Sympathies to Liriah

After being woken by the conversation between her mother and Sena, Alleria couldn't enter the slumber realm again. If she were at home surrounded by a familiar environment and subconsciously knowing everything around her was safe, Alleria could lie down and continue her sleep. But she was outside with a sense of mission and most of all in the combat state. As long as she got a sufficient rest, Alleria decided to stand up and walked around the camp. It had been an hour since her mother hung up the magical phone and Alleria smirked at the reason why Lireesa ended the conversation, who even asked them to nail that crow.

Initially, when Sena spoke out about the probability of Legend on the opposite side during the meeting, everyone got scared, and terrified at the thought a strong enemy was watching them silently in the dark. Fear spooked unnecessary notions. According to pre-war planning, there should be no Legend appearing on the battlefield based on Lireesa's description where the troll's inner circle was in the flame of turmoil. Legend meant a chief of one of the tribes. The appearance of a chieftain on a battlefield was suicide for the particular tribe as it would be soon taken advantage of by others. Lireesa calculated the Legend would stand and watch as long as the damage wasn't over their tolerance.

Sena, as the only quasi-legend, never fully used her strength to hide herself from the trolls and remained as guaranteed should the troll's quasi-legends come out. It was a surprise three of them came out at once, meaning their group was already in the eyes of legend. Whether the Legend really appeared was another debate. Although through Lireesa's tactics, Alleria believed she should be able to handle even if the opponent outnumbered them, Sena predicting the worst-case scenario told the rest if they continued what they were doing, everyone would be taking unnecessary risks, which also contradicted their general mission requirements.

When she heard her mother would soon fly over their location, Alleria's heart heaved a sigh of relief. The heavy stone of unsure Legend's appearance disintegrated. With her mother's presence, Legend would become a sheep in Alleria's eyes. Her mother had been invincible since she was born. The stories and deeds sung by many Windrunners showed her mother was never a simple woman, even if her level remained Quasi-Legend.

Alleria patrolled around the camp and took note of the disaster the battle had caused to this previously beautiful landscape. Burnt grasses and litter of enemy corpses spread across the battlefield; during the night, nobody paid attention and cared about them as the location appeared to be far away from the resting camp. As Alleria walked around her nostril smelled some disgusting substance and it began to spread across the whole field. Nobody had time to take care of these corpses as they were preparing for the next major battle. She felt lucky that they would soon be leaving and nature would take care of them.

Weapons ranging from axes, clubs, and spears were all in a mess. Since no one from Windrunners liked to use these weapons, they were left in the open. Some were even impaled on the ground standing on the battlefield telling the tale of their masters' tragic stories. Some small flags attached to the weapons waved helplessly along with the wind as if to say goodbye to the world. For someone who was the first time, Alleria understood death and destruction were mere steps away and the sight of tragedy in front ceased to shun the young ranger's mindset. Strangely, she never felt discomfort and felt she was born to protect others. Killing trolls was also to guard her compatriots in her opinion. Maybe it was Lireesa's teaching which brought her strong character out. Pity for her mother, she never desired to become a ranger-general.

She found Sena during her roaming and walked toward her. So many officers from other elements had arrived and were chatting loud. But no one bragged about their prowess concerning the last night's battle because it was really a small opponent, although for Alleria, she felt like she was fighting for life; the rest only sweated a little. Alleria didn't envy their state because she was still young and she believed she would become stronger as time passed. She had advantages others didn't. Her mother Lireesa was the strongest ranger ever known currently in Quel'Thalas.

She sat beside Sena, who laughed around and joked with the subordinates. Alleria's eyelids twitched after listening to their banter since not one of them focused on preparing for the battlefield. Maybe they had already before Alleria arrived, but this nonchalant attitude compared with after last night's discovery of the troll's Legend made Alleria speechless. She even wondered how much expectations they posed on her mother. If She were Lireesa, would she not be burdened by their thoughts and Alleria discovered she would also be stressed. If Lireesa was also a Legend, perhaps there was nothing to fret about. Yet as far as Alleria's knowledge, her mother still hadn't breakthrough and she knew for a fact there were no Legends among ranger professions. Although Lireesa stated out loud, known by very few, she would become Legend soon, she had no idea how arduous would the journey be.

"Aunt, shouldn't you all be discussing military matters instead of waiting for my mother?" Alleria who couldn't tolerate it any longer cut in and said her inner voice loudly. "After all, my mother alone seemed to encounter some problems when I listen to your conversation with her last night."

"Well, now you call me Aunt instead of a strange name. I'm happy about your change." Sena's face was beaming with a smile after noticing Alleria's change. She coughed and explained to clear the younger one doubts. "Of course, we've already finished our planning before you arrive and there's nothing left to do but wait for our ladyship and confirm our plans. Besides, listening to your mother's words, we might be returning early. Do you know what that means? We'll be having a quick fight and return home."

