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“Well, this looks familiar.”
Sylvanas turned to the side—carefully, so as not to jostle the arrow lodged in her shoulder—in time to see Liadrin lean into the door frame, arms crossed, not even trying to hide the shit-eating grin on her face. Sylvanas sighed, then winced. “I would appreciate it if you could save the humor at my expense until after I’m no longer a walking pincushion.”
Liadrin snorted. “It’s not my fault I’m having a serious case of déjà vu, here. Is this a Windrunner family tradition I’m unaware of?” She pushed off the door finally and moved to examine Sylvanas’ shoulder, ignoring her patient’s scowls. “All I’m saying is that Lireesa was far more amused and far less hostile when this happened to her.”
Sylvanas narrowed her eyes, laying her ears back in annoyance, but refused to dignify the prodding—verbal or physical—by reacting further. Especially since this wasn’t the same thing at all. Fortunately, she quickly found herself distracted by a small tug on her other side.
“Minn’da, what does Minn’tha Liadrin mean?”
Liadrin laughed. “You didn’t tell her?”
Sylvanas sighed. “Tamiria, kim’dal…”
“What it means, Tamiria, is that you’re as good a shot as the Ranger-General here.” Liadrin quickly pulled out the arrow, passing it over to the young elf before Sylvanas could protest.
Wide-eyed, the blonde child looked between them. “But, minn’da is the best archer in Azeroth!”
Sylvanas groaned, shaking her head as she pulled her daughter closer. “You’re as good an archer as I was at your age.”
Tamiria narrowed her eyes. “But Minn’da, I shot you.”
Sylvanas chuckled, then hissed as Liadrin channeled a healing spell into her shoulder. “Yes, kim’dal, you did.”
“Quite an excellent shot, in fact,” Liadrin snarked.
Sylvanas felt Tamiria bury her face into side, her short ears lying flat in embarrassment, and pulled her closer with a sigh. “When I was your age, and still learning, I did the same thing to my minn’da.”
Tamiria’s wide eyes peeked out from Sylvanas’ shirt. “You shot the Regent Lord?”
“She was the Ranger-General then, just like I am now, but—”
“She did,” Liadrin interjected. “Got her right in the shoulder, just like you. In fact, I found them sitting just like this, with Sylvanas sitting next to her grinning and clutching her bow like she’d just won a contest.”
Sylvanas sighed again. “It was a new bow, and I was thrilled I’d even been able to draw it.”
“Lireesa was rather proud.”
Sylvanas grunted, but smiled. “She was. But that didn’t stop the lecture I got about bow safety and listening to instruction. Speaking of which,” she added with an arched eyebrow directed at her daughter, “what did we learn today?”
Blue eyes hid once again, buried in the folds of her training uniform, but Tamiria’s voice came loud enough. “Wait until the range is clear, and the range instructor has given the go ahead before making ready to shoot.”
Sylvanas smiled. “And?”
“Don’t draw your bow at anything you don’t intend to shoot.”
“That’s my kim’dal. Anything else?”
Tamiria peeked out again, grinning. “We absolutely do not ever speak of this to Mum.”
Liadrin laughed sharply. “Belore, Sylvanas! Jaina’s going to kill you when she finds out.”
“Lireesa?”
The Regent Lord looked up from her desk with a soft smile. “Jaina. Mindori, you should be resting.”
Jaina sighed, hand settling on her distended belly. “I will, I promise. This one doesn’t like me up and walking around anymore than Sylvanas does. Speaking of my wife, though, have you seen her? She said she was taking Tamiria to the range, but they’ve been gone quite a while…”
Lireesa’s soft smile grew slowly, not stopping until laughter bubbled out of her. Jaina looked at her, startled, which turned into confusion and then concern as the dignified, ever put-together Regent Lord howled with laughter, tears streaming from her pale eyes.
For several long minutes.
Minutes in which Jaina ran through every word of their conversation, and then every horrible thing that could possibly have caused this obvious mental break.
Finally, Lireesa wiped her eyes, stood, and ushered Jaina towards the comfortable couch in the corner of her office.
“Let me tell you about the day I gave Sylvanas her first full-sized longbow…”