Bored in the Shadowlands - Part III

"Miss Atherton-Chess, I was already inclined to keep your husband away from the razor's edge of the conflicts in the Shadowlands before you made your request," Jaina informed Alia. "The fact of the matter is that I value your husband highly, not only because he is very adept at what he does, but because of who he is." She looked away from Alia, seeing things in her mind that only the Lord Admiral could see.

Alia did not stop her from continuing.

Lord Admiral
Jaina Proudmoore

"When Theramore was founded, it was a grand experiment - could the Alliance make an honorable peace with the Horde. Thrall was a person of honor and integrity, and I... needed to believe that there was more to life than a constant battle to kill those who were different from us because they were different. There were no farmlands or fields, and Theramore was only made viable by the ability of the Kul Tiras naval forces." She shrugged her shoulders. "Yes, we could open portals for critical supplies and transport, but that was a drop in the bucket as to what Theramore consumed. I knew enough to know I needed help, so I sought the assistance of someone I had grown up calling 'Uncle Elling' - the old Alliance spymaster, Elling Trias, who had retired to run his cheese shop." 

Jaina chuckled. "There was a time when I thought the cheese shop was only a cheese shop... but I digress. I needed a spy, because I, quite frankly did not trust Matthias Shaw. Uncle Elling sent me Jon."

"I wouldn't trust Shaw either... I still don't, not entirely. Not since he shacked off with Fairwind."

The two women giggled, sharing a particularly embarrassing memory with only a glance. 

"I did not know what to make of him, in those days. I rarely spoke to him directly, but passed my requests down through the Captain of the trading vessel Jon used to bring in supplies of cheese; hid cover identity was as Uncle Elling's agent in the cheese business." Jaina continued. "But he was thorough. His reports were concise, detailed, and often had multiple contingency plans attached for actions to be taken, depending on the situation and the range of consequences I wanted to accomplish. In his way, he was as ruthless as the worst Horde killer, and yet... he was thoughtful. Considerate of others. He spoiled my tower staff, especially Aalonndra, my Lore Keeper, rotten. He was charming and engageable, almost like his body contained two souls."

Alia did her best not to react; how could she tell Jaina that when Theramore was destroyed, Jon's mind had fractured, becoming both Jon and the dark side of Jon, the Rook? She loved Jon, but the Rook scared her. That much power, that much rage, which was easily manipulated? Those unbridled by concern for morals or conscience were dangerous enough, but combined with Jon's mind... it was best the Lord Admiral was kept unaware. Besides, Jon's mind had eventually been healed, both parts of him integrated once more, so in her mind it was a none-issue anyway.

"I fear I went a little mad after Theramore's destruction. So many people dear to me, my entire life... gone," Jaina said, and Alia could see the grief, newly woken with remembrance, strike Jaina's soul like a ringing smithy anvil. "I am not proud of many of the things I did during that time. I thought Jon had died along with Pained, Commander Samaul, Tervosh, Aalondra... even dear Kinndy, who was my apprentice."

Alia could not withhold the wince this time. In many ways, he did die that day. Jon was never the same.

"Imagine my surprise when I was asked to return to Kul Tiras and found Jon... faithful, loyal Jon, waiting to board as Elling's Agent of Cheese, seeking to expand markets and discover new flavors and new channels of information. Genn had reached out to Jon and asked him to come, in case we needed his particular skills. I would not be here without your husband; I'm sure I would have rotted on Fate's End, my spirit lost in the mists.. When I became Lord Admiral, there was so much to do, and so few people I was sure I could trust - but I knew the cheese merchant from Gilneas was absolutely in my corner. I fear I overworked him, and I apologize for taking so much of him - and you, who I have come to trust as both a skilled mage and a confidant as well."

Alia bit the inside of her cheek, but nodded at her with as much of a wide, friendly smile as she could manage. Her relationship with Jaina had begun as simply a matter of adoration - Alia saw Proudmoore as a hero, as HER hero, from a very young age. A paragon of all the virtues Alia felt the Kirin Tor were meant to embody; compassion and cooperation foremost among those.

Needless to say, people tend to take badly when their heroes fall short. When heroes become mortal. 

Alia no longer blamed Jaina for the Purge of Dalaran. After all, she had tried to maintain the neutrality of Dalaran at first. It was a betrayal of that neutrality that pushed her to action. But at the time such knowledge was not available to the then apprentice, so when without warning the water elementals, Kirin Tor, Alliance, and the Silver Covenant forces flooded the streets to wipe the Sunreavers clean from Dalaran with spell-blade and blood... old rivalries came roaring with sharp fangs, and Alia was forced to graduate her apprenticeship by a trail of fire. All in service to those two core tenants of compassion and cooperation, and at the price of her exile, which would last from that night until the Legion's final return to Azeroth with the direct summons of Archmage Khadgar.

Atherton-Chess's rumination was broken by Proudmoore's renewed speech.

