Unity: Defiance - Chapter 5
We conclude the main part of this sidestory with Part 5, but don't forget to tune in Saturday for the Epilogue!
Title: Unity: Defiance
Part: 5 of 5 + Epilogue
Word Count: 5725 (of this part)
Includes: Angst, drama, snark (so much snark), dragons.
Warnings: [Spoiler (click to open)]Non-explicit discussion of a woman losing her pregnancy.
Pairings: Thrall/Jaina, past Arthas/Jaina
Summary: Jaina discovers a multiplicity of conspiracies, many involving dragons.
Previous Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Sidestory: Linguistics
13 14 15 16 17 18
Sidestory: Defiance - 1 2 3 4
Jaina and Vaelan turned, and Jaina swallowed: Ariok approached them at speed, avoiding the eggs with great skill. His gaze took in everything, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see Vaelan’s fingers curling.
“Wait,” Jaina said urgently. “Just wait.” Her mind raced, and information clicked into place. “Your father’s name is Eitrigg, isn’t it?”
“Do not speak his name,” Ariok growled. “My father disgraced the Horde a long time ago.”
“How?” Jaina asked. “What were you told he did?”
Ariok eyed her. “He was a coward. He fled after a great battle. The great battle.”
“You almost died that day,” Jaina prompted. “During the siege.”
“Yes,” Ariok admitted reluctantly. “And my brother Restagg did die. How do you know of this, human? Why do you care?”
“I’ve met Eitrigg,” Jaina said. “He’s a friend. Your father didn’t abandon you, but he did leave the Horde. He left because he believed that both you and your brother were dead. That the warlocks had betrayed the Horde and that it led to the deaths of his beloved sons. He could not believe in that Horde. He went north, near Hearthglen, and lived in exile.”
“Do we have time for this?” Vaelan asked, his voice taut with anger.
“That’s a bold claim,” Ariok growled, ignoring him. “He ran to the humans like a coward.”
“He ran into the heart of enemy territory because there wasn’t anywhere else for him to go,” Jaina said, her voice quiet, but there was intensity behind her words. “How could he go back to Draenor, to Blackrock Spire, to any place the Horde had seized knowing that he’d be going there without you or your brother? He was willing to give up the last thing he had, the companionship of other orcs, because he lost what mattered most to him.”
Ariok was quiet, and Jaina continued.
“When he was in Lordaeron, a human paladin came across him, Tirion Fordring. I never knew him well, but I knew him by reputation. As the story goes, he fought your father in an old, ruined tower. They both showed great honour, never pressing their advantage when the other couldn’t defend themselves. The tower collapsed, and your father made sure that Tirion was sent back to his own people. Your father is an honourable man, towards those who deserve it. Those who act with honour in return.”
“He was naive. Humans hate us.”
“Many did, and some still do,” Jaina admitted. “It’s different in Kalimdor. The new Horde, Thrall’s Horde, are the allies of the humans living there, led by Jaina Proudmoore.” She couldn’t help but smile. “It took some doing, but it happened.”
“And why does Jaina Proudmoore trust the Horde?”
Her smile widened. “Jaina Proudmoore trusts the Horde because she fought beside them at Hyjal, against demons and the undead. She trusts them because in the end, when the Horde believes that it can do good things, live freely and well, when it acts with honour and integrity, they are the finest of allies and the best neighbours.”
“...you’re Jaina Proudmoore, aren’t you?” Ariok asked, gazing at her.
“I knew you were clever,” Jaina said. “Come to Kalimdor. I’ve seen it in your eyes, and that of many of the people here. You aren’t here because you deeply believe in Nefarian’s cause, or Blackhand’s, or even the old Horde. You’re here because you were left behind. Perhaps you feel betrayed by the rest of the Horde, that suffered in captivity or was hiding in the Alterac Mountains. Perhaps you never realized there was another choice.”
“Perhaps you don’t understand orcs,” Ariok growled. “I won’t run away from my duty.”
“The question is, what is your duty?” Jaina asked, unintimidated. “Is your duty to support a pretender? Orgrim Doomhammer passed on the duties of Warchief to Thrall. Rend Blackhand has no business pretending otherwise. If his father had truly been strong enough to rule, he would have slain Doomhammer in single combat when Doomhammer challenged him. Is it your duty to support a madman? Look at Awbee. Look at him.” Jaina turned so that Ariok could see his flank.
“...what did this?” Ariok asked quietly, hesitantly bringing up a hand, running a fingertip along one of the deep-gouged scars. Awbee shivered, and Jaina murmured to him.
“Nefarian did this. Victor Nefarius, Rend’s ally,” Jaina said, her voice hard. “Awbee is a child. Ask yourself what kind of person hurts children. Then ask yourself if you want to stand behind them, condoning their actions, supporting their efforts.”
“Children are precious to orcs,” Ariok murmured, his expression troubled. “Too many of them still die: to sickness, to this heat, to the black smoke of the mountain.”
“Then don’t the children of the Horde deserve to live somewhere better? With a leader who treats children like the treasures they are, instead of new meat for the grinder?” Jaina’s voice was gentle, almost pleading. “Children live in Kalimdor. They thrive.”
Ariok took in a breath. “I cannot leave. There are too many who need to leave as well, and we’d be missed quickly.”
“You don’t have to leave right away,” Jaina said, smiling. “Gather those whom you think will follow you... head south, rather than north. You should be able to skirt most of the civilized parts of Redridge and make it south to Stonard. There’s a small group of Horde that live there, they watch the Dark Portal... just in case, as the wizards of Nethergarde do.”
“Stonard is a damned stupid name for a settlement,” Ariok muttered, and then gave Awbee’s neck a brief scritch. “Who named it?”
“Blackhand, I believe,” Jaina said. “Make yourselves known to the Horde there, and you will get to see your father again, as soon as we can. I believe there are even mages that can teleport you there.”
Ariok opened his mouth, and there was the distant sound of voices calling to one another. “I think they’ve discovered you’ve escaped. You need to leave immediately.”
“We will, and good luck,” Jaina said. “Spirits be with you.”
Ariok stared at her for a moment, and then despite himself, chuckled. “Aye, and spirits be with you as well.” He turned and headed back the way he came. Moments later, Jaina could hear him shouting, directing efforts away from the hatchery.
“Masterfully done,” Vaelan murmured. “Was any of it true?”
“All of it was true,” Jaina said sharply. “I wouldn’t lie to get my way. It’s easier to shoot people than to lie to them. Speaking of which...” She closed her eyes briefly, and Awbee shifted as he felt the summoning spell. Jaina’s posture shifted slightly as her holsters regained their contents. “Now, you were saying about this sanctum. Show me.”
Vaelan muttered, and gathered up the eggs. He passed Jaina one, then two. “I shouldn’t ask if you need your hands for this, should I?”
“Not if you truly understand my reputation,” Jaina replied as he scooped up the last three eggs. “Now what?”
“Here,” Vaelan said, and leaned in, resting his forehead against hers. Knowledge flooded into Jaina’s mind. He was ancient by human measure, though by his own race’s standards he was young yet. Over two hundred thousand sunrises had crept over his large, scaled form. He had travelled all over, from the tips of Tanaris’ Land’s End beach to a large, burnished tower that seemed to stretch forever towards a pale, eternally-winter sky. Jaina sucked in a sharp breath.
Northrend. Arthas.
Focus, Vaelan reminded her. That’s the temple.
Temple?
Wyrmrest Temple. The sanctuary of the flights. Not even Deathwing dares violate the sanctity of its Titan-blessed stones. The imagery plunged down like a diving bird into the great crevasse beneath the ice. Concealed beneath the frozen wasteland was a portal room, reminding Jaina of the old nexi in Dalaran and Lordaeron, where city portals once faced each other, creating instant connections between distant lands. Here. The imagery dove past two massive, bipedal dragonkin and into a swirling portal.
