She stares into the fire blazing in the hearth, twirling a goblet bearing the fruits of a very good year. A vision of her aunt flashes in the back of her mind, a peacefully demented woman who's face favor's the nightelven branch the DeStrasza's had left behind so long ago. From that aunt two sisters were born, her cousins Danyx and Eisabeau, and from Danyx a half troll daughter was born, Danzyn. "How ironic," she whispers to herself.
She thinks of her own half troll daughter. There is a fondness there, "but what mother could really love a child with such ugly feet," she muses. "Ah well, she serves me well and the project continues to move forward."
"Does it? You've had word from Danji?" her lover asks, having overheard her whispered musings. He settles himself into an expensive easy chair next to hers before the fire, propping his feet up lazily on the overstuffed ottoman before him, displaying expensive boots bearing silver tips at the toes and heels and intricate silver scroll work upon them. "Pity, that you had to go through all that, sacrificing your womb to create such an abomination, but the scouts we are sending in are coming back with quite a lot of good information."
"Yes, yes I've had word from Danji. She and the others serve us well. I expect we will move into the next phase within a years time now," the bloodelf noblewoman replied. "As for the sacrifice, well we all had to do our part if we were going to get enough of an advance force of agents that could look the part of trolls and orcs. Pity about the Tauren experiments," she sniffs delicately. "The only difficult part for Danji seems to be keeping up that odd accent the trolls have. We, of course, had to raise them here in order to ensure they're loyalty, but it was a problem giving them the accents and mannerisms they needed to integrate well. Still, in all, there are few reports of any real trouble with the agents. I am quite pleased with the results. Quite pleased, indeed," she finishes raising her goblet towards her lover.
He responds with a raising of his own glass and tapping hers, the sound of which resonates in the way that only the best of heavy lead crystal can muster. He winks at her, she smiles at him, and together they go back to thoughtful contemplation, staring at a warm fire laid in a fine hearth in a comfort only the most refined evil can afford.
A woman with elegant grace turns from a large sunny window, only to lose her fluidity of movement at a startle that sends her goblet nearly flying. “Danji! What on Azaroth are you doing here?”
“I needed to speak with you, mother. I am confused,” replied the trollish looking girl standing before the bloodelf.
“Confused? What could have you so confused as to leave your assignment and come all the way back home?” demanded the bloodelf. Taking in a deep breath and composing herself, her manner turned to sweetness as she moved to Danji. Nearing the troll, she reached out and smoothed the girl’s hair. “Ah, my little one, whatever it is, I’m sure we can figure this out, the two of us. Come sit with Mother and we will make it all better, yes?” She crooked her arm in Danji’s and pulled her to an overstuffed divan “Now, tell me all about it, my child.”
“Well…well, I went to a sort of sermon yesterday. There was a man there, a Lorekeeper,” Danji started.
“A Lorekeeper? Ahh, I see,” said her mother.
“He talked of the bloodelves. It sounded as though we had done terrible things, and at the same time had terrible things done to us. One of the things he mentioned was that we, all the elves, were once trolls, until the magic changed us. He also said that we did terrible things to the trolls,” said Danji.
“And here you are, my child, a bit of both,” the mother interjected, reaching to tuck a strand of the girl’s hair back behind a pointed ear. “No wonder you are confused.”
“Well I do wonder, once we return to the rest of the world, how those trolls are going to take us. Can they accept us? I hear the bloodelves speak of wanting revenge against those in the Alliance. I hear that we are not evil, that we are merely a race that has gone through horrible social upheavals. What is to keep the trolls from wanting revenge against us? What if they block our aligning with the Horde? When is revenge evil and when is it justified?" the girl asked.
“The question of evil, of revenge, of motives and history, my child, is a hard one to answer,” replied her mother, “and it is always colored by the opinion of whomever is speaking it. Even among our own race, there is a variety of opinion. True, the majority of the bloodelves will believe the propaganda we are going to be presenting to Lady Sylvanus and to them, that is the truth; and yet within our ranks there are the secret few, those within our society that have a different bend on what is the truth. That is where you and I come in, and those other agents that work within the Horde for our purpose. All one can ever really do, is have faith in their loved ones, and follow their hearts. Now tell me, sweet child, what does your heart tell you?” she asked the troll, looking deeply into her eyes mustering as much affection as she could to convince the young woman she called “daughter”.
The young Danji looked into her mother’s eyes, grasping at the love she believed to be there and smiled tentatively, “ I do not understand what this secret society of yours is doing, but I believe in you, Mother. For whatever reason and motives your secret society has for what you are doing, I believe in you and I will continue to be loyal.”
Nodding in satisfaction, the mother replied, “Good, then all is well.” She hugged the young woman and then moving back, her hands still embracing her daughter’s shoulders, “Now then, is there anything else you need before you return to your assignment in Orgrimaar?"
The girl stood, answering her mother, “No, no thank you mother. I am doing well. I am a bit saddened at what happened to Clys, but it could not be helped. The other agents and myself are all integrating well into the population. Clys and I have both joined the same house, the house of The Grim.”
“You’ve not told them anything have you?” asked the mother.
