Chapter 4: Final Phase

Sylvanas and her group noticed that they weren't alone when they arrived at the small camp next to the lake. The groups of Ranger-Lieutenant Velon and Ranger-Captain Bellatrice were standing in the near of the lake's shore, already wearing swim clothes. The members of Sylvanas' group, on the other hand, were still wearing their normal clothes because they hadn't been able to change them yet. Fortunately for them, there were enough little tents so everyone could change in peace.

Sylvanas signalized her group to change as fast as possible. They didn't hesitate and entered the tents. Kelrian spotted a small table and a chair inside his tent. On the table stood two boxes, with different symbols carved in the lids. The left box was marked by the male gender symbol while the other was marked by the female symbol.

Kelrian didn't hesitate and opened the box, pulling a dark-green swimming trunks out of it. He looked around, making sure that nobody was spying on him. He removed his clothes, putting them on the table before he put the swimming trunks on.

For some reason, he felt watched but he couldn't see anyone. He shook his head, assuming that he had only imagined this. He had no idea what made him thought that someone was watching him. Sometimes he had the silliest and most stupid thoughts.

He regarded himself in the mirror next to the table, making sure his hair was perfect. He left the tent as soon as he was satisfied with his looks. The first person he caught sight of was no other than Sylvanas who was regarding him with interest. He didn't notice that her gaze was lowered from his eyes to his muscular torso. Nor did the others noticed that.

He was not as muscular as Zetai but he was still well-built and had more muscles than most of the other candidates. All male candidates were wearing similar swimming trunks. The women, on the other hand, wore bikinis that did not overemphasize certain parts of their bodies. The examiners didn't want that the males would get too much distracted by the beautiful women. But it seemed that the women were the ones who got distracted. Most of them were staring at Zetai who ignored their glances.

Kelrian could understand why the females were going to raptures about Zetai. He was very tall, very muscular, very handsome, very strong and very brave. A lot of women favoured Zetai but that didn't mean that Kelrian wasn't admired as well.

He may have bad chances against Zetai but he was still a handsome young man who had gotten a little fanbase over the past hours. He couldn't know that Elonis, Kelia and Sylvanas were admiring his looks. These three women were standing a few feet away from another, not noticing that the other was interested in Kelrian as well.

Kelrian looked around, finding out that everyone was ready. He looked at Sylvanas who gave him a small smile before she arranged that the groups were mixed and new groups were formed.

Kelrian came in a group with Elena and two strange male he didn't know. The second group consisted of Zetai and three other males which were at least one head smaller than him. Elonis formed a group with two blonde twin sisters and a red-haired man who was almost as tall and muscular as Kelrian.

All present candidates turned around and looked at the examiners. Alleria was the one who started to speak. She didn't notice that Sylvanas was too distracted by Kelrian's exposed upper body to say something.

Sylvanas' gaze rested the entire time either on his handsome face or on his muscular upper body. She didn't know what was going on with her. She didn't know why she was looking at him the entire time. She tried to look away but for some reason, she was not able to avert her gaze. It felt as if she was hypnotized and forced to stare at the young man.

She was just glad that nobody noticed that she was staring at him. Not even her sister, who stood next to her and looked at her when she had finished her speech. She gave her a sympathetic smile and patted her right shoulder. Sylvanas looked at her sister for a short moment, signalizing her to go to the groups and tell them what was awaiting them.

Alleria nodded to her, regarding her for a short moment before she headed to the groups. While Alleria was busy with explaining, Sylvanas took a seat on the nearest bench, crossing one leg over the other as her gaze found Kelrian again. The blond teenager was holding his hands behind his back, listening attentively to Alleria. Sylvanas' sky-blue eyes rested on his well-trained upper body. A weird feeling spread out in her stomach. She noticed that she was sweating but it was not only the sun's fault.

Her body became warmer and warmer the longer she stared at the priest son. She couldn't explain to herself what was going on. She could only assume that this meant that she was heavily attracted by him. She didn't know when this attraction had started. She only knew that it was hard to avert her gaze from him. For some reason, she couldn't stop herself from staring at him. Seeing Kelrian stretching himself made things only worse. She was biting her bottom lip softly, one of her legs was crossed over the other as she continued to regard him while warming up.