Jaina could taste the magic on her tongue, feel it, smell it. This was extradimensional space. She could feel the strings of magic she could tug to collapse the portal and cut it off from others, though she kept her knowledge respectful, and turned to what was inside. She felt her breath catch at the sight of it:
There were endless hills of green, dotted by huge, multicoloured flowers of every imaginable type, and a few Jaina had merely heard of. Dragons frolicked, from the stern-faced dragonkin who minded little clusters of eggs to the rowdy, darting hatchlings, to the somewhat more sedate great dragons. Her eyes lit on an immense elder dragon who seemed to be the size of a dozen ships from his noble snout to the long, curved tail that flicked indolently in the sunlight. He raised his head, and called out.
Jaina had believed that dragon to be the largest one she could see. She was wrong. Coming down from the sky, a larger dragon landed beside him. This one was a slightly different colour, and her form was fuller. Different markings, invisible to human eyes save for Vaelan’s granted knowledge, marked her as not simply female, not simply a broodmother of the highest regard... but a Queen. The Queen.
Greetings, Jaina Proudmoore, said a voice within her mind, as warm as sunlight, as warm as a mother’s embrace, as warm as the freshly tilled soil of Durotar. And Vaelastrasz.
Hello, Jaina replied, ‘breathlessly’. May I enter your sanctum?
Of course, be welcome in my home.
Jaina nodded to herself, breaking contact with Vaelan. “I’ve got it.”
“I can tell,” Vaelan replied, not unkindly. “When you’re ready.”
Jaina nodded, and closed her eyes. Hills, sunlight, flowers, dragons. It filled her mind up, and she began to cast the spell. A tunnel traced out from her, infinite and complex as a series of lines, calculations, and diagrams. Each new set launched them further and further, like a bridge between two points. Ley lines and nodes shining like constellations, but in the ground instead of up in the sky, lit her way. Instead of a tunnel, it became a river, and she swam, gliding effortlessly through the water, twisting and turning. Finally, the river became a cliff, and Jaina jumped, hurtling towards her destination before landing.
It all took no more than a heartbeat.
“Welcome,” Vaelan said with a broad grin as he shed his orc disguise in favour of a human one, “to the Ruby Sanctum.”
Jaina opened her eyes. It was all here. The great dragons, the grass, the sky. She inhaled deeply, drawing in the mixed floral scents. Even Awbee raised his head.
“Put me down,” he urged. Jaina nodded, worried about juggling the eggs in her arms.
“Fear not,” said a gentle, though very loud voice. “My children will take them and keep them safe.” The Dragon-Queen nodded her great head, and several dragonkin approached to take the eggs from both of them, though Vaelan did not allow them to take the black egg. With Jaina’s hands free, she set Awbee down. Tentatively, as if he could not believe it, Awbee took his first steps on soft grass. He walked slowly, carefully, and then began to run as fast as he could. Within moment, young hatchlings were running along beside him and he wept.
“He will be returned to Halegosa’s sanctum soon,” the Dragon-Queen promised.
“Here, let me,” Jaina murmured to Vaelan, holding out her arms. He set the black dragon egg in her arms, and he moved back to shapeshift, and took off with a grateful cry. “I thought he might need to stretch his wings. I met him in a jail cell.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” the Dragon-Queen said ruefully. “Do you know who I am, child?”
“You’re Alexstrasza, the Dragon-Queen,” Jaina replied. “And this is... Korialstrasz, your Prime Mate.” She nodded politely to him. “Or Archmage Krasus Goldenmist, the former ambassador to the Alliance from Dalaran, friend to Mage Rhonin and sponsor of the mission to Grim Batol.”
“I’m afraid you lost your wager,” the male dragon, Korialstrasz, said. “Though I applaud your choice of blue, many blues have made their way to Dalaran’s violet halls. Young Kalec got diverted due to the Scourge assault, and I lost track of him.”
“I promise I’ll be amazed over that later, but I’m slightly overwhelmed right now,” Jaina replied, dazed. “This is... incredible. Largely unheard of as well. Has Rhonin been here?”
“He has,” Korialstrasz replied, amused. “He was a good deal less gracious about it.”
“That generally describes him, as I recall it,” Jaina said, taking in a deep breath, and she looked down at the egg in her arms, and over at the dragonkin that hovered nearby. Carefully, she traced a finger down the ebony shell. “Hello, there.”
“He can hear you,” Alexstrasza said mildly. Jaina nodded.
“I know, Vaelan explained your plan. I think it’s a good one. I’d like to say that it’s manipulative, but isn’t every way we raise our children manipulative? We start to teach them right from the cradle. We instill them with our values, our habits... our beliefs. I didn’t grow up in a void. No child does.”
“No,” Alexstrasza agreed, her great, golden eyes watching Jaina closely. “Children need direction.”
“They do,” Jaina agreed, then sighed. “I hope he embraces these new values and doesn’t reject them. We have that choice, too. As we grow, our values are measured against those of others and we make choices. ‘Is what my father taught me right?’ Do his values measure positively or negatively against those of others. What is the world like outside of my own perspective? I believe that what Vaelan wants of this child, that you want, is right... but do you want this child? As a child, not just as a symbol, or a test subject, I mean.”
“Yes,” Alexstrasza said. “While it is true that we reflect ourselves in our children, all parents must accept that their children are individuals, that they will take all that they learn and make their own decisions, follow their own ideals. As such, when they reject our ideals, we must accept that it will happen. I do not know what will happen with this child. I simply refuse to be paralyzed by fear, by indecision. I will love him regardless, because the moment he entered this Sanctum, he ceased to be the child of Nefarian and became the child of Alexstrasza.”
“I’m pleased to hear you say that,” Jaina replied, and placed the egg in the nearest dragonkin’s arms. “I look forward to seeing what he will do in the future.”
“Be cautious, Lady Proudmoore,” Korialstrasz said, his eyes sparkling with good humour. “We might believe that you actually mean it.”
“Oh, I do,” Jaina replied. “I like to be involved in projects that might change the world. Like the continued expansion of the Horde in Kalimdor.”
Several of the dragonkin hissed in disapproval, and Alexstrasza’s gaze became somewhat harder.
“I had wondered where they had run to,” she murmured. “Kalimdor... Ysera’s domain.”
“When Ysera isn’t busy kidnapping Archdruids from their wives, yes,” Jaina said, her tone hard. “I know that you were wronged by the Dragonmaw, by the former Warchief of the Horde, but do you feel anger at the sword, or the hand that wields it?”
“Tools though they may have been to a greater, more evil force, it does not diminish the harm the orcs did to my children, my mates, and myself,” Alexstrasza said sharply. “You presume much.”
“My brother and a third of my father’s fleet died to dragonfire,” Jaina replied, meeting her gaze squarely, resisting the sensation of endlessness through anger and focus. “So should I take comfort in the fact that your flight was controlled, manipulated into doing something that they would never have done otherwise? Or should I feel threatened by you simply because of the colour of your scales, because they did my family harm?”
For a long moment, there was silence. Even the sound of joyous hatchlings had stopped as they looped around, resting on the nearby hillocks. Awbee came to her, pushing against her hand. Without breaking her gaze, Jaina scritched between his ear-holes.
“Antonidas was right about you,” Korialstrasz said. Jaina did not turn to look at him, but he sounded rueful and amused. “I remember when he finalized your qualifications as Archmage, despite your age. He said that we had no need to fear, for your will was stronger than any he’d ever seen. You would tolerate nonsense from no one.”
“There were times when I did during periods of extreme stress,” Jaina replied. “Everyone makes poor decisions during such times, it’s not unforgivable.”
