For the Whored: the Future:

Elunara walked into the room and spun around. "Varian!" She gasped.

"I spared no expense. Hell, I ordered four consultants to bring me the works." He grinned.

"This is far more than I ever had for any of my children."

"I even have an army of nurses and nannies on hand."

"You might as well fire them all right now." She shook her head. "I don't believe in maids, and I'll certainly be raising our child personally."

"I didn't mean to offend."

Shaking her head, she kissed his cheek. "No, you never will. It's just the truth of my existence."

"Anything for you." He breathed, as he laid his hands on her still small belly. "Perhaps we should name her..." He hesitated. "If it's alright."

"Well, being who I am, I can guarantee her survival, so yes, a name is alright." She laid her hands over his. "Why don't you name her?

"Really?"

"Please."

"Then... may I name her Emaline?"

"Emaline it is."

"Oh, I wish I could feel her." He sighed.

"Maybe you can." Closing her eyes, she focused her energy into Varian's hands. Pulling out the trail of energy, she connected the life energy of the baby to Varian's hands.

"That... That's her?" He breathed. "I feel her tiny heartbeat!" He marveled.

"Isn't it beautiful? She whispered.

Kneeling, he placed his cheek against her belly. "Hello, my daughter." He murmured. "You may not know me now, but you WILL know me. This I swear." He blinked up at Elunara. "What is that I feel?"

"She's responding to your voice. She may not understand you, but your tone speaks to her."

---

"Hello, Bradly."

Sitting under the tree, he blinked up and just openly stared.

"How are you today?"

"Norma..."

"Who's Norma?" She giggled nervously. "My name is Evelyn."

With a sigh, he closed his book and stood up. "What did you do to yourself?" He held up a lock of freshly dyed hair. "You looked better as a brunette."

"But..."

"Why are you trying so hard to look like Lydia?" Frowning he pulled out his knife and cut the laces on her corset.

She gasped for air. "Oh!" She put a hand to her chest and tried to readjust her top.

"Let them go." He said quietly. "You don't have to stuff them." Brushing his hand on her cheek, he sighed. "Norma, don't change yourself to impress me. It won't work."

"But..."

"No. If you don't stick to your true self, you'll never find happiness." He chuckled. "That sounds like something my mother would say. However, it's true. If you really want to impress me, then be Lydia's friend."

"What?" This new track floored her.

"She has so few friends as it is, it would make me extremely happy if you'd just try to be her friend, and not some kind of side competition."

"I don't understand." She pouted.

"It's been awhile since I've seen you. You should understand that my mother has three husbands and a wife, and one of her husbands has another wife. This only works because they're all friends. You should see them together, it's beautiful. If you want my attention, then you will be the friend of the woman I love. I freely admit that I just got out of a terrible relationship with someone who hated the people I love. I can't do that again."

"I... I didn't know..."

"Norma, be who YOU want to be, and be friends with my family, and then maybe we can figure something out, alright?"

Considering his words, she sighed. "Alright." She said quietly. "But, can I keep Evelyn? I HATE being called Norma."

"Only if it'll make you happy." He smiled.

"I also kind of like being blonde." She fiddled with her hair.

"Alright." He laughed.

The next day, she made her way down to the training yard. "Um, hello."

Both Lydia and Susan blinked up. "Hello." Lydia smiled.

"C-can I sit down?" She fidgeted.

"Of course." Lydia made some room. "How have you been Norma?"

"I'd... I'd rather prefer if you'd call me Evelyn."

"Yeah, sure, ok. I can do that. How are you, Evelyn?"

"I... I like your babies!" She blurted.

"Um, thanks." Lydia ran a hand over one of the sleeping forms. "I don't think you're here about them."

"Bradly... Bradly told me..."

"I'm aware of what Bradly told you." Lydia smiled.

