Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War by Christie Golden Read Free Book Online

disheartened she felt at times, and Varian and the other Alliance leaders were—most of them—firmly on the opposite side of any argument she made. Only Thrall—Go’el—seemed to understand, and even he appeared at the moment to be denying how much his decision to appoint Garrosh as warchief of the Horde could cost.
    Jaina gazed down at her hands, the words pouring out of her, uncensored. “The world’s changed so much, Go’el. Everything’s changed. Every one ’s changed.”
    “Everyone and everything does change, Jaina,” Go’el said quietly. “It’s the nature of things to grow, to become something they were not. The seed becomes the tree, the bud the fruit, the—”
    “I know that,” Jaina snapped. “But you know what doesn’t change? Hatred. Hatred and the hunger for power. People get an idea or a plan that works in their favor, and they dig in and won’t let it go. They won’t see what’s right in front of them if it contradicts what they want. Andthe words of reason, of peace, just don’t seem to be effective against that anymore.”
    Go’el raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps you are right,” he said noncommittally. “We must all choose our own paths. Maybe there is something else you should focus on.”
    She gave him a stunned look. “This world has already been torn apart. Do you truly think I should stop trying to prevent its inhabitants from tearing themselves apart?”
    Jaina stopped just short of adding, “Like you have done.” It wasn’t fair. Go’el had hardly been idle. He had indeed been doing much for Azeroth, but still… It was petty of her, but she felt as if he had let her down. She folded her stained cloak about her frame in what she realized was a defensive gesture. Sighing, she deliberately loosened her tight shoulders. Go’el sat quietly beside her on the boulder.
    “You must do what you think is best, Jaina,” he said. A slight wind stirred the braids in his beard. He looked off into the distance as he spoke. “I cannot tell you what that is or else I would be just like these others whom you find so frustrating.”
    He was right. There had been a time when Jaina had easily discerned what the best thing to do was in a given situation. Even if it was bitterly hard to do it. Choosing not to stand with her own father as he fought the Horde had been such a defining moment for her. So had been walking away from Arthas when he instigated what became known later as the Culling of Stratholme. But now—
    “It’s all so uncertain, Go’el. More than it ever has been, I think.”
    He nodded. “It is indeed.”
    She turned to look at him searchingly. He had changed, in more ways than one. Not just his clothing, or his name, or his demeanor, but—
    “So,” she said, “the last time we met, it was to celebrate a happy occasion. How is life with Aggra treating you?”
    His blue eyes warmed. “Well indeed,” he said. “She honors me by accepting me.”
    “I think you honor her,” Jaina said. “Tell me about her. I didn’t really have much of a chance to talk to her.”
    Go’el gave her a speculative glance, as though wondering why she wished to know, then shrugged slightly.
    “She is of course a Mag’har, born and raised in Draenor. That is why her skin is brown; she and her people were never tainted by any sort of exposure to demon blood. Azeroth is new to her, but she loves it passionately. She is a shaman, like me, and devotes herself entirely to healing this world. And,” he added quietly, “healing me.”
    “Did you… need healing?” Jaina asked.
    “We all do, whether we see it or not,” Go’el replied. “We bear the wounds of simply living in this life even if we never have a physical scar. A mate who can see one for who one is, truly and completely—ah, that is a gift, Jaina Proudmoore. A gift that restores and renews one daily, and which must be tended carefully. It is a gift that has made me whole—made me understand my purpose and place in the