(2024-07-12) The Relevant Details

Details

Author:	Mishell
Summary:	In a surprisingly swift reply to Cressidha Aspenwood, Zath Tyrrell answers precisely what was asked and offered and not one word more - but that is quite enough for a substantial letter.
Rating:	T for Teen

My Lady Cressidha,

I am pleased to hear from you, even if the news you bear is grave. The report about Ragnaros is dismaying, though I'll admit that I did not imagine it was possible to destroy Hyjal any further than the Legion has already done. This is a peculiar target on the part of the Twilight's Hammer which suggests the place may have more power remaining than I assumed.

While all of your letter was of intense interest to me, perhaps no phrase in it cut quite so close to my heart as "I hate that I do," in regards to your need for recovery. You may or may not be surprised to hear, depending on how recently you have spoken with your brother Bertrand, that I too find myself with unexpected time on my hands lately. Normally when the 6th E.U. is not deployed, we are on "dwell time," which for us means daily maintenance training and administrative work at the 7th's Stormwind headquarters during regular business hours. At the moment I am denied even that, and so I feel your sense of displacement very keenly. I cannot think of two people who are less suited to lounging about than you and I.

I will not be deployed to Mt. Hyjal, as there are some administrative issues regarding the 6th E.U. that must be resolved before the unit can be deployed anywhere. It has been said for years by other units that mine is cursed. Those murmurs often circled around me, as warlocks and curses seem to go together like tea and scones. For years I scoffed at the rumors, but now that I look over it I cannot help but tally our losses and misfortunes and see how peculiarly singled out we seem to be by the cruelest whims of fate.

But enough self-pity. I heard about your brother Amadeus when I was at tea with Bertrand, and while I never had the pleasure of knowing your eldest brother, I was gutted on behalf of everyone in your family that I have come to know and love. Even now, writing these words, I feel as though a hand wraps around my heart and crushes it, strangling my breath. It is unthinkable that you should suffer so. You and your family have been a light in the murky gloam of my life and deserve nothing but blessings. If I had the power to ensure it were so, by various unholy means of fate-twisting that are often attributed to me, I would at last find a project worthy of my unwanted free time.

I am pleased to hear that the auroraweave project has given you a challenge, new contacts, and an opportunity to broaden your knowledge - in truth that in and of itself was my goal rather than success in achieving my precise suggestion. You have struck me from the first as someone who is happiest when reaching for something that is just beyond you. There is more than one way to keep oneself striving forward, as I have to keep reminding myself.

As for your question about war: I am fortunate in that the nature of the Expeditionary Units means that we are virtually tiny nations unto ourselves. There are general campaign goals that we are all aware of, and sometimes I have had mild concerns about those, but there is always time to discuss and understand them thoroughly. An E.U.'s captain rarely has to answer directly to anyone else in the heat of the moment. In the past I have also had enough 'pull' with the High Commander that even my requests as to general deployment have often been honored. But those days may be in the past. High Commander Wyrmbane's confidence has been shattered by the proverbial "one-two punch" of Wrathgate and Gilneas, and now he seems to be questioning everything he ever took for granted.

I can say that I have, however, on many occasions been the superior officer who ordered something that appalled the people under my command. I have seen the doubt in their eyes and I have seen them bow their heads and do as they were told, and if I may be honest with you, each time it took away a piece of my soul. But in each case - at least until very recently - the result was success in our endeavors, and eventually I was understood and forgiven. My worst mistakes have never been in what I have asked of my people, but of the secrets I have kept from them.

All that said… many years ago, when the 7th was simply one of many Lordaeron legions and I was not the captain of anything, I was indeed given an order that I disagreed with. I had, to be honest, deliberately forgotten about this incident until you asked. I was new to the military and afraid of losing my place. Knowing what I know now, I ought to have shared my concerns after the fact with someone above my superior officer's station. Either she would have been disciplined, or I might have received some perspective that would help. But at the time I simply did as I was told, and seethed, and then willed myself to forget it. I do not think that was wise.

On to more pleasant matters - I thank you for your invitation. I find myself strangely grateful for social engagements now that I am separated from what I have considered my family these last many years. You may trust that I will call on you at your convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Zath Tyrrell

P.S - the enclosed paper contains some measurements for a little girl with some spinal irregularities who is so uncomfortable in the clothes we have available that she all but hides when families come to visit us. She has such a sunny and endearing disposition when engaged in conversation with people she trusts that I believe she could easily find a loving family if she were not too embarrassed to speak. I feel confident you can create just the thing to make her feel pride in herself.