"...When you indicated that you and Jon were thinking about becoming parents, I could not bring myself to send Jon into the worst of the Shadowlands; There are so many tasks I still need to be done, things that I really only trust Jon to do - like overseeing security for Mother, keeping Boralus quiet, making sure that Kul Tiras is safe while I am in the Shadowlands... it was an easy decision, especially if it means I get honorary nephews and nieces; I fear I will never have children of my own. So tell me... if Jon chafes at a more peaceful life, what would you have me do?" 

"I confess I don't have a direct answer. Jon believes that because he is not the one taking the brunt of responsibility, you are somehow displeased with him. Punishing him for some unseen fault. Never mind that there are plenty of people who are more than eager to stab, shoot, maim, and otherwise take a second crack at weakening the Admiralty presently headquartered in Boralus alone. If we start counting our enemies abroad funneling the formerly mentioned, then as far as I'm concerned, Jon should barely have time to return home to me, not to mention his freelancer office. But because they aren't located beyond the veil and you are... suddenly he doesn't see them as worth his time."

Jaina was quiet for a long moment.

"With your permission, I would like to send Jon to go see Genn Graymane. He recently asked about Jon's availability; he did not reveal why, but I think it might have something to do with Derek." Derek Proudmoore was Jaina's brother, long thought dead. Derek Proudmoore had been the commander of the Third Fleet of Kul Tiras, the eldest child of Grand Admiral and Katherine, the elder brother of Jaina. When his fleet was destroyed by Horde dragonfire, he was presumed dead but was recently found to have been raised by Val'kyr as a Forsaken, to become a weapon against his sister. He was taken and freed by Baine Bloodhoof and reunited with his family. Recently, he had become a loyal adherent to Calia Menethil, although suspected that the bond between her brother and Calia was becoming something more.

Jaina was determined to help her brother in his new existence but had been at a loss as to how she might help. In any case, Jaina owed Genn a debt of gratitude for bringing Jon back to her; Jon was Gilnean but Genn had urged him to return to Jaina's personal service when the Alliance sent Jaina on a diplomatic mission to bring Kul Tiras back to the Alliance. If Genn needed Jon for a mission, then Jaina would ask Jon to seek him out.

((Jon would indeed speak with King Graymane, who would send Jon to Tirisfal Glades, where he would help Calia and Derek establish the Desolate Council, the ruling body of the Forsaken, whose first act was to orchestrate the withdrawal of the Forsaken from Gilneas)).

 

Bored in the Shadowlands, Part II

"Jon. Jon Chess. My darling husband," Alia said. "JON! JONATHAN CHESS!”

The fellow known as Jon Chess looked up from where he had been silently brooding, staring off into the space above his Suramar Spiced Tea. "I'm sorry, Beloved. Did you say something?" 

Alia glared at him. She had to repeat the mantra over and over in her mind. Must not sheep husband. Must NOT sheep husband "Yes dearest. I want you to tell me what has made you so bewildered and befuddled."

"You mean, aside from, the rare beauty of my wife?" he said, reaching for her.

"Oh no!" she said, dancing backwards out of his reach. "It is not going to be that easy, not today." Ordinarily she would allow herself to be pleasantly distracted and kiss and be kissed soundly, but she was not about to let him off the hook, however pleasurably the prospect. "You've been moping around, sullen and brooding when you think nobody is watching."  She sat and poured herself some of the tea, which Jon made - and consumed - by the pot.  "Now spill... and I don't mean the tea."

"I... am not happy with my assignments," Jon confessed. "The Lord High Admiral has me helping the Fae, the Venthyr, even the Maldraxxi... and doing paperwork. Admiralty PAPERWORK. " His voice rose on that last. Alia knew Jon hated paperwork most of all. "Maybe I should quit, and go back to freelancing...?"

"Or maybe you could quit being an idiot and ask her?" Alia commented.

"I can't do that! I execute the commands my Lord High Admiral gives me. it is not for me to question orders."

"Jon," Alia began in a soft voice, "That is perhaps the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say, and let me tell you - you've said some really stupid things."

"But...: Jon tried to interject, but Alia cut him off.

"If you have questions about your current assignment, complaints about how you're being assigned, objections to how you are being asked to proceed, don't you think that you owe the Lord High Admiral to make your views known?" asked Alia.

"But..."

"You have never taken orders blindly. Jaina has always told you what the objective is, and then given you the reins to resolve the situations in question, using your - sometimes questionable - judgement? She sets the strategic objective, and then releases you to do the job in whatever way you have seen fit?"

"Yes but..."

"In fact, wasn't deniability one of the main pillars of the value you brought to Theramore and now to Kul Tiras? To make some hard choices, some choices between bad and worse, so that Jaina wouldn't have to? You have been the necessary knife in the Dark, the poison in the cheese, the...

