A/N: hello, readers! Welcome to one of my stories about the women of Serenity, a fictional grove of 25 night elf OCs trying to survive in a post immortality world. You do NOT need to read any of my other stories for this one to make sense, though. All context is explained in the paragraph below, or in the narrative myself, so you should be able to read this story on its own and understand the background just fine.
Obviously, this takes place when the Illidari were still imprisoned and demon hunters were still considered corrupt traitors by night elven society. In fact, I planned the whole thing before the Legion expansion was even announced, so keep it in that mental time frame.
"Mom, I'm six hundred years old, not six!"
Amandil struggled against her mother's attempts to wipe the soot from her face. One of the colorful rockets she and their neighbors had been setting off during the Lunar Festival had fallen apart before being lit, spilling the black power inside everywhere. The moment that a few of her friends had stepped away to calm down the fire warden, her mother Vindra had started to forcibly wash her cheeks.
"Hold still...I've almost got it!" the ancient elf said while wiping the last of the soot from Amandil's face with her thumbs, standing up on her toes since her daughter was half a foot taller than her.
"Enough, mom, please! You already got it!" After a good deal of squirming, she'd politely maneuvered such that Vindra could no longer reach her face easily, and the ten thousand year old night elf relented.
And it was a good thing too, because that's when her friends returned. Having her mother wipe her face in public didn't exactly fit Amandil's definition of dignified.
Just off the lakeside road in a rural area of Moonglade (if that term bore any real menacing there), the group had set up a few tents to camp for the festivities. After having slayed the tyrannical god Omen for the umpteenth time, the locals as well as a few traveler's had taken to unceremoniously setting up their campsites just a ways away from where the Cenarion guards kept watch in case the celebration got out of hand. Being a metaphorically dry region, the particular grassy patch near Lake Elune'ara that had been cordoned off for fireworks was relatively free of libations, save a few outlanders who would invariably sneak a flask or two into their tents with them. Amandil and her friends, however, were mostly just there to set off fireworks and forget about their studies. At only a few years into their training, many of them were still in the pre trials phase where their instructors, invariably grumpy old men who'd spent a few millennia sleeping, piled on mostly reading assignments as a means for weeding out the less serious aspirant druids.
Striking ultramarine hair caught Amandil's eye, signaling the return of two of their neighbors. A daughter and grandmother duo, Fewen and Caledith were also from Amandil's ancestral village; even though they didn't interact often after both families had relocated to Moonglade, they'd always set up their tents next to each other by force of habit.
"Did the fire warden calm down?" Amandil asked Fewen nervously, more worried that her mother would do something weird than any sort of legal repercussions.
Flicking her wrist irreverently, Fewen seemed to brush the issue off. "Eh...what's the most they could do?" the similarly young (by elven standards) novice druidess replied nonchalantly.
Ever the serious if caring authority figure, Caledith frowned at both young women for their casual manner of speaking and then at Vindra for failing to bring the hammer down along with her. "Law enforcement officials have the right to remove any threats to public safety. Were they to ask us all to leave, they'd be right in doing so."
Fewen was about to reply to her own grandmother, but Amandil stepped on her foot and preempted her. "Well, I suppose it's not a possibility we need to worry about if we got off with a warning!" she replied while pulling her peer away from the very edge of the lake and back toward the two dozen or so tents that families and traveler's had set up.
Never leaving her alone for too long, Vindra folded her arms in front of her and began to follow, leading Caledith in a subconscious trailing of their daughters. "Honestly, I think it would be better if we celebrated the holiday cheer without explosions. Someone could lose a finger!" Caledith remarked, even going so far as to tut her tongue when they passed a group of visiting goblins thereafter. Ironically, the tiny greenskins were only roasting s'mores.
"We could just reattach it," Fewen muttered under her breath.
"Fewen, knock it off!" Amandil muttered back.
"It sounds like you two have a secret!" Vindra said, continuing to follow the two of them despite not knowing for sure whether Amandil was going to the tent or the latrine or any number of other places.
She was going toward the tent, of course, but she still didn't enjoy being followed. For all six centuries of her life, her mother had been her best friend and constant companion - regardless of how she felt about it. Truly, she loved the woman with all her heart, but living as a small family unit consisting of just the two of them could be overwhelming at times. At least on holidays like this, the presence of other people would more or less force her mother to get outside and interact with other people for a while.
