Death of an apprentice

[Laron]

Amadare is handed three letters by a goblin in Ratchet. She walks towards the dock as she opens the first one. It is addressed from Vilmah. After reading it she sighs and looks out to the ocean. "Yeah... I hope I do find someone..."

The second, is from someone she hadn't met before, asking if she wanted to buy gold...? "How silly" she thought as tossed it in the nearest brazier.

The third however, was written in Darnassian and with a heavy hand, probably by a Tauren. She sat down and dangled her bare feet in the water, letting the little fish nibble and her toes.

Sister Amadare Redthorn,

It pains me to have to inform you by letter, but I have other duties that need attending at the moment. Your apprentice, Brother Riverleaf, has been returned to the Earth Mother. He has fell prey to a pack of starving wolves, so thirst not for revenge. His death was not in vain. As in the way of things, prey must be had, so that others may live.

His personal items and remains will be buried atop the rise to the east of Thunder Bluff, so that you may pay your respects to his spirit before it is returned to the Twisting Nether.

May you walk with the Earth Mother, while on this world, and be guided by Elune to keep the balance.


Archdruid Hamuul Runetotem,
Cenarion Circle

Amadare sits quiet for a moment, her eyes a dull brown, before the rage wells inside her. Like a ball of flame it overwhelms her and consumes her. "He wasn't ready, and I let him go out on his own!" Her voice deep and growling. As she tripples in size,her dress rips off of her, and the shreds fall on the dock and in the water. She looks around as her vision is nothing but red and black... "Movment!" She thinks to her self as she lunges at the first thing she sees...

Waking up on the dock, she is covered by a net, and not much more. Her face hurts, and as she tries to get up, her wrist is broken. Using her elbow to get to her knees, she hears a higher pitched voice. "We had to subdue you dear." Looking up she sees a familiar face. "Liz?" The goblin smiles, and removes the netting. "Yeah sweety, it's me, now lets get you some clothes and see about the wrist." Stumbling to her feet, she hobbles to the small shop by the dock.

[Verloran]

"Three gold."

"One."

"Two and a half."

Verloran sighed. Goblins were so stubborn...

"Listen, we're talking about an old scimitar. An old scimitar isn't worth more than a gold."

"You listen, Mr. Tall Pants.." the goblin weapons dealer scratched the end of his nose absently. "Business is slow, as you can probably tell by the state of this shop. Now I'll lower the price down to two gold, but that's as low as it's going to go."

Verloran and the goblin stared at eachother for a time, until a rather loud roar outside distracted them both. Turning to look out over the small port town, Verloran saw a rather large bear charging a goblin. Two others ran in very quickly and subdued the bear, netting it down to the dock.

Verloran turned back to the goblin. It was just another fight, probably, nothing more than all the other ones that constantly plagued Ratchet.

"I'll give you a gold and a half, and that's my final offer."

The goblin glared at Verloran. It was half the price originally intended.. but business -was- quite slow, and he needed to sell something, or it wouldn't be long before he was asking travellers for food rather than money.

"Done."

"Good." Verloran handed over a gold piece and a small pouch of fifty silver coins, and took the dull scimitar from the shelf behind the goblin. It would be good for fighting people weaker than himself.

Turning again to exit, Verloran looked back at the dock out of sheer curiosity.

He scratched the top of his head, then closed his eyes and opened them again. No.. there was no mistake. It was Amadare, completely naked, stumbling towards a shop near the dock.

Verloran sighed, shaking his head as he walked down the path towards the town. Amadare doesn't realize how much trouble she could get into in a place like this, walking around naked, he thought to himself.

When Verloran caught up with Amadare, she was inside the shop already, so he knocked lightly on the outside doorway, not wanting to intrude on anything.

"Is everything alright Amadare?"

[Laron]

Sitting down in the chair Amadare holds her arm as Liz gets her an old robe. Putting it on the goblins full length robe, barely covers her butt. "This is fine Liz, thank you." She says as she looks at the bone protruding under her skin. "Well I should set that before I heal it..." she says as she hears his voice. "Is everything alright Amadare?" She turns to see those eyes staring back at her.

"I... well... no..."

she says as she looks back at her wrist. Twisting it, she lets out a painful cry! Then starts to whisper and produce a green glow from her hand. "There, now I can run if I have to..." She looks back at Verloran.

"I just got bad news... I could use a drink..."

She stands up, not trying to cover herself. "Care to join me?" Rummaging through her bag she finds her change of pants and a vest.

