A small cottage tucked away into the woods of Ferelas, a light and controlled fire illuminated the structure while small puffs of smoke came from the chimney. Not a sound could be heard but the soft night sky passing through the trees. Inside, a night elf couple family sat for dinner, not a word between them, eating away at a small meal of elk. The silence seemed to go on forever, not one able to look at another, their eyes focused only on their meal.
“So… did you get married because you were dumb enough to get pregnant or because you think you have feelings?” a cold Kaldorei woman looked across the table at her very much adult daughter.
There was no response from the young woman as she simply stared at her plate picking at the food and simply eating, trying to ignore the words.
“I’d call you a whore, but you’re not even dignified enough for that. Do his parents know? How could they have let someone of his class even touch you? Did you poison him?” Her mother smirked happily watching the girl squirm in her seat barely touching at her food, “Well then, if he did knock you up at least have the dignity to feed the child.”
“I’m not pregnant!” Alnarra shouted, the irritation clear in her voice, “We became mates because we loved each other, that’s all there is to it”
“Oh? So my daughter does have a voice, it’s good to know. I thought for a second that perhaps your will to speak had been taken by sleeping around with all the males in your class”.
“I haven’t slept with any of them! I haven’t touched any of them, you know this!” Alnarra protested angrily.
“It does not matter, you still have the mind of a whore,” her mother said plainly taking a large bit of the food and swallowing, she looked to the male across from her, “Did you know she was getting married?”
The male simply nodded, “Yes our little one told me long ago of her feelings for the young man and her intentions.”
Her mother gave a gruff shrug, “I suppose she didn’t want me coming to the wedding so I could save the young man from a terrible mistake.”
“Just stop! I got married because I was in love, that is all there is too it. I came back home because I wanted to tell you because you have a right to know, and now I’m leaving” The druidess stood up with a huff, slamming her chair under the table as she got up to leave.
“Just remember Alnarria Elslora Stargrove, when he falls in battle because you were too weak to pick up a sword, to pathetic to fight, his death and the deaths of all your young will be on your shoulders. You will travel through life pathetic, weak, and feeble. I wait with baited breath for you to come crawling back to me after you have failed to protect those you ‘Love’”.
Alnarra simply shivered at the words before quickly marching out the door, slamming it behind her, but what greeted her was not the familiar forest of Ferelas, not the calm whisper of the trees and the brooks. Instead it was a desecrated battlefield, littered with gravestone after gravestone. The bodies of the dead piled up with little dignity or respect. Alnarra’s eyes shot around, glancing at the markers, a slow horror overtaking her as she read them.
“Azaerl, Zangz, Mr. Briscoe, Johias, Mr. Medas…” a small panic began to set in as she moved through row after row of headstone, beginning to run though no matter how far she ran it didn’t seem to change things, “Delegoth, Lithiaris, Zandrel, Ino” she muttered helplessly seeing each marker, biting her lip as she traveled closer and closer to the pinnacle of seemingly endless hill, “Alice… Luin… Gwen” she shook her head coming upon a seemingly final cluster of graves, “Veral… Myrodin… Talgrath,” she choked on her words, stepping past the all too familiar markers, she closed her eyes not wishing to see the final three.
Slowly but surely she looked at the stone, frowning heavily as she came to kneel in front of them, “Araane, Bael, Alaanah” she read out loud, touching at one of the grave markers, a tear ran down her cheek. She bowed her head, hoping to find some way out of this hellish nightmare, somewhere to escape, but instead what flooded her mind was not relief but the sounds of the voices of all those graves she had walked past.
“Couldn’t keep your attention away from a mated man?” the voice of Zangz ran through her, she turned only to see a shambling corpse of the man swiftly approaching her.
“Just another whore who spreads her legs for anyone who walks by” rang out the all too familiar voice of Luin, causing Alnarra to shoot around only see another fast approaching corpse.
“Too weak to save our children or me,” came perhaps the most hurtful voice of all, Alnarra could not bear to turn, knowing what she might see.
“It’s not true…” Alnarra muttered to herself, clenching at her head shaking it furiously, “It’s not true,”
Then, as if with a flash of lightning, Alnarra suddenly found herself on a ledge. Her one good arm was being held on to by two people she could not let go, “Aarane… Bael! No no no, don’t let go, don’t let go Elune damnit” she screamed trying to hoist them both up, as if in unison they both screamed back to her, “You have to let one of us go,”
Alnarra looked at her arm, shaking her head furiously, “No! Just hold on! I…”
And with that, the druidess was brought screaming back to reality, the dream fading into her memory as she sat outside the tavern, with drink in hand. The small flask having spilled on her during the night, she simply sat outside the building, shaking and crying softly.
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