"I'm sorry!" Evelyn began to shake. "I'm so sorry. I... when I heard that... when I heard that he'd given up on you, I thought it was my chance." Pressing her hands to her chest, she began to cry. "I've had such a huge crush on him for so long, and I thought..." She hiccupped. "I thought... I feel so foolish." Tears streamed down her face.

"Hey, hey, stop." Lydia wrapped her arms around the other woman. "No, don't do that." She brushed her cheek against Evelyn's hair. "I remember you from back then. You were that little chubby kid that everyone picked on when they weren't picking on me. You used to hide in the corners and do what anyone else made you. You were never cruel to me, you were just too afraid of everyone else."

"I-I just didn't know what to do!"

"I can feel your misery. But I know what it was like too. Please don't be sad. I could never dislike you."

"You... You mean it?"

"I do."

"LYDIA!"

Evelyn yelped and tried to scoot behind Lydia.

"What now, Gingy?"

"Don't be like that. I need your approval on my design." She shoved her notebook down into Lydia's face.

Lydia took it with a sigh. "Gingy, what have I told you about matching hats?"

"It's JUST a sunbonnet..." Gingy rolled her eyes. "Who is your friend?" She eyed the cowering girl.

"Oh, this is Evelyn." Lydia waved her hand vaguely. "Fine. I'll approve of the sunbonnet, but no go on the hideous train."

Gingy dismissed the girl as unimportant. "Fine." She snatched her book back. "Always a critic."

Evelyn was shaking with fear by time Gingy marched off grumbling. "She... she..."

"Is, strangely, my friend. She doesn't act like it some days, but she really is."

"Ha... how...?"

"I saved her life when we were kids." Lydia shrugged. "She's a headache to deal with, but I do consider her my friend."

"But she was so mean to you..."

"Yeah, well, shit happens." Lydia grinned. "Now she makes me clothes."

Evelyn's eyes tracked over to Bradly down in the yard. "I guess that's good..." She trailed off, as she just stared. He had a broadsword in each hand, currently fighting the man she'd remembered as Jordan. "He's so..."

"Delicious?" Lydia grinned. "Don't I know it?" She laughed.

"I can't believe you..." Evelyn blushed deeply. "Oh, I want to call it unfair." She put her hands to her cheeks.

"Breathe, sweetie. Breathe." Susan rubbed her hand on Evelyn's back. "We do things differently in this family."

"Bradly told me I had to be friends with Lydia."

"You don't have to..." Lydia hesitated, trying to get a solid lock on Evelyn's ever changing moods.

"Well, last night, I gave it serious thought." She bit her thumbnail. "And I realized that I have no friends. I don't know the first thing about having them."

Lydia put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Then let us teach you."

"Would you?" She breathed. "I desperately want to."

"That much I can tell." Lydia grinned. "Before you enter into this little friendship, you should know the truth about me and emotions."

Bradly planted his swords in the ground and gasped. "Damn, I thought I had you this time."

Jordan laughed. "Yeah, fight your mother for fifteen years, and come back."

"Bah. I might be too afraid of challenging her." He dismissed his sword and tossed the other onto the rack.

"Then you need more work. Maybe I'll let Grogek pound on you a time or two."

"How bad is it, that I'm more afraid of my mother, than the meanest bastard out here?"

"Me?" Jordan winked.

"Grogek." Bradly wiped his hair out of his face. "Maybe I will ask to be in the elite for a week or two, make myself grateful for my position."

"Can't argue that." Jordan pat Bradly on the back. "You've made massive improvements lately."

"Thanks, dad."

"I say that as High General. You're seriously coming around. Most of the others crack about twenty minutes faster than you do. You've far passed everyone else. Dual wielding two-handers with an ease that most still struggle with."

Bradly. "You mean it?"

"Do we lie or fluff in this family?"

Bradly grinned. "I know something I want to fluff." He looked around.

"Ugh, you are your mother's child." Jordan snorted.

"Hey, dad."

"Yeah?"