“No, no, of course not, not until I have my orders to do so. The fact is I’m rather afraid to do so even after the orders come to reveal ourselves to the general population. The Grim seem to enjoy killing elves so much that I’m not quite sure if they will differentiate a blood elf from a night elf despite the coming allegiance we will gain with Sylvanus. To some of them, an elf is an elf regardless,” answered Danji.
“Well,” replied her mother thoughtfully, “we will cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime…”
“In the meantime,” Danji answered, "I will continue with my assignment and report to you at regular intervals. I will miss you, Mother. It was good seeing you again,” she smiled with a face full of hope.
The mother replied with a look she thought would most appear to be one of a mother’s love, “It was good to see you again too, my little one.”
They embraced one more time and then Danji left the parlor to return to her assignment in Orgrimmar. The moment the door clicked closed, a bloodelf male moved from the shadows. “Well, that was interesting,” he said with a wry tone to the graceful woman still standing in the center of the room.
She turned to her secret lover, “Yes, yes it was. Do you think she believed me?”
“She’s too innocent to understand our motives, love. She doesn’t have enough of the pieces to put it all together. Our own people don’t have a clue as to what our little group is doing. As long as they continue to believe, are loyal…yes, I think she still believes in you,” he answered her with soothing words. “Come,” he changed the subject, gathering her into his arms. “Lets not think on it any further today.”
If it had been Danji, her white haired daughter standing before her, there’d have been no foot stomping. Her half-trollish daughter was very conscious of her feelings in regards to those large ugly feet. Danji always went out of her way to please her mother, to try to fit in, to not draw undue notice to her tusks or her feet. This, however, was not her white haired daughter, but Danji’s golden haired twin, Danlily. The vexed bloodelf pinched the bridge of her nose with a sudden headache as Danlily stomped her big foot once again.
“It’s bad enough I have to wear these rags and pretend to be a peon. Why, my skin is never going to recover from the heat I suffered in Razor Hill, and now you want to send me to that den of rotting corpses they call Undercity? I will not have it! Send Danji instead of me. She doesn’t care, she sleeps with that pet of hers most the time and she stinks like that lion all the time. I won’t suffer the smell of all those walking corpses! I won’t Mother, I won’t go!” Danlily insisted.
“Darling, you must go. I can’t leave this to Danji. She’s good at observing basic things but we both know she’s too trusting and naïve to catch any nuances that might be important. First of all, the leader of the Grim, what’s his name?” Mother asked.
“Maledictus, his name is Maledictus,” Danlily answered as she flung herself into a chair, pouting her lip out so far that her tiny tusks completely disappeared behind the pout.
“Yes, yes, that’s it, Maledictus. Anyway, he’s Forsaken for one thing, and on top of that, our most intricate negotiations are going to be with the Lady Silvanus, leader of the Forsaken, in the heart of the Forsaken, in their Undercity," Mother said, easing her voice into a persuasive purr. “Do you really think your sister has the sharpness of mind to catch any trouble that might be brewing that may be vital to our negotiations?”
Still pouting, Danlily looked sideways at her mother. Her mother looked sideways at her. “I don’t suppose they keep many baubles in Orgrimmar or Thunderbluff,” Mother suddenly mused, wrapping a perfectly manicured finger around an expensive necklace hanging from her neck, suddenly deep in thought. She moved to the window as she continued to twist the expensive necklace around her finger and the sunlight suddenly flashed against the huge stone held within one of the Mother’s rings. Mother looked sideways again at her golden child.
“Baubles? No…I don’t suppose…” Danlily looked confused in the sudden shift of conversation. She watched her mother, caught the play of light on her mother’s expensive gems as a thought slowly seeped into that golden head. “Mother,” Danlily asked, “You don’t suppose Undercity has treasure, do you? I mean, what would walking undead want with all those riches they had in life?”
“Treasure?” mother purred. “Hmm, well I suppose in such a large city there might be quite a few caches hidden about, I hadn’t really thought about it,” Mother added with a wide-eyed innocent look. “I’ve a thought!” Mother started excitedly, a conspiritorial edge spicing her voice, “While you’re in Undercity working for the cause, it wouldn’t hurt anything if you were to spend a little of your recreation time doing a bit of… treasure hunting.” Mother moved quickly to the couch, taking her daughter’s hands into hers. “It will be our little secret. I won’t tell the others about any of your ‘extra’ findings. After all, my sweet child,” Mother cooed, “its deserved compensation for how you must suffer for Quel’Thalas. All the treasure you can find…is yours!”
Some time later after a good meal and an exceptional bottle of wine, the bloodelf and her golden child said their goodbyes with promises by Danlily to call in her regular reports in a timely manner.
Once again, the secret lover stepped from the shadows, this time encircling his arm around his lover’s small waist. “Truly your favorite daughter, isn’t she?” he asked already knowing the answer.
“They say mother’s shouldn’t have favorites, and they are half troll after all,” Mother curled her lip as they walked together into the great hall.
“Pfft, curling your lip won’t convince me, my love. You can’t help but love that golden one. She’s as calculating and manipulating as you are, my sweet,” he admonished. Seeing the family crest up on the wall, the red dragon of Defafnyr he raised his goblet in salute, “Yes, that one is a talon off the same dragon, without a doubt.”
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