The effect of the weird feeling, which had spread out all over her body, became subdued when Kelrian got in the water eventually. Finally, she was able to concentrate on regarding everyone and not only Kelrian. She had no clue what was going on with her.

She had never met a person before who had managed to distract her so easily without doing much at all. He had just been standing there, only wearing his swimming trunks and Sylvanas hadn't been able to think clearly. She had dated many men but never before had the mere presence of a person had such an influence on Sylvanas. Kelrian was basically doing nothing and Sylvanas was already falling for him.

But she knew better than rushing things. She needed to find out what was going on with her. She also needed to find out if Kelrian was also interested in her or even feeling something for her. She was hoping that with all of her heart. She knew that even if he would return her feelings, coming together with him and keeping a relationship wouldn't be easy, considering that a lot of people were watching her.

She was under surveillance by many influential people. If rumours would spread out, a possible relationship would be already doomed from the start. Kelrian would be set under so much pressure, not to mention that a lot of her admirers could threaten him or bully him because they would be jealous of him.

She still didn't know what she was feeling for him. It was definitely an attraction. Maybe even a heavy attraction, considering how her body had reacted when she had taken a closer look on his exposed upper body. She knew that an attraction, even a heavy attraction, was not enough to set a stable fundament for a functional relationship - If she wanted a relationship with him. She was not sure about this.

Maybe she just wanted him to relieve some stress... She had no clue what she wanted from him and felt for him. Two things were clear to her. She didn't just want friendship and she had to get to know him better to find out what exactly she was feeling.

Usually, she was so convinced of herself that she assumed that everyone was attracted to her. But for some reasons, she was unsure if Kelrian was feeling something for her. She was afraid that he only regarded her as his mentor or as a possible close friend. She needed to know what he was thinking about her but she saw no way without others finding out that she was interested in him. She needed to be patient.

The worst she could do would be to rush things and ruin everything. Fortunately for her, she had always been a patient woman. She had taken a few lovers but that had happened decades ago. For sixty years she was waiting for the right one.

She was sick of short-lived relationships or one-night stands so she had decided sixty years ago that she would let no one in her bed who wasn't worthy of her love or didn't truly love her. She hadn't broken her own promise for sixty years so she could wait much longer. She was a Farstrider. A ranger. A hunter. As a hunter, she knew that patience always paid out. She just needed to keep an eye on the one who had aroused her interest.

Her eyes rested on Kelrian all the time during the test. He was a very fast swimmer, not the fastest but still fast enough to score place three in the swimming competition.

Kelrian may not be the fastest swimmer but he surprised everyone with his diving skills. Sylvanas had never seen him diving before so she hadn't expected that he would be the one who could hold his breath the longest. He was even faster than everyone when it came to getting a ring which had been locked in a treasure chest on the bottom of the lake.

Everyone had gotten a key at the start of this task. Dozens of treasure chest had been thrown in the lake. He was the first who managed to unlock the chest and resurface with the ring in his hand.

The examiners cheered for him. Sylvanas was by far the loudest. She didn't stop cheering as her sister gave her a questioning look. She ignored Alleria as she continued to applaud for Kelrian, signalizing him that he had done a good job. Kelrian smiled at her happily, signalizing that it meant a lot for him that she was proud of him. She returned his smile, stopping to clap when everyone else stopped.

Kelrian was one of the last to leave the water after the end of the last test. Sylvanas' eyes widened and her breath stopped as she caught glimpse of his wet body. She would lie if she would say that his wet skin wasn't making him appear sexier than he already was. She forgot to breathe until her body signalized her that it needed air.

She took a deep breath but didn't stop looking at Kelrian. He looked at her as well, wondering why her knees were shaking. He assumed that the air made her shiver with cold. The air had become colder over the previous days so it sounded logical for him. Her upper arms, her belly and half of her breast were exposed to the cool air so his assumption sounded right for him. He couldn't know that his presence and the absence of his cloths caused that Sylvanas' knees were trembling. The sight of his wet body was causing that.

Even Sylvanas herself didn't know why her legs were shaking. They were shaking for some reason she couldn't explain to herself. She only knew that it had something to do with the gorgeous sight of Kelrian's wet and well-trained upper body which was covered by lots of water drops. Seeing his muscular chest rising and falling whenever he took a breath didn't make things easier.

