First Steps Beneath Aldrassil's Boughs
Betas wanders Shadowglen, thins the beasts, learns from a dryad, and receives the Mark of the Wild, still certain the moon winked.
The Road
I came into Shadowglen in the late afternoon, when the light slants gold through the leaves and the whole glen seems to be holding its breath. I stopped where I stood and let the place be discovered, though I suspect it was Shadowglen doing the discovering. I had rehearsed a dramatic entrance for this moment. No one saw it, but the trees were very polite about it.
Soon after, I climbed into Aldrassil, the great tree itself, and found it was a place all its own. I went back and forth between the grove below and the tree above all evening, and each time the light had slipped a little further toward dusk. The moon was not yet up, but I felt it was thinking of me.
Battles
The beasts of Shadowglen kept me busy. I put down seven Young Nightsabers, five Young Thistle Boars, and one full-grown Thistle Boar. I also met a single Grellkin and bested it. I take no pleasure in it. I said a quiet sorry over each one, in case Elune was listening, and I came away unhurt, which I count as a mercy.
Deeds
Conservator Ilthalaine greeted me by saying that the beauty of Shadowglen "never ceases to delight my senses!" I agreed so loudly that a bird left. She explained that the heavy spring rains had let the nightsabers and thistle boars flourish beyond what the glen could feed, and she asked me to thin them. When I returned she told me I had "performed my duties well." Then she asked for more of the same, this time against mangy nightsabers and thistle boars, seven of each. That work is still ahead of me. She also gave me a Verdant Sigil from Mardant, the druid trainer, and asked me to read it and carry it to him.
In Aldrassil, Melithar Staghelm told me that the whisperings of the forest spirits had carried strange news: the dryad Tarindrella, long absent from Kalimdor's forests, had returned to Shadowglen. He asked me to seek her out. I found her, and she said Melithar was wise to have sent me, though I had "much to learn." She then asked me to gather eight Fel Moss from the grells and grellkin, to see whether the Gnarlpine furbolgs had truly been corrupted by it. I have not gathered that moss yet.
She gave me another task as well: to search the Gnarlpine camps along the western edge of the glen for four totems and their engravings. I brought them back, and she read them. The Gnarlpine had been dreaming of being wiped out by a great shadow, and their fear had turned to rage, and the shadow had taken the face of their elven friends. "To be aware of your own mind slipping away from you," she said. I stood quietly a while after that.
I delivered the Verdant Sigil to Mardant Strongoak, who said he would be my mentor and guide, and that I should return whenever I liked.
Last, Dirania Silvershine told me that her friend Iverron had not come by at his usual hour, and that he spends his time near the cave to the north, where spiders are everywhere. She asked me to keep an eye out for him. I have not yet gone looking.
Spoils & Craft
Tarindrella offered me a book to further my education, since she understands that my kind enjoys books. I was so moved that I forgot to be hungry for nearly a minute.
Growth
I learned Tanning and Skinning, so that nothing the beasts leave behind need go to waste. Terunne Bearshaper later greeted me in Aldrassil and asked whether I cared to learn how to gather leather from slain beasts, or needed new tools.
After the work in the glen I felt a new strength settle into my arms and my stance. My defense and my skill with the staff both sharpened.
Mardant welcomed me as "my brother." He spoke of the call of the Emerald Dream, which will one day take hold of me. I will hibernate for many years and walk amongst the purest of forms, and there my ultimate training will take place. I learned Mark of the Wild from him, and for a moment the whole tree seemed to hum with it.