Malandrae smiled, taking
in a deep breath of the early morning air. She normally would be
sleeping now, when the sun was just about to rise, but she had much to
think about and had had a lovely evening, so stretching it a little
further would not harm her.
Earlier that evening she had had a lovely meal at Shaila Viridiant's house, enjoying some fine cooking and the somewhat unusual experience of being a dinner guest for a family dinner. It was the first time she'd been invited out to eat, and it had been both heartwarming and a good way for her to break through the isolation she sometimes felt being trapped in a world where she had no family or loved ones around her.
After the meal, and a most unfortunate accident involving collapsed inter-dimensional storage bags and an exploding warstaff, Malandrae had decided that a brisk early morning walk would do her good before morning classes. She set out at once, walking the paths of Elwynn Forest and enjoying the feeling of the cooler autumn air and the sounds of nature around her.
Her serenity was unfortunately short lived though, as a crackling in the nearby bushes put her on guard. Predictably, three humans emerged from the undergrowth, standing in a semi-circle around her. One of them immediately began chanting, his hands outstretched and beginning to glow with burning flames as he summoned magic to his hands while the other drew swords.
"Your gold or your life!" One of them shouted.
Malandrae blinked in surprised, watching the three as they brandished their weapons and the magic built. After a second's pause, she leaned forward and said a word, blowing air from between her lips towards the man conjuring fire. Instantly his flames were snuffed out.
"You could REALLY hurt someone doing that!" Malandrae admonished him. "You're not even casting it properly! You could burn your own hands!"
The three men looked at each other and blinked in surprised before turning and taking menacing steps towards the elf. "We told you lady, your gold or your life! We're not joking."
Malandrae snapped her fingers and instantly arcane energy began to dance in the air around her, flickering with menacing light in the pre-dawn darkness of the forest. She stared at the men with a hard look, "You three are making the forest dangerous acting like this. I'm afraid I have to ask you to stop." Her words were followed up with a snapping crackle of electricity that came very close to striking one of the men.
The three paused, eyes wide as they realized who they had selected as their victim. The spellcaster among them trembled, hands outstretched now. "P-please lady, we didn't mean anything by it. We're j-just hungry. We need to find a way to feed ourselves and we can't find work and we've got children. P-please don't kill us!"
Malandrae looked at them in surprise for a moment and lower her hands. The magic in the air around her faded slowly. "I-I wouldn't KILL you! I j-just didn't want you to hurt me or anyone else. J-just go home and we'll forget about this alright? I forgive you. It's alright."
The men nodded, looking relieved and Malandrae smiled, turning to walk away. The second her back was turned the three men shot her a cruel look and rushed forward. The last thing the overly trusting elf saw was stars as a thick weight struck her in the back of the head.
***********************************
Malandrae's eyes fluttered open, taking in the sight of dirt and grass pressed up close against her. Her mouth had dirt in it, and she felt shaky all over. As her vision swam into focus, she realized she was lying on the ground like a discarded rag-doll with the three humans standing in a group nearby, going through her things. She'd been mugged. Again.
"She's got almost nothing on her!" one of the bandits complained.
"Well look at this! A buzzbox! And it looks like it's pretty good quality!" another said.
"Put that down moron. If you turn it on it'll likely be set to contact her friends. Throw it away and let's take anything valuable....and hello, what is this here?"
Malandrae watched with tear-streaked vision as one of the bandits removed a medium sized spherical object from her bag. It had a large green button on the side, and she immediately recognized it as the 'Problem Solver' she had purchased from the goblin merchant that had upgraded her buzzbox. The same one who had installed a self-destruct device on her communication tool, and an endless-recorder that had taken rather embarrassing pictures of her. She scowled, but felt too weak to even move as the villains man-handled her things.
"What's it do?" the one holding her buzzbox asked. He dropped the box on the ground and Malandrae winced as she heard it crack against a rock.
