Impatience
Soteria was small for her age, even for a blood elf. What she lacked in size, she made up for in attitude. She wore a red silk play suit, which resembled the fabric that her parents wore. Her long auburn locks had been pulled into a messy ponytail, her mother could rarely keep her still long enough to do anything elaborate with. On her feet she wore a little pair of black velvet slippers, which was quite the compromise considering she would much, prefer to go barefoot.
She paced between the spire and the fountain, occasionally stopping to knock over Trayanice’s mini robot as she zipped by. Of course, runs back up the spire to find her father.
If for no other reason than the fact that she could, she poked her dad repeatedly with her finger.
“Daddy, where’s Bitzy? You promised he would be here this morning.” She continued to poke, until with a frustrated sigh, he turned to look at her with an amused grin playing on his features.
“Soteria, you really need to stop, I’m trying to finish this paperwork before Raine and his family arrives. Please, scoot along and go practice your wands.” A gentle hand motion toward the entrance was offered before he turned toward his work again.
“But, Daddy…..” She whined softly, then stomped her foot, released a frustrated sigh. She grabbed the small orb tipped wand from the side table beside her father’s desk, then walked out the door to find something to practice on.
Wand work was something she truly took the most pride in, as her magical talents had yet to fully manifest. Her mother, Aimee, had been training her to be a secondary healer in case there was an attack on Silvermoon City. Although, her heart wasn’t in it, she absorbed the information like a sponge. She nibbled her lower lip in concentration, one lone ringlet slipped down from its restraint bouncing between her eyes.
“Soteria?” the soothing male voice startled her as it held a bit more depth than the elves around here. She glanced over her shoulder; a wide grin spread across her features as she turned around and spotted her new friend.
“Bitzy!” her giggles filled the air as she launched herself at him, wrapping all appendages around him in a tight hug. The girl had no concept of personal space.
His lack of comfort was obvious; he stood there, with this tiny blood elf wrapped around him. His words stammer as he attempts to remove her. “Oh.” He swallows, clears his throat. “Wow.” After a few moments of being tightly hugged, he manages to pry her off him.
“Want to watch me practice?” She tipped her head in the slightest of angles, waving the small wand around. Just standing there, the magic that flowed through her caused a cascade of light to flow from the tip of the wand. The more she bounced around, the more the wand oozed with the blue glowing light.
He watched her nervously; his gaze kept falling on the wand wondering if it would burn him if he touched it. He started to lean forward a bit, hand extended, then thought better of it. Her gaze burned through him. She had an innocent intensity to her. He was mesmerized, a smile and a light nod was offered.
“Oh Bitzy, you aren’t afraid of the wand are you?” She laughed softly at him. Then, leaned over and poked him square in the chest with it. She laughed even louder when he fell over and scrambled backwards like a crab. She stalked after him, the tip of the wand now spewing a rainbow of brightly colored light. She was giggling like a banshee, until she found herself knocked off onto the ground and tossed to the side a few feet from him.
Her father’s voice boomed in her ears, she gazed up at him in fear. His eyes were narrowed, his already glowing orbs gazed down at Soteria with an anger she had never seen on him. “GIRL, what has gotten into you, are you trying to ruin relations with the Tauren?” She couldn’t meet his gaze, a single tear slipped from her eyes.
For the second time in two days, he abruptly picked her up by the back of her shirt, and blipped out leaving Bitzy sitting on the ground to wonder what exactly just happened.
Bitzy stood, brushing himself off. His parents had made their way down from the spire, to the garden. Even at 5, Bitzy could feel the rage of having his friend removed in such a harsh manner. Both of his parents stood with him, trying to give comfort. Bitzy couldn’t fathom why a parent would behave in such a way. His mother kneeled beside him and whispered softly so only he could hear, “Love we can’t fault people for the way they are. We can only try to understand why they are that way. “
Bitzy worried. The time at Silvermoon City was almost over, and he had not seen Soteria since the wand incident. His parents continued to assure him that she was fine.
The eves before the Jenkins were to report back to Bloodhoof, a feast was put out in their honor. With hopes that the talks were fruitful, they would all dine as good friends. Everyone was dressed in their finest formal festival attire, the colors and styles were as random as the amount of people attending. Each family had chosen a color to represent them with, in the end, even while beautiful; it appeared a rainbow had blown up in the banquet room. With the amount of people that had shown, the room was quite crowded. Many other representatives had come from other Horde communities. A few non hostile Alliance who had deflected to aid the Blood elves were also in attendance. As the adults raised their glasses in a toast, a flicker of light caught Bitzy’s eye.
Standing against the wall watching the festivities was Soteria. Her tiny slender form gave only the slightest idea of how stunningly beautiful she would be when she was grown. Her hair was pulled back into a regal bun, twin ornate wands held it in place. Two scarlet colored ringlets curled on either side of her face, framing it. She had been watching him for a long while. She smiled slightly as his gaze slipped down onto the dress. She had chosen not to fit in. She was the only person wearing this vivid blue colored gown. She looked down, knowing that she will be in serious trouble if she moved; she reached to brush a tear off her face, and then stood with both hands clasped behind her back. Her mother moved over to walk her to the table she would sit at. Ironically, it was right beside Bitzy.
After the adults were sitting talking, he reached under the table to grasp her hand. He felt her tiny hand hold on to his. He couldn’t understand what he was feeling. This girl had tormented him so effortlessly, yet, he felt like he had to protect her. She squeezed his hand, and then whispered something to her mother, who sat at the other side of her. Her mother nodded slightly, Soteria stood, bowed and removed herself from the room.
Bitzy followed her lead and soon he found himself running after her.
“Soteria, wait!” He hollered breathlessly at her as she was moving toward the garden area. She stopped and turned around, offered her hand as he ran up to her. They strolled hand in hand down to the garden. In the darkness, she rested her head against his arm.
He whispers to her, “Did he hurt you?”
“No. I’m fine. “
He breathed a sigh of relief. “I was worried”.
“Mommy says we shouldn’t worry at our age.” She glances up at him with a mischievous grin.
He couldn’t help but smile.
“Mommy says you are leaving tomorrow.”
He nodded sadly.
“I promise I will see you again Bitzy.”
He tipped his cute little cow head at her.
The next day was bittersweet. The Tauren had loaded up their Kodos and were truly ready to head back.
Soteria watched Bitzy get put up on his mom’s kodo, while being firmly planted in her mother’s arms. She cried softly. She didn’t get to “play” very often as the children usually were not brought to Silvermoon City. She squirmed to get away as the Kodos started moving away from the city.
“Bitzy….” She wailed. Her mother ran to catch her. She tried to pull away again, but found that it was just too hard to move.
