Be Kind To Those Less Fortunate 5
Disclaimer: The Warcraft universe is a creation of Blizzard Entertainment, not me. I intend not to, nor am I making, any money from this work
Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Summary: A draenei paladin traveling through Northrend comes across a tauren shaman in trouble with the scourge. Author's note: Okay, yes, I know. I'm bad. This part of the story has taken me so long because I have been at university for the past few months. I just wrote it now, after having the draft sitting around collecting dust. Hope you enjoy what I've written so far, and I hope you continue watching out for new parts, as this story isn't over yet. UPDATE (08/12/09) -- Revised the story, corrected a continuity error. -- Be Kind To Those Less Fortunate 5 -- Silence prevailed in the darkness. At least, it did for a while. The tauren in the bed across the room from the draenei was talking in his sleep. Moaning, crying, pleading for his mate to come back. Anarchei was awakened by the sounds coming from Stronghoof. Throwing the covers off himself, Anarchei sat up in bed, looking over at the tauren across from him, noticing the sheets that had fallen off Stronghoof during the night. The big bull was shifting about on the bed, his large hooves occasionally kicking. Anarchei stood up and walked over to Stronghoof, gently placing his hands on the tauren's furry shoulder and beefy arm, shaking them slightly. Not having any effect, he then leaned over Stronghoof and grasped both shoulders and shook them harder. "Stronghoof," he said firmly. "Wake up." The dark-furred tauren's eyes shot wide open, and sat up quickly, knocking the draenei back. Breathing hard and appearing unsure of where he was, Stronghoof saw Anarchei's glowing blue eyes. "Are you a death knight?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Have you come to finish the job?" Anarchei, startled by the tauren's words, waved his hand and a small sphere of light appeared mid air, illuminating the room like a candle. "No, I'm not," the draenei explained. "I'm the paladin that rescued you, remember?" Stronghoof breathed a sigh of relief and fell back to the bed, wincing in pain as he did so. "Damn it, I forgot!" exclaimed the tauren, a three-fingered hand holding the wound on his side. "Can I have a look?" Anarchei asked. Stronghoof nodded. The draenei carefully checked the wound. "There is no bleeding, the stitches have held." Again the tauren nodded his head, and with a tired sigh, fell back to sleep. Seeing this, Anarchei picked the sheets off the floor and pulled them back over Stronghoof, sparing a moment to look down at the face of the sleeping tauren. Turning away, the draenei went back to his own bed, and before falling asleep he waved his hand. The light vanished. -- Morning had arrived. Anarchei woke up to see sunlight filtering through a window. Glancing over at Stronghoof, he saw that the sheets still covered the still sleeping tauren.
Assuming that the bull had slept better after he had calmed the tauren down earlier, Anarchei got out of bed and walked up to the door, opening it and sneaking his head out to see if anyone was around. The corridor was deserted. Glancing back at the tauren, the draenei decided that it might be a good idea to see about getting some food. Stepping out and shutting the door behind him, Anarchei began to walk down the corridor, looking for someone. On his right, a door suddenly opened to reveal the kaldorei from earlier, who was slightly startled by the appearance of the draenei, his glowing golden eyes widening. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." "No problem," the night elf waved it off. "I'm kind of used to big guys appearing out of nowhere. Can I help you with anything?" "Yes, actually. I was wondering whether there was any food that I could get for myself and Stronghoof." "Yeah there is. We have a kitchen downstairs with a pantry stocked with food, and a daytime chef. But that is meant for patients only...however since your are our guest you can have some too."
