Hunt for the Song

“Hmmm….what do I remember…? I remember opening my eyes and watching the sun dance on the leaves above me for a while. After a while, I realized I didn’t know where I was.” The blood elf girl spoke in hushed tones as she and her dragonhawk strolled along on another errand.

“I guess I should think about it more. Folks are going to ask me more and more, and it’s kinda embarrassing to tell them I don’t know.” Ceitidh paused to brush her hair back from her face and looked up at the trees.

“It’s not really that exciting of a story, really. Or if it is, I don’t remember it.” Orain stopped and perched on a fallen tree nearby. “Oh, you want to hear what I know?” The dragonhawk nodded, folding his wings. Ceitidh chuckled. “All right then.” She sat in the grass, laying her bow and quiver at her side.

“Well, like I said, the first I remember is staring at the sun. I don’t know how long I lay there, really, but I was unaware of pretty much everything for a while. I realized I didn’t know where I was, and sat up to look around. My head spun with the movement, and I laid back down for a while.”

“Next I knew it was dawn, and there was a squirrel pulling on my hair. I got up to look around, and found my legs were scratched and bruised. I could still walk, though slowly. There were no signs of anyone else nearby. At least not recently. It looked like there had been others through- a scrap of cloth stuck to a tree by an arrow- a slightly rusted dagger… But these were faded and weathered.”

“I tried to recall where I was- what had happened, but I could not. All I had was a vague feeling of pain, visions of a struggle, but nothing more. Everything beyond when I woke was gone. My own name even eluded me. I looked through the clothes I wore, torn and dirty, and found nothing. All I had was this bracelet I still wear- This at least tells my name.”

The elf holds up her arm, a circlet on her wrist glinting gold in the sunlight. Etched across the surface are runes reading “Ceitidh” She takes it off and turns it over in her hand. “But that was all. There was nothing to tell me more, and I could not remember anything before that day.” With a soft sigh, the hunter outs the bracelet back on, pushing it snugly up her arm.

“So I wandered in the forest. I followed what trails I could find. Every trail led to a dead end- often literally, with the decaying corpses of scourge, kal’dorei, and even sin’dorei. Most looked as though they had been there for months, if not years.”

“I wandered like this for weeks on end. I knew some fruits and berries that were edible, and found roots and nuts as well. My long hair had become a tangled mess, so I was forced to chop it all off with a weathered sword I’d found. Since then I keep it short for convenience, mostly.” Ceitidh chuckles, and shakes her head, letting her black tresses fly in the sunlight.

“Of course, I wasn’t the only one living in the forest.” The elven lass grins over at her reptilian companion. “The animals got used to me being there, and knew I wasn’t going to hurt them. Some mornings, I’d wake to find a squirrel with a pile of nuts chattering beside me. As darkness fell, I could look to the trees and see an owl watching over me. When the weather became colder, I’d be awoken during the night by the purring of a great lynx, curled up next to me for warmth.”

“It really wasn’t all that bad of a life. I was comfortable- except for the nagging question of who I was, and how I got there. This lasted for several months.”

“Then one morning I knew something was different. The animals were nervous. We could all tell there was a new presence in the forest. I could hear sounds that seemed familiar- though I knew I’d not heard them for some time.”

Orain hopped off his stump and waddled closer to Ceitidh, head tipped to one side as if listening intently. She chuckled and continued her story.

“They were voices. Sin’dorei voices carried on the wind. I ran to meet them, hoping that perhaps whoever it was would know me. It was a party of Farstriders, scouting the woods. They were amazed to see me- but none knew who I could be.”

“Traveling with them, I proved to be a reliable and useful guide. I told them all I knew- all I had seen in the forest, and led them to the places I had seen. They told me that the woods were a source of constant raids and skirmishes, but they had not heard of any within the past year. If I had been part of a raid, I was the only sin’dorei that had survived.”

The dragonhawk laid his head on the girl’s leg, and she patted it fondly. “So I lived and trained there with the Farstriders for two years, before they said I was ready to set out on my own for more training.

A reptilian grin met Ceitidh’s smile, and she laughed heartily. “Yes, my Orain, that’s when I met you.”

She scratched at his head, and leaned her own against the tree, looking across the horizon. “In my dreams, and even sometimes in waking hours, I hear a song echoing through my head. I know the song holds the key to my past, but I can only hear it in the distance.”

“So that is what we hunt, my Orain. We seek the song.”

''The rising sun shimmers off the back of a dragonhawk, circling in search of his breakfast. He makes certain never to stray far from his mistress- a dark haired sin’dorei, sitting on a stump nearby. The elf has an open book in her lap, and a pen twisting in her fingers as she chooses her words. The book is blank for now, but she knows it will soon be filled with memories.''

