Title: A Forest Full of Jade

Author: KittenJedi

The Jade Witch quest chain... Intrigued me. That and I think that the pandaren cubs are absolutely ADORABLE. The quest chain had several moments that I thought were adorable, as well as some that were a little worrisome. It gave me the idea for this bit of fluff.

Gypsy is based off one (well, several, as I re-use names) of my characters in World of Warcraft.

I own nothing but the concept of a few of the characters, the rest belongs to Blizzard Entertainment. I'm just playing with the toys for a while. I promise I'll put them back when I'm done.

I do not promise what condition they will be in when I do.

Gypsy looked around Dawn's Blossom, feeling a sense of unreality setting in. When she had reported for service and had arrived on this continent with the rest of the Alliance Forces dispatched, she had never expected to encounter anything like these pandaren. They seemed so peaceful, so content... Their settlements were unlike anything she had ever seen in her travels through Azeroth, the structures and even the land itself filled with a new kind of beauty to be discovered. A part of her felt terrible for what was happening, the destruction that was being brought to the shores of this land by the search for Prince Anduin-no, she corrected herself silently yet sternly-he was to be referred to only as the White Pawn, even in the privacy of her own mind. Horde had landed on these shores as well, the resulting conflict between the two factions regrettable but unavoidable. If she should be captured, she could not think of the prince. Certainly not by name.

It would probably be best if she died before she was captured, she mused as she moved through the small town, giving smiles and nods of greeting to pandaren who stared at her curiously, having to bite her lips to hold back laughter at some of the things she overheard.

Not that she would be easily taken by anyone, she mused. Death would, in fact, probably be easier, and come swifter than capture ever would. Gypsy was a skilled hunter, she and her various animal companions working together as a team to become a well honed weapon fit for King Varian Wrynn's hand. Gypsy's foster family (what little there was of it) had all died in Theramore, a pain that still lingered fresh in her heart, but it was a pain that only helped to fuel her hatred for the Horde. Except that hatred was probably too kind of a word for what she felt. Far too kind a word.

"That poor creature!" She heard a pandaren woman whisper to someone, unaware that her voice was carrying so well, "It's so skinny! It must be starving!"

Gypsy had to hide a smile. It was true that she was a scrawny thing, particularly for a human. She was even scrawny compared to blood elves and high elves, and she had often heard friends and guildmates mutter that the slender elves needed to have a sandwich stuffed down their throats. She was in either her late teens or her early twenties (no one knew how old she really was, not even her), and despaired of her figure changing at all. Let alone in the ways she wanted it to change. She had been told on a few occasions by despairing seamstresses and armorsmiths that she was nearly all leg, legs that were long and coltish. Her mentor had tried to kindly point out that they were racehorse legs, but Gypsy wasn't having any of that nonsense. No use in trying to change things into something they weren't just with wishful thinking. A gangly (oh how she wished she could at least be described as "lithe!") and half-starved looking frame with long legs, miniscule curves that were not only hidden but obliterated by her armor, almost freakishly pale skin ("Honestly, don't you spend any time in the sun at all? You look sickly." Was another thing often said by her mentor) matched with inky black shoulder length hair that was unmercifully straight and limp. Even her eyes were unremarkable, too large for her face and were the unremarkable shade of grey. No one would ever say she had warm brown eyes, or sparkling blue or green eyes... She would have taken muddy hazel even, other than simple gray.

Despite her disdain with her appearance she had decided to just accept who she was. It was easier than always wishing to have or be something else. Occasionally she still did wish for changes, of course, but those times were getting fewer and further between as she grew older and more comfortable in her skin. Of course, it didn't help matters that she was mentored by a night elf woman, who moved with a grace that Gypsy couldn't help but envy and who drew the looks of men from nearly all races in a way that Gypsy knew she would never be able to. Still, a better teacher would have been hard to find.

She lost herself in her thoughts as she meandered through the village, finding and meeting those that she had been advised to speak to. A small crowd of curious pandaren cubs had surrounded her at first, following her from a respectful distance, watching her and listening to her conversations, but they had wandered away one by one and now she was on her own again, after accepting odd jobs from several of the older pandaren. She was nearing the front gate of the village when she heard a cub pleading with an adult pandaren male.

"Hey Mister Ironbelly! The witch in the woods turned my friends into jade. Can you help?" The young cub pleaded. Gypsy found her attention drawn to the cub; smiling slightly at the pink outfit embroidered with flowers, the hair pinned up in two buns covered with ruffled cloth and tied with ribbons. The imaginations of children...

Then she froze, remembering what she had been told earlier by Little Lu and Sully. Finding a jade statue of an orc, an older pandaren female who had tried to turn Sully to jade through magic, and had turned Sully's raccoon, Socks, into jade instead.

Oh this was bad. This was very bad.

The pandaren male was scolding the little one. "The Widow Greenpaw is NOT a witch." He was telling her firmly. "She just makes very lifelike jade statues."

"But-"

"No more, An." He waved the cub away, and the little one gave a huff, before going to the main gate, standing by the wall and looking out of the village anxiously. Gypsy approached her slowly, her white worg Skah padding along behind her.

"Hi there." Gypsy said softly to the cub, who looked at her with sorrowful eyes. "What's wrong, little one?"

"Shin tried to back out of the hozen dare but then we double hozen dared him and he couldn't back out of that." The little one said softly. Gypsy knelt in front of her so they weren't at such a height disadvantage. "There is a witch in the woods, but no one believes me. She turned my friend Shin into jade!"

"I believe you." Gypsy said softly, looking out the corners of her eyes to see if anyone was trying to overhear their conversation. It was only earning a few smiles as people watched the "strange outsider" speak to the cub. "A friend told me that a witch was going to turn him into jade, but his pet raccoon jumped in the way and was turned into jade instead."

The cubs eyes widened. "You believe me? Really?"

Gypsy nodded slowly.

"We were all so scared we tried to run back, but she sicced her big jade monsters on us. A bunch of my friends tried to get away by climbing trees. Can you help me save my friends?"

"I'll help." Gypsy promised. "I'm new here, so I need to talk to a few people first, see if there's any more information I can get. Don't worry," She saw the cub's sudden alarm, "I will help. I promise. And if it makes you feel better, I won't tell anyone I'm helping you."

"My Mom would get awfully mad." The cub admitted.

Gypsy tried to give her as reassuring smile as possible. "Then I'll keep quiet. I promise. I'll go look for your friends very soon." She stood, and went to see if anyone had any information on the surrounding area and/or this "Widow Greenpaw".