Aurora and Eclipse were sitting alone in the valley practicing medicine while the rest of the clan was dealing with the Vrykul situation. Eclipse laid out a spread of different medicines and was quizzing Aurora to see what she had learned so far.
"To treat infection we would use what?" Eclipse said, using the tip of her wing to gesture toward each one of the herbs in front of her.
Aurora thought for a moment, scratching her chin. She made her decision and picked up the herb on the far left. "Foxflower." she said.
Eclipse smiled and nodded. "Very good! Do you know where we can find them?" She asked next.
"Here in Stormheim." Said Aurora.
Eclipse pursed her lips for a moment. "Well...they can grow occasionally here in Stormheim but they're mostly from Highmountain. Remember, they grow grow on either side of a mountain but not on the mountain itself."
Aurora nodded. "Ah, yes."
"What about this one?" Said Eclipse holding up a green herb.
"Dreamleaf." Said Aurora.
"From?" Insisted Eclipse.
"Val'sharah." Aurora answered, feeling proud of herself that she had memorized so much in such short notice.
Eclipse nodded again. "Very good. Eventually we're going to need to scavenge for more herbs. We're running low. The only downside is that there is a lot of competition for these herbs." She said packing up them up into a bag.
Aurora raised an eyebrow. "Competition you say?"
"Indeed." Eclipse said with a disappointed tone of voice. "The Vrykul and the smaller more intelligent humanoids like to gather these herbs as well. Not only are the herbs native to broken Isles medicinal, but they also have unique properties that allow them to be mixed with other chemicals to make potions. But we'll have to work around it as we need to gather more."
Aurora looked down at the ground. "Yeah. If only there was some way I could travel faster than just walking from place to place." She said sarcastically as she still missed her ability to fly. For a flightless dragon like herself, she know gathering herbs would be a long and grueling task.
Eclipse sympathized with her and brought her wing around Aurora's shoulder. "There's still hope, Aurora. You just need more time to heal, that's all." She said trying to lift her spirits.
"What do we need?" Asked Aurora as she wanted to get to work fast and get it over with.
Eclipse thought for a moment. "Maybe twenty of each? Definitly not Fjarnskaggl, we have plenty of that here since it grows naturally in Stormheim." She said as she handed Aurora the bag of herbs to take on her journey.
"But don't worry about getting them all in one trip, Aurora. You can get the Foxflower today and the rest some other day. Just get the Foxflower and call it a day." Eclipse said.
Aurora nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Are you coming with me?"
Eclipse frowned, disappointedly. "I'm afraid not. If somebody needs urgent treatment I need to be here. Besides I think this would be a good test of your knowledge. Once you learn how to collect herbs we can move onto more advanced material."
Aurora started to tie the bag around her neck. "Like what?"
"This is just basic medicine. Using single herbs to treat people and learning how to harvest is just the beginning. The next step is learning how to combine and mix different herbs to treat different ailments. Foxflower treats infection by itself yes, but to treat a poison you would need to mix Dreamleaf with Aethril and stir it into water. To treat food sickness you would need to mix Foxflower with Fjarnskaggl and Felwort. There are many many combinations of herbs to treat all sorts of ailments. You'll learn in time but for now we're just taking baby steps." Eclipse said as she finished packing up.
Aurora seemed surprised by the scope of the job but nonetheless she nodded and respected Eclipse's wisdom. "I understand. I better get going while it's still morning. Traveling on foot might take me a while."
"Alright" Said Eclipse. "Best of luck to you. Remember, don't over-exert yourself." Said Eclipse reminding Aurora once again before Aurora started walking off, heading to Highmountain first.
It took Aurora about an hour to get to Highmountain. Walking all the way there was tiresome but she made it. She remembered Eclipse's advice that Foxflower grows on either side of a mountain, but with her inability to fly, there was no way she was going into Highmountain. She would have to go around it to collect what she wanted.
When she arrived at the base of the mountain she found a Foxflower laying right on front of her which she immediately collected.
"Good start I guess." Aurora thought to herself as she tucked the flower away into her bag of herbs.
Finding the next Foxflower was trickier. As Aurora started looking around she noticed many broken flower stems where Foxflower used to be but was already harvested. She looked around everywhere, near trees, bushes, boulders, and near the shore but nothing. Nothing but broken stems and plucked leaves.
