<5> (Ruunia's Revelation - 1)

	By the time Rivo had made it out of the Valley of Wisdom, he could feel his poor feet beginning to get sore, but he couldn't deny that Orgrimmar's streets were far better to walk down than the piping hot sands of Vol'dun.  The Valley of Spirits quickly laid ahead of him, and at many of these houses he often delivered requests of special herb blends and potions for the various shamans and druids who lived there.  Cori prepared many of them herself, being quite the gifted alchemist, though the blends themselves weren't necessarily for alchemical purposes.

	Yet another familiar house was on his steadily shrinking list of deliveries, though these particular customers were of a... generally higher class than most of the more brutish denizens of Orgrimmar.

* * * * *

	"Alir, come on now," she echoed, followed by three heavy raps against the wooden door.  "You [i]can't[/i] still be sleeping!  It's after noon!"

	Silence.

	The nightborne furrowed her long, silver eyebrows in frustration.  Her anger rising, she took hold of the doorknob only to find it locked.  "Alright, that does it," she added and took a deep inhale.  Her thin robes shifted as she fell into a firm stance, and with a sharp exhale she struck the door with the palm of her hand.  The flimsy lock bent before her firm will without a fight, and the door flew open to reveal a room that had not been taken care of in months.  Arcane artifacts and weapons were strewn about, the curtains were sloppily drawn shut, and only a thin sheet remained atop a haphazardly-posed nightborne male, complete with a fair-sized tent below his waist.  Her fists planted themselves firmly on her wide hips as she glowered down at him with glowing, violet eyes.  "Up!" she commanded, and as quick as could be she bent over, took hold of his sheet, and whipped it straight off his body.

	The male didn't even twitch as his last cover was taken from him, leaving him completely naked atop his barren mattress.  Had his erection not already been prominently obvious morning wood, she might've thought her gesture had caused it.

	"Grrrr... you'd think after a century they'd straighten up, but noooooo," she grumbled to herself as she strode over and flung his curtains open to let in two rays of blinding sunlight.

	Finally, Alir's brow twitched as his eyes flitted open.  "Nngh... mother... must you always wake me like this?" he groaned, his hands feebly moving down to cover his exposed nethers.

	His mother clicked her tongue as she folded her arms over her robed bust in disapproval.  "I should not have to wake you at all.  If you at least had a night job, maybe I wouldn't disturb you at two in the afternoon like this."

	Alir groaned again and rolled over flat onto his toned abdomen.  "Can we just not?" he mumbled through his pillow.  "For one day?  Just... not?"

	"No," she insisted flatly.  The female monk's hands shot down to grab her son's ankles, and with a grunt she jerked the naked elf nearly halfway off his bed before she let go.  "Up.  I need you for a market run today, if nothing else."

	The nightborne's body seemed quite floppy indeed as he rolled himself into a seated position at the foot of his bed, his eyes opening one at a time to look up at his mother sleepily through a long veil of his disheveled, matte gray hair.  "Um... when?"

	Her dark indigo forehead looked like it was about to pop a vein, but before she could answer, the gentle chime of a makeshift doorbell rang out from near their front door.  "Get dressed," she hissed before whirling on her heel, slamming his door behind her, and striding straight for their front door to answer it.  

	The small house in the Valley of Spirits was a far cry from their old home in Suramar.  Ruunia had been so certain that the change of scenery would [i]finally[/i] kick him into gear, but even the small, less-than-lavish quarters allowed him to continue his excessive sleeping habits in comfort.  Negative feelings plagued Ruunia's mind as she stomped to the door, but those thoughts melted away as she flung it open to look down at the innocent Rivo.

	The vulpera had been looking down the narrow street as the door opened.  His large ears twitched in surprise as he turned back to respectfully regard the mature nightborne woman.  "Oh!  Pardon me!  How's the lovely miss Cosmetria this morning?"

	Ruunia felt her anger quickly melt away before the kind vulpera, and with a deep inhale and exhale she greeted him with a much warmer smile.  "Oh, I've been better, Mr. Rivo, but I will manage.  And you?"

	Rivo returned her smile with perked-up ears.  "Business is wonderful as ever!  Though I've been hearing some odd whispers through Orgrimmar today.  Sounds like love is still in the air, even this late in Spring," he mused with a scratch of his chin.  "Anyway, I'm sorry it took me as long as it did, but I think it'll be worth the wait!"  A quick dip into his pack produced a fairly large bottle made of purple glass with a spiral-topped cork.  "This is the latest vintage of Arcwine straight from Suramar.  I've been told that a bunch of random adventurers helped cook it up."

	The nightborne took the bottle carefully and looked it over with a growing smile.  "You have my thanks, Rivo.  I am thankful I no longer feel the hunger, but I have wanted the familiarity of the taste for a while now."  Ruunia wasted no time in setting the bottle down and scooping up her purse, and from within she found a generous pile of gold coins to pour into the vulpera's paws.  "Will this cover it?"

	Rivo chuckled and dumped half the coins into his own purse, but the other half he attempted to offer back.  "More than enough, thank you.  I couldn't accept this much, unless...."  His thought trailed off, and after a moment's hesitation he reluctantly pocketed the rest of the coins, and in turn he produced a much smaller package from his pack.  "Alir ordered this a while back and never paid for it.  I suppose I can properly present it now though."

	Ruunia drew her lips thin as she took the package.  She could smell it before she even took it from him that it was obviously ground-up fireweed, or something very similar.  "Thank you, Rivo.  I'll... think about giving it to him."

	The vulpera shrugged cheerfully. "Well, I did my part.  You two have a good day now!"  And with that, he was off down the street and out of sight.

	The nightborne closed the door with a half-sigh, but despite her frustrations the smile remained on her face.  Casually she set the package down on a nearby table as she much more slowly made for her son's room once more, only to return to the sight of him yet seated on the floor where she'd left him.  Her eyes narrowed a bit as she looked down at him, her gaze subtly focusing on the lengthy pillar that remained at attention between his legs.  "You're not even dressed yet?"
