The addition of a flight master had initially been a heavily-used novelty, but then the Alliance had wiped out Camp Taurajo and taken over the southern Barrens. The Horde response, which included a heavily-fortified wall between Mulgore and the Barrens, had virtually halted all commerce that passed through Bloodhoof. On the one hand, the flight path made travel to and from Bloodhoof extremely simple, but on the other hand Bloodhoof had almost completely lost any relevance.
Now, on most days the flight master's post sat deserted and silent. Word was that the flight master, Tak, now rivaled Uthan Stillwater for his knowledge of fishing lore and wisdom. In fact, Innkeeper Kauth sometimes joked that Tak had his eyes on Uthan's job whenver he got around to retiring - or more likely, shuffled off to his ancesters. Uthan was not the retiring sort.
For a people like the Tauren, this isolation actually suited their purposes quite well. They recognized the immense value of their emerald valley, and treasured it all the more for the danger it faced on all sides. Here, in their own enclave, they lived at peace with their natural surroundings. Even those who had fought their way across the festering pits of undeath in Icecrown - or who now fought Deathwing and his minions - returned here to restore, recover and relax.
Matosawitko and Lith'atal rented a small tipi near the inn. Here, they had immediate access to the trainers and merchants. On the occasions when Mato traveled to Thunder Bluff or beyond, Lith stayed with Gennia Runetotem and continued her training.
Lith'atal looked forward to Sunday afternoons most of all. There were no formal lessons on Sunday. Instead, she and Mato would walk around the south half of the lake. Starting behind the inn, they would walk and talk as they worked their way around the lake to the bridge, then on around the shore until they arrived back home again. On these days, Mato would teach her about the plants, animals and other items they saw on their way.
One day as they walked, Lith'atal asked a question that had been forming in her mind for some time.
"Dad, why are we druids? I mean, why are there druids, and paladins, and all of these other classes of adventurers?"
He paused and looked at his girl, already on her way to becoming a young woman. Though she barely reached his waist, she already had knowledge and strength beyond her years.
"You mean, where did druids come from, and why? What is it about the druidic arts that attracted me many years ago, and you likewise more recently? How do druids see the world and respond to it?"
"I suppose that's a start." She smiled mischeviously up at him.
He snorted a mostly-suppressed laugh.
"How about if I tackle the last question first? Druids have a high view of the natural order of things. Nature runs best when we don't meddle with it. Now, sometimes things are introduced that upset the natural balance. Plagues, disasters, that sort of thing. Some have causes that we can fight against. Others are out of our control and we must let the will of Mu'sha be done."
"But isn't fighting against those things actually meddling?"
"That is a great question, Lith. And that is one of the primary reasons for the division between different druidic branches. The night elf druids believe it is our role - their role - to protect nature at all costs. However, they also tend to be rather closed-minded toward any viewpoint but their own and rather ham-fisted in their implementation. Some of their efforts have actually caused as much harm as they have prevented."
"In other words, as long as they believe themselves to know what is best, then others' viewpoints really don't matter?"
"Precisely. Tauren, on the other hand, take a much more lighthanded approach. We tend to watch things develop - sometimes perhaps a bit too long - before deciding to take action. And our actions are rarely as absolute as our night elf brothers and sisters. However, I believe we treasure nature just as much - if not more so - because we allow time for it to take corrective action on its own. But if we do take action, we believe it to be the only alternative and will fight to the death to complete it."
"What about the other druidic races, Trolls and..." She stopped for a moment and shivered. "Worgen?"
"First allow me to point out that, though you are in fact a Troll and a druid, you're somewhat of an abberation - an oddity."
"Daddy!"
"Well, it's true. You are a Troll in race, but you live among Tauren and are trained by Tauren. There is a latent druidic line within the Trolls, but as far as we know you are not actually related to it in any way - certainly not by way of training. Now, then. The interesting thing is that both the Troll and Worgen druids represent withdrawal from nature or circumstances, for various reasons."
"For example, until just a few weeks before we met, nobody even knew there were Troll druids. There were whispered rumors of cats that were really people, living among the tigers of the Echo Isles. But nobody had actually seen one until the events that brought about Zalazane's fall and the reclamation of the islands."
She looked pensive, reminded for a moment of the scant memory she carried of her own parents and their capture, disappearance and apparent death at the hands of Zalazane. After bowing her head briefly, she looked up and nodded for him to continue.
"One could argue - and many have - that they were containing and fighting against Zalazane all along. However, some of our fellow druids wanted to know why they hadn't revealed their presence before, and I agree. It's circumstantial, but the evidence suggests that they could have been waiting to join whichever side was strongest. Almost a mercenary approach. They were content to disconnect from all of Troll society rather than have a meaningful impact during the long years of struggle."
"Now, that doesn't really answer the question at hand, but it has a strong scent to it. If they were content to let their own people suffer without a homeland for so long, how bad would things have to become before they would tackle a larger issue? No, much like their disconnect from society, they also have disconnected from nature."
"To some extent, Worgen are even worse, or at least more heartbreaking. They actually started as humans, but were so engrossed - enslaved or addicted - by one aspect of druidism that they became beasts. Their story is one of profound sadness and pain. However, their withdrawal from the world was not entirely by their own choice. Instead, the Gilnean leadership locked them away, perhaps intending it to remain permanent. And not only the druids; they locked away the entire kingdom. Even their re-emergence into world politics has as much to do with the actions of the Forsaken as it does with the Gilneans or the Alliance. By all accounts, the Forsaken hated Gilneas and intended to take it over by force. Unfortunately, the rest of the Horde was either unaware or unwilling to intervene. The Gilneans turned to the Alliance for aid, and it was given."
