AN: A lot of the inspiration for Mayla and the Highmountain tauren came from A Mountain Divided by Robert Brooks and illustrated by David Kegg.

I'd also like to give just a general shoutout to Christie Golden for her many contributions, particularly The Shattering, which will always be one of my favorites.

Mulgore- Sometime in the future

The rolling plains of Mulgore gave Mayla Highmountain a sense of peace that was utterly unique to the place. Normally when she visited Thunder Bluff, she visited the villages and tribal enclaves. But she treasured her times walking with Jama the most, and when Jama had the baby they were constantly being stopped and interrupted by people wanting to admire the latest member of Cairne's bloodline. There was no way to get anything done or talked about that way, so it was perfectly reasonable for the two of them to stick to the roads out along the plains.

It gave Mayla a chance to simply enjoy the land, the beautiful weather, and a friend who wanted absolutely nothing more from her than the pleasure of her company. Mayla didn't even have to speak. Jama was perfectly content to leave her to her thoughts, walking easily beside her and sharing a small loaf of Mulgore spice bread, which was the greatest thing ever exported from this land, in Mayla's opinion. The sound of the wind in the grass and the lowing of kodos over the hills was broken only by Toru's laughter and baby talk.

Jama carried him in a clever harness across her chest. Normally, he would have been facing her but Toru wasn't having that. He needed to be face out so he could look at everything with wide, curious eyes. His fur was shading into a pale brown and those dark, dark eyes he'd inherited from his mother were a striking contrast. You could clearly see he was taking in and thinking about everything that passed into his line of vision, just like Jama. And also like Jama, he seemed to find a great deal of it funny.

They had paused to let a family of kodos pass across the road while the baby waved at them when Mayla noticed it for the first time. Amused, she nodded to where two young ones were strolling a bit too casually up a side road. "Do they think they're being subtle?" she asked Jama over Toru's happy squeals.

Jama laughed. "A compromise to having a guard. It gives the young ones a chance to practice their scouting and gives everyone some comfort since any of them can get to a patrol or village in no time at all. We're not supposed to know about it, though, so don't say anything."

Mayla snorted. There wasn't anything in Mulgore they couldn't handle between the two of them but she understood Baine wanting to show courtesy. He would have felt he was neglecting his duty not to have at least some protection for another High Chieftain in his land whether it was needed or not.

It also gave a friend who was a new father the reassurance that his mate and baby were looked after, and knowing Jama, that had to be an issue that was danced around very carefully. She'd probably only consented to this much for the baby's sake. Mayla had no objections.

The strolled far enough the Great Gate that guarded the only real entrance to Mulgore came into sight. Mayla cocked her head when she saw a group of mixed races- both Horde and Alliance -gathered there. She squinted, making out two tauren figures she was soon able to distinguish as Aponi Brightmane and Tahu Sagewind, the founders and leaders of the tauren's paladin and priest orders respectively. "That's the Sunwalker, yes? Aponi?"

"Paladins and priests," Jama confirmed. "King Wrynn's idea. He reached out and Baine conceded to allow some of their trainees to come out here under supervision if they wanted to learn about different ways of seeing the Light."

"And how many of the Alliance priests come out here either to instruct the heathens on how true servants of the Light act or make sure the younger ones aren't corrupted?" Mayla was unable to keep the cynicism out of her voice.

"About half. But that's less than when they first started and many of them really are here to understand how the Light flows differently in everybody. We haven't had any serious incidents so far. It's a start and not a bad concession on both sides, considering."

"I heard there were calls to have that gate torn down as a gesture of faith," Mayla remarked.

"Baine didn't even bother to consider it," Jama said, her voice dry. "It's not going to happen in this generation and probably not the next. At least the siege engines aren't on the other side anymore. There was kind of a push to rebuild Camp Taurajo, as well, but no one was willing to do it and Baine won't force them. Or clean up the ruins. They'll stand for as long as the Gate does, I'd wager."

