Well then. *draws huge breath* Then I'll post Lowaina's (and part of Nafein's and Faldariel's) story here, as promised!
So, if anyone ever want to rp with the real Lowaina (you've mostly just met me.
) then I'd be happy to!
A Tale Written in Blood
By: Lowaina
Setting: Silvermoon, 1 year ago. Five years after Warcraft III.
Nafein was standing just outside the blackened ruins of his old master’s home, staring at the open gash in the foundation, where his brother’s blood was spilled for the very last time. A bitter memory… Even though thirty-five years had passed since then, the memory was still vivid. Ever since the Sunwell had been corrupted, and his banishment lifted, Nafein had returned here every year. He’d never forgotten, and he couldn’t allow himself to either…
He swallowed hard, his throat tight with unshed tears, and looked down on his hands. The runes on his hands were faded like old scars now, but he knew that they would flare purple in a few days. They always did every new moon…
Absorbed as he was in his own bitterness, Nafein was unprepared for the soft, warm hand that took one of his in a firm, gentle grip. He started, and looked up, meeting the forestgreen, glowing eyes of a bloodelf male. The elf wore a little smile on his lips, and had a little kitten cradled to his chest.
“You looked so alone,” the unfamiliar elf said gently. Carefully, he lifted the kitten and placed it tenderly in Nafeins hands. “He is lonely too,” the elf said. “Will you help him?”
Nafein looked down on the little soft, warm bundle – tiny enough to fit into one of his hands. It had just opened it’s eyes, and looked up on him, mewling.
“Who…”Nafein looked up, but the elf was moving away. Nafein watched his back as he disappeared into the pavilion by Falconwing Square. He looked down on the kitten in his hands again. What should he do? He didn’t know anything about cats… It looked very tiny and helpless. Maybe he could find someone else to take care of it… Nafein took a few steps toward Falconwing Square, holding the kitten close to his chest.
No… He couldn’t return it to the elf who had so generously given it to him. It didn’t feel right… Suddenly self-conscious, he stared at the kitten, bewildered.
“What should I do with you?” he whispered, sighed deeply and started walking along the Dead Scar. He had nothing urgent to do… It had been very quiet lately, no one seemed to need him for anything important. He gently caressed the kitten, thinking it was probably the only one who needed him right now.
As he turned and walked slowly up one of the many hills in Eversong Forest, he heard the anguished scream of a woman. A sound as lonely and sad as the scream of a Banshee… He started running towards the sound without a second though, and as he got closer, the scream got louder. Finally, it ended in hopeless crying… Nafeins heart clenched slightly, and he ran past a large tree and ended up in the opening of a scorched grove. This was newly done… He stared at the lonely bloodelf girl sitting on her hands and knees in the middle of the grove, crying as if nothing would ever be able to save her. Her form shifted in an unsettling purple and back to ghostly white as she cried, clenching the burned soil in her hands.
‘No…she’s turning into a wretched!’ Nafein could not stand and just watch. The woman was obviously a warlock, completely out of control with grief. He ran up to her as fast as his dress wuld allow him, and grabbed one of her wrists in a firm grib, jerking her up into sitting position. As her face came into view, partly covered with pale golden hair, he was met by a face that could have been very beautiful…but…she looked like she had been to hell and back again…
She made a hollow cough through her tears, nearly choking, and continued crying helplessly.
“Hush,” he shook her gently, putting the little kitten in her hands. “What happened?” he asked, watching her as she held the kitten in her hands. At first, she couldn’t answer him, but after a few minutes the tears had subsided slightly, and she wiped her face with the back of her hand, holding the kitten in a gently grip with the other.
“Th…they ruined everything…”she whispered weakly, having spend both her energy and life power with destroying the grove. Panting, she looked up on him with jade eyes, void of life. “Everything…”
Nafein didn’t know what to say. He’d never been good with words…
“Who did?” he asked, trying to make her put her grief in words.
“The scourge…”she whispered, new tears running down her cheeks, and she hugged the little kitten to her. It mewled softly, feeling her pain. Nafein was speechless. The scourge. But that…
“But that was five years ago?” he said quietly. She didn’t make much sense.
“I know…”she cried, anguish once again overtaking her. “…I know…”
“Come…let’s go somewhere else so you can calm down…”he said uneasily. She was too ripped apart to speak to, perhaps it would be better if she rested a little. He took a firm grip on her arm, and pulled her to her feet. “What is your name?”
“…Low…Lowaina…”the silent whisper came.
“Well then, Lowaina, let us go,” Nafein said to her, and started to half-drag half-lead her out of the scourched patch of forest. He wondered briefly if it ever would recover from her unleashed anger.
After quite a lot of coaxing, Nafein managed to make Lowaina eat something, and she seemed to recover some of her strength. The transformation into a wretched had gone back, and she was now so pale she was almost transparent.
“Now. Will you tell me your story…?”Nafeins confidence from before had faded. He wasn’t very comfortable around women… This one did seem rather harmless though. Lowaina sat staring blankly before her a few moments, before she nodded slowly. Nafein almost sighed in relief.