“Even when it gives one indigestion,” Korialstrasz said encouragingly. “Or--”
“I will concede your point,” Alexstrasza said. “Though the orcs of Blackrock do not speak well of your claims.”
“I would be a liar if I claimed that no human ever acted out of evil, or misinformation, or spite,” Jaina said, relaxing a fraction. “So too is it true for orcs. I will not defend Rend Blackhand at any time. I would defend a specific group of his followers, those who never had the chance to go to Kalimdor with Thrall and his new Horde.”
“I have heard of Thrall,” the Dragon-Queen said, nudging slightly against Korialstrasz, who curled against her. Immediately, hatchlings flew up to rest on her great back. This made her smile. “Though you obviously know him personally.”
“He is my closest ally, my dearest friend, and...” Jaina paused, then raised her chin. “My lover. I will not claim that I know him best, but I do know him very well.”
“Ah,” Alexstrasza said simply, and extended her neck slightly to sniff Jaina, and then gave Awbee a brief nuzzle. “Tell me of him, and his new Horde.”
“After the Dark Portal closed, the orcs fell into a fugue, of sorts, that the mages of Dalaran named the Lethargy. The Alliance rounded up as many of them as they could and placed them in internment camps. As prisoners, they were subjected to the anger of those who had lost homes, family, and years to their invasion, and in turn, they did not have the strength to defend themselves or petition for better conditions, forcing a generation of children to grow up in squalor. It seemed as though they needed a miracle, someone untouched by this--”
“Are you attempting to draw parallels between the orcs and the red dragonflight, child?” Alexstrasza asked, irritation tinging her voice. “If so...”
“If you find a similarity between what happened to your dragonflight during the war, and the orcs after the war, I will not judge you for it,” Jaina replied, her emphasis subtle. “Thrall lost his parents as an infant, and was found by humans. His master decided to bring Thrall into his home not out of compassion, but out of a desire to mould him, to manipulate him and to profit from his vulnerability.”
Again, Jaina’s gaze flashed defiance, and Alexstrasza sighed. It was though a small mountain was conceding the point. “Thrall grew up hating himself. He knew he was different despite, or perhaps because of, the fact he was surrounded by humans. He could not miss that he had green skin, that he was larger, that people regarded him with fear, with suspicion, with hate. He was fortunate, though, because there were those who loved him. One of them even helped him escape. He found his people, and he returned to the camps. He broke down the walls that held them, and more than that, he helped them find the strength to break free.”
“That is both brave and impressive,” Korialstrasz said, encouraging. “He was not affected by this Lethargy?”
“He was not,” Jaina said. “And you must know that we never discovered exactly what was causing it. I know that answer now, of course.”
“What was it?” Alexstrasza asked.
“Demons.” Jaina clenched her jaw. “Gul’dan and his ilk sold their people out to demons. When they ultimately failed in their efforts to defeat the Alliance and the Portal finally closed... it broke the contract. Instead of being stronger from the demons’ influence, they became weaker than they were without it. Thrall and his clan never experienced that weakness since they refused to accept it in the first place.”
“I see,” Alexstrasza said and sighed again. “What has he done with this knowledge?”
“He’s told his people that they need never be slaves to demons again. They fought for it and they won. They stood defiant against the demons and the Scourge. We did. In Hyjal’s aftermath, we’ve all had to change and adapt. My people have built their own home, as have Thrall’s... and the Night Elves needed to adapt to no longer being immortal.”
“I remember when we grew the World Tree together,” Alexstrasza remarked thoughtfully. “They have sacrificed that, have they?”
“Hyjal is healing, but your boon has left them,” Jaina said. “If pride gives us pause, perhaps we have lived too long.”
“Who said that?”
“Malfurion,” Jaina replied. “I miss his wisdom.”
“You said Ysera has drawn him into the Emerald Dream once more,” Alexstrasza said and sighed. “I will have to speak to her about this.”
“Please do,” Jaina said. “I would appreciate it.”
Alexstrasza nodded, and looked Jaina over. “Korialstrasz has told me of you in the past, and he mentioned your teacher, Antonidas, and his ambitions for you. What would you have done with leadership of the Kirin Tor?”
Jaina closed her eyes, remembering. “When I was very young, I wanted to be a pirate. I believe I’d conflated piracy with heroism. A family trait.” She smiled, briefly. “After I came to accept my gifts, I wanted to be the Guardian of Tirisfal. By that time it was long since impossible, but I thought that the world would care for a guardian, if not the Guardian. I pushed myself hard. I took advanced classes whenever I could, I studied constantly. I rarely went home. I made good friends there... Noah, Rylai. Kylian and Kael.” Her smile became sadder. “Bolvar and Arthas too, though I’d known Arthas from a young age. I believed that Antonidas would live for a very long time, even though he was old when we met, and I was going to go out, save the world, and be back in time to whip the Six into shape.”
“Ambitious child,” Korialstrasz said. “The Six were aggravating, stubborn, and determined to disagree with each other at every turn.”
“You would know, you were one of them,” Jaina noted, and he chuckled. “At sixteen, I thought that I would establish myself and my career, then have children, and balance my ambition with my family life.”
“You want children,” Alexstrasza observed. “You care for them when you find them, but you want your own.”
“Yes,” Jaina replied. “That hasn’t changed. I was engaged to Arthas at the age of twenty-one. We had something of a long courtship, but we were both busy. His paladin training, my archmage training. Antonidas was disappointed, and angry with Arthas for taking me from Dalaran’s council. There is a conflict of interest, you see, for people to rule two nations of the Alliance at once. That’s why Kael’thas was never considered either, though we were peers.”
“You would have made a ferocious team,” Korialstrasz remarked. “It’s a shame--”
Jaina shook her head, sharply. Alexstrasza raised an eye-ridge, but neither would elaborate further.
“What of family?”
“Arthas would need heirs,” Jaina said. “He was... nervous about fatherhood. He tended to avoid the subject, though Uther was enthusiastic. I know he appreciated my intelligence and my... stubbornness.”
“Uther wasn’t marrying you, though, Arthas was,” Korialstrasz said, even as he added a growl to the former Crown Prince of Lordaeron’s name. “What about him?”
“I loved Arthas a great deal, though he was flawed. I knew it before we were engaged, but out of... stubbornness I refused to accept it. He was proud and arrogant, and sometimes it was breathtaking. We felt invincible. He respected my power and my independence... but he also had something of a superiority complex. He was stubborn too... once he decided on a course of action, he would accept nothing less than victory. People knew it. People manipulated him with it.”
“Kel’thuzad.”
“Yes.” Jaina looked to Korialstrasz. “You probably remember Nicolai Kelthus. He manipulated us -- both of us, I won’t deny it -- into doing exactly what the Lich King wanted. Arthas... wouldn’t have picked up the trail if it weren’t for my help, and I wouldn’t have gone all the way to Stratholme. After Hearthglen I would have gone back to Dalaran for an army. I... I left him at Stratholme. I was so exhausted. We’d come so far, and I couldn’t deny what Arthas was doing. He was being too stubborn, too unyielding. I watched him dissolve an institution that was the backbone of the Alliance simply because Uther disagreed with him. He swore that nothing would stop him, and I just couldn’t argue with that. So I walked away. I... slept, I recovered, and he sought me out.” Jaina lapsed into uneasy silence.
Alexstrasza crept forward, and gently nudged against her. Jaina extended a hand, stroking her muzzle. “What happened then?”
“He was vague about Stratholme. He said he knew where the plague had come from, that he had to go to Northrend. He wanted me to come with him, he said he’d forgive me if I did. I told him it was a trap. We were together, one last time. I think I had hoped I’d convinced him to stay. He’d simply convinced me to let my guard down so he could leave.”
“And the rest is history.”
