(2023-04-23) Lost Wildflower

Details

Author:	Saaron
Summary:	Iphindra explores the city of Stormwind and wonders about her place in the world.
Rating:	T for Teen

“Sunlight. I need more sunlight,” one whispers.

“The air… it’s too dry,” says the other.

“Help me… Help me!” they chant in unison.

Iphindra sits on her knees, her face now reaching the level of the two tropical plants growing in pots. With both her hands, she gently strokes the plants' leaves, a sad smile on her face.

“Aww, you poor things. You’re not meant to grow here…” she says out loud, speaking in Darnassian. “Don’t lose hope, your days of surviving are over. Soon, you’ll be thriving!” The elf smiles gently. “Come with me, and I’ll bring you somewhere safe.”

Iphindra places her hands on the soil and a green glow seeps into the ground, reaching the roots soon after and allowing them to climb onto her body. She gets up, ready to leave Stormwind’s Cathedral Square to find the perfect place for the plants she freed.

But someone is staring at her.

Someone standing on top of the stairs which were decorated by the now empty flower pots. A long few seconds pass, and if it were not for the colorful bugs fluttering all around the druid, it would have looked as if a Bonze Dragon had frozen time.

“… what are you doing?” Ekorenine finally says in complete disbelief.

Iphindra blinks, the roots resuming their crawl up her arms. She calmly raises both hands in the air, knowing that it’s a sign of peace for humans.

“I—I am not trying to arrest you, dear, I’d just like to kn—”

Deer! Iphindra knows that Common word! That’s one of the nicest compliments this human could have given her! The druid suddenly beams, which makes Ekorenine look even more confused.

“Thank you!” she exclaims in a heavy accent. She bends her elbows, her arms still up, and reaches into her hair. After just a few seconds, she pulls a few seeds in both her hands and throws them into and around the flower pots. Ekorenine takes a step back as Iphindra’s hands begin glowing green again, hastening the local plants’ germination. “There! Better! Happier here.”

Just as soon as Ekorenine turns her head to look at plants that are considered weeds in Stormwind growing into her decorative pots, Iphindra begins sprinting, exclaiming happily. “I go save others, now!” She runs, unsure if she had to, but she is taking plants away from where this human placed them. Even though she feels right to do so, she knows the other people in Azeroth have a weird relationship with the life around them and like to ‘own’ them. So she runs before this nice lady could try to stop her, try to get the plants back into their sad, terrible living conditions.

And her run eventually turns into skipping, happily jumping through the streets of people, swiftly passing by a few people. Her long, wavy hair flows behind her, leaves and flower petals softly falling from it as she keeps moving.

She wanders the city, unsure of where to go. She just keeps moving, knowing she would eventually find the exit.

Eventually, she reaches the busier parts of the city. Which isn’t as fun. It gets harder to move as swiftly as she did before, as she did back home. People are unpredictable, they get in the way, they stop moving, they turn around when you least expect it… Unlike humanoids, the plants in the forest are always moving, but always they know where they go. They don’t change their trajectory on any whims. They all work together, unlike these people, who solely consider their own steps as if only their own bodies were real in this time and space. They’re so different from any other life she knows. The felines, and the birds back home they’re constant, they show joy, curiosity, resolve and fear in a certain way. They create a balance in the world, working through the same cycles again and again. Iphindra has learned to understand them. She hasn’t learned how these people work. And struggling to not bump into any of them, she fears she never will. She begins looking to meet all of these strangers’ gazes, hoping that it’d make her understand them better. Maybe their eyes will look like those of a scared deer or a friendly squirrel or just anything she’s familiar with…

And while she looks through the crowd, several times, she looks at some of those Kaldorei she’s supposedly from. Those from Kalimdor.

She misses home. She hasn’t left Ashenvale for a long time, but she misses it deeply, and she misses her sisters even more. Iphindra understands she’s not exactly one of them, that she wasn’t born and raised with them. However, she doesn’t feel any connection to these elves that supposedly look so much like her. Every time she sees one, she looks at their face, their ears, their hair, and nothing reminds her of herself. This is not what she looks like. This isn’t what she thinks she is. Her ears drop slightly as she reaches the exit of Stormwind, finally free of the crowd, stopping to take a deep breath of fresh air. She misses home and the sisters she didn’t really belong with, in a city full of people she doesn’t really belong with.

A few colorful petals wither and fall from her hair.