She knew she should look away to prevent that the shaking of her body would become worse. She was afraid that people would get suspicious if her body would keep reacting like this. To her relief, the candidates and examiners looked at her but didn't interpret something out of the reaction her body was showing.

She tried to avert her gaze from Kelrian but it turned out to be impossible. Only when Kelrian disappeared in one of these many small tents and returned in his clothes she was able to stop staring at him like a horny teenager who never had sex before.

She blushed a little, looking at her sister who was giving her a mocking grin. Sylvanas had the bad feeling that her sister would tease her for her behaviour for at least a month. Her older sister knew her pretty well so Sylvanas wasn't surprised that she had found out about her attraction for Kelrian.

She was glad that no one else had noticed something - At least they pretended that they hadn't noticed anything. She didn't want that people spread rumours behind her back but she saw no way to prevent that people would whisper about her and her most favoured candidate.

Everyone who had eyes and was clever enough had found out, at the latest during the last examination, that Sylvanas was favouring him. Nobody would dare to say anything about that in public but that didn't mean that they wouldn't start spreading rumours sooner or later. Sylvanas was more than happy that no rumours had been spread over the past eight years.

Even if rumours would have been spread, she would have ignored them and lived on. A lot of rumours about her had been spread over the years but she had never made a comment to them. She had just waited until these rumours had died out as quickly as they had been created.

As the Ranger-General of Silvermoon, she was already too busy with her numerous tasks. She had almost no time to date others, so finding the right one was very difficult for her. All in all, she had no time for worrying about rumours and gossip.

But she was sure that rumours and gossip wouldn't stop her if Kelrian felt something for her. She was the best ranger of Silvermoon, she had perfected hiding in the shadows, so she would be able to pay a visit to anyone she wanted without being seen. She had her ways to make a secret relationship work but only if it would be worth trying.

She knew that she needed to make sure that Kelrian will join her group so she could see him almost every day. She knew that her sister wouldn't make things easier for her but she was pretty sure that she would find a way to convince her. She had the highest rank among the Farstriders so she wouldn't need too many arguments to justify why she would want him in her group.

So far, she had seen a few candidates who had been overall better than Kelrian. This meant that Alleria would advise her to choose those for her training squad. So, she had to find a way to convince everyone why she wanted him for her group and not the others. He was a very talented young man and he would become very successful. She believed that he would make a fine addition to her team and the Farstriders in general. She only needed to make them believe that Kelrian would become an excellent Farstrider one day. She needed to convince them that he was worthy enough to become a member of her squad. She knew she would manage that.

But there was one last test which could change a lot. The one thousand feet sprint. Maybe Kelrian would be one of the fastest runners so Sylvanas didn't need to convince the other examiners that he would be a good addition to her team. She assumed that if he would reach the third-place he would be counted among the top five candidates. This would mean that Sylvanas didn't need to argue with Alleria about her choice to add him to her squad.

She hoped that Kelrian would cut a good figure in the sprint. If not, she had to signalize everyone once again that as Ranger-General she always got what she wanted. And she was very good at always getting what she wanted. Only her older sister dared to question her decisions. The others were too afraid that she would get mad at them.

She was very strict with others. She only revealed her true self to Kelrian but only when they were alone. He was a very special person in a positive way. He was shy, friendly and had a lot of potential. Sylvanas was the only one who had faith in him. She wanted to train him and get to know him better at the same time. She was pretty sure that he will become one of her best rangers one day. Maybe even more than that if her wishes would become true.

She was so lost in thoughts that she hadn't realized that everyone had gotten ready for departure. Her group was standing in front of her, regarding the dreamy Ranger-General with wide smiles on their faces. Alleria shook her head slightly and walked over to her sister. She regarded her for a few moments before she shoved her from the bench she was sitting on.

An indignant shout was hearable as Sylvanas landed on her ass. She got up immediately, rubbing her rear as she looked at her sister who was giving her a mocking grin.

"Come, sleepyhead. We haven't got all day"

"Half the day is already other" reminded Sylvanas.

