Reunion

Later in the night a male orc with a wolf-skin mask entered the wagon and sat across from them. Xainia was asleep while Okquina continued to stay by her; the new presence woke her up and she curled up against the back of the wagon again.

"Okquina, Brog sent me here to try and see what the story of this troll is." The new orc spoke in his native tongue.

"She won't tell you, she doesn't talk." Okquina asserted, also speaking in orcish.

"I don't plan on requiring her to talk." The orc removed some items from his bags.

"What's your name anyway?" Okquina asked.

"I am Hasur, one of the shamans of the warchief." He lit some herbs aflame in a small dish, giving a strange smell to the air in the wagon.

Xainia recoiled a bit at the smell and Okquina whispered to her. "Rest, he won't hurt you."

Hasur raised his arms in the air and called out. "Spirits of the wilds, show me the pains of this troll."

The air in the wagon filled with a strange light as the spirits answered the call of the shaman. Hasur's vision went black as he saw the city of Jintha'alor from the sky in his meditation. Suddenly, his mind seared as Xainia's had. The memories of the troll hit him at a rate almost faster than he could comprehend.

"DarkspearBringbackdinnahwolfAtal'aiHakkaramphitheaterXaenusfathernottrollmeatpotions motherDalnuyaVilebranchtrolleattrollmeannotbelongblandsteaksfathertiredfatherdirtybittentuskbrokenrunrunmustrun! motherfatherworriedtunnelfatherleavemotherleavefindparentsclimbhidehideenemy!enemydeadfatherhurttrollinmaskyell 'eatthem!alive'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaxesrunrunagainfastermustgofaster tunnelarmhurtstoneheavyblockholeblockholevoicesmeanvoicesyelling stone… darkness."

Hasur shook visibly as it hit him so quickly. His nose began to bleed slightly and his eyes filled with tears as the glowing ceased and the spirits left him. Breathing heavily, he regained himself and sat thinking for some time.

Finally speaking to Okquina, Hasur took a concerned tone. "Can you leave her for a moment? We need to speak to Brog."

"I suppose." Okquina pulled a blanket over Xainia and stepped out of the wagon into the cool ocean night. Hasur quickly fetched Brog and brought him back to outside the wagon.

"So whats with the troll?" Brog asked them.

"She is still acting strange, but I was able to get her to eat." Okquina spoke up.

"Have you figured out why, Hasur?" Brog questioned further.

"Yes, the spirits showed me why she is broken." His eyes almost began to tear up again. "I can't express it all to you, but I will say what is important.

"Go on, it must be quite a tale to have your looking like this, Hasur" Brog sat down on a barrel near them.

"Her name is Xainia." Hasur relayed to them that she wasn't a forest troll, but a troll of the 'Darkspear' tribe. Almost as if he had been there, Hasur spoke of how the Vilebranch trolls sought to create the egg of Hakkar and how she had been attacked then witnessed her parents cannibalized alive when they fought the summoners. "I am assuming that the place you found her in, Brog, was where she fell out of her escape tunnel."

"Well, I guess the warchief might not be against her since she's not a forest troll. I don't see what to do with her, though." Brog was confused and still thinking over all he had heard.

"Okquina seems to be trusted by the troll." Hasur brought up.

Brog turned to Okquina. "Good then, take her into one of the rooms below and keep her there, Okquina. You will be her guardian."

"Wait a minute, I get her to eat and now I'm her guardian?" Okquina was surprised.

"I can't have us dragging around a helpless troll everywhere with the grunts. You stay at the base camps with her once we get to this new land that the warchief tells us about." Brog ordered. "Good luck."

With that, Brog went on to his duties and Hasur turned to Okquina. "You'd probably do better to not show that you know about her. She might not want anyone to know."

"I was guessin' that." Okquina went back inside the wagon.