“I was pregnant when I left for Kalimdor.” There was a sense of desperation in the confession, and the great dragons exchanged a look. “I hadn’t realized it. I thought the interruption in my courses was due to stress. I thought that the sickness and pain was due to the march across Kalimdor. That the anger and the irritability was due to the fact that my people had been hounded by the Horde through Stonetalon, and then I was being asked by the Last Guardian himself to ally with them!” Jaina shook her head. “Well, I’m sure that was also true. Medivh was being both high-handed and vague.”
“What happened to the child?”
“I lost it. Korialstrasz will have heard of this, but mages who extend themselves in a significant way experience mage fever. It takes a toll on our bodies. During the battle of Hyjal there was no opportunity for me to take things easy. We fought for our lives, our very right to survive. I pushed myself to the edge... we all did. During my bout of mage fever, I lost the child I didn’t realize I was carrying... that my physician didn’t know I was carrying.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Alexstrasza began, and Jaina shook her head lightly.
“I don’t blame myself... I have no reason to.” She patted Alexstrasza’s nose again. “It’s not as if I could have laid an egg somewhere safe to protect it. I don’t regret my choices. One life, the life of a world. I was prepared to sacrifice my own life. Pregnancy would never have stopped me. I am not that selfish. I was... damaged, though. I’m functionally infertile. I’ve been told there’s a slight chance, so I wear a birth control charm, but... I won’t know that joy I wanted once.”
“Do you still want it?” Alexstrasza asked, and Jaina felt the question tingle through her.
“Yes,” Jaina said. “My career is stable, if not different from how I believed it would be. I am a little older now, a little more steady. I’m less likely to stay up until all hours and forget to eat. Theramore is a good home for children. My chamberlain is the mother of two children, and I know she wouldn’t object to more. She and her husband are good parents. I even...”
“Yes?”
“Thrall would be a good father, I think. If he wants children. He loves the children of Orgrimmar, I’ve seen that. They’re precious to him. Family is precious to him. His own family was taken from him for a long time... his parents, his sister, his grandfather. At one stage or another, they were gone. I just don’t know if...”
“If he would want children with you?” The question from Korialstrasz was quiet, but hid an intensity underneath it. Jaina met his gaze.
“I don’t know. That’s the thing about being in multiple failed relationships. You start questioning even the happiest parts of your life, looking for the flaws you may have missed. I know that one of his closest allies is a halforcen, though she likes to keep her identity secret.” She smiled. “I know that he has no objections to my chamberlain’s family, and her children are halforcen. I simply can’t speak for the permanence of our relationship.”
“Would you require a permanent relationship to have a child?” The question, innocently asked, made Jaina give her a sharp look, then she sighed.
“No, I suppose I don’t, though it would be painful if our relationship ended because of it.” Jaina scritched along her great eye-ridge, and the Dragon-Queen half-closed her eyes, making a pleased, rumbling sound.
“Do not cease to dream,” Alexstrasza murmured. “It is a mortal’s greatest gift.”
“I won’t,” Jaina promised. “Though I should go. I have more promises to keep.” She took in a deep breath. “Thank you, I feel... unburdened. I’ve been holding this in for a long time.”
“The Ruby Sanctum is a place of many blessings,” Alexstrasza said, withdrawing slightly. “Say goodbye, children.”
A chorus of young voices, male and female, chimed in to wish Jaina well on her journey. Jaina knelt and embraced Awbee.
“Thank you, I won’t forget you,” Awbee said. Jaina smiled.
“You’d better not, because I’ll see you again, and you can take me flying,” Jaina said. Awbee nodded emphatically. Jaina straightened, and nodded to both elder dragons. “Say goodbye to Vaelan for me as well.”
“We shall, be blessed by life abundant.” Alexstrasza stood, careful not to dislodge her many passengers. Jaina felt warm as she cast the teleportation spell that would bring her back to Stormwind.
~ * ~
All in all, it’s been a busy day, Jaina thought wearily. Rather, a busy three days, with lots of teleportation, a kidnapping, a trove of research to sink my teeth into when I get home, a rescue... She smiled. So, as a whole, a very productive trip.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Jaina turned. “Hello, Varian. Nice to see you too. Lovely nation you have here, when it’s not beset on all sides by various easily-avoidable problems.” The sense of ease she’d felt since leaving the Ruby Sanctum faded.
“Don’t start with me,” the King of Stormwind warned. Jaina looked him over, and even as her temper prickled, she felt a stab of concern. Varian was only a decade older than she was, but he looked as though he’d aged twenty years. His appearance was wild, his dark brown hair shaggy and scarcely tamed. Jaina could not help but contrast his rugged chin, dotted by stubble to Thrall’s carefully trimmed and cultivated beard, and Varian’s wild locks to Thrall’s oiled and braided hair.
Naturally though, Thrall is the savage one, Jaina thought sourly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Someone needs to, it looks like you’ve stuck your head in a gnomish flying machine’s propeller,” she replied tartly. “As for what I’m doing, I’m solving your problem.”
“Thelwater says you ordered the release of multiple Defias prisoners!” Varian cried, ignoring the shot at his appearance. “They’re criminals, what are you thinking?”
“I believe I detailed a report of the situation involving the false Defias. All of the people who I asked to be released -- asked, not ordered, Warden Thelwater is not my employee -- were true Defias. Those that remain are petty thugs that I believe to have been hired by an independent entity.”
“You can turn people into sheep, anything you ask is pretty well an order,” Varian muttered. Jaina raised an eyebrow at him.
“What does it say about a king who can put him in jail alongside his former charges when I am the one he fears?” Varian met her gaze, briefly, and Jaina was surprised by the circles under his eyes. “Do you not sleep?”
“As you so kindly pointed out, Azeroth is beset on all sides by problems. It keeps me up at night.” Suddenly, as if realizing his state, he ran his hands through his hair, attempting to tame it. “Including the damned Defias.”
“Not any more,” Jaina pointed out, watching him closely. “The Defias problem is gone.”
“You did not solve my problem, you moved it to bloody Kalimdor!” Varian cried. Jaina refused to be cowed. “First the orcs, now this? You wonder why people don’t trust you.”
“Remarkably, many people trust me,” Jaina said. “As for the orcs, they are entirely trustworthy. They’ve lost too much to be insincere now. You’d know that if you came to Kalimdor, as I’ve requested.”
“You’re insane,” Varian muttered. “Bolvar may agree, but the rest of the council is against it. It’s far too dangerous.”
“Only because you insist on travelling by boat,” Jaina pointed out. “Which is insulting to the sea captains that allow Azeroth to pull itself out of its debts. I could teleport you there right now.”
“I don’t have time to go on vacation, Jaina.”
“Then call it a diplomatic mission, we’ll even have a summit. I haven’t had one in several years, and this time a demon isn’t even chasing me. Varian.” Jaina reached up, and caught a lock of his hair, pushing it back into his groping hands. “You need a change of pace. If you place so much trust in that council of yours, trust them to watch over things for a little while. The change of perspective could do you some good.”
“I have all the advice I could want, I don’t need yours,” Varian shot back, stung. If anything, her gentler tone only discomforted him more. “The answer is no.”
“Didn’t you just say Bolvar agreed with me?” Jaina asked. “If you don’t need my advice, do you also not need his?”
Silence. Jaina watched him pace to the window, and look out into the courtyard, and kept her peace. As she watched, she shivered as a sudden chill hit her. Is someone there?
“I’ll consider it,” Varian said finally. Jaina smiled.
“Thank you, Varian. Change will do you good. New sights, new people... new opportunities for Azeroth.”
“Change has never done me any damned good,” Varian muttered, but he nodded to her. Jaina thought to pat his shoulder but decided against it.
“I need to go, it’s past time that I return to my own people. Goodbye, Varian.”
