?"

"It takes a druid of some skill to enter it in spirit form, but there are Dream Portals scattered all over Azeroth that will let you enter physically."

"Like the one in Ashenvale." Harry nodded. Checking it out had been on his to-do list, but on a fairly low priority.

"But those are all guarded by adult green dragons and they don't let anyone pass." Jessir pointed out.

"The guardians have been corrupted, too." Chromie said with a frown. "Not overtly, but they've been made to be unreasonable. Luna shouldn't have any trouble purifying them."

"Why would Nozdormu be upset with you for telling us this?" Colette suddenly spoke up. "Now that the threat is known we can act against it. Is it not his duty to safeguard Azeroth?"

"He's playing the long game." Harry answered in Chromie's place. "Even if you win every battle, you can still end up losing the war. Suffering and adversity breed strength, whereas ease and leisure breed complacency. Nozdormu is allowing Azeroth's inhabitants to suffer so that they will be strong enough to endure whatever challenges he can see coming."

"It's nice to see that someone understands." Chromie nodded appreciatively. "Though I have to admit that what we bronze dragons are doing isn't exactly pleasant for you mortals, the other Dragonflights or even ourselves. My knowledge of the timestream isn't nearly as good as Nozdormu's, which is why I decided to take a slightly more active role in this timeline. It's far enough away from the primary to not affect it and I wanted to see if I could chart a course that wasn't so ugly."

"A question." Harry said with narrow eyes. "Is there a version of you for each timeline, or are you a multi-dimensional entity operating in multiple timelines simultaneously?"

"Yes." Chromie answered seriously. "But also no."

Well, that was unhelpful.

"What of the Dark Portal?" Colette spoke up again, clearly keen on getting as much strategic information out of the bronze dragon as she could. "Do you know when it will open again?"

"You already know about that, huh?" Chromie didn't sound surprised. "The draenei will be crash landing on Azuremyst Isle in about a week or so, and the dark portal will open a couple of weeks after that."

"I'll station more soldiers there." Jaina said immediately "And I'll talk to the Argent Dawn, Thrall and Varian about doing the same."

"We should be there as well." Colette said, getting nods of agreement from Jessir and Arko. "The demon filth cannot be allowed a foothold on Azeroth."

"Hold your water." Harry waved them down. "The Dark Portal is a narrow choke point that can't be bypassed. With this much advance warning, the demons coming through might as well be walking into a meat grinder."

"Still, I would like to be there." The former death knight insisted.

"As would we." Arko and Jessir backed her up.

"I suppose it would benefit you to get some combat experience without me or Luna being there." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Alright, I can teleport you there and you can call me up for an extraction when you want to come back."

"I thought we would fight together." Colette said with a little disappointment.

"If you want to go on a date, then just say so." Harry smirked. "I'm not going to waste my time making an easy fight even easier."

"Hmph, making me beg for your attention." Colette huffed humorously. "You are a cruel man, Harry."

"You know you love it."

"Colette actually likes it best when Harry just bends her over a table or pushes her up against a wall without any warning." Luna told Jaina conversationally, as if discussing the weather. "How do you like it best?"

"I'm not telling you that!" The much younger blonde sputtered.

"Good, finding out is half the fun." Harry nodded.

"You're not going to find out!" Jaina growled, trying to pretend that the red on her face was the result of anger at his persistence.

"Of course we will, sweetie." Luna patted her hand, not reacting when Jaina yanked it out of range. "Chromie could probably tell you exactly when it happens, even."

All eyes turned to the gnome-shaped dragon, some curious and other with trepidation, who merely picked up the bowl of fish stew and slurped out the rest of it.

"Ahhhh." She smacked her lips in satisfaction and swung off Luna's lap. "Thank you for the meal, but I think it's about time I get going. I'll see you later, or maybe earlier."

"My pleasure?" Jaina was still vaguely terrified of the idea that the bronze dragon would confirm that she would somehow get seduced into the so-called Battle Harem.

"Byebye." Luna waved. Since she hadn't actually asked a question, she thought it was perfectly fair to not get an answer.

"Until next time, or the previous time." Harry mocked.

"Now you're getting it!" Chromie winked and faded out of existence like a mirage.

XXXXX

Breathe in. Breathe out. Relax. Go with the flow. Don't panic and automatically slam down all mental barriers when the colossal mind of a nascent titan reached out.

Harry thought he was making good progress with that last one.

