Years pass by. The world rotates. Wars are fought. People die. People live. People are born. Love flourishes. Love perishes. People move on. Lives are changed: good and bad. For Nathorien Raldonis, three fourths of a century has passed since his last tale.

Nathorien's leatherworking enterprise proved fruitful. Despite the fact that it was a legitimate business, he made a good living doing what he did. His skills as a thief improved as well. He set aside some money to get training in the ways of the rogue. Through this, he could not only steal things better than ever before; but it also made him quite the skilled fighter.

After spending some time in Dolanar and eventually Darnassus, Nathorien moved back out to Auberdine in Darkshore. He did this because the skinning in Teldrassil was getting too unprofitable. He wanted to make more money so he returned to his old stomping grounds in Darkshore. But after a time, even old Darkshore lost his interest. He ventured south into territory he hadn't explored yet. The region of Ashenvale, home of the town of Astranaar. Nathorien now calls this town his home and finds he is making more money than ever before.

Nathorien, now a borderline adult by Kaldorei standards, spends his time getting his leatherworking materials off of wolves, bucks, and for an old wound, bears. Living in Ashenvale, he would often run into Sentinels serving under Tyrande Whisperwind, the leader of the Kaldorei, who protected Kaldorei lands from any attackers, such as possible agents of the Burning Legion. He sometimes assists the guard for some extra pocket change, mostly keeping back rebel furbolgs who sometimes try to take down Astranaar, also the occasional recon job.

One day, Nathorien had heard a report of war breaking out on the continent where the High Elves were rumored to have relocated to. The humans were going at it with some strange looking green skinned creatures. Tyrande's guard also heard a report that they were making their way to Kalimdor. They decided to seek out Nathorien for a job on scoping out the southern desert lands of the Barrens to find the truthiness in these reports. He accepted. This wouldn't do. He would normally care only for himself; but if these green skinned creatures made it to Ashenvale, he would be directly affected in some adverse way. He said he'd leave in the morning. The reason being he wanted to ransack the armory and weapons shop during the night to outfit himself for this potentially dangerous mission.

Early in the morning, Nathorien suited up with his new weapons and armor. As he headed to the Barrens, he could barely make out the sun on the horizon. "Good," he thought, "Early bird catches the worm as they say." He made his way through the forests of Ashenvale and eventually made it past the mountain range along the southern borders. He passed a guard station on his way into the Barrens and nodded at the sentinels as he went past and made his way into the desert.

This place was different from anywhere Nathorien had been before. He had never actually been off Kaldorei lands before today. He set up precautions that would make him less detectable, a sort of stealth if you will. He also made sure he had his flash powder along with him in case he needed to "vanish." He was taught well in the arts of the rogue; and this still holds true today. Kaldorei lands are lush and mostly forested. This place however, was sand as far as the eye can see, not a tree in sight. The wildlife here was different too. He had never seen anything like a giraffe or a zhevra before; and he didn't even want to look at the raptors, they looked vicious.

Nathorien moved swiftly across the desert, making sure his movements were quiet. It was about noon now, the sun was high. He was feeling quite hot by now, "Leather armor in a desert, great idea Nath." he said to himself. He'd been at this for hours now and not a green skinned creature in sight. He scaled a sand dune and decided it was time for lunch. He pulled out some Roasted Wolf Meat that he had cooked and started chowing down. When hark, what did his ears hear? Why it sounded like the scream of a fair maiden. This looks like a job for Nathorien! He dropped his food and took off in the direction of the scream.

Nathorien sprinted in the direction of the scream until he saw it. A Kaldorei woman running, being chased by... by green skins! The young woman was clothed in a robe and was being pursued by three of those green skinned creatures described to him in the reports. He knew he had to do something; but he didn't want to do anything rash and rush into the fray. He quickly formed a plan and took off, moving as stealthily as possible. He caught up to the green skins and kept pace with them for a bit. It was now or never, do or die. He grabbed one of his daggers and drove it deep into the shoulder area of the closest green skin. He had expected his foe to wail out in pain giving him the time to finish it off. Instead the green skin turned around and backhanded him across the face, knocking him to the ground.

"Well we're off to a great start." Nathorien said sarcastically. He rolled to the left, dodging the green skin's attempt at tackling him. Before the green skin could get up, Nathorien jumped on its back, pulled out another dagger and penetrated both its shoulders. This time it let out a cry of pain. He to the brief moment of the creature dealing with its pain to finish the job. He took his dagger, jabbed it into the back of the green skin and dragged it down its spine. The green skin wailed for a moment then went limp. "One down." Nathorien said with a smile.

Nathorien got up to look around for the woman and the other two green skins. He found them running in the opposite direction they were running before... but wait... shouldn't there be two green skins... where's the second on- oh. It was behind him. He knew this because he was thrown to the ground. The green skin jumped on top of him (He really needs to get on top more) and it looked pissed. But he was quick and the green skin lay on the ground dead before it could do a thing. He still had his daggers in hand. So he jammed them into the green skin's sides and it immediately died.

Nathorien did spend some time getting the body off of him. It was pretty darn heavy. He sat up for his eyes to meet a hand extended to help him get up. It was the young woman whom the green skins were pursuing. Where was the third green skin? All he could see was a smoldering pile of- oh... damn. He grabbed her hand, got up and smiled at her. "I thank you kind sir," she said to him, "I could not have defeated those orcs on my own."

"Orcs?" Nathorien asked, "That's what those green skinned creatures are called?"

"Yes, it is said they come from another world and are working for the Burning Legion. If I may ask, what are you doing out here?"

Nathorien had a momentary pause before replying; there was something about her... "Oh. I was out on an investigation. We've had reports of these orc from the other continent and I was checking a rumor about them coming here. Bad news for Tyrande's people I guess."

The woman chuckled for a second, "You work for my mistress' people?"

Again he paused before replying, "Your mistress? You mean Tyrande? No I'm not employed under her, it's more volunteer work."

Again she chuckled. She smiled at him this time. Why does she seem so familiar? That smile, those eyes... Then in a rush, images flooded his head: the forest of Darkshore, a rabbit, a twig, a bear, everything going red then dark, white light... those eyes. "By Elune!" Nathorien thought, "It's her!" There were so many things he wanted to say to her, mostly thanking her for saving his life. Unfortunately for him, he was not so well versed in talking to a pretty girl, "I am the Nathorien Raldonis. I am the one who makes all the people's moneys disappears."