"To be fair, during their self-imposed exile the Gilneans apparently relied upon druidism - among other arts - in order to survive. The nature-based magic of the druids would be essential in a self-contained microcosm. But they also tend toward the same introspective insularism... let me say that a different way before your eyes glaze over. They have a similarly high view of themselves as the night elves."
Mato looked up to see that they had completed their circuit of the lake. "Shall we go around again? That way I can answer some more of your questions."
"Yes! Please, daddy?"
"Okay. But when your legs are sore in the morning, don't blame me." He smiled.
"Now, let's talk about where druids, or druidism, comes from. Cenarius was the son of Mu'sha and the white stag Apa'ro. You recall the large banners in the hall on Elder Rise? One of them talks about the emergence of Cenarius. Now, Cenarius trained the Tauren and elves - the ones that we now call "night" elves - in the druidic arts. As I understand it, he himself learned from Ysera, the Green Dragon aspect."
"So the Tauren and night elves were the first druids, and the Trolls and Worgen came later?"
"There is some contention on that point. In general, it seems that the night elves - most notably Malfurion Stormrage - began to receive training from Cenarius slightly before the Tauren. However, it is not clear that the Trolls ever received training from Cenarius or anyone else from the Cenarion branch. Their druidic customs may go back to an older source, or may at least be a separate branch of druidism that developed independently. The Worgen are more recent, apparently having received training from night elf druids following the creation of the Emerald Dream."
"The Emerald Dream? What is that?"
"Sorry, young one. We would run out of daylight walking around this lake before I could even hope to cover that topic. That must wait for another day. However, in a nutshell it is one of those ideas that may have sounded really good but has ended up being called the Emerald Nightmare."
"The Worgen were known as Druids of the Scythe because they were somehow bound to the Scythe of Elune. That is the night-elven word for Mu'sha, by the way. Somehow, this binding resulted in the curse that turned them into Worgen and passed it among the population of Gilneas. As I mentioned, the first Druids of the Scythe fixated upon their feral forms and pack-like behavior to such an extent that they either forgot how or were unable to fully retain humanity."
"This history is interesting, but what about you? What attracted you to druidism? And did you see the same thing in me when we met?"
"As Tauren, we live very close to the land. Not that we elevate it above ourselves, but we live in symbiosis - mutual benefit - with it. For example, look at the kodo. He is one of the most noble creatures of the plains. Yet we hunt the kodo. We tame him and ride on his back or use him for a beast of burden. We kill and eat the kodo. We use his skin for clothes and tents. In fact, a significant step in the life of any Tauren child is his first kodo hunt and kill. It is then that we judge he is ready to become an adult. But what do we do for the kodo? After all, a symbiosis should benefit both sides."
"When we moved into these lands, the centaur ran rampant over them. They would have hunted the kodo to extinction. We protect the land. We keep it safe from invaders and those who would take advantage of it. We make sure our lakes remain pure, and that there is grass and range for them to run, breed and grow. We take no more of their number than is necessary. The kodo fears little in these lands anyway. With our protection, he need not fear anything."
"However, that doesn't really answer your question. For me specifically, I saw the honor and duty of protecting this land. Furthermore, I saw that the druids, more than any other group, valued our natural resources for what they were. As you know, one of the most significant - and noticeable - features of a druid is the ability to shapeshift into other forms. Have you noticed that all of the forms are 'natural'? They are the forms of things that we see around us in nature. Druids do not become demons or dragons or other fantastical shapes. Not that those things do not exist - they do. But their forms are based on things that originate outside the world. Instead, we become birds, cats, bears, owlbeasts and seals. We become things that are in essence purely natural."
"What about bats? Gennia says that the Trolls also transform into bats."
"Yes, and bats." He tousled her hair. "But that's not entirely the answer either. My interest in druidism, I mean. Being a druid is complex and challenging. You will make choices throughout your training that will drastically affect the rest of your life. Druids can fill many different roles, both within society and within a military structure. Some use the power of the earth to become great healers. Some harness the power of the sun and moon to become magic casters - almost like nature-based mages. Some, like me, have chosen to concentrate on their feral forms - bear form to act as the leaders and protectors of a group, or cat form to inflict massive damage through shredding attacks."
"Paladins can fill those same roles, can't they? Or shaman, except perhaps for the protector role."
"Yes, but they remain in one form. When you see a druid, you know from across the city exactly which branch they have chosen. You wear that expertise like a badge of honor. As for you, when I met you I knew immediately that you were special. That you were strong, even though you were scared and in deep trouble. Those are good attributes for a druid."
She looked up with a twinkle in her eye. "Daddy, be serious. All you knew was that I was crying like a baby and you wanted to make it stop."
"Ha! Is that what you think? If you want to cry like a baby..." He wrapped her in his arm and began to tickle her ribs, but she squirmed away and ran out of reach.
"You might be bigger, but I'm faster. Race you to the house!" She was off like a shot. He shouted after her.
"If you're in such a hurry, maybe you should be a mage so you could blink everywhere!"
She ignored him.
-----
Author's notes:
This story is set approximately three years after the events described in my previous stories. In part this is because I believe that a gap of some period of time is required for all of the Cataclysmic aftershocks to occur, such as zones that change from desolate to lush, towns that must be rebuilt, etc. As far as I know, we don't really have an "official" timeline yet. Also, I think it makes a better story from a character development perspective.
I know I've kind of left it hanging, but her parents are really dead. I'm not going to introduce a parental-rights conflict in this story arc. If I think it's a story worth telling, maybe I will cover her backstory in more detail someday. For now, let's leave that thread where it is.
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