Everything was part of the world, and thus part of the world-soul. The air, the grass, the trees, the rocks, the sky, the squawking of juvenile dragons, the giggling of dryads. There was absolutely no reason to freak out just because Azeroth was vast beyond comprehension. She was a sweet little baby titan that wanted help, not to crush impudent mortals reaching out towards her.

"He looks so serious." The words of one of the dryads wafted to him. Her tone was full of curiosity.

"Shhh, Luna asked us not to bother him…" Another scolded her friend in the same pseudo-quiet whisper.

"But he's just sitting there." The first one argued. "Maybe he fell asleep?"

"No, I think he's meditating, like a druid." The second argued back.

"But he's not a druid."

"Druids aren't the only ones who meditate."

"Really? Who else does it, then?"

"I don't know!"

Yes, even the chatter of dryads was part of the world.

An excited draconic squawk pierced the air.

"Ah, they found us!" The second dryad yelled, forgetting her own earlier scolding of her sister. "Run for it!"

Both deer girls bounded off, giggling all the while.

A gaggle of moonlight dragon whelps flew after them, but one stopped to look at him. It fluttered over to him and poked his head with its snout, making an inquisitive sound. When he failed to react, it huffed in an almost offended manner and flew off.

Yes, it was all part of nature. It was important to take it all in. After all, wasn't that the whole reason that he was meditating outside?

Harry felt himself sinking deeper and deeper into the world. Azeroth reached out towards him as she always did, overwhelming him with her vast presence. Through long practice, he managed to keep the existential dread at bay and allow it to wash over him instead of instinctively clamming up.

A few minutes later, the two dryads bounced back into the clearing, the dragon whelps close on their tails.

"Eh? Where did he go?" The curious dryad asked.

"Maybe he got bored." Her slightly less ditzy sister offered.

A dragon whelp chirped its own opinion, understood only by its fellows.

XXXXX

Harry looked around curiously, knowing instantly that he was on some kind of astral plane. The closer connection to his divine portfolio was a clue, but it was rather overshadowed by the fact that he seemed to be standing on some kind of winding purple road in outer space, Azeroth the planet hanging underneath him in the void.

Azeroth the titan was at the end of the road. Though she was technically yet unborn, she appeared before him fully adult. She skin gleamed golden and her hair looked as if woven from entire galaxies worth of stars. She wore a set of blue armor with golden gilding that exposed the top of her breasts and her thighs, engraved with runes the like of which he'd never seen before. Her eyes were closed, likely symbolic of her not yet being awoken, but he knew that she could still see him.

But what made him frown instead of smile was the visible damage he could see and the strained expression her face was pulled into. He knew instinctively that she should be at peace, the planet her safe cradle and the song of the universe her lullaby. Instead, she was scarred from the cataclysmic events in Azeroth's history and patches of skin that looked like purple bruises, but which he knew were actually indications of Old God corruption.

"Hey there, big girl." He said softly in the True Tongue of Azeroth that he had so painstakingly labored to learn ever since coming to this world. His voice was the burble of a mountain spring, the crackle of flame, the whisper of leaves in a forest as they were rustled by a passing breeze.

Azeroth opened her mouth to reply, but he couldn't make out the words, because her voice was the crash of oceans and the crush of tectonic plates, the explosive eruption of volcanoes and the sweeping power of an avalanche.

It was like having someone shout in your ear at max volume while under the Sonorous charm, but it was more than that. Azeroth wasn't awake yet, and her dreaming thoughts were all over the place.

Harry stubbornly bore it, even as the sheer force of it threatened to send him hurtling back to his body.

… Which he suddenly realized was not where it was supposed to be. He sensed that it was deep underground, effectively on the very doorstep of the planet's core. Being there should have been fatal, but Azeroth was protecting him.

"Oh? You want me close to your heart?" He joked, concerned but deciding not to focus on it. "I'm flattered."

She spoke again, her 'volume' still overwhelming, but he could at least make out a hint of hope and relief in it.

"I know you're scared." Harry said sympathetically, having deduced as much from context. Despite her vast power and full grown appearance, Azeroth was still a child and the Old Gods were constantly plaguing her with horrible nightmares. Little wonder that she was desperate to not be alone. "I'm here for you."

She said something that sounded like the laughter of every child on the planet.

"You know I can't stay here." He said softly, immediately feeling her disappointment. "I'll come back often, but I need to be out there if I'm going to protect you."

