The Hinterlands, just before the third war.
Surrounded by somewhat crumbling stone walls on three sides, a small hut stood. The structure had a straw roof and thin wooden sides. Inside a low table and a few chests were positioned neatly. Also inside, three trolls with blue skin sat about working with various objects. They were Darkspear trolls, a father, mother, and daughter.
"Xainia, go to tha market an bring back dinnah. Remembah, don' talk to anyone." Xaenus, her father, ordered.
Xainia was a very young troll, only fifteen years had passed since her birth. Only recently was she allowed to go as far as the market from the little plot where her house stood. It was easy for them to stay hidden, so easy that most trolls who saw them were surprised or offended to see the blue skins. A Darkspear troll in Lordaeron was unusual, a family of them in the great troll metropolis of Jintha'alor was even stranger.
"Same ting taday, Xainia?" The merchant questioned her.
"Ya, wolf meat." Xainia spoke, almost embarrassed; she paid and ran towards home with the pieces of meat.
Her father always instructed her to go right to the merchant and come right back, so she did not know much of the city. As Xainia went up some of the final steps to her remote corner of the city, she heard two voices and stopped. It was very unusual for anyone to come near her home.
"Atal'ai gonna use de ampitheata. We need da Vilebranch wit us wen Hakkar comes." The first voice, an older sounding male troll, spoke.
"We be wit ya, mon. Zul'jin be gone an we gotta fend for ourselves." The other troll, also a male, replied.
"Good. We be startin' tha summon soon." The old troll continued.
Fearing the name she had just heard and fearing that they might notice her, Xainia quickly continued towards her house. She arrived and placed the steaks on the table.
Xaenus checked the meat completely to make sure that it was truly wolf and not some unfortunate Witherbark or Revanatusk troll "It's fine."
Xaenus was a blacksmith by trade, but he struggled to make a living among the trolls of Jintha'alor as many of them would not associate with a Darkspear troll. Every day they ate wolf meat, it was the only non-troll meat that the family could afford. Each day it had the same blend of bland herbs that Xainia's mother picked. Dining was more of a chore than something to look forward to for them.
"Papa, why ya have to check tha meat every night?" Xainia had always been told that she'd not need to know until she was older, but she had not asked for a while.
Her father winced. "Because we wanna make sure it's wolf an not one a us, tha Vilebranch tribe dat we live with eats its own kind."
"You mean otha trolls?" Xainia looked a bit horrified.
"Yes, Xainia. It's sometin ah will never have dis family do."
"It mus be like tha strange trolls that were talkin' outside taday. Dey scared me."
"How's that?" her mother, Dalnuya, asked.
"Dey spoke about Hakkar, and getting tha Vilebranch's help."
Dalnuya almost dropped the potions she was mixing. "Hakkar?"
Xaenus looked very gravely at Xainia. "Are ya sure dey weren't young trolls playin'?"
"'e had a big voodoo mask, Papa."
"Dun speak ta anybody else 'bout dis, Xainia." Xaenus finished cooking the steaks quickly and served them the leathery meat.
"Ya, Papa" Xainia tore at the cooked wolf steak and drank some water.
After dinner, Xaenus went over to one of the chests in their small hovel and started working with some metal objects inside of it. Xainia went outside to check on the small garden that they grew behind the building. Nightfall came quickly. Around dark her father left for some time then returned.
"Dere be a fire up at da summit." he said when he came in.
Dalnuya looked very worried but she continued to lay out the mats and blankets that they slept under. Xainia lay down on her mat near her mother and looked over.
"Wha's tha fire for?" She paused then asked another question. "An if these trolls be cannibal, why we live here?"
Dalnuya turned to her to tell her. "Well, tha fire could be bad, vera bad. It might 'ave to do wit Hakkar." She shook her head "I 'ope dose trolls ya heard were jokin."
"As for why we're here, we've been forced into this sort a livin." Her father continued for Dalnuya. "When da Darkspear tribe, our people, fled to tha ocean, some of us didn' go. We fled north an lived in tha mountains until tha greenskins came."
Xainia looked eager for knowledge; she had loved the stories of the battles that Xaenus had seen. "Ya mean tha orcs?"
"Ya, ah don't remember tellin ya their propa name." Xaenus picked the story back up. "Zul'Jin and tha orcs fought across tha lands an we tried ta stay out of it. In tha end, only ya motha an me made it out afta tha elves found tha Darkspear village. We had to take shelter in 'ere. When da horde lost, tha Vilebranch came back 'ere and tolerated us jus like dey do taday."
"But da elves an men been gone for years. Why we still 'ere?" Xainia looked as she pulled the blanket over herself.
"Because if we go out dere, we fair game for Vilebranch an Witherbark cannibals." Xaenus lay down on the other side of Dalnuya.
"Go ta sleep, Xainia. You be too young to tink 'bout dis" Dalnuya got under the blankets.
"Nite, Momma, Papa." Xainia, still very obedient, put it from her mind and slept soundly.