Walkabout

Walkabout
 * --by Zytar

=Chapter One=

The sound of the claxons had been horrifying. They still rang through his head, even weeks after it was over. Then came the voices directing everyone to proceed immediately to the escape pods. In the confusion and mad rush to survive families had been separated, his was no different. Despite all his attempts to stay by them, Analii and Zyphira had been swept away from him by the surging throng.

Eventually he had to admit he would not find them in time, and entered a pod, hoping in his heart that they too had found empty pods to use. When he pulled the launch mechanism he prayed to himself that they would soon be reunited on the planet below. Some prayers go unanswered.

He had spent days afterward wandering though the sea of refugees. Asking everyone he met if they had seen his wife and daughter. He described the two of them over and over to anyone who would listen. Always the response was the same, a sad shake of the head from someone who had also obviously lost loved ones. The anguish grew inside him.

The Shaman found him standing on the cliff overlooking the rocks below. The soothing words he spoke interupted the thoughts of ending it all. "Come my son" the Shaman said "your time here is not done yet. There is much work to be done. There are others who need healing even more than you do. Follow me." And Zytar followed him, almost without thinking. The Shaman took him to the sick, the wounded, the lost, taught him a few basic shaman skills and focused him at helping those in greatest need.

One day passed after another, each blurring into the last. Those he helped got better, and moved on. New ones replaced those who had left. Each day the Shaman would visit him and teach him a bit more. Each day he grew a little better at healing those he was given charge of. Then, the Shaman came to him and took his hand. "Follow me my son" he said in his soft compassionate voice "I have someone special you must tend to."

Zytar stood and stared in total disbelief when the shaman pointed to the girl, his daughter, Zyphira. She had obviously been seriously injured. There was an ugly cut in her neck and many more bruises and cuts on her body. She stared at the ground with a hollow lost look on her face. He knelt before her and took her hands into his. She looked up at him, and after a moment realized who it was. A smile he had feared he would never see again lit her face and she threw herself into his arms.

The wound to her throat had been deep. She was unable to talk. Slowly, with time they learned how to communicate with each other. The Shaman was not sure she would ever speak again, but advised him not to give up hope, for "where there is hope there are endless possibilities." Together they worked to help others find their loved ones and heal their emotional and physical wounds.

One day, the Shaman came to him. "My son" he said in a quiet tone "it is time for you to move on. The spirits spoke to me and told me your place is elsewhere. Be safe my son, and think of me occasionally, as I shall think of you." The Shaman bowed to him, gave him a fatherly hug, and then went back to tending his other patients. Zytar and Zyphira packed their few belongings, and began the journey into the wide unknown that is Azeroth.

=Chapter Two=

"Hmmm" he said slowly, scanning the horrizon for any signs of the other two Furbolg settlements the Princess had mentioned. All he could see was the short beach and lots of water. "Maybe she means across the water."

She looked over her shoulder at the beach and water her father was staring at, then looked back to the west, where two Furbolg settlements were easily in sight. She looked at her father, tapped his shoulder, then pointed to the west at the settlements. Zytar turned to look at the settlements his daughter was pointing at. "Yes dear" he said, with a slight bit of frustration in his voice "I see the two settlements, but the Princess said we needed to look east." With this he turned and once again looked at the empty beach and water to the east.

Sighing to herself, Zyphira shrugged and then began walking toward the settlements to the west. "Wait" he father called, as he ran after her "that is west, and we are supposed to be going east." Zyphira pointed west, to the settlements, and held up two fingers. She then pointed east to the water, and held up a clenched fist. "Yes" he said, "I see that there are two settlements to the west, and none to the east, but the princess did say east." Zyphira sighed again.

Once again Zyphira walked to the west in the direction of the Furbolg settlements. "Zyphira" her father said in his "I am the father" tone, "I am your father, and I say we look east." Zyphira walked back toward her father, put her hands on her hips, and shook her head no. Once again she pointed west and east, as if to say "use your eyes." Once again Zytar looked both directions, then put his hands on his hips and stared down at his daughter. She did not flinch, even though he gave her his best "you will listen to me" glare. She turned to the west and began walking again.

"Alright" he shouted as he ran after her, "we will do it your way, but when we are done we will go east and find the Furbolg settlements she mentioned.... ok?" Zyphira smiled her biggest smile, nodded to her father, and continued her trek westward.

Shortly after entering the second settlement to the west, Zytar and Zyphira discovered the Furbolg leader the princess had mentioned, and took the key off his body after dispatching him. Zytar looked at the key, then back to his daughter. "I am sorry daughter" he said with his eyes cast downward. "I was wrong, and you were right. Please forgive my stubborn ways." Zyphira got up on her tip toes and kissed her father on the cheek, then began walking back toward the cage with the princess. Zytar ran to catch up.

=Chapter Three=

Hands on her hips, her jaw clenched tightly, Zyphira stared defiantly into her father's eyes and shook her head no once again.

"But daughter" Zytar pleaded " the elders have given us this task, and we can not refuse. If we fail to do as they have asked they will no longer help guide us on the forward path."

Zyphira pointed to the small moth fluttering at her side, then pointed across the open field to the larger versions of moths flying about.

"Yes daughter" he said with a sigh "I understand that they look just like your pet, and therefore you are reluctant to kill them. Still, the elders said that they spread the contagion upon their wings, and the only way to contain it is to destroy them before they spread more."

Zyphira frowned, then pointed to the little moth again. She then pointed to herself. After that she pointed to one of the big moths, and then to her father. She looked at him with the puppy eyes that always managed to melt him.

Zytar steeled himself and replyed "I understand that your pet is a child like you, and that the adult moths could be parents like me. That does not change the fact that they are harming the environment and must be stopped. The elders are wise my daughter. They set these tasks before us to both help us grow and to improve the environment around us. To ignore their directions is to risk all our people are working for. Can you not see the logic in it all?"

Zyphira shook her head no, turned her back on her father, and sat down in the grass. She played with her little blue moth and would have nothing more to do with Zytar.

Zytar sighed, then looked at the Moths. He shook his head, and walked into the field, determined to complete the elders task, even if his daughter would not help. Slightly over an hour later, he returned to his daughter. He was battered and bruised, looking much the worse for the wear.

"It is done daughter. Please forgive me."

Zyphira looked up at her father with a tear running down her cheek. She nodded to him, got to her feet, and followed him back to the Draenei encampment. Zytar asked her to go to the inn to buy them some supplies, while he went to the elders for further instructions.

The elders seemed pleased at his handling of the task. They Then told him of the next thing that needed to be accomplished. Seems the bears in the surounding woods were also contaminated, and needed to be culled. Almost immediately Zytar thought of Zyphira's stuffed baby toy that she still carried with her in her back pack. It was fuzzy and brown, and looked very much like a bear. The thought of her reaction to the latest task made him sigh once again.

"Elders, I appreciate your trust in my daughter and I" he said "I understand that this task is important. Is there any chance you could give us a task that involved killing something a little uglier. The uglier the better." The elder looked at him and frowned. "Uglier" he said with a questioning glance. "Well, there are the reavers to the west of us. They certainly are ugly, and we need them culled as much as the bears." Zytar smiled broadly "Yes" he said, bowing deeply before the elder "Reavers are perfect, they are absolutely hideous." He ran off to find Zyphira and tell her of their next task, confident that she would not protest.

The elder turned to the Draenei standing next to him and with a perplexed look on his face. "That one confuses me greatly" he said with a slow shake of his head.

=Awards=