"That's why I'm telling you to hurry, dear sister"

"I know, I know" she responded, bending down to pick her bow up. "I've everything I need"

"Good" replied Alleria and headed east. Sylvanas and her group followed quickly. They noticed that all the other groups were already waiting for them as they reached the camp where the last test will take place. It was a long and wide track which was exactly one thousand feet long. There were enough running lanes that all candidates could run at the same time. Each candidate will run on a different lane so that nobody would hinder the other

Four years ago, Kelrian had reached the tenth place. This time he managed to reach fifth place. He was better than he had expected but worse than Sylvanas had hoped. She had hoped that he would reach at least the third place. Unfortunately, he had not. So Sylvanas was pretty sure that she had to explain to her sister why she wanted to take Kelrian in her team. Only imagining such a discussion already caused that her body slightly tensed up. She knew that there was no way of avoiding such a discussion.

One hour after the end of the examination, Sylvanas found herself in front of the largest tent of the military base in the near of Suncrown Village. The Quel'dorei waited for a few seconds before she entered the tent, walking directly to the table on which a blackboard with many magnets was lying. Sheets of paper, on which the names of the candidates had been written, were pinned to the blackboard.

Sylvanas took a quick glance at the list, on which the names of the best twenty-five of two hundred candidates were written. The examiners had established the best twenty-five candidates by voting.

"Look who is back" announced Alleria, giving her sister a teasing grin. "I hope you didn't take your frustration out on an innocent ranger"

Sylvanas tilted her head, giving her sister a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

Alleria just smiled at her without giving her a verbal reply. She shifted her attention back to the board, ignoring Sylvanas. One of Sylvanas' best rangers, a female with the name Verena, looked at Alleria and reminded her that she had to answer the Ranger-General if she asked her something. She insisted that Alleria would answer her sister but Sylvanas said that everything was fine so Verena stopped reminding Alleria.

Verena nodded but didn't stop signalizing Alleria that she didn't like her cocky behaviour. She may be the Ranger-General's sister and a well-respected Ranger-Captain but that didn't give her the permission to ignore the Ranger-General of Silvermoon. At least was that Verena's opinion. Sylvanas, on the other hand, didn't mind at all.

Most citizens of Quel'Thalas admired Sylvanas and would do everything she demanded from her even if they had to give their lives. Verena was no exception. She admired the Ranger-General as well and supported her as best as she could. Verena was not only one of Sylvanas' best rangers but also had she known her since her youth. She was considered as her best friend and most estimated advisor in battle tactics and real-life decisions.

Two decades ago, rumours about the two had appeared out of nowhere. These rumours had been spread quickly so that half a year later almost every citizen of Quel'Thalas had believed that they were lovers. In Quel'Thalas, a relationship between members of the same sex was unusual but not undesirable. Normally, people of Quel'Thalas wouldn't have minded if an average ranger would have gotten involved with a member of the same sex.

But because Sylvanas Windrunner - The Sylvanas Windrunner - was involved, people had gossiped about it until Sylvanas couldn't hear it anymore. Most of the rumours had died away when Sylvanas rejected the proposal of Verena. Some of the rumour spreaders had believed that this had been only a trick to make sure that people would stop gossiping about them. Others believed that Sylvanas had broken up with Verena because she couldn't handle the stress and pressure which had lasted on her shoulders.

If Sylvanas had been involved with Verena or not was her secret. Not even Alleria knew the truth. She had told Sylvanas over and over again that she wouldn't mind if she loved women as well. Still, Sylvanas had refused to tell Alleria the truth even though she had been persistent and gotten on her nerves her for a few years. In the end, she had gotten tired of asking Sylvanas over and over again and had stopped asking her. Lover or not, Verena was Sylvanas' best friend so it was only natural that she got upset when someone dared to question Sylvanas.

Sylvanas' eyes rested on the name next to rank twelve. She couldn't believe that everyone but her and Verena wasn't convinced that Kelrian was skilled enough for rank five. She had voted for him but in the end, the others had won three to two. Sylvanas and Verena had been outvoted. Sylvanas was the Ranger-General so she could ultimately decide who would get in which regiment but she couldn't decide who was the best and who the worst candidate. Each examiner had different opinions about the candidates. To prevent that someone would get upset, it was preferred to decide the placing democratically.