The last sentence of Sena almost yelled in exhilaration. Although for the rangers who walked on the edge of life and death a lot more than their compatriots, war was nothing in their eyes, the rangers also desired to enjoy their remaining life in a peaceful environment more than anyone else.

Naturally, based on Lireesa's future prediction, it was almost impossible to rest, and preparing the best to contest against their destiny was Sena's main goal apart from pursuing Lireesa. For her friend's path, everyone should provide maximum help to strive for the Windrunner's house survival.

Understanding where their happiness came from and Sena's reporting everyone's task had finished, Alleria was glad her suspicions didn't come true and at the same time felt guilty for blaming them wrong. She watched as the group chattered for another 2 hours before being interrupted by a descending dragonhawk near them. A voice everyone was expecting to come sounded.

"I presume, I'm not disturbing your lovely girls' chatters." Lireesa jumped over her mount and rubbed its head. After hearing its satisfied cry, she turned her head at Sena and asked. "Good to see you all doing well and completing the mission. I'm glad no one got hurt."

Amidst pleasantries between each other, only Sena's expression was different. Her mouth opened wide still amazed, whereas the others also noticed her behavior and were puzzled. Alleria was also stupefied about her aunt's inappropriate expression and couldn't help nudge her elbow to pay attention to the occasion, but Sena never responded. Until Lireesa noticed her bizarre appearance, she asked her childhood friend. "Hmm. Sena, what's the matter with your surprised face? It's not like you yourself invited me."

"Nope, of course, we all know you'll be coming and I'm not dumbfounded for this reason." Sena shook her head and return to the original guise. "If I recalled correctly, doesn't this mount belong to the head of a scout unit?"

Hearing Sena's question, everyone noticed Lireesa was the rider and this dragonhawk indeed belonged to someone else. Everyone was overjoyed Lireesa arrived to rescue the scene and forgot about the strangeness. Somehow, they felt pity for the original owner of this dragonhawk as they knew every rider cherished her mount like a baby and abhorred others touching her pet. No additional imagination was needed as they already found out what happened to her.

"Of course, it was her mount and she willingly gave me this time to undertake another mission. I also like the feeling of flying in the sky. As her mentor, she was happy to temporarily let her mount accompany me." Lireesa wasn't perplexed by Sena's frank inquiry. Her reply was instantaneous without the guilty conscience. All the rangers here had their ears twitched from their lord's shamelessness and never once thought her skin would be so thick.

Sena's mouth almost yelled 'shameless.' As her friend and confidante who watched Lireesa grow up, it wasn't wrong she could immediately pinpoint what Lireesa had done. Among the three, if it was said Sena was mischievous and never cared about rules, Ella was the opposite where every rule and obligation were strictly abided, as her action was filled with righteousness. On the other hand, Lireesa could be regarded as between the two friends' state and she was the perfect balance for their long-lasting friendship. Without her, Ella and Sena were impossible to become friends much less intimate ones like now.

Sena knew for a fact from old Lireesa's banditry behavior, how could she not recognize poor Liriah was cheated by her respected Lord. When she heard Sena's order to pick up her ladyship for a ride to the battlefield, Liriah volunteered excitedly and puffed her chest out guaranteeing the task would be completed fast, without any delay. Sena wondered if this girl regretted it now.

In contrast, Alleria's eyes felt strange from the sight of collective ears twitching among the seniors, but her mother's jack of all trades caused her to idolize Lireesa. From her viewpoint, it appeared there wasn't anything her mother couldn't accomplish. Her eyes stared at Lireesa with blind adoration.

Lireesa was unfazed by everyone's gaze around and she never felt guilty about cheating on her student Liriah. She even kindly allowed her to spend time with her family member; how grateful was she when she heard that she fell.

Poor Liriah who was flung away: "…!"

Everyone was old and there was nothing to be ashamed of when showing off her skin thickness. But Lireesa still decided to divert the topic as the gazes from around got stronger and also noticed her daughter's sparkling look. Her mouth twitched from worrying whether she taught her bad behavior and she threw those thoughts away.

"Brief me of the situation on the ground. I really had no idea except for Sena's description."

Everyone became serious and one by one introduced the events in the past week and explained the reason they required Lireesa on the battlefield. Sena also presented their comprehensive plans for the coming fight, including several ambush points should their guerilla be followed by the trolls in rage. Although only one location might only work, it didn't hurt to plan more.

Lireesa nodded in satisfaction with Sena's group's thoroughness and was delighted there wasn't any additional significant change needed to their plan. Still, Lireesa stated some weaknesses and new ways to tackle each of them. Her suggestion was seriously considered, and as the group discussed more, the conspiracy to trap the trolls was set at this time.

Lireesa looked out to the south and talked to herself squeezing her fist under the chin, 'Legend or what-not, you'll all be swallowed by this lady.' She already envisioned this battle was already a success before it began.