"I can take over from here."
"Thanks, I was just about to wave someone down. He might look tough, but my little guy is really tired," Noly stretched the kinks out of her bones from all that sitting she had done. Three hours and she had not moved from her improvised chair-stump. Securing her bow, Noly let out a loud whistle in hopes of being heard over all the children.
Kids and parents amidst the tents turned to her. A small amber scaled form slithered from a child's arms and rushed over to her, much to the dismay of the children playing with him. Noly would have called him away anyway in a few minutes, the fact it was taking him this long to wiggle his way to her was evidence enough that her little cherry pie was all tuckered out.
Scooping her little dragonhawk chick off the ground into her loving embrace, Noly heard one of the parents tell the assembled kids something, who in turn echoed some words to her and waved. Some more enthusiastically than others of course.
She smiled and lightly flexed one of the chick's wings in a mimicry of a wave, "Okay, say goodbye Birdy!" The chick chirped at his name being said, seemingly more interested in chewing on her hair than looking at his prior playmates. Waving a few more times to the crowd as she left, thanking her fellow recruit for his aid, she left to take her little baby back to the hatchery.
It was times like this Noly wished she knew Common so she could talk to humans more effectively. Sure she knew a few words: Hello, Stop, Trouble, Friend, and a few others, but it was hardly enough to hold a proper conversation with anyone. She probably should have taken Silly's impromptu language tutoring more seriously.
"I'm nineteen Silly," she told her friend when she offered, "I have tons of time before I have to interact with humans, so what's the rush?" In hindsight, it feels like Noly was tempting fate. In just two years, she went from interacting with only a handful of non-elves, all of whom knew Thalessian, to now having to oversee humans by the dozen.
All refugees fleeing their homes because of something.
She didn't know what that 'something' was. Not from any attempt on the people's part of concealing anything, Noly just could not understand what they were saying. From the rangers who knew Common, who she overheard in the mess hall, it seemed like it was a mix of disease, orc attacks, and some other weird stuff. Necromancy and demons if what she heard was right. Crazy stuff. There was even a rumor going around that the border was going to be sealed soon, no one would enter and no one would leave until the human's crisis is over.
Now technically entry into the kingdom has always been restricted to either Silvermoon itself, when arriving by sea or teleportation, and to select individuals approved by the Convocation. Anyone outside of either case was to be detained, questioned, then released on the human side of the border by the Farstriders.
Unofficially, in reality, humans have been crossing the border for centuries without much fuss. Maybe millennia. Mostly townsfolk who live just beyond the border crossing to sell their wares in market towns on the Eversong side. The Farstriders are meant to stop armies from coming over, not traders. That being said, bands of brigands and smugglers are dealt with accordingly.
Hmm, if traders aren't supposed to actually cross the border, wouldn't that make them smugglers too?
Eh, it doesn't really matter, she supposed.
Still with humans coming over, most times with nothing but the clothes on their backs and horrid tales of survival on their lips. In the past couple of months, a sizable tent colony has sprung up around the training enclave. Safer than setting up camp within the Eversong where they might run afoul of Amani or bandits, but the sheer numbers were worrying. Not because the people themselves, but the implication that these humans would rather seek shelter in Quel'Thalas than in cities like Stratholme or Lordaeron.
Even so, it was surprising how easy it was to keep order. The sight of a ranger, trainees as most were here, with bow in hand seemed to be enough to keep the peace. Maybe that was just because the people still appear to be in shock over what happened. Noly could only imagine how horrible it would be to lose everything you know in the blink of an eye.
As Noly mused to herself, she reached the hatchery. Birdy, who had almost fallen asleep in her arms, stirred from the chirps and caws of the other dragonhawks. The stable hand waved her through, and she made her way to the pen holding Birdy's family.