In the end, Alleria, Ranger-Lieutenant Velon and Ranger-Captain Jayne had voted to place Kelrian on rank twelve. But that didn't mean anything. Nothing was decided yet. Normally, Sylvanas would take the best five candidates for her personal recruits. Only sometimes, she took four of the best and another candidate she believed had enough potential.

Again, nobody would question her decisions except for Alleria. That was the reason why Sylvanas ignored her this time when Alleria asked if they should roll the dice to find out who could select the first candidate for his or her group.

Alleria asked her the same question again, grinning widely. This time, Sylvanas responded to her. "No, we won't do that. You only want to do because you hope that someone will choose Kelrian for his or her group before I can. I know that you and your friends have conspired against me"

"I don't know why you think that he is so special. He has talent but he is not one of the best candidates. He is only rank twelve. Normally you don't take any candidate with a rank lower than ten. You are carrying too much for him. You are favouring him for a reason we cannot understand. We don't think he is worthy enough to become a member of your squad. There are many others which would become better rangers with your help than this teenager"

"Stop calling him a teenager. He is sixty-three years old" exclaimed Sylvanas, looking slightly upset.

Alleria chuckled, regarding her baby sister for a few moments before she responded. "He is still underage by our laws"

"You know that a lot of our laws are just stupid. The average high elf looks and behaves like an adult with already twenty-five years. Most of the times it is pretty hard to tell who is a teenager and who is an adult so most people don't care at all"

"The laws are there for a reason" responded Alleria with a smirk on her lips.

"Stop distracting me, sister. I can't understand that you don't have faith in him. Kelrian will be one of our best rangers one day if he trains hard enough. Believe me. I have never been wrong about recruits with a lot of potential. All of them became successful Farstriders.

"You are right, sister. But not in this case. Whenever you had predicted that someone will become a very talented ranger it came true. We've always seen the same talent in the candidates as you've seen. But this time, for the first time, we can't retrace what you see in him. We can't decide anything but we advise you to choose someone else. Kelrian won't be the extraordinary ranger you want him to be. He will be better than the average ranger but he won't be one of the best. Never ever"

Sylvanas' clenched her left fist behind her back, biting her bottom lip hard. She couldn't believe that nobody except for Verena had put their trust in Kelrian. Sylvanas had never been wrong about her predictions. She knew that Kelrian would become one of the most skilled Farstriders one day. But for some reason, her sister and her friends weren't seeing the same.

For a few moments, she doubted her talent for assessing the skills of a person. New thoughts came in her mind. Maybe she was wrong for the first time since the start of her carrier as Ranger-General and instructor. Maybe Alleria was right. Maybe Alleria's assessment was right, contrary to hers. Maybe she was overrating Kelrian.

More doubts came up but she banished them out of her head eventually. She was Ranger-General Sylvanas Windrunner and she had never been wrong about her predictions. She knew that Kelrian will become an extraordinary ranger. Nobody will change her mind about that. Nobody. Not even Alleria.

Sylvanas was a lot more relaxed than a few moments earlier but still a bit upset at the same time. "I don' really need to listen to your advices about him because it's my right as the Ranger-General and as the BEST archer of Quel'Thalas to choose the group I want to train before any of you can throw dices for who is allowed to choose first"

Alleria lifted her hands apologizingly. " We just want to prevent that you make a terrible mistake"

"A mistake?" Sylvanas raised her voice, tilting her head. "A mistake? I don't do mistakes"

Alleria put her hand on her sister's shoulder, giving her a sympathetic smile. "Believe me, everyone makes mistakes. Nobody is perfect. Not even you. I know a lot of your admirers who would hate me for this statement but it's the truth"

"I know that I'm not perfect... Okay, maybe I do mistakes as well but not so often as others. Anyways, I'm one hundred percent sure that choosing Kelrian is no mistake. It feels right for me"

Alleria shrugged with her shoulders. "If you think so. It's your choice. But don't come to me a few years later and confess to me that you have been wrong"

Sylvanas frowned. "Don't worry, I won't".

