The elf child carefully studied the treats cooling on the windowsill. Vala’s mouth watered as a small breeze carried the scent of warm berry pie to her. One of her favorites. She glanced back over her shoulder at the other children: her young cousin, and the three older boys who had dared her into this. Because she was the sneakiest, they said. Well, it was true. One of the boys nodded at her while the others gave her go-ahead signs. Her cousin simply looked worried.
She looked back at the treats again, focusing on the berry pie. Slowly, carefully, she eased her way forward, staying as hidden as she could in the few shadows of that bright autumn day. She paused to look around again when she reached the wall beneath the window. Seeing no one other than the other children, she finally reached up from where she half-crouched beneath the window and grabbed the pie. She quickly darted away into some nearby shadows with her prize, then looked for the other children. She sighed to herself in dismay when she spotted them talking to one of the adults. They’d probably been discovered in their hiding spot. She had told them to find a better one. Then one of the boys pointed in her direction.
She sighed again. Found out. Well, if she was going to take the blame, and she probably would be, she’d at least get a little something for her troubles. She took a big bite out of the edge of the pie before she stepped out of her hiding spot. The warm berry juice dripped off her chin, no doubt staining her shirt, as she quickly chewed and swallowed the delicious mouthful. She then did as she was told, handing the pie to the grown-up and meekly heading toward her parents’ house. But over one shoulder, she gave the boys one quick, triumphant, berry-stained grin.
– – –
Later that night, after having been sent to bed after a very meager supper, she crept to the top of the stairs to listen to the adults.
“Why can’t she act more like her cousin, more like a proper little girl than a hooligan?” her mother asked her grandfather.
After a pause, he answered. “Daughter, you know that’s not her nature. And she does try…sometimes.”
“She’s too much like you.”
Grandfather chuckled. “Truth. And so, when it’s time, I’ll begin teaching her things she should know. If she learns well, and is good enough, she can even make a place for herself with the Sentinels.”
Mother sighed. “I hope so.”
Vala yanked the fruit off the branch, nearly falling off another branch herself in the process, then carefully placed the fruit atop the others in the basket. It wasn’t fair! She had so looked forward to this hunting trip in the nearby forest and now here she was stuck helping old lady Balaena pick her ripened fruit! Alright, so she had disobeyed father. Again. But she had planned to return the apple. She had just wanted to see if she could take it without being caught, and then return it.
She spared a worried glance toward the center of the village, while she absently played with the tip of one of her long, pointed ears. And now they were late coming back. Mother and father, aunt and uncle, and little cousin Janivaria had all gone on the hunting trip a few days earlier, then hadn’t returned when they had planned. Now some of the other adults from the village were out looking for them. She finished filling her basket, then ate the light meal that Grandfather had packed up for her before he joined the search.
As she finished her meal, she heard raised voices from the other side of the village. She jumped up and started to head over there, then remembered her task. She turned to find old lady Balaena to ask for a break, and saw her already standing in the door of the cottage gazing toward the village center. “Go, child. You have done enough here.”
Vala thanked her politely, wondering at the sad smile the old lady gave her, then ran.
The clearing at the center of the village seemed filled with all the adults who lived there. Vala tried to peer around their legs and then finally just wormed her way toward the center. Few of the adults noticed the young girl passing by, it seemed to be a talent of hers.
When she could finally see what the adults were all grouped around, she stopped in confusion. It was her cousin Jani, but a strangely changed Jani. The younger girl stared off into the distance, seemingly unaware of Grandfather’s efforts to talk to her. Her amber eyes looked bigger than normal, and she seemed not quite there behind those eyes. Then she turned those haunted eyes toward Vala, and actually seemed to see her.
Vala almost lost her balance as her young cousin crashed into her and wrapped her arms around her, tight enough to hurt. In all this, Jani said nothing. Vala hugged Jani close and looked up at Grandfather. “Mother? Father?”
Grandfather slowly shook his head. Vala buried her face in Jani’s hair, her tears soaking it. Pieces of the adults’ conversation drifted by her. “Strange feeling…intense magical activity…shredded…must have seen it all…the shock…tried to track…”
Then Grandfather’s voice penetrated the din. “I’ll take them home with me, now.” And he easily lifted both children, cradling them in his arms as he carried them away from the agitated Kaldorei adults and into the quiet refuge of his modest cottage, their new home.
Vala narrowed her eyes in concentration, hefted her dagger, and leapt! A mighty blow, the enemy fell…well, at least she hit the tree-trunk squarely that time. She sighed and looked at the chipped ‘blade’ of her wooden dagger. Grandfather had made it for her, as well as the carved ring that she absently twisted around her finger. Jani had a matching ring. Grandfather had been teaching Vala how to use the dagger, even sparring with her sometimes. But mostly, she attacked the trees.
She glanced behind her to check on Jani, who sat happily in the sun making rings and necklaces out of flowers. Vala sighed again. Neither of them was a little child any more, though still not quite old enough to be considered adults, yet Jani still acted like the little girl she had been. Ever since their parents…well, at least Jani was talking again. Some. But never much louder than a whisper. And she never spoke of what she might have seen that day.
