Breaking the Ice

"I want to know everything!" Sylvanas said, leaning forward as she stared at Shane.

"Didn't you have people watching me from the day I arrived? Even if I had secrets, I couldn't hide them from you." Shane met Sylvanas's eyes calmly.

"I know who you are. I looked into you before you came—a diligent mage, just as the rumors said. And through observation, I know your habits, your interests, and even your little plan. My subordinates reported that you destroyed three troll camps and killed at least four priests. Including the three hexers you killed in the Ghostlands, your tally stands at seven. Now tell me, Mage Shane! What drove you to become stronger so urgently?"

As Sylvanas spoke, her face drew closer and closer to Shane's. Their noses nearly touched, and they could both feel the other's breath against their faces.

"It was Vereesa," Shane answered without hesitation.

"Hm?" Sylvanas furrowed her brow in confusion, straightened up, and returned to a normal distance. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Yes, and no. At least, that isn't the whole reason. Your eyes tell me you've only told me half of it."

"I think my eyes are perfectly innocent." Shane smiled. "Want to take another look?"

Sylvanas looked again suspiciously. "You really are different from the other Dawnblades. You have a cunning they lack, but at least you're not an unpleasant elf."

But Shane was thinking that none of the three Windrunner sisters were easy to deal with. Alleria was troublesome, Vereesa had frightening intuition, and Sylvanas was both troublesome and frighteningly intuitive. If the three sisters ever joined forces against someone, he did not dare imagine the scene.

After saying that, Sylvanas did not leave. Instead, she remained by Shane's side, even following him into his room. Shane was somewhat unaccustomed to having someone constantly at his side. Sylvanas said nothing and merely observed.

Ignore her. She'll leave on her own after a while. Shane focused on his evening studies, but he had underestimated Sylvanas's patience. By the time he began refining magical glass, she was still there, sitting some distance away and watching.

Only the eyepieces remained to be refined for the astronomical telescope. He needed three sets, from which he would select the best. He worked out the focal length relationships and proportions in his mind, then produced them one set at a time according to the resulting data. Because the eyepieces were much smaller, they demanded greater light transmission and clarity. Refining them was no easier than refining the large objective lenses.

With intense focus and careful control, he finally completed the last set and floated all three sets before him. Sylvanas had not said a word since entering the room, silently watching the entire process. At last, she glanced at the sky outside, left him with a meaningful smile, and departed.

Shane shrugged and continued his selection process, having the Eye of Truth scan several parameters.

"User, splendid work," the Eye of Truth reported.

"I've always had confidence in my control. I was certain that all three sets of eyepieces would exceed the design requirements in both light transmission and clarity."

With the lenses complete, he planned to make the telescope mount and tube from metal, with a base capable of three-hundred-and-sixty-degree rotation. The telescope itself was also designed to use the dome as a reference point and move one hundred and eighty degrees along two horizontal axes. To accomplish this, the entire second-floor ceiling would have to be removed and rebuilt with magical glass. It was a fairly large project, so commissioning its construction in Silvermoon City was put on the agenda.

"What this device meant was that the user employed playing hard to get splendidly, successfully attracting the attention of the Sylvanas female elf entity."

"Playing hard to get? Where did you learn that?" The Eye of Truth's vocabulary was growing ever broader.

"I saw it in an epic biography. It must be said that the user's method was exactly like the one in the story."

Shane knew the Eye of Truth had gone astray again, and always on the same subject. "Why are you always so concerned with matters related to female elves?"

"Establishing conversational task: seeking cause. Successful. One: this device considers the user its highest priority. Two: Biology states that reproduction is the foremost matter for all living beings, and the user also acknowledges this view. Three: the user has no offspring. Four: therefore, this device has an obligation to urge the user to reproduce."

"Intelligent beings differ from other organisms. Reproduction is not their only important matter. For example, careers, ideals, goals, and pursuits sometimes come before procreation," Shane explained. If he gave up correcting it, the Eye of Truth might go completely off the rails.

"But the user also has reproductive desire. This device detected a phenomenon of boiling blood when the user approached the Sylvanas female elf entity. Judging from previous reactions, these female elves meet the user's courtship criteria."

"Shut up." Shane hurriedly made the Eye of Truth stop playing images in his mind.

"Understood. Conversation terminated."

Before bed, he still completed two sets of physical training. After keeping at it for more than half a month, his body was indeed in better shape than when he had been in Quel'Thalas. The muscles on his arms were no longer so soft.

The ice between Sylvanas and Shane had broken, and the sentry rangers' attitudes changed accordingly. He even gained a few followers—the ones from the Dawnlight Clan.

Sylvanas also informed him of some things: mages were a privileged class in high elf society and did not need to go on patrol. At the sentry post, a mage's duty was to monitor whether high-ranking troll spellcasters appeared. If one did, they were to report it immediately.

As it happened, the puppet Taigo had suffered minor damage in the previous battle, and the armor plate on its back needed replacing. Shane asked Sylvanas whether he could return to Silvermoon City for repairs. Sylvanas agreed, then submitted a request to the Quel'Thalin mage organization. Bypassing Alleria, she secured approval for his return to Silvermoon City.

Sylvanas was now a frequent visitor to his room. Usually, she simply watched quietly and rarely spoke. Occasionally, she discussed combat with Shane. When the topic turned to warfare, she was very interested in his idea of unilateral intelligence access. She would add her own understanding as she explained it to Shane. At those times, she spoke while Shane listened quietly.

Sometimes, Sylvanas would pause and ask, "Are you listening?" Shane would nod, and only then would she continue.

On the day approval came through, Shane set off. Passing through Quel'Thalin, he asked about Haduren Brightwing. Haduren had been transferred south to guard the border between elves and humans. He really was a smuggler at heart; it suited him well. Shane also heard rumors about him in a tavern, told by several drunken traveling merchants.

"That day, the mage stood on the puppet's hand, facing tens of thousands of trolls. With a wave of his hand, the stars fell... hic... and then all the trolls died."

Hawkins Firehawk was getting married, but he was not in Quel'Thalin. Because of his youthful promiscuity, he had no savings. To make money, he had gone adventuring with his two female attendants.

The rumor about him in the tavern was, "Once he earns enough money, he'll go home and get married."

The mud of the Ghostlands could not delay him for many days. Upon returning to Quel'Thalas, the Sunwell's radiance felt much rougher than before he had left. Shane understood that it was not the Sunwell that had become rougher, but that his senses had grown sharper.

At Sun Sail Harbor, people sent by his family were tending the nursery. The kobold slaves and murloc slaves seemed to have been mistreated. Shane saw grass and beans placed in their feeding troughs.

"The work in the nursery isn't hard. Feeding them this is enough."

If not for the fact that an elf stood before him, one might have thought it was a goblin speaking just from the voice.

No one had lived in the cottage, and dust lay thick everywhere. Yet one spot on the table had noticeably less dust. Someone had come by and written a few words in the dust: "Still not back."

That was Vereesa's style.

After casting a cleaning spell, Shane rested for the night. First, he would visit his mentor, then go look for Vereesa.