The Embassy was busier than usual. Evening was beginning to fall and the lanterns were being lit. Iasea watched the comings and goings of the people, taking note of every person that moved through the area. Most notably, the targets of her rage. She watched as yet another head of silver hair entered area with a sneer.
“Iasea Moonwhisper,” her name was spoken almost as a command. Iasea’s vibrant pink hair swirled around as she jerked her head to see who was speaking. She was met with the slight smirk of Sellanii Longleaf. “Did I startle you?”
Turning her gaze back to the field, Iasea shrugged. “A little. Lost in my own thoughts.”
Sellanii nodded. “ I am gratified to see that you survived the fall of our city, young one.” The younger elf grunted in response. Sellanii arched a long green eyebrow at her.
“If there was nothing left to me before, there is even less now,” she responded sullenly.
“I suppose that depends on your point of view, child.”
Iasea turned herself towards the older woman. “What point of view is there,” she spat out. Her hand came up and tugged on the ill-fitting dress she wore. “This isn’t even mine!”
Sellanii sighed. “All of us are in the same boat now, young one. In times such as this, a wise woman sees not only sorrow, but opportunity.”
“Oh, opportunity I see, yes.” Her face twisted into a wicked grin. “The Silverthorns are coming out of hiding.” She pointed at the small building across from them.
“Ah yes, your special project.”
“Project…interesting choice of words.”
Sellanii shrugged. “Should I have said ‘obsession’?”
The younger chuckled bitterly. “Focus, plan, whatever. The word matters less than my completion of it.”
“Hm…well, that’s as may be, young one. But the Silverthorns will have to wait.”
Iasea scowled. “Says who?”
Sellanii narrowed her eyes. “Says the one who can help you restore your House. The one who can grant your House its former status. The one who will support your project, provided it comes in due time.”
Iasea’s eyebrows shot up. “You would help me kill every last one of them?”
“I don’t plan on wading in and spilling their blood, if that is what you mean.” She reached up and pushed her green hair back from her eyes and settled down next to the other woman.
“Then what? Because that is what I plan to bring about,” came the confused response.
Sellanii sighed, her eyes closing for a moment. “I will help you realize your goal, by providing what you need more than anything else.”
“And what is that?”
“A respectable cover,” she stated plainly. Iasea sat back, her mind racing through what that would do for her. “There is, of course, a price.”
Iasea barked out a laugh. “Of course there is. There always is.”
Grunting, the druid continued. “The price is that you wait.”
The younger woman blinked, surprised. “What?” She couldn’t muster any more than the one word. How could she even consider asking me such a thing?
Sellanii turned her gaze to the refugees huddled around the campfires. Her voice held a tinge of grief, though she did her best to keep her tone even. “Our people need time to recover, Iasea. And just as important, their enemies need to be crushed.”
“All the more reason to take out the pale ones now.”
A sharp look cut her off. Narrowing her eyes, Sellanii glared at her. “No. For starters, let us make one thing very clear; you cannot accomplish this alone. If you try, they will find you and kill you. You will end up like your mother. Do you know what happened to her?”
“I was told she was murdered,” she replied. “The guards wont tell me more. They simply get a strange look that washes over their faces and they leave.”
“I know someone who can tell you more. I will have her pay you a visit. Her name is Nuelæth, a Sentinel Captain of some repute.”
Nodding, “I have heard the name.”
“She’ll talk to you. It will give you pause, believe me.”
“These people killed everyone in my House but me. What could possibly give me pause now?” She sneered, growing ever more frustrated.
“Just wait, you’ll see.” Iasea shrugged. Sellanii’s eyes narrowed at the younger woman. “You are going to need to learn to show respect, child,” she growled. Iasea sighed heavily, bowing her head. The green haired woman nodded. “The Silverthorns stole your life. And their irritating ‘Patriarch’ ruined my plans. For this, they will pay.” She took a breath, sighing suddenly. “But not yet. Whatever else you might say about him. Forosuul Silverthorn is an implacable and vicious enemy of the Horde.”
“That man is an enemy to nearly everyone, so far as I can tell,” she muttered. The ancient woman chuckled at her. “The reports I have show he will even pick fights with our allies.”
“The point, my dear child, is that he is a great weapon against those who did this,” she gestures to the fields, “to our people. Until the Horde is shattered, I will not have him removed, or even distracted.”
“And if we don’t succeed in that? Will I never know my revenge?”
“If we don’t succeed, your revenge will be pointless. You need support. And you need something else.”
Iasea nodded. “Money.”
“No.” Sellanii snapped. “Life after vengeance.”
“No…” she argued. “I definitely need money.”
Sellanii chuckled. “Money is no issue.”
“Good. Because I am not spending the war in this,” she tugged on the dress again. “I need equipment, weapons.”
“I will send you to someone who can craft them for you.”
“Thank you, Matriarch,” she inclined her head.
Sellanii smiled faintly. “Thank you, Matriarch. We shall go to the Council in Exile next week and make your client status official.”
Iasea sighed heavily. “I will make arrangements to parlay with the Silverthorns.”
“You will tell them the matter is dropped. And you make them believe you,” Sellanii commanded.
The look on the pink haired woman was one of incredulity. “Dropped?!”
“I did not say you had to drop it,” she rolled her eyes. “I said you had to make them believe you.”
Iasea sighed, relieved. “Trust me. My sister never quite got the hang of the fake tears. I however, did.”
“Of that, I have no doubt. I knew your mother, child.”
“I am not her,” she stated matter-of-factly. She turned her pink face to the sky, looking up at the stars.
“That is good to hear. She was an idiot,” Sellanii grinned, all her teeth showing. “Oh. One other thing.”
“Hmmm?” Iasea returned her attention to her benefactor.
“As a gesture,” she explained, “you will give the Silverthorns the names of the men you used to assault their young lady.
“What?” Her eyes were wide, disbelieving.
“I believe you heard me.”
“They will kill them. I will lose the use of good men.”
Sellanii laughed at her. “They are not good men. Otherwise they would not have failed. Give them up. Claim they exceeded your instructions. Wash your hands of them. Make your sister believe it and she will convince the others.”
“I will do what I can,” she nodded.
“You will do what I say,” the woman replied. “No excuses, Iasea.”
“May I ask you something? What do you get out of all this?”
The grin on the older woman’s face held a cruel edge to it. Her eyes shone. “I get my revenge on them for ruining my plans. And moreover, I remove one of the last things supporting Tyrande. After her actions in Darkshore, she lost a lot of support. When the House of Silverthorn falls, she will follow.”