“I was happy once…”she whispered ominously, staring somewhere in front of her. “…Tarlyn and I…we…we lived together as a happy family…”her eyes were so terribly sad. She closed them in pain. “…with our children…”she added. Her voice was paper thin. The silence was heavy as it stretched, and Nafein felt uneasy. Just the way she said those words felt so… As if a horror story were to unfold. He waited. He wasn’t so sure he wanted to know anymore, so he didn’t push her.
“We were happy…”she whispered, holding her face in her hands as new tears started to fall. “With our children…a beautiful boy and a little girl…”she paused again, trembling. “Their names were Tarina and Loraliel.” Were. Nafein felt a hand clench his heart. One little word.
“When…when the scourge attacked…I was working for city defenses…as a mage,” she whispered. “My husband, Tarlyn, he…he was not a fighter… He was one of the city’s rangers.” Nafein squeezed her shoulder carefully, and picked up the kitten from the grass, handing it to her. She sat silent for a little while before she continued.
“I had to pull back to the city gates, to try to hold back the masses of undead.” She spaced out again, lost in the memory of those days of horror. “My husband…he…brought our children with him… He was to protect the women and children, and lead them away from danger… I saw him run off that day, carrying them…”her voice faded out into a sob. “They were just babies,” she cried softly. “Our daughter had just learned how to s-speak.” She curled up into a little ball where she sat, holding the kitten close. It was a warm and soft link to security…
“Once…once the battle was over…nearly everyone was dead,” she cried. “I-I woke up in the infirmary some hours after it was over… I don’t know what happened. Everything was so chaotic…”the over-whelming memories were to much. “They…they’d tried to drag out all the corpses out of the masses of ruined buildings, saving everyone they could. But there were too many…too many dead… I-I couldn’t…couldn’t find Tarlyn…”she whispered, her voice breaking. “But…but I found…oh god…I found our children among the dead…”
It was more that Lowaina could take, she broke down completely, crying helplessly. Nafein didn’t know what to say. He had never had children…he didn’t know her feelings, but… He had once had a family…a brother…a home… He could understand that.
“Five years,” she continued through hacking sobs. “Five years I tried to cope with it…losing everything dear to me,” the kitten jumped down from her lap as she lifted her face to the skies. “Five years of pain…five years of regrets…”she clenched her fists and lowered her face to the ground. “And…and this morning…I found him…”she whispered. Her face softened from anger to a lonely sadness.
Nafein started at the sudden turn. Found him…?
“I found Tarlyn in the forest…”she whispered. “I loved him so much…I remembered every little thing about him…”she hid her face in her hands again. “I could hardly believe my eyes…it was Tarlyn… After all these years…”she met Nafeins eyes. “But… I-I called his name, and he…he didn’t react… He ran away, chasing after a spider into the Ghostlands…”
Nafein was really confused now. Lowaina was not making sense again… Had she followed a ghost?
“Are you sure…?”
“Yes!” Lowaina’s voice was sad but firm. “It was him. But he was fast…I lost him for a few seconds and he… He’d hurt himself. Tarlyn would never do that…”she whispered, her face filled with pain. “He’d managed to get poisoned…I knew it as I came up to him. He looked…he looked up at me…a-and said…and s-said…”her voice broke. “He said ‘you are beautiful’.”
This time the silence stretched, and all the sound that was heard was Lowainas hacking sobs.
“He-he didn’t recognise me,” she whispered, stricken with grief. “He doesn’t remember me…or his name…or the attack…or our…our children… H-he has no memory of anything b-before that… And he has changed…”she sobbed into one hand, closing her eyes. “…he’s…he’s like a child… A naïve child, without any fears or bad memories… He’s nothing like he once was. But I…I still love him…I still love him so much…”she cried, hugging her knees to her chest, shaking.
Nafein felt sad. Whatever he had expected…he didn’t know. But this…there was nothing he could do. He gently put a hand on Lowaina’s shoulder, without saying anything. He could feel every little tremble going through her body as she cried. Perhaps she would feel better now, after having told someone of her sorrows. He could only hope.
After some time had passed in silent regrets, Lowaina had calmed down. Nafein had been sitting beside her all the time, but he was now tired, and it was getting late. She looked up as he nudged her gently, and he stood, bringing her with him.
“You are all dirty…”he commented, shaking his head. She didn’t answer. “There is nothing I can do for your husband. Either you let him go, or love him they way he is now. It is up to you.” Lowaina’s eyes were void as she looked up on him, searching for a comfort that wasn’t there.
“However.” He picked up the kitten, and held it close. “Silvermoon doesn’t need more wretches, and you have the potential to become strong. I can help you control those powers. But you have to want it yourself. If you do not have the will to learn, I cannot help you.”
He started to walk away from her, looking back a final time.
“If you decide that you want to change your life around, go to Undercity. I will be there.”
Lowaina stared after him as he disappeared, looking down on her hands. It was late… Tarlyn was waiting for her at her home, still recovering from the injury. She should tell him…at least tell him who she was…who he was…but…
She could not let him grieve as she had done, and still did. She would not tell him about the children… Slowly, she started walking back home.
