Tauren Tale

Chapter 11: Kid Advice

“Stop!” Kazbo screamed. “Don't hurt my friends!”

Sanja squeezed her brother tightly and tried to shield his little body from the archer's attack.

The bear charged forward with shocking speed and reached the Tauren just as the jungle cat leapt at the huddled forms.

Sanja shook uncontrollably as she waited to be struck, but it did not come.

“Wait, Ellemayne,” the Night Elf woman said softly in Common. She unhooked its claws from where they had dug into her armor. “Do not hurt them.”

Sanja looked up at the beautiful woman that had been a bear only moments prior. She had saved them from the nightsaber's claws, but she still faced the young Horde with caution. Her eyes were strange and unreadable. She held a small, green-handled knife before her.

“Are you well?” the woman called over to Kazbo.

The little man's face looked bad; very bad, actually. One of his eyes was black and blue. He had been laying his head on his hand, and now that cheek was bruised as well.

“I realize that trusting is not without risk,” he explained in Common. “But my friends didn't harm me, that was a crocolisk! Sanja and Jorga, they both saved my life.” Kazbo accented the Tauren names to make it clear that they were people, not enemies. “So please, I beg you, put away the knife.”

With great trepidation, the woman slowly returned her blade to its sheath. Her face relaxed a little and the archer approached at a jog. Ellemayne sat on her haunches, content that there was no need to fight.

“I gave Kazbo some bruiseweed to suck on, for the pain,” Sanja explained in Common. The elves looked surprised that she could speak something that they would understand. “With all of our fur, my people's reaction to the leaves is... well, less dramatic.”

“My apologies,” the man said in an icy smooth voice, “I thought the Gnome was held captive.”

“I am Kazbo Fizzgimbels. Transcriber of symbols.”

“It is an honor to meet you, Kazbo. I am Tanavar, and this is my wife, Meridia.” He bowed low, from the waist.

“I'm Sanja,” Sanja said, not that anyone had asked. She got up off of her brother. “This is Jorga.”

To Sanja's surprise, Meridia's face went from cold to beaming the moment she saw the boy. She bounced in place happily and tugged on her husband's hand.

“Your son!” she squeaked. “He is adorable.”

Normally, Sanja would be insulted by such a comment. But she was just relieved that they had met someone on the journey, and that no one had to get killed. “He's my brother, actually...”

“May I hold him?” It was impossible to follow her peculiar, glowing eyes, but Sanja doubted that the woman had ever even looked at her. She couldn't take her attention off of Jorga.

What a strange request! Sanja thought. It was common among the cows of her utankan to want to hold another's newborn, but Jorga was deep in the middle of his first summer. Boys like Jorga never wanted to be held unless they were frightened or injured.

She looked over to her brother and he looked back at her with similar bewilderment.

Without another word, Meridia scooped Jorga up and squeezed him to her heart. The poor boy looked puzzled and awkward for a moment, and then to Sanja's surprise, he seemed to melt into the strange woman's embrace. In just seconds, she could see all of his homesickness dissolve away. All of the morning's animosity seemed to fade into the unexpected tenderness.