He nodded to her, and stared at her as she cast the teleportation spell, finally shaking the sensation of being watched.
Epilogue
Title: Unity: Defiance
Part: 5 of 5 + Epilogue
Word Count: 5725 (of this part)
Includes: Angst, drama, snark (so much snark), dragons.
Warnings: [Spoiler (click to open)]Non-explicit discussion of a woman losing her pregnancy.
Pairings: Thrall/Jaina, past Arthas/Jaina
Summary: Jaina discovers a multiplicity of conspiracies, many involving dragons.
Previous Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Sidestory: Linguistics
13 14 15 16 17 18
Sidestory: Defiance - 1 2 3 4
Jaina and Vaelan turned, and Jaina swallowed: Ariok approached them at speed, avoiding the eggs with great skill. His gaze took in everything, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see Vaelan’s fingers curling.
“Wait,” Jaina said urgently. “Just wait.” Her mind raced, and information clicked into place. “Your father’s name is Eitrigg, isn’t it?”
“Do not speak his name,” Ariok growled. “My father disgraced the Horde a long time ago.”
“How?” Jaina asked. “What were you told he did?”
Ariok eyed her. “He was a coward. He fled after a great battle. The great battle.”
“You almost died that day,” Jaina prompted. “During the siege.”
“Yes,” Ariok admitted reluctantly. “And my brother Restagg did die. How do you know of this, human? Why do you care?”
“I’ve met Eitrigg,” Jaina said. “He’s a friend. Your father didn’t abandon you, but he did leave the Horde. He left because he believed that both you and your brother were dead. That the warlocks had betrayed the Horde and that it led to the deaths of his beloved sons. He could not believe in that Horde. He went north, near Hearthglen, and lived in exile.”
“Do we have time for this?” Vaelan asked, his voice taut with anger.
“That’s a bold claim,” Ariok growled, ignoring him. “He ran to the humans like a coward.”
“He ran into the heart of enemy territory because there wasn’t anywhere else for him to go,” Jaina said, her voice quiet, but there was intensity behind her words. “How could he go back to Draenor, to Blackrock Spire, to any place the Horde had seized knowing that he’d be going there without you or your brother? He was willing to give up the last thing he had, the companionship of other orcs, because he lost what mattered most to him.”
Ariok was quiet, and Jaina continued.
“When he was in Lordaeron, a human paladin came across him, Tirion Fordring. I never knew him well, but I knew him by reputation. As the story goes, he fought your father in an old, ruined tower. They both showed great honour, never pressing their advantage when the other couldn’t defend themselves. The tower collapsed, and your father made sure that Tirion was sent back to his own people. Your father is an honourable man, towards those who deserve it. Those who act with honour in return.”
“He was naive. Humans hate us.”
“Many did, and some still do,” Jaina admitted. “It’s different in Kalimdor. The new Horde, Thrall’s Horde, are the allies of the humans living there, led by Jaina Proudmoore.” She couldn’t help but smile. “It took some doing, but it happened.”
“And why does Jaina Proudmoore trust the Horde?”
Her smile widened. “Jaina Proudmoore trusts the Horde because she fought beside them at Hyjal, against demons and the undead. She trusts them because in the end, when the Horde believes that it can do good things, live freely and well, when it acts with honour and integrity, they are the finest of allies and the best neighbours.”
“...you’re Jaina Proudmoore, aren’t you?” Ariok asked, gazing at her.
“I knew you were clever,” Jaina said. “Come to Kalimdor. I’ve seen it in your eyes, and that of many of the people here. You aren’t here because you deeply believe in Nefarian’s cause, or Blackhand’s, or even the old Horde. You’re here because you were left behind. Perhaps you feel betrayed by the rest of the Horde, that suffered in captivity or was hiding in the Alterac Mountains. Perhaps you never realized there was another choice.”
“Perhaps you don’t understand orcs,” Ariok growled. “I won’t run away from my duty.”
“The question is, what is your duty?” Jaina asked, unintimidated. “Is your duty to support a pretender? Orgrim Doomhammer passed on the duties of Warchief to Thrall. Rend Blackhand has no business pretending otherwise. If his father had truly been strong enough to rule, he would have slain Doomhammer in single combat when Doomhammer challenged him. Is it your duty to support a madman? Look at Awbee. Look at him.” Jaina turned so that Ariok could see his flank.
“...what did this?” Ariok asked quietly, hesitantly bringing up a hand, running a fingertip along one of the deep-gouged scars. Awbee shivered, and Jaina murmured to him.
“Nefarian did this. Victor Nefarius, Rend’s ally,” Jaina said, her voice hard. “Awbee is a child. Ask yourself what kind of person hurts children. Then ask yourself if you want to stand behind them, condoning their actions, supporting their efforts.”
“Children are precious to orcs,” Ariok murmured, his expression troubled. “Too many of them still die: to sickness, to this heat, to the black smoke of the mountain.”
“Then don’t the children of the Horde deserve to live somewhere better? With a leader who treats children like the treasures they are, instead of new meat for the grinder?” Jaina’s voice was gentle, almost pleading. “Children live in Kalimdor. They thrive.”
Ariok took in a breath. “I cannot leave. There are too many who need to leave as well, and we’d be missed quickly.”
“You don’t have to leave right away,” Jaina said, smiling. “Gather those whom you think will follow you... head south, rather than north. You should be able to skirt most of the civilized parts of Redridge and make it south to Stonard. There’s a small group of Horde that live there, they watch the Dark Portal... just in case, as the wizards of Nethergarde do.”
“Stonard is a damned stupid name for a settlement,” Ariok muttered, and then gave Awbee’s neck a brief scritch. “Who named it?”
“Blackhand, I believe,” Jaina said. “Make yourselves known to the Horde there, and you will get to see your father again, as soon as we can. I believe there are even mages that can teleport you there.”
Ariok opened his mouth, and there was the distant sound of voices calling to one another. “I think they’ve discovered you’ve escaped. You need to leave immediately.”
“We will, and good luck,” Jaina said. “Spirits be with you.”
Ariok stared at her for a moment, and then despite himself, chuckled. “Aye, and spirits be with you as well.” He turned and headed back the way he came. Moments later, Jaina could hear him shouting, directing efforts away from the hatchery.
“Masterfully done,” Vaelan murmured. “Was any of it true?”
“All of it was true,” Jaina said sharply. “I wouldn’t lie to get my way. It’s easier to shoot people than to lie to them. Speaking of which...” She closed her eyes briefly, and Awbee shifted as he felt the summoning spell. Jaina’s posture shifted slightly as her holsters regained their contents. “Now, you were saying about this sanctum. Show me.”
Vaelan muttered, and gathered up the eggs. He passed Jaina one, then two. “I shouldn’t ask if you need your hands for this, should I?”
“Not if you truly understand my reputation,” Jaina replied as he scooped up the last three eggs. “Now what?”
“Here,” Vaelan said, and leaned in, resting his forehead against hers. Knowledge flooded into Jaina’s mind. He was ancient by human measure, though by his own race’s standards he was young yet. Over two hundred thousand sunrises had crept over his large, scaled form. He had travelled all over, from the tips of Tanaris’ Land’s End beach to a large, burnished tower that seemed to stretch forever towards a pale, eternally-winter sky. Jaina sucked in a sharp breath.
Northrend. Arthas.
Focus, Vaelan reminded her. That’s the temple.
Temple?
Wyrmrest Temple. The sanctuary of the flights. Not even Deathwing dares violate the sanctity of its Titan-blessed stones. The imagery plunged down like a diving bird into the great crevasse beneath the ice. Concealed beneath the frozen wasteland was a portal room, reminding Jaina of the old nexi in Dalaran and Lordaeron, where city portals once faced each other, creating instant connections between distant lands. Here. The imagery dove past two massive, bipedal dragonkin and into a swirling portal.
