c23

Jealousy was a remarkably mundane emotion, Jaina realized. She stepped away from Anduin, tracking Sylvanas and her fiancée as they moved around in their dance.

And that was all she felt at the moment.

Jealousy.

It was stupid, she knew. To be jealous of anyone really, let alone Sylvanas. But she felt it, and then ignored it, mostly.

Jaina waited for a lull before cutting in, flashing a taunting smile at Sylvanas before she whisked Elsa away. "How did she finagle a dance out of you?"

"She asked nicely," Elsa replied, one eyebrow quirked and a matching half-smile on her face as she threaded her arms around Jaina's shoulders in an almost shameless display of public affection. "Are you really jealous?"

It wasn't really a dance so much as swaying while wrapped up together and Jaina needed a few seconds to remember how to breathe. "Kind of. A little."

Elsa's smile was soft and amused, "She's not my type."

"What's your type?" Jaina ran her hands down Elsa's sides, then looped her arms around her waist.

"Nerdy mages," Elsa said, cheeks coloring. "With freckles all over, eyes like the sea, and impressive…" Her eyes darted down, to exposed, freckled skin, then back up. "You know."

"Tracts of land?" Jaina asked, grinning.

"That's one way to put it."

Jaina lifted her hand to stroke the side of Elsa's face and then slide her fingers into her hair, "Your hair is down."

"I wanted to try something different. Do you like it?" Elsa appeared to be confident, but Jaina could sense a slight undercurrent of anxiety.

She didn't think Elsa needed to worry. "I love it. But I'd love anything you did with your hair. Is this what you want? Because I don't want you doing something you don't like just to appease me."

"It's a new world. Time for a change" Elsa leaned into Jaina's hand for just a moment. "It's not like I can't put it back up if I decide I don't like it."

True, Elsa hadn't cut it. Jaina nodded, then stepped away as they finished their dance and she delivered Elsa to her sister. "There's something I need to do, and you probably shouldn't disappear from this party."

Anna covered her mouth, face turning red from the effort to not burst into loud laughter. Elsa's face was red too, for entirely different reasons. She made a shooeing motion, but Jaina ignored it, leaning in close and whispering in her ear, "When the party winds down, find me."

"Lord Admiral," Sylvanas said, sweeping by and dragging Jaina out to dance.

So much for escaping quickly. She leveled a gaze at the Warchief. "I have plans."

"One dance," Sylvanas promised. "Then you can prepare for whatever debauchery you have planned for your woman."

"You certainly have a way with words, Windrunner." Jaina tried to lead at first, but found that a bit like fighting a storm, so she gave up and let Sylvanas have that little victory.

"There's something I want to ask you."

"I'm spoken for and she doesn't share."

Sylvanas snorted. "I want you and your woman to visit Corona this spring. See … Blighton, and the rest of what I have built."

There was an unexpected sincerity in Sylvanas's eyes. And something not unlike uncertainty. "May I ask what prompted this?"

"Trust is something to be worked on." Sylvanas spun Jaina around, then pulled her close enough that Jaina couldn't quite stop her body's reaction to that. Yet Sylvanas either didn't notice, or chose not to call her on it. "This is a large world, large enough for all of us. But there was a time, a long time ago, before both our lives were destroyed, when we might have been allies, if not friends. See what I am building, Proudmoore, and maybe we can finally understand each other. And if it makes you feel better, I plan to ask your little lion to join us."

Sylvanas Windrunner was offering an olive branch and something ugly inside Jaina balked, and screamed against the very idea. She could only imagine that the screaming at the back of Sylvanas's mind was just as ugly. But trust was something to be worked on, true, and Jaina wondered what might have been without the blood and the fire. "Let's make it the equinox."

It was a lot to think about, and worry about, but there'd be ample time for that later, with the equinox three months away. Jaina let her mind wander as she strode out of the castle and then teleported to Dalaran. Azeroth's equinoxes and solstices had been at different times of year, due to the size and axial tilt being so different from Earth's.

She snapped herself out of it before her mind could go down that rabbit hole, though she did summon a floating quill and notebook to write down her thoughts to pursue later.

In the meantime, she needed a few reagents to finish Elsa's present, and to stop into a shop to get Elsa's other present. The reagents were the easy part, even if she did have to ask Wolfsong for one of them in return for a favor.

The hard part, though, was a little shop in a back alley of Dalaran. Jaina looked up at the sign, and the enchanted image of a dancing Draenei out front, and sighed before she walked in.

A cheerful voice greeted her, "Welcome to Varja's of Shattrath! Oh! Archmage!" A Draenei woman emerged from behind a counter. She was voluptuous, with dark hair and skin that reminded Jaina of the sky at dusk. One of her horns had been snapped off, matching a burn scar down the side of her face, to her neck, that then disappeared under modest clothing.

Several elementals were milling about the store and appearing to be … working, "Can Varja do you… Varja means, help you with?"

So a Shaman then. Jaina nodded at her and smiled nervously. "I'd like to blow my fiancée's mind."

"I think you can by existing, darling." The woman grinned at her, "But let Varja help you. Impressing a Queen is the opportunity of a lifetime!"

