Palette glanced all around her at the sights and sounds as they made there way into the city. This was all new to her to see this city and she was finding it a bit overwhelming. So many aurens and orcs could be seen moving around and sometimes she could spot a troll or an undead. And the smells! So many different beings were starting to cause a headache to form, making her want to get out of her deer form but she couldn't since she was tied to the cart.
"Peace, sister, all will be well once we find a place to do trade with." Ezhaw said knowing what his sister was going through having never smelled so many new smells at once. Since shes never been to Thunder Bluff it was a bit of a risk since only taurens knew of Palette and her human heritage. "You know that here you need to stay in that form for your safety."
All he got was a deer grunting call that held annoyance clearly for him to read. Glancing back at her he gave her a pointed look. "Then risk it."
At that answer she gave a stomp of a forefront hoof and huffed but followed him to his usual spot to set up the cart as a temporary trade stand. Ezhaw started to untied her from the cart as he ran a hand over her fur to help smooth out some of the ruffle that had begun to form. With a toss of her head she went around the back so she wasn't as visually seen and laid down maybe to get some more sleep if she was to be stuck in her deer form.
"Cairne Bloodhoof, come to gather more herbs?" Ezhaw asked spotting the leader of their people.
Palette's head shot up at the name as she stood, getting a better look at the Tauren leader, stumbling as she found her footing. She knew her brother met some very well known people, but Cairne Bloodhoof was not one she even thought of that he knew. Seeing the large form of Cairne made Palette want to be like a little kid seeing her favorite person.
"No, I was just wondering the market to see how the people were doing." he simply replied.
Both turned to look at Palette when she gave an excited snort, eyes lit up as she stared at Cairne. Ezhaw sighed knowing who she was getting excited for. "Cairne, meet my sister, Palette. Palette meet Cairne."
Cairne gave her a bow of his head to which she returned with excitement caming around to meet him full on as best as she could in her current form.
"Why are you still in deer form, young one?" Cairne asked and she looked to Ezhaw.
"She is the human child." Ezhaw answered. "Too many of the horde here for her to be safe."
"Ahh, I remember now. I brought you here and it was Eskola that said she would take you in. I must say for a human, you are becoming quiet the young druid."
Palette lowered her head and scoffed a hoof around in her embarrassment. Of all the people, Cairne was giving her a complement, this made her want to be the best druid for her people. She couldn't wait to tell mother of this!
"Since you are here, Cairne, maybe you could help answer some unusual questions. Are any of the shamans available?" he asked the leader.
"They are not busy that I have last heard. Many are getting ready for the for the Midsummer Fire Festival." Cairne stated.
Palette snort at her brother and bucked her head letting him know she wanted to go to the festival. Ezhaw glanced towards her. "I only asked because it seems the spirits were talking to her."
"The spirits? She is druid, not shaman." he said intrigued about this human. "Maybe once you are done for the day you can come see me at the shamans tent and I will have them help see what the spirits wanted from this young one." Cairne said and Ezhaw nodded.
Once Cairne left, Ezhaw continued to work the trades earning a good amount of money, but by tomorrow, they would be on there way towards Orgrimmar. Soon, they made their way towards where most of the shamans would meet throughout the day. Once inside of the shamans tent Palette let her form shift to her human form and did a full body stretched with arms reaching into the air.
"Do you know it is hard to try talking without being able to." Palette stated with annoyance towards her brother who only gave her an amused look. "And what am I going to do when we reach Orgrimmar? Staying in my deer form like that is going to be torture. Not that I am complaining about being able to shift, it is just tiring to stay in a form with no ability to talk."
"Fear not, sister, you will survive that ordeal." he replied with a hint of amusement but could hear her mutter that it was unfair. "It is sister, but you are the only human to be Horde. Many would think you a spy and not Tauren."
She gave a sighed and crossed her arms. "But how am I to prove my loyalty is for the Horde, for the Tauren, my people? There must be a way to prove that I am?" she asked him unsure.
He laid a large hand engulfing her shoulder. "Time will tell sister, you just have to be patient that things will start to come to light." Palette nodded and made her way over to him to give him a hug to bury her face in his brotherly comfort to which he returned. "It is hard being in the darkness not knowing what an outcome will be."
His musk of grass and herbs was something that always calmed her. He had been in her life since she could remember and was grateful for his calm persona during her times of doubt. "I'm scared brother."
He glance down as the girl that was growing into a woman hearing her voice muffled by his fur. "Of what?"
