(2025-05-15) Desolace: Planting Seeds

Details

Author:	Alli
Summary:	Arric, Kenelly, Stelianna and Thaniel help out at the Cenarion Wildlands, studying plants and animals and contributing to the blooming of Desolace. ~4100 words.
Rating:	T for Teen

Arc: Kalimdor Newbies

+ Show additional content warnings

friendly discussion of sexism and classism

The team is at the Cenarion Wildlands in Desolace.

Arric finishes off his latest flower wreath and holds it up for Thaniel's inspection.

Thaniel smiles at him and nods encouragingly.

Kenelly waves. "Hello, friends!" She kneels to offer a bit of meat and a scritch to the baby raptor. "Hello, Rica."

[Thaniel]: Hello.

Stelianna stretches her shoulders. "Everyone ready for some more picking plants and collecting blood?"

[Arric]: Rica is ready for some blood, but I think more as a snack than a sample. *He scratches her scales gently.*

Rica chrrrrrs at Kenelly.

[Stelianna]: This place is so peaceful, it's almost easy to forget my daily exercises.

[Arric]: What sort of exercises do you do?

[Stelianna]: Some of it's strength training, so that's useful. Push-ups and the like.

Arric looks faintly surprised, but nods.

[Stelianna]: Then there's stuff like running? It always feels wrong running, like I should stand my ground and fight. But, you know, I'm exercising. So there's nothing to fight.

[Arric]: Ah, well, running conditions the body in general. So useful even if you don't plan on fleeing often in a battle situation.

[Stelianna]: I guess so. Because I don't plan on that.

[Arric]: A retreat can be strategic, but your courage is noted!

Stelianna smiles.

[Kenelly]: Swimming is also very good exercise, and so soothing.

[Thaniel]: Running is fun. With four legs.

[Arric]: Oh yes, swimming is wonderful. It scarcely feels like exercise.

Kenelly chuckles at Thaniel.

[Stelianna]: I can't really get the balance right with… oh, right, you're a worgen.
Stelianna may have tried four-legged running before. It is awkward for humans.

[Arric]: You can run on four legs?
Arric peers at Thaniel searchingly.

[Kenelly]: Well, on all four limbs, anyway.

[Arric]: Oh right, you as well, I presume.
Arric looks at Kenelly awkwardly.

Kenelly blushes, ducking her head. "Well…yes."
[Kenelly]: Though, with my druid training, I actually can run on four legs, I suppose.

[Stelianna]: Swimming though, yeah, that was always more like play for me than exercise. Though I guess we didn't go to the coast often.

[Arric]: I've no idea how safe the water is here. I can scout it later…
Arric rises and brushes himself off.

[Stelianna]: Sure! Maybe we can have a swimming party! I don't know if I brought my swimming suit…

Arric whistles for Singer, who comes down out of a tree.
[Arric]: Oh, that would be capital!

Thaniel gets up slowly.
[Thaniel]: Thressa gave me the leeches today.
Thaniel picks up the jar.

[Stelianna]: Oh, good! I wasn't sure if I knew how to handle the, uh, leeches.

[Arric]: Back to work then.

[Stelianna]: I'm not squeamish or anything, but what if I squish one accidentally?

[Arric]: Come on, Rica.

Rica chk-chk-chks.

Stelianna beams down at the little raptor, and then gives a thumbs-up to the bird.

Thaniel tucks the jar into his shirt so he can drop into worgen form and have his hands free.

Arric loads his fancy rifle.

Thaniel coaxes a thunder lizard into holding still for another leech.

Arric finds himself surrounded by carnivorous plants.
[Arric]: Ack!

The carnivorous plants are defeated.

[Arric]: You've such a way with beasts, Thaniel.

[Thaniel]: They're healthy. They aren't afraid.

[Stelianna]: I guess it's because the night elves haven't hurt them?

The team wanders around peacefully, picking aloe thistle and collecting blood-filled leeches. Eventually, they wander north towards the water, where there are decidedly unfriendly basilisks.

When a basilisk attacks, Rica gets very excited and waits for it to fall. She has a snack once it's down.