"These will have to do... I really should become a tailor... with as many clothes I tear up..." Changing her clothes she neatly fold the robe and hands it back to Liz. "Thank you Liz, I owe you one. Maybe when I learn to sew, I will make you a real pretty dress." She nods and heads towards the bar, stopping only to look back at Verloran.

[Verloran]

Bad news. It seemed to be quite common lately.

"Sure.. I could use a drink or two as well," Verloran said, thinking of everything that had happened in the past few days. He outside until Amadare had changed into some decent clothes, then followed her to the tavern.

"So what's wrong?"

[Laron]

Walking through the doorway she motioned to the bar keep, holding four fingers up, and pointing to the table she walked to, Amadare flashes a glare at the Troll who started to wistle at her barely covered chest. She sits at the table and tosses the letter down for Verloran to read. After downing her first drink of Ale, she wipes her mouth.

"He was just a calf when I found him... Barely cutting his horns..."

A tear had started to form in her eye when she started her second drink.

"I let him loose before he was ready... I shouldn't have let him out of my care..."

Looking courious at Verloran, she asks "What are you doing here? And where is youe lady, she was fun to play with..." She could use a little fun now.

[Verloran]

Verloran took the letter Amadare threw on the table and read it. He sighed as he set it down.

"I'm sorry for your loss.. it's really sad when something like this happens. But you can't blame yourself too much. If this was when he was meant to die, it would have happened one way or another."

He sat back and studied Amadare, a sad look on his face. After a couple moments, he took one of the mugs of ale and drank about half of what was in it, then set it down in front of him.

"To be honest, I haven't seen her or heard from her for some time, so I don't know where she is. As for what I'm doing here, I needed a weapon of poor quality. Stubborn as the goblins can be about their prices, I heard they were rather cheap.. apparently I heard wrong..."

He turned his head slightly, studying the tavern's occupants. A Troll out in a corner was eyeing them.. Verloran thought he caught Amadare glaring at the Troll earlier, although Verloran didn't know why. There were also a few Blood Elves in a table against a wall, playing some sort of dice game. Other than the few who had their Hearthstones set to the tavern who would pop up out of thin air occasionally, that was it.

He turned his head back to face Amadare again. "What about you? Any particular reason you're here?"

[Laron]

Looking back at Verloran, she thinks carefully about her next question.

"When I met her we played a little before you arrived, she took her form of the wolf and I was in my cat form... then when we started drinking... Was... she coming on to me?"

Blushing, Amadare shifted in her seat. "I mean she is female... and yours..." Looking back at the letter on the table, she stares intently.

"I was told of a group of Druids who are practicing fouls arts, and need to be stopped. They reside in a cave not far from here. But they will have to wait now. I have respects to pay."

[Verloran]

Verloran looked down at Amadare's words. and yours...

"Well then I'll leave you to that. I'm truly sorry for what's happened to you.. Light knows I know what it's like to lose people. If you need anything, don't be afraid to ask me." He smiled at her, then picked his mug up and drained the rest of it. He stood and bowed.

"It was nice seeing you, and I hope I'm able to again soon." Verloran smiled again at Amadare and turned to walk out the doorway.

[Laron]

Amadare's heart almost jumped out of her chest.

"No! Please!... Please don't leave..."

She almost dropped her drink as the words escaped her lips. Sitting back in her chair, she starts wonder what she was doing. "I really don't want to be alone..." Looking up to him, with her glowing eyes, she realizes that maybe this was the way things were meant to be...

"Maybe you should go... If you stay it will probably just hurt me more when you leave..."

She looked away to stop her tears from coming.

[Verloran]

Verloran stopped, standing quite still in the doorway. She didn't want him to leave...

"Verloran!" A little voice chirped up on his hearthstone. "We need you in Ironforge. Hurry up!"

He sighed, holding his hearthstone to his mouth. "I'll be right there."

Verloran turned back to look at Amadare. "I have to go... I'm sorry."

[Laron]

As she watches him leave her life once again, she hears the scream of a young sounding Dwarf!

"Help!"

Rushing out the door she sees the charred corpse of a short person fall to the ground, and a smug smile spread acrossed the face of the Blood Elf standing behind him. The Sin'Dorie was unscathed... and blowing the smoke off of his finger tips, when Amadare stepped out of the bar. His smug face, turned to that of fear, as he sees the Druid step out and start to charge him. With a gesture of his hand in a circular motion, the ground turned to ice, and Amadare's boots seemed to root to the ground making her stop in her tracks. Looking back at the mage, Amadare sees him vanish only to reappear several yards away.

