A number of years ago.
The young, dark-haired Kaldorei gazed sadly at the still forms lying in the temple. Why had mother left her position with the Sisters of Elune to go after father? Now they both were lost, caught in the Emerald Dream, or Nightmare, rather.
Stupid druids!
No…not their fault.
She knew many who walked the Dream successfully, but why not her family? Both her grandfathers, too, had been lost just this way.
And now they, the druids, said that she should learn, should fulfill her potential and become a druid as well. But she just couldn’t. Maybe it was some weakness in her family that they were all lost. But not her; she never wanted to even hear the call of the Dream, or whatever it was that sent them so eagerly to it. She had already found another path, anyway. Let her sister follow the druid path, she would find her own place in the world in a different way.
~ ~ ~
She understood why they had done it, why the Kaldorei had sacrificed their immortality. And she agreed with the act, but wished that she’d been informed ahead of time. The shock had sent her reeling for days, a condition that could have proven fatal in the untamed wilds. Fortunately, her companion and friend, the ghostsaber Aitherios had been there to guard her. She still felt strange, but functional again. Time to go hunt.
Not so long ago.
The more she stayed in the wilderness, the more reluctant she was to return to so-called civilization. But return she must, every so often. However, she deliberately avoided any of the kaldorei settlements. When she did need to visit a city, she usually went to a dwarven or human one. Finally, a strange, nagging feeling that she was needed at the temple in the new city of Darnassus compelled her to go there…just in time to say good-bye to her parents.
Amazingly, they both had returned from the Nightmare, at nearly the same moment, so their care-givers told her. When she knelt next to them, they both smiled weakly at her and touched her hands.
And they were gone.
Then one of the care-givers gently touched her arm and said that there was also news concerning her sister. The woman’s eyes told her all she needed to know. From that moment, she was truly alone.
And it was then that she stopped using her given name, only going by her family’s name…in the hope that such an action would keep the name from passing into obscurity.
>>Warning: Some spoilers here from one WotLK quest chain.<<
Stardancer turned away and closed her eyes as images of her parents lost in the Dream flashed across her vision. How could the Argent Crusade ask her to do this? Wasn’t there another way?
“I can’t do this,” she whispered. Then she saw again the solitary Crusader, lying by his dying fire far to the north, dying himself from the plague but staying far away from any possible help to avoid infecting others.
Slowly she turned back to Keeper Remulos, who nodded gently at her.
“What we need exists only in the Emerald Dream,” he repeated.
“Acorns that are infused with a powerful restorative magic,” he continued. “Many places in this sacred glade are closely tied with the Dream, and my shrine is among them. I will send you into the Dream to recover some of these acorns. Be prepared though, for this method of entering the Dream is dangerous, and it is very likely you will be beset by nightmares.”
Stardancer shuddered. With so many of her family lost to the Dream, the Nightmare, she could only imagine what waited her there.
“Recover a few acorns quickly,” he concluded. “And then depart from my shrine or pinch yourself to return to our world.”
She stared at her feet for a long time, then finally looked up into the Keeper’s eyes. There she saw understanding. She glanced at her bear Arktos, currently accompanying her while Aitherios enjoyed some much-needed rest. Arktos looked back at her, giving the impression of strength and support. She knew he would follow her faithfully wherever she went. Perhaps even into the Dream. She certainly hoped so.
How could she not do this? That Crusader deserved a better fate than what waited for him from the plague. Even if she were to become lost in the Dream herself, she would make sure the acorns got back to the Crusader. She would find a way. Somehow.
She bowed to Keeper Remulos. “Please send me into the Dream.”
She fought…trapped…must get free…
Stardancer sat up suddenly, flailing at the blanket wrapped so tightly around her. No wonder she had dreamed of being caught, trapped. She looked around the still night. Well, at least nothing had been attracted by her commotion. Even Aitherios only turned lazy lidded eyes in her direction, sending an impression of unconcern, then put his head back down on his front paws.
Stardancer finished extricating herself from the offending blanket, then sat back against the pack she had been using as a pillow. This had become all too common an occurrence; ever since she had stepped into the Emerald Dream to try to help that fallen Crusader. Could the Nightmare be trying to claim her? She munched a hard piece of bread from her pack and considered this. It didn’t seem likely. She felt no call, and always woke up. So, just normal nightmares, then.
She closed her eyes wearily, still holding the half-eaten bread in one hand. Maybe she could still catch a little sleep before morning. Her sister’s face flashed across the darkness behind her eyelids and she bolted upright. No…not entirely normal nightmares. Always about her sister. Always involving a feeling of being trapped.
And she remembered an oddity. When she had gone into the Dream, she had fought nightmares of herself, and had seen wandering images of people she knew were dead, even those who had not died within or because of the Nightmare. But she had not seen her sister there. Everyone else. But…not Ri.