"I can pay..." "Sorry, my master told me not to accept any gold from you." "Well in that case, can I at least cook the food myself instead of burdening the chef?" "You will need to take that up with the chef, it's their kitchen after all. Follow me." The kaldorei walked down the corridor, leading the draenei through a door off the hall that took them down a stairway into a cellar, which was in reality a fully stocked kitchen. Amongst the tables for food preparation and the fires burning against the wall, was a relatively short human female wearing a tall white hat that Anarchei recognised as something a chef usually wore. "Hey, this is the draenei that brought in the tauren last night. Any chance he can use the kitchen to prepare some food?" "Yeah sure, so long as the big guy doesn't get in my way. I am busy preparing breakfast for the other patients." "Excellent," the night elf responded, turning to face Anarchei. "I need to see to some patients, I'll see you later." Without leaving the draenei a chance to thank him, the kaldorei was gone. Shrugging, Anarchei turned back to the kitchen, the chef busy moving about the kitchen preparing food and cooking. Walking over to the pantry, the draenei did some exploring, discovering a large box that was cool to the touch. Grasping the handle, Anarchei pulled the door open, revealing shelves of chilled food like orange juice, eggs, cream, water, and butter. He grabbed a few of these items, closing the door to keep the cool air inside. The draenei wasn't sure, but he thought that there was some magic keeping that box and everything in it cold. Moving along, Anarchei also picked up some dried powder made from vegetable protein, various spices in small jars, some tomatoes, and a bottle of vegetable oil. Using a half empty table, the draenei mixed the powder with the spices, added some water and eggs which formed the mixture into a dough-like substance, and then rolled it out into sausages. He then proceeded to break some more eggs into a bowl and whipped up the eggs with some cream, and cut up the tomatoes into thick slices. Using some saucepans, Anarchei cooked the scrambled eggs, veggie sausages, and tomatoes, adding vegetable oil to the pans to help cook the food and prevent it from sticking to the pans. Once everything was cooked, he put everything on to two plates, then placed the plates on a large platter with the jug of orange juice and two glasses. Before leaving, Anarchei threw the mess of used bowls and utensils into a sink, which began to magically clean everything with soapy water, and then placing everything on a rack to dry. "Thanks for the use of your kitchen," the draenei said to the chef, while grabbing some utensils and the platter. "Not a problem," she replied. "You aren't a bad cook, and you don't leave a mess. So no regrets here." Not sure how to take the human's weird sense of humor, the draenei merely
nodded and left. The trip back to the room was uneventful, except for the few times that Anarchei nearly dropped the platter of food. Walking on hooves did seem to be a bit of a disadvantage at times. -- Stronghoof opened his eyes. He was in a room in the house of healing, lying on a bed. He remembered the events of the previous day. His attempted suicide, his rescuer, last night... The tauren's thoughts were interupted by the arrival of a tall blue-skinned draenei carrying a platter of food and drink. "What's this?" Stronghoof asked. "Breakfast," Anarchei smiled. "Hope you're hungry enough to try my cooking." "Eh, it wasn't necessary for you to go to the trouble," the tauren said. "It was no trouble at all," the draenei explained, placing the platter on his empty bed. "There's plenty of food here for both of us." Anarchei poured some orange juice into each glass, then picked up a plate and a glass, and took it over to Stronghoof. He placed the plate and glass on a miniature table that was used to sit across a patient's lap while they sat up in bed. About to place it in front of Stronghoof, he realised that the tauren wasn't sitting up. He put the table down and moved over to the bulky bull, and helped assist the tauren to sit up properly with some pillows to support his back, the draenei's muscles bulging at the strain to lift the tauren into position. "Whoa!" Stronghoof exclaimed. "I didn't realise draenei were so strong! You practically lifted my entire weight!" "Well, if I wasn't as strong as I am I wouldn't have been able to lift you on to the back of a netherdrake, and hence you may not be here," Anarchei explained while he placed the mini-table on to the tauren's lap. The tauren eyed the knife and fork, looking unsure as to how to use them. "Have you ever used a knife and fork before?" the draenei asked kindly. "Well, my people do have them, it's just that I've never needed to use them before." Anarchei proceeded to demonstrate how to use them by cutting up a bit of sausage and then picked up the cut piece with the fork and handed it to Stronghoof. "This is how you get food from your plate to your mouth without getting your hands messy," he explained. Stronghoof took the fork, stuck the bit of sausage in his mouth, and chewed. "What is the sausage made from?" the tauren enquired after he had swallowed. "It tastes a bit different." "Well, it's made from vegetable protein, not meat." "Why's that?" "I'm not like most people. See, I'm what some would call a vegetarian. It means I don't eat meat." "But if you don't eat meat, how is it that you are so big and strong?" "It's a common misconception that meat makes you big and strong. It's the protein that does it. For me and other people who share my view, it's more ethical to get my protein this way instead of killing an animal for