Jaina could taste the magic on her tongue, feel it, smell it. This was extradimensional space. She could feel the strings of magic she could tug to collapse the portal and cut it off from others, though she kept her knowledge respectful, and turned to what was inside. She felt her breath catch at the sight of it:
There were endless hills of green, dotted by huge, multicoloured flowers of every imaginable type, and a few Jaina had merely heard of. Dragons frolicked, from the stern-faced dragonkin who minded little clusters of eggs to the rowdy, darting hatchlings, to the somewhat more sedate great dragons. Her eyes lit on an immense elder dragon who seemed to be the size of a dozen ships from his noble snout to the long, curved tail that flicked indolently in the sunlight. He raised his head, and called out.
Jaina had believed that dragon to be the largest one she could see. She was wrong. Coming down from the sky, a larger dragon landed beside him. This one was a slightly different colour, and her form was fuller. Different markings, invisible to human eyes save for Vaelan’s granted knowledge, marked her as not simply female, not simply a broodmother of the highest regard... but a Queen. The Queen.
Greetings, Jaina Proudmoore, said a voice within her mind, as warm as sunlight, as warm as a mother’s embrace, as warm as the freshly tilled soil of Durotar. And Vaelastrasz.
Hello, Jaina replied, ‘breathlessly’. May I enter your sanctum?
Of course, be welcome in my home.
Jaina nodded to herself, breaking contact with Vaelan. “I’ve got it.”
“I can tell,” Vaelan replied, not unkindly. “When you’re ready.”
Jaina nodded, and closed her eyes. Hills, sunlight, flowers, dragons. It filled her mind up, and she began to cast the spell. A tunnel traced out from her, infinite and complex as a series of lines, calculations, and diagrams. Each new set launched them further and further, like a bridge between two points. Ley lines and nodes shining like constellations, but in the ground instead of up in the sky, lit her way. Instead of a tunnel, it became a river, and she swam, gliding effortlessly through the water, twisting and turning. Finally, the river became a cliff, and Jaina jumped, hurtling towards her destination before landing.
It all took no more than a heartbeat.
“Welcome,” Vaelan said with a broad grin as he shed his orc disguise in favour of a human one, “to the Ruby Sanctum.”
Jaina opened her eyes. It was all here. The great dragons, the grass, the sky. She inhaled deeply, drawing in the mixed floral scents. Even Awbee raised his head.
“Put me down,” he urged. Jaina nodded, worried about juggling the eggs in her arms.
“Fear not,” said a gentle, though very loud voice. “My children will take them and keep them safe.” The Dragon-Queen nodded her great head, and several dragonkin approached to take the eggs from both of them, though Vaelan did not allow them to take the black egg. With Jaina’s hands free, she set Awbee down. Tentatively, as if he could not believe it, Awbee took his first steps on soft grass. He walked slowly, carefully, and then began to run as fast as he could. Within moment, young hatchlings were running along beside him and he wept.
“He will be returned to Halegosa’s sanctum soon,” the Dragon-Queen promised.
“Here, let me,” Jaina murmured to Vaelan, holding out her arms. He set the black dragon egg in her arms, and he moved back to shapeshift, and took off with a grateful cry. “I thought he might need to stretch his wings. I met him in a jail cell.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” the Dragon-Queen said ruefully. “Do you know who I am, child?”
“You’re Alexstrasza, the Dragon-Queen,” Jaina replied. “And this is... Korialstrasz, your Prime Mate.” She nodded politely to him. “Or Archmage Krasus Goldenmist, the former ambassador to the Alliance from Dalaran, friend to Mage Rhonin and sponsor of the mission to Grim Batol.”
“I’m afraid you lost your wager,” the male dragon, Korialstrasz, said. “Though I applaud your choice of blue, many blues have made their way to Dalaran’s violet halls. Young Kalec got diverted due to the Scourge assault, and I lost track of him.”
“I promise I’ll be amazed over that later, but I’m slightly overwhelmed right now,” Jaina replied, dazed. “This is... incredible. Largely unheard of as well. Has Rhonin been here?”
“He has,” Korialstrasz replied, amused. “He was a good deal less gracious about it.”
“That generally describes him, as I recall it,” Jaina said, taking in a deep breath, and she looked down at the egg in her arms, and over at the dragonkin that hovered nearby. Carefully, she traced a finger down the ebony shell. “Hello, there.”
“He can hear you,” Alexstrasza said mildly. Jaina nodded.
“I know, Vaelan explained your plan. I think it’s a good one. I’d like to say that it’s manipulative, but isn’t every way we raise our children manipulative? We start to teach them right from the cradle. We instill them with our values, our habits... our beliefs. I didn’t grow up in a void. No child does.”
“No,” Alexstrasza agreed, her great, golden eyes watching Jaina closely. “Children need direction.”
“They do,” Jaina agreed, then sighed. “I hope he embraces these new values and doesn’t reject them. We have that choice, too. As we grow, our values are measured against those of others and we make choices. ‘Is what my father taught me right?’ Do his values measure positively or negatively against those of others. What is the world like outside of my own perspective? I believe that what Vaelan wants of this child, that you want, is right... but do you want this child? As a child, not just as a symbol, or a test subject, I mean.”
“Yes,” Alexstrasza said. “While it is true that we reflect ourselves in our children, all parents must accept that their children are individuals, that they will take all that they learn and make their own decisions, follow their own ideals. As such, when they reject our ideals, we must accept that it will happen. I do not know what will happen with this child. I simply refuse to be paralyzed by fear, by indecision. I will love him regardless, because the moment he entered this Sanctum, he ceased to be the child of Nefarian and became the child of Alexstrasza.”
“I’m pleased to hear you say that,” Jaina replied, and placed the egg in the nearest dragonkin’s arms. “I look forward to seeing what he will do in the future.”
“Be cautious, Lady Proudmoore,” Korialstrasz said, his eyes sparkling with good humour. “We might believe that you actually mean it.”
“Oh, I do,” Jaina replied. “I like to be involved in projects that might change the world. Like the continued expansion of the Horde in Kalimdor.”
Several of the dragonkin hissed in disapproval, and Alexstrasza’s gaze became somewhat harder.
“I had wondered where they had run to,” she murmured. “Kalimdor... Ysera’s domain.”
“When Ysera isn’t busy kidnapping Archdruids from their wives, yes,” Jaina said, her tone hard. “I know that you were wronged by the Dragonmaw, by the former Warchief of the Horde, but do you feel anger at the sword, or the hand that wields it?”
“Tools though they may have been to a greater, more evil force, it does not diminish the harm the orcs did to my children, my mates, and myself,” Alexstrasza said sharply. “You presume much.”
“My brother and a third of my father’s fleet died to dragonfire,” Jaina replied, meeting her gaze squarely, resisting the sensation of endlessness through anger and focus. “So should I take comfort in the fact that your flight was controlled, manipulated into doing something that they would never have done otherwise? Or should I feel threatened by you simply because of the colour of your scales, because they did my family harm?”
For a long moment, there was silence. Even the sound of joyous hatchlings had stopped as they looped around, resting on the nearby hillocks. Awbee came to her, pushing against her hand. Without breaking her gaze, Jaina scritched between his ear-holes.
“Antonidas was right about you,” Korialstrasz said. Jaina did not turn to look at him, but he sounded rueful and amused. “I remember when he finalized your qualifications as Archmage, despite your age. He said that we had no need to fear, for your will was stronger than any he’d ever seen. You would tolerate nonsense from no one.”
“There were times when I did during periods of extreme stress,” Jaina replied. “Everyone makes poor decisions during such times, it’s not unforgivable.”
“Even when it gives one indigestion,” Korialstrasz said encouragingly. “Or--”
“I will concede your point,” Alexstrasza said. “Though the orcs of Blackrock do not speak well of your claims.”
