Chapter Two

It was now July 16th, Wednesday and Borin's birthday was just around the corner. He had been dreaming about starting school ever since he had heard about magic and swordsmanship. Ulric had already turned ten but had to wait until the following year in order to start school due to his late birthday in February.

Shellene had been in a rather grumpy mood recently with all the talk about school starting again. She had found herself overwhelmed with paperwork for incoming and outgoing students during the summer. Summer had usually been a hassle for her preparing her kids to depart for school rather than taking them to the Stormwind canal to play in the water.

It was finally his birthday and as Borin wished, Rowan woke up early in order to attend his "party" in the afternoon. Borin wasn't expecting any gifts, because he had never gotten any for his previous birthdays. Any money the orphanage could muster would go to food supplies for either the kids or the soldiers. Shellene, however, did find the time to make him a flimsy birthday hat made from the straw which filled many of the children's pillows. Rowan, however, did bring something which Borin could actually enjoy. As he congratulated Borin, he presented a small, deformed, cake that had no form of icing.

"I'm no woman when it comes to making cakes, but this shouldn't make ya too sick," he laughed. Borin couldn't have cared less about the cake, he was just happy that people actually acknowledged his birthday.

"So, school starts in…" Ulric stopped in mid sentence after approaching Borin, "is that a cake?"

"I think so," Borin said, "wanna share it?"

As the two boys ate their half burned cake bread, Rowan was sharing conversation with Shellene. She was happy to have some reason to stop stressing about the upcoming school year and have an uninterrupted conversation with her husband.

"So he's finally ten years old, huh?" he asked.

"I guess so," she said, looking at Rowan strangely, "why do you care?" She paused and thought. "Is he still sneaking out?" she asked while leaning against the wall.

"Boys will be boys, eh?" he laughed.

On any other circumstances, Shellene would have lectured Borin about the issue, but he deserved to not be bothered about it today, she thought.

"Sometimes I wonder how you still have your job," she said, attempting not to smile.

After another hour, the kids went back to their everyday lives. The girls were in the corner talking about boys and games and the boys were conspiring about something or another. With a perfectly distracted household, Rowan approached Borin while he was alone.

"Borin, it's time for a serious conversation," Rowan said calmly, "have you put any thought into what kind of profession you would like to go into if you were to pass you school?"

Borin looked as though Rowan had just asked him to hit Ulric in the face. He had no clue what he meant. "What do you mean; 'if' I pass? Is school hard?" he asked.

"Well no, but it depends on what you would like to do for a living. Like I told you, I was stuck on night shift guard duty for the safest place in the world," he said, not laughing this time.

Borin was scared; he had never seen Rowan act in such a way. "What do you mean by profession?" he asked curiously.

"In this world… in Azeroth, there is so much more than just Stormwind City and Ironforge," he claimed as Borin stared up at him, "I, myself never found any luck when it came to magic. I couldn't crate a fireball that wouldn't burn my own hand. I couldn't heal so much as a splinter. The only thing I found myself moderately good at is my shieldsmanship. I could tell you stories about the many tests I found myself going through with my group during school, but now is not the time."

Borin was still just as confused as ever, but before he could say anything, Rowan interrupted him. "I want you to take this," Rowan said as he handed him a rectangular box about the size of his arm, "they were my first ones and they are rather expensive nowadays." "I don't want you to open just it yet 'cuz Shellene would kill me," he said, eyeing his wife, who was now beginning to cook dinner for the children. "There's one in there for Ulric too, so tell him it's a late birthday gift from me, but wait until school starts to open it."

Dinner that night was better than normal. This wasn't due to any different kind of cooking from Shellene, but because school was starting soon, he had gotten two gifts from Rowan, recognition for his birthday, shared a cake with his best friend, and oh yeah… a birthday hat.