He pushed forward his determination to destroy every threat assailing her and to keep protecting her until she was born. He didn't care how long it took, he wasn't going to let her be harmed and corrupted. Magic had always been his first love and Azeroth was practically the embodiment of it.

The nascent titan took the implicit invitation and gazed into his mind and soul. She was so much more than him that the tide of her being would have washed him away if not for all the practice he got holding on to himself while he'd been playing at godhood.

She saw everything, from his determination to safeguard her to his more mercenary ponderings of a potential reward for doing so. Harry didn't try to hide any of it – he was who he was and refused to feel any shame about it.

His physical eyes snapped open and he blinked several times to clear out the disorientation before looking around. He was in what appeared to be a natural underground cavern deep in the planet's mantle.

However, instead of rivers of molten magma flowing through the rock, there were rivers of pure magic. The stuff radiated with power overwhelming and he immediately understood how the night elves had become dependent on it. This was the very lifeblood of a titan, and a single drop of it likely contained more power than all the magic of his homeworld combined. His efforts to distil magic into physical form paled in comparison.

He tried to stand up and realized that there was something in his hand.

Harry brought it up in front of his face for inspection. It was a medallion about the size of his fist, made of a material that shifted between light blue and gold in color. Given that the river of pure magic around him was shifting in similar color, he had a good guess as to what that material was.

Azeroth's presence still lingered in the back of his mind and it told him what the item was.

"Your heart, huh?" He said softly, allowing the medallion to spin around in his grip. "In the wrong hands, this could do terrible things to you."

A squeeze around his soul and a rush of raw trust reminded him that he, too, had exposed himself to potential destruction earlier.

"Getting cheeky already? I'm a bad influence on you." Harry murmured, thoughts racing as to what he could do with such an item.

It absolutely could not be left unsecured. This world was full of dangers that had to be taken seriously, which meant acknowledging the possibility that the Heart of Azeroth could be stolen or taken from him by force. That possibility had to be eliminated.

Ideas raced through his mind for a minute before he settled on one. Normally, it wouldn't be feasible, but in this place, with Azeroth herself helping out…?

"Hey, Azzie, do you want to make something with me?" Harry asked.

Curiosity bubbled all around him, both at the affectionate nickname and at what he was planning. He opened himself up again and held on for dear life under the feeling of having his soul under a microscope, but she saw what he was proposing and received the agreement he'd been hoping for.

Harry brought Atiesh out of his hammerspace, affixed the Heart of Azeroth to the base with a sticking charm and chucked it into the river of arcane titan blood with only a moment's hesitation. The wooden staff sank like a brick, only to surface a minute later.

Not floating as if on water, though, but slowly rising out at a perfect vertical angle. The brown wood grain was stained with veins of bluish gold that slowly sank in until they were not so blatantly foreign. When it was done, it simply looked as if the wood grain naturally has such lines running through it.

Harry grabbed the staff and pulled it out, nodding to himself in satisfaction when he saw that the base had a congealed lump of raw magic clinging on to it. If one didn't know what it was, it might be mistaken for a metal ore. The Heart of Azeroth was sitting pretty right where he left it, now stuck in place by the new material.

He brought a hammer and anvil out of his hammerspace, because that was how he was most used to making new things.

"Alright, darling, please let me take the lead and don't interrupt me." Harry said. "I'd rather not die."

Azeroth retreated almost completely, watching curiously and silently. Harry's lips quirked as he was reminded of more than one son or daughter of his sitting with a similarly serious mien in the corner of his forge while he worked. It was pretty cute and he could feel the nascent titan examining the emotions curiously. She had no context for them, titans not having parents, but he could tell that she liked them.

So what if Azeroth was a cosmic being already millions of years old, who would be born with knowledge and powers beyond mortal comprehension? Right now she was a scared little girl – metaphorically speaking – that was in way over her head and needed looking after.

Besides, the reactions from Tyrande and Jaina when he told them that he had adopted a titan promised to be hilarious.

Pushing all distractions aside, Harry took a deep breath and reached out to connect himself to the hammer and anvil, the finished product appearing in his mind. There was no forge this time, but the 'Azerite' wouldn't need it, as it would respond to his will well enough.

The hammer came down on the lump of hardened magic, deforming like soft clay. More strikes of the hammer came, slowly beating the Azerite into shape. As time went on, the strikes did less and less, but only on the surface. The physical changes were the most obvious and the least significant. The Azerite was an incredible material and accepted the spells he was weaving into it with ease, probably because he had Azeroth herself riding shotgun.