Aurora continued on and worked her way up the coast of Highmountain, looking for any signs of Foxflower anywhere but she couldn't find any. After a few more minutes of searching she looked up to see a patch of Foxflower blooming on a cliff to her left. Her disappointed frown turned into a hopeful smile.
Normally she could just fly up to the cliff and pick it but with her broken wing she would have to find another way. She noticed a nearby pile of fallen boulders that she could scale. After climbing to the top of the boulders she started hooking her front claws into the dirt on the side of the cliff and started to climb her way up.
She carefully continued to climb, using her claws as hooks to work her way up the cliff. When she was near the top she reached out to try and pluck a few flowers. The Foxflower was just inches away from her grasp when a loud swoosh came in over her head.
The sudden gust of air caused her to loose her grip and she fell off the side of the cliff. She fell about twenty feet before landing on her back with a loud thud. As Aurora groaned in discomfort she looked up to see a male Tauren who was riding a large Wyvern. The Tauren dismounted and began picking the patch of Foxflower.
"Hey!" Aurora exclaimed. "That was mine!" She protested as she was laying on her back. The Tauren didn't even acknowledge her. He simply took his prize and got back on his Wyvern to ride off into the distance.
After the tauren flew off, Aurora covered her face with her wings in frustration as she remained on her back. When she uncovered her face she tilted her head up to look down at her belly, making sure her unborn children were alright. Luckily she didn't land on her stomach or hit her stomach in any way as she fell.
As she stared at her belly she could see the noticeable little bump where her eggs where. She gently rubbed the bump in her belly with her wings as she began to realize how dangerous it was for her to have climbed the cliff in the first place. Already she could hear Eclipse's voice in her head telling her not to physically exert herself.
Aurora sighed and sat up straight, rubbing her aching back a bit as she prepared to get going again. She quickly kissed the bump in her belly, promising to herself not to do anything dangerous anymore before standing up once again to go look for more herbs.
It took Aurora two hours to collect the twenty Foxflower she needed. By now it was already noon. Aurora remembered that Eclipse said to just get the Foxflower but the day was still young. Aurora wanted to impress Eclipse and the rest of her clan. She decided to soldier on and get the rest of the herbs she needed. The next item on her list was the Dreamleaf of Val'sharah.
Getting to Val'sharah was even more of a chore with even more obstacles. When Aurora arrived she was exhausted but at the same time still motivated to complete her task.
It didn't take Aurora long to find out that most of Val'sharah was split into two parts; the dead, wilted, and glowing red forest to the north, and the the vibrant, lush, and green forests to the south. She immediately took to the south to begin collecting her herbs.
"Please let there be no heavy competition for these herbs..." Aurora thought to herself as she began harvesting.
Once again it took her a couple of hours to find what she needed, but right as she was plucking her twentieth herb she unknowingly walked into a trap and found herself tangled in a large net.
Aurora frantically tried to claw and scratch her way out of the net but the most she struggled the more she got herself tangled up. As she desperately tried to escape she was soon surrounded by a hunting party of Night Elves. One elf stood out in particular as she was riding a white tiger and dressed in robes that were pure white and decorated with shiny gems. She wore a crystal tiara on the top of head and held a silver bow in her hand.
Aurora started to shake nervously as she was afraid of losing not only her own life but the lives of the children inside of her.
The Night elf with white robes looked down upon Aurora and noticed she was pregnant. The Elf drew a knife from her robe and started walking toward Aurora slowly.
Aurora closed her eyes and waited for whatever grisly fate awaited her. Though much to her surprise, the Elf cut Aurora free from the net.
When Aurora looked up, the Elf spoke to her. "Ishnu-dal-dieb. Ande'thoras-ethil, Min'da." She said but Aurora didn't know what she was saying. She only spoke Draconic and a bit of Vrykul.
The elves backed up to give Aurora some room but she didn't know what to think or say. She just nodded to the elven priestess and quickly packed up her herbs to continue on her journey.
As Aurora began to run off she started thinking to herself. Why was she let go? Who were those people? Questions for another day, she reasoned.
By the time Aurora got to Azuna to collect her Aethril, she was so exhausted she felt like her legs were going to collapse right out from under her but at the same time she knew she had a job to complete.