“I would be a liar if I claimed that no human ever acted out of evil, or misinformation, or spite,” Jaina said, relaxing a fraction. “So too is it true for orcs. I will not defend Rend Blackhand at any time. I would defend a specific group of his followers, those who never had the chance to go to Kalimdor with Thrall and his new Horde.”
“I have heard of Thrall,” the Dragon-Queen said, nudging slightly against Korialstrasz, who curled against her. Immediately, hatchlings flew up to rest on her great back. This made her smile. “Though you obviously know him personally.”
“He is my closest ally, my dearest friend, and...” Jaina paused, then raised her chin. “My lover. I will not claim that I know him best, but I do know him very well.”
“Ah,” Alexstrasza said simply, and extended her neck slightly to sniff Jaina, and then gave Awbee a brief nuzzle. “Tell me of him, and his new Horde.”
“After the Dark Portal closed, the orcs fell into a fugue, of sorts, that the mages of Dalaran named the Lethargy. The Alliance rounded up as many of them as they could and placed them in internment camps. As prisoners, they were subjected to the anger of those who had lost homes, family, and years to their invasion, and in turn, they did not have the strength to defend themselves or petition for better conditions, forcing a generation of children to grow up in squalor. It seemed as though they needed a miracle, someone untouched by this--”
“Are you attempting to draw parallels between the orcs and the red dragonflight, child?” Alexstrasza asked, irritation tinging her voice. “If so...”
“If you find a similarity between what happened to your dragonflight during the war, and the orcs after the war, I will not judge you for it,” Jaina replied, her emphasis subtle. “Thrall lost his parents as an infant, and was found by humans. His master decided to bring Thrall into his home not out of compassion, but out of a desire to mould him, to manipulate him and to profit from his vulnerability.”
Again, Jaina’s gaze flashed defiance, and Alexstrasza sighed. It was though a small mountain was conceding the point. “Thrall grew up hating himself. He knew he was different despite, or perhaps because of, the fact he was surrounded by humans. He could not miss that he had green skin, that he was larger, that people regarded him with fear, with suspicion, with hate. He was fortunate, though, because there were those who loved him. One of them even helped him escape. He found his people, and he returned to the camps. He broke down the walls that held them, and more than that, he helped them find the strength to break free.”
“That is both brave and impressive,” Korialstrasz said, encouraging. “He was not affected by this Lethargy?”
“He was not,” Jaina said. “And you must know that we never discovered exactly what was causing it. I know that answer now, of course.”
“What was it?” Alexstrasza asked.
“Demons.” Jaina clenched her jaw. “Gul’dan and his ilk sold their people out to demons. When they ultimately failed in their efforts to defeat the Alliance and the Portal finally closed... it broke the contract. Instead of being stronger from the demons’ influence, they became weaker than they were without it. Thrall and his clan never experienced that weakness since they refused to accept it in the first place.”
“I see,” Alexstrasza said and sighed again. “What has he done with this knowledge?”
“He’s told his people that they need never be slaves to demons again. They fought for it and they won. They stood defiant against the demons and the Scourge. We did. In Hyjal’s aftermath, we’ve all had to change and adapt. My people have built their own home, as have Thrall’s... and the Night Elves needed to adapt to no longer being immortal.”
“I remember when we grew the World Tree together,” Alexstrasza remarked thoughtfully. “They have sacrificed that, have they?”
“Hyjal is healing, but your boon has left them,” Jaina said. “If pride gives us pause, perhaps we have lived too long.”
“Who said that?”
“Malfurion,” Jaina replied. “I miss his wisdom.”
“You said Ysera has drawn him into the Emerald Dream once more,” Alexstrasza said and sighed. “I will have to speak to her about this.”
“Please do,” Jaina said. “I would appreciate it.”
Alexstrasza nodded, and looked Jaina over. “Korialstrasz has told me of you in the past, and he mentioned your teacher, Antonidas, and his ambitions for you. What would you have done with leadership of the Kirin Tor?”
Jaina closed her eyes, remembering. “When I was very young, I wanted to be a pirate. I believe I’d conflated piracy with heroism. A family trait.” She smiled, briefly. “After I came to accept my gifts, I wanted to be the Guardian of Tirisfal. By that time it was long since impossible, but I thought that the world would care for a guardian, if not the Guardian. I pushed myself hard. I took advanced classes whenever I could, I studied constantly. I rarely went home. I made good friends there... Noah, Rylai. Kylian and Kael.” Her smile became sadder. “Bolvar and Arthas too, though I’d known Arthas from a young age. I believed that Antonidas would live for a very long time, even though he was old when we met, and I was going to go out, save the world, and be back in time to whip the Six into shape.”
“Ambitious child,” Korialstrasz said. “The Six were aggravating, stubborn, and determined to disagree with each other at every turn.”
“You would know, you were one of them,” Jaina noted, and he chuckled. “At sixteen, I thought that I would establish myself and my career, then have children, and balance my ambition with my family life.”
“You want children,” Alexstrasza observed. “You care for them when you find them, but you want your own.”
“Yes,” Jaina replied. “That hasn’t changed. I was engaged to Arthas at the age of twenty-one. We had something of a long courtship, but we were both busy. His paladin training, my archmage training. Antonidas was disappointed, and angry with Arthas for taking me from Dalaran’s council. There is a conflict of interest, you see, for people to rule two nations of the Alliance at once. That’s why Kael’thas was never considered either, though we were peers.”
“You would have made a ferocious team,” Korialstrasz remarked. “It’s a shame--”
Jaina shook her head, sharply. Alexstrasza raised an eye-ridge, but neither would elaborate further.
“What of family?”
“Arthas would need heirs,” Jaina said. “He was... nervous about fatherhood. He tended to avoid the subject, though Uther was enthusiastic. I know he appreciated my intelligence and my... stubbornness.”
“Uther wasn’t marrying you, though, Arthas was,” Korialstrasz said, even as he added a growl to the former Crown Prince of Lordaeron’s name. “What about him?”
“I loved Arthas a great deal, though he was flawed. I knew it before we were engaged, but out of... stubbornness I refused to accept it. He was proud and arrogant, and sometimes it was breathtaking. We felt invincible. He respected my power and my independence... but he also had something of a superiority complex. He was stubborn too... once he decided on a course of action, he would accept nothing less than victory. People knew it. People manipulated him with it.”
“Kel’thuzad.”
“Yes.” Jaina looked to Korialstrasz. “You probably remember Nicolai Kelthus. He manipulated us -- both of us, I won’t deny it -- into doing exactly what the Lich King wanted. Arthas... wouldn’t have picked up the trail if it weren’t for my help, and I wouldn’t have gone all the way to Stratholme. After Hearthglen I would have gone back to Dalaran for an army. I... I left him at Stratholme. I was so exhausted. We’d come so far, and I couldn’t deny what Arthas was doing. He was being too stubborn, too unyielding. I watched him dissolve an institution that was the backbone of the Alliance simply because Uther disagreed with him. He swore that nothing would stop him, and I just couldn’t argue with that. So I walked away. I... slept, I recovered, and he sought me out.” Jaina lapsed into uneasy silence.
Alexstrasza crept forward, and gently nudged against her. Jaina extended a hand, stroking her muzzle. “What happened then?”
“He was vague about Stratholme. He said he knew where the plague had come from, that he had to go to Northrend. He wanted me to come with him, he said he’d forgive me if I did. I told him it was a trap. We were together, one last time. I think I had hoped I’d convinced him to stay. He’d simply convinced me to let my guard down so he could leave.”
“And the rest is history.”
