Chapter Text
With Mechagon newly emerging to the masses of Azeroth, it’s pint-sized cyborg citizens seemed intent on proving to the world what they truly had to offer. Their technological prowess was already a sight to behold, their ingenuity in cooking up the most elaborate of inventions, but even this seemed rather… far fetched.
Jaina scoffed to herself.
A dating app they called it, a painstaking collaboration of both arcane and technological design. This… device was supposed to read your thoughts, your memories, the very essence of your lifeforce and return to you the perfect match. A match that would remain anonymous until it deemed you both ready to finally rest eyes on one another.
“World peace must be coaxed not forced.” Gelbin Mekkatorque had announced to the highly skeptical masses. “For if you were to rush such a romance you may find that your prejudices would push you apart before you even gave them a chance- this app requires both parties to simply talk , to get to know one another while carefully omitting anything that might tip off political standings or faction allegiances. That way our two theoretical lovers will have found ample common ground to hopefully surpass any blind hatred the two might have harboured before. Only then will the device allow you to meet.”
“You mean to say…” she’d remembered Genn’s skeptical grumble, “that you wish to invoke peace on Azeroth by making us… fall in love with each other?”
“Precisely! Though from the rather distasteful scowl on your face I imagine that’s a pretty far-fetched concept for the likes of you.”
That had earned a chuckle amongst the masses as people cautiously filed in line to purchase this newfangled tech.
Jaina turned away with a wry smile, ready to head back to work before she felt a hand gently catch her forearm.
“Not going to even give it a try, Auntie?” Anduin smirked, and Jaina rolled her eyes.
“I admire his salesman tactics yet it’s so obviously a gimmick.” She shrugged and shouldered her staff. “But if it gives people a chance to entertain themselves on such a baseless holiday, then let them have their fun.”
“Hm…” Anduin looked deep in thought. “I would have thought someone like you would have least taken one, if not to study its inner workings. The Jaina I knew would be champing at the bit to be able to expose the truth and ruin it for the rest of us. What happened?”
“What happened, your majesty, is that I’m tired and in no mood to play around with some silly little matchmaking toy when I have a desk full of paperwork to attend to…” Jaina shoved his shoulder playfully to soothe the sting of her words though annoyingly the young King did not look so convinced. If anything he was wearing an irritatingly amused smirk on his face that she did not like one bit.
“If I didn’t know any better, Auntie… I’d say that you were scared.”
“Scared?” Jaina blustered, folding her arms.
“You already know it works, don’t you.” His gaze narrowed.
“It obviously doesn’t.”
“Oh but it does, doesn’t it Auntie, you’re just too scared to pick one up.”
“I am not!”
Anduin lifted an eyebrow, pulling an unamused expression that was worryingly similar to Varian’s. “Well if you’re so convinced then why don’t you just take one, prove me wrong. Prove that you’re not terrified that it’s going to reveal to you your one true love.” The way Anduin said the last words so breathily did not help matters in the slightest.
Jaina made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat before she snatched the tablet from Anduin’s outstretched hand. Following the instructions on the display she closed her eyes, splaying her hand across the smooth screen and letting her mind go blank. A jolt of arcane coursed through her, followed by an obnoxious beeping sound. Anduin, eyes bright with curiosity leaned forward as the screen lit up in a series of flashes. The two held their breath and even Jaina couldn’t help the spark of interest as the tablet seemed to hum to life.
Before it went dead. The screen flashing once, twice and then going black.
“Well,” Jaina said, her voice bright, yet carrying a hint of bitterness. “There we have it, no match for me. Maybe I was wrong before about it not working, I think this device knows exactly what’s up.”
“Oh come now Auntie,” Anduin whined but Jaina merely chuckled and ruffled his hair.
“If it’s any consolation, I think it’s incredibly sweet how much you care.” She teased, grinning as he merely scowled in disappointment.
Weeks passed and Jaina had all but forgotten about the tablet. It sat, a dead weight on her desk- useful as a paperweight, or sometimes a cool surface to rest her parchment on as she hastily scribbled out whatever notes she needed to remind her of her duties for the upcoming week. So, on a particularly rainy, dark day in Kul Tiras, she nearly jumped out of her chair when a signifying beep alerted her that the tablet was coming to life.
“What the…” she mumbled sleepily as she pushed back a few errant strands of her hair and glared at the object in question. Another beep and she startled again.
Words… there were words flashing across the screen.
Uh...hey? It read, followed by a: Why am I even entertaining this, like anyone would be so unfortunate as to be tied down to the likes of me. A foolish device and yet even more foolish of I to be the one wielding it.
