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| Details |
| Author: | Alli |
| Summary: | Nesselos goes on a quick solo trip to secure root vegetables for the camp stew. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Crystalsong Forest was an unusual place, that was for sure. Nesselos hadn’t had any trouble calling on the elements so far, but there was an unpleasant persistent tingle in the air, like the prickle just before a lightning strike. None of the Argent Crusaders seemed bothered, but he wasn’t sure if they genuinely didn’t feel it, or if they were just tough veterans showing a stiff upper lip. With some suspicion that it was the latter, Ness didn’t complain.
He looked over the little campfire at the faces of his current Argent Crusade companions, their faces softened by the haze of the smoke. Two humans, light-wielders, hands warmed by bowls of meat stew. A woman with pale hair and a man with dark. Ness really should remember their names, but it seemed that every single non-draenei had two at minimum and many more at maximum. It was so hard to keep straight, and to remember what part was name and what part was title. And they looked so similar, the humans. No tails, no distinguishing tentacles or horns or horn crests.
The ones he knew well were easier to recognize - Therald and Sandy, for instance. Sandy almost always had that hopeful smile on his face - and the long hair helped with recognition, too. It was amazing that Sandy could keep such a smile, after all he’d been through. Ness himself had felt a certain dimming of his spirit in the days after meeting Sirie, but Sandy had faced so much darkness without allowing any of it to affect his own light.
As for Therald, he was around camp somewhere, returning to his noble calling as a guardian. Still, Ness worried about him. He was pretty sure there was nothing wrong with Therald’s soul, but there was certainly something hurting in his heart. Ness had no real skill at healing those kinds of hurts, but it seemed like Kae had helped a little. He smiled at the thought of Kaerix. She would find this whole continent fascinating. Maybe he could convince her to join him soon - or perhaps their whole shaman circle could.
“Shoveltusk again,” sighed the pale-haired woman, breaking into Ness’s thoughts. “I know that’s the most bountiful resource here, but I never thought I’d miss fresh fruits and vegetables so much.”
“Ah, yes, just imagine biting into a crisp apple, fresh from the tree,” the dark-haired man said with a touch of wistfulness. “It’s better since the portals have reopened, but still… there’s no substitute for freshness.”
Nesselos nodded sadly, and then paused. Hadn’t he heard something about vegetables recently? What was it? Carrots… carrots grew in the land near the floating city. They would be fresh from the ground and ready to eat! Should he tell them? Or what about… if it were a surprise? They’d be so happy!
“I’ve got to go check on something,” Nesselos stood abruptly, very nearly sloshing his own strew into the fire. Hastily, he tipped back the bowl to finish the broth. “I’ll be back soon.”
Nesselos went back to the cook’s area to return his bowl and spoon, and then headed to the designated stable plot to collect his elekk. The creature snorted happily as he approached and prodded Ness playfully with his trunk, nearly bowling him over. Ness laughed and patted him affectionately on one broad shoulder as he untied him and swung up into the saddle, using his tail for balance as he settled.
Ness and his elekk bounded across the land of Crystalsong Forest in the general direction of Dalaran. He eyed the arcane-bleached trees and violet-stained ground as they went, and slowed when they entered an area of fallen pillars and half-ruined buildings. Here, there were spirits, which Ness gave a wide berth. Watching them from a distance, Ness felt a little pang of sympathy in his heart. He wondered what had happened here. It must have been sudden, to leave their souls like this.
He was not sure if there was anything he could do to help. Perhaps Nunuzac would know? She was wiser and far older than Ness, and there was something about her that hinted she held knowledge just out of reach of others. Kaerix would feel the same sympathy as he did, and could surely offer the spirits comfort if they could reach them with spoken word. Or what about Mansia? She was so quiet, keeping many things in the deep pool of her mind, but perhaps she would be sensitive to something he was not, with all his sound and enthusiasm. Or perhaps Xaafi could charm them with music, or he might find more insight from an orc, like Crim… By the time his thoughts wound down, the spirits were behind him, and the trees and grass were brownish-yellow rather than the arcane violet. Here must be where the carrots were!
Ness dismounted, giving his elekk a pat to stay still, and went in search of the telltale green sprouts that advertised a juicy carrot underneath. It didn’t take long until he found one. Cheerfully, he dug around the sprout and carefully extracted the ground vegetable. Then he found another, and another…
He stopped paying very close attention to where he was as he wandered from carrot to carrot, filling his broad arms with the bounty. Then he got to a really stubborn one, deep-rooted and strong. He tugged on the carrot, but it wouldn’t dislodge. He dug around it a little more, so as not to break it with too much force. Still nothing. He considered for a moment, and then gave it a mighty pull with all his strength.
