"It's simple," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said, pointing at Sylvanas. "You! Other people might not dare touch you, but I..." He pointed at his own nose. "I'd very likely become a casualty of a political struggle."
Yu Lin Bloodhawk knew where he stood. Silvermoon City's political factions were already locked in fierce struggles, both open and covert. Whether they believed Sylvanas or not, the moment she submitted her report, it would cause an upheaval. She was a member of the Windrunner family, after all.
Whether those factions actively prepared for the crisis or used it to rise to power, Yu Lin Bloodhawk could only become a tool in their struggles. He was merely a minor baron, a lowly squadron commander, with no power base and no one backing him. What would become of him? He might quietly die in that political struggle, or be placed under house arrest in the name of protection.
And once some of his predictions were confirmed, his situation would only grow worse. No powerful figure would let someone who knew the future roam free. They would try every possible means to keep him under house arrest. If they could not, they would rather kill him than leave him to their rivals!
"Surely not. Would things really get that bad?" Sylvanas asked.
"Why deceive yourself? Why haven't you reported this to Silvermoon City yet?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked. He did not believe for a moment that Sylvanas had failed to consider this.
Sylvanas fell silent for a while, then said, "What do you think we should do, then?"
"You want my opinion?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked.
"Yes, your opinion!" Sylvanas said.
"It's simple!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
His solution really was simple: do nothing unnecessary before the Second War ended. After all, those two wars were primarily between the orcs and humans, with little connection to Quel'Thalas. The only point they needed to consider was that after the Second War, the Alliance would organize an expedition to the orcs' homeland in hopes of dealing with them once and for all. How should Quel'Thalas respond then?
The troops sent on that expedition would be the elite of Quel'Thalas. That silly girl Alleria would also run off with Turalyon after entering Outland on that expedition. If they kept those elite troops home, surely they could be of some use when the undead invaded Quel'Thalas! Until then, they should let events unfold as they originally had. At least that way, they could still keep track of where things were headed. If they interfered too much, the outcome would become unpredictable.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk explained his ideas to Sylvanas.
Then he smiled and added, "But we can't let that idiot Sargeras have too easy a time, either. You could have people spread a few rumors about the Guardian in Silvermoon City and the Human Kingdom. For example, that the Guardian has the soul of Sargeras, the demon king, inside him. But don't let anyone discover you were behind it. That would land you in serious trouble. Sargeras might be an idiot, but he's pretty good at hide-and-seek. If those moronic mages in Dalaran fail to uncover him, you'll really be in for it."
Falsely accusing the most powerful Guardian in the world was a charge that even a family as influential as the Windrunners would struggle to bear.
"But if I don't tell them the truth, what if I can't stop Silvermoon City from forming an expeditionary force?" Sylvanas said. "For something this important, even our Windrunner family couldn't convince Silvermoon City without sufficient grounds."
"The troll threat! Aren't the forest trolls in Zul'Aman a perfectly good reason? If that doesn't work, find a way to keep your sister here and send Koltira Deathweaver in her place. That guy will die during the undead invasion, so consider it a chance for him to get out of harm's way! He's a skilled fighter, after all. If I remember correctly, he was a Ranger-General when he died! Let that shameless bastard Turalyon go missing by himself. What gives him the right to get his hands on one of Quel'Thalas's great beauties? I haven't even had a chance. Why should he get her?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
Sylvanas burst into giggles. "You want to get your hands on my sister?"
"That's right! I'd like to get my hands on you, too," Yu Lin Bloodhawk joked.
"On me? Would you dare?" Sylvanas asked, giving him a sidelong look.
"I'm a little scared, I'll admit," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
"At least you're honest," Sylvanas said. "But I could help you get your hands on my sister. I just don't know whether you've got the nerve."
You'll help me get my hands on your sister? Yu Lin Bloodhawk almost thought he had misheard her. His brain short-circuited for a moment. What kind of little sister are you? You really are WoW's queen of scheming.
"I remember your sister being pretty good to you. Could you really bear to do that to her?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk was astonished.
"What am I doing to her?" Sylvanas rolled her eyes at him. "At least you ought to be a little better than that Turalyon fellow, right?"
"That's not necessarily true!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk scratched his head. "He must have some talent, or your sister wouldn't fall for him."
"You have a point. My sister is very proud. Why would she fall for him? No, even if he's wonderful, it's still out of the question," Sylvanas said. "Not being a high elf is reason enough. And he actually dares to run off with my sister? He's asking to die. He'd better hope I never meet him."