"Being a chieftain is about balance," Mayla said quietly, the troubled thoughts she'd been trying to keep at bay rising in her mind.

"Are we finally touching on what's been bothering you?" Jama turned her head to regard her with dark, knowing eyes that saw all too much.

Mayla sighed. She should have known she wouldn't be able to hide it from her. "It's nothing you can help with, Jama, let's get that straight right away."

"Oh, Earth Mother, I should have brought a wine skin instead of a water skin, shouldn't I?"

"Let's say a High Chieftain with no heir is making the elders nervous. Especially..." Mayla managed to stop herself but glanced down at Toru.

The baby blinked up at her innocently but his canny mother picked up on what Mayla had been about to say despite herself. "...especially now that Baine's crazy mate has given the Bloodhoof line an heir?"

"Not many feel that way, Jama," Mayla hastened to say. "Mostly among my tribe and the Rivermane. None among the Skyhorn, they love you."

By An'she, she'd done all she could to make sure Jama never heard the mutters, especially since it seemed like base ingratitude after all Jama and Baine had done to help their people's sudden transition into the rest of Azeroth. But the Highmountain tauren held duty and tradition as some of the highest ideals and for Jama, flouting tradition came as naturally to her as breathing, which irked some of the elders and more traditional amongst the Highmountain. Add in Baine Bloodhoof's staunch defense of his freewheeling mate and absolute refusal to try and curb her and you had an odd, strained situation for everyone all around. Baine insisted the world and the Horde as it was needed people like Jama as much as it needed people like him and while Mayla agreed, it was hard to convince others of it sometimes. Trying to guide her people from being the guardians of the Hammer to finding a new purpose sometimes seemed like riding a placid river only to hit a waterfall.

Mayla had been so wrapped up in her thoughts she only now realized Jama had gone ominously silent. Her friend had stopped in the middle of the road, stock still except for her tail swishing back and forth and one fist clenched at her side. Her dark eyes were flashing dangerously. Usually, Jama had excellent control over that wildcat temper of hers, but the times it had snapped its leash were legendary among her people and it was clearly straining its leash now. "Testing each other in a Great Hunt...that's healthy competition," she said. Her voice started out low but grew with every word. "Eagles verses wyverns in a race...that's healthy competition. How fast you can cross the Barrens verses how fast you can climb a mountain...that's healthy competition. Who has a baby when is not a competition. I don't care how important the bloodline is. It's ridiculous and insulting to you, to me and to Baine."

Jama was snarling, her fur bristling in outrage. An insult to herself she might have brushed aside, but insulting both Mayla and Baine...

She looked ready to march straight to Thunder Totem and give the Highmountain elders a piece of her mind right then and there. Knowing full well she was capable of doing just that, Mayla cast about for something to head her off and her gaze fell on Toru again, who was looking up at his mother with wide, worried eyes. "Jama, you're scaring the baby."

Jama went from outraged wildcat to anxious mother in the space of a heartbeat. Mayla fought to hide her smile as Jama shifted him in his harness so she could cuddle him close, murmuring softly to comfort him. "Jama, my people have been guarding the Hammer of Khaz'goroth for as long as anyone can remember. It's been our duty to the world- our sacred duty -since the days of Huln. Now it's gone. My people are at loose ends. The knowledge that Huln's bloodline will continue on would soothe a lot of anxieties. It's something to consider."

"It does a child no good growing up feeling like their an obligation," Jama muttered, tucking her baby against her more closely.

Mayla frowned at her, stung. "Do you really think I'd do that, Jama?"

"No!" Jama's head came up, her eyes going wide. "I...no. I'm sorry, Mayla, that was beyond insulting. I'm so sorry...I..." She frowned. "I don't understand why anyone would feel it's their right to get on your case about that. Although..." Her frown deepened, "a lot of our elders have been a lot more tolerant toward me since I had the baby. Huh. Despite the mutters about hoping his father's bloodline will be enough to balance out his mother's."