Noly initially named her little chick Wormy, he was just so cute slithering about on the ground when his wings were too weak to fly. She changed it when Silly told her Wormy was a bad name since he'll one day grow out of his wormy look and become a proper dragonhawk. What person would take him seriously if a dragonhawk majestically soaring high above the clouds with her on his back, was named Wormy? They would think it was a joke.
And thus did Noly rush back to the hatchery, cross out Wormy, and give him his current name: Birdy!
And while he started small enough to fit in her palm, Birdy was growing. Though Noly hoped it was in the right way. The stable hands at the hatchery said her little chick was gaining weight very quickly and they weren't sure if it was a sign he was going to be a big boy when he was all grown up, or if he was becoming a 'big' boy from all the sweets he was eating.
Okay, sure, maybe she was feeding him more slices of cherry pie than he ought to be eating.
And blueberry muffins.
And chocolate.
And he did eat that ice cream cone in one bite the other day…
Anyway, she still feeds him all the fish and meat he ought to be having. Nor was he lazy or anything. Birdy is always on the move, either slithering on the ground when he was too small to fly, or clambering up trees to glide down when his wings and claws came in. Sometimes, she would even run and 'throw' him across the training yard so he could glide along a wayward breeze. Since he always seemed to slither back to her for another go, she assumes he likes it.
Now he was in the teething phase. Sure, he didn't have any teeth, but he sure loved to nibble on anything he could get into his beak.
Like her hair…
But before her little chick could yank her hair anymore, she reached the stable holding his family: a dozen little scaley forms clustered around two big dragonhawks.
"Here we are Birdy, see you tomorrow," she whispered to her little chick, giving him a quick peck on the head before placing him gently on the ground. Birdy gave her one last look before rushing over to his parents: Sunchaser and Ruby-Wing.
She liked Sunchaser. He was a big dragonhawk, his belly and wings covered in faded scars of past battles. Despite his rugged appearance, he was the friendliest dragonhawk in the hatchery. The stable master said it was because he just loved the attention. Noly was sure that Sunchaser was just a cuddle bug through and through! Why else would he let her hug him so much?
Ruby-Wing, was a different matter entirely. She snapped at Noly every time she tried to pet the resplendently scaled carmine dragonhawk. Apparently, she did that to any women who tried to pet her. Well that just means Noly will be the first!
On her way out, after some snuggles with Sunchaser (and some hisses from Ruby-Wing), Noly was stopped by the stablemaster.
"Apologies recruit, but do you have a moment to spare? I need something delivered to the Captain and all my other subordinates are occupied at the moment. Could you deliver this to her?" He held out a sealed envelope.
"Yes sir," Noly nodded, accepting the letter. Captain Tinderbright's office was on the way to her barracks, all she needed to do was drop it off on the way. Following some more affirmations and small talk, Noly jogged over to the Captain's office. This was hardly the first time she's been asked to scurry about from place to place delivering messages. Tasks are not unlike the stuff Silly says she does in her Magister school.
Speaking of Silly, she was happy she was still…Silly.
Noly heard a lot of talk about magisters from the other Farstriders and none of it sounded good.
She wouldn't deny there was a brief time when Noly was worried her friendship with Silly might end one day when the blonde decided she was too 'superior' to deal with a gutter rat like Noly, despite their shared background. That she would break their friendship so she could be with her 'magister' friends. They sound nice enough when she talks about them (one of them at least) but that could just be Silly being too nice to bad mouth someone behind their back.
Of course, that day she lost Silly never came. Sure, Silly acquired a bit of a magister 'accent' from her schooling but she never changed as a person. No maniacal laughter (that was done not as a joke) or pish-posh disregard of normal things. And especially none of that "blah, blah, blah, look at how important I am, blah, blah, blah, my clothes are so expensive they're worth more than anything you'll ever earn!" kind of talk. Okay sure, Silly got upset when Noly almost broke some colorful rocks once, but after seeing that the rocks explode when shattered put into perspective why she acted up.