Distant yells in gutteral voices that she had never heard before caught Vala’s attention. She spun around, trying to place their location. East. Where Grandfather had gone. “Stay here!” she told Jani, who smiled and nodded.
Where once she would have run headlong, Vala now carefully and quickly picked her way toward the sounds, keeping her own noise to a minimum. Hard in the forest, but any noise she made was probably drowned out by the shouting anyway.
Suddenly something burst through the underbrush practically on top of her. She was already striking with the dagger when she realized it was Grandfather. He easily blocked her attack and hauled her around by one arm. “Get Jani! Run!” He pushed her back the way she had come and then turned back toward the harsh yells. A look back at the hill Grandfather had just come over and Vala saw the green-skinned armed and armored monsters pouring over the top. She ran.
But just inside thicker underbrush, she stopped and looked back. Maybe she could help…She saw a dozen or more of the short, stocky monsters easily surround Grandfather, realized that he had stayed there to allow her to escape. The monsters’ axes were poised to strike. Then the axes fell.
She could not move. Grandfather! Fortunately, her cry was soundless. When it was certain the old Kaldorei was dead, the monsters started to look around, maybe looking for her! Fear overwhelmed her, sending her running without conscious thought. Tears streamed down her cheeks, unnoticed. She paused in her flight just long enough to be quietly sick at what she had just seen. Then she was off again. Must get Jani! Warn the village!
She found Jani where she had left her, grabbed her hand and pulled her along, ignoring her protests. The half-finished flower jewelry fell to the ground. As fast as she could go, then, Vala headed for their village.
Before they could get there, though, Vala smelled smoke. She stopped immediately and tried to listen over the pounding of her heart. Yes, more of those voices. Ahead of them. Probably at the village. And from the sounds, destroying and killing. Keeping her grip on Jani she turned another direction and ran. Away from the death, the monsters, and her only home.
Vala hurried through the darkened camp. She had delivered the last message for the evening and now planned to seek her rest in the small corner of the cook’s tent that she had been granted. Jani was probably already asleep there. Who would have thought that only a week earlier, she and Jani had still been making their solitary way through the wilds, eating barely enough to keep going. Now they had food and shelter of a sort in an encampment of people called humans, dwarves, and gnomes. She still did not really understand what these people were doing here, other than they all seemed to practice at battle most of each day. In spite of this oddity, Vala was finding them less strange than at first sight and was even beginning to learn their language. Surprisingly, Jani was learning it even faster. Vala wondered how long they should stay here before finding someplace else to go.
Distracted by her thoughts, she failed at first to notice the three young mercenaries making their drunken way along the path between tents. The humans easily cornered her between two of those tents. She couldn’t understand what they said and couldn’t speak Common nearly well enough to try to reason with them. She had earned a few coins helping out in the camp, polishing a soldier’s armor and such; she thought they might be after those. But it was not money they wanted. She never thought of calling for help. She’d deal with this herself. She fought them, scratching and kicking, until she finally got free of their grasping hands. Then, scraped, bruised, and with a bloody nose, she ran into the enveloping darkness, hiding away from her attackers.
When she returned to the cook’s tent, the cook, a formidable dwarf named Marhilde, immediately dropped her preparations for the morning meal and helped Vala get herself cleaned up. Vala was not sure, but she thought the dwarf looked furious. The next morning Marhilde gave Vala a note to deliver to one of the human men who trained others in weapons. After he read it, he looked Vala over and then handed her two daggers. Nothing special, but in decent shape. And that very day, while Jani continued to help Marhilde with meals, Vala began learning how best to use those daggers, far more than Grandfather had ever taught her. The man also took charge of instructing her in Common.
– – –
The shadows wrapped comfortably around Vala as she followed each of the three mercenaries at various times over the next few weeks, learning their habits, trying to decide how they would pay for what they’d tried to do to her. Her talent for passing unnoticed seemed to be getting stronger. Or she was getting better at using it. Either way it was a good thing. She smiled to herself.
But how to make those humans pay? Kill them? She might technically have more years than they, but she had seen them on the practice grounds. They knew what they were doing, likely had many more years experience than she with fighting and weapons and their use. She had been lucky that night to get away from them. Besides, she now knew enough of what was going on to realize that this camp was but a way-station on the path to war for most of these people. Something important had drawn the different races together in common cause. War with those green-skinned monsters who had destroyed her village. Orcs she now knew they were called. War with demons. It was a little confusing who the enemy was, but Vala didn’t care right now. She knew who were her own immediate targets. While her attackers were only three men, she understood well enough that the army needed every skilled fighter it had to help fight those enemies. So, no, killing her attackers was not the answer. They would not get death from her hands. But then how to make them pay?
The main thing that she had learned about the men who had attacked her was that they loved their drink, almost as much as a group of dwarven fighters she had observed earlier in the week. So…drink would help bring about their humiliation. And only that. That would have to be payment enough.