"I have no idea, let's see. Maybe we can pawn it for some coin," came the reply. The elf watched in frustrated helplessness as he pressed the button on the side of the device, activating her one-time-use, 500 gold coin investment for himself. The device hummed to life instantly.
"PS 1.3b Problem Solver Unit activated," the device said in a tinny voice. "Evaluating nature of problem now."
The third bandit rolled his eyes and complained, "It's just a toy. Stop playing around, take the rest of the elf's coins, shank her and let's get out of here."
Instantly the device turned towards the speaker, a red scanning light playing over him. "Problem identified: you are currently in the middle of several actions classified as illegal in this geographic area. Actions include robbery, assault, theft, tampering with a goblin device, and premeditation for murder."
The three men watched in surprise as the device grew three spider legs and lept out of the activator's hands. "Just turn the stupid thing off already!" One of them shouted at the man who had activated it.
The machine whirred and ticked. "Warning: Biological units classified as 'friends' are encouraging additional problematic behavior. Scanning for solution. Solution identified. Current problem root cause is self-created. Encouragement by biological units known as friends increasing probability of additional future problems. This unit will now seek to correct problem as per designated parameters."
"W-what does that mean.." asked the man who had turned the device on.
The PS 1.3b began to hum, a larger targeting laser turning on on the front of it. A small opening appeared in its side and a cutting torch activated. "Solution selected: Elimination of biological units near active user will reduce probability of problem recurrence. Problem is self-created. Removal of appendages known as fingers will prevent theft, armed robbery, and tampering. Premeditation of murder will cease when digits are removed."
"W-what...." the man began. He had only a second as the PS 1.3b lurched at him, intent on 'solving the problem'. The man immediately turned and fled. His friends following suit as the PS 1.3b aligned a targeting reticule on them. Their screams trailed off into the forest followed by a high pitched chirp of an alarm as the PS 1.3b went into 'problem hunting' mode.
Malandrae blinked in surprise, slowly dragging herself over to where her things lay scattered on the ground. She sat up, dizzy with a pounding headache. She slowly began the task of putting her shattered belongings back into her pouches, sniffling a little and crying as she did so.
"I-I hope they don't get hurt. I feel terrible now.." she muttered to herself as she stuffed more of her broken things away. The words made her stop and pause.
Why?
Why did she feel terrible? Because they were going to get hurt? In the distance she heard a yowl followed by another high pitched chirp and she winced. The men had brought it on themselves hadn't they?
I always do this to myself. I always blame myself for what happens, and usually it IS my fault. But was it really this time? Those men were out to commit bad acts, and just because they didn't know what was in my pouches doesn't mean it's my fault now if they are facing danger.
Malandrae's eyes widened as her thoughts slammed home the point. Miss Shaila was right. It's NOT about me. By blaming myself for other people's actions I'm acting like a child. I threw a fit in front of her because I didn't get my way and because I was trying to place the blame for something outside of my control on myself. I have GOT to stop doing this to myself. It cannot ALWAYS be my fault, no matter what I've done in the past.
The sound of an explosion echoed from the trees around her followed by another human voice yowling.
Malandrae shook her head, stuffing the rest of her things in the pouches and standing up on unsteady feet. I will try to stop that. I can't always be at fault, I need to learn how to forgive myself one day so that I don't do this anymore. Maybe I can't do it all in one day, but Miss Shaila was right and I know it.
With that, she slowly turned and began walking towards home, the sounds of her one-time-use PS 1.3b Problem Solver 'fixing' the problem still echoing through the forest around her.
**********************************
Malandrae Moonwhisper made it all the way to Goldshire before the concussion she'd been given finally got the better of her. As she stepped into the center of the sleepy village, she made eye contact with one of the guards and then her silver eyes rolled up into her head and she fainted dead away.
She never made it to class that morning, instead spending the time unconscious within one of the rooms of the Lion's Pride Inn, a nervous innkeeper checking on her frequently to make sure she wasn't taking a turn for the worse.
For the first time in many days, Malandrae slept peacefully and had no dreams. Whether that was because of her concussion, or because of the wise advice of a human friend was hard to say. Either way, she had learned a valuable lesson in the forest.