[Arric]: Rica is particularly fond of basilisk.

Thaniel fights nothing, but he shields and heals his allies.

[Stelianna]: The basilisks still aren't friendly, even if this is a peaceful place.

[Arric]: Very ill-tempered creatures, in my experience.
[Arric]: They can be tamed. But why would one want to?

[Stelianna]: Maybe if you want to turn your enemies into stone?

[Arric]: Not useful when one's weapon is a rifle…
[Arric]: I'm used to it.

Thaniel wiggles his ears. "I don't stand too close."

[Arric]: I can use a bow if it's bothersome, though. I'd just have to, er, procure one.

[Stelianna]: I guess maybe you wouldn't have to shoot it, if the enemy were stone.

[Kenelly]: "The rifle shot? No, I suppose I'm used to it as well. My father enjoyed hunting back home."

[Arric]: From what I gather, it is actually rather rare for basilisks to turn people completely and permanently to stone.
[Arric]: I have seen it happen, but I don't yet understand the circumstances under which they do it.

Thaniel whispers into the jar of leeches.

[Stelianna]: Oh, um. I guess my knowledge is from, you know. Children's stories.

[Arric]: Usually it is more of a temporary petrification so that they can finish off their prey.

[Stelianna]: Like a dwarf? Except they're stone for a totally different reason.

[Arric]: What did your father like to hunt, Lady Kenelly? Any specialty?

Rica looks around eagerly for something… maybe hoping for another basilisk snack.

[Kenelly]: He wasn't particular. He enjoyed putting food on the table. I suppose he had a fondness for hunting boar. He likes a challenge.

[Arric]: Oh indeed. Boar can be deadly.

[Stelianna]: Oh yeah, we get a lot of those in Westfall.

[Arric]: …Also tasty.

[Stelianna]: Have you ever had a boar liver pie? Delicious.

[Arric]: The Westfall variety, I noticed, are not particularly aggressive.

[Stelianna]: They can get kind of feisty if you attack them.

[Thaniel]: I… don't remember if I've had one or not.

[Arric]: Does becoming a worgen affect the memory?

[Kenelly]: I can scarcely remember my time as a feral. Just feelings and impressions, really. Like a dream.

[Arric]: Fascinating…

[Thaniel]: Well… I think I had pies sometimes as a child. But I don't know what was in them.

Arric pauses to admire a colorful green-winged moth.
[Arric]: Oh right, as children we generally don't ask.

[Stelianna]: If you want to try them, I can ma… I can ask my mom to make us one.

[Kenelly]: I would love to learn the recipe. I quite enjoy cooking.

[Arric]: I'm sure you could learn to make them yourself, Miss Stel.
[Arric]: Yes, Lady Kenelly is a splendid cook!
[Arric]: In Westfall she made a wonderful stew out of I've no idea what. There didn't seem to be much to work with.

[Stelianna]: I uh… maybe. I haven't really tried, but it could be fun. If I brought the recipe, maybe you could help me try it out, Lady Kenelly?

Kenelly beams brightly under Arric's praise and Stelianna's offer. "I'd like that very much."

[Arric]: How is it that you never learned to cook, Miss Stel? Was your mother territorial about the kitchen?

[Stelianna]: Oh, it was maybe a… patience thing. I was more of an outdoor kind of girl. Of course, I'm much more patient now.

[Arric]: Oh I see! A bit like Lady Sintha perhaps! Adventurous?
[Arric]: She was just an absolutely scandalous child, that one.

[Stelianna]: Oooh, maybe? I think I was pretty adventurous.

[Arric]: But now she's in the 7th Legion! So.

[Stelianna]: The 7th Legion, wow. They're really elite, too.

[Thaniel]: Do you cook too, Arric?

[Arric]: Me? *He looks genuinely baffled.* No, not a bit.

Thaniel seems to be following this logic. "Your mother was… territorial?"

Arric gazes at Thaniel, trying to follow his logic.

[Stelianna]: Or you were an outdoorsy sort of kid?