Assuming that this was in fact the mysterious Varja, Jaina allowed herself to be led further into the shop. "I don't need, uhm…" Her eyes landed on a rack of toys and she remembered the time in the office, turning beet red. "I want to look nice."

"Varja would suggest the enchanted one," Varja remarked. "But Varja is thinking that that is one area you would not need help with."

"Yes, well. I'm good. At enchanting things." Jaina sighed, wishing she'd done this last week, "Can we move along?"

Laughing, Varja started to pile fabric into Jaina's arms. "Here, here. Oh and this would look good with your hair. A little gold, beautiful! Try them on, try them on! Let Varja be the judge."

And just like that Jaina found herself shoved into a dressing room. There was a mirror on one wall, waiting, judging, and it felt cramped. Jaina rubbed her face and started to look through her armfuls of underwear.

The first one she dismissed out of hand; it looked like something better suiting Sylvanas. But with Varja's help, she eventually settled on something that actually made her feel as sexy as Elsa thought she was.

Varja ushered her out the door, tucking something into Jaina's bag as she did so. "Good luck, darling. Tell all your friends about Varja!"

The door swung shut behind Jaina, leaving her feeling a little dazed. She checked the time, then teleported back to the castle, quickly retreating to her room and tossing the bag onto her bed. She paused for a moment, looking at the bed, chewing her lip and wondering exactly how improper it would be to actually move into Elsa's room. She spent most nights there anyway, and they were engaged.

"Okay, enough distraction." Jaina took a seat at her desk and pulled over a little box. "I need to finish this thing."

It was a simple enough spell, one that Jaina had learned ages ago, in the before times. Before Theramore, before Stratholme, when she'd been young and idealistic, barely old enough to dream about weddings. Years and experience had hardened her, but years and experience also served to improve upon the spell. Make it lasting. Make it permanent.

And then, carefully, Jaina packed the gift back into its box, wrapped it in enchanted paper, and finally got up to change. She didn't think she had much time left before Elsa came searching for her, but she'd also talked Anna into helping keep her busy and distracted long enough to get the present put together; though she hadn't told Anna about what was in the bag.

Anna was smart enough to guess there'd be hanky panky involved anyway, but Jaina preferred not to encourage that.

She'd barely had time to pull her dress back on and loosen her braid before there came a knock on her door. Jaina stared at it, then laughed at herself for being shocked. "Yes?"

Elsa's voice was both a balm and an accelerant. "Jaina?"

She pulled the door open. "Who else?"

"It could have been anyone." Elsa stepped in, closing the door behind her and running her fingers through her gorgeous mane of hair. "I swear Anna had a thousand little games for me to do on my birthday. Not that I mind, spending time with Anna is the best part of my birthdays, but why do I think you had something to do with that?"

"Did you have fun?" Jaina wanted to push Elsa against the door, and have her way with her. Just seeing her, with her hair ruffled from her fingers and the little smile she only gave Jaina was enough to make Jaina forget her plans. She contented herself with a quick kiss.

"Yes, but I've been thinking about you all night." Elsa slid her hands up Jaina's arms.

"And that's one reason I wanted to make sure you and Anna had time together." Jaina did enjoy spending time with Anna too, and Anna and Elsa together, but she also knew the value of a sibling relationship, if only because hers had been completely ruined by the years she'd spent in Dalaran growing up.

"Thanks." Elsa watched as Jaina disentangled herself from her grip and move over to the desk to pick up her present, "She roped Kristoff in, too, but I actually had fun with pin the tail on the reindeer."

Jaina was almost sad she'd missed that.

"Now, I actually have two things for you, but if I give you the other thing first we'll never get to this one," Jaina joked, hoping her embarrassment wasn't super obvious. She hoped this feeling fluttering around in her chest at the thought of making love to Elsa never went away, but she didn't have to be a telepath to see the same fluttering in Elsa's chest as she watched her.

"You know you don't have to get me anything," Elsa said. "I learned my lesson about going overboard on birthdays, I'm happy to just spend time with my family."

"I know." Jaina had been working on this off and on for a month. She held the box out, grinning mischievously. "Happy birthday, baby."

"God I love when you call me that." Elsa seemed embarrassed to admit that, but Jaina smiled at her.

"Our little secret."

Carefully, Elsa unwrapped the box, her actions delicate. She frowned when unwrapping the present revealed - more wrapping paper. She repeated her delicate unwrapping, and then again, and again. Slowly, Elsa lifted her head up to glare at Jaina. "Very funny. Is this some kind of enchanted wrapping paper or did you actually wrap it fifteen times?"

"A little bit of both," Jaina admitted, a manic gleam in her eyes.

"Oh I'll make you pay for this," Elsa hummed.

"I don't think you will," Jaina replied in an almost matching sing-song voice, watching in glee as Elsa finally guessed at the trick and just ripped the paper apart.

Elsa held up the box, shooting Jaina another glare. "Let's see what all this fuss is about."