"Of the future. Why was I save from death as a baby? Why was it an orc that found me? If mother and father didn't take me in, who would have? I'm human, I will never fit into the Horde."
Ezhaw gave a hard snort and held Palette in their embrace. "Cast those thoughts from you. If you start to doubt yourself then there is no coming back from it. I will not lose you to those thoughts sister. You were saved from death because you have a destiny. Mother and father took you in because you were an innocent and we do not cast innocents away when they can not fend for themselves. Yes, you are human, but you have the heart and soul of a Tauren and soon others will see that. They many not see it at first, sister, but once they do they will never doubt you again."
He moved a hand to the top of her head to make you look up at him. "You are my sister, not by birth or blood, but by choice and I will never give you up till my last breath. You are worthy to be member of the Horde in my eyes."
Palette nodded and let him go as they waited for others to arrive. "Thank you brother, for everything. It is just hard knowing I may never fit into a world where humans are the enemy."
"It is understandable, but you must have faith and hope that one day it will come to pass." he replied and turned to hear the hoof falls of others coming.
Cairne entered seeing Palette as human this time and greeted her as two others came into the tent after him. He stood with another tauren to the left of the opening while Ezhaw and Palette stood in the middle. What was a surprise was an orc also entered and this made Palette quickly revert to her cat form with fur brisling, but she was not quick enough knowing the look he was giving her.
"It is alright little one. I have known who you were since I found you." he said surprising her as he made his way towards her small feline form. His hands were held up showing he meant her no harm as he kneeled in front of her. She had seen orcs with both green and brown skin and his green skin up close looked a bit brighter. "Would you revert to your human form?"
She glanced to her brother seeing him encourage her to do so and slowly she shifted. She found even with this orc kneeling she barely passed over him in height as she stood, but she could clearly see his blue eyes stare at her. His tusks made him look fierce but she could see he was calm and open for her to look.
"You have some really pretty blue eyes." she finally said after several minutes in silence as both of them looked at each other. His face broke into a grin at that and gave a slight chuckle. "Thank you and you have some pretty green eyes." she couldn't help but smile at that. "I am Go'el, Warchief of the Horde, leader of the Frostwolf clan. It is a pleasure to meet you young druid."
Palette blinked looking at him in a stupor knowing her jaw was probably hanging down. THE Warchief of the Horde. WARCHIEF! She could not believe that she was in the same room as someone so great. The same Warchief that helped to release his own people from prison camps. Same orc that helped her people take back Thunder Bluff from the centaurs. This orc of legend stand, no kneeling in front of her and she was just gawking at him.
She finally came to it when her brother nudged her in the ribs and she bowed. "Warchief, I-I am sorry for gawking…I-I didn't k-know you would be here. I am Palette Nightgazer."
At this Go'el gave a soft laugh pushing lightly for her to right herself, to which Palette herself almost fainted from his touch, and stood himself to move back a few feet from her towards the right of the opening in a loose circle. "It is alright young druid. I am here because not a day ago the spirits had told me it was time to meet you once more and give you help understanding. You have grown much since you were a baby."
"That is the way of things, Warchief." was her reply as she shrugged her shoulder to which Cairne gave a laugh. "What sass this young one has."
Go'el nodded, liking the answer the human had given him, knowing her future she would need it. She glanced from Go'el to her brother hoping she didn't do anything that could get her kill. Ezhaw laid a hand on her shoulder in silent support.
Looking back to the Warchief in his blue eyes she cleared her throat. "Would you know why I could hear the spirits?"
Go'el hummed and glanced to the other tauren shaman, Turak Runetotem, for his opinion to this. "Explain how this came to be so we might have a better understanding of what may have caused this to happen." the tauren asked.
Palette nodded and took a deep breath before slowly blowing the air out. "I was in the field with the hut still in view but far enough away. My brother had headed back towards the hut leaving me to go back to meditating. I was trying again to earn my deer form but each time I had I was never successful. That day, I decided instead of getting upset or frustrated at feeling the form of the deer just underneath I would instead focus of the calm. So I began the breathing excise my brother had always drilled into me since day one."
"Once I had done several breaths, I let my mind wonder to the wind that blew softly around me and the grass as it made its whispering movements. I made my focus to the thoughts of the Earthmother. Trying again to feel the deer form just under and still the thin barrier held me from shifting. Feeling the frustration start to build I quickly refocused back onto the elements around me and let the frustration flow off of me. It was then, I do not know how to say it, but I could hear something talk to me but I could not understand it. In that moment, I felt the thin barrier shatter and my form slide into the deer's form."