Xainia was still asleep, curled up under the blanket that Okquina had given her. Even though she was sleeping, the tears still ran down her face. Although she was still a young troll, she was still rather heavy for Okquina to carry. Hardly waking at being moved, Xainia held herself against her guardian. They quickly descended into the ship and went into one of the empty rooms that would have been officer quarters for the alliance. Okquina laid Xainia on one of the hammocks in the room and sat down in a chair, sharpening her weapons, as the ship sailed on to the west.

The monotony of the sea quickly bored many of the orcs on the ship. Okquina ended up being one of the only orcs with something to do; take care of a young troll. Xainia laid in the hammock all day with blankets over her, physically she was healed but mentally she was still torn. The only time the tears stopped was when she ate. Although the food was just simple ships rations, it was marvelous Xainia. Eventually, she was able to get Xainia to walk around the cabin a bit, but the actions always seemed forced and automatic; her mind was elsewhere.

Soon the seas became stormy and the storms never ceased. Above, orcs scrambled to keep the ship afloat as the great swirling maelstrom that they had sailed into assailed the fleet. Xainia had begun to understand enough orcish to know that things were wrong, she kept curled up in her hammock, half hoping that she would die from the storms, and half hoping that she would just be safe. While Okquina saw just an empty room, Xainia's vision was much more plagued.

"You gonna pay for dat tusk!" The troll who had bitten her stood constant in her vision, ethereal and unreal but still scaring her.

"Hey you, go eat her." The troll in the wooden mask floated there too, not shaken by the ship moving.

The broken tusked troll dove for her always and she would see herself being chewed on, but then she would make the slightest movement and the visions would restart on her. These hallucinations drowned out the sound of the mainmast snapping above her head as the ship continued to toss and turn. Xainia was tossed from the hammock, through her hallucinations. Scrambling to get away from them she hid in the corner of the room. Okquina had been called away to help topside and so the young troll was left with only her visions for some time. Then, almost as suddenly as they had begun, the storms around the fleet halted.

An orc called loudly from his post atop one of the still standing masts. "Brog! We've sighted land. The Warchief's ship is sailing for it!"

"Well follow them!" Brog called back as he ran about the ravaged deck issuing orders to the grunts manning the remaining sails.

The ships moored themselves off of the tropical islands as close into shore as they could come. The order soon came to repair the ships completely before continuing.

"Xainia, come with me. We going on ground." Okquina returned to the room to find Xainia crying and huddled in the corner.

Seeing someone else drove the visions away for a moment, so Xainia quickly rose and followed the orc, carrying the blanket she had used on the ship with her. While heading to the newly built bonfire outside, Xainia looked at no one, she draped the blanket around herself like a hood and stayed close to the only source of comfort she had known in these horrible times, Okquina. It seemed that they had moored near a village of some sort.

"Darkspear? Wha you talkin' bout mon?" A voice spoke clearly in troll. Xainia feared it; it must be one of her hallucinations.

"Okquina, is that her?" Brog yelled over in orcish.

"Yes, but what…" Okquina paused at the sight of who Brog was talking to.

Brog came over with his companion. "Well we can't see if there's a blanket over her head." He complained to Okquina.

Xainia scrambled to pull the blanket back up out of instinct as Okquina pulled it away, but then she saw what was in front of her. Before her a male troll of her color holding two spears stood. Unsure of whether she should be afraid or not and unable to feel joy, she just stared blankly at the troll.

"This is Ur'denai, one of the Darkspear trolls. This island is their home." Brog informed Okquina.

"Ya, she Darkspear. Wha she doin wit you?" The troll looked Xainia over and informed them.

Peeking to the left and right sides of him, she suddenly noticed many Darkspear trolls all over the area helping to repair the ships. Knowing that she could have lived out here with her parents but not considering the reasons why they were stuck in Jintha'alor, Xainia cried again and sank down to the ground, pulling the blanket over herself again.

"Why she sad? She home." The troll looked at them.

Okquina answered the troll's question. "We tell you later. We've got work to do."