The Necklace II: My Heart Comes Home

By Ami E. Bowen

Translated and copied from the private journals of Tacita, Draenei Priestess and lifemate of Ayashii

(Thorium Brotherhood Server)

There is no other way to entitle the next corner of page ripped from the book which my life is writ upon than; "My Heart Comes Home". For Ayashii was, is and will always be, my heart. From the moment our eyes met and locked on that fateful summer eve over the startled, hurt-pride face of the young upturn'ed male Draenei, I knew.

Just as certainly as she also knew. It had nothing to do with the jewelry we both wore which matched the opposite inner selves within each other and all to do with the innate sense that all our people had when we knew we'd recognized our own soul within the eyes, the smile, the scent and the mind of another.

I felt a half mad desire to behave as base and crude as those of our very late ancestors were said to have behaved and strike her over the brow with the nearest rudimentary blunt object I could lay my hands upon and drag her semi-conscious overland to whatever shelter I could sniff out, there to keep her as a petulant, half-abused child keeps a hard-earned, favored keepsake or sweet. However animalistic our species once were or still are in some aspects, we have, over the ages, learned more than a little about the fine art of self-control. To say nothing of more civilized ways.

I dug deep down inside of myself and yanked out all the self-control I'd been gifted with by The Naaru and smiled softly while holding out a hand for her to grasp. All the while my gut was wrenching and my instincts were screaming: Mine! Mine! Mine!

She knew she was mine, (I could hear within her the soft whisper-thinking that was the mind-speech which passed from those Draenei to Draenei who still understood the process and more often as accidental slippages of thoughts from those who did not), that was her inner self agreeing with my nearly screaming insides yet telling them to remain calm as the truth did not need to be pounced upon and shaken as a cat does a particularly obese rat.

She was mine and I was hers, and it was enough that only we two knew for the time being.

If a few more couples of either gender or the same came of The Gathering of Mate-Seeking that night we did not linger to query, but from the way most of the other Draenei were paired off as the night grew long it did seem more than a mild possibility. Whether they would remain together as lifemates after the night was over or were only interested in the sweetness of the moment was another one of those questions for which this Draenei, at least, had no interest in answering.

Tacita pauses, her pen inches above the slightly crinkled roll of parchment resting over the hardback volume upon her raised knees and glances over at the pillow upon which rests the head, back and shoulders of the one she cherishes most in this and any other world.

She'd been aware of her lifemate being awake and watching her write for a good ten minutes or so but hadn't stopped to acknowledge it until now. Ayashii was watching her with a kind of half-sleepy, contented-cat semi-smile that made Tacita want to either leap on her or beat her senseless with one of the feather-stuffed pillows behind them.

She did neither and when Ayashii spoke it was received with only the mildest bit of surprise that her thoughts, the ones she had while she wrote at least, hadn't always been entirely her own, for such is the way of things for those mated as truly as she and Ayashii were after a good many years had passed between them.

"Did you really wish to cart me off as a lioness does a fresh-killed jackrabbit?"

"With every fiber of my being,"

Tacita's expression remained so honest and profound that now Ayashii had the urge to deliver a pillow-beating. She had her fist curled about the cotton covering when Tacita added, "Even now it's difficult to ignore the urge."

"Why?"

"Why, what, my love?"

"Why ignore it?" Ayashii beamed, "If you have an urge you should see it through. When we are thirsty, we drink, do we not?"

"Are you saying that I should quench my thirst?" Tacita knew playful love-teasing when she heard it.

"Only if you are not afraid of drowning," Ayashii retorted, as both parchment and pen and would-be pillow-battle were forgotten. "To drown with you would be to receive The Naaru's Last Gift…"

"Paradise…" Ayashii agreed in a breathy sigh, speaking a word both new and old at the same time and full of meaning as each surrendered to the passion within the other.

Ayashii agreed to come home with me at the first hint of dawnlight and meet those who raised me. After agreeing to the same once a hand of days was spent in the home of my youth. Thus plans were made on both our counts to bring each other home. It was rite and ritual older than either of us knew and we followed it blindly assuming it was our own idea. Such is the way of those new to love.

As we walked through the lavender-esque landscape, which dominated much of the Draenei side of our world, I began thinking about the future and what it now meant, for both of us.

"Has a Beetlecap roosted in your head?" Ayashii asked me after we'd been walking a good distance, a teasing glint sparking her beautiful eyes, she laughed softly at her words, "You're so distant…"

"I was just thinking…" I began as I felt her fingers groping for mine as the sun dappled the path ahead of us through the bruise-colored foliage, "About you and I…and what our future will be."

"Well, I know one thing for certain," she said, stopping to turn me towards her. I loved how the play of afternoon light and shadow enhanced the delicate features of her face and hair, "My past is done and my future began the moment my eyes met yours."

"My beloved one…" I breathed and leaned forward to touch my forehead to hers, "My heart feels the same way."

