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| Details |
| Author: | Alli |
| Summary: | Florande leaves a message for Raschal with news of interesting Pandarian developments, as well as a side of angst. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Beneath the inn at Zhu’s Watch, against a post with what looks like someone’s initials carved into it, rests an unusual little wooden carving. It looks something like a mask, more the spy kind than one of Ken-Ken’s. The wood around it is carved to look like tendrils of smoke or mist, ominously reminiscent of the energy rising from the edges of sha-poisoned land. The tendrils of wood look as though they could be easily broken. Beneath the carving is a folded piece of paper with writing on it. The writing says:
This is how to do a dead drop, right? I will not use names, because we are being secret. I have information I think your person will want to know, or you will want to know. Or maybe both. There are people called mantid that are attacking from the west. They are large bug people, but they are very killable. We tested.
I wanted to tell you before you run into them, because of silithid pods. I did not want you to be caught off-guard. Maybe you wouldn’t be, you seem like you have a very good guard, but I don’t know. They don’t look so much like silithids, more like giant fly-bugs, with an insect number of arms. They have arms coming out of their loins. That is a real description, not rude exaggeration. If I’m too late and you have found the mantid already, I am sorry. I ended up being a bear for a while, and some time passed.
There’s another thing I should talk to you about. Do you know of the person my team was following here? Depending on who you work for, maybe you do. I will not say who, because I am being secret. But we found the person, and now he’s run off again. My team was very angry. That I understand, and I wish he had not run off, too. But then also they keep saying he is too young to be trusted.
How old are you? I don’t know how much you know of my record. I have fought in a lot of battles, and have even led strike teams. I have worked on islands, under seas, and now here in Pandaria. Still, I am the youngest of this team. You probably could guess that I am not yet even a hundred, since I have no face markings.
The person who ran off is less than a decade younger than I am, and his age makes him untrustworthy in their eyes. I was his age when I began to take care of myself, since my father was very busy and my mother the battle at Hyjal. I spent a lot of time alone in forests. Do they see me as untrustworthy because I am young, do you think? Have you ever had this problem, or maybe not since you seem so good with people? I am not hu the person’s race, so maybe that makes a difference in judging.
I don’t know if I should even bring this up, or just keep my head down until I am older and it doesn’t matter anymore. I didn’t ask them that day, because something else happened that made it hard to think. It was sort of like what I hope you avoid thanks to my warning you of the mantid – a surprise reminder of a bad thing that happened once. I thought I was okay now, but then something hit me just exactly wrong, like that place in your elbow that makes your whole arm buzz. I am fine now, I just needed to wait for it to fade.
Anyway, I hope the news about the mantid is useful! And next time I write, it will be to say let’s dance in Paw’don Village!