Now it was Mayla's turn to stop dead and stare, unable to believe anyone would have the nerve. "I'm going to guess none of them have said that when Baine was in earshot," she said through gritted teeth.

"Even they aren't that stupid. Baine...doesn't know. He doesn't need to. It's nothing, not worthy of his attention. Or yours."

"I suppose he'll find out about it if one of them pushes you too far. He'll want to know what that litter of bodies around the bottom of the mesas are." Mayla let out a slow breath, silently conceding this was something to let Jama handle just as her own problems were hers.

Jama kicked a clod of dirt off the side of the road, bringing the conversation away from the subject: "You've held your people together against odds that would have broken even Huln. You've done everything to earn their confidence. It's not fair they can push you on this."

You're thinking as my friend, Jama, not as a leader and Earth Mother bless you for it. Jama was the best ally she'd ever had and you couldn't ask for a better champion when things were looking dark, but she would have been a disaster as a chieftain and she was the first to admit it. Mayla kept her voice quiet, wanting to make her understand why this was something only she and her people could deal with. "I'd never bring a child into this world without wanting to, no matter what anyone else wants." As she said it, something that had been tight in her chest loosened up and she realized those words were true. She would do her duty to her people but there was only so far she would go, no matter what the consequences. "If you taught me anything, Jama Bloodhoof, it's that honor and duty have their place but so does love. So does desire. So does life."

"And I certainly don't have objections to you having any of those things. I don't care what you decide as long as it's what you want as well, Mayla." Jama squeezed her shoulder.

"Yes," Mayla said simply, squeezing her shoulder in return. She ruffled Toru's ears softly and they fell into silence again, walking slowly along the road toward Thunder Bluff, one with a heart more at ease than when she'd come and one with a heart a bit more troubled.

Later, Baine Bloodhoof stood in the doorway of his lodge and looked out over Thunder Bluff as the night fell. Jama liked to see Mayla and the Highmountain tauren off personally whenever they returned home from a visit and he thought that was an especially good thing this time around.

He'd been relieved to see that a lot of the stress and tension he'd seen in Mayla's eyes when she'd first arrived had faded when she left. The trade off for that was a dark, brooding look in Jama's eyes, but at least he could guess the cause for that: Mayla had confided in her about whatever was bothering her and it was something Jama couldn't help her with, which his mate would find maddening.

A tug on his mane brought Baine's attention down to where his son was nestled in the crook of his arm, determinedly trying to undo one of his braids. Toru grappled with the gold fastening at the end, but his hands weren't quite up to the task. "You have the will but not the strength yet, my son," Baine said, carrying him out of the night chilled air back into the lodge.

He tugged his braid free and Toru gave him an indignant look so like his mother's that it made Baine laugh. The little one made a grab for the braid again and Baine pulled his head back, earning him another glare and an annoyed snort. "Complain about it to your mother, maybe that will cheer her up." He pressed his snout between his son's tiny horns and snorted gently, just enough to ruffle his scruff of a mane and make him giggle before Baine set him down on a mat in the middle of the floor. Robbed of the puzzle of his father's braid, Toru grabbed at a small pile of wooden balls and rings painted in bright colors. His eyes, however, remained fixed on the door flap, his little ears pricked forward attentively. He made an odd sound, almost a squawk. "She knows what time it is, she'll be back soon," Baine assured him, amused.

Indeed, Jama came in a minute later. That brooding look was still in her eyes but she lit up when Toru moved toward her. He couldn't quite crawl yet. It was more of a clumsy scooting, pulling himself on his hands. Baine shook his head in mock dismay. "Earth Mother help us when he finally gets on his hooves. Which should be any day now at the rate he's growing." Jama laughed and the sound loosened a knot of worry in Baine's heart. She scooped Toru up, who squawked again and immediately stuck his snout down the front of his mother's dress.