The quartet sat down, the front side of their tent rolled up so that they could sit on the blankets they piled in there while still watching the fireworks explode over Lake Elune'ara with the rest of the campers. Off in the distance, they could vaguely see the beginning of the canopy on the other side of the lake, though the details of Nighthaven itself weren't clear. As the largest body of water on all of Kalimdor, the lake was vast - wide and deep enough for all of Nighthaven to lay in it, theoretically speaking, even with the city's trees used as watchtowers that reached up to five stories high at some points. Even from such a distance, however, the fireworks launched from the other campsites ringing the lakeshore were clear.
Loud pops and bangs reached their ears, and the sparkling lights danced over the surface of the lake to create an audiovisual show that was far greater than anything she'd heard about the Darnassus theatre. Perhaps she'd get to go one day in order to compare.
Two more figures walked out in front of their tent, clearly searching for someone. Much larger than Amandil herself, the two figures were eye catching but didn't stick out in Moonglade. Zorena, a doe eyed tauren who lived with her brother two doors down from Amandil and Vindra, wore her own novice robes despite being more mature than Amandil relative to her own race. Anjula, a very pregnant dark troll whose tribe had traditionally held a pact with the night elves, had locked arms with her and was slowly moving along, wearing similar novice robes tailored for maternity.
"We're over here!" Amandil called out to them, once again preempting Fewen as they both waved.
More mobile than her companion, Zorena swiveled around to see the group waving at them from the tent. "Ah, we were searching for you!" the tauren beamed, her Darnassian bearing a high level of grammatical accuracy but also a very thick accent.
Anjula was almost as animated, her energy levels barely diminished even in her thirtieth week of pregnancy. "We asked about ya at tha bridge, but they were sayin' somethin' about Caledith jumpin' in tha lake," came the dark troll's reply, less accurate but much faster and more fluent.
The oldest member of the group's eyes narrowed, ever displeased at the suggestion that she'd engage in such brazen behavioral breaches. "That was Viniel," Caledith replied, referring to her second daughter and Fewen's aunt.
"Well, she could pass for ya sister," Anjula said while pinching Caledith's shoulder playfully. The ancient elf winced at being physically handled like they were schoolchildren, but seemed to have become a little more culturally open since the family's move to the rather diverse territory of the Cenarion Circle.
"Thank you," Caledith replied dryly while she rose to her knees and assisted Zorena in helping Anjula sit down.
Since Zorena was middle aged for a tauren and Anjula was pregnant with her first child, they were both technically part of the 'adults' in such social situations. Ironically, Amandil and Fewen took the same classes as they did, and were much older, but considered 'youth' due to the presence of their mother and grandmother respectively. While the tauren seemed to understand the social demarcation, the dark troll either didn't know or didn't care, and engaged her classmates in discussion.
"Did ya have any luck with healin' that squash that was cracked open, Mandy?" Anjula asked Amandil.
Despite the good news, Amandil felt her long ears droop a little. At such a basic level, she wasn't yet able to heal people or animals, and had to settle for healing damaged fruit and vegetables instead. "Yes, uh, eventually I mended the outer part," she replied while tucking her emerald hair behind her ear self consciously, "but I forgot that once it was sealed, I wouldn't be able to cure the rot that had started inside via the hole I'd closed."
"Eventually, we'll supposedly be able to heal damage or cure bespoilment that we can't see with the naked eye," Fewen chimed in, growing rather serious when it came to their training.
"So we'll be able to extend the expiry dates on fresh produce?" Amandil chortled in a self deprecating manner. "Great, I can hear the grocers in Auberdine rushing to send word of job offers already."
Caledith shook her head at the conversation among those considered the 'young' people. "It isn't about a career; you're all here for the betterment of the planet and the preservation of the balance."
"Grandma, she was being sarcastic," Fewen whispered just a little bit too loudly, Zorena the only one who didn't notice even if they all pretended they heard nothing.
Oblivious and the conversation's savior, Zorena took Caledith's interjection to be a sign that there wouldn't be a generational divide in the discussion. "It's an invaluable skill when you think about it; quite often, corruption and rot begins from within. Detection is always understood as involving the peering through to the inner, and healing and curation a matter of the outer. Honestly, if one views it all as going both ways, then I think actual casting and mastery of the spells will become easier in a tangible sense." The others nodded, save Caledith who had lived so long that her definition of frivolity had expanded to include even nodding in many instances.