Arric says very gently to Thaniel… "You do know that I'm… a man, yes?" He seems sincere, and even slightly embarrassed. "I know I'm not… what you'd call the most typical specimen, but… the beard…"

Thaniel looks very confused. "My father taught us both to cook. My sister and I."

[Stelianna]: Men don't cook? My dad really liked cooking meat. I don't know why meat specifically…

Kenelly chuckles.

[Arric]: Oh? Cultural differences I suppose! Fascinating. No, no, in my family the men don't go near the kitchen.

[Kenelly]: In noble houses, it is rather unusual for a man to do the cooking.

[Arric]: Oh, perhaps it's a nobility thing then. I wondered if it was Tirasian.

[Thaniel]: But then how do you eat? If you can't go near the kitchen?

Kenelly giggles.

[Arric]: For whatever reason, my family had very strict rules about what men do and what women do. Oh, we ate in the dining room!

[Thaniel]: Oh. That makes sense.

[Stelianna]: But in noble houses nobody in the family does, right? There's a bunch of other people who… *Stelianna seems to remember she's talking to two nobles and trails off*

[Arric]: That's not a bad question, Miss Stel. It depends on how wealthy the house is.
[Arric]: My mother did at least supervise the cooking, and often participated. We were… a lesser house, with less staff.
[Arric]: Are, I suppose. It's not as though they're dead.

[Kenelly]: I learned to cook from my mother. She rather insisted on being involved in the cooking, most evenings.

[Stelianna]: So… it's a mark of being more important if other people look after you?

[Arric]: I suppose you could see it that way. Or at least, having more wealth. Why would anyone work if they could pay someone else to do it? *He laughs.*

Rica is delighted that they are now hunting basilisks.

[Thaniel]: Because… some things are fun to do yourself?

[Stelianna]: Beeecause it's useful?

[Kenelly]: There is something to be said for enjoying the fruits of one's own labors.

[Thaniel]: I like gardening.
[Thaniel]: And that's my job.

[Arric]: I suppose I wouldn't pay someone to hunt for me. And yes, your gardening is a good example Thaniel. You'd feel awfully dull if you just had to watch someone else do it.

[Kenelly]: Mother and I kept a greenhouse back home. We grew all our own herbs.

[Stelianna]: And like, my work as a paladin. I'm not gonna hire someone else to paladin.

[Arric]: That probably helped you become such a good cook as well, Lady Kenelly.

[Kenelly]: Indeed!

[Stelianna]: Oh, yeah, knowing all the plants is really important, I do know that much. They add flavor. Or poison.

Kenelly chuckles.

Rica chows down on more basilisk innards.

[Thaniel]: Does she make herself sick eating too much? Or does she know when to stop on her own?
Thaniel looks at Arric.

[Arric]: If I were ever stranded on an island somewhere, I should die of scurvy, I think…
[Arric]: I have never seen her make herself ill. She seems to be able to somehow eat ten times her own weight. It's alarming.

[Stelianna]: I guess it's because she's young. Her body's going to get like five times that size, right?

[Arric]: Yes, I suppose that mass has to come from somewhere.
[Arric]: She may actually become extra large.

[Stelianna]: Because she eats so many basilisks?

[Arric]: Apparently she comes from a line bred by the Gurubashi trolls.

[Kenelly]: Oh my. They breed them to ride, don't they?

[Stelianna]: Ohh. She's like a noble raptor.

[Arric]: Bit of a purebred, as such things go. *He smiles proudly at her*
[Arric]: Yes, so she may be… riding-size one day. I hope she is as amiable then, and does not decide I look tasty.

[Stelianna]: I bet she'll just love you more.

Arric flushes slightly.

[Thaniel]: She won't hurt you. You're her pack.

Arric smiles warmly at Thaniel. "You know, I really do think so."

[Kenelly]: Anyone can see how fond she is of you, Lord Arric.

Arric flushes again. Redheads.

Rica makes a chrrrrup? sound as though she is following the conversation.

[Thaniel]: Do you want to learn cooking now?
Thaniel asks Arric.
[Thaniel]: Or do you still have to follow the family rules?

