AN/ See if you can spot the Johnny Cash reference...

Chapter Four: Heritage and Monikers

While she was waiting Zufli took the time to put on some more modest clothing. When Kavu'fon returned Zufli started right off with, "Kavu'fon, I' not sure we should be leavin' d'ese guys alone. De 'Boss' guy sounds bad, and dey will know where we are when no one comes back. If we attack, o' maybe set up a trap outside d'ere camp, we could get rid o' dem." She didn't say anything about the young troll that was there, being beaten by the "Boss."

"Yes, I agree. And if we do dis, we must go soon to keep de element of surprise, but first ya will need somet'ing." He went into his room and she heard him rummaging around, then he returned and handed her a worn, yet very sharp axe. It was much lighter than it looked, she noticed, but it was still bulky for her small hands and a little difficult to handle. "Dis was yo' mot'er's before she died, and it was her father's before her. It be made o' a metal dat is only found on de Home Isles, and may be de last of it' kind. I t'ink ya are ready fo' it."

Zufli, daughter of Dokir, looked at the axe that had been in her family for generations with a mixture of deference and a lack thereof. She acknowledged that this was a symbol of her heritage, but she also saw it as a weapon that she was likely to be using soon, and that it was not time to ogle at the dulled, but intricate, designs.

"Anyway, ya need ta know how ta defend yo'self in case... Well, ya need ta know." With that he proceeded to show her the basics of axe wielding. After fifteen minutes of that he made a broth with special ingredients in it to counteract the weariness they were starting to feel, they had both fought a battle in the middle of the night with only a few hours sleep after all. Then they set off to kill a Warlock.

Kavu'fon summoned a murloc and two stun wards outside and picked the wards up, which he explained was so that they would not have to be summoned near their magic-sensitive enemies. He outlined the plan as they stalked through the jungle. He was going to sneak close to the camp and put one of the wards near the entrance. Then he was going to stealth around through the woods until he was about halfway between the entrance and the back of the camp and set the second ward. After waiting for a few minutes to make sure Kavu'fon had time to do this, Zufli would draw up magic right near the entrance. When someone came to investigate Kavu'fon would attack from behind, and he had the stun ward to protect his back if he needed to retreat. The summoned murloc would stay with Zufli so that if for some reason anyone attacked her instead of turning to the Witch Doctor she would have a good chance at escaping while the murloc distracted them.

The extra murloc was unnecessary because the plan went perfectly. The bodyguard set off the first ward, Kavu'fon hexed the troll leader as he ran toward the commotion and a small swarm of summoned creatures attacked the two defenseless Warlocks. The only surprise was when a young troll came out of a tent, saw as his father was turned into a crab and threw a powerful lightning spell, not at Kavu'fon, but at the crab. Then a giant turtle, larger than the last one at about five feet in diameter, started tearing the crab apart with its sharp beak. The bodyguard came to before the two summoned murlocs could kill him, but had only managed to kill one when the turtle finished with the transfigured leader and charged him.

The young troll kept his eyes on Kavu'fon, mana brought up and watching the enemy child but not attacking. The aged Witch Doctor was cautious, and rightly so given the power of the spell the boy had cast, but eventually yelled out of the trees, "I' not gonna hurt ya, but let yo' mana fall so I can come out peaceful, 'kay?"

The was a pause before the boy said, "Why should I trust you?" He kept his mana drawn.

"Because if I wanted ta kill ya I would just tell dis ta do it for me." At his words the turtle lumbered over, large for its kind and formidable even to an accomplished spellcaster.

"Alright, now show yourself!" The young troll relaxed slightly and let his mana slip away, keeping a wary eye the on the turtle.

Kavu'fon emerged from the trees and yelled, "Zufli! Come on up!" Then he calmly walked closer, examining the youth as he did. Unlike his father, he was as blue as any Darkspear tribe troll, but his hair was cropped into the mohawk of a green-skin native. He was dressed like a prince, with elegant robes that did not impede movement or magic use. Kavu'fon thought for a moment about what this might mean and said, "So, what be ya name?"