Jaina stared at the screen in disbelief before, with all the caution of someone who was both unfamiliar with technology, she tapped once at the screen eyes widening as the words again flashed across them.
“Uh...hello?” She whispered back and dread seized within her chest when the phrase seemed to register from her lips and swirl onto the screen in blocky text.
“Oh fuck it has voice recognition.” Jaina gasped out loud and to her even further consternation, those words too were then typed out onto the device.
“No shit don’t write that… or that either. Fucking...ass...oh shit... oh you little bastard just stop, stop writing what I’m saying right now...FUCK.” Jaina dropped the tablet like it had burned her, and her heart sank when those words were translated on screen and then faded away as though whispered to the cosmos.
Silence.
Well whatever or whoever had tried to initiate contact would be well and truly scared away by now thanks to her inability to curb her mouth.
What she didn’t expect was an image to appear. A face... well a simplistic version of one and it was… laughing. A symbol of a laughing face…
Embarrassed, Jaina grabbed the tablet again and leant closer. “Oh so you’re laughing at me now huh? Like your initial line was any better…” Jaina scowled.
The screen flashed almost apologetically.
I am sorry, your response simply caught me off guard- such language! But let me try again: “Good morning… or afternoon, or evening I suppose depending on where on this cursed planet you reside. I would like to congratulate you on being unfortunate enough to have matched with me, how is your day so far?”
Jaina couldn’t help the slight chuckle in response before she rolled her eyes. How disappointing that she’d fallen into this trap- for all she knew it could be talking to some cursed interface, an artificial intelligence designed to write exactly what she wanted to hear.
So screw it, may as well be truthful in that case.
“I’ve had better days to be honest.”
For a moment Jaina thought she wasn’t going to get a response before the tablet flashed again.
Same.
It was a simple, one word answer, but in that moment Jaina couldn’t help the soft smile appear on her face as she gently placed the tablet down on the desk, hand idly tracing the side of the screen.
“Wanna talk about it?”
An even longer pause and Jaina opened her mouth to utter assurances, that they didn’t have to do this and maybe it was best that she went to sleep before the words almost gingerly appeared on the screen.
Sure, why not.
It had been a few weeks now and Jaina couldn’t help but stifle the yawn as she leant idly against her hand.
Fishing rights, fishing rights… Tidemother’s arse they were still harvesting lumps of that damned kraken carcass over at Carver’s Harbour and they were stressing about blasted fishing rights.
“To hell with fishing rights!” Jaina grumbled aloud. “What about Lord Admiral’s rights, the right to be left alone. It’s about time they both grew a damn braincell between them and figured it out for themselves without having to pester their way up the ranks.”
Her tablet beeped.
Jaina’s mood instantly brightened.
Hello.
“Well, hello yourself! Finally I have a distraction, how do you fare on this fine evening, or afternoon I suppose in your case?”
A lot of information they shared came out as redacted for the other, clearly a lot they had to say would provide easy information that allowed one to locate another before their prior meeting time and it was frustrating to say so the least. Still, so far Jaina worked out they at least resided somewhere in Kalimdor based off of timezones.
Is it afternoon already? I haven’t even looked out a window to check.
“Well I assume so, unless you’ve moved location since we last talked.” Jaina laughed, chair creaking as she leant back, tablet cradled in her lap. “Don’t tell me you’ve only just woken up.”
I would say so… if I hadn’t not yet been asleep.
Jaina shook her head in fond disbelief.
“You’re terrible, go to sleep! You’re going to kill yourself one day if you’re not careful!”
There seemed to be a fair amount of typing, then erasing, then typing again before the message beeped through.
Who’s to say I already haven’t!
Jaina chuckled again and ran her nails across the cool screen, tapping against the glass idly.
“I have so much work to do… I hate it, but a lot of people depend on me and so, as much as I enjoy chatting with you, I really need to get back to it.”
The reply was instantaneous.
Curses, now you’ve reminded me of all the work I have scheduled.
Jaina smiled in sympathy. “Tell you what, I get my work done and you in turn have to do yours.”
A suspiciously long pause.
Fine. Deal.
More months passed and Jaina again woke to the flashing of her tablet screen.
Rise and shine.
“Ugh… only you can somewhat take the sting out of these hellish mornings.” Jaina grumbled.
Then I’m glad I can be of some use.
“What do you have planned for tonight since you never seem to bother with sleeping?” She asked with a little yawn.
More work, more correspondence.
“You never stop do you.”
Neither do you.
“We both deserve a holiday.” She grumbled mulishly, blinking furiously to clear the headrush from sitting up too fast.
