Blacktail Deer Plateau 'why' is a crooked letter and can't be made straight

’Why?’

The question, the way it growled, and the way he looked at her with piercing yellow eyes, stunned her. A thorn punctured her heart. She opened her mouth to speak, to try to explain further, but no words came. Then he spoke again, harsh and angry.

’I should have expected it.’

She flinched. She had not meant to cause him this much harm. 

’Life has a funny way of showing you how quickly things can be taken away.’

“Illidan,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “My leaving has nothing to do with you.” A thing she’d already said, but she felt the need to repeat it. “Pack life here would only get worse for everyone if I stayed. Leaving is my only option—but I told you! I’m not going far away. I can come to visit if you wish. I…” The words sounded weak and pathetic to her own ears. She sounded like a desperate mewling pup. 

’I will not go with you.’

Her spine straightened. “What you feel about this is up to you. I do not leave to hurt to you and I have no intention of going off and never seeing you again, Illidan. Trust my word on that or don’t. I cannot control you, nor do I want to. I am not your mother.” The last sentence hurt her and she regretted saying it, even if it was true. She had grown afraid of her attachment to the boy, but had never thought to be afraid of his attachment to her before now. The words were meant to add a layer of separation, so that he would understand he did not have to be quite so sad about her departure. But they did not have the right connotation.

In the end, it only sounded like she was really was abandoning him—just another mother leaving him in the dust. She turned her face away in shame and sorrow.