"I have never poisoned cheese!" Jon replied hotly.

"Perhaps not, but who killed a squadron of Goblin pilots during the War of the Thorns?" she asked rhetorically. "Who destroyed that Horde raiding force burning Westfall by giving the entire force ale that gave them the trots for weeks? Maybe you didn't poison cheese, but everything else has always been open season, for the right reasons."

Alia kissed Jon on the forehead as he sat back, grumbling quietly about the sanctity of cheese.

"Jon, you have always been the fellow given the assignments which require the hard choices; you have saved lives by making those choices. I know it, Jaina knows it, it was what Elling Trias recruited you for, and the reason you spent months in Ravenholdt. Genn Graymane, Tess, Anduin... all of them know that you do what must be done. Fel, even that smarmy bastard Shaw knows it - and takes advantage of it, when you let him."

His hand shot up in protest, but the Magna of the Kirin Tor swatted him away.

"So don't spew me a line about how you're a good soldier who follows orders." Alia continued, as she worked her way onto his lap, smiling radiantly when his arms wrapped around the woman he called Beloved. "You are a lousy solider, a worse servant, and a sneaky bastard, by both birth and inclination."

"True..." Jon muttered. 

"It is also true that you are an adept of the Shadows who reveres the Light. A kind, compassionate man with a sharp blade in one hand and a jar of venom in the other. An honest man whose capacity for duplicity is unmatched in Azeroth and beyond." She kissed him soundly. "So if tomorrow you still are unhappy, go see Jaina. Talk to her. More importantly, listen to her!"

"As my Beloved commands." Burying his head into her neck with a begrudging acceptance, Jon pulled his wife into him. She rose to her feet before Jon could escalate matters of affection, however. 

Alia did not leave him with nothing, however, and a heartfelt kiss to his forehead, his cheek, and finally his lips settled the issue. "I have a Loremasters' council meeting in Dalaran. Make us something delicious for dinner, and then I will supply... dessert." She added with a wink.

Bored in the Shadowlands

The fellow known as Jon Chess was bored.

Worse, he feared that his patron, the Lord High Admiral Jaina Proudmoore, had lost confidence in him. 

When Jaina had founded the city-state of Theramore after the Battle of Mt. Hyjal, she had found relying on the Stormwind SI:7 organization for intelligence distasteful and worse, tactically unsound. She had an innate distrust of Mathias Shaw, and did not think for a second that Shaw would sacrifice Theramore and its founding ideals the minute it was advantageous for the Alliance in the struggle against the Horde. 

She contacted her family friend Elling Trias, who had run Alliance intelligence before SI:7 was created, and who had retired to build a mercantile empire based on the buying and selling of cheese, and asked for his advice and assistance. Trias agreed that Shaw was not to be trusted, and so Trias recruited a young rogue, fresh out of the Stormwind Orphanage, who had declined to join SI:7, and had survived the refusal. Arranging him to be Trias' traveling mercantile agent, he sent the young rogue to Ravenholdt for advanced training in the Great Game.

Trias had even gifted Jon with the name 'Chess', claiming that Jon thought too much, and needed to be more man of action than to spin contingency after contingency. "Life is not a chess match; sometimes you have to be bold, and take a leap of faith," he had said, and the name acted as a reminder for Jon not to over-think things or hesitate when action was needed

Afterwards Jon established a hoe of sorts in Theramore. When Jaina needed his particular brand of services, from spying to assassination, Jon stood close at hand. He trusted Jainas to be the one to decide if the gains justified the means, and once she made that determination, Jon would accomplish Jaina's objectives,

When Theramore was destroyed and all of Jon's close friends - including, so he believed, Jaina - were killed, Jon's mind fractured after being captured and tortured by the Scarlet Crusade. What came out of it was a splintered mind - Jon Chess, recon scout in Northrend by day,  and the Rook, an amoral assassin by night.

Jaina came back, and quit Dalaran without contacting Jon Ironically it was Genn Graymane who reached out to Jon when Jaina surfaced again to try and re-engage Kul Tiras with the Alliance. Graymane had used Jon's services before - Jon, though not Afflicted, was Gilnean by birth. Jaina was almost in tears when she  saw that Jon had survived Theramore as well, and it was ot long before Jaina found use for a trusted privy agent of cheese.

After the end of the War of Thorns, Jaina was captured by the Mawsworn. Jon sat in Northrend while the Maw Walkers rescued her and spearheaded the struggle against the Jailer, working to rescue Anduin Wrynn. 

Jon had been assigned to assist the Fae of Ardenweald. 

Since then, he had found no dearth of work that needed doing. 

Still, he could not help feeling that he had lost Jaina's confidence.

((Note: I hate Shadowlands, and was close to quitting the game I've played since WoW beta. I am very much looking forward to the next expansion, where Jon's adopted "brother" Rorik Chess gets to shine! But not have Jon angst over something? Unheard of!))