Hmm that sounds lovely. Where would you propose we’d go?
“Oh I don’t know… somewhere warm.”
That would be nice, I haven’t felt warm in a long time.
“Ha, tell me about it, it’s been a particularly nasty winter!”
Ah so Northern Hemisphere. Same here.
Jaina froze, her heartbeat picking up a little in excitement.
“We’ve never been allowed to know that before have we!” She breathed softly in excitement.
The tablet was still for a long time and she felt her smile fade a little.
No, we haven’t.
“Well that’s… good isn’t it? Perhaps we are one step closer to finally meeting.”
I… I don’t know how I feel about that.
Jaina felt her heart sink a little and scolded herself for feeling such things over something as trivial as a series of texts.
“Feel about what.” She asked, already knowing the answer.
Meeting you.
“Well at this rate it’s highly unlikely we will even get to that point at the rate we are finding things out about one another.” She tried to keep cheerful but the slight disappointment she felt stung more than she would like.
It’s not that I don’t… want to, it’s more that I’m scared.
“Scared of what?”
That you’ll not like what you see.
“That’s a silly worry.” Jaina stated confidently. “You’re honestly wonderful, you’re hilariously funny, with the darkest yet most outrageously hilarious humor I’ve had the privilege of being exposed to. And to top it off you’re an amazing listener- insightful, caring… deeply intelligent. What I see I think will mean very little.”
That’s… nice of you to say. Though I still think you’d change your mind.
“Well… you’ll never know unless you’re brave enough to find out.”
Insightful words, but bold of you to assume I’m brave.
“I suppose it doesn’t matter anyway.” Jaina sighed. “At this rate I’ll be long since dead before this damned device ever allows us to meet.”
Trust me… I’m already there.
Jaina snorted softly before lovingly placing the tablet back on her pillow. “Well work calls, will I… get to speak to you later?”
Of course. Take care.
But then there were weeks of silence and Jaina grew frustrated, then anxious, then downright scared.
“Something has happened to you, hasn’t it.” She whispered in the dark as she settled down for yet another disappointing night, fingers tracing the empty black screen.
At 4:00 AM the flashing woke her up.
I’m sorry if this wakes you I… I just needed someone to talk to.
“Wha-- hey...hey! You’re…you’re back! Are you…” Jaina swore as she hit her hand fumbling for the lamp. “Are you alright?”
I’m fine.
“No, no you’re not. You’ve been silent for ages- I was worried. What happened?”
You were… worried about me?
“Of course I was!” Jaina snapped before taking a deep breath to calm herself. Tides she was yelling at a tablet of all things. “You’ve never left it this long without a word, I honestly…” she swallowed painfully. “I feared the worst.”
It takes a lot to get rid of me, Little Star.
Jaina swallowed at the nickname her mysterious friend had started to use. It had come from them both venting frustrations at knowing so little about one another before she’d joked that at least they had the stars to look up to in common. Then they’d spent hours talking about the constellations and each name they’d had for them. Though speaking of stars...a wild thought suddenly came to her.
“The stars.”
Yes, what about them?
Realization dawned on her. “You’re an elf!”
I...uh in theory, yes?
A triumphant smile lit up her face before it faded to a frown of puzzlement.
“What do you mean in theory?”
Whether they didn’t want to answer or were simply unable to, Jaina took the hint when the screen remained blank.
How did you find out? The text eventually flashed and Jaina’s grin returned.
“The stars! You told me the constellation in the north was the Nightsaber. Only in elven culture is it referred to as that.”
Ah. I’m ashamed that it didn't even cross my mind. So by using that process of thought… you are… you are human?
“Yes.” Jaina breathed.
An extremely long beat of silence.
“Hello?” Jaina ventured, and she frowned when she got no answer. “Hello?”
I...I have to go. Don’t try to contact me.
“Wait, what? No!” Jaina hissed but already the tablet had gone dead.
A few days later and Jaina was jolted from her light dozing by the incessant beeping from the tablet.
I’m sorry. I had to spend some time processing that.
Jaina scowled and pushed it aside. To hell with her ‘companion.’ She’d left without a word after discovering her species and frankly it was rather insulting.
Please, I feel better now I’ve thought it over and I really need to ‘hear’ from you. Even if it’s to yell at me for being so short sighted. I just… it scared me that’s all. I haven’t had many… pleasant interactions with your kind and so my first instinct was to flee.
Please.
Jaina glared at the screen, remaining silent.
Little Star.
...
I’m sorry.
Jaina huffed and rolled over to snatch the tablet up. “What do you want,” she snapped.
