Legal stuff: The character of Entero Grimtotem is mine, please don't use him without permission. Locations and setting are copyrights of Blizzard Entertainment.
Gathered by the small fire, out on Red Mesa, one dark-furred Tauren sits down to tell histories to the rising children. All had shown promise, all could be known to the world and beyond, eventually. Then, one young girl asks the unexpected. "Why are you here, sir? Aren't you a Grimtotem? Why are you not with their bands?" The rest of the children quiet down, contemplating the possibilities. The older shaman was quiet as well, if only for a moment. The question was a good one, and deserved answering. And besides, the answering of it would last for quite a few nights out here, while the children learned the basics of their varied crafts.
It was storming in Mulgore that day. The spirits of the wind were shouting a Foretelling, that something would happen here this day. Why they would tell me was anyone's guess. My name is Entero Grimtotem, a shaman, and this is my story. It was not an easy thing, growing up among my warlike tribe. Not for one such as I.
What do you mean, sir?
I have never had any love of battle, and no wish to do harm. Before you ask the question written across your face, yes, I have fought. Yes, I have been to battlefields from here to Alterac to the Outlands. But look at me again. I heal, it defines who and what I am. The Grimtotem tribe are destroyers, and I was not a destroyer. To them, I was hopeless, shamed. While healers are needed at every fight, they are not honored among the embattled. There are quite a few tales there, but those are for another time.
How did you make it, then?
Ah, that is when we come to that stormy day. Despite the rain, I'd wandered away from our camp. The other children were at "play", such as would be broken up with vigor were it to happen on Thunder Bluff. But no, that was their normal, and I was helpless there. So I wandered, exploring.The winds and rain picked up after a while, and I was unable to find my way. This is when I saw my first vision, a crystalline scene of the nature of an element. The harsh wind and rain were causing the trees and bushes all manner of pain, except for one clump. Some grass and a small bush were still and calm, sheltered from the weather by a rocky outcropping. And so I learned of the Earth, to take on it's substance was to shrug off the pain others inflict, to ignore it as you would a mosquito's bite. And thus I did, when I returned to the camp the other children did not find me so weak as before. A pillar of earth two feet high marked where I called on the elements, and they could not harm me. My skin became as the stone. Now, it is late, children.
A chorus of disappointment
Now, you can't think this story is done yet! There will be more to this tale, after tomorrow's lessons.