"The Tidestone Of Golganneth" the ghostly prince said after a long pause. The look in his eyes said he spoke to himself more than he spoke to her, as if reminding himself of something.
The mage blinked her eyes a couple of times, staring at the prince, confused.
"It is a powerful relic, one of the pillars of creation... have you ever heard of it?" Farondis said as he noticed the confusion stirring in the atmosphere.
"The Tidestone!" (Y/n) seemed to have remembered something very suddenly "yes, that's partly the reason I came here for!" she said.
"Partly?" Farondis chuckled, (y/n) laughed nervously as she mumbled "yes... partly, I came here to question you like an angered spirit" she quickly stopped and smiled at him
"Oh I tend to put a lot of task into my journal, I must've mixed them up... but instead of wandering too far off, do you know the location of the Tidestone?" (Y/n) asked.
The happy atmosphere seemed to have grown faint with prince Farondis's smile as he took a deep breath and replied
"Yes, I know its location... however, it is hidden in a place where I promised to not set a foot upon... and that promise seemed to have become a hindrance now" he paused, looking around him "if I show you the location, I do believe that you can retrieve it from there" he seemed to perk up but in moments his brows curled into a frown, but he refrained from saying whatever was troubling him.
"Very well, mage. Stay with me, I shall recover the Tidestone for you" he bowed his head and began to walk out from the court, with the female mage following him.
But after a few steps, prince Farondis stopped "Stay well my people, I'm leaving to look for the Tidestone... though I doubt that you will miss me" he looked at the spirits around the court, letting out a sigh of regret as he began to walk again.
(Y/n) felt even worse than before, it was much more clear to her that Farondis was not even close to the villain that he is rumored to be. The unconditional care he continues to show for them, even after them being cruel and shunning him at every moment, was truly an admirable thing about him.
"Coward"
"You did this to us!"
Even more spectral kaldorei citizens appeared wandering around the ruins, the hateful words that they spoke was the only way that they could express themselves to the prince.
Instead of ignoring, the prince only sighed and apologized to them, even after knowing that they will never grant him one
"What can I do to make amends?" Farondis said as he traveled with (y/n) to the Narthalas Academy, the location where the Tidestone was kept. Pain and regret visible in his voice.
(Y/n) felt horrible for the prince, it was truly terrifying that words from leaders could be trusted and believed blindly by these people, they chose to believe the wrong leaders.
Though, the female mage felt grief for Farondis, she couldn't muster the courage to say something comforting to him, he might misunderstand or worse misinterpret her words. With that, she silently followed him.
Yet more tormented souls that wander the ruins appeared to attack them, no, to attack prince Farondis.
"Why!" The souls screamed as they attacked them, leaving no choice for them but to kill these souls
"I'm truly sorry..." Farondis said apologetically as their remaining presence dissipated.
It truly was difficult for (y/n) to choose whom she should believe in, these poor lost souls or Farondis? As much as it pained her to see these souls suffer a curse that they didn't deserve, the story Farondis told her made it appear that the prince had no choice but to defy the Queen.

Now they stood in front of the academy, ruins of one to be honest. And surrounded by Hatecoil nagas. The ghostly prince stopped at his pace, glancing at the academy for a long while before breaking the silence
"I cannot go any further, whatever lies ahead... is now your quest from here" he said as he turned to look at (y/n), who was standing but a few steps away from him, looking at the once glorious building.
Acknowledging the fact that Farondis had turned his glance from the academy to her, (y/n) did the same.
"I understand" she replied "I will be back in a while... please stay here until I return?" she requested
"I'll be here" Farondis smiled, nodding his head
"However, if I don't..." the female mage was interrupted by the prince and startled that he had grasped her hand. Which she assumed was impossible, given he was a spectral being
"Don't..." he said, frowning as he looked into her eyes.
(Y/n) only nodded, managing to smile nervously but completely shocked as his cold, soft touch lingered on her hand for a moment before he let go "I... I apologize... I shouldn't have..." Farondis sighed, turning away from her. The night elf wanted to say something but the prince quickly said "(y/n) please go, we don't have much time in our hands... stay safe... I will be here" with that, it didn't appear that he wanted to take the conversation further. And understanding this, (y/n) didn't attempt to start one, truly there was less time in their hands, she didn't delay anymore and proceeded to go into the academy.

"The pieces are in order!" (Y/n) happily said to herself, and picked up the stone to take it with her, with the intention of leaving this haunted facility for good. But as she held the Tidestone, her body refused to move a muscle, her limbs froze and before fainting from the sudden freezing temperature around her, she saw a pair of red eyes and heard muffled laughter, and then, darkness.

Soon she was awoken outside the Academy, with the sun looming low in the horizon and her back laid on grassy plains. An equine sunrunner, curiously nudged its snout against (y/n)'s palm before moving onto grazing.
The mage sat up and looked around for prince Farondis, who was standing near a tree, looking at the setting sun. The night elf walked to him, standing beside him "what happened?" she muttered
"Glad to see you awake, are you feeling alright?" Farondis asked, concerned
"I'm alright, just feeling a little light headed... but what happened? How did I got here?" (Y/n) asked, looking around, observing her surroundings
"When you left for the academy, I couldn't just wait, with the knowledge that you were in grave danger. I soon decided to follow you but it seemed that I was too late" the prince said as he casts a spell on her, allowing her to see what he had seen.
(Y/n) saw how the prince fought through countless serpentine soldiers, not even suffering a single scratch from them, he even stood against the Queen and defied her but what stood out the most to the mage was the fact that he, a prince, had gone through all of that just to save (y/n).
"Such importance and care..." she muttered, confusion and concern for him caused droplets of tears to form in her (e/c) eyes before slowly running down her cheeks "Why prince Farondis? I'm but a stranger!" she said.
The ghostly prince chuckled as he softly wiped away her tears "now, mages cannot read minds now, can they? We all don't think the same way do we? You may think that you were a stranger to me and expected no such thing as saving you, but I saw that you were a hero, a savior of this world, and most of all you helped me realize so many truths, you returned the respect and love for me to my people and that is more than enough of a reason for me to save you" he smiled, innocently and gently, causing the female night elf's heart to rest as she took the prince's hand in hers. With no more words shared, they both turned to look at the setting sun, saying goodbye to their worries and fears with it.