I am going to start writing in this book as a journal. So much of my past has been forgotten and lost. Perhaps this small thing will at least preserve these days, even though I am certain many things from these past weeks will be burned on my heart forever.

I never want to loose these memories. I have lost enough, only to be left with vague impressions and faint tugs on my mind.

So here I am, and where do I start…?

It’s been a little over a month since I set out on this journey. Since the Farstriders decided it was time for me to move on… to see how I could fare on my own.

I set off knowing no one, hardly knowing who I was. And now… well… I am not alone anymore.

My faithful dragonhawk stays nearby, worries over me at times. I named him “Orain,” for the song I hear in my head. The sound of his wings at times beats with the tempo, and he has learned to respond to melodies. These are much less likely to attract the attention of our prey than shouts or whistles.

We’ve run far and long these past weeks. We’ve seen beauty, sorrow, and twinges of hope. There is much out there for us to do- many who need help.

So my tales will need to wait. Orain is done with his breakfast, so we need to move on. I will write more soon.

Spiders…why do there have to be so many of them? My beloved laughs at me when I gripe about them, but he’d never woken up with spiders all over him before- never found them in his food, hair, clothes… So yes, Orain and I do go out of our way sometimes to thin out the population a bit. There are far too many. And now there’s a few less.

I did not see any when I traveled through Mulgore the other day. That is another thing to love about that grassy expanse… It stirred so many emotions looking over those hills. I wanted so much to take off my boots and go rolling in the grass- almost as if I’d done it before… But beyond vague feelings, I still don’t remember. I think my Love was frustrated with me, trying to get me to remember. But I can’t. What secrets lie in the past that my mind wants to forget so strenuously? Great loss? Some days I don’t want to remember.

But I think the green plains will now stay close to my heart.

So what should I say about my heart? Start at the beginning, I suppose…

One evening a while back, Orain and I were wandering around Silvermoon. I was hoping perhaps I’d meet some new people. I truly had no clue…

We stopped for a minute in front of the auction hall, and I gave Orain his supper. A tall sin’dorei man with long white hair walked up to admire Orain. How anyone could miss such a beautiful creature as my pet, I don’t know… He introduced himself as Killorn, a warlock in training. He asked if I’d like to go sit and talk a while somewhere nearby. So we did. We sat and shared our stories.

The most amazing thing… our stories were nearly identical! Here I had been afraid that others would look down on me for not knowing my heritage and past. Then by wonderful chance, I found someone who would understand. He woke in the Dead scar only a year before- not knowing anything about his past. His one link to the past is a silver ring he wears- not terribly different in style to my bracelet.

Like my song, he had been haunted by dreams he connected to his past. Something elusive that would help him remember. The scene he saw was of a plain- golden and vast. Before him, the shape of a woman, dark-haired and facing the other way. He could never see her face. The past worries him so much.

Over the next couple weeks, we spoke often, sharing what we knew- talking about our training and quests, learning more of each other. One evening in Silvermoon, we sat and talked awhile. He introduced me to a new drink, which felt rather odd. I only had one, but he drank several. Eventually, he had to go lie down, after running into walls and such. I sat down next to him, making sure he’d be all right. He looked up at me and smiled, whispering, “You are truly more beautiful than the Sunwell itself… Perhaps someday…” Then he passed out. I was shocked. Was it the drink talking? Or did he really feel that way? I waited there a while, until I knew he would sleep through the night, and headed back into the wilds.

It was such a strange feeling- I did not know quite how to react.

I had the strangest dream last night.. I have to write it down lest I forget it.

I woke, or at least thought I did, to early morning sunlight filtered through red curtains. I was lying in a large bed, with sheets of red and cream satin. Instead of the woolen and linen robes I’m used to, I wore a rich satin robe, embroidered at the hem with many flowers.

The room was large and bright, obviously not any inn I’d been in. There were several plants in the room, and niches in the walls with figures in them. A large mirror stood by a wardrobe on one side of the room. I sighed, snuggling under the covers, not wanting to leave the cool, comfortable sheets.

There was music in the distance, and the sounds of others bustling around in the morning light. For some reason, I felt more at home in this room than any place I remember.

I heard a bit of rustling, and felt a weight at my feet. Something was crawling up the sheets!

Tentatively, I peeked over the covers to find myself face to face with a huge spider!

With a yell, I threw off the covers- knocking the spider off in the process. Grabbing a pillow, I threw it at the spider, and watched it skitter out the door. Laughter erupted from the hallway, and a small dark haired boy’s face peeked around the door.

“Got you sis!” The boy laughed, skipping off down the hall.

I threw a pillow at the retreating figure, trying hard to suppress my own giggles.