Rain doused Moonglade for three days. Even Cerelial sought shelter in their home. So lessons took place under the eaves of the house while it rained. Naturally this led Cerelial to teach Sapphire about water. How Azeroth was covered majorly in water. The oceans around continents, the snow and ice on mountains and the northern and southern ends of the planet, and even the clouds were all different forms of water.

Sapphire was fine with water...so long as she could see what lay below it. She did not trust even Lake Elune'ara that bordered Nighthaven. Other young druids enjoyed the lake. Some of them invited her to join them, but Sapphire always refused.

Eventually the rain stopped. The forest remained moist for a while though. Cerelial showed Sapphire spots in the forest where mushrooms would sprout after rain. He taught her which ones to eat, and which ones could kill her. The deadly mushrooms were nice presents for Keifer.

One day shortly after the storm, Sapphire heard a pitiful crying noise as she explored near the Shrine of Remulos, where Keeper Remulos resided. Sapphire had met the fascinating half deer, half night elf like keeper.

Sapphire went toward the distressing sound, climbing over rocks and trudging through dead leaves.

A tree limb fell sometime during the storm. It lay across the forest floor in splinters. The width was thicker than Sapphire and it could have killed a person if they were underneath it.

But something lay underneath it, crying and shrieking. Sapphire ran over to the tree limb and got down on all fours to look under it. Something alive was definitely under the tree limb. Sapphire grabbed the wood and attempted to lift it. Over a year of eating well, Sapphire was no longer as skinny as she had been when she left Icecrown. She was stronger as well, but she could not just lift the tree limb.

She gently let go and transformed into the other animal form she had mastered. There in the temperate forest, a white tundra bear stood in amongst the dead leaves. Sapphire bent down pressed her shoulder against the tree limb. She pushed up, heaving the tree limb.

The creature underneath the tree limb was all kinds of bright colors. It darted out from under the limb, but stopped as soon as it was clear. Sapphire let the wood collapse to the side.

Sapphire thought at first it was a giant butterfly that had been caught under the tree limb. Vibrant rainbow, membranous wings were spread out limply. But the animal moved then. It was like a lizard and butterfly had made a baby together. The lizard thing looked up at Sapphire with solid black eyes.

It then attempted to flee, jumping up in the air and flapping both wings. But it yipped in pain. One wing crumpled easily at the movement and it fell to the ground.

"Oh, did you break your wing?" Sapphire asked in concern.

She reached down to help the poor creature. It backed away in alarm, but she spoke soothingly to it.

"I'm a druid, little lizard friend! Let me help you."

The thing relaxed and let her take it in her arms. Sapphire knew a simple healing spell, but it would definitely not fix the poor thing's wings. So she made her way out of the forest. As soon as she reached the main road, Sapphire rushed up to Nighthaven and found a senior druid.

"Excuse me! This thingy hurt its wing!" She cried out to to tauren woman. She stopped what she was doing with some potted plants and looked at the sight before her. The tauren immediately took the animal from her.

You found a faerie dragon?" The druid asked incredulously.

Sapphire supposed it could be considered dragonlike, but she thought it looked more like a lizard. She nodded. The druid cradled the dragon and took it into her home. Sapphire stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. The woman came out briefly and gestured for Sapphire to come. The girl followed.

She thought that the druid might want to question her where she found the dragon. Instead, the druid healed the little dragon without saying a word to Sapphire. The dragon shivered on the kitchen table as the healing took place. Its little black eyes seemed to pierce Sapphire deeply inside her soul.

It cooed as its wing gently healed. Once the druid was done, the little faerie dragon did not hesitate to burst into the air. It zoomed all around the room, knocking over a few of the tauren's cooking ware. Sapphire and her both frantically tried to save the more fragile plates and cups. Finally the dragon stopped being so exuberant. It saw a bowl of fruit and dove toward it. Sapphire watched it devour the fruit.

The tauren placed her plateware on a polished counter. "Poor thing might have been stuck under than for days. You will want to make sure she eats enough."

Sapphire turned to look at the older druid in confusion. "Me? Why me?"

The faerie dragon dropped an apple and flung herself at Sapphire. She yelped as the tiny thing grabbed her hair and tugged it. The dragon then proceeded to climb onto her head and claw at it like she was attempting to nest. The tauren druid laughed hysterically.

"Oh, my dear. Faerie dragons are very intelligent and are known to get attached to druids who help them. Look at her. Clearly you are stuck with her now."

The faerie dragon tilted her neck until she was looking at Sapphire upside down. It flicked out its tongue and started to lick its own eyeball.

Arthas would hate the cute, colorful reptilian animal. Sapphire immediately fell in love. She pried the dragon off of her head and thanked the druid for helping. The tauren recommended to Sapphire that she inform her personal teacher about the faerie dragon. Sapphire promised she would and left the woman's house. Before she went off to tell Cerelial however, Sapphire immediately ran home.

