A Savage Nature (Warcraft)

A/N: If you've enjoyed reading this story, please check out The Soul Engine for me! It would mean a lot to me!

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Thump. Thump. Thump.
 
“Please desist from injuring yourself, daughter. In your state, you need to take care of yourself. For the baby if nothing else.”
 
Letting out a groan, Jaina Proudmoore slowly lifts her head from the desk she’d been thumping it against, her hands still cradling her pregnant belly. Then, because she doesn’t want to let the owner of the voice who just spoke think that she only stopped because of their words, she turns her gaze towards the scout standing at attention and glares daggers at him.
 
“Go on.”
 
Swallowing thickly, the Kul Tiran Scout looks to the other person in the room for their moment… and at their nod, swallows and quickly continues relaying his information.
 
“R-Right. Err… as I was saying, we seem to be surrounded on all sides. There are orcs, trolls, and a strange race of bovine on the beaches just outside the city and they have siege weapons. Meanwhile, there’s a fleet of ships of unrecognizable make that are staying just shy of breaching our perimeter. They’ve made no aggressive moves, but from what we can tell, they’re all crewed by these purple-skinned long-eared creatures… and have several strange-looking siege weapons on their decks as well.”
 
Letting out a sigh, Jaina places the heel of her palm against her forehead for a moment before speaking in a clipped, sharp tone.
 
“Those would be the Night Elves. And those bovine you spoke of are the tauren. They are a largely peaceful people and slow to action… but when they think their allies are in danger, they are swift to move in their defense.”
 
There’s a pause, with the Kul Tiran Scout looking like he would prefer to be anywhere else but in this room with a pregnant and irate Jaina Proudmoore. Meanwhile…
 
“Hmm… Night Elves. Any relation to the High Elves of Quel’Thalas back home?”
 
Finally, Jaina is forced to turn her eyes to the other person at the top of her tower. The parent who has barged into her city and into her life and effectively taken over everything she’s spent the last year or so on Kalimdor building.
 
“Any relation? Sure… give or take ten thousand years, mother.”
 
She’s hoping that dropping such a large number will at least make Katherine balk… but no. Lady Katherine Proudmoore… or rather, Acting Lord Admiral Katherine Proudmoore, just stares back at Jaina unflinching before letting out a sigh and looking over at the scout. Her scout, not Jaina’s.
 
“Leave us.”
 
“A-As you say, Lord Admiral.”
 
The Kul Tiran Scout salutes and then quickly leaves before anyone can change their minds. Silence falls as Jaina is left alone with her mother. To be fair… even though Katherine does a good job of hiding it, Jaina can see how disquieted she is by the report. The races of Kalimdor, Jaina’s allies, have all come out in support of her. Rognak worked fast… VERY fast, and in just a few short days, Theramore was effectively under siege.
 
Letting out a sigh, Katherine gives Jaina a look.
 
“There’s no point in snapping at me Jaina. You only have yourself to blame for the current state of affairs.”
 
Jaina colors at that and finds herself very tempted to go back to thumping her head on her desk if she’s being honest. Because… truth be told, her mother is right. Technically, this was all her fault. That doesn’t stop Jaina from feeling rather petulant though. She blames it on the pregnancy.
 
“I don’t see how it was MY fault… you weren’t supposed to come charging across the sea to ‘save’ me from some threat that didn’t exist. And you CERTAINLY weren’t supposed to show my letter to father. That was why it said it was for YOUR eyes only, mother!”
 
Katherine merely raises an eyebrow at that, before shaking her head.
 
“If you didn’t want your father to read the letter, you shouldn’t have had it arrive in the dining hall at breakfast time, Jaina.”
 
“I didn’t! Or at least I didn’t mean for it too! I meant to send it to the dining hall during the evening, when I knew you liked to use the dining table for your puzzles! You were supposed to be the ONLY recipient of that letter’s contents, mother!”
 
… Though yes, that was entirely Jaina’s fault. She’d been in such a rush and trying to avoid Aegwynn’s attention that she hadn’t considered the time difference. When she’d sent the letter via magic, it HAD been the evening, the perfect time for a letter for Katherine to arrive in the dining hall. But because it was evening here in Theramore, that meant it was morning… breakfast time to be exact, over in Kul Tiras. Which meant that Katherine hadn’t been alone when the letter arrived. No, she’d been eating with Jaina’s father, Daelin Proudmoore and the Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras.
 