Go'el and Turak looked at each other in thought. Turak blew air softly from his nostrils. "This is strange indeed if a human is beginning to hear the spirits."
"But for a human to have grown up as a Tauren does not limit things, in fact, it may grant her a better understanding. Unlike orcs, trolls, and taurens, humans have always been the farthest from nature and in turn can not hear even the slightest whisper from the spirits. "Go'el stated. "We as tribes or clans have always been more in tune to our more animalistic side and made balance with the elements and there raw power. Even the elves are tuned to the balance of nature, but humans daily have ignored this."
"You have a good point to this Go'el." Turak said looking at the druid child closer with his eyes from his spot to the side of the orc. "With a tauren raising her, she has not been influenced by the way of humans and in doing so she is in tune to the Earthmother like us. Being taught the balance and the power the spirits hold over us since she was small has helped to shape her, but that does not explain how she could hear them yet not understand them."
"Does this mean I am a shaman or druid?" Palette asked unsure where she now stood in a class. "But mother said I was druid several years ago."
"You are druid." Turak said and Palette gave a sigh of relief that she was forever a druid since she loved being able to feel the speed and stealth of the cat and the endurance and pride of the deer.
"As for the spirits, I believe that you could hear them but it was your soul that understood what you physically could not." Go'el said. "When you became calm and focused, instead of getting upset and frustrated about not getting passed this barrier, you were able to gain the form. We may never know what the spirit said to you but your soul does."
"All I know is in that one second of hearing them, I was shifting. What could they have said in that time?" Palette asked.
"We will never know." Turak replied. "If the spirits wish to let us know, they will, until that time we are left to wonder."
Suddenly the tent flap open and a brown skinned orc came in making all inside turn to the newcomer. "Warchie-"
His amber eyes looked into Palette's bright green ones for a few seconds before bellowing savagely at her and advanced towards her form. "Human filth!"
Even with being frightened by the dark loathing look that appeared on this orc's face, Palette quickly shifted into her deer form and thrust her head down so her antlers were at the ready and snorted with a stomp of her left hoof. Turak and Go'el took hold of the enraged orc barely containing him. Ezhaw's hands glowed green as he stood in ready position in case he was needed to stop him.
"Garrosh stop this, she is part of the Horde." Go'el stated.
"She is a filthy human! A spy from that putrid Alliance scum!" he screamed wanting at the female that had the stupidity to stand in a challenging posture, even if it was in defense to his charge. "She even dares to challenge me!"
"You charged her, Garrosh." Go'el growled out getting his attention. "She stands in defense to your charge. Stop this and we will explain."
After minutes of waiting, Garrosh glared at Palette but did nothing as they let him go, only Ezhaw didn't let the glow from his hands disappear having heard stories about the hot-blooded orc Garrosh Hellscream. Palette stayed in her defensive stance glaring at Garrosh and gave another snort of air which caused the orc to bear his teeth at her in a sneer. This silent, unspoken challenge was not unseen by the others wondering what would happen later.
"Garrosh, this is Palette Nightgazer and her brother, Ezhaw Blackhorn. Palette, Ezhaw, this is Garrosh Hellscream." Go'el said turning to glance at Garrosh who had grunted.
"I do not need to know the human scum's name nor of the traitor to the Horde." he simply stated earning Palette to toss her head up and down to show every inch of her antlers and stomping the ground at the insult he threw at her brother. "You want to go filth?" Garrosh began to egg her on.
"Palette stop." Ezhaw softly said, but it made the druid pause in her actions. After seconds passed, she did as told but held her head high in pride while glaring deadly at the orc who in turn did the same.
"She was found by me and was given to the tauren's to be raised as one of them. So she is indeed Horde." Go'el informed his old friend's son.
"She will never be Horde" Garrosh spat angrily.
This statement fumed Palette like never before, she couldn't remember if she's ever been this pissed before now. With that she shifted again and stood as tall as she could in her five foot, six inch tall frame. "I will prove my loyalty is for my home, for my people, for the Horde!" she hollered at him with fisted hands at her side.
"And how do you plan on doing that scum?!" he roared back, grinning at the flinch she gave away and the fear that showed in her eyes.
"I challenge you to a duel. First draw!" she roared back at him also baring her teeth and narrowing eyes.
Before any of the others could stop it Garrosh stomped his foot and screamed in anticipation at fighting the female human. "I ACCEPT!"
hopefully i did Garrosh justice. R&R please!
UPDATED 12/11/2016