The Burning Legion retreated. Once Archimonde was defeated, we began to relax, knowing that Sargeras wasn't going to make his big entrance into Azeroth.

While most of the Quel'dorei, now renamed Sin'dorei by Kael'thas Sunstrider, decided to return home to help get rid of the Scourge, I elected to stay in Kalimdor with the tauren, who accepted me with open arms.

Hamu brought me to where his parents, Taisha and Atalo Raincaller, had put their settlement. Atalo was helping build a city for the tauren, which was going to be named Thunder Bluff. Built on four high bluffs, I could tell that it was going to be enormous.

"How are they building it up there?" I asked Taisha.

"Oh, some of our shaman were able to use the spirits of the wind to get some builders up there with some supplies," said Taisha, who was showing me how to bake some bread. I'd never cooked much before, and was happy to be learning something new. "They have their own tents up there so they only come down if they really need to, but they've secured rope ladders to go up and down the bluffs for that purpose."

"That's great," I said. It was amazing that these people, who had been nomads for centuries, were deciding to settle down now that their problems with the centaur were over. I thought of Everstone Village and how it probably lay in ruins now, with burnt-out corpses serving as fodder for any vulture in the area. I wondered whether my people had begun to rebuild Silvermoon City yet.

Taisha looked at me, seeing tears running down my face. I cried so easily now. Any thought of home brought back the agony I felt at having lost Sylvanas.

"It's all right to cry, child," she said to me, rubbing my shoulder with a warm hand. "But she would want you to try to be happy."

"I feel wretched about the fact that I'm crying for her and not for my family… or at least I'm crying more for her than for my family." I shook my head, "But she was my everything."

"You lost a lot during this war. Your home, your family, your love… it's a miracle that you managed to keep yourself alive throughout this entire ordeal."

I said nothing, focusing for a bit on baking the bread in the oven pot the tauren brought with them anytime they moved around. The pot, I found, worked exactly the same way as a normal oven, except that it was much smaller in nature, thus allowing them to bake the way sedentary people did. Taisha often stated that she couldn't wait to see what she could cook now that she didn't have to move all the time.

I stayed with the tauren for a long time. I was welcome with them, Taisha and Atalo and Hamu allowing me to share their space and treating me as kindly as they would have treated one of their own.

As the tauren didn't have the ability to wield the same magic I did, the shaman started to teach me about the way they handled fire. It was respectful, as they treated fire as a spirit, acknowledging that it was one of the most powerful spirits out there, along with earth, air, and water. I never got the hang of shamanism, because I handled fire in a completely different way, but I did learn to be more respectful about what I invoked, and felt that the flames I conjured seemed friendlier to me, even when their colors drastically changed their appearance.

"You have used black fire," said one of the shaman masters. He sounded awed.

"Not until the Scourge murdered my family. I realized that black fire incinerated bones faster than anything else. I needed fires that burned quickly because of the necromancers who could raise a body faster than I could get to it."

The shaman shuddered at the thought of living corpses, "One's spirit should never be disturbed when it leaves one's body. It's a sacrilege."

"I can't disagree with that." That Sylvanas had been killed was unbearable enough, but to know that she had been raised into this killing thing was beyond comprehension for me. Even now, six months later, I couldn't believe that it had happened, and had horrible nightmares, almost every night.

I got regular bits of news about what was going on with the Scourge. Every week, some message arrived, letting me know of a campaign in Northrend, where some members of the Alliance of Lordaeron, whatever was left of it, and the Blood Elves tried to make a stand against Arthas and the Lich King. I knew I should have been there – I'd lost as much as anyone when the Scourge had invaded us, but I wasn't ready to face that yet. So I stayed in Mulgore, settling with the Tauren in Thunder Bluff, on the Spirit Rise where Atalo worked as a healer.

But I did hear news that gave me courage, such as the Lich King's power waning due to the incessant attacks against him and his undead creatures, and wondered whether it would be possible to end the Scourge once and for all.

"Do you think you'll ever return home?" asked Hamu one day as he took me hunting on the Mulgore plains.

"Home," I said quietly. "I don't have anything left there. Everyone I loved has died, and I don't think I'll ever be able to go there without having to remember all of that."