"What if he's handsome, charming, and incredibly talented, and the moment you see him, you're utterly smitten? Love at first sight, hopelessly in love, offering yourself to him without being asked? Then your brother-in-law would become your husband. Wouldn't I have just won one sister over only to lose the other?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk said with a delighted laugh.
Smack! Sylvanas slapped Yu Lin Bloodhawk on the head and glared at him. "That's what you get for talking nonsense! Do I look that boy-crazy to you?"
"You never know!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk muttered under his breath. He thought Sylvanas would not hear him if he spoke that quietly.
"Say that again, and I'll show you something you can be sure of! Don't think I didn't hear what you said!" To his surprise, Sylvanas had heard him after all.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk did not dare say another word.
After all, she was Azeroth's queen of scheming, Azeroth's Wu Zetian. Hadn't enough people already suffered at her hands? She even dared to burn the World Tree. Who knew what would happen if he angered her? Better to protect himself and avoid provoking her. If he could not afford to cross her, at least he could stay out of her way.
He hastily changed the subject. "So, tell me how you're going to help me get your hands on your sister?"
"There's no hurry. We need to wait for an opportunity and let you two get acquainted first," Sylvanas said. "You're a baron now, but you don't seem to have a fief yet, do you?"
"I don't know!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk had never considered the question. He had not even known he was entitled to a fief.
"You really are quite a baron," Sylvanas said with a laugh. "You don't even know whether you have a fief."
"I'm supposed to have a fief? Why don't I remember anything about that?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked in surprise.
Under the laws of Quel'Thalas, anyone with a noble title could receive a fief. But Yu Lin Bloodhawk was a newly elevated baron, with no established power base or backing. Since he had not brought it up himself, the powerful figures in Silvermoon City had simply overlooked it, deliberately or otherwise.
Sylvanas smiled. "Even if you brought it up, without someone helping you, they'd probably debate it for quite some time. Who knows when you'd get an answer?"
"They wouldn't put my fief inside Zul'Aman, would they?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk said mockingly.
"You never know," Sylvanas said. "In any case, don't even dream of getting anything close to Silvermoon City."
Sure enough, a child without a mother gets no love, he thought.
"Maybe I should find a rich woman to latch onto?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk said with a grin.
"A rich woman?" Sylvanas asked in confusion.
"You, for example. Or your sister," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
Unexpectedly, Sylvanas fell silent. After a while, she suddenly asked, "Have you decided to place yourself under the Windrunner family's patronage?"
Yu Lin Bloodhawk froze, then immediately understood.
It was still the same game of big fish eating little fish, and little fish eating shrimp. Without attaching themselves to greater nobles, lesser nobles struggled to gain a foothold in politics. Once he understood how it worked, he saw no reason to agonize over it. He nodded and said, "Sure!"
Why not? Even if the city fell and its people perished someday, wouldn't he still have the big boss queen watching his back? If all else failed, he could go join her youngest sister in the Argent Dawn.
"In that case, getting you a fief will be much easier!" Sylvanas suddenly smiled. "And I can get that old woman Alleria off my hands sooner, so she'll stop pestering me all the time."
Yu Lin Bloodhawk did not understand why Sylvanas was bringing up Alleria now.
But Sylvanas had no intention of explaining. She pointed to a spot on the map and said, "How about putting your fief here? It's not too far from Tranquillien, and it suits your status as a newly elevated baron. It's also remote enough that securing it shouldn't be difficult." She was full of confidence in her family's influence within the kingdom.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk looked down, then shook his head like a rattle drum, refusing to accept it no matter what.
What kind of judgment does this girl have? Of all the places she could choose, why this awful spot? This was where Deatholme would stand, the future base from which the undead would attack Quel'Thalas! For now, it lay along the kingdom's southernmost border, covered in lush forest and inhabited by only a few elves. There was no sign yet of that enormous, sinister fortress, and it looked peaceful enough, but it would become the most terrifying place in Quel'Thalas. If he chose it, he would be the first person the undead attacked. His brain had not been crushed in a door. Why would he want that place?
"You don't like it? There isn't much land left in the kingdom to grant as fiefs! At least this place has quite a few residents, and it's far from the front lines against the trolls. If you turn it down and it's granted to someone else, you won't be able to get it even if you want it later," Sylvanas said.
"I still don't want it!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk shook his head vehemently.
After a while, he cautiously asked, "Could I choose a place myself?"
Before you continue