"Oh no you don't!"

Shifting to her Many Spots form, she slips from her boots, and gives chase! Running as fast as his non athletic Magi legs will carry him, he is no match for the speed of a Cheetah. As she jumps for him, Amadare shifts to her heavier Panther form and tackles the mage to the ground, ripping his robe open and staining it with his own blood! Not wanting this to be a prolonged death, she bites the side of his neck and holds his arms down with her front claws! Getting a better grip on the young Magi's neck she prepares to break it when she sees a young woman sitting almost 2 feet away. She is a Blood Elf, carrying a Broad Sword, and wearing plate mail..? Amadare, changes her position, to place the wounded boy between her and this new threat, when she notices the tattoos, down the right side of the woman's face.

"Andellyn?"

She growled with the man's neck still in her mouth. Dropping him back to the dirt, she shift to her bear form and all but smothers the man, holding him tightly. "Dear you might not want to watch this..." Andellyn looked to the terrified man, and then back to her Aunt. "I'm sure he is getting what he deserves Aunte Ama, I have never known you to kill for no reason. But maybe he would learn a better lesson, by living to tell others of your mercy." The man cry's out to Andellyn for help, his voice muffled by grey fur and the gurgling of his own blood and tears. Andellyn kneels down to the man and scowls at the man.

"You deserve to die on this day. But you shall live, so that you may learn that not all people of the Alliance are the monsters you think they are. Now, she is going to let you up. If you scream for help, she might reconsider the gesture."

With that Amadare shifts back to her two leg form and heals the young mans neck, then his other minor wounds. Wiping the blood from her mouth, she bows to him and points towards the Wyvern handler.

[Laron]

The wind blows through the hills of Mugore. The walk was a slow one, but it gave Amadare time to talk with Andellyn, who wouldn’t stop talking about a Blood Elf she met by the name of Zethrin Duskbane , with silvery white hair, and turquoise eyes. The way the girl was carrying on about him, Amadare would think she had a crush… But now was not the time for such discussions… or maybe a light conversation was in order… “I know you don’t care too much for your father’s line of work, but… He has always been good to me… in fact I can’t count on both paws how many times he kept me out of trouble with your Grandmother… I wish you could have met her.” She smiles and remembers the good times she had. “So tell me about this Zethrin… is he single?” She prodded a bit to see her Niece’s reaction. “Do you think he likes wild Kal’dorei women?” She smiles, and keeps walking as Andellyn’s face turns slightly flushed…

“I.. I don’t … think he would, He is a Paladin, and wouldn’t do That sort of thing… And… I don’t think he would… fraternize with the quote unquote enemy…”

Andellyn suddenly goes quiet as she realizes what she just blurted out, and turns a deeper blue, when her Aunt turns, smirking at her, as she is caught in the act… Putting her hand on her Niece’s shoulder, Amadare comforts her. “It is natural to like a male that is attractive sweety.” She smiles and turns back to the hill in which River leaf is buried. “Come we will have time to talk about this later.” She says as she makes her ascension up the hill. Laying hearth of rosemary and white roses at the stone, Amadare drops to her knees and give her prayer in Taurahe.

“Life is but a cycle. Some pass so that others may live. The Earth Mother provides for us all of our lives, so it is a great honor to repay her with our body when we pass. Elune guides all that enter the twisting Nether, so that our souls can be given a new life to live. Riverleaf was just a calf when Elune guided me to him. He grew to a strong young Tauren, but it seems that his fate for this life was to be short. We do not mourn his passing, only hope that his new life is a pleasant one.”

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she touches the stone with wet fingertips. “I will miss you my son.”

((Any young Tauren out there care to add to this feel free.))

[Zethrin]

Zethrin stared at the skull shaped mace, a bizarre sight with a little pink bow, as it sat in the imaculately wrapped gift box. It was his reward for turning in tickets he'd gotten from trading violet plumes to the Dark Moon Faire carnie.

"The hell kind of a reward is this?"

"All trade-ins are non-refundable... uh sir," said the gnome, clearly uncomfortable with the mail-armoured blood knight's reaction.

For all the hype, this faire had been rather underwhelming. Zethrin closed the box and tucked it under his arm as he turned and made his way towards the lifts to Thunder Bluff. He'd auction house the thing. Surely there'd be someone else who'd find more use for this... club.

"What a waste of a leave," he muttered.

