The outpost was nothing more than rubble half-buried underneath mounds of crimson dirt and sand. Amid the debris, only one discernible remnant remained, untouched by the ravaging indigenes who razed this Kul Tiras forward base. It made all the hours of ceaseless, agonizing walking worth it.
"Amazing. The well is still intact," the Traveler remarked, eager to wet his drying lips. He undid the latch on the spool, releasing the bucket into the reservoir below. The audible splash rang up to his ears.
"Do you hear that, Warden? Water."
He heard a thud. He whirled around to find Maiev motionless on the desert floor.
"Warden!" He leapt over the well and dragged her under the shade of a nearby tree. The sun was high up above and he could feel the heat bouncing off the ground, making it all the more difficult to breath. "Maiev, damn it." He pressed his thumb against her bare neck. The pulse was faint.
"Warden, stay with me." He saw her mouth moving.
"My...Watchers..." Her voice was soft, fragile. "Where..."
The Traveler laid her head on his knapsack and rushed to secure the latch. He wasted no time and grabbed the bucket as soon as it emerged from the pit, pouring the cool water over the delusional night elf. Maiev's body reacted to the sudden cold but her mind was still distant. After drenching her a second time, she reached up to grab at anything and he set the pail aside to grasp her hand. Her grip was tight...and desperate.
"Naisha... Naisha, watch out...the Betrayer... We must escape...before...the tomb..."
"Maiev," he mouthed. Experience taught him to let her live her hallucinations. She could see them; he didn't. And he knew better than to interrupt. At this point, anything would have helped to relieve her pain.
"Illidan... Wha..."
The Traveler saw the light in her eyes flicker and he slapped her to keep it alight. "Maiev! Stay with me!"
"...Ah..."
"Come on, Warden. You're stronger than that," he pleaded. "You braved the Legion's demons, you manned a prison for generations, you are a survivor! Do you hear me!? A survivor!"
He shook her violently and her face contorted from stillness to confusion until finally, she shuffled her eyes to him. The slightest hint of sanity flashed brightly against his moistened face. "Maiev, heed my voice. I will not lose you."
"Water..." she whispered.
"Here. I have it here. Drink," he said, ripping his empty canteen off his belt and dipping it into the pail. Cupping her head, he pressed the canteen against her lips, letting the excess filter down her cheeks and moisten her cloak.
He released only when she squeezed his thigh. She coughed and choked until finally, she heaved herself against the bark of the tree.
"Here," the Traveler said, forcing the canteen into her palm. "Drink until you're better." With that, he freed his hands from under her and went to return the pail to the spool.
Maiev watched silently, struggling to find her voice. She drank again, savoring the cool taste of the earth's natural reservoir. She wanted to thank him, to show him gratitude. She saw him stagger in his step until he collapsed against the well, arm reaching up to the spool.
Maiev desperately crawled to his paralyzed frame. If she could make it, she might give him back his canteen, offer him a drink as well...and keep each other alive until help...
The ground darkened before her. She glanced up to find the sun blocked out by the hulking mass of a massive beast...with horns.
It was the sound of a cackling fire that finally woke her. She bolted upright when her skin did not feel the warm steel of her armor. Her body felt so light and yet as she dragged her head to look around, she found the heaviness reminiscent of her caged tenure in Outland. This time, however, instead of bars of steel, she was clothed lightly in a silken robe with the rest of her bare skin hidden underneath a fur blanket.
Maiev turned to see the slit in the teepee. The flap waved under the wind's duress and she was able to glimpse the tall figures moving about outside, some sitting around a fire that was beckoning for her to come.
"Tauren," she discerned.
As if someone was listening, a Shu'halo shaman raised the flap and welcomed her with a wave of his chalice. Maiev felt for anything that she could use as a weapon but her hands suddenly felt lax. With no control over her limbs, she slid back down against the warm cot and gazed back up at the tapestry of this modest hovel.
She knew she had to get out of here but a part of her rebuked her hostility. She could barely understand whether she had been on the receiving end of Shu'halo hospitality or not. Time and again, these beasts had proven their allegiance with the Horde and since then, there have been little to no untoward incidences between their two races. Or none that she had heard about since her captivity.
Leather rubbed against the leather and she turned her head to see the same shaman. With another wave of his chalice, she was finally able to move freely. Consequently, she stammered off the cot and looked around for where they had kept her suit of armor. The floor was carpeted and warmed her bare feet, making her feel more comfortable than she would have wanted.
"Fear not, child. All is well," the shaman greeted.
"Where..." she began only to find her voice dry out quickly.
The shaman pointed at a table, intricately hidden behind a row of clay pots. Her helmet sat neatly atop her folded cloak and mail. Maiev felt for her hair, twirling the ends until she could feel them stretch against her scalp. With a deep breath, she moved her lips to say something understandable to the shaman.
"Come. Your friend is waiting for you," he remarked, extending his massive hand.
Maiev wanted to retrieve her equipment, first, though she finally decided to wait and see what would happen. She was in no rush, right?
The shaman guided her outside to the more bearable warmth of the Barrens sun. Having witnessed the might of these reclusive beasts in the battles against the Legion, she expected to see the field littered with the filth of a warrior society akin to those of the orcs. To her disappointment and more dominant relief, the only traces of any warmongering she could see were the handful of centaur skins stretched around the fire, left to bake under the sun so as to be tanned later.
The rest of the tauren were huddled around the pit, some walking around, others sitting idly. There were massive battle axes and the intricately carved totems that she prayed were from the logs of already deceased trees. Finally, as she was squeezed into the crowd of Shu'halo warriors and druids and shamans, she was welcomed by the fragrance of grounded herbs interspersed with the overpowering sensation of docility.
