First Steps Beneath the Boughs of Shadowglen

The Road

Shadowglen opened around me in the late-afternoon light, and I stopped where I stood, because the whole glen seemed to be holding its breath. The light came down gold through branches older than any name I know. I rehearsed a dramatic entrance for the occasion. Nobody saw it, which is the usual fate of my entrances, but the trees were very kind about it.

From there my path wove between the glen and Aldrassil, the great tree itself, and back again. Each time I stepped into Aldrassil I felt I ought to whisper. I did whisper, and then I tripped on a root, so the effect was mixed. I also found my way to the place the glen calls Aldrassil on the map, which I count as a discovery, and I will count it again tomorrow.

Battles

The balance of nature asked much of me today, and I answered with fourteen creatures laid low. Seven young nightsabers, five young thistle boars, one grellkin and one full-grown thistle boar. I said a small word of thanks over each, as a druid should. The boars, I regret to say, did not wait for the end of the word.

The grellkin was the one that stayed with me. It was not a beast of the glen's ordinary kind, and Tarindrella had warned me about what the Fel Moss does to the things it touches. I walked on more quietly afterward.

Deeds

Conservator Ilthalaine greeted me with "the beauty of Shadowglen never ceases to delight my senses!" and I agreed so loudly that a bird left. She asked me to thin the young nightsabers and thistle boars so that nature's harmony would be preserved. I did, and she said I had performed my duties well. I have decided to carry that sentence with me always. She then asked for seven mangy nightsabers and seven thistle boars more, so the balance is not yet kept. She also handed me a Verdant Sigil from Mardant, to be read and carried to him.

Melithar Staghelm sent me next. The forest spirits had whispered to him that the woodland protector Tarindrella had returned to Shadowglen, and he feared something was amiss. I found her to the southwest, and she said, "I see you found me, young night elf." She told me I still have much to learn and gave me a book to further my education. I was moved, and also pleased about the book. She then set me a second task: to find eight Fel Moss among the grells and grellkin. That one is not finished.

Tarindrella also asked me to search the abandoned Gnarlpine camps for totems, four of them, to learn what had befallen the furbolgs. I brought them back, and the engravings spoke of terrible dreams: a great shadow that would wipe them out, fear turning to rage, and the shadow taking the face of their elven friends. She said it was worse than she had thought. I thought about "a mind slipping away" for a long while afterward, and I did not reach for a snack, which shows how serious it was.

Last, Dirania Silvershine told me that her friend Iverron had not come by at his usual hour, and she was worried. He is said to spend his time near the cave to the north, where spiders are everywhere. I said I would keep an eye out for him. I have not yet set out.

Fellowship

Mardant Strongoak greeted me as "my brother," and I nearly wept into the sigil. He said he would be my mentor and guide, and that I should return as often as I like. He spoke of the call of the Emerald Dream, which will someday take hold of me, and of long years of hibernation among the purest forms of things. I nodded gravely. I did not ask whether there would be snacks in the Dream. I will ask next time.

Terunne Bearshaper also called a greeting and asked whether I cared to learn to gather leather from slain beasts, or needed new tools.

Spoils & Craft

Tarindrella's book is my one keepsake of the day, and I have set it where I can see it. I also learned the crafts of Tanning and Skinning. I am now someone who can take leather from the beasts, though I expect to be bad at it for some time. The nightsabers have been warned.

Growth

A new strength came over me in the glen, something like a warm stillness in the limbs. After that my staff felt steadier in my hand, and I held my guard with more skill than before. Mardant taught me the Mark of the Wild, and when I first spoke it I felt the forest answer, softly, like a friend who had been waiting at the door. Skinning came to me too, by Terunne's patient word.