Another Pathetic Lifeform

Matosawitko groaned and stretched, rubbing his saddle-weary legs.  He turned and smiled as Lith'atal dismounted just behind him.

"That's a long flight."

She nodded, stretching her own tired muscles.  "But it's still much faster than the zeppelin.  I hear that the Alliance have a high-speed tram between Ironforge and Stormwind.  Wonder if we could get the goblins to build one of those between Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff?"

He shrugged.  "Seems like it would be cheaper just to pay a group of mages to provide portals between all the cities.  Then we could go to Undercity, Silvermoon or wherever.  Not that anybody ever goes to Silvermoon these days.  I think the blood elves like it that way."

"I've certainly never been there.  Let's go see if Tamashi is over at the paladin trainer before we head down to the inn.  It will give us a chance to work out these stiff muscles, too."

They walked slowly across the upper tier of the city, waving to friends and making small talk with the vendors as they passed.

"... so then Tamashi thought we should go to the Southern Barrens, but by then we were well on our way into Feralas and I didn't see much..."  She held up her hand.  "Do you hear someone... crying?"

They had reached the end of one of the long rope bridges that linked the central rise to Hunter Rise.  Lith glanced around, then rushed to the side of a blood elf who sat huddled against the wall of the building, sobbing piteously.

"What's the matter?  Are you okay?"

A cascade of black hair fell across the elf's shoulders as she raised her head, her brilliant green eyes sparkling with welled-up tears.  "I'm stuck...  trapped.  I need to go over to Hunter Rise, but...  I just can't.  The wind, and the gaps, and..."  She lowered her head onto her arms again as new sobs shook her slight frame.

"Aww, sweetie...  That's..."  Lith glanced up at Mato and mouthed silently, "We need to help her."

Mato rolled his eyes at her, then began to kneel beside the elf.  The bundle of black fur next to her immediately rose with a growl, large teeth bared.  Mato stepped back and eyed the large black lion, its hackles raised stiffly.  Then he waved a large hand at it and muttered a spell under his breath.  The lion immediately stopped growling and sank back to the floor, though it kept its eyes trained steadily on him.

"See, I'm not going to hurt her.  Or you, unless you give me reason."  He held out his hands cautiously until the lion rested its head on its paws and nestled against its owner's side once more.  Finally, Mato knelt beside her and rested a hand on her shoulder.  "I'm Matosawitko.  This is Lith'atal, my daughter."  Her surprised hiccup didn't interrupt him.  "We'll help you in any way we can."

After a moment her shoulders stopped trembling and her sobs drifted to an end.  She glanced up at them as she wiped away her tears on the corner of her long black cloak.  "I'm Arna, and this is Mor."  She cast a long look toward Lith, then continued.  "She is your daughter?"

Mato's rolling chuckle surprised Mor, who raised his head once again with a piercing stare.  "It's a long story. Maybe we can get you over to Hunter Rise, then to the inn and we'll tell you all about it."

She nodded.  "I came on foot - well, mounted of course - from the Southern Barrens.  The lift was bad enough, but then I reached the end of this bridge and just couldn't force myself to step onto it.  The wind is blowing so hard up here, and the gaps between those ropes - I'd never be able to stop myself flying right off the side."  She shuddered.  "I've never had a good head for heights."

All three of them thought quietly for a moment, then Lith spoke up.  "How about if you walk across between us?  We're both bigger than you are, so there's not as much danger of one of us falling through a gap.  And that way there's something for you to hang onto without going near the edge."

Arna indicated her approval of the plan and they started across the bridge, arms linked loosely together.  As they walked, Arna gave Lith'atal an appraising look.  "You don't sound or act much like most of the trolls I've met.  Not that I've really met all that many..."

Lith chuckled.  "I'm definitely not a typical troll.  I haven't lived in Sen'jin Village since I was very little.  I lived in the Orgrimmar orphanage for several years, and have lived with Mato - or out on my own - ever since."  She glanced sidelong at Arna.  "How about you?  What brings a blood elf huntress to Thunder Bluff?"

Arna glanced at the plank floor of the bridge before fixing her eyes on the far end once again.  "That's another long story.  I've wanted to be a ranger all my life - since I was old enough to hold a bow.  I grew up in the Ghostlands - the wild forests south of Silvermoon City.  Out there, one's skill with a bow meant the difference between life and death.  I suppose I would have liked to be a dark ranger for Sylvanas - she was my hero in life.  The only drawback to becoming a dark ranger, though, is the whole 'must be undead' requirement - I like being alive."

"However, the ranger lifestyle has fallen on hard times among the blood elves.  It's not seen as a 'refined' art like those practiced by the paladins and priests.  I was already considered pretty low on the social ladder just because I wasn't from the City.  Add my ordinary looks and my unpopular career choice, and I simply didn't fit into normal elven society."

Lith glanced sharply at the blood elf.  "You're not...  You're beautiful.  And people shouldn't judge you based on your career or your looks."

Arna shrugged.  "That's just how it is in elven society."  She smiled at Lith.  "But thank you.  Anyway, I always avoided the city.  One day I decided to just walk away from all of it - to get out, see the world.  Start fresh.  From the Undercity, I took the zeppelin to Orgrimmar.  I lived there for a while, but I just couldn't settle there.  It was too different, you know?  I missed the wild."

"I worked my way from Orgrimmar through the northern Barrens to Ashenvale.  It was beautiful - the parts that weren't deforested, of course.  But the hostility between the night elves and the orcs kept threatening to sweep me up in it.  More of the same in Stonetalon - I'm sure it was once beautiful, but Garrosh is letting the goblins loot and destroy the land rather than sustain and nurture new life and new growth."

"I escaped from there as soon as I could.  Aside from all of the environmental damage, I just couldn't get comfortable with the mountains.  I always felt like one wrong step would send me plummeting to my death.  I worked my way onward once again, this time along the western edge of the Barrens.  That was the first time I really experienced life among the tauren - I learned of their own love for the hunt, yet their supreme value for nature and their protection of it whenever possible.  To the tauren, the hunt and the kill is an act of worship."  She glanced hesitantly at Mato, who seemed lost in his own thoughts.

"Then, one day I came to a huge gate across a pass through the mountain ridge.  I could see Alliance forces in the distance, so I skirted around the gate and rode down into the most lush, beautiful valley I had ever seen.  Verdant green, dotted with trees, rolled as far as the eye could see.  Plains, not like the stark Barrens, but rich with grass and thick with animals of all kinds.  I wandered, almost in a trance, until I came to a tiny village nestled beside a lake.  I would have loved to stay there, but unfortunately none of their vendors carried any of the goods I needed.  They all pointed me toward Thunder Bluff - the 'city in the sky.'"

Mato grunted.  "Bloodhoof.  That was the name of the village.  The crown jewel of Mulgore.  I was born there.  And actually, Lith and I lived there for quite a while.  Well, here we are at the hunter trainers."

Arna looked around, surprised that they were no longer crossing the bridge.  "That was much easier than I expected, thanks to your help.  Wait here, and then I'll accompany you to the inn so you can tell me your tale."  She dashed into the building.

"Well, daddy, looks like you've found another woman for your growing harem."

Mato laughed gently.  "At least she's not blue."