"But you have to remember. Your loved ones will never live on if you don't remember them."

I smiled, "That's not what I mean, Hamu. I'll always remember my family and," I hesitated, "Sylvanas. What I don't want to think about is how they d-died." I blinked several times and a couple of tears fell as the familiar pain tore through my heart, leaving it raw and exposed to the grief still coursing through me. "I don't think I'll be able to go back to Quel'Thalas."

We hunted for the rest of the day, as I tried not to think of the time I'd gone hunting with Sylvanas. My shooting skills had improved since then, and Hamu didn't feel the need to correct anything about the way I used my bow and arrows.

When we returned home, dropping off a plainstrider and a few rabbits at the butcher's as we passed by, we saw Atalo coming out of a woodworking shop, carrying an absolutely magnificent bow in his hands. It was sleek and made of a glossy dark brown wood that I knew wasn't native to Mulgore. There were carvings on it in Taur-ahe, the tauren language that I was just starting to speak, but I didn't have a chance to read them as he wrapped the bow in a protective cloth to bring it home.

"It looks like you had a productive day," he said, looking at our full bags.

"The spirits were with us," said Hamu. "We brought down a huge plainstrider, but gave it to the butcher because we wouldn't be able to eat all of that."

Atalo nodded, "Good. It's always good to give extra food to people who could use it better than we could."

Taisha was waiting for us as we entered our abode. It was small, but comfortable, made of wood and animal skin to protect us from the elements. It had five rooms, including a kitchen and a washroom, so we could have our own privacy if we wished it. But I found myself hating to be alone. While I'd spent a lot of time on my own in Quel'Thalas, I couldn't stand it now and spent most of my time with my new family.

After taking a bath, I changed into a simple black linen dress and went to help with dinner. Atalo was in the kitchen, having unwrapped the bow, and was busy running his hands over it, chanting in a low voice. Whenever his hands passed over a spot, the wood emitted a soothing golden glow, and I realized that he was blessing the wood with protective spells.

"Members of the Raincaller tribe are usually shaman," he murmured. "My uncle was the first one who did not follow the path of the shaman, and he was afraid that he would be shunned for it. But my grandfather understood that he had a different path to walk, that of the hunter, and crafted a bow for him, imbued with spiritual magic that would protect him wherever he went." He took a goblet of water from in front of him, pouring its contents over the bow, which absorbed the liquid and began to emit a faint blue light.

He looked at Hamu, who smiled.

"Father crafted me a bow when it became clear that I was better suited to be a hunter as well. Sunsong, we call it."

I looked over at his bow, which he was cleaning. Made of a pale golden wood, it did look like it had been crafted by the rays of the sun. "It's beautiful."

Atalo nodded, looking down at the dark bow in his hands, "This one is called Sorrow's Song. It will make a singing sound when you use it in battle, but will be silent if you need to stay hidden." He traced a finger over the markings, lighting them as he spoke, "A new daughter, cloaked in sorrow. A love lost, but never forgotten. A burning tragedy that lives in your heart." He reached out to me, wiping the tears from my cheeks, then sat back down and rubbed them over the bow. "Tears of love shed for a past you cannot get back." He put the bow down onto the table and it stopped glowing. "I know that you're not technically our daughter, biologically speaking."

Taisha sat down next to me, "But you've been a real joy to have around, child, despite everything you've been through. We consider you like our own daughter, the one we were not able to have after the spirits blessed us with Hamu." She put a large and warm hand on my back, "I hope you'll feel comfortable enough with us to call us your family, because we've all grown to care for you."

I started to cry again, putting my head on my arms.

"Of course," said Hamu quickly, "we know we could never replace your real family. We would never try to do such a thing." I felt him sitting on my other side.

"It's not… it's not that…" I hiccupped, trying to regain some sort of control over myself. Hamu handed me a goblet of water and I sipped it slowly as my shaking subsided. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry for grieving, my dear," said Taisha, brushing the hair from my forehead.

I covered her hand with mine, "After Sylvanas died," I closed my eyes, "I figured that was it. That I'd never love anyone again, and that would never find a family. Then you three came along…" My emotions were so close to the surface that tears began to flow, unbidden, down my face. "You reminded me what it was like to have a family."