Baine chuckled. "The Tyrant of Thunder Bluff is hungry."

"You are a little tyrant, aren't you?" Jama murmured. She nuzzled the baby and started to carry him into the next room. Baine touched her shoulder lightly as she passed but before he could speak, someone came to the door requesting his attention. Jama gave him a soft smile and brushed a hand over his before continuing on. Baine sighed and turned to the door. Whatever was bothering her, he would have to find out later, probably when the baby was asleep.

"You know, I've fought warchiefs and rulers and monsters of all sorts that would have been happy to enslave me and none of them managed it. But you have, you little tyrant. And I couldn't be happier," Jama informed her son she crossed the room to a beautiful chair that had been a gift from the Highmountain during her pregnancy. Wide and comfortable, it had been carved in smooth, curving lines from a single tree trunk. The back of it was canted backwards slightly and the seat and back were heavily cushioned with stuffed hides. She settled in it, cradling Toru against her as she nursed him, gazing down at him with a fierce joy that seemed to burn through her sometimes when she watched this little creature she and Baine had made. Earth Mother, he was already so big. "You're going to be as magnificent as your father," she murmured after a while. A dark look crossed her face and she scowled a bit, her tail twitching. "But you don't have to be." The temper she'd been holding back started to rise, though she kept her voice low and her body still, not wanting to scare her baby again. "I wanted you because I wanted you, not because the Bloodhoof line needed an heir. You were never an obligation and you'll never feel like you are. I won't let that happen. You might have been born to be a great chieftain, that's all well and good, but my point is that you don't have to be. You're my baby boy and I will always love you and be proud of you. It doesn't matter to me whether you become a great chieftain or...or if you settle in the summits of Pandaria and breed yaks until you're old and grey, if that's what makes you happy! I'll brag about it. If the yaungol steal your yaks, all you'll have to do is call on me and I'll come straight there and help you defend them." She paused for a moment, reflecting on her own words and rather glad Toru didn't understand what she was saying because she wasn't quite sure where she was going with that. She studied him in silence for a bit. "Your uncle always told me our parents never wanted me. That they just felt they had to add one more soldier to the Grimtotem's destiny," she mused. "But then again, Van would say something like that. I never knew them, so what do I know?"

She frowned and shook her head. "A child shouldn't be anyone's duty."

Baine had come to the doorway in time to hear most of that colorful rant. It brought a smile of mingled amusement and love right up until the last part about her brother. Jama didn't talk much about her upbringing among the Grimtotem. She'd come to terms with her brothers and wanted to put it behind her and Baine respected that.

But on occasions like this where she let something about her childhood slip without thinking, it brought a whirl of emotions through him that still knocked him for a loop. A mixture of rage toward the brother even the other Grimtotem had regarded as a monster and a fierce, protective desire to sweep her away somewhere she would always feel safe and loved and never have to even think about things like cruelty and brutality.

Knowing full well her life here in Mulgore was as close to that as anyone could offer, he let that tide of emotions pass and took a breath. It caught Jama's attention and when she looked at him, he raised his gaze upward and shook his head in exasperation. "Look upon your brightest star, Mu'sha. She still has doubts she'll be a good mother."

Jama, embarrassed at being caught in one of her private snarling sessions, grunted and waved a hand at him, looking down at Toru again. Baine came up to them, stroking a finger along the baby's mane. There was a long moment of silence before Jama said hesitantly: "Baine...it's not that I'm not proud he's a Bloodhoof. I'm happy I've given your bloodline an heir. It's just..."

"I understand." And he did. His hand lifted to cradle her face and she turned into the caress, closing her eyes. Between what he'd just heard and seemingly casual remarks and questions from Mayla throughout her visit- most of them in regard to what it was like to carry Cairne Bloodhoof's legacy -several things clicked into place and he could hazard the guess: "Mayla is getting pressure from the elders to give the Highmountain bloodline an heir." At Jama's nod, he sighed. "I'm actually surprised it took them this long to start nagging her about it."