"Sha'alith." He pronounced the "th" in the correct human way instead of cutting it off with a "t" like a normal troll tongue would. "Yours?" he asked

"I' Kavu'fon." He paused for a second, still assessing the situation. "Why did ya attack yo' fat'er? Dat be a mighty strange t'ing ta do."

"I attacked him because he was a sadistic asshole. Why did you?"

The old troll raised an eyebrow at such an obviously defiant, yet cunning retort. It was hard to believe he was only a little older than Zufli's age, he seemed to have entered adolescence early. "Same reason, but I didn' know dat for sure. It was de fact dat he sent de people dat tried ta destroy my Hut dat I wanted him dead."

Zufli arrived then, coming up behind Kavu'fon. The summoned creatures were starting to vanish with crackles of electricity, and a few of her hairs were standing on end. She observed the other child, his eyebrows furrowing when he saw her. She noticed the look in his eyes were not hungry, like the evil man-orc's eyes had been. His pointed ears, which were currently flattened showing his confusion, already had several piercings despite his young age. However, the earrings were not the loops that Kavu'fon and her wore but what looked like long fangs, which accented his stubbing tusks. He did not wear a portion of his hair tied up into a bun on the top of his head. His clothes were similar to Kavu'fon's robes, but lighter and with less layers. His gazed fell to the axe in her hand and she hefted it, more of a nervous gesture than anything. Hoping he had not been corrupted by the horrible adults he had been around, she walked to Kavu'fon's side and said, "Hi."

"Hi," was his curt reply. She thought he sounded almost annoyed and it startled her, though she didn't have a clue what she had expected.

"Zufli, this is Sha'alith," he said, replacing the ending with ph to best replicate the sound. Then he turned back to the boy and said, "So, we be goin' soon. I understand if ya don' like us for attackin' yo' tribe, but if ya got no place else ta go den ya can come wit' us. It will be hard ta find food alone, but I won' force ya." He paused for a while here letting him think it over.

._._._._._._._._._.

Sha'alith considered his options. He held no resentment at all for the death of his father, he had been hoping to overthrow the tyrant himself as soon as he was powerful enough. Add to that the fact that he had been wishing for a real family ever since he was old enough to wish and the decision was easy. However, he was wary of Kavu'fon because he had power. He was the leader. In Sha'alith's limited world, anyone with power would use it to their advantage. Maybe someone would have a little heart and show someone else a kindness, the orc father-son pair in the camp (who were now dead, he remembered) would work together and help each other in battle more than anyone else in the group, but the father still passed his manual work down to his son so he did not have to do it. He was tuned to that type of cutthroat attitude, and this made him not only cynical but untrusting of real kindness. Too many times he had fallen for, "Hey, boy, want some of this loot?" only to have the shiny jewel snatched away at the last second and then being laughed at for falling for it.

"Alright, I'll go wit' you, but you better not try and trick me." Zufli turned then to leave but he said, "Wait! Aren't you going to take all de stuff? We got a lot of good stuff here."

Zufli stayed close to Kavu'fon while they searched the camp. Sha'alith found the book about magic, it was in the largest of the tents in the camp, and he gave it to Kavu'fon who tucked it into his robes. He separated from them and returned later with a small purse filled with gold, a piece of armor and an ornate short sword. He abruptly said, "Dis was my fat'er's and I claim it."

Kavu'fon said, "Alright, d'ere yo's," and continued searching. They filled a sack with valuables and potions, another smaller one held the few magical items that were found, and a third held gold and silver coins. When they were done a small tent, Sha'alith's, was taken down and packed (by Sha'alith, because only he knew how to do it) and Kavu'fon summoned three small murlocs to help carry everything. Sha'alith decided to take several things from his tent, so he had the largest burden other than the murlocs, but he did not complain once and from what Zufli could sense of his mood seemed to take pride in being able to carry his stuff on his own. They made it back to the Hut just as the sun was coming up. Feeling exhausted from being up all night and the fighting, Zufli went to bed as soon as she could, not stopping to help the two others set up the tent for Sha'alith. It was not like she would have been any help with it anyway.