"See that girl with Lydia."

"Yeah."

"She's been tying all week to get into my pants." Bradly grinned. "I told her that, if she wanted even half a chance, she had to make friends with Lydia."

"Oof, tough."

"Hey, if she's sincere, I figured it was the best possible test."

"Can't argue there. Let us know how that turns out... son of Elunara." Jordan whacked Bradly on the back of the head with a laugh.

William kicked a rock in his path. He hadn't seen Lulu in three days. Not since his dad's lecture on... that kind of stuff. His face went hot whenever he thought of it. Marriage and children and all that went with it. Eighteen was the age he needed to be, at the moment, five years felt like an eternity. Well, four and a half. Sighing again, he kicked the same rock.

"Ow!"

William winced. He'd kicked the rock hard enough to propel it at someone. "I'm so sor--."He openly stared at the boy holding a large sack over his shoulder. Though the other boy was bleeding, William still felt as if he was staring into a mirror of himself. A little older perhaps, but still just like him.

"Shit!" The boy turned and ran, clinging to a large sack.

"You saw..."

"I swear, Dad. He looked JUST like me. I should know; I own a mirror!"

Gerald and Chrissy exchanged looks. "We need Elunara." They both said at once.

Elunara tapped her pencil on her board. "I guess we know what happened to the babies." They stood in the keep.

"But, can you be certain?" Gerald frowned.

"I have no doubts. I bet you anything he was one of Michi's offspring. Jeana said that Michi was a proficient breeder. It stands to reason that they'd survive. If anything, these children will be heavily brainwashed, if not heavily magicked."

"But, why is he here?" William fidgeted.

"That's a damned good question. You said he had a bag?"

"Yeah."

"Five gold says he's our thief. No one would question him if he could pass for your twin."

"But, for what purpose?" Varian frowned.

"That's the big question."

"Grandma, it's so GOOD of you to finally be in Stormwind." Abigail fluttered her lashes at Zerinia.

Zelinnia giggled. "Beware, that's her buy me something face."

"Is not!" Abigail crossed her arms.

Zerinia chuckled. "Child, I don't have anything to give."

"I'm not after anything. I was hoping she'd do my hair in that fancy way she did last time."

"Is this over a boy?" Zerinia grinned.

Abigail turned brilliant red. "No. There's a mage ball next week. I was hoping I could get a dress out of Tulani and have my hair done. Some of us are getting awards before the party."

"Wait, you didn't tell me THAT one." Zelinnia blinked.

Abigail bit her lip. "It's just a small one."

"Abigail!"

"Oh, it was an accident! They shouldn't be giving me the stupid award at all. I accidentally turned my teacher into a sheep, and I'm getting an early starter achievement. I was TRYING to hit him with a snowball." She picked at her dress.

Zelinnia snorted. "Ok, that's kind of funny. But, why were you trying to hit him?"

"Because he's just so mean to poor Lulu. He's put her in tears a few times, humiliating her in front of the class. I was just going to hit him once..."

"Oh, Abigail." Zelinnia hugged her daughter. "That was sweet of you."

Elunara blinked at Zelinnia on her porch. "Hey, Sugarbutt."

"Are you aware that one of Lulu's teachers keeps embarrassing her in front of the class?"

Elunara's eyes narrowed. "WHAT?"

"Yeah, according to Abigail, he likes to call on her in class, makes her stand, has her fail at some high level spell, and then insults and berates her to the class. Apparently it's a near daily thing. Abigail has felt awful, but she thought Lulu would have told you."

"Which teacher?" She stormed into the house. "LULU?"

"Yes, momma?"

"Why didn't you tell me about Mr. Masters?"

Lulu flushed. "You said I couldn't stop being a princess."

"Wait, what?"

"If I wasn't a princess, he'd leave me alone. I asked if I could stop being a princess and you and Varian said no."

"He... He embarrasses you in front of the class because you're a PRINCESS?"