“Yes… well even if I had been, I can’t say for sure how I would have reacted truth be told. You didn’t exactly give me much information in that… letter of yours. Truly, you couldn’t have spared a few more lines to explain the situation in greater detail, Jaina?”
 
At this, Jaina finds herself flushing once again in embarrassment and shame. Looking down at her hands, she grumbles and mutters the same old tired excuse that Katherine has heard half a dozen times by this point.
 
“… I was in a rush.”
 
Even to Jaina’s ears, it sounds weak. Admittedly, she could somewhat understand how her short and to the point letter had led to these events. If she’d explained things further in the letter, then perhaps this all wouldn’t have happened. But then again, maybe it would have. Still, effectively boiling down the news to ‘Mother, I wish for you to know that I am pregnant with my first child. Please do not let father know, the child’s father is an orc.’ Was almost certainly an unforced error on Jaina’s part.
 
“Well… your rush has left your father recovering from a stroke and me across the ocean with the Kul Tiran Fleet to bring you home.”
 
Jaina winces at that. Right. Her father. Daelin Proudmoore was a proud man. Not to be too silly, but it WAS in the name. He was also a stalwart warrior and a consummate sailor. But that didn’t mean he’d lived the healthiest of lives. Being Lord Admiral led to long nights and he had seen his fair share of both wars and battles over the course of his time on Azeroth.
 
Apparently, when Jaina’s letter had arrived during breakfast time, Katherine hadn’t even gotten a chance to try and hide its contents from her husband. The Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras had been the first to pick it up and upon reading that it was from Jaina and meant for Katherine’s eyes only, reportedly laughed uproariously and then pulled out a knife to cut it open.
 
He’d had the good grace to let Katherine lean over and read it WITH him at least. Fortunate that, because it meant the Lord Admiral’s wife was in position to keep him from falling clear out of his chair when he read the letter Jaina had meant for her mother’s eyes only and subsequently suffered a massive heart attack.
 
This had then been followed up by a stroke apparently, one that had left the Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras alive but bedridden, barely even able to move let alone speak. The man had effectively been reduced to little more than a vegetable… all because he’d taken Jaina’s words to mean that she’d been ASSAULTED by an orc and FORCED to carry his child.
 
Look, Jaina’s letter might have been a little too short. She probably could have done a better job of explaining that she’d actually fallen in love with Rognak and carried on with him (and Shandris) for months before she wound up pregnant. Maybe that would have helped keep her father on his feet. Then again… was it bad that part of Jaina was grateful that Daelin Proudmoore was bedridden?
 
Don’t get her wrong… she loved her father and she knew he loved her. And yet… she also knew how deeply his hatred for the orcs ran. They’d taken his son from him but it wasn’t enough to hunt down the specific orcs who had killed her brother. It wasn’t enough to know that they were dead. No, Daelin’s grief had morphed into hatred for the entire race.
 
Jaina didn’t doubt that if her father had been the one to bring the Kul Tiran Fleet here, it wouldn’t have been to save her or protect her unborn child or anything like that. It would have been to wage war. In a way… as horrible as it made her feel to admit it, her father’s condition was a blessing in disguise.
 
Needless to say, she was NOT stupid enough to say that to her mother. Nor was she stupid enough to tell Katherine Proudmoore, Acting Lord Admiral of Kul Tiras, that if the Tidesages hadn’t been able to heal her father beyond his current condition by this point, they probably couldn’t do much more for him. So far Katherine spoke as though Daelin was for sure going to recover. She said it with certainty. Even without having seen him with her own two eyes, Jaina wasn’t so sure.
 
“… Well, no matter. Even this latest development is meaningless. Jaina… it is time to put an end to this foolishness. It is time for you to return home.”
 
Looking at her mother askance, Jaina can’t help but gape a little.
 
“M-Meaningless?! Mother, you are surrounded on all sides! Under siege! Even if you wanted to abscond with me, how are you going to get us out of the harbor? The Night Elves might not have as many ships as you do, but they have much greater firepower. Cannons are meaningless in the face of ten-thousand year old warriors.”
 
Katherine narrows her eyes at that.
 
“… You weren’t joking about their longevity?”
 
Groaning, Jaina turns her eyes up towards the ceiling.
 
“No, mother. I was not. The High Elves of Quel’Thalas are the dregs of Night Elf Society. They were banished from Kalimdor seven THOUSAND years ago. Let that sink in for a moment. All of the wonders we heard of from Quel’Thalas, all of their magic… and they were what the Night Elves of Kalimdor chose to cast OFF!”
 