For a good deal longer, the six of them watched the fireworks sparkle over the lake, most of the people lighting them on the part of the shore closest to them having moved on for whatever reasons. Though the sun never quite shined in Moonglade, there was a gradual bluing of the sky as the pitch darkness receded, and the mostly nocturnal group began to yawn. Even Zorena and her brother had adapted to the new schedule since their arrival, and her doe like eyes began to drop from fatigue.
A number of the tents around them were closed, the families and visitors inside drifting off to sleep after the second night of the holiday, which would likely be celebrated for a few more. Ironically, Anjula appeared to be the least tired out of all of them, but even she was yawning quite a bit after a few hours of chatting by the lakeside about anything and everything. Eventually Zorena was the one who coerced Anjula into bidding their neighbors farewell, forcing her assistance on the pregnant Shadowtooth tribeswoman as they both stood up.
"Well, I gotta get back ta Melas," Anjula said, referring to her night elf husband. "He's gonna worry if I'm out wanderin' too long."
"Her people have gender relations totally backwards," Fewen murmured, once again not realizing how much louder her whispering voice sounded than she thought it did.
"Aaaaaaanyway," Amandil said in an almost grating voice that caught everybody's attention, "we need to get some shuteye as well. Where will we find you two tomorrow evening?"
The two much larger friends shared an awkward look for a moment. "Well, to be honest, I'll need to be in Nighthaven tomorrow; my brother and I will be entertaining guests from Mulgore who knew our dad," Zorena said apologetically.
The four night elves looked to the dark troll expectantly. "Me and Melas got a baby blessin' thing ta to tomorrow. I don't know what that is, but he really wants ta do it - he's takin' tha whole dad thing seriously."
"We wish you all the best, then," Caledith said, her subtle way of signaling that she wanted to sleep. "It is my hope that our paths cross again before the celebrations end."
"May the Earthmother make it happen," Zorena said as she and Anjula disappeared from sight.
The group of four sat for a few minutes, the quiet of day being the only sign that the hour was late in the region of eternal starlight. Fewen stirred first, scooting backward on her butt until she reached the far end of the purple silk tent. "Day," she said as she laid down on her bedroll, not even bothering to wipe the sand from the lakeshore from her bare feet.
Too tired to protest, Caledith laid next to her, the head of a clan including three generations not generally given to pleasantries for mundane occasions. Vindra was next, her silver eyes sleepy even as she unsuccessfully tried to drag Amandil back with her.
"Amandil, if you stay up too late then you'll miss breakfast!" her mother said, earning an incredulous smile as the aspiring druidess imagined her mother actually finding herself in a quandary all because Amandil ate breakfast an hour later than everyone else.
"I'm coming, mom; I just want to wait until I feel drowsy. If I try to force myself to sleep, I'll end up staying awake even later."
Though Vindra appeared unsatisfied, she was also sleepy enough to cede the victory to her daughter. "If you say so," she sighed while laying down. "Just close the tent flap before you sleep, okay? I don't want you to catch a cold in the night."
It's warm as hell out here, Amandil thought to herself. "I will, mom," she replied, nearly laughing, though not in a mocking manner.
Staring out over the lake, Amandil fought off the actual drowsiness as she finally found her alone time. Even when her mother started snoring, the relatively younger elf found her mind wandering. In the case of both guests, she'd forced herself to continue smiling even after she heard...a word. A specific word that often triggered off feelings that lacked any sort of past event to be triggered. To explain the feeling was impossible for her, but she knew it was there.
Fewen's father was one of Amandil's teachers, and thus her classmate had both parents around frequently. Even her grandfather had passed away just a few years ago during the Third War, leaving his memory fresh in that family's minds. Her friends, her neighbors, all of her social circle either had lives which included both parents, or had up until recently. Only Amandil lived with just one, the absence felt even more strongly by the fact that she'd never met the other half of her gene pool.
All her life, she'd dwelled in a single village before coming to Moonglade; travel simply hadn't been a part of her life. But as time went on, and her mother continued ageing due to the loss of their immortality, Amandil's sense of worry increased.
Finally closing the tent flap due to exhaustion, she laid down while pledging a resolution to herself. If she was honest, it was to her mother as well. Once the holiday was over, she had to bring the topic up, literally for the first time in her life. She had no idea what her mother's reaction would be...but it was time. She'd waited long enough.