"It's not her fault she hasn't come across someone who'd be a mate worthy of her."

"Jama, according to you, no one is worthy of Mayla."

"Well, no one is. But she should have all the time in the world to find someone who suits her without them poking their snouts into it."

He tweaked her ear. "Our elders did the same thing and I managed all right," he teased. He could sympathize, both as a leader and scion of a great family. He'd been expected to uphold the legacy of Cairne Bloodhoof all his life and even he couldn't imagine what it had to be like to stand as the upholder of the legendary Huln Highmountain's. It was something he and Mayla understood about each other that Jama couldn't understand about either of them; both the pressure of it and the joy and pride it brought. For Jama it was, in fact, the exact opposite.

Jama echoed his thoughts: "I get it on some level but I'm not from so great a name as hers so I don't really understand what it's like to have that expected of you."

Baine nodded toward their baby. "How could you when you have people remarking on how his father's bloodline should be strong enough to overcome his mother's?" His voice was deceptively mild. She gave him a startled, wary look.

It was both endearing and irritating that she didn't think he'd known. "Oh, yes, beloved. The fact I haven't thrown them off the mesa doesn't mean I haven't heard about that. Aska Mistrunner practically pinned me to the wall about it when she overheard such a remark and she's not the only one."

"I don't care what they think, so let's all save our wrath for the ones who actually have the gall to say that to him when he gets older," Jama advised.

His fur bristled at the very thought. "If anyone dares..."

"The mesas will be just as high then as they are now, that's all I'm saying."

Baine made a sound somewhere between a growl and a laugh, his anger breaking.

The little tyrant of Thunder Bluff- warm, well fed, and not worried at all about their reasons for having him -burped contentedly and nestled against Jama, falling asleep under the gaze of his adoring parents.

Baine stared at him. "There will be things expected of him as he grows up, Jama," he said quietly. It was something they'd brushed over a few times since she'd gotten pregnant but hadn't come right out and said. "Because he is a Bloodhoof. Because he holds a legacy that's not just dear to our people but a part of who we are."

"I know. I won't fight people on it. Or you," she said simply. That easy answer caught him off guard because he knew some of those expectations would irritate her, if not outright anger her. Because of her life and her upbringing, Jama had a fierce, burning independence that made her such a fine champion. He knew her well enough to know she'd see some of those expectations and assumptions from the other tauren as intrusive or trying to impose on her son instead of letting him be who he was. "It also means he'll never know what it's like to be afraid of the ones that are supposed to protect you, or feel like a burden, or go hungry while others watch and don't care."

"Ah, Jama..."

She gave him that crooked smile of hers that only he only ever seemed to see. "I can't promise that I'll like it, but I won't oppose it. Much." She reached up and touched his arm with her free hand. "I only ask one thing, Baine. One promise. You're a great warrior and so was your father, and I know the Bloodhoof tribe are prided for their warriors. But he comes from a long line of shamans too. If he becomes a great warrior, that's wonderful but let it be a path he chooses to walk. Promise me if the elements call to him...or the Circle...or the wilds like they call to me..."

"You have my promise and I will watch him walk any of those paths with pride, my love." Baine covered her hand with his own. "I think the Earth Mother called us together and I think she'll guide him down any path he needs to walk."

"Thank you."

He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. "Do you think we can convince him to stay here and breed kodos instead of yaks? The Bloodhoof tribe is known for that too, you know."

She laughed softly. "He does like kodos." Jama stared up into her husband's eyes for a long moment, cradling their little one between them. "I love you."

"I love you." Baine leaned down and pressed his muzzle against hers lightly for a long moment, then gently took Toru out of her arms. He snuffled in his sleep as Baine settled him in his cradle, shifted around restlessly for a moment and laid still again. "Sleep, my son." He slid an arm around Jama as she came up to his side. "Whatever awaits you, you're going to need all the rest you can get for it, I think."