I… I’m apologizing. Hearing that you were human threw me, it took a few days for logical thought to catch up. You’re you, I don’t care what species you are- nothing can take away how I feel about you. I just hope in my foolishness I haven’t lost the only good thing that’s happened to me.
“That hurt, you know- leaving me like that.”
I know, I wish I could convey the shame I feel right now. I can only say just how sorry I am.
“I’m sorry too,” Jaina sighed, the vestiges of her anger falling away.
What do you have to apologize for?
“I’m sorry for whatever events drove you to feel that way.”
You are too kind to me sometimes. Much more than I deserve.
“You deserve that and more.”
No, I don’t.
“Stop that,” Jaina snapped. “Yes, you do.”
I was worried when you did not answer.
“Well… you didn’t exactly make me feel inclined to after that fiasco.” Jaina closed her eyes in frustration, “but no, I’m not angry at you anymore, so let's move on from that.”
I… I have been... so lonely, Little Star. More lonely than I thought possible. Those days without talking to you only further highlighted that fact.
“I’m lonely too.” Jaina sighed softly, “the work I do, it leaves little room for social contact. Having you has been my only solace this past year. I…” she swallowed, knowing it was a touchy subject, “I wish I could meet you, for real, to finally see the person who I’ve been slowly and steadily falling for.”
She was expecting the usual deflective joke, or at least a change in subject- but the words that flashed across her screen caused her chest to constrict.
It’s what I’ve been wishing for too, Little Star. I’ve been… dreaming- of how it feels to hold you in my arms, of what your laugh might sound like… of the softness of your lips upon mine. I… I’ve had so many dreams that they’ve threatened to consume me. I fear this has not eased my longing for companionship but only made it worse, dangled it in front of me like scraps in front of a starving hound- showing me desires beyond my reach. And it’s driving me mad, mad with want, for a faceless woman behind a screen. Are you even real or are you just some formless entity hidden within the endless streams of spellweave and code, taunting me with what I can never have.
“No…” Jaina blurted. “I’m very much real… so damn real and I… oh Tides if only I could…”
Tides. That’s a Kul Tiran saying is it not?
“I…” Jaina heart leapt in her throat. “Yes! Yes it is!”
Well… that certainly narrows things down doesn’t it.
“Yes it does!” Jaina laughed in disbelief, clutching the tablet against her chest as though cradling a lover. “Yes it fucking does.”
“I have a question.” Jaina groaned and stretched out on the grass. Spring was giving away to Summer and the few days of cloudless respite Kul Tiras had to offer were truly stunning.
Shoot. She fought back a grin. Somehow those stiff formal words, broken up by poetic declarations of love had gradually become more relaxed, more friendly. As though her funny little companion was slowly getting accustomed to dealing with casual interaction.
“How did you guess I was a woman?”
Oh that was easy, the way you talk, the things you say. And the fact that no man would ever be an appropriate match for me.
“How can you be so sure?” Jaina chuckled.
I was sure the moment I found myself staring less at the noblemen in the courts and more at their wives.
She threw her head back and outwardly laughed at that.
“I wonder what you’ll think when you see me. I heard long, elegant ears were deemed attractive in elven culture. I can’t say mine are very impressive.”
That’s foolish. I would also say that the mighty tusks on an orc look rather attractive, yet I would be rather appalled to see them on a full blooded elf. You can find a feature to be pleasing on one, yet have no desire to see it on another.
“I suppose so.”
Besides, you need not be the one worrying about my reaction to you. You will be much more concerned when you finally realize just what you’ve so foolishly gotten yourself into.
“You’re still undecided… aren’t you.” Jaina felt her smile fade a little.
No… not anymore. It took me a long time to find the courage- but when the time comes, to see you, I won’t deny you your visit.
“You make it sound like a death sentence.” Jaina sighed.
It feels like one. Sometimes I wish I had the strength to beg you to stay away, to maintain this relationship as merely one of words... but I can’t help but crave to see you, to drink in your voice, your face, your scent - even if it's just once as you scream at me to go away.
Tides the words this woman could use to send her heart hammering a frenzy in her chest.
“That would never happen.” Jaina declared, boldly.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
I know who you are.
Jaina paused… mid writing out her speech for the Winter Veil ball. All at once her mouth went dry both in fear and anticipation.
“That sounds rather… ominous.” She eventually uttered, still struggling to calm herself as trembling fingers touched the screen.
I’m sorry. The last thing I want to do is frighten you. Though, knowing now, I don’t think I could scare you even if I tried. If anything, it is I who is afraid.