Suddenly and seemingly without warning, the ground gave a terrible rumble beneath our feet, casting us both off-balance and into each other's arms. We fell to the ground still holding one another as the earth continued to tremble and groan. "What's happening?" I asked, not even trying to hide my fear, "Is it an earthshake, do you think?"

I had heard of such things, of course, in my lifetime. But, the ground hadn't moved like this since my mother was a child. Many years past. What, I wondered, could have caused it to behave so now? As soon as the question reared itself upwards across my mind both Ayashii and I swiveled our eyes towards a sound coming from the brush-filled edge of the path we'd been traveling upon. I felt Ayashii's fear double as her fingers squeezed mine nearly hard enough to hurt.

Focusing my energy, I sent wave after wave of calm feelings towards her, washing her in a feeling of serenity. I calmed myself in much the same manner. Relying upon the strength and skill of my training to keep us both clear-headed. Before whatever was lurking within the bushes could come forth we were both back on our feet and, we both realized at the same time, our hooves were once more standing on solid, unmoving ground.

"Come out!" Ayashii cried, gaining back some of the direct fearlessness that I would come to understand was characteristic of my lifemate, "Come out and show yourself!" Before I could say anything, she had drawn her bow and had an arrow ready. She aimed low into the brush where the leaves were trembling, "Or I shall greet you with my weapon!"

"Please…!" a small, low-pitched and slightly slurred voice cried, "No need for that! No need! No need!"

What scampered from the bushes was unlike anything either Ayashii or myself I ever seen. He…or may it have been a she?…was build much like us; it had hooves and horns and a tail like most Draenei I had ever known. I'd only seen a few without tails and they'd either been born that way or had had them removed either by battle or accident. Our people would either honor or pity those Draenei, knowing that they had lost a vital part of their anatomy.

Those were the only things to remind me of ourselves within the creature's appearance, for it's eyes were small and beady, hair the color of tar and what we could see of it's flesh, that which was not covered by this animal hides, was the shade of ripe olives or faded grass. The reason for the slurring, we both saw, was the awful tusks growing from the sides of its wide mouth. How could it eat? I wondered, much less talk intelligently? No wonder it slurred when it spoke.

"You will help poor J'keka?" it asked while scrambling, ape-like, across the ground. I could see intelligence in it's eyes as it skirted away from Ayashii and her still-knocked bow, "Be nice Draenei and help J'keka?"

"Oh, Naaru…" I breathed, suddenly realizing what type of being we'd inadvertedly stumbled across, "Oh, Blessed Naaru…Ayashii, he…" I realized, too, that the creature seemed more male than female, "He…is a half-breed…"

I could tell by Ayashii's sudden intake of breath that she had came to the same conclusion almost a moment after I did. "He must have been driven from his home…" While Draenei and Orcs have been enjoying a tentative peace over the past hundred years or so, a mating between our people in order to produce offspring would be considered an affront to every Deity we hold dear. Oh, it had happened, to be sure, in the past. But, always the offenders and any issue had been speedily dealt with. Mostly as a lesson to any Draenei and Orc who would have followed suit.

It was clear that the parents of this one had not heeded any such warning.

She lowered her bow but kept a cautious eye fixed on the little man, who looked more like a child than a man, in front of us. A closer inspection and a soft, un-noticed mind-touch a moment later gave credence to my suspicion that he was not yet full grown. "He looks simple, too, poor thing," Ayashii said, not trying to be cruel, just blunt and honest, and, another part of her that I would come to know as the years passed, surfaced; her love of life, be it wild or tame, and the desire to care for and protect the sick and injured and weak. She reached a tentative hand towards J'keka. I slapped her hand down gently but firmly.

"No, Ayashii!" I cried, startled, "He could still be a danger…can you not see that he is half Draenei…and half…Orc?"

She looked at me as if I had just stated the most obvious thing in the world and began to reach out once more.

"If we…" I paused, swallowed, hating myself for the words which came slithering out of my throat, "If we give him aide, we may be cast out….or…" I needn't finish the sentence, nor the thought. Ayashii knew exactly where it had been headed.

"Help…" J'keka whimpered and threw himself the ground at my feet, rubbing his face against the fur-covered tops of my hooves, I felt his tusks briefly as his leathery lips kissed sloppily around my left foot and then my right, "You good…nice Draenei…help poor J'keka…nice Draenei…nice…help." As he lifted his dark eyes upwards I felt something within my heart crack.

I sighed and looked at Ayashii. What can we do? I asked in the form of a shrug, "He's like a hurt puppy," she said and knelt to touch his head. His hair felt silky, she would later reflect, like a Draenei's and I said, even though I knew my heart had changed, "A puppy still has teeth."

"We can't take him home with us," Ayashii said, after we'd been walking for several more hours and the sky had begun to darken in anticipation of night. Our little guest trudging dutifully along after Ayashii and I, gazing up at the back of my beloved head as a twinkling star gazes at the moon. It was clear enough he thought she had hung it in the sky personally. "I am frightened enough of meeting your mother and father…what shall they say about him?"