Arric seems struck dumb by Thaniel's question.
Arric says quietly after a moment, "I honestly don't know."

[Thaniel]: Will you get in trouble? If you learn to cook?

[Stelianna]: You're an adult, you could do whatever you want, right?
[Stelianna]: About cooking, anyway.

[Arric]: Not… trouble, exactly. It's… difficult to explain. There are social… there are things to consider.

Kenelly offers, a bit uncertainly, "There…can be a certain comfort in holding to the rules and traditions one grew up with."

[Arric]: If I were to stop worrying what my father thought of me, I suppose that would be… tantamount to deciding I'll never see him again. I… am not certain I am ready to do that.

Thaniel idly pets a thunder lizard that they pass by.

Arric smiles at Thaniel.

[Thaniel]: What else weren't you allowed to do?

Stelianna nods sadly. "I hope you get to see your father again. That's really hard. I still try to be… a person I think mine would be proud of."

[Arric]: Well it's not that I wasn't allowed, more that, I'd be laughed at if I did. A subtle difference, hm? Men are allowed to do whatever they like in Kul Tiras, more or less. But yes if we… sewed, or… cooked or looked after babies…
[Arric]: Then we'd be mocked within an inch of our lives.

[Stelianna]: I guess it would take a really strong man to be able to hold up under all the mockery.

Arric turns deep red, and says nothing.

Kenelly says with a smile, but a grim tone, "My father would fit right in, in Kul Tiras."

[Thaniel]: That's mean.

[Arric]: I suppose it is mean, Thaniel.
[Arric]: But mean people never mind being called mean.

[Thaniel]: There are bullies in Gilneas too.

[Arric]: Well I wouldn't go so far as to call my father a bully!

[Stelianna]: There are bullies everywhere. I don't like them.

[Arric]: Nor do I.
[Arric]: And I try my best not to be one, no matter how others laugh at me for being gentler with people when they need it.
[Arric]: I would rather people trust me than think I'm strong.

[Stelianna]: Oh I don't think you're a bully.

[Arric]: Good.

Thaniel nods. "I think it's good to be gentle."

[Stelianna]: I don't think the animals would like you so much if you were.

[Arric]: Perhaps it's good that I ended up stranded in a foreign land.

[Kenelly]: I think a gentle man can also be very strong. Strength doesn't need to be flaunted, wouldn't you agree?

[Arric]: People here largely seem much more agreeable.

[Thaniel]: My sister used to cry a lot. The other kids thought it was silly that she wanted to be a knight. But she is, now.
Thaniel sounds proud.

[Arric]: I like to think I have my own strengths, even if others did not always see them, where I come from.
[Arric]: Your sister is a knight? That's splendid!

Thaniel nods. "She's a paladin. Dame Briellen Clay. She's a knight of Lordaeron."

Stelianna looks to Thaniel. "Oh, wow, so she's a real hero."

[Arric]: Thaniel, that's marvelous.
[Arric]: You must be so proud.

Thaniel nods to Arric. He is very proud.

[Arric]: My sister is the ideal of a proper lady. Just enough of a rebellious boyish spirit in her youth to make the men flock to her!
[Arric]: And then she settled down to a more typical noblewoman's lifestyle once she married.

[Stelianna]: So she was… just playing at being rebellious?

[Arric]: I would say more… trying it out. It's fashionable with girls.

Stelianna tilts her head, maybe trying to decide if she's trying it out.

[Arric]: In general, I think in Kul Tiras it's more accepted for a woman to break out of her role than a man. We admire it a bit.

[Kenelly]: So…a noblewoman who…say…became a harvest-witch would be acceptable?

[Stelianna]: Huh. Why would it be better for a woman to break the rules?

[Arric]: Well…. nnnno.
[Arric]: Not a witch.
[Arric]: Tirasians… Kul Tirans are not …. fond of witches.

[Kenelly]: A harvest-witch.

[Arric]: But a sailor or a hunter, certainly! We'd think her a spectacle, but a glorious one.

Thaniel considers Stelianna's question very hard.