“So who am I then?” Jaina’s heart picked up pace, her palms growing sweaty at the thought that she was at such a disadvantage. Oh but she was also excited… so damn excited.
When I learned you were from Kul Tiras all those months ago, your name was the first that sprang to mind- as it should. I then scoffed and berated myself for jumping to conclusions, or even thinking I was worthy of someone so...influential. But the work that you do… the way that you act. I soon learned that it couldn’t be anyone else but you.
“Does my... fame upset you?” Jaina sighed softly, lips pursing into an uneasy line.
A little, mostly because of the scrutiny any interaction we have will be under.
“I’m sorry, if you still wish to pursue a relationship with me- that will always be… a part of it.” Jaina looked down forlornly, hating the words even as she uttered them. “I understand if that’s too much, I wouldn’t hold it against you if you decided to-”
No.
“I...would you even still-”
Open the window.
Jaina’s heart leapt in her throat. “Oh Tides , you’re here.”
Rising on shaky legs, she stumbled to the window, hating that the fringes of her mind were already preparing a defensive spell should she come to harm.
But she wasn’t in any danger was she? The person she’d been talking to nearly every day for the last two years- the faceless entity she’d fallen in love with without even realizing. A couple of fumbled attempts and Jaina slowly unlatched the window, swinging it open and gasping slightly as the cool air hit her flushed face.
But it wasn’t just a cool breeze, there was a chill that seemed… deeper than the wintery climate alone, the prickle of her skin in response to a dark magic permeating the room. Even the candles seemed to dim a little and the shadows themselves grew longer.
Jaina’s mouth went dry.
“It’s you, isn’t it? ”
Behind her, the scrape of a sabaton against the flagstone floor. No breath at the back of her neck, just an unholy presence to indicate Jaina was most certainly not alone.
In what felt like an eternity, she plucked up the courage to turn around. Perhaps this was all some cruel joke, a dream her twisted subconscious had conjured and she’d soon mercifully wake up, panting and tangled in her bedsheets.
But the dream did not end, and she was greeted with fiery red eyes that glared back at her, burning with such an intensity that felt as though her soul was stripped bare.
Sylvanas Windrunner stepped forward, tablet in hand. “Surprise?”
The hauntingly familiar echo of her voice jolted Jaina into action.
“Fuck!” Within seconds an arcane barrier was up and Jaina was against the wall, eyes wide, teeth bared and shaking like a leaf.
“Jaina…”
“It’s you!”
“Yes… please keep your voice down.”
“It’s… you.”
Sylvanas closed her eyes in frustration. “Yes.”
"I..." Jaina fumbled for her own tablet and glared at it in disbelief when the words ‘match found’ flitted across her screen repeatedly.
“This has got to be some kind of mistake.”
Sylvanas’s ears flattened and her jaw tightened. “You’d think.”
Jaina’s world swayed and she had to steady herself against the wall.
“Will you call for security?” The Banshee looked ready to flee and Jaina frowned when she wondered why that thought panicked her so.
“No! I… just give me a moment.”
Sylvanas relaxed and nodded. “Of course.”
“All this time.” Jaina eventually uttered, slowly uncurling from the wall. “All those messages, those poems, those late night talks… I stripped my soul bare for you.”
“I know.”
“I fell in love with you.”
Red eyes closed as if in pain. “I know.”
“What does this…” Jaina swallowed and tried again. “What does this mean?”
“I…” Sylvanas went to step forward before thinking better and dropping her arms to her side in defeat. “I don’t know.”
“Sylvanas.” All at once Jaina’s face morphed into one of bitter contempt, angry tears springing to her eyes as all her hopes and dreams of some romantic union seemed to spill away. Surely the Warchief must be laughing at all this… she’d never felt so exposed and embarrassed in her life.
Foolish. So fucking foolish.
“Go.” Jaina muttered.
Sylvanas straightened, lips parting with a pained expression on her face.
“Jaina-”
“Just go.” Jaina shut her eyes, feeling the tears spill over and trail down her cheeks. Something hit the ground and by the time she’d furiously blinked them away, the Banshee Queen was gone.
Still feeling queasy and unsteady on her legs, Jaina went to close the window. Her foot kicked something across the ground and she startled, bending to pick the unfamiliar object up.
Roses. Sylvanas had dropped a bouquet of roses.
Jaina swallowed, feeling her throat constrict. This had to be a trick… surely.
Sylvanas had been in her office. In her room. Yet she was no worse off for it. Sylvanas had written her poems, she had left flowers.
That sick feeling intensified and it didn’t take long before Jaina identified it as guilt.