First Steps Beneath Aldrassil's Boughs

The Road

I arrived in Shadowglen in the late afternoon, and the light came down through the branches in long, slow ribbons, gold at the edges and green in the middle. I stopped walking. I am fairly sure the glen noticed me stopping, and I am fairly sure it approved. Somewhere above, the moon was only a pale promise, but I gave it a small nod anyway, in case it was winking again.

From there my day was a loop between the glen and the great tree Aldrassil. I climbed into Aldrassil, came back down, climbed up again, and by the end I knew the way so well that my feet seemed to be arguing with me about it. I rehearsed a dramatic entrance each time I reached the top. Nobody saw any of them. I choose to believe the tree did.

Battles

Fourteen creatures fell to me today, and I counted each one, because balance is a sacred matter and so is arithmetic. Seven were Young Nightsabers and five were Young Thistle Boars. There was also one grellkin and one full-grown Thistle Boar, who looked at me as though I should have known better.

I took no joy in the killing. The forest asked it of me, and I did it with a quiet word of thanks each time. Then, on the seventh nightsaber, I tripped over a root, which I'm choosing to call a ceremonial bow.

Deeds

Conservator Ilthalaine greeted me by saying that the beauty of Shadowglen "never ceases to delight" his senses, and I agreed so loudly that a bird left. He asked me to thin the Young Nightsabers and Young Thistle Boars, because the spring rains were heavy and the beasts grew too many for the glen to feed. When I returned, he said I had "performed my duties well." I carried that sentence around for the rest of the afternoon like a warm roll. He then gave me a harder charge, to slay seven mangy nightsabers and seven thistle boars in the name of balance. He also handed me a Verdant Sigil from Mardant, my druid trainer.

Melithar Staghelm met me with news the forest spirits had whispered to him. The woodland protector Tarindrella, a dryad not felt in Kalimdor's forests for years, had returned to Shadowglen. I found her to the southwest of Aldrassil, and she said Melithar was wise to have sent me. She then told me of the Gnarlpine, the furbolgs who once lived peacefully and now amass under a name of rage. She said the wicked Fel Moss was to blame, and she asked me to gather eight pieces of it. She also asked me to search the abandoned furbolg camps for Gnarlpine totems. I brought them back, and she read the engravings and grew solemn. The Gnarlpine dreamed of being wiped out by a great shadow, and that fear turned to rage, and the rage turned on their old elven friends. "To be aware of your own mind slipping away from you," she said. I thought about that for a long time. It was the saddest thing I heard all day, and I had a snack afterward, and then felt a little bad about the snack.

I read the Verdant Sigil and took it to Mardant Strongoak in Aldrassil. He said he would be my mentor and guide, to teach me what the spirits say and the secrets of the Emerald Dream. Last of all, Dirania Silvershine told me her friend Iverron, who visits her at the same hour every day, was several hours late. He often goes to the cave to the north, where spiders are everywhere. She asked me to keep an eye out for him. I have not found him yet.

Fellowship

I spoke with no companions today, only the people of the glen. I greeted everyone warmly. Most replied. One Sentinel looked at me for a long moment when I bowed to a tree. I think she was moved.

Spoils & Craft

Tarindrella gave me a book to further my education, because, she said, my kind enjoys books. I do. I am not certain how she knew, but I try not to ask a dryad how she knows things.

I also learned the crafts of Tanning and Skinning. I am told that I will soon turn the hides of fallen beasts into leather. Nothing in nature is wasted, and I intend to be very good at it.

Growth

Somewhere between the boars and the sabers I felt new strength settle into me, a quiet widening, as if the glen had made room. My skill with the staff grew, and so did my defense. After I took the Verdant Sigil to Mardant, he taught me the Mark of the Wild. The first time I spoke it, a little warmth moved across my shoulders like a hand. I would like to say I took it with calm dignity. I said "oh!" out loud.

Mardant spoke of the call of the Emerald Dream, which will someday take hold of me, and of the long sleep, and of walking among the purest of forms. I do not yet understand it. But when he said it, the air in Aldrassil seemed to listen.