Atalo stood up and came to me, putting his hands on my shoulders, "We would be grateful if you would join us. We cannot offer you much, that's true, because we don't know the kind of magic you know, but we could love you if you would let us."

The ball of pain in my throat made it difficult for me to speak, but I managed to nod, "I would be honored to become a part of your family."

Atalo squeezed my shoulders as Taisha put both her arms around me in a crushing hug. Hamu, for his part, gave a joyful cry and clapped me on the back.

"I have a sister!" he said, his brown eyes shining. "I've always wanted a sister!"

There was a big party that night. Everyone was happy that I had accepted to be part of the Raincaller clan, even though I wasn't a tauren. Everyone ate and drank to their heart's content, and for the first time in a long time, I felt happy. Sylvanas's death still lingered in my heart, but for that night at least, it didn't tear me apart.

"Tomorrow, you will face the Trial of the Plains," said Atalo to me. "It is a tradition amongst the Raincallers. You will be left on the plains on your own for two days, and you will be expected to come back here on your own, with no outside help."

I knew about this tradition. Hamu had been through it, as had Atalo before him. It was a trial that involved communing with spirits, even if one wasn't a shaman. I didn't know how I'd manage to do this, being as I wasn't a tauren, but everyone was confident that I'd be able to pass the test.

"We will leave you at the Red Rocks," he said to me the following day, and I nodded. The Red Rocks were on the border of Mulgore, just on the mountains that separated it from the area of the Stonetalon Mountains. It was a place where the tauren burned their ancestors and communed with the spirits of the dead, seeking advice. "And don't forget, you are not to go to any campground or villages during your trial."

"I will remember, Father," I told him.

We set off, using the great kodos as mounts to get us there. We arrived at twilight. I was supposed to spend the night at Red Rocks by myself and make my way from there that morning. I was given a water skin and strips of dried meat, along with my bow and arrows.

"May the spirits guide you," said Atalo, giving me a gentle hug. "We will be waiting for you at home."

I watched as he left with my brother, who looked back at me and winked. I smiled a little, then turned my head towards the funeral stones and set up a meager camp, lighting a small merry fire.

I wasn't tired, but somehow, I felt my eyelids drop almost as soon as the fire began to burn. I fell into a deep sleep, curled up on my side, my bow and arrows next to me. I wasn't asleep long, however. Mere minutes after I had fallen into slumber, I was awoken by the feel of a chill wind. It wasn't exactly unpleasant, but I hated the cold now because it reminded me so much of the Scourge.

I looked around and gasped. I wasn't alone.

Closest to me was a pale figure in a long cloak, with long silvery hair and eyes that had been bright in life. I gave a gasp.

"Estelien…" I whispered. "Is that you?"

"Yes, little sister." He smiled and walked over to me. I tried to take his hand, but couldn't. He was more insubstantial that a wisp of smoke. "You have been through so much, more than anybody should have ever gone through in such a short period of time." He looked sad, "I wish we hadn't had to leave you like this. You were so happy every time we can home, even when Taegan teased you."

I couldn't stop looking at him. He looked the way I had always remembered him, his features delicate and lovely, a scar running from his lip down to his jaw from a reckless encounter with a lynx. "Estelien…" I felt the familiar sorrow overtake me.

"Honey, you shouldn't feel like this. None of this was your fault. Not the destruction of our village, and certainly not what happened to Sylvanas."

I cried, and as I did, I saw my parents, both of them, hovering over me. They looked sad to see me this way. "Nobody should have had to go through what you did. But look at you now. You've done so much more than any of us could have dreamed. You fought the Scourge and the Burning Legion. You've learned how to hunt and how to bake, and your magic… your magic is much stronger than we ever gave you credit for."

Hearing my mother's voice, almost as it had been when she'd been alive, nearly ended me.

"Mommy."

"Oh, sweetheart. You've grown so much. And your father and I are so proud of you. You are brave, you are strong, and you are wise."

"Sylvanas would have loved to see the woman you've become, my daughter. She loved you so much, even though she could never express it to you."

"She did not die so that you could cry like that."