The carrot came free! And Nesselos stumbled backwards, his collected vegetables falling to the ground. His calves hit some kind of a low stone bench that he hadn’t noticed at all, and he flipped over it, landing hard on his back on the ground. Ness tried to get his breath as he looked up… into the angry face of a purple, glowing satyr.
Ness would’ve cried out, but he was having enough trouble just breathing. The satyr raised a hand, the glowing intensified, and that faint sizzling feeling Ness had been feeling sharpened into a sudden, pulsing pain.
Instead of sound, his spirit cried out to the earth beneath him, but he found it strangely resistant to his call. He’d always felt closer to water, it was true, but right now he needed earth. The response was sluggish, reluctant, but then he saw the rocky shape of an elemental explode from the ground just at his side. The pain ceased as the being of earth rushed to his defense. Nesselos staggered back, sucking in breath in sharp gasps.
By the time Ness got his breath back and looked up at the elemental, it was alone. The satyr-creature had probably realized this quarry was too much of a challenge, or perhaps it had been defeated and vanished into the Twisting Nether. Either way, all was well.
Except… there was something odd about the elemental. Bright violent veins glistened in the rock that formed its body. It slowly turned to look at him, and Ness gulped. He hastily tried to release the elemental back into the arcane-tainted earth, and as it rushed at him it crumbled, raining pebbles and dirt onto his nicest healing robes.
Ness sat there a moment longer, dust coating his face, staring in shock at the place where the elemental had stood. He felt the sudden desire to assert that this had never happened to him before, but there was no one nearby to hear his argument or even to witness whatever error he must have made. It seemed like there was some wise saying that would apply in this case, something about trees and forests and sound. Or elementals and shamans and disasters. He could ask Erixa, but then again, maybe she could just not know about this one.
In any case, the trouble had passed, so Ness pushed to his feet, dusted off his face and shoulders, and gathered his carrots. His elekk was right where he’d left him, unbothered by any strange and magical creatures, so Ness loaded him up and rode back towards the training camp. He managed to avoid spirits and creatures on the return journey, and only slowed when he got to the perimeter where a regular sentry kept watch. The perimeter guard today was one of those death knights, a dark, forbidding figure in vicious-looking saronite armor. He couldn’t even tell what species it was under all those spiky embellishments. Ah well, no matter. A friend was a friend.
“Hello, friend!” Ness waved cheerfully. The figure didn’t react. Only a tiny bit daunted, he dug into his saddlebag to produce a carrot. “Would you like one of these? Wild-growing carrots! I’ve been gathering them for the cookpot.”
Ness urged his elekk towards the death knight, though the little fellow balked a bit and raised his ears. Nice try, buddy, Ness thought affectionately. But I don’t think the death knight’s going to be intimidated.
As Ness and the elekk approached, a chill seemed to expand outward, settling on Ness’s limbs and freezing his breath. He tried to shake the feeling that he was a sporebat approaching a marshfang ripper. Then he shivered, and decided it was more like a soft warm draenei approaching a statue of ice. Iceman. No, snowman. That was much friendlier. On Azeroth, children made snowmen in the winter, with little eyes made of buttons and noses made of…
“You know we don’t have to eat food,” the death knight said in a low, echoing voice, when Ness was in arms reach.
Ness gave a nervous braying laugh, shaking in the suddenly frigid air, and babbled, “That’s okay, you can still have one! Snowmen still get carrots, and they don’t eat them either.” Ness blushed deep blue when he heard the words coming out of his mouth. “I didn’t… I meant… um, here…”
Hastily, he grabbed at a saronite gauntlet that probably contained a hand, and shoved the carrot into the death knight’s palm. The metal fingers closed around it, and Ness pulled his own hands back, careful of the razor-like decorations.
“I’ll just go now,” Ness said, his voice still a little unnaturally high. “Keep up the good work, friend!”
The elekk needed no encouragement to rush past, putting distance between them and the death knight as he moved further into the camp. Nesselos let out a breath. Had the death knight been upset? He sure hoped not. But either way, now it was time to go back to his living friends and bring them a happy surprise. He smiled. They would love the carrots, he was just sure of it, and that would make everything worth it.