“I was pregnant when I left for Kalimdor.” There was a sense of desperation in the confession, and the great dragons exchanged a look. “I hadn’t realized it. I thought the interruption in my courses was due to stress. I thought that the sickness and pain was due to the march across Kalimdor. That the anger and the irritability was due to the fact that my people had been hounded by the Horde through Stonetalon, and then I was being asked by the Last Guardian himself to ally with them!” Jaina shook her head. “Well, I’m sure that was also true. Medivh was being both high-handed and vague.”
“What happened to the child?”
“I lost it. Korialstrasz will have heard of this, but mages who extend themselves in a significant way experience mage fever. It takes a toll on our bodies. During the battle of Hyjal there was no opportunity for me to take things easy. We fought for our lives, our very right to survive. I pushed myself to the edge... we all did. During my bout of mage fever, I lost the child I didn’t realize I was carrying... that my physician didn’t know I was carrying.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Alexstrasza began, and Jaina shook her head lightly.
“I don’t blame myself... I have no reason to.” She patted Alexstrasza’s nose again. “It’s not as if I could have laid an egg somewhere safe to protect it. I don’t regret my choices. One life, the life of a world. I was prepared to sacrifice my own life. Pregnancy would never have stopped me. I am not that selfish. I was... damaged, though. I’m functionally infertile. I’ve been told there’s a slight chance, so I wear a birth control charm, but... I won’t know that joy I wanted once.”
“Do you still want it?” Alexstrasza asked, and Jaina felt the question tingle through her.
“Yes,” Jaina said. “My career is stable, if not different from how I believed it would be. I am a little older now, a little more steady. I’m less likely to stay up until all hours and forget to eat. Theramore is a good home for children. My chamberlain is the mother of two children, and I know she wouldn’t object to more. She and her husband are good parents. I even...”
“Yes?”
“Thrall would be a good father, I think. If he wants children. He loves the children of Orgrimmar, I’ve seen that. They’re precious to him. Family is precious to him. His own family was taken from him for a long time... his parents, his sister, his grandfather. At one stage or another, they were gone. I just don’t know if...”
“If he would want children with you?” The question from Korialstrasz was quiet, but hid an intensity underneath it. Jaina met his gaze.
“I don’t know. That’s the thing about being in multiple failed relationships. You start questioning even the happiest parts of your life, looking for the flaws you may have missed. I know that one of his closest allies is a halforcen, though she likes to keep her identity secret.” She smiled. “I know that he has no objections to my chamberlain’s family, and her children are halforcen. I simply can’t speak for the permanence of our relationship.”
“Would you require a permanent relationship to have a child?” The question, innocently asked, made Jaina give her a sharp look, then she sighed.
“No, I suppose I don’t, though it would be painful if our relationship ended because of it.” Jaina scritched along her great eye-ridge, and the Dragon-Queen half-closed her eyes, making a pleased, rumbling sound.
“Do not cease to dream,” Alexstrasza murmured. “It is a mortal’s greatest gift.”
“I won’t,” Jaina promised. “Though I should go. I have more promises to keep.” She took in a deep breath. “Thank you, I feel... unburdened. I’ve been holding this in for a long time.”
“The Ruby Sanctum is a place of many blessings,” Alexstrasza said, withdrawing slightly. “Say goodbye, children.”
A chorus of young voices, male and female, chimed in to wish Jaina well on her journey. Jaina knelt and embraced Awbee.
“Thank you, I won’t forget you,” Awbee said. Jaina smiled.
“You’d better not, because I’ll see you again, and you can take me flying,” Jaina said. Awbee nodded emphatically. Jaina straightened, and nodded to both elder dragons. “Say goodbye to Vaelan for me as well.”
“We shall, be blessed by life abundant.” Alexstrasza stood, careful not to dislodge her many passengers. Jaina felt warm as she cast the teleportation spell that would bring her back to Stormwind.
~ * ~
All in all, it’s been a busy day, Jaina thought wearily. Rather, a busy three days, with lots of teleportation, a kidnapping, a trove of research to sink my teeth into when I get home, a rescue... She smiled. So, as a whole, a very productive trip.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
Jaina turned. “Hello, Varian. Nice to see you too. Lovely nation you have here, when it’s not beset on all sides by various easily-avoidable problems.” The sense of ease she’d felt since leaving the Ruby Sanctum faded.
“Don’t start with me,” the King of Stormwind warned. Jaina looked him over, and even as her temper prickled, she felt a stab of concern. Varian was only a decade older than she was, but he looked as though he’d aged twenty years. His appearance was wild, his dark brown hair shaggy and scarcely tamed. Jaina could not help but contrast his rugged chin, dotted by stubble to Thrall’s carefully trimmed and cultivated beard, and Varian’s wild locks to Thrall’s oiled and braided hair.
Naturally though, Thrall is the savage one, Jaina thought sourly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Someone needs to, it looks like you’ve stuck your head in a gnomish flying machine’s propeller,” she replied tartly. “As for what I’m doing, I’m solving your problem.”
“Thelwater says you ordered the release of multiple Defias prisoners!” Varian cried, ignoring the shot at his appearance. “They’re criminals, what are you thinking?”
“I believe I detailed a report of the situation involving the false Defias. All of the people who I asked to be released -- asked, not ordered, Warden Thelwater is not my employee -- were true Defias. Those that remain are petty thugs that I believe to have been hired by an independent entity.”
“You can turn people into sheep, anything you ask is pretty well an order,” Varian muttered. Jaina raised an eyebrow at him.
“What does it say about a king who can put him in jail alongside his former charges when I am the one he fears?” Varian met her gaze, briefly, and Jaina was surprised by the circles under his eyes. “Do you not sleep?”
“As you so kindly pointed out, Azeroth is beset on all sides by problems. It keeps me up at night.” Suddenly, as if realizing his state, he ran his hands through his hair, attempting to tame it. “Including the damned Defias.”
“Not any more,” Jaina pointed out, watching him closely. “The Defias problem is gone.”
“You did not solve my problem, you moved it to bloody Kalimdor!” Varian cried. Jaina refused to be cowed. “First the orcs, now this? You wonder why people don’t trust you.”
“Remarkably, many people trust me,” Jaina said. “As for the orcs, they are entirely trustworthy. They’ve lost too much to be insincere now. You’d know that if you came to Kalimdor, as I’ve requested.”
“You’re insane,” Varian muttered. “Bolvar may agree, but the rest of the council is against it. It’s far too dangerous.”
“Only because you insist on travelling by boat,” Jaina pointed out. “Which is insulting to the sea captains that allow Azeroth to pull itself out of its debts. I could teleport you there right now.”
“I don’t have time to go on vacation, Jaina.”
“Then call it a diplomatic mission, we’ll even have a summit. I haven’t had one in several years, and this time a demon isn’t even chasing me. Varian.” Jaina reached up, and caught a lock of his hair, pushing it back into his groping hands. “You need a change of pace. If you place so much trust in that council of yours, trust them to watch over things for a little while. The change of perspective could do you some good.”
“I have all the advice I could want, I don’t need yours,” Varian shot back, stung. If anything, her gentler tone only discomforted him more. “The answer is no.”
“Didn’t you just say Bolvar agreed with me?” Jaina asked. “If you don’t need my advice, do you also not need his?”
Silence. Jaina watched him pace to the window, and look out into the courtyard, and kept her peace. As she watched, she shivered as a sudden chill hit her. Is someone there?
“I’ll consider it,” Varian said finally. Jaina smiled.
“Thank you, Varian. Change will do you good. New sights, new people... new opportunities for Azeroth.”
“Change has never done me any damned good,” Varian muttered, but he nodded to her. Jaina thought to pat his shoulder but decided against it.
“I need to go, it’s past time that I return to my own people. Goodbye, Varian.”
He nodded to her, and stared at her as she cast the teleportation spell, finally shaking the sensation of being watched.
Epilogue