._._._._._._._._._.

The addition of Sha'alith dramatically changed the group dynamic of the Hut. Kavu'fon gave him some basic rules, like no violence or stealing, and he told him about how far he could go. The small clearing, the jungle and the bases of the mountain were safe, if he decided to go beyond that he was at risk of being killed. It wasn't off-limits, he could go if he wanted to, but if he did it was at his own risk.

When Zufli woke up after the attack Kavu'fon warned her to stay wary of the new boy. He told her that he had set a few sentry wards around the clearing, so if she was going to talk to him to do it near one of them. After that he shortened her magic lessons while he read through the book of magic. Because she didn't have much to do she decided to talk to Sha'alith and get to know him better. She went outside and started moving toward his tent when...

"Zufli?"

She hadn't noticed Sha'alith poke his head out of the tent flap. She stopped and they looked at each other for a second, then she awkwardly said, "Yes?"

He stepped out of the tent fully. "What is Kavu'fon like? He isn't mean at all?" The tent was a good distance away from the Hut, so the chance of Kavu'fon hearing was minimal.

Like last night, she was struck by the fact that he didn't seem to be responding appropriately to the situation. He was talking to a girl of his age and race, and he did so like it was nothing. Trying to keep the same cool head that he was, she responded, "No, he' not mean. He' never, um, ya know, hit me or anyt'ing." She said it lightly, knowing what Sha'alith's father had done. Changing the subject, she said, "Why ya talk like dat?"

"What do you mean? I don't talk funny, you do."

Zufli thought for a second about that. Kavu'fon was the only person she had talked to before this, and he talked like the trolls that he had grown up with. She used that as a counter, "But I talk like Kavu'fon, and he talks like de ot'er Darkspear trolls."

"Oh," he said, then paused for an uncomfortable second. "Is, um... Is that where you two come from?" He started to walk as he said it and next thing they knew they were walking around the clearing.

"Yeah, my mot'er and fat'er were Darkspear trolls and Kavu'fon left de tribe when he sensed de Human invasion."

"Wait, he isn't your dad? I t'ought he was."

"No, my mot'er died when I was born, but not 'cause I was bein' born. She was hurt in de invasion and Kavu'fon saved me. He tried ta save her as well, but she loss' a lot o' blood. Dis," she hefted the axe that she was becoming accustomed to carrying around with her, "was my mot'er's. My father was huntin' when it started and he eit'er died as well, or went wit' de ot'er trolls ta de mainland. All I know is, he never came ta check on my mot'er o' me, Kavu'fon left a sentry ward ta see if he came ta de hut, and he didn' come back."

._._._._._._._._.

Sha'alith was sad at Zufli's loss, and the confusion she must have on the subject. He was also touched that she had shared something so personal. In the world he grew up in, that was like handing a weapon over to someone who you knew would use it against you. Deciding to reciprocate the show of trust, he said, "My mot'er was a blue-skin troll too. My fat'er caught her scouting alone for your tribe and, um, dat's how, well, um..."

He trailed off and Zufli didn't push it. After a moment she said, "So, about ya talkin' funny. Why, do ya say yo' name all human-like, but ya say "fat'er" like I do?"

"I don't know, dat is how it is said." He slowly pronounced his name for her, " 'th' is part of it, so I just learned it dat way. I don't know why I say everyt'ing else normal."

She giggled and he looked over. "I' sorry, it just sounds like a girl name when ya slow it down like dat." His face grew purple then, a natural color for trolls if they were embarrassed. This almost made her giggle harder but she caught the curve of his lips as they contorted into an anguishing sneer. She was taken aback by how many emotions seemed to be shown from the strange facial gesticulation.

Anger won out over everything else he was feeling and he yelled, "Yeah, I know! My dad did dat so he could get drunk and laugh at me! Anyway, why are you making fun of my name? 'Zufli?' I might not be as good with troll as you, because I didn't have someone to cared enough to teach me, but it sounds like 'baby witch' to me! Baby!" With that he ran back into his tent, leaving Zufli with tears in her eyes.