it." Stronghoof nodded his head and continued to eat the food. Anarchei then picked up his own plate and proceeded to eat in the chair next to the tauren's bed. "You know, this tastes better than anything I've tasted before," Stronghoof complemented. "Thanks," Anarchei responded, smiling. Both ate quietly for a while until the tauren cleared his throat. "How did you become a vegetarian?" Stronghoof asked. "A friend of mine introduced me to the idea." "Who was this friend?" "A tauren," Anarchei explained. "She was the one that taught me how to speak taurahe." "What?" Stronghoof exclaimed, surprised. "She was a druid of the Cenarion Circle. I spent many months in Moonglade a while ago." "What were you doing in Moonglade?" "Well, after I ran away from my adopted home, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life." "Hold on. You ran away from home? And you were adopted?" Anarchei chuckled. "Sorry, I forgot that I hadn't told you this. You see, my real parents were killed in the slaughter on Draenor. I was only a newborn at the time, so I don't really remember them. Anyway, somehow I escaped death and I was found by a group of human soldiers who had wandered into the area looking for survivors. They brought me back with them to Azeroth before the portal exploded." "Oh, I'm so sorry." "It's all right," Anarchei waved him off, giving the tauren a smile to show that he wasn't upset about the ordeal. "Perhaps if I was a little older at the time I would have some memory of what happened, but all I have to go by is what others have told me. Which leads my story to my adoption by a human family. You see, they couldn't have children of their own, something biological I think, they never explained it well. They wanted to adopt a human child, but all the children at the orphanage were either draenei children or teenage humans. They wanted a baby, and I was the only one there. They didn't want to wait any longer, so that's how I ended up with them. For the most part they were kind and compassionate people. They never struck me or yelled at me, well, at least, not until that night I told them a secret about myself. They didn't want me to live with them any more, and I didn't want to be near them any more, so I ran away." "Why would they do that to you?" "I don't want to talk about it right now." Stronghoof nodded. "That's fine. Tell me about Moonglade." "Right," Anarchei continued. "Well, I wandered around until I found myself on a boat to Kalimdor. After a long trek through the mountains I came upon Moonglade. I met a druid who thought that I may have latent druidic abilities, and he took me in for training. But after he realised that I had no talent for druidic magic, he asked me to leave. However, another druid, a female tauren, took pity on me and took me in. She rarely spoke common except with other druids, so I
started using taurahe words. Eventually she started helping me speak the language. It was during this time that I learnt that not many people in Moonglade ate animal flesh, and after hearing the old druid's arguments against eating meat, I agreed to try going without. It stuck. But she was getting older, and was nearing death. I looked after her as payment for the good things she did for me. On her deathbed, she bestowed her worldly goods to me. After she died, I didn't have much reason to stay in Moonglade, so I sold the druids home and most of her possessions. I left with a few sacks of gold and a few books." "Sorry," Stronghoof condoled. "I shouldn't have asked." "No, it's quite alright. It was years ago, and we never really got that close. Still, she was a good friend." After a moment, the tauren couldn't hold it back any longer. "One thing I don't get. Why would anyone think that you would have druidic abilities? I mean, draenei aren't exactly known to possess such powers." "It wasn't the druidic powers the druid sensed, but rather my ability to harness the Light."
"What if something like that happened to me?" Stronghoof pondered in response.
"Why do you think that?" "Ever since I reached maturity, I was a warrior. There had never been any druidic or shamanistic potential sensed within me. It was only a year into my mateship with another warrior that it was discovered that I had the ability to harness the power of the shaman." Anarchei nodded. "The difference between us is that you could actually be a shaman because you could use those abilities, while I cannot be a druid because I cannot use those abilities." "But maybe I don't have the abilities necessary for shamanism after all. I can no longer hear the spirits." "They will come back in time," Anarchei offered, to which Stronghoof shook his head. "The spirits have abandoned me for my attempt at suicide," the tauren's voice almost breaking.
Their food mostly eaten but now forgotten on the table, Anarchei tried to comfort Stronghoof. He placed his hand on the tauren's forearm, but it was no use. The burly tauren had begun to cry.