Later that week, late one night, having managed to pilfer a certain herb and a small cask of dwarven ale, Vala put her plan into action. Herb into ale, ale placed conspicuously near the entrance to the tent the men shared, and she was done for a while. She slipped back into the shadows to watch and wait. Before long, the men returned to their tent, already unsteady on their feet. They greeted the sight of the ale with delight and consumed it on the spot. The herb acted quickly; only one of them made it all the way into the tent before falling on his face. The others did not get even that far.
Vala worked quickly, arranging them in uncomfortable and humiliating poses. The herb would wear off just about the time the camp came to life for the day. Should be perfect. She briefly admired her handiwork, then added one final touch. An artfully placed pink bow completed the scene. She faded back into the shadows and away.
The next morning, it seemed everyone was talking about those three men. Speculating. Vala listened politely when someone wanted to tell her the story, but then hurried about her various tasks. Just after midday, Marhilde pulled her aside. “Tha’ was ye, lass, weren’ it? Tha’ set those toughs up.”
Vala nodded slowly.
Marhilde nodded, too. “Guid on ye, lass. But, ye shuid knoo, they be right mad noo, an’ after hurtin’ revenge. Might be th’ time fer ye to be movin’ on.”
But where? I don’t want to walk into the middle of this war.”
Well, noo, ‘appens a ship’s goin’ out t’night. Sailin’ back home fer more fighters an’ supplies. ‘Appen ye an’ li’l Jani kin get on ‘er and sail, too.” Marhilde handed Vala a note and some coins. “Ye’re not wi’ us official like, so ye kin leave whene’er. Coins to Benon, the firs’ mate. Note t’ me brother Adalgar in Ironforge. Map on th’ back’ll git ye there.” After a moment, Vala puzzled out what Marhilde had just told her and nodded.
Marhilde then handed Vala a bundle – a few clothes and some food – and told her to grab Jani and get going. Vala did.
Vala watched Jani happily twisting some copper wire into complex designs. She wondered what this one would be. A ring, maybe a pendant. Jani had shown a surprising ability to create beautiful pieces of jewelry. And since they sold rather well, Adalgar had been more than willing to let them stay in one of his back rooms in exchange. While he specialized in weapons, he had begun teaching Jani some of the finer points of working with metals. Both seemed pleased with the arrangement.
Vala, however, had no idea what to do with herself. Sure, she helped out at a nearby inn. Her cooking was passable, but that was not what she wanted to continue doing. She watched Jani create her beautiful things and brooded.
A punch in her arm startled her out of her thoughts. “Ow!”
“Heya, lass. Ye need som’at to do. An’ I be needin’ more ores. Th’ way your sis…”
“Cousin.”
“Righ’ cousin. Th’ way she be goin’, we might set up a side business o’ some o’ these fancy things. So, t’morrow, ye an’ I be going minin’. Ye don’ want t’ be a cook fere’er, noo, do ye?”
Vala grinned at this echo of her thoughts and agreed. Mining, huh? Well, it would be different anyway. And then she’d not feel so much like she was living on the dwarf’s charity.
– – –
Vala swung the pick again, enjoying the feel of hard labor. She had grown stronger since she started mining the various nodes of metal that could be found around the land. And she enjoyed spending the time aboveground.
<“Imagine that. A Kaldorei mining. Not a common sight,“> said a voice in Vala’s native tongue.
Vala jumped and spun around, daggers in hand without her conscious thought. She relaxed when she saw that it was a Kaldorei woman some paces away leaning casually against a tree. A large black-spotted white cat lay at the woman’s feet. The woman smiled at her. <“Sorry to startle you, child.“>
Vala sheathed her daggers and retrieved the dropped pick. <“I’m not a child.“>
The woman looked her up and down. <“No, you’re right. But not too far yet from your childhood, I think. Still, my apologies. Perhaps you would accept a word of advice, though.“>
Vala nodded cautiously.
The woman continued. <“While out here gathering metals, why not also gather leathers. Get someone to make you some leather armor in trade.“> She indicated her own armor. <“It can come in handy while you are out and about. Try Stormwind City. There’s a good leatherworker there in Old Town.“>
Vala nodded. Seemed like good advice. <“I don’t know much about skinning,“> she told the woman.
<“Then I will show you.“>
By the time they parted, Vala was able to skin several different animals to the woman’s satisfaction. The woman had expertly built a small campfire and cooked the meat for Vala to take with her. And they went their separate ways. Vala wondered if they would meet again.
– – –
Things were going well, Vala thought. With the mining, Jani and Adalgar had plenty of several different metals for their shop. Skinning had gotten Vala a decent set of leather armor. And both skills had given Vala some extra coins, too. She now spent more time in Stormwind than Ironforge, doing odd jobs for people, often venturing out to use her skills elsewhere. She was good at retrieving items, and she discovered that she could remember perfectly a document that she studied for only a short time. Both skills that others hired her for at various times. And for good money.
Idle at the moment, from the shadows she watched the various people conducting business in the trade district. She enjoyed just watching people sometimes, and a person could learn useful information that way, too.
“We’ve been watching you,” came a voice from the shadows near her. “We should talk.” She turned toward the voice, dagger in hand, but saw no one. A small notecard was placed in her other hand, with the name of a place and a drawing of an open hand on it.
((Vala’s adventures continue in Finding a Place))