It wasn't all bad though. Silly enchanted a cloak for her so she could be nice and toasty during the winter as a birthday gift! She's not really sure how Silly did it, but whenever it gets too cold her cloak warms up and when it's not cold it acts like a normal cloak. It's the envy of all the other recruits who shivered in their boots and glared at her enviously during the winter months!
One girl even tried to steal it, Noly gave her a black eye for the trouble.
While she was glad her best friend was still normal, Noly had just heard so many horror stories of what the magisters are capable of to not worry just a little. Breaking people's minds with magic, constantly preening like peacocks with their collective wealth in constant attempt to one up each other, being so prideful that they are incapable of taking even the smallest slight without reacting violently, and a bunch of other less charming displays of power.
Why just last month there was an incident with some magistrix Lady "Something-Something" and a merchant in the town of Emeraldscape.
Apparently, something the magistrix purchased from him was not prepared in the specific way she wanted it and demanded a full refund while he argued he filled out the order as written. While Noly wasn't sure how this situation escalated to the merchant's warehouse being set on fire, but by the time rangers arrived to see why the building was in flames they found the magistrix's retinue holding the man in place while she held the note to his face and asking if he could see better in the light.
What makes it worse was that nothing happened to her! She ruined his business and he was the one who had to apologize for testifying against her actions in court!?
It wasn't fair!
Maybe Silly will one day reach such a rank that she'll be able to fix this broken system and make the magisterial class accountable to the rest of the kingdom, or maybe she'll never be able to. She just hopes Silly never turns into one of them.
Noly reached the Captain's office rather quickly, and was about to knock on the door when she noticed the door was not only ajar, but that there was a conversation going on.
"- thus, it has been decided that the accommodations for the refugees will be expanded for the immediate future. You are permitted to request additional foodstuffs to offset the drain on your own stores until such time when the refugees are escorted to their new dwellings for the duration of their stay. Healers from the Church have also volunteered their services for the immediate future."
Despite knowing better, Noly's curiosity pushed her to crack the door open to get a better look at what was happening.
There were three people in the office: Ranger-Captain Tinderbright and two men she didn't recognize. One wore the colors of the Training Enclave, the other was a courier of some sort, reading off a message to the captain who looked less than thrilled at what she was told.
"May I?" The Captain rubbed her temple and motioned the courier to hand her the message. Taking the note, Tinderbright soon tsked as her eyes raced down the lines, "This is ridiculous."
"Pardon?" The courier tilted his head at her comment. "Is there something you wish to be clarified?"
"My enclave barely has enough rations for ourselves, let alone the increasing number of humans flooding into the Eversong," she sighed and plopped the paper on her desk. "I'm not blind to the plight of these people. They've seemingly lost their homes, their loved ones, everything they might have held dear only to stumble into a land not their own."
"They've seemingly, captain? "The courier frowned at Tinderbright's statement.
"A poor choice of words," she sighed, correcting herself. "I have no issue with them seeking protection beneath the shadows of the palisades for a time to collect themselves, Light knows how swiftly a wandering berserker can cleave their way through wayward travelers. But the drain on this enclave's supplies is growing by the day. I would have them be sent elsewhere then create a tent city on the cusp of the Eversong."
"Supplies will be made available to your enclave," the courier reiterated.
"And when the number of humans doubles? Triples? More? What then? Shall we drain our own granaries to feed all of Lordareon?"
"You would throw them back into the wilds? To possibly certain death?" The courier crossed his arms, surprising Noly with how well he was holding his ground against the captain.
Tinderbright pinched the ridge of her nose at his rebuttal. "There's an abbey to the south east of the border under the protection of the Silver Hand. I would be more than happy to organize rangings to clear the roads and keep them open for travel. It would hardly be the 'wilds' and they would be amongst their own kind."
"Thankfully, for their sake, it is not up to you Captain. These orders come directly from Lord Marris with General Windrunner's personal approval.
