A/N: An entry for a story. This is a first person narrative from my priestess character, Ciarrah.
If my mother hadn't died, maybe he would have told me he loved me.
If I could try hard enough to pretend, maybe I could remember the only time he held me. If I could simply think back far enough, maybe I could hear him speaking in that soft and gentle voice he only used for Dahrek, Ainnee, and Aenghus. If I could have just been a better child in his eyes, maybe I wouldn't have to pretend. I could have been that daughter he had so badly wanted. The little girl who would grow into a fierce warrior, a paladin of the Light. Perhaps I could have been the first Mountain King of the Firebraid clan to be a woman.
Yet all I can do is pretend. My wishes will never bear the fruit I desire most.
I remember my father as a poor, miserable soul with graying hair that still tried to remind itself it was to be a red that could shame the fires within the Great Forge. He drank heavily until he passed out and once he was, he would yell a woman's name in his sleep. I soon learned it was my mother's name. He would sit in an old armchair. It was worn and smelled like pipe weed, but he never did smoke. He simply drank.
While he had a place of honor in his chair, I sat on the floor. My five brothers had a chair. My sister had a cushioned stool. Out of all of us, it was Ainnee he adored most. Rarely did I envy her for it. In my eyes, she was my perfect sister. She deserved the fine clothing we could barely afford. After our father had his serving of food, she'd certainly get the next serving. She was my only sister, my perfect sister. She did not have to take an apprenticeship when she was a child due to her being the favorite, but she always spent time honing her skills with our mother's old gun. I can still see us both in the freshly fallen winter snow in Dun Morogh.
I was up to my knees as I tried to hop around behind Ainnee. She strode through the snow with the grace of a leopard, while I resembled a ram just learning to use her legs or a foolish rabbit. The clean smell of snow lingered on, though the flakes had blanketed the ground in the earlier hours of the morning. Each crunch of Ainnee's boots in the snow made me giddy with a nervous glee. Today, my big sister would take me with her to hunt.
Normally, we would have meals of squirrel or, to my horror, my pet rabbits! I recall the bitter cold that had settled in the poorer ward of Ironforge. Lelhun, one of my brothers, called it the night of tears because of so many small children and young women wailing long into the night. I don't remember the complete reason to why we were so hungry. My eldest brother, Dahrek, had once mentioned a tax that had become a poisonous thorn in the side of those living in Khaz Modan. We all sat around an empty table. My toes curled at each grumbling my stomach made. Between the cries, we heard a gunshot. Our sister, only absent moments before, waltzed into the room holding up two rabbits. My eyes widened and my breath quickened. She had gone to their hutch and shot them! My own wails soon joined the others screaming into the night, until Ainnee set down a plate in front of me. Hunger soon began to control my weary form. I picked up a fork and ate my rabbit.
Shut up and eat what you're given is an idea I am not a total stranger to. We're good friends, that term and I. While a poor clan like my own had money hidden away, deep within the vaults of Ironforge, it did little good for the hungry bellies of the Firebraid children. Hunting, foraging, and making use of a small mushroom cellar were the only options available to us. We couldn't rely on our father to feed us. He was normally at the Stonefire Tavern, nursing ale after ale, while distracting himself with gambling with old friends. It was Ainnee who brought us food. It was Ainnee who cleaned the meat and cooked it. It was Ainnee who made sure I received the biggest helping. Somehow, I wonder how I could want to have known my mother. Despite our occasional sibling spats, Ainnee had mothered me. Ainnee, being so young herself, sacrificed her own childhood for me.
She made special moments for me. The hunting trip was once such moment I still hold onto dearly. Her hand reached down to grasp my shoulder.
"Boar today, Rabbit."
My nickname, earned from my ability to hide in small places and shiver uncontrollably. Despite the moment of having to eat my own sweet little rabbits, I identified with them easily and I still do today. Though Ainnee would say I'm now more of a rabbit with a long stick for hitting people. I digress. Boar was not the most difficult of beast to hunt, but it was temperamental. Even seasoned hunters could be injured by an angry and gravely wounded boar speeding towards them. We were just children and while Ainnee showed promise as a great tracker and hunter, we were still small children. We journeyed further into the snow covered valleys. The wind bit at our noses and other exposed skin, but I still remained happy with my frolicking around.
Ainnee's patience was growing thin, I could tell. There was no boar in sight. It was simply the two Firebraid sisters, alone in the snow. I bounced around a final time, which earned me a slap to my backside as my reward.
"You're gonna either scare everything away or make a leopard come after you for mating, Rabbit!"
I was quiet and still now.
It seemed like hours had passed when we finally came to a wooded area near what I assumed to be a Gnomish town. I remained close to my sister. A firm hand patted itself against my chest, causing me to halt. Gazing up at my sister, I noticed her violet eyes were focused elsewhere. Following her gaze, I saw our prize.
A large boar was pawing at the loose snow by the foot of a tree, exposing little roots. The boar bent its head down to enjoy the feast it had found. Little did it know Ainnee Firebraid sought to make the boar our own feast. Readying the blunderbuss, Ainnee used her booted foot to push me far behind her. I tucked my hands into my shirt for warmth, then craned my neck to watch our quarry. My little heart raced as joy filled me once more. I began to impatiently rock back and forth. This caused me fall backwards and onto a small branch. It snapped in two. The cracking noise echoed.
The boar looked up at the two of us. I gasped, rose to my feet, and jumped onto my sister's back. Ainnee hissed at me and tried to bat me off. While we tussled, the boar sped towards us. I howled in fear and kicked wildly as my sister aimed her blunderbuss at the peeved porcine. She fired.
The boar stopped only a few small steps before falling into the snow. A leg twitched, then all was still.
Ainnee dropped me from her back and began to hoot. She dashed to the fallen boar and hefted the boar onto her shoulders.
"Dinner is served!" She whooped. She did a small, awkward jig while being weighed down by tonight's dinner. She took my hands and swung me around. We danced in the snow for about ten minutes or so, then snow began to fall. Taking this as a good sign that we should be leaving, Ainnee took my hand and pulled me along a path back into Ironforge.
"We're gonna eat good tonight, Rabbit." Ainnee sang to me as her braid bounced in the wind. I simply smiled up at her.
"Will we have boar for Winter Veil too, Ainnee?"
Again, things became still. Ainnee walked in front of me, kneeled down, and looked me straight in my eyes. She spun me around, slapped me across the face, then stopped me.
"After that little fiasco almost cost us? I ain't taking you hunting for a long time. Besides…"
She pulled me back to attention. We walked again.
"Shut up and eat what you're given!"