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Again, I really appreciate the kind reviews that have been given so far. As of my writing this, there's four of you who have left reviews, and you all are enough to inspire me to try to update twice tonight. (If I don't manage that, which I very well might not, I promise an update tomorrow).
Don't own WoW, would be less broke if I did, yadda
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Five Years Ago
"Come on, Gav, are you really that sore you got beat by a girl?" The redhead was laughing, her clothes – simple clothes, a rough linen shirt and a borrowed pair of blacksmith's trousers she used when she was working – and hair – simple hair, dark red and tied up in a bun, with strands hanging free over her face – soaking wet. She was backing slowly away from Gavren – which, in the rocky hills outside of Northshire, was tricky to accomplish without losing her footing and making a fool of herself, which would have decisively ruined her moment of triumph.
He shook his head, grinning back and hefting another water skin. "I learned to accept being beaten by a girl the day I met you, Cath. But I also learned to get pleasure winning where I can. And you foolishly turned your back on all of the water!"
She was still grinning and backing away. If Gavren got too close, the shot would be too easy. "Well, when we brought water supplies out here for our days work, I guess my silly little self figured we'd be drinking it, not playing Gavren Joins the Imperial Navy," she smirked.
"Ah, silly you indeed, Cathery. I distinctly recall you noticing that I brought substantially more water than necessary this morning, and accepting a mumbled explanation with no second thoughts. Admit it, your guard was down." He was adopting his fake-pedantic-teacher tone, basking in his temporary superiority, explaining her folly in the most friendly, teasing voice he could.
She threw it right back at him. "Ah, you are the truly silly one Gavren," she smiled, shaking her head.
He raised his eyebrows and looked at her soaked body. "I am, am I?"
She simply nodded, smiling. Something about her smile was devious, and it triggered a switch in Gavren's brain, causing him to notice that she had stopped backing away. She'd let him get close. And just as metaphorical alarm bells began to sound, he saw her procure a hidden water skin – Gavren's special skin for camping, by far the largest of the bunch – from behind her back. And he saw it leave her hand and arc smoothly towards him.
Really, though, by the time his body started evasive action, it was too late. One short ploosh later, he was soaking. He was soaking more than she was; there wasn't a dry inch on his body. Cathery, for her part, was rolling around on the ground, giggling hysterically. Gavren doubted she'd laughed this much in the last year. Her laughter was pearling and echoing off of the stony hills of Northshire, where the two of them had been engaged in a rare herb gathering contest, and it was loud enough for an army.
Gavren simply sighed and put down the water skin he had intended to assault her with. First more herbs, and now more soaking. Cathery was up two on him, and by the sun, it didn't look to even be one in the afternoon yet. Not much point in attacking her again the way my luck is going; I'm not sure I want to escalate this war if I can't win. I'll get her back later.
He walked over and sat down near the bundles of gathered herbs and baskets of food and water they had brought to allow them to stay out here longer. Gavren's father was the villages potion-brewer, a dabbler in alchemy and all sorts of parlor magics. But he was physically frail, and pushing old age, and substantially less than wealthy. Gavren, and Cathery, doing her best friend's duty, routinely helped him procure supplies.
After he had been sitting on a convenient rock for what seemed like ten minutes, allowing the hot noonday sun to dry his clothes, her laughter finally subsided. She managed to pick herself up and made her way over to him, still grinning broadly.
"Got you good, Gav." She nodded sagely with this statement, the motion proclaiming it as absolute truth. And Gavren couldn't really argue. She had certainly turned the tables on him. So he just shrugged, and nodded in acquiescence.
They sat together in silence for a few minutes, passing a piece of bread back and forth, tearing off small pieces and munching, before Cathery finally spoke. "Let's go North, Gav."
He blinked and looked up. "What?"
She shrugged, nonchalantly. "North. Let's go there. Just for a few weeks."
He stared at her in confusion. "North... as in Stormwind?"
She shook her head and sighed. "No, dummy. Stormwind is boring. North as in the Northern Kingdoms. I know you've always wanted to see Lodaeron."
He was still staring. "Cathery, not to be blunt, but why?"
She shrugged again. She was doing that a lot, lately, and Gavren noticed it. She did it when she was uncomfortable and didn't want it to show. "Because. Because your father's fine – this was more of a stocking up on reserves trip than an emergency supplies excursion, and we have more than enough here to last him for a few weeks anyways. Because we're old, so we can. Because it would be exciting. Because Goldshire is the most boring place in Azeroth."
He frowned. "Better bored than dead, Cath. Haven't you been listening to the news? The Northern Kingdoms are under siege by... something. There's rumors of a plague, there's rumors of zombies, there's rumors of demons and orcs. Some people say that Prince Arthas himself has gone mad. Is this really a good time for a field trip?"
She shrugged. Again. Gavren knew it meant something, but his brain wasn't telling him what it was yet. "It wouldn't be that dangerous. We could stick to main roads, stay near cities, make sure we can see guards wherever we go. It would just be nice to travel, see the world a little bit. You could find yourself some nice young woman to marry."
He laughed. "Yeah, a woman who can cook."