"They'll think he belongs to you," I teased, "A half-brother…"

Ayashii threw a handful of grass at me, laughing. "I'll tell them that it's a good thing we are of the same gender or my Orc blood would run havoc through your family line…"

We stopped, finally, in a cool copse of tree to make camp for the night. J'keka hadn't uttered a word since his initial plea for help.

I looked over to where our guest was stacking kindling for the fire and he caught my gaze with his own. Before he turned away I saw a flash of hurt race across his features. Immediately my heart plummeted towards my feet and I recalled the words, spoken in jest while we traveled, earlier.

I looked at Ayashii and saw that, by the way her gaze held the ground near her hands where she'd been mending the string of her bow, that she recalled as well.

"We are sorry," I said as Ayashii nodded, looking up, and across the fire at J'keka, "We are young and newly in love and forget that others have feelings as well."

"We needed a lesson in recalling the feelings of others," Ayashii continued, "Will you forgive our foolish tongues?"

J'keka was still silent a while; stirring the fire with a long stick he'd saved from the kindling. Finally he said, softly, "You good Draenei…you help J'keka…" Only when he smiled at us both, showing off his tusks to their fullest, did we know that we were, indeed, forgiven, "J'keka forgive…J'keka hungry!" he added as his stomach growled loudly.

"I think we all must be!" I agreed, laughing. Ayashii stood up, "I will find us our dinner then," she said, "Keep the fire going, you two. I will return in but a moment!"

"She is an excellent huntress," I said to J'keka after Ayashii had left us, "Even in this fading light her arrow will fly true. She hunted our breakfast and lunch earlier in the day. Don't worry, we will be eating before you know it."

"J'keka hunt," he said, proudly and tugged at the leather, fur-lined vest he wore, "J'keka hunt good. J'keka hunt good for his family…father…and mother…mother make J'keka this. Nice. Keep warm," At the mention of his parents his eyes grew dim and downcast, "J'keka father…went away. Then J'keka hunt for mother only…"

He traced the lacings of his vest and lowered his head. I did not know how I knew, but I did. J'keka was alone. Both his father and his mother were gone. "J'keka hunt no more for Mother…or Father…"

I scooted across the dirt until our hips touched. I reached for his hand. Without saying another word J'keka leaned his head on my shoulder. Thus, we sat, one seeking comfort…one comforting…staring into the dancing flames for a long while. I would learn more of J'keka's past, but this was not the time to rush anything. There would be a healing of the soul, in due time, it was in my nature to see it that.

We both looked up as we heard Ayashii making her way back to us. I didn't need to hear the way she forgot to keep her hooves silent through the brush to know she was in distress.

"I believe I've found the reason for the earthshake…" she said, her face a softer shade of puce having paled considerably, "The ships…"

I saw that she'd not, after all, neglected her hunting skills and carried three small Reevels slung across one shoulder, strung together by their furry elongated ears. Their mottled fur a stark counter to her purple-ish coloring. Instantly I was standing. At the word 'ships' I knew exactly what she meant. Not the waterbound type. Airships…spaceships. "They are boarding? Now? It's really time?"

Ayashii said nothing, only braced herself as another tremor shook the ground. As if it had been merely awaiting acknowledgement. As if on cue. There had been talk. There had always been talk. Talk of building a ship large enough to encompass most of our race. There are those who wanted use the ships to explore the cosmos, uncovering new worlds and meeting new races…and others who wished to escape Draenor before the imminent horrors of overpopulation and degradation of our planet forced us all into our tombs.

"Ships…" J'keka nodded, looking at us, slurring his words around his tusks, "J'keka see ships…J'keka run…scared…nice Draenei help J'keka…"

"He must have seen it then," I said, "And spooked…"

"…And ran…" Ayashii agreed, and added, under her breath, "I cannot say that I blame him. Tacita…it is so large! Larger than…than…" I watched as she groped for a way to tell me exactly what she'd seen. She couldn't. There simply wasn't anything so large in the entire world! "And there is more than one! There are hundreds of them, my love…hundreds!"

"That many?" I asked, and grabbed for Ayashii as yet another rumble coursed through the earth, "Is it the ships that are causing this, then…this shaking of the ground…?"

"I do believe so," Ayashii said, "I watched from a hiding place within the brush," she glanced at J'keka almost affectionately, as one does a wayward pup that has wandered into one's camp for a scrap of meat and a pat on the head, "…and saw they were turning the engines on, one by one, as though readying them for something…"

"For flight," I said, as thoughts of my family rushed to the surface of my thoughts, "Take-off."

"Is it really time then?" she asked, almost to herself, staring out at the darkening sky. I could tell her own thoughts were running along the same path as my own, "It's really time…that means…"

"Our planet…" I breathed, as a rush of overwhelming sorrow engulfed me…sorrow for all the wars, the violence...the horror that our little refuge planet has had to endure. That, has, eventually, though magical means used in the darkest of ways, been ripped through the very soul of our world like a knife through freshly fallen snow.

"…Draenor…" Ayashii's grief was as tactile as my own, "…is really and truly dying…"

To Be Continued