Jaina tried not to hold her breath. She failed as Elsa opened the box and gently lifted a silver chain. There was a locket dangling from it, also silver, with tiny glittering sapphires and diamonds around the edge. Jaina had had a snowflake engraved on the lid.

"It's beautiful…"

"Open it."

At Jaina's encouragement, Elsa flipped open the locket, and an image of Anna appeared, floating above the locket. Elsa's eyes widened. "How?"

"A little bit of magic, and a little bit of Draenei technology," Jaina explained. "Touch the side there and think warm thoughts."

Elsa did so, and another image appeared, this time of Olaf. Her face broke into a huge smile as she started to go through the images Jaina had enchanted into the locket. There was her whole family of course; Anna and Olaf, Kristoff and Sven, Iduna and Jaina. There were images of them all together, or in pairs or threes. Elsa's eyes were watering but she was holding it together until she got to the last two images.

One of King Agnarr and Queen Iduna together, and another of them with their young daughters. Elsa stared at their faces, her tears falling in streams down her face. She put her hand over her mouth and then looked up at Jaina and for a moment Jaina was second-guessing that decision.

And then Elsa was hugging her, her face buried in her chest, her tears warm on Jaina's skin. Jaina embraced her, rubbing at her back and pressing her cheek into Elsa's hair. After a moment, Elsa pulled her head back and smiled despite the tears. "Thank you. This means … it means everything."

Carefully, Elsa returned the locket to its box and then put it on the desk. Jaina walked up behind her, rubbing her arms and then pulling her back against her and hugging her tightly. She whispered in her ear, "I love you," and then kissed it as Elsa took her hands and threaded their fingers together.

After a moment, Elsa turned around in Jaina's arms, leaning up to kiss her. Jaina let it linger, drawing it out as long as she could before letting go of her fiancée and taking a few steps back. "Close your eyes."

Elsa looked curious, but closed her eyes. Jaina inhaled, and started to strip out of her dress. She tossed the gown onto a chair and tried to strike a pose like one of the pictures in the steamy romance novels that filled up an entire section of the book shop in Dalaran. She felt completely ridiculous, until Elsa opened her eyes.

"I … uh … wow." Seemingly reduced to monosyllabic words, Elsa's eyes tracked up and down Jaina. "You good. Look good. You look good."

Jaina smiled, and crooked her finger at Elsa. "So do you want to stare all night or do something about it?"

Three things happened one after the other. First, ice appeared under Jaina's feet, then she was sliding and finally she was flat on her back on the bed and Elsa was on top of her. "I love you too," Elsa gasped, eyes darting every which way as if she didn't know where to start looking or touching.

Paper crinkled under Jaina's arm, and Elsa grabbed the bag from Varja's. She opened it and looked in, eyes growing wide and skin flushing. "Oh. Uhm. Hello. I think … you can give that to me on Christmas."

Jaina covered her face with her hands, "She snuck that in on me I swear."

"I'll send her a thank you card after the New Year," Elsa quipped. She dropped the bag off the bed, where it landed with a thump, then leaned back over Jaina, pulling her hands away from her face and grinning down at her. Lightly, she kissed Jaina, then straddled her sitting up. Slowly, Elsa melted her dress away and Jaina drank her in as she did so. That would never get old.

Elsa arched her back as Jaina ran her hands up her stomach and chest, teasing her breasts lightly for a few moments before Elsa regained her senses and playfully swatted at her. "It's my birthday and I want to unwrap my present. Or at least, some of it." Her fingers trailed along the edge of Jaina's bralet, and then slipped under it. "Parts of it can stay on…"

Jaina remembered the first time Elsa had seen her naked. The way she'd looked at her and the tenderness of her hands and lips. How reassuring she'd been, how much effort Elsa had gone through just to show Jaina that she was wanted and desirable. Jaina moved her hands up Elsa's legs, studying her face, memorizing the details and adoring every one. "You saved me, you know."

"Mm?" Elsa lifted her eyes to Jaina's face, though she didn't stop in slowly torturing Jaina with deft, elegant fingers on her skin. Leaning forward and grinding her hips slowly against Jaina's, Elsa whispered, "Don't say that. You saved yourself. The only thing I'm willing to claim is pointing you in the right direction."

Curtained by Elsa's hair, Jaina smiled up at her. Elsa shimmied a little when Jaina dug her nails into her hips, and then ground down again, sending a spike of lust and love through Jaina. They kissed, Jaina's head swimming as she fell deeper and deeper, marveling at how every time, she loved Elsa more.

And it scared her, if she was honest. Scared her that this would all be taken from her, like everything else she'd ever loved. But she pushed that thought away, and focused instead on Elsa, and the passion she felt for her.

Slowly, gently, Elsa lifted her head, and smiled mischievously. She leaned over and fumbled around until she found the bag again. "You know what, I changed my mind. I want you to give this to me now."

Oh Gods. Jaina grinned nervously, then started to sit up so she could roll Jaina onto her back.

"No," Elsa said, a tone in her voice that made Jaina's insides quiver as she pressed her hand onto Jaina's chest and pushed her back down. "I want you just like this."

"Whatever you want, birthday girl."

"…the stockings definitely stay on."