She came into the house screaming. "Lethumo! Keifer! Arthas! I HAVE A DRAGON."


"Hey Dogbreath!"

Ethan attempted to ignore the obvious bait. He stopped brushing the chestnut stallion and placed the brush on a stool. As a trainee, he and others were required to do many tasks for more experienced paladins. Clean armor, prepare bandages, deliver food, or even take care of the knight's mounts.

The horse he had been grooming was named Mirador. Ethan did not know who the owner was, but he thought the horse was pretty nice. He did not judge Ethan.

Stockley, Durl, and Verril entered the stables. Verril leaned against a support beam and folded his arms. He and Stockley were human, whereas Durl was an orc. The three of them should have been doing their own tasks, but he doubted that they followed that rule. They did not follow any other rules it seemed.

Ethan turned to the group and replied to them curtly. "Hello, Stockley. Durl. Verril. Have you three volunteered to work in the stables?"

Durl snorted derisively. "Oh yeah."

Stockley smiled that annoying smile he always had. His teeth were unnaturally white.

"We have always dreamed of shoveling horse shit," He said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Verril saw the bucket of feed that Ethan had set down before he started brushing the horse. The boy picked it up and proceeded to dump it onto the dirt floor. The bucket followed, hitting the ground with a thunk.

"Oops."

Ethan restrained a noise of irritation and went to retrieve the bucket. Naturally, Stockley wanted to make things worse for Ethan. He kicked the bucket to the other side of the stables.

With that, Ethan had enough and he snapped at them.

"This is not how paladins should behave," He said, trying to appeal to the boys' better nature.

"Neither is licking yourself," Stockley retorted.

"Or drinking out of a bowl with your tongue," Durl added.

Ethan had done both of those behaviors in his earlier days in Hearthglen, not knowing that was not normal. The teasing of everyone had quickly put an end to that. For the most part, everyone forgot about his strange early days. Stockley and his ilk unfortunately refused to forget. Ethan learned how to eat with utensils or drink out of a cup like a normal person. He stopped scratching himself behind the ear like a dog. It was uncomfortable, to stop acting like his normal self. In his heart, he was still a member of his pack, no matter how any cruel remarks made him feel.

It was only these bastards who continued to torment him.

Ethan tried to go retrieve his bucket, but Durl grabbed him and shoved him against the wall. Verrill snorted with laughter.

"Come on, puppy dog! Why don't you bite me or tuck your tail between your legs."

Verril grabbed Ethan by his hair. "Do you think he has a tail?"

"If he does, I'd love to chop it off."

Ethan shoved Verril off of him, causing the trio to get even more hostile, but he was saved by the approach of someone. The three boys immediately stood up straight. Stockley even turned paler than he already was. Ethan turned around to see who it was.

A grey haired man entered the stables in full armor. He was old, one of the oldest paladins Ethan had seen before but looked like he could fight Ethan and Stockley's group without breaking a sweat. Everything about this man gave Ethan a comforting feeling.

He looked at the four young man and Ethan saw an amused smile grow on the man's face.

"Good morning young paladins."

He looked at the trio. Not a single one of them looked like they had been working hard in the stable. Not a single strand of straw or horsehair on them. Meanwhile, Ethan looked like he had been rolling around in the stable. Horsehair clung to his plain shirt. Straw poked in and out of his dark thick hair.

Stockley bowed his head reverently. "Highlord Fordring! We were just-"

"-Just about to help our dear friend Ethan here!" Verril interjected. He yanked Ethan toward him and put a friendly arm around his shoulders. Ethan grimaced at the contact.

Highlord Fordring nodded, as if that was an acceptable answer. He gestured to the chestnut stallion Ethan had previously been brushing.

"While you three clean out the stalls, I will need your friend to help me saddle dear Mirador."

Verril released Ethan and he quickly went off to help Tirion Fordring. Tirion Fordring. Probably the greatest paladin as far as Ethan knew. He thought that the Highlord might be too important to saddle his own horse, but apparently not.

"Do you mind finishing these buckles. I'm afraid its too hard on my back to bend like that," Tirion Fordring said. Ethan gladly said yes sir and bent over to tighten the saddle straps underneath the horse's belly.

Ethan's heart pounded fiercely. The Highlord checked Ethan's work and did not seem to find any issue with it. The paladin then turned to Ethan, smiling warmly. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Surprisingly, his grip was strong and firm despite his age.

"Thank you, lad. I won't take up any of your time now. Mirador and I can leave without any help."

Ethan nodded silently. He really did not know how to respond to him. Only until after the Highlord left did Ethan curse himself. He stared at Fordring wide eyes like some dumb, moonstruck puppy.

Luckily for him, the embarrassment of the event faded quickly when the stablemaster came back to see Ethan standing there idly. The dwarf woman put both hands on her hips.

"What are ye doing standing there? Are ye some kind of tree? Turn out the far right stalls!"

Ethan recovered and sprinted off to complete his tasks.