"Of course, these orders came from him," Tinderbright mused aloud, as if something suddenly clicked in her mind. "It all makes sense now."
The courier frowned, "Regardless of your opinions on the issue, you have your orders. See to them, and know that I shall relay your…disagreements to Lord Marris himself."
"Please do," Tinderbright muttered as she waved the courier to leave, the ranger making a swift exit from the room. So swift that he almost shoved Noly into the ground with how fast he was moving.
'Excuse you,' Noly wanted to say, though she held her tongue. Seeing the door was now wide open, she decided this was as good a time as any to deliver the stablemaster's report. Straightening out her own uniform, she strode into the room.
"Excuse the interruption, Captain, but I have a message from the stablemaster for you," Noly spoke clearly, immediately getting the attention of the other ranger she didn't recognize. An aid probably.
Rather than reply, or even notice her, the Captain grumbled and held the missive over the candle flame, as if wondering if she would burn the note. "Ranger-Lord Nathanos Marris. By all that is holy, what has happened to our great Kingdom?"
"Ma'am…?" Was she asking Noly a question? The redhead shot the Captain's aid a look only to find a mirrored expression of confusion on his face.
"We had standards back when I enlisted, such as the Farstriders being above nepotism found so commonly in the Magisters," the Captain continued, ignoring Noly's comment, her eyes never leaving the paper. "Usually, a Ranger needs to serve for centuries before even being considered a possible candidate for Ranger Lord. Even then, you were likely to spend decades serving beneath a sitting Ranger Lord before being officially granted the rank. Now? One only needs to serve beneath the Ranger-General for a few years before being granted the honor. Or did she serve beneath him for a few years? I wonder…"
"Ma'am?" It was the aid who spoke up this time, taking a step forward and clearing his throat to get her attention.
"Yes Sylvian, what is… oh," Tinderbright finally noticed Noly. "Ah yes, what is the issue recruit?"
"I- I have a message from the stablemaster for you, Ma'am," Noly almost tripped over her own words.
Tinderbright said nothing, merely gesturing to Noly to lay the note on her desk before bidding her off without another word. But as the door closed behind her, Noly was sure she could hear the captain's voice swearing about something.
Why was she so upset? It was something Noly could not understand. They were helping these people who had no place to go, wasn't that what the Farstiders were created to do? Help the innocent and downtrodden? And it wasn't like they weren't going to get any support, the General herself was endorsing the plan to help these people. So, what was the big deal? Did Captain Tinderbright just have some bad experiences with that Ranger Lord and it was coloring her attitude?
Ugh. Noly wishes people would just put aside their petty squabbles when they were helping people.
Yet heading back to her barracks, Noly couldn't help but feel that something was going to happen soon. While she's had this feeling since the first refugees came over, it was only after hearing that the Ranger General herself was getting involved that really tipped her over the edge. What was once an inkling was something tangible.
She could feel it in her bones. Like the calm before a great storm. Call her superstitious or easily worked up, but she could just tell that something big was coming.
Even so, she was sure that they would overcome whatever it was! That's how all the stories go after all: the forces of evil get vanquished by the forces of good! Over and over again the stories go, from the beginning of time to modern day, and this time would be no different.
She was sure of it!
AN: Wow this took a long time to get out. And it is a little on the short side, but at this point I just wanted to get this thing out.
And Noly just jinxed it! Yes my friends, the time of Warcraft 3 is nigh!
Also, apologies for taking soooooo long to get this out. First it started as procrastination, then my desire to write was deadened by the state of Warcraft as a whole and the narrative choices Bliz chose, (Shadowlands being "20 years in the making" my ass bliz)
Still, even after seeing Warcraft run itself off a fucking cliff, I knew I just had to continue this story. Being my very first story, its special to me.
Still I have hope for the next expansion. I mean, the story can't possibly have three duds in a row under the direction of a man who thinks Game of Thrones Season 8 was a "good send off" to the series...