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offbrand-valk · 6 years ago

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Making good of my threat with another chapter of Sylvanas and her wife from the warbringers short

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"Beloved." A sultry voice whispered in her ear, as the smell of spring flowers reached her nose.

Sylvanas grunted loudly and sat straight up in her chair, to the confusion of the assembled war council. An angry glare stopped the questions in their track, and made Lor'themar return to outlining his plan as he awkwardly tried to pretend nothing had happened.

A worse time for her to be stuck reminiscing could scantly come. The Alliance was marching on Tirisfal, forsaken were once more losing their homes, and the horde was relying on her to safely weather the storm.

Yet all she could think about was a voice like summer rain, and a girl who loved to dance more than anything else in life.

After her death she had made an effort not to think about her wife and daughter. They were in a better place, and she would never be able to join them because of her curse. Grieving achieved nothing, this much she knew.

The meeting adjourned, Sylvanas having only registered every third word. This wouldn't do! Now most of all, she needed to show the horde strength and determination, not a foolish woman pining for love long lost.

Her outburst by Teldrassil had been the start, provocation, anger, and fear had all formed together into a desperate gamble, and resurrected an old flame in her memory.

She had been foolish back then, arrogant, egoistic even. She hadn't seen the bigger picture, had tried to win a war on half-measures, and for what? Rabbit and Dragonhawk stew? Some long steamy nights? The illusion of Highelven sensibilities?

She grabbed a dagger off the war table, and flung it at a nearby pillar, burying it halfway to the hilt in the wood. It made her feel better, if only a little bit.

Sylvanas pulled the dagger from the wall and started pacing around the room, surely there was something useful she could spend her time on. Running her finger along paths on the map, she tried to put herself in the thoughts of a boy king on his campaign, and all she found was nostalgia.

The sun was bearing down on Sylvanas from above, her brand new ranger cloak turning the heat from horrendous to nearly unbearable.

She had no idea where she was other than: hopefully still somewhere in Eversong woods. Their captain was a firm believer in teaching people to swim by throwing them in a river, and just for fun she had decided Sylvanas should participate in the day’s exercise without a team or map.

The teams had been left in different parts of the woods, and told to track down a fictional monster based on clues left by the captain. If they didn't find the monsters' "lair" by sundown they would spend the night doing push-ups. Considering how it had gone so far for Sylvanas, she was already conserving energy in preparation.

"Hey there miss ranger ma'am" A voice spoke out from behind her, Sylvanas screamed and flailed undignified as she fell off the tree trunk she had been sulking on.

The voice behind her giggled, and Sylvanas instantly forgot to be angry that she had snuck up on and embarrassed her.

When she turned around to face the voice Sylvanas also forgot her name, the task at hand, and about 95% of the Thalassian language. "I'm... uhm... I'm.... Girl."

"I can see that" The woman laughed again a little louder this time, and Sylvanas was certain: she was going to die, right then and there, her heart simply couldn't stand the sight of a smile that pretty.

Realizing that her heart had not in fact burst open from seeing a pretty girl, she became hyper aware that she was lying on the ground with a stupid expression on her face, and scampered on her feet.

"I mean, I'm Sylvanas Windrunner, aspirant to the ranger corps, how can I help you citizen!" She hadn't meant to yell, and now she was quietly hoping the ground would open up and devour her before she had to say another word.

"Oh nothing, I just saw you sitting there all by your lonesome and got curious. Usually when you guys are out here on mission or whatever you call it, you're in groups with your heads buried in maps, not sulking on tree stumps." Sylvanas listened deeply as she tried to adjust her uniform to make herself presentable.

"I may have, ahem, gotten slightly lost." Sylvanas was not trained to show weakness, however she also hadn't been trained to maintain composure in front of pretty ladies with round noses and brown-black hair.

"Well lucky for you then that you know a local girl." The woman that was likely to be the death of Sylvanas said, and offered her arm in a poor imitation of a noble girl asking to be chaperoned at a ball.

"I am almost certain that would be against the rule lady?.." Nonetheless Sylvanas took her arm, and started walking forward.

"Oh uhm Sharpvale, Velline Sharpvale, though I firmly believe this is the first, last, and only time anyone will ever call me a lady."

"Why might that be lady Sharpvale?" Where Sylvanas had found the courage to tease this ethereal beauty she did not know.

Velline looked down, and ran her fingers self-consciously through her hair. "Well first and foremost there's the matter of my noble birth or lack thereof, not to mention my inability to curtsy, or go more than a few hours without talking about boogers, and of course the..." She stopped mid sentence and nervously giggled to herself. "The, uhm, the sharpness of my ears."

Sylvanas deferred to her court training to hide the few seconds she spent processing. She wasn't bothered by Velline being trans, not in the slightest, it just surprised her due to how well she passed, which Sylvanas quickly realized said more about herself than it did Velline.

"Well I think your ears look perfectly feminine just the way they are." Was that the right thing to say? Sylvanas wasn't sure, but Velline did perk notably up on hearing it.

"Why thank you lady Windrunner. Now about this quest of yours, what exactly are the rules." Velline sent her a conspiratorial grin.

"Exercise actually, but same difference I guess."

The pair walked together in no particular direction, Sylvanas outlined the rules of the exercise, and together they looked for loopholes. They parted ways only when they absolutely had to, Sylvanas feeling like she had left a part of heart behind, and promising she would visit as soon as she next had leave.

It was with no small amount of glee Sylvanas entered the clearing a full hour before any of the properly equipped team. When her captain asked how in the world she had got there first (the part about her disadvantages went loudly unmentioned) she calmly explained:

"I realized that since the monster has been troubling the area for some time, my time would be better spend interviewing people local to the area than try to look for broken branches. Turns out the monster has returned to camp in this exact clearing around this time every year for the last 14 years. Most curious wouldn't you say."

Sylvanas grinned to herself, Velline had always been good at making her misbehave, even though she herself had been the picture of good behavior. She knew she should be happy Velline and Liera was spared undeath, yet right now, Sylvanas thought she could really use her council.

Velline had been many things but never a strategist. Maybe that was why she kept haunting her and distracting her from tactics, because the answer wasn't to be found in troop movements and supply chains.

It was little more than trying to excuse a gut feeling Sylvanas could admit as much to herself, what was the harm though? The war council had been adjourned for the night, and she didn't need sleep.

Without an escort she walked the streets of Undercity, she didn't have a goal, only the vague notion that she thought better while walking.

She passed by a forsaken man sitting on a bridge and fishing from a sewer. Sylvanas recognized him as a carpenter by the name Marius Winther, he had been with the forsaken since they first joined the horde, and had been very helpful in making Undercity hospitable. If her memory wasn't far off he had retired following the defeat of the lich king, many forsaken had lost their fighting spirit after their great revenge.

On impulse Sylvanas sat down next to him. "Dark lady." he greeted her with a nonchalant tip of his bucket hat. "Marius." She replied with a nod, and he continued fishing in silence.

"Do you give lessons?" She asked apropos of nothing.

Marius scratched his chin in thought. "Truth be told, there isn't much of a trick to it, there's still blight in these waters and it's clouding the fishes judgement. All you have to do is wait until they think they've won, and take it home."

That was the strike of inspiration she needed. "Marius Winther, the horde owes you a debt of gratitude." She said and rushed off to gather the war council.

#Sylvanas Windrunner #warcraft #world of warcraft #fanfic #my writing

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