"He told me so himself. Said that if a princess lowered herself to mage training, she got what she deserved."

Elunara stared at Lulu with her mouth hung open. "That's the dumbest thing I have ever heard." She shook her head. "The amount of problems with that sentence is more than I can handle." She turned and walked out.

"Oh, don't take me out of mage training!" Lulu jogged after her mother. "Please, I want to stay with my friends."

"I'm not taking you out; I'm dealing with the fuck wit."

"You'll only make it worse!"

"Sweetheart, I fix problems, I don't complicate them."

"But, Momma..."

Elunara swung around. "NO! No one deserves abuse, let alone you. I will protect what's mine, and I'll be fucking damned if some half wit fuck shit is going to abuse MY child. If he wants to hurt you because of something you can't even control, then he has to answer to the fucking QUEEN!"

Lulu winced as her mother stormed away.

"Lulu!"

She turned. "Oh, hello, William."

"Was that your mom?"

"My mother is about to make ribbons out of Mr. Masters." Lulu winced.

"Oh, finally told her?" He took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Good on you, maybe the jerk will get what he deserves."

Elunara stormed into the base of the mage tower. Reaching out, she grabbed the nearest mage by the robes. "Where is Mr. Masters?"

"R-room 219! But, he's..." Elunara shoved the woman out of her way and continued on. "In a class." The mage finished.

Elunara shoved the door open. "YOU!" She pointed. "NOW!"

"Mrs. Wrynn, would you please get a hold of yourself?" He stood up. "I am in the middle of a class."

"What did you call me?" She blinked.

"Mrs. Wrynn." He repeated. "Please, let me finish my class before you burst in."

"Fine." She growled. Leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, she waited until the students filed out of the room before she went back in. She ignored the points and whispers and closed the door behind her. "I want to know why you've been making my daughter cry in front of the class."

"Is that what she said?" His eyebrows shot up.

"She never told me. A concerned classmate did and I had to ask my daughter to tell me the truth. Now answer the fucking question." She slammed her hands on the desk.

He sighed and lifted his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Because I was hoping to provoke a reaction."

"What?" For the second time, she stared at the gnome, completely dumbfounded.

"You see, I've sensed that Lulu has such HUGE potential for power, yet she refuses to step up and just DO it. I had hoped that I could provoke an angry reaction..."

"Instead, she weeps."

"I do dislike that. Abigail has a raw natural ability for control and can produce some amazing magic, but Lulu has this massive well of magic within her, and no ability to control. I can't seem to MAKE her give it to me."

"Because you're embarrassing her. She hides in shame, embarrassment, and fear."

"Fear?"

"You see... Lulu was the result of a succubus magic. Her powers manifested onto her brother, and now she is afraid of herself."

"I was not aware of this."

"None are. It's a closely guarded secret so that she can live free. My daughter is a sweet and shy girl. She HATES being a princess. She has asked Varian repeatedly to denounce her. It's not her fault that she is a princess, she wasn't even born to the title. She was two when I married Varian, and though he openly accepted her, it is Jordan who is her father."

Masters tapped his fingers on the desk. "Perhaps I'm doing this wrong."

"PERHAPS?" Elunara shook her head. "You're driving her into a hole. She hates the idea of being a warlock, because her father cringes at the thought. She threw herself into mage training because it was her only choice. Lulu wanted so very badly to be a priestess."

"Then allow me to privately teach her. If public humiliation is not the way to pull the magical ability out, then private, controlled direction is."

"If, and ONLY if, you stop calling her "Princess"."

"Agreed." He eyed her for a moment. "I have dealt with irate parents before... but none so powerful."

"I HAVE TO WHAT?" Lulu shrieked.

"I think you'll find him a lot more tolerable." Elunara grinned. "And if he does ONE thing you don't agree with... if he so much as makes you sniffle, you come get me."

Lulu sighed. "Yes, momma."