"It hurts so much… she's gone, and I don't know what to do…"

"What would she tell you if she were to see you that way?"

I let out a watery laugh, "She would probably kick me in the shins and tell me to pull myself together. She'd say that I wasn't made to wallow in self-pity and that I should embrace the fact that I'm still alive."

"Well then," said my father. "Do that."

"I can't… I can't just forget what happened."

"No, sister. You don't forget what happened. You take what happened, tuck it into a corner of your heart, and you move on. Did Sylvanas not ask you to promise her to live after she had died?"

She had. The memory of it was unbearable.

"You would let her down if you didn't live up to that promise, Faith."

I knew that. Sylvanas would have never wanted me to hide away and think over my sorrows. But how? I didn't know how to manage something like that. Normally, I would have relied on family and friends to get through it, but everyone had been killed. I had a new family, yes, but they couldn't replace everyone I'd lost.

"Oh no, honey. They would never try to replace us. But they can love you, and if you let yourself, you could love them too."

I didn't want to burden them with my pain. They'd been so good to me…

"Think of what you would do for someone you loved. If Hamu were to lose his best friend, and if he came to you with his pain, would it burden you?"

"Well, no, but –."

"But nothing. You need to trust them with whatever you feel. And in time, things will get better."

They began to fade away.

"We will always be with you. Always. We won't fade from your heart. And anytime you need us, look to the stars, and you will find us."

I awoke.

The fire was out, and the sun was beginning to rise on the horizon. I was hungry, and my eyes felt gritty with salt, as though I had sobbed in my sleep. It was chilly, so I lit the fire again and conjured some water to wash my face, after which I took out the dried meat and began to eat.

Had everything been a dream? Or had my parents and elder brother come to me in the night? Either way, it had been an intense experience, and I wasn't entirely sure that I was all right. And if it had been a dream, why had I not seen Sylvanas, the one being in the world that I would have given anything to speak to?

Still thinking about it, I doused my fire, making sure to leave no traces of myself at the camp, and thanked the spirits for having allowed me to spend the night there. I felt a slight breeze pass over me as I did that, and understood that something had heard me. It was good to know that I wasn't completely alone.

I could vaguely see Thunder Bluff from where I was, but it was miles away. I would have to walk fast if I hoped to make it there within the allotted time. I had heard of some tauren who hadn't managed the trip and been attacked by the animals that roamed the plains, but those stories were rare. More often, the clan had to get the stranded member, who would have to postpone the trial for another two years at the very least.

I began to walk. The sun was very hot, and since there weren't many trees on the plain, there was no way for me to find any shade.

There were animals. Several of them. A rabbit that I roasted for my lunch. Plainstriders that avoided me, but that could have easily hurt me had they chosen to do so, and plains cougars who knew how to conceal themselves in the tall grasses to ambush their prey. One of them foolishly tried to attack me, but I conjured some hot water that I threw in its eyes. Yowling, it ran away from me.

By nightfall, I was more than halfway to Thunder Bluff, and could just barely see the fires glinting in the night. There was also a camp not far away, but I didn't venture close to it. I sept in the tall grass, hoping that nothing would wake me during the night.

But something did, and it wasn't an innocent animal like a rabbit. It was a boar, a huge one with one eyes and tusks as sharp as a lion's teeth. As soon as my fire went out, it attacked me and tried to gore me. It very nearly succeeded, but using all the strength I had, I pulled fire magic to myself and was able to kill it after an intense battle.

I slumped down when it was over. My right leg was wounded, as were my hands, which were bleeding, and I was positive that my right pinky finger was broken. But I relished the pain, it gave me a clarity that I hadn't had since before the Scourge had attacked Quel'Thalas. And so, I hacked off the boar's tusks and cut several generous slabs of meat, which I wrapped in braided grass and kept cold with a spell. They would do for breakfast, lunch, and maybe dinner the following day.

Walking through the plains at night, especially while injured, proved to be more difficult than in the daytime. I had to be more careful about where I walked, lest I turn my ankle on a rabbit's hole. I could hear carrion birds hunting, and had to watch out for them as well. I drank the water I had, using some of it to wash the injury on my leg. There were some herbs that I managed to pick and chew, making a thick paste and spreading it on my wounds to avoid infection, but everything stung and ached.