Her glare was fiery and immediate. "I can cook perfectly well, thank you."
He kept laughing, feeling he had finally gotten one up on her. "Pies – traditionally speaking – aren't supposed to be green, Cath."
She frowned. "That... that was the oven's fault. And besides, so what if you're right. Maybe I can't cook. All the more reason for you to go meet someone who can," she finished brightly.
He regarded her for a few minutes, smiling at a temporary victory in their endless verbal sparring, and suddenly, it clicked in his mind. The shrugging, the surprising proposa, and the look he had seen in her eyes yesterday when she thought he wasn't looking.
"You want to run away from home."
She jumped like she had been shot, staring around guiltily, refusing to meet his gaze. "No! I just... it's not that - "
"I know you too well for this, Cath," he murmured, shaking his head at her with a tinge of sadness. "You want to run away from home. From your father."
She opened and closed her mouth a few times, no sound coming out, before she found the ability to speak. She was soft now, reserved, her secret shattered. "Yeah."
Gavren looked at her, waiting for more, but apparently 'yeah' was all she felt like sharing at the moment. "It's okay for you to call him 'dad', Cathery."
She shook her head, regaining a little of her fire. "That is one thing I've vowed never to do. I've broken a lot of vows, and I'll break a lot more, but that one I'm keeping."
Gavren sat back and stayed silent for a few minutes, pondering his options before he made a decision. "You're really serious about this, aren't you Cathery."
She nodded.
"And that means you'll go no matter what I say."
She nodded again and looked up at him.
"Well, I'd be a pretty awful friend if I didn't watch your back while you do this utterly stupid thing, then."
She looked shocked for a moment, and then hid it beneath joy as she jumped up and embraced him. "Thank you, Gavren - "
"BUT," he cut her off, "there is a caveat." She looked at him expectantly. "This isn't permanent running away from home. Not yet. That's a huge bridge to burn, Cathery. We'll go for a few weeks if you really need to get away from your father for a while, but we're coming back. And then we'll see." He was looking her sternly and squarely in the eyes. "Is that a deal?"
She just hugged him again, tighter this time. Gavren was slightly worried she'd crack a rib, and pushed her back a little to give himself some breathing space. "It's a deal, Gav. Thank you. Thank you."
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The herald pushed the doors open and bowed low before the eleven night elves seated around a firepit. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I present the Druidess A'lunthorela." The herald backed away from the doors, making room for Edelia to squeeze in and offer a bow of her own to the committee before she assumed a formal standing position from which to make her report.
"Something has undoubtedly occurred of great significance. I believe that as the Kaldorei, we in our knowledge and power have a responsibility to act. The spirits of the world have felt great disturbances..."
Her report went on for about ten minutes, detailing things the assembled Night Elves very much did not want to hear. Strange magics in the world, with an increasing demonic presence. Rumors floating on the tongue of the wind about a plague of undead ravaging the lands across the seas. Disturbances in the North of the world.
Edelia was a member of a vocal minority. Many of her superiors had made substantial efforts to silence her. The last thing they wanted was to have to admit the existence of these events and these phenomena, which posed threats to the very heart of the Kaldorei way of life. Edelia and her troublesome cohorts seemed – to the druidic elders – only too happy to destroy peace and quiet with bizarre and outlandish predictions of doom.
When she had finished speaking, the assembly sat in silence for several minutes before a tall male elf on the far left, sporting a shock of almost painfully bright green hair, opened his mouth to speak. "Could these," he started, and then paused, as if searching for the right word to continue, "disturbances you speak of be related to the green-skinned creatures who have recently appeared to the South of our lands?"
Edelia shrugged. "I can't speak with any authority here. I haven't had much communication with the Sentinels, whose scouts have done all of our reconnaissance work. But my intuition tells me the two are unrelated. The green-skins arrived after the initial reports of these 'disturbances' were received."
Another committee member opened their mouth with another question, this one more meaningless than the last. The process was repeated until Edelia's work and fears, all gathered up in this report, had been reduced to an object of almost mockery.
The same as always.
Sodding idiots. Pretended to take me seriously for all of ten minutes before things went straight to hell.
Eventually she was escorted out of the room, feeling much more worried than she had before her entrance. Edelia was not always on smooth terms with the rest of her race, but she very much did not want to see them destroyed. And she was very much worried that it was going to happen.
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Author Comments, Part Two
Like I said, I'm going to try and get the next chapter up tonight as well. I'm not sure if I'll accomplish it, and I repeat my promise to have it up tomorrow if I don't.
Hopefully a good bundle questions have been raised in your mind by now. What the hell happened to Cathery? What the hell happened to her father? What the hell happened to the shaman and priest who were summoned to help Gavren? Who was that man Cath met in Duskwood?
Honestly, there's a lot of character development, arduous adventuring, and epic battling in between now and those answers, but I promise they are forthcoming, in future installments of Ebb, Arc, and Flow. Thanks for reading :).
In retrospect, this author comments part two section seems kind of dumb. I'm going to leave it here anyways. Chalk it up to me being very tired. Sorry.
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