One hoped she would remember it upon waking.
Earlier that evening she had had a lovely meal at Shaila Viridiant's house, enjoying some fine cooking and the somewhat unusual experience of being a dinner guest for a family dinner. It was the first time she'd been invited out to eat, and it had been both heartwarming and a good way for her to break through the isolation she sometimes felt being trapped in a world where she had no family or loved ones around her.
After the meal, and a most unfortunate accident involving collapsed inter-dimensional storage bags and an exploding warstaff, Malandrae had decided that a brisk early morning walk would do her good before morning classes. She set out at once, walking the paths of Elwynn Forest and enjoying the feeling of the cooler autumn air and the sounds of nature around her.
Her serenity was unfortunately short lived though, as a crackling in the nearby bushes put her on guard. Predictably, three humans emerged from the undergrowth, standing in a semi-circle around her. One of them immediately began chanting, his hands outstretched and beginning to glow with burning flames as he summoned magic to his hands while the other drew swords.
"Your gold or your life!" One of them shouted.
Malandrae blinked in surprised, watching the three as they brandished their weapons and the magic built. After a second's pause, she leaned forward and said a word, blowing air from between her lips towards the man conjuring fire. Instantly his flames were snuffed out.
"You could REALLY hurt someone doing that!" Malandrae admonished him. "You're not even casting it properly! You could burn your own hands!"
The three men looked at each other and blinked in surprised before turning and taking menacing steps towards the elf. "We told you lady, your gold or your life! We're not joking."
Malandrae snapped her fingers and instantly arcane energy began to dance in the air around her, flickering with menacing light in the pre-dawn darkness of the forest. She stared at the men with a hard look, "You three are making the forest dangerous acting like this. I'm afraid I have to ask you to stop." Her words were followed up with a snapping crackle of electricity that came very close to striking one of the men.
The three paused, eyes wide as they realized who they had selected as their victim. The spellcaster among them trembled, hands outstretched now. "P-please lady, we didn't mean anything by it. We're j-just hungry. We need to find a way to feed ourselves and we can't find work and we've got children. P-please don't kill us!"
Malandrae looked at them in surprise for a moment and lower her hands. The magic in the air around her faded slowly. "I-I wouldn't KILL you! I j-just didn't want you to hurt me or anyone else. J-just go home and we'll forget about this alright? I forgive you. It's alright."
The men nodded, looking relieved and Malandrae smiled, turning to walk away. The second her back was turned the three men shot her a cruel look and rushed forward. The last thing the overly trusting elf saw was stars as a thick weight struck her in the back of the head.
***********************************
Malandrae's eyes fluttered open, taking in the sight of dirt and grass pressed up close against her. Her mouth had dirt in it, and she felt shaky all over. As her vision swam into focus, she realized she was lying on the ground like a discarded rag-doll with the three humans standing in a group nearby, going through her things. She'd been mugged. Again.
"She's got almost nothing on her!" one of the bandits complained.
"Well look at this! A buzzbox! And it looks like it's pretty good quality!" another said.
"Put that down moron. If you turn it on it'll likely be set to contact her friends. Throw it away and let's take anything valuable....and hello, what is this here?"
Malandrae watched with tear-streaked vision as one of the bandits removed a medium sized spherical object from her bag. It had a large green button on the side, and she immediately recognized it as the 'Problem Solver' she had purchased from the goblin merchant that had upgraded her buzzbox. The same one who had installed a self-destruct device on her communication tool, and an endless-recorder that had taken rather embarrassing pictures of her. She scowled, but felt too weak to even move as the villains man-handled her things.
"What's it do?" the one holding her buzzbox asked. He dropped the box on the ground and Malandrae winced as she heard it crack against a rock.
"I have no idea, let's see. Maybe we can pawn it for some coin," came the reply. The elf watched in frustrated helplessness as he pressed the button on the side of the device, activating her one-time-use, 500 gold coin investment for himself. The device hummed to life instantly.