Now obviously Jaina is… embellishing quite a lot. In truth, she doesn’t know how well the Night Elf Fleet would do in an open naval battle against the Kul Tiran Fleet. She certainly doesn’t want to find out. There’s also the fact that the Night Elves only got rid of the High Elves BECAUSE they were doing too much Arcane Magic, not because they were necessarily BAD at Arcane Magic or anything. Calling the High Elves the descendants of Night Elf dregs was incredibly insulting and Jaina didn’t believe a word she was saying… but if her mother believed it, then just maybe they could end this without any bloodshed.
 
“Well… then I shall simply have to inform the Captains of what they might be up against as we depart.”
 
Jaina has to hold back the urge to scream. Instead, she rises from her chair, uncaring of how she wobbles a little bit as she does so. With her hands on her pregnant belly, she glares her mother down.
 
“And yet, as usual you forget one thing mother. Your entire plan hinges on me being willing to go with you. And I am no more willing to go with you now then I was when you first arrived last week. This is my home now, Acting Lord Admiral. Theramore is MY city. I will not abandon it. I will not leave my people behind just because you demand it, and certainly not because of a nonexistent threat that you’ve manufactured wholesale in your mind!”
 
Katherine stiffens at that, her lips thinning out into a thin line. Jaina’s mother’s eyes narrow and she exhales sharply through flared nostrils before clearly marshaling herself to speak in an even tone.
 
“I will continue to give you allowances due to your condition, my daughter. Light knows I remember quite well the way I found myself acting when I was pregnant with you and your brothers. Even now some of those memories fill me with embarrassment… as I’m sure your outbursts here and now will fill you with embarrassment in the years to come. However… I will not leave you here. You and your child belong back on Kul Tiras with your family. Now more than ever, given your father’s condition.”
 
Jaina gawks for a moment at her mother’s audacity. Using her mood swings against her like that is just… downright dastardly! And to say that Jaina is the one who should be embarrassed…
 
“Are you even listening to yourself, mother?! My child is a half-orc! Do you REALLY think that they will be accepted by our people? That their place is on Kul Tiras, when the people of Kul Tiras have plenty of reason to hate and despise orcs, even now?!”
 
For the first time, Katherine hesitates. The Acting Lord Admiral grimaces as if imagining it and for a moment Jaina hopes she might back down. But no… the moment passes and Katherine clasps her hands together behind her.
 
“It matters not who their father was. They are your child and my grandchild, and they are a child of Kul Tiras. I will personally ensure that they are treated as such. You have my word.”
 
… As touching as her mother’s heartfelt declaration was, it didn’t even BEGIN to solve all of the problems inherent with this idea of Jaina being forced back to Kul Tiras. Tch, if only she wasn’t rapidly reaching the point in her pregnancy where she needed to lay off of the Arcane Magic, she might have been able to force her mother to see reason. As it is, making that portal to Orgrimmar and then pushing Rognak through it had been dangerous enough already…
 
Before Jaina can think up her next argument however, before she can continue to try to convince her mother to just stand down… a pair of boots can be heard running up the stairs of Jaina’s tower.
 
“Ladies Proudmoore! Ladies Proudmoore!”
 
Finally reaching the top of the stairs, a foot soldier freezes at seeing Jaina and Katherine both staring at him with matching frosty gazes. Katherine’s in particular seems to make him start as he remembers himself and gulps audibly.
 
“Err… apologies! Acting Lord Admiral Proudmoore… Lady Proudmoore… there’s been news. We’ve captured a prisoner!”
 
Jaina’s eyes widen at that, as do Katherine’s.
 
“What?! They’ve begun their attack then?!”
 
No! They wouldn’t have done that!
 
“Err, no Acting Lord Admiral. Rather… it looks like it’s just the one orc? He showed up as a really massive fish with tusks and then transformed into an orc and willingly surrendered himself to the men, Acting Lord Admiral ma’am. Then…then he specifically asked to speak to Lord Admiral Proudmoore.
 
… Oh that utter fool. Jaina can’t help but jolt at the description, which of course her mother doesn’t fail to notice as she gives herself away pretty much immediately.
 
Lifting an eyebrow, Katherine Proudmoore slowly nods to herself before looking the foot soldier right in the eye.
 
“Bring him to me.”
 
Jaina sits down heavily again as the foot soldier snaps off a salute and hurries to carry out her mother’s orders.
 
Oh Rognak… she could only hope the orc knew what he was doing, delivering himself right into her mother’s hands like this…

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