The sun crested over the horizon, painting the dark sky with lighter colors to announce the arrival of a new day. I was tired and sat down to make a small fire and roast the boar meat I had. The food was good, and combined with more conjured water, served as a good meal for me. I felt more energized to tackle the rest of the journey home.

Home. Was I really going home? Or was Thunder Bluff a mere substitute for what I had lost.

I felt a certain fondness for the tauren. As a matter of fact, I had come to love the tauren, their language, and their culture. They were a peaceful people, capable of being very fierce when challenged, but they were kind-hearted by nature. But it wasn't the same kind of love I had felt for my family. Then again, I don't suppose anything or anybody could have come close to filling the void that had opened up inside me when I had lost everything.

During the final leg of my journey, I shot a plainstrider and several rabbits to bring to the butchers in Thunder Bluff, because, despite looking like cows, they liked meat as much as any other food. I smiled at the thought of calling a tauren a cow. Doing so would certainly result in a battle.

"You're almost there," I said to myself. And I was. I could see the great elevators that would bring me into the city itself.

Limping as quickly as I could, I finally reached them as the sun began to set. A couple of tauren guards saw me arriving and nodded approvingly, although one of them gave me a worried look. Did I look that bad?

I found that out a few minutes later, when the elevator deposited me on the first level of Thunder Bluff. My Raincaller family was waiting for me, and they cheered when they saw me. But the cheer was brief. Almost immediately, Hamu ran towards me and caught me as I fell.

"I brought back some meat," I said weakly. "I thought we could eat it tonight."

"Look at her leg," said Taisha, sounding aghast.

I looked down and saw that my leather trousers were soaked with my blood. Drops of blood trailed back towards the elevator.

"I told you that we shouldn't have put her through this," said Taisha furiously. "She is our daughter, and I know that we should respect traditions, but she is not a tauren!"

"I'm fine," I whispered.

Atalo picked me up gently and brought me to the Spirit Rise, where he stripped off my clothes and washed my wounds with a fragrant brew that burned enough for me to groan in pain.

"You were able to find herbs to help yourself," he said. "That was good. You might have perished otherwise."

"It's not that bad, really."

"Look at your leg," he said to me.

I did so, and my eyes widened. Clean, the wound looked very deep. It was close to the femoral artery, and I'd been very lucky that it hadn't been severed in the attack.

"What was it? Those don't look like teeth marks."

"A boar," I replied. "It had one eye."

"The one-eyed boar, we know of him. He roams the plains, but not this far north, normally. Where is he now?"

I reached into my bag and pulled out the tusks. "Dead. I didn't have a choice but to kill him."

Atalo looked at the tusks and began to laugh, "My dear daughter… many a warrior has tried to slay him, and you managed to do it after it attacked you in your sleep! I believe you really are one of us." He chuckled, then grew serious, "Now, hold still. I will invoke the spirits to heal you."

The spirits lulled me into a gentle sleep as they slowly closed the wounds on my arms and leg. I saw my family again, all of them this time, and they whispered soothing words to me, saying that they loved me and were happy that I'd survived everything, even if they had died.

I awoke to the smell of roasting meat and the sound of quiet laughter. I was tucked into bed, with my bow and sheath of arrows sitting on their pegs behind my bed. I felt too comfortable to get up, but I did so anyway, noticing that someone – probably Taisha – had dressed me in my black linen dress.

Hamu poked his head in and smiled, "She's awake," he told Atalo. "How are you feeling?" he asked me.

"Okay." I tried to stand, but my leg made me wince. It was still painful, despite the healing I had received. "What happened?"

"Oh, Father was able to almost completely heal you."

"You'll be just fine in a couple of days," said Atalo, walking in and helping me get to my feet. "You did very well, you know, I knew you could do it."

I smiled, "Thank you."

"Do you feel up for some food? Taisha's made you some sweet potato pie."

"Say no more, I'm right there!" I exclaimed, laughing.

Before we got out of my small room, Atalo hugged me, "Welcome to the family, sweetheart. I mean that from the bottom of my heart."