He remembered the last time he'd been to a faire. It had been before the third war. He'd gone with Elysia to the Silvermoon Faire, back when it was held under the shade of the woods of Quel'Thalas, long before the Scourge came and burned it all away...

***

"Zethrin! There you are." A brown haired male elf, dressed in the cloak of a ranger, came running towards Zethrin. It was late afternoon on the lane from the Southern Sanctum.

"Marcos? Aren't you supposed to be on patrol?" Zethrin said.

"I snuck away... Have you seen Salora?"

Zethrin smirked.

"Ah, planning to sweep my little sister off her feet at the Faire?"

Marcos blushed slightly. The boy was so obvious.

Zethrin nodded. "She's at the Arcanium studying. Mother thinks she'll be the top apprentice of her class."

"Like mother like daughter," said Marcos somewhat sullen.

"You know what, I think Salora wouldn't mind if someone dragged her away from her boring studies to go the faire... if you know what I mean," whispered Zethrin, hinting.

"You think so?" Marcos scurried off towards the city.

Zethrin smiled. Marcos and Salora were such lovestruck fools, it was obvious to everyone within earshot. He wondered how long before he'd be calling Marcos, brother.

***

The Silvermoon Faire was in a clearing surrounded by the blue and green canopies of Quel'Thalas. The first stars were already on the horizon as Zethrin approached, in the full dress uniform of a newly minted Royal Honour Guard, a polished mithral breastplate over a grey leather jerkin, with a blue velvet sash, gold trim immaculate in the mithral. A flowing blue cloak with silver lining and brooch, grey pants, black boots tipped with gold, and a long, gilded rapier at his side completed the uniform. His long black hair was wrapped in a short ponytail.

A soft, amused voice. "Brave ser knight! Do you care to escort a mere lady in waiting?" said a young female elf with flowing blond hair that fell almost to her thin waist. Thin silvery straps ran down her shoulders to a sparkling silver summer dress, the hem line falling loosely to her knees. Blue leather sandals adorned her petite feet. She looked so different without her robes.

He reached for her fingers and kneeled, kissing her hand. "But of course my lady princess Elysia, it would be an honour."

She blushed. Of course he was not really a knight, and she was no princess, but it was a joke from when they'd played together in the rivers and woods as children, him the brave knight, her the magical princess, slaying imaginary dragons. Yet at this moment he truly realized how beautiful she was, her blue eyes glowing in the moonlight. The darkness made her pale skin seem bluish and exotic.

They walked through the Faire, her arms around his elbow. Strolling past booths with exotic delicacies and games, prizes won with his lackluster marksmanship, her talent with the arcane... The fireworks that Elysia and Salora had helped make, that flashed into the sky like a million fireflies swarming, and a thousand stars cheering in a hundred colours.

That night had been so long ago, he realized. Before the letter about his father's death at the hands of the Horde, before she'd been sent off to Dalaran to study. Before the Scourge came and took everyone he'd ever cared about away from him...

For a moment he remembered how he'd held her in his arms. He'd cried then, only then, after having had to kill her with his own sword. Curse the Scourge. Curse them for taking her away. Curse them for bring her back as something terrible... For forcing him to kill her over and over again, until he'd given up all hope of bringing back the girl he'd known. Curse Arthas, curse the Lich King, curse the Scarlet Crusade. He was a paladin now, yet he still couldn't bring her back. Curse the Blood Knights. Curse Zethrin Duskbane, the failed knight who couldn't protect his princess.

***

He stared at the tents of the Darkmoon Faire as he ascended the Lift. He pulled the hood of his grey traveler's cloak over his head. The past was dead. He'd vowed no other love than Elysia, that if he couldn't save her, that he'd never let himself into the position where he could lose someone else. He had only duty now, his sword and his service to the Light.

[Ninorra]

((Zethrin made me cry a little.))

[Laron]

Andellyn, standing in her long black dress, breaths in the cool air of Mulgore as she puts her hand on her Aunts exposed muscular shoulder.

"We should get going before someone sees us Aunte... and look your getting dirt on your new dress..."

She says as she helps her up and tries to brush the earth from the black silk of her Aunt's evening gown. Amadare turns to her Niece and wipes the tears from her glowing green eyes.

"Just a little longer Lyn, I want to make sure he is at peace with me."

She stares at the grave one last time, and whispers for forgiveness. Andellyn backs off slightly, her ears perking up at the sound of music off in the distance. The fair was here... and it would attract a fare amount of Horde. She suddenly wished she had brought her sword...