Unlike the other places Aurora had been to, Azuna had very little places to hide. Most of the land was out in the open with hardly any forests or mountains to provide cover. Aurora had already endangered herself twice. This time she was going around the edges of the map to avoid as much trouble as she possibly could.
Of course gathering herbs safely like this took much longer. It took Aurora three hours of moving up and down the coast to find the herbs she needed. By the time she was finished, she was so tired that she couldn't bring herself to finish the stash. She still needed the Starlight rose from Suramar but she couldn't do it. It was time to head home.
Azuna and Stormheim were on polar opposite sides of the map. For Aurora to get home it would take several hours but Aurora wasn't a quitter. She was determined to get the medicine home for the good of the clan.
Three more hours later and it was evening. Aurora finally made it back to camp, totally and completely exhausted.
She was ready to impress her mentor and the rest of the clan. She returned to Eclipse's den but she wasn't there. Aurora walked around a bit and started to hear a loud commotion.
She walked to the center of the camp where there was a large gathering. Glade was surrounded by the rest of the clan as they cheered her on. Everyone in camp was focused on Glade as she was being praised as a hero.
Aurora walked up to Eclipse who was on the edge of the gathering. She tapped Eclipse on the shoulder. "Guess what I got?" Aurora said.
Eclipse was brushed up in the excitement and didn't pay much attention to what Aurora was saying. "Aurora you'll never guess what happened! Glade dueled the Vrykul champion and won! They've agreed to back off of our land for good! Never again will we have to battle them for territory. This is great!" She said turning her attention back to the crowd.
"But-" Aurora tried to say but couldn't as it was too loud for anyone to hear her. Not too far from her, Aurora saw her mate, Cyclone. She decided to go up to him to see if he was interested in hearing about her day.
"Hey!" Said Aurora with a smile as she tried to get her mate's attention. "You'll never guess what I've been through today." Aurora said as she held up a big bag of herbs.
Cyclone turned to face her. "Hey, sweetheart!" Cyclone said but he too was distracted by the crowd. "I misjudged Glade. I had my doubts about her at first but I think she finally has a place here." He said turning back to the center of camp.
Aurora started to frown as nobody wanted to hear from her. She had worked herself to the bone to retreive something her clan desperately needed but nobody seemed to care. She lowered her head and started to walk back alone to her den.
Out of the corner of his eye, Cyclone noticed his mate walking away by herself with her head down. He knew something was wrong and decided to go after her.
Once Aurora was back at the cave she sighed and started to walk towards her bed when Cyclone came in behind her.
"Hey what's wrong?" Said Cyclone trying to find out what was troubling her.
Aurora turned towards him. "My feet feel like they're on fire." She said, completely worn out from her long journey.
Cyclone started to walk towards her. "What happened? Where have you been?" He said wanting to comfort her.
"I'm fine, I just..." She said with a pause. "I just need some rest. I'll meet up with you in a little bit." Said Aurora as she turned back to walk toward her bed. She plopped down on her bed, laying on her belly with her legs and wings stretched out.
Cyclone felt sorry for her. He didn't know what to say since she wasn't saying much. He walked up to her slowly to look at her back legs. Normally the bottoms of a Dragon's feet were white but when Cyclone looked at the bottom of Aurora's feet, they were glowing a bright red from all the walking she did today.
Cyclone covered his mouth in shock as he stared at her feet. He looked up at her to see that she was trying to relax and cool off.
Her turned his head towards the cave's exit as he heard Tempest giving a speech but he decided to stay with Aurora. He sat down near the wall of the cave with his back up against the wall as he watched over her, still wondering about what she had been through today.
As Aurora tried to get some rest, Cyclone's eyes darted to a large bag that she had dropped on the floor before going to bed. He reached over to grab it and have a look inside. Much to his dismay, the bag was filled almost to the brim with herbs. Every once in awhile Cyclone used to help Eclipse out with her harvesting but he had never seen a load this big before.
For a moment Cyclone started to feel sad on the inside. Glade and Aurora were both heroes but only Glade was getting recognized. He started to understand why his mate was distraught. Nobody seemed to care about what Aurora did but deep down inside, he knew that she just as much of a hero now as she was when she was a warrior. Even with her broken wings, her pregnancy, and her thankless job, she was still a hero to her clan. She always was.
