"If your claim is true, I confess I find it disturbing," Lor'themar Theron said.
"It is," Kiraleen replied. No mitigating phrases, no hedging of words. They wouldn't work. "The Grim are holding a captured member of the Alliance here in Silvermoon."
Lor'themar pushed away from his office's desk with a deep exhale of breath. "It wouldn't be the first time such a thing happened."
"During a truce?"
The Regent-Lord waved a hand. "Point taken. This truce seems to be rapidly becoming a matter of ink on paper and little more. "
Then make it more. Kiraleen bit back the words. This meeting with her people's leader wasn't going as well as she had hoped. Sharp words wouldn't help. "Regardless, the truce exists. Returning Skylah Mackenize to the Twilight Empire would be a show of good faith."
"The Grim are heroes to many -- "
"So was Garrosh Hellscream. How well we sin'dorei fared under him." The last sentence rose to her lips unbidden and uncontrollable. Idiot, idiot, idiot!
Theron turned on her. "Lady Starvale," he said softly, "are you questioning my decisions during that time?"
"No, Regent-Lord. Merely a reminder that a hero on the battlefield can be a disaster elsewhere." She might -- might -- have repaired whatever damage her hasty words about the late warchief.
"The Grim serve a purpose --"
"The Grim serve nothing but themselves!" Kiraleen cast control and caution to the winds, letting her words roll forth like the tide. "They broke the truce in capturing Skylah -- a truce Vol'jin our warchief agreed to! And if I've heard the stories, you have as well. They picked fights with Alliance troops on Draenor, costing the Horde battles and lives. They've killed other Horde for disagreeing with them. Do you honestly believe anything they do is for any reason but to satisfy their own egos?"
They glared at each other across the desk. The Regent-Lord rubbed his temples.
"Lady Starvale... what exactly do you want me to do?"
Be better than them. "Search their quarters here and free Skylah if they still have her."
"And if they don't?"
"Warn them not to use Silvermoon as their den. The Twilight Empire aren't the kind to strike back directly. Others of the Alliance wouldn't be so particular."
The look Lor'themar gave her was a mix of disgust and disbelief. "Why are you so eager to defend them?"
Because some of them are my friends, my daughter's family. "Because we need the Alliance, Regent-Lord. This other-Draenor can no longer invade our home, but Gul'dan was whisked away by one of his Legion masters, so I heard. He may be dead. He may not be. But if the Legion comes for this world -- " She tapped the desk with a finger. "-- the Horde cannot defeat them alone. We've lost too many people." She paused. "You wanted our people to be part of the Alliance again."
He snorted. "Proudmoore stopped that. And with Hellscream gone, we're not in that great a danger from the rest of the Horde anymore."
Kiraleen gestured, conceding the point. Lor'themar rose. "I will do what I can, Lady Starvale. As a favor, you understand."
Kiraleen stood and curtseyed. "Of course, Regent-Lord."