"PS 1.3b Problem Solver Unit activated," the device said in a tinny voice. "Evaluating nature of problem now."
The third bandit rolled his eyes and complained, "It's just a toy. Stop playing around, take the rest of the elf's coins, shank her and let's get out of here."
Instantly the device turned towards the speaker, a red scanning light playing over him. "Problem identified: you are currently in the middle of several actions classified as illegal in this geographic area. Actions include robbery, assault, theft, tampering with a goblin device, and premeditation for murder."
The three men watched in surprise as the device grew three spider legs and lept out of the activator's hands. "Just turn the stupid thing off already!" One of them shouted at the man who had activated it.
The machine whirred and ticked. "Warning: Biological units classified as 'friends' are encouraging additional problematic behavior. Scanning for solution. Solution identified. Current problem root cause is self-created. Encouragement by biological units known as friends increasing probability of additional future problems. This unit will now seek to correct problem as per designated parameters."
"W-what does that mean.." asked the man who had turned the device on.
The PS 1.3b began to hum, a larger targeting laser turning on on the front of it. A small opening appeared in its side and a cutting torch activated. "Solution selected: Elimination of biological units near active user will reduce probability of problem recurrence. Problem is self-created. Removal of appendages known as fingers will prevent theft, armed robbery, and tampering. Premeditation of murder will cease when digits are removed."
"W-what...." the man began. He had only a second as the PS 1.3b lurched at him, intent on 'solving the problem'. The man immediately turned and fled. His friends following suit as the PS 1.3b aligned a targeting reticule on them. Their screams trailed off into the forest followed by a high pitched chirp of an alarm as the PS 1.3b went into 'problem hunting' mode.
Malandrae blinked in surprise, slowly dragging herself over to where her things lay scattered on the ground. She sat up, dizzy with a pounding headache. She slowly began the task of putting her shattered belongings back into her pouches, sniffling a little and crying as she did so.
"I-I hope they don't get hurt. I feel terrible now.." she muttered to herself as she stuffed more of her broken things away. The words made her stop and pause.
Why?
Why did she feel terrible? Because they were going to get hurt? In the distance she heard a yowl followed by another high pitched chirp and she winced. The men had brought it on themselves hadn't they?
I always do this to myself. I always blame myself for what happens, and usually it IS my fault. But was it really this time? Those men were out to commit bad acts, and just because they didn't know what was in my pouches doesn't mean it's my fault now if they are facing danger.
Malandrae's eyes widened as her thoughts slammed home the point. Miss Shaila was right. It's NOT about me. By blaming myself for other people's actions I'm acting like a child. I threw a fit in front of her because I didn't get my way and because I was trying to place the blame for something outside of my control on myself. I have GOT to stop doing this to myself. It cannot ALWAYS be my fault, no matter what I've done in the past.
The sound of an explosion echoed from the trees around her followed by another human voice yowling.
Malandrae shook her head, stuffing the rest of her things in the pouches and standing up on unsteady feet. I will try to stop that. I can't always be at fault, I need to learn how to forgive myself one day so that I don't do this anymore. Maybe I can't do it all in one day, but Miss Shaila was right and I know it.
With that, she slowly turned and began walking towards home, the sounds of her one-time-use PS 1.3b Problem Solver 'fixing' the problem still echoing through the forest around her.
**********************************
Malandrae Moonwhisper made it all the way to Goldshire before the concussion she'd been given finally got the better of her. As she stepped into the center of the sleepy village, she made eye contact with one of the guards and then her silver eyes rolled up into her head and she fainted dead away.
She never made it to class that morning, instead spending the time unconscious within one of the rooms of the Lion's Pride Inn, a nervous innkeeper checking on her frequently to make sure she wasn't taking a turn for the worse.
For the first time in many days, Malandrae slept peacefully and had no dreams. Whether that was because of her concussion, or because of the wise advice of a human friend was hard to say. Either way, she had learned a valuable lesson in the forest.
One hoped she would remember it upon waking.
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