Lost Heart Part II

Lost Heart Part II

Commander Sylvanas Windrunner sat at the dining table with her sibling Alleria in the Windrunner Spire in the tranquil forests of Quel’thalas.  The both of them kept a cup of warm tea near them as they reviewed the upcoming training sessions for the new recruits in the cold early morning.

“Lets have a look at the list of recruits Alleria, hopefully we can salvage some hope this time around.” Sylvanas said as she took a sip of her tea before setting it down to go over the scroll of names.

“Did you ever think that perhaps your expectations are too high dear sister?”  Alleria said, cradling the cup of tea in her hands with a smirk.

“No, we are not recruiting mere archers here we are recruiting rangers that must be intelligent, adaptable and creative.  Besides, we need more than rangers what we need is capable squad leaders.” Sylvanas explained with a sigh before taking another sip of her tea.

“Plenty of our recruits are capable of that, if you set out standards too high we will have too few.” Alleria pointed out, rolling her eyes at her younger sister.

“Quality over quantity sister.  I’d rather have a few elite rangers then a couple of subpar scouts that are no better than what the humans call rangers.  If you don’t like my methods you should not have assigned me to train these new batch of recruits.” She said with a snort.

“Point taken, any names that perk your interest?”

“Yes, Mirava Darkfyre.  Thats Captain Del’Var’s daughter isn’t it?”  Sylvanas asked, arching a brow at her older sister for clarification.

“Yes.  She married a commoner by the name of Raiev Darkfyre but she’s a Del’Var by birth.”  The oldest sister explained, taking a small sip of her tea afterwards

“That woman is as stubborn as hell when it comes to her talents.  I tried to personally recruit her about thirty years ago after she won an archery tournament in Sel’Belore.  She beat two former rangers who participated.” She said, followed by a snicker as she remembered the cross young noble brat who acted like she was the queen of Quel’thalas.

“What did she say to you?” Alleria asked with a curious tone.

“That she was not interested in joining a group that could not beat her in the very skill that they boast.  When I offered to show her my own marksmanship she just laughed.  Did you ask Aligez as to why she had a change of heart?”  The commander asked as she flipped through the files.

“All he said was that her plans had changed and that this was an alternative.”

“What could be more important than being a Ranger?  The girl has marginal magical talent but nothing to make her a magister.  And I’d hardly think a Del’Var would join the regular army.” She shook her head, completely puzzled by the woman’s change of heart.

“Well she is a Del’Var.” Alleria said, pointedly.

“Thats a rumor, old wives tales to scare the children to bed.”

“You and I both know that the Del’Vars are a family that you do not upset.  People mysteriously die whom cross the Del’Vars or their allies for that matter.” The oldest sister explained, emphasising the mysteriously died statement with a slash to the neck.

Sylvanas paused for a moment as she stared at the parchment in front of her as she remembered the one time she actually had to cooperate with a Sin’Serrar cell leader when uncovering a suspected coup plot of the king.  She remembered vividly the poor sods who had been “interrogated” by the secret group in the name of the king.  The woman considered herself open to any technique but the Sin’Serrar were brutal even by her standards.

“The Sin’Serrar, you think she failed their trials?” Sylvanas asked.

“I’m sorry, I thought that was an old wives tale!” Her sister said with a laugh.

“I do not dismiss the possibility.  And this one is of concern.  I do not like the idea of Assassins being in our ranks sister even if she is the daughter of one our best.”  Or the possibility that they were looking for unloyal subjects in her rangers ranks she thought to herself.

“If she’s trained in that aspect she could be valuable asset.  Belore knows we’ve been lacking in close quarter combat skills.  A trained member of the Sin’Serrar could give us insight into techniques we could use.”

“Or she could be a liability, a spy sent to us by Shalla’elune.”  Sylvanas pointed out.

“You really do know much about them don’t you?”

“You know me, I need to know every detail of the mission.  Alright, I’ll take her.” Afterall she didn’t want the cutthroats to be suspect that she was weary of them.

“You’ll have to break her you know that?  The woman is a Del’Var and honestly one of the more snobby ones.  Did you know she beat up cousin Ellie when she was little over a cupcake?”

“To be fair we both know cousin Ellie could do without a few cupcakes.”  The younger sister pointed out, making a motion to her stomach with a wide gesture.

