by Renee "Kindrianna" Booke
“People fear what they
don’t understand and hate what they can’t conquer.” From my very first days in
the Realms, I knew this to be true. I was
a Tiefling who had just claimed my freedom from the depths of the Abyss, and
there were many adventurers who felt uneasy with my presence despite my best
attempts at making friends. Now that I am a werewolf, I find that things are
still the same. I have friends within these Realms that know me for my actions
rather than what dwells within my blood, but the ignorance, the fear, and the
hatred still lurk just beyond our borders.
It was a day much like
any other in Voraniss. The sun was high in the sky and her rays found all the
cracks in the forest canopy that she could; raining her light upon the pine
needles and dried leaves that covered the woodland floor. I remember this day
in particular because I had found a very nice napping spot where I could get
comfortable and be in the sun at the same time, but my lounging was disrupted
by a very frantic Wynn.
“Mama Mouse! Mama Mouse!”
Wynn called, stumbling over roots in her hurry to get to me.
I sat up with a yawn,
stretching my arms up over my head. “Yes? What is it, sweetheart? Does Mama need to smite someone?”
“I smelled something
delicious and-and I thought it might be cake! So I followed it!” She paused in
her statement, trying to gauge whether or not I was paying attention. Cake was very serious business to Wynn after
all.
I patted the ground next
to me, trying to see if I could get her to sit down and be calm, but there was
more to her story. “Okay…” I replied with a bit of a chuckle, “Did you find the
cake?”
She shook her head from
side to side, pointing back the way she had come. “No! There wasn’t any cake,
but they had sweet smelling things that they were eating with their hands!”
“Cupcakes?” I gently
inquired.
Again she shook her head
quickly. “It looked like bread!”
“Oooh, I think you mean
biscuits. Those can be sweet if they have honey on them.” In my foolishness, I wasn’t asking her the important
questions. In truth, I didn’t realize there was more to her frustration until
she stomped her feet and huffed to get my attention.
“I gotta show you them,”
she whined, trying to tug at my arm.
“The biscuits? Oh, sweetie, I’ve seen biscuits before. It’s okay.
I can show you how to make them if you really want,” I said. I took her hand
and let her pull me to my feet, feeling a little guilty that she was so
distressed.
“Not the biscuits! The
people!”
I could feel the hair on
the back of my neck stand on end. People?
I squinted my eyes and turned to look at Wynn more seriously. “What people,
Wynnie? Did you know them?”
“No. They didn’t look
like Uncle Cronin or the Broken Spears, and they didn’t smell like anyone else
in the pack. They were camping in the woods and they got mad when I came to
share biscuits. They started yelling really loud and went to get their bows. I
didn’t like it so I left,” Wynn pouted. Her innocent mind couldn’t fully
comprehend the potential threat.
I tried to stay calm so
that she wouldn’t be alarmed, pulling her close and giving her a gentle kiss on
the forehead. “There, there. We will make our own biscuits for the pack and you
can have as many as you like,” I said, trying to comfort her. “Do you remember
where these people were? Mama is gonna go scold them, okay? We gotta teach them
how to share.”
“Somewhere near the Boar
Shrine, I think. I don’t remember exactly,” she answered, returning the hug.
“That’s okay. You did good. Thank you.” I continued to hug her until
I was certain she had calmed down a little bit. “You want to help Mama? Let’s
sniff out the others and see who is nearby to help. I bet Uncle Cronin will
have some good words for those guys. And Thoril will offer to do something
completely outrageous but totally loving in its own twisted way.”
“Like when he wants to
try and tap into reality, bend it, and summon cake from every plane of
existence?” Wynn blinked as she laughed and looked up at me.
“Y-yes,” I replied as I
patted her on the head. “Exactly like that.” I was a little concerned about her
fervor for Thoril’s antics but decided to ultimately dismiss it as typical cake
enthusiasm. I knew Wynn, and her passion for baked goods truly knew no bounds.
I also had other things to worry about and needed to stay focused on the bigger
picture. There were trespassers in my home, and they had made a very big
mistake whether they knew it or not.
Besides coming into the
forest uninvited, besides the fact that they had picked up their weapons when
they saw my daughter, they had decided to camp near the Boar Shrine of all
places. For their sakes, I hoped I could find them before Mogar did. If they
took up arms against the Orc, who held great reverence for Mon’ghora the Boar
Totem, I had no doubt that this fiasco would end with bloodshed. As Champion,
Mogar was very protective of our forest and all of its inhabitants. He wasn’t
going to take kindly to such intrusions to
begin with. This had the potential to be a large scale disaster.
“Okay, Wynnie. Let’s get
going. Who do you think is closest?” We started walking hand in hand as she
sniffed the air, pointing out a direction to me.
“Tulkhan is over that
way!” she exclaimed proudly.
“Then let’s go get ‘em.
We’re going to need his help.”