[Arric]: There aren't really harvest-witches in Kul Tiras. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with it.
[Arric]: But the word "witch" in Kul Tiras is next to a curse word.

[Stelianna]: Oh, so that one's a matter of language, maybe.

[Arric]: It gave me a start, I'll confess, the first time I heard it used here..

Kenelly sighs. "That saddens me. Especially given the history of our peoples. It feels like Kul Tiras has forgotten our roots."

[Arric]: Kul Tiras has done its best to forget everything about the mainland.

[Thaniel]: I think… if they think that men are better than women, then a woman breaking the rules to be more like a man makes them… the 'better' kind? But a man breaking the rules to be like a woman makes them the 'worse' kind? I think it's very silly, though.

[Arric]: Thaniel, you have hit the nail on the head, I think.

Stelianna blinks at Thaniel. "Do you think? But that's so mean."

[Arric]: You are a very astute young man.

Thaniel nods. "It's very mean."

Kenelly sighs softly.

At this point our wanderings have brought us back to the central camp. We head over to Botanist Ferrah.

[Stelianna]: Well, I guess we should probably give them the blood and the aloe thistles. We got a lot.

[Thaniel]: Oh, Ferrah. I got more aloe thistle plants with the roots this time.

Arric smiles at Botanist Ferrah.

Thaniel returns to his human form as he stands up straight.

Botanist Ferrah says: Thanks! These are fine specimens. I shall commence my studies immediately.
Ferrah smiles. "What a glorious time we live in! The former wastelands of Desolace are blooming, bursting with life. Imagine if all of Azeroth's wastelands awoke in such a fashion! Perhaps someday…"

[Arric]: Someday.

Botanist Ferrah says: It's true that there are weighty issues at hand here, but why not take a moment to appreciate the wondrous miracle we are witnessing?

[Stelianna]: Oh, I'm taking more than a moment. It's beautiful here!

Botanist Ferrah says: In fact, why not take part in it? Here are some Cenarion Seeds. Use them at the more fertile spots of the wildlands. Perfect medicine for lifting a weary soul!

[Stelianna]: Really? You want us to plant stuff?!

Thaniel cups his hands to accept some seeds and tucks them into a little pouch.
[Thaniel]: Okay.

Stelianna looks excited. She turns to Thaniel and Kenelly. "You'll make sure I do it right, right?"
Stelianna accepts some seeds from Ferrah.

Kenelly eagerly takes some seeds. "It will be an honor."
Kenelly nods to Stelianna. "Of course!"

We head over to talk to the biologist, Thressa Amberglen.

Arric greets Thressa Amberglen warmly.

Thaniel takes out the leech jar. "Here."

[Arric]: Learning to cook and garden. One day you'll make a fine head of a household, Miss Stel.

Stelianna beams at Arric. She's learning new things!

Thressa Amberglen says: This should be enough. Thank you. Studying this, I will come to better understand how their environment is affecting them for the better.

[Stelianna]: Let's go find some good soil for our baby plants?

Arric agrees with you.
Arric prepares to Supervise.

Thaniel looks for a spot that isn't already crowded with growth. "These might grow very quickly," he says.
Thaniel kneels.

[Stelianna]: The Cenarions do seem to plant things that sprout and grow fast.
[Stelianna]: Just here? Can I drop one of mine in?

Thaniel takes out a trowel and starts digging little holes for the seeds.

Kenelly sinks her fingers into the soil and whispers prayers to the spirits of the land.

Stelianna drops a seed in when the hole is ready.

Arric startles slightly as the plant pops up out of the ground.

[Thaniel]: Oh. We'll need to space them out more.

Kenelly nods.

[Thaniel]: That'll be a big tree one day. It'll need room for the roots to spread.

[Stelianna]: Okay, so we should go a ways away for the next

Arric looks around, as though trying to imagine what it will look like.

[Stelianna]: It's gonna be an amazing forest.

[Arric]: You druids must spend a lot of time in the elven forests?
[Arric]: I had never seen such old trees before. Lumber is a major industry in Kul Tiras. We manage our plantings, but no trees ever get to live for centuries.