"Hey, Warden! Finally glad to see you," the Traveler cheerfully greeted, rounding the fire pit and bending down to greet her.
Maiev scowled.
"What's wrong? Aren't you glad to be alive?" Then he realized exactly why she was so apprehensive. "Oh, right... I see." Seeing her only in anything other than her mail and dagger-cloak was an entirely...awkward...experience.
She sighed, her aggressive nature now fully pacified. She guessed Elune had intervened on this day. Though she had heard from Lord Stareye that the Shu'halo worshipped a deity bearing great similarities to Elune, she easily drew parallels between their revered 'Earthmother' and the goddess. Then again, she was still recovering from heat stroke so her thoughts were still probably muddled.
Maiev then gazed up at her—she hated to admit it—only friend, shying away slightly when her glowing eyes caused him to cover his own.
"I could have only guessed what you looked like in simpler clothing," he said, trotting beside her.
The Warden gritted her teeth. "I take it you bare no malice."
"Oh, no, no! It's just that, I haven't seen you looking like this before. Or rather, I haven't seen you looking like a normal night elf."
Maiev felt her jaw drop. "Is that so?"
The Traveler was quick to block himself. "I meant no offense. I was just saying."
A sort of humming attracted their attention and the Traveler heaved himself free of her glare to position himself among the circle of Shu'halo tribals who were apparently engrossing themselves in a rhythmic ritualistic melody. Two finely decorated tauren males were pounding synchronized beats against their handheld drums, enticing the surrounding crowd into the calm fray.
Maiev watched the Traveler excitedly croon alongside the seated tauren. She made sure to keep herself out of sight. Such revelry was deemed pagan and unbefitting for a Kaldorei to participate in. However, she prayed to Elune to give her this one chance to actually witness this particular aspect of Shu'halo culture that did not involve death and destruction.
Before long, she too found herself swaying to the beat of the drums. Maiev gripped the edges of her robe and glanced down hard to keep her from being consumed by the rising atmosphere. Suddenly, the music stopped, punctuated by a large staccato of hooves pounding against the earth. Maiev eased herself against the smooth stone step and observed the eerie silence that dominated the fire pit. The Shu'halo had ceased to move until the shaman that had guided her earlier emerged out of the smoke and hovered his chalice over the flame. A pipe emerged from his hand and after blowing a couple puffs into it, he passed it on to the next tauren.
For a moment, Maiev's heart stilled. The contours of the ethereal smoke took on familiar faces. The blood in her hands ran cold when a pair of glowing green eyes pierced through the nether. It barely lasted a glimpse.
Then the shape contorted until Maiev could discern the features of Malfurion Stormrage. And Tyrande. And Naisha. And...Jarod.
A heavy hand pressed against her shoulder. Despite being deprived of her battle gear, Maiev was able to maneuver out of whoever was holding her and achieve a distance with which she could work with. If she was in a fight.
The young tauren druid immediately retracted her hand. "S-sorry, I-I did not mean to startle you," she shakily apologized.
Maiev felt the need to lash out but nodded controllably. She had a modest grasp of Taur'ahe, the language of these indigenes, and knew enough to understand that the druid was being harmlessly curious.
"You are a night elf, yes?"
The Warden found the question odd. "Yes, I am."
"Ah. I have heard much about you," the druid began, her excitement seeping out of her voice. "You commune with nature just as much as we do. I was hoping we could learn from each other about the earth."
Maiev glanced at the circle where the bulkier tauren, most of them males, were passing around the large wooden pipe; they puffed twice before passing it to the next. She divided her attention between the Traveler and this Shu'halo...who uncomfortably reminded her of her early days as a priestess for Elune: eager, excited, and full of wondrous dreams for the future. But that had long since passed...
The druid drawled on. "Our ancestors fought alongside your kind many years ago. In a battle against the demons. There were so many things that had happened in those times and I am so..."
The Warden drowned out her voice with her own ringing in her head. She knew exactly what this young tauren was talking about. And Maiev kept her eyes on the lively fire. In them, she could see the shapes of her brother, the unwitting commander of the Kaldorei resistance, Jarod Shadowsong, leading the Shu'halo in staving off the demons. His brilliant deployment of such massive beasts had shown the conservative cliques that the outer races were just as capable as they were.
Her daydreaming enraptured her until the Traveler replaced the druid by her side. Unfortunately, his behavior had devolved into that of a rambling buffoon who happened to be the center of attention for the gratuitously attentive tauren. And that putrid odor of burnt...something...?
"Warden, warden!" he cried, his arms stretched over his head. Maiev eased herself away, uncomfortable with the fact that she was lightly clothed and he was inching dangerously over her. "The skies...are green! Hrraaaaoouugh! The skies...are greeeeeeeiiiin..."
"What. Are. You. Doing?" Maiev worded, trying her best to keep herself collected even as he was practically rubbing his arms against her side. She could smell something from his mouth as if his breath alone was not bad enough.
"Maiev." The way her name resounded off his lips made her insides twist. "Look at my hands...looook... I have siiiiix fiiiiingerssss..."
"Human," she growled.
"Oh-hoh-hoh! Woooow... Can't you see the colors...the beautiful, beauuuutiful colors? So beautiful..."
She swore if he so much as touched her—
"Oh, heeey...muffins..."
All the observing tauren, mostly were adolescent youngbloods, wisely stepped aside while Maiev viciously and most furiously hurled her human companion through the air hard enough to make the wind whistle. He rebounded against the conveniently hung stretches of tailored cloth and dried centaur skin, bouncing against the ground until finally landing belly first next to the fire pit.
Still delusional, his mouth quivered with words of how soft and plump the "muffins" were amid the muffled laughter of some of the tauren males.
LAST EDITED: July 14, 2015
UPLOADED: July 21, 2015