The misshapen lump slowly took the form of a blade, with the Heart of Azeroth acting as the pommel. But more than turning Atiesh into a bladestaff so that he would have a melee option, Harry was also making the Heart and the staff into a single item, and then binding it to the service of Azeroth. To protect her, to secure her. Even if he fell, only those determined to fight for Azeroth's benefit would be able to wield the bladestaff.

Atiesh fought against this. Not only was the staff rather temperamental and choosy about its wielders, it also resented being so limited. Even a normal magical item, once finished, was generally not supposed to be changed like this.

But no matter how stubborn an artifact it was, Atiesh was also part of the world and had to bend to the will of the titan slumbering within it. With Azeroth being part of every hammer blow, the rebellious staff was beaten into compliance. When the last strike fell and Harry stepped away from the anvil Atiesh was changed into the Bladestaff of the Guardian, and it blazed with purpose.

To protect the titan whose heart it bore, and destroy her enemies.

"My finest work." Harry grinned with satisfaction, turning it over in his hands to test the weight, balance and length. "Now we just need Luna to add the final touch."

XXXXX

OMAKE: Interdimensional Tourism

"Hey, if you can travel across dimensions and your home dimension had stories about Azeroth, why don't we go there and read up on what we have to prepare for?" Jessir asked out of the blue one day, pushing herself off his chest.

"Mostly because I can't tell if a given world has those stories without going there, which would make finding the right one problematic." Harry replied placidly. They were relaxing in a hot tub after a hearty meal and Colette was fondling his shaft, he couldn't be anything other than mellow. "I suppose I could try traveling to our homeworld's past, but that runs the risk of causing a temporal paradox."

"Too bad." Arko deflated, having gotten excited about the idea. Then she perked right back up. "But we can still visit other worlds, right?"

"You're not ready." Harry immediately shut down.

"Oh?" Colette breathed into his ear. "Why are we not ready?"

"You might be, but I'm not sure." He replied sagely. "Jessir and Arko, on the other hand, are not. They're still too prone to going on righteous crusades when they see something bad happening."

"And what's wrong with that?" Jessir demanded, not quite glaring at him.

"Yeah, isn't the whole point of me becoming a paladin to crusade against evil?" Arko added her own two cents.

"Because there's an infinite amount of evil in the multiverse." Luna said sympathetically. "You can't make even a tiny dent in it. It's best to not get too involved unless you're planning to stay in that world for a while."

"Luna's right, you'll drive yourself crazy if you try to right every wrong in every world we visit." Harry shook his head.

"And you think I won't be able to hold myself back?" Arko asked, frowning.

"You're still young and full of heroic impulses."

"I'm the oldest one here!"

"I bet you that we can hold ourselves back." Jessir challenged.

"They're going to regret that." Luna murmured as Harry accepted the bet.

"Yes, that is my feeling as well." Colette chuckled.

XXXXX

Two weeks later, in the Dragon Age universe.

"Now, what did we learn?" Harry asked with a smug grin. Behind him lay the burning ruins of a castle, around which was the burning ruins of a city, in front of which was the massacred remains of an army.

"You saw how they were treating those poor elves!" Arko protested. "Was I supposed to just look away?!"

"Yes." Harry nodded. "Just look at what happened when you didn't. You see some little shit of a human mistreating an elf, you get in his face about it, he calls the guards and starts something, you rightfully defend yourself, word gets out about a murderous super elf, religion gets involved and now here we are, people are dead, everything is on fire, the political balance is in chaos and there's definitely going to be a war in which the local elves are probably going to be the biggest victims."

"You picked this dimension on purpose." Jessir accused.

"Of course I did, but I could have done worse."

"It's true." Luna said sympathetically. "There's always a more horrible dimension where people are suffering worse."

"And that's why I'm not taking you anywhere until you learn to limit your compassion."

Arko and Jessir sulked.

"I hate to interrupt your discussion, but there appears to be another small army heading towards us." Colette called out, peering into the distance. "Judging by their accoutrements and banners, I would say they are from this 'Chantry' of theirs, along with those Templar fellows you mentioned."

All four women looked towards Harry questioningly, knowing instinctively that he was the one at fault.

"What? You pull a few wimpy demons out of this Fade of theirs and suddenly it's 'abomination' this and 'maleficar' that. Did they expect me to not retaliate after they tried to kill me?"