[Thaniel]: Kenelly goes to a lot of places. I live in Darnassus.

[Arric]: Splendid city.

[Stelianna]: That's basically an elven forest itself.

[Arric]: I wonder how long Darnassus has been standing…

[Stelianna]: Not very long, I think… it was after the Third War, wasn't it?

[Arric]: What??
[Arric]: That was… less than a decade ago!

[Stelianna]: They had another tree before. The one they're fighting for now, so I guess they sort of still have it…

[Kenelly]: From what I've gathered, the city itself might be older? But Teldrassil — the tree — is new. I don't know for sure. It's all rather confusing.

Thaniel remains in his human form out here. Everything is peaceful and safe and they are no longer getting attacked by angry plants.

Thaniel finds them another spot not too close to any other trees to dig a hole at.
[Thaniel]: Here should be good…

Stelianna reverently places another seed.

Arric just watches, happy to let the gardeners do their thing.

Thaniel begins to sing a little song about green shoots poking up through the ground.

Arric smiles.
[Arric]: You have a lovely voice, young master Thaniel.

[Stelianna]: Do you think the plants hear it, and listen?

Kenelly blinks at Stelianna. "Of course."

[Arric]: They don't think… they know!

[Stelianna]: Wait, do they talk back?

Thaniel smiles at him. The Light infuses the song, restoring mana to the group for those who might notice such a thing.

Arric looks at Kenelly and Thaniel. That one he doesn't know.

[Thaniel]: Not exactly.

Stelianna smiles, feeling a little better without really understanding why.

Kenelly chuckles. "Not in the way you or I might talk. But, plants have their own ways of communicating."

[Stelianna]: How do they communicate, then?

Arric looks interested as well.

Thaniel looks like this is the most difficult question anyone has asked yet.

[Kenelly]: Usually in subtle ways — the color and texture of their leaves or petals, the way they lean or grow…or don't grow.

[Arric]: Interesting. And you know what it all means?

Kenelly kneels and sinks her fingers into the soil again, whispering to the earth…and the seed within sprouts into a sapling.

[Arric]: Is it different for different plants? I have to learn each animal nearly from scratch, it seems. I'm a wizard with horses and dogs, but raptors… this is still a bit of a mystery I'm unraveling.

Thaniel gently pets a leaf of the sapling. It has leaves already.

[Kenelly]: I wouldn't say I know all of it. But you learn with experience. And yes, it's absolutely different for different plants.
Kenelly looks to Thaniel for support so she doesn't sound like a crazy person.

[Stelianna]: It must be very frustrating for a plant if it's somewhere that nobody speaks its, uh, language.

Kenelly chuckles. "Plants talk to each other."

[Arric]: Do they?

[Kenelly]: Of course! The forest is an entire community.

[Stelianna]: Oh! So a flowerbed is sort of like a village?

Kenelly chuckles. "That's a lovely way to think of it."

Thaniel nods.

[Arric]: That is truly magical… all this time in forests and I had no idea.

Kenelly beams at Arric. "Perhaps sometime I can help you listen to the forest."

[Arric]: I feel sure I'm tone-deaf in such matters, but I never say no to time in the forest.

[Stelianna]: I'm all out of seeds. What about you all?

Thaniel holds up his empty hands.

Arric never took any to begin with. Does he look like a gardener?

The team heads back to tell Ferrah how it went.

Thaniel smiles at Ferrah. "Stella got to plant some too."

Botanist Ferrah says: Oh, I'm glad you were able to contribute!

[Arric]: She did very well.

Stelianna beams proudly.

[Arric]: Two excellent teachers!

Botanist Ferrah says: The rejuvenation is so invigorating! Don't you think? On behalf of Desolace herself, I thank you.
Botanist Ferrah says: I do hope you'll be able to continue to help for some time yet — this is all such happy work.

Arric agrees with Botanist Ferrah.

[Thaniel]: I hope you had fun.

[Arric]: You're good with animals as well, Thaniel - I'd be curious to have you come to my place, see what Stormy and Win-Win make of you…

Thaniel smiles. "Okay."

The team wanders off peacefully.