“She broke his arm, nose and two ribs.  When she was thirty, the Highcrest family tried to arrange a marriage between one of Vynlarion’s grandsons.”

“What happened to him?”

“A collarbone and a leg... after he insulted her future husband.”

“That must of pissed off the Highcrests..”  Sylvanas thought outloud as she leaned back in her chair.

“It did, the Highcrests made a formal complaint to the king.”

“Oh that must of not gone well.”

“Prince Kael’thas asked if the boy needed one of his maids to kiss his booboos after the evil little girl beat him to a pulp.  Needless to say, it was dismissed.  Then again the Del’Vars have always been close to the royal family.” She explained with a smirk.

“So who is the one unsure about recruiting her?”

“Who says I am unsure?  Hell, I am downright impressed by a woman who could beat the living snot out of a man twice her size!” Alleria said with a long winded guffaw.

“I am still not sure.  It’s evident that she will not be putting her entire heart into this.  If anything I’d have to work with her twice as hard as the other recruits.”  Sylvanas stated with a furrow of her brow.

“The choice is your Sylvannas. But her scores were definitely above par, her archery alone is already above standards of most of our rangers, her tracking is above average and her tactical sense is ... well they matched yours when you first tested.”

“Why is it she was kicked out of Dalaran?  It says in the file she was once a student.” She asked, flipping through the file once again to read up on that part.

“From what I understand it was a combination of uninterest on her part and unauthorized access to fields of study not suitable for a novice.”

The younger sister arched an eyebrow in question.

“She dabbled in shadow magic, particular phantasmal and illusion.  Her teachers did say when she was caught she found an extreme aptitude for the school but the Arch-Mage had enough with her and had her sent back home.

“So she gets ahead of herself and has a problem with following the rules.” Sylvanas observed, “Typically that goes hand and hand with talent however.”

“See a bit of yourself in her?” Alleria asked with a smile.

“Yes and thats what worries me.  We also have another potential, Orolian from the Flamearrow family.  High skill marks like Mirava with the same overall problems with authority.  I’ll give him to Aligez to train, I don’t want those two in the same training squadron.  Perhaps we can convince Alorinis to also help with this new batch if we can manage to pry him from his extended family for a few weeks.”

“So you believe those two could be leaders?”

“Yes.. if we can manage to get them learn how to follow orders.”

“Have you heard by the way?” The older sister’s voice growing more somber.  Feeling the need to get this subject off her chest.

“Heard what?”

“Stormwind... the human forces are not doing well.”

“Alleria, its not our concern.  We have to worry about our own borders.” Sylvanas pointed out with a sig

“You forget that it was the humans that helped us against the trolls.” The older woman said, leaning forward to her sister.

“And you forget that we gave those barbarians the ability to use magic in exchange, whatever debt we had to the humans has already been paid.” Sylvanas said with a frown, she could not believe her sister would care so much for the selfish humans.

“Regardless, I am volunteering.” She said with a stern voice.

“You cannot be serious!  The human fight is not our concern, we need to stick to the high home.  I won’t have my sister die for a human cause!” Sylvanas said, standing up from her chair with her palms to the table.

“It’s already done Sylvanas.  And maybe a few arrows will make the horde think twice before setting their eyes on our forests.” Alleria said unblinking to her younger sister.

“Then give them hell at least, and don’t you dare die on me. Or so help me I will find a way to raise you from the dead and kill you myself!” The younger woman said, pounding her hand to the table in a mockingly angry gesture.

“Sometimes I worry about you sister.”  Alleria said with a small smile.

“You have biggest things to worry about.  Like human soldiers fondling you.”  Sylvanas said, making a groping gesture.

“You’d think I’d allow a human to so much as touch me?”

“Don’t know to be honest, you are volunteering for them afterall, you always had a soft spot for furry, harry things.  Alleria, always aiding those lesser beings for the sake of ‘cuteness’.  I remember how choked up you were when we first went hunting as children.”

“That fawn was too young!” Alleria said with a shocked expression.

“It was also dinner.” Sylvanas pointed out with a cheek to cheek grin.

“I am going then, and you call the humans barbarians.” She said with disgust.

“Safe Travels sister.”  Sylvanas said with a casual wave of her hand as she finished the rest of her tea.