Aroona's awakening

It's happy hour, the alcohol is flowing. It's time to pull up a tankard of ale, bottle of wine for the ladies and regail tales of heroism and grandeur.

Topic/Postby Aroona » 26 Oct 2014, 22:07

A pair of well worn Misthide boots barely skimmed over the muddy path, and although a mount or even paws would have carried her faster it just didn't seem right. The house was just as she remembered, apart from the busted front door and several items lying around the floor and the porch. It was cradled at the bottom of a very rocky cliff, facing the sea.It hurt to look at, she knew who had caused the damage but the items laying around looked like they'd been put there more recently. Looters no doubt. A shaky and pale hand touched the old weathered wood and traced the long gauges from top to bottom.

The owner of the hand stepped inside to complete and still chaos. Books and tools lay scattered, broken crockery and torn clothes covered most of the floor. Amongst it all she couldn't see what she'd come to look for, she wasn't sure what hurt more, knowing they'd been moved or that she hadn't been there to move them herself. Perhaps a kind soul had laid them to rest, or..she didn't want to think what else may have happened. There were dark stains in the wood, flaking and peeling away. Blood. After feeling restless for days now, and flying aimlessly since the night before her wings had brought her here. The restless energy had pulled her to her old home, many would ask why return when there was nothing left there but Aroona wasn't the many. She'd come back to lay old ghosts to rest and that is what she'd do.

First of all she'd cleared away anything broken, leaving it in a busted up cart outside, anything salvageable she put in it's place, if there was a place for it. Papers were burned in the hearth, old drawings and letters too or from various friends and relatives. Tools and clothes were put away, and a broken broom swept away the dust and scrubbed the dried blood from the floor. As night fell she'd shucked off her armour and donned an old shirt of her father's, rolling up the sleeves and continuing to sweat with her work well into the small hours. She couldn't have slept if she'd tried, and even with only the firelight to work with she'd cleaned and fixed everything she could manage. She'd go look for the bodies in the morning, if there was anything left to find.

The door still wouldn't quite sit right, having been warped by rain and cold and dried in what little sun Gilneas offered. So that went, leaving the the house door-less. It was also the last thing that needed repairing. With a heavy sigh Aroona looked at the interior once more, it had felt a lot like healing an old wound, painful at first, then turning to a dull ache in her limbs with an accompanying fever that had just started to break. The cool morning air feeling fresher than it ever had growing up here. Leaning against the door frame she thought about what to do now, she hadn't the first clue where to begin looking, there were several grave sites near here but tradition for the farmers on the outskirts were to be buried on their property. A soft growl pulled her attention behind her, her eyes widened at the shadowy creature looking back at her, eyes as bright as the sun but not nearly as warm. She reached for her spear but the creature didn't move, instead it sat back on it's heels and lowered it's head. That stayed her hand and she looked closer, the creature looked so familiar, and not only that it didn't look all there. Not quite a ghost, more like a shadow or memory. The slightest shift in her head and it would vanish entirely. So she had to keep still to watch as it turned and fled.

Aroona blinked and felt a push or a pull, but something moved her away from her old home to give chase to the shadow, catching up wasn't a problem for the girl, having spent so many years running, flying swimming and fighting. But the creature would always be just that little bit faster, and changed direction so quickly that it was difficult to turn as sharply. She followed it back along the path, the higher they climbed the harder her chest pounded, they were getting close, but to what she didn't know.

The shadow climbed the cliffs forcing Aroona to change her shape to avoid falling back down to a very painful death. When she couldn't climb by claw she soared behind the creature as a hawk. When it stopped she landed, shifting to the form she felt most at ease with and looked as the creature paced around three small headstones, sheltered as her old home was, surrounded by rock but laid upon a bed of scrubby grass, the touch kind only found on coastal cliffs. So this is where they were. She knew before she had walked close enough to see the names, even her old teacher lay to rest here. Whoever had moved them must have known her parents well. They'd enjoyed so many evenings watching the sea they often joked they would spend an eternity watching it if they could. It brought a bitter sweet smile to Aroona's face. The creature had long vanished into thin air, leaving her with her thoughts.

It was hard to say how long the girl sat there in silence, it could have been days or a week, she didn't move unless absolutely necessary. At dawn of, well the next one that she remembered she began talking, as if she had someone there listening. At first it was just broken apology's, should haves, could haves and would haves. Then silence again. After she could cry no more she spoke of everything she had seen and done, the friends she'd made and of course the subject turned to Lilandris, and their plans for the future.

When there was nothing left to say Aroona found she was soaked to the bone and shivering from the cold. She said her final goodbye's and headed back down the cliff side, gliding through the heavy rain until she found her way back to her old home. One more night couldn't hurt, and she didn't want to return to Stormwind with a cold and soaking wet. After leaving her clothes to dry beside the fire and finding something suitable to sleep in she crawled into her parent's bed and slept dreamlessly.
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Aroona
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