"Fine, so we can finally choose which candidate will be trained by who. Not to mention that we also have to assign who will join which regiment. We have two hundred recruits in total which means this could take a while if we keep discussing like this"

This time Verena responded instead of Sylvanas. "I think we all share similar opinions about the other one hundred and seventy-five recruits. I think assigning the best twenty-five recruits will require the most time. The meeting should be over shortly after nightfall if everything goes as planned. So, we could announce tomorrow who will join which unit"

"Let's hope that everything goes as planned" repeated Alleria.

And everything went as planned. The meeting didn't endure for more than two additional hours. Everything had been discussed and all five examiners had come to an agreement. Kelrian became a member of Sylvanas' group as well as Zetai, Kelia and two others who also belonged to the top five.

Sylvanas was happy about the outcome. Of course, she didn't need to be relieved because she would have gotten her will anyways. Still, she showed her best friend that she was more than happy. Together with Verena, she walked to the nearest mage, asking for a portal. The mage created a portal for them, allowing them to step through it for free.

They arrived in Windrunner Village a few moments later. Sylvanas said goodbye to her best friend as she pulled her in a tight hug, kissing her left cheek softly. Verena smiled as she pulled away and began walking home. Sylvanas waved at her until she couldn't see her anymore then she went the other way, reaching her family's house within five minutes. It was pretty dark outside but the large house was illuminated well-enough that nobody could miss it.

The house was made out of white marble and decorated with lots of wall paintings. The house had three floors and an additional lower level which was used as the cellar. The house's form was round and the red roof was domed.

Sylvanas greeted the two guards at the gate as she passed the large front garden, which was regularly tended by her mother. The guards greeted her in return, opening the main entrance for her. Sylvanas thanked them and hurried through the adjacent long corridor without making a sound.

She came to the staircase, climbing it without hesitation. She followed the bordering corridor until she came to her room. She unlocked the door, entered her room and locked it after closing it. She removed her clothes until she wore only blue panties and a matching bra which hugged her D-Cup breasts tightly.

She got in her bed, laid down and covered herself with her sky-blue blanket. She closed her eyes because she wanted to fall asleep quickly. But sleep avoided her. She started to summarize the whole day in her mind, remembering what had happened overall. Most of the times she remembered what Kelrian had done.

She saw him shooting precise arrows at the aiming target. She remembered how he had hit the deer and how good he had been at fighting in close combat. She also remembered that he had run faster than most of the nineteen candidates.

But what came always up in her mind when she tried to think about something else, was the sight of the wet Kelrian who had freshly gotten out of the water. The way the water had accentuated his muscles and made him appear a lot sexier fascinated her. Even the image of Kelrian in his swimming trunks didn't want to leave her mind. She tried hard to think about something else. She wanted to imagine the dumbfounded face Alleria had made when Sylvanas had decided to ignore her advises and choose Kelrian for her group.

She remembered how good Zetai, Elonis and Elena had been during the exam. They had also proved that they had a lot of talent and would make fine rangers as well.

Once again, she started to think about the priest son who wanted to become a Farstrider. She realized that it was impossible to suppress this one certain memory because every time she tried to think about something else, this one memory came in her mind.

She imagined how the many water drops ran down his muscular chest, over his iron-hard abs to the waistband of his swimming trunks which was probably hiding something big. For some reason, she was now imaging him putting sun cream on his upper body and rubbing it all over his skin in the sexiest way possible. She imagined that he would do the same to her but he applied the sun cream on her entire body.

Her blue eyes shot open when she realized that her left hand was currently resting between her legs. She also realized that two of her skilled fingers weren't just resting on her most sacred place. They were inside her. Sylvanas shook her head, disbelieving that her hand had acted on its own. She drew her fingers out carefully, hoping that moving her fingers wouldn't cause something big.

But it was already too late. A single move of her index finger was enough to cause that a wave of pleasure rushed through the body of the very aroused Quel'dorei. Kelrian's name left her lips and her eyes closed as she received the reward for reaching her peak. Sylvanas' body relaxed eventually, her breathing became slower. She drew her fingers out, cleaning them with a handkerchief.

She decided to not think about what had just happened because it would make her feel bad. She decided to pretend that this didn't happen, that she didn't enjoy herself while she had thought of her newest subordinate. She wrapped her blanket tightly around her body and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes as she started to relax. Not much time had passed as she fell asleep eventually.