A Stroll in the Forest

*While waiting for others to work on a few pieces, I present you with another amusing look into the lives of the wonder twins. :) Enjoy! Also can't seem to post notes on B's account, who knows why!*

The sun shone down brightly through the canopy of leaves, illuminating the forest floor of Elwynn with a brilliant light. Birds sang and the sounds of nature filled the air as the two night elves walked down the well-kept road towards the sleepy town of Goldshire. Both of them walked slowly, their eyes watering from the daylight and their feet already beginning to ache since they had not bothered to put on appropriate travel shoes.

The two had set out in mid-day, believing it would be best to learn how to at least adjust to daylight since their human instructor preferred these hours, and also because she might be a tad grumpy to come home and find all of her things packed in bags, ready to move. The two Highborne had been in a panic since they spotted demons in the city, but as it turned out their concerns were not based on sound facts, which they learned to their dismay. A trip away and out of Professor Knox's hair would do wonders!

As they neared Goldshire, the two paused, looking at the various intersecting roads in confusion. The taller of the two elves turned to her friend, a puzzled look on her face.

"Which way Malandrae? The Professor took you out here after all, you should know!" Eldre'nor said with a smirk.

Malandrae blinked in confusion before finally nodding her head past the Lion's Pride Inn. "I think it was that way. The runestone was by a lake and I see water over there, although I seem to remember walking further than this..."

Eldre'nor snorted and began walking in the direction indicated, "As if we haven't walked far enough already..."

With a nod of agreement and a wince for her aching feet, Malandrae followed after, the two heading deeper into the forest. As they neared the edge of Crystal Lake, they skirted around it, heading towards the far side in search of the runestone that Ilhedith Knox had shown Malandrae the day before. As they pressed deeper into the forest, the two quickly made out the outlines of structures along the shore deeper in. Curious, they headed onwards, beginning to make out wood and leaf constructs that were on stilts near the lake's edge.

"What curious buildings," Eldre'nor said with a smile.

"I've never seen them before! They must be built by smaller humans!" Malandrae replied with excitement. "Let's go greet them!"

As fortune would have it, the two elves had little reason to go any further to greet the 'residents' of the village, for out of the foliage nearby two humanoid creatures appeared. They were far shorter than the elves and covered with a slimy, blue-green skin. Sporting two large, wide eyes and frills on the tops of their heads, the little creatures blinked in confusion at the elves.

"Oh how delightful! Other forest dwellers!" Malandrae said with a smile, stepping towards the two creatures. Her friend looked puzzled and hung back.

"Malandrae...I'm not so sure..." Eldre'nor began.

"Oh nonsense! I'm sure it's fine!" Malandrae said happily, leaning forward to address the two. "Hello! I'm Malandrae Moonwhisper, Grand Apprentice of Professor Ilhedith Knox!"

"Malandrae, I do not think those creatures understand you..." Eldre'nor began.

Of course, by then it was far too late. The two murlocs looked at each other and back at the elves, and began to yell. "MRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGLE!"

"Malandrae! You need to slay them at once!" Eldre'nor said, stepping towards her friend. The other night elf turned and glared at her friend with indignation.

"By the Queen Eldre'nor, we cannot simply fling spells every which way! Professor Knox indicated that we are NOT to kill things with our magic!" Malandrae said with a pout.

A spear landed next to Malandrae as she spoke, the murlocs having become frenzied. Their calls brought the attention of more from the nearby village, and soon a crowd of them were nearby, hurling poorly aimed spears.

Eldre'nor rolled her eyes, stepping forward and hurling a bolt of icy magic at the first of the creatures, cutting it down where it stood. Malandrae looked at her in disbelief, unable to comprehend how she could go about disobeying the professor's instructions. She clapped her hands to her ears and began to yell loudly to block out the sound of her friend being rebellious. "LA LA LA LA LA! I CANNOT HEAR YOU ELDRE'NOR!"

More spears landed around the two as Eldre'nor hurled additional bolts of magic, slaying two more of the creatures. She sighed and began to cast another spell, pausing only to berate her friend. "Really Malandrae, you're quite boring as of late. You'd think after all of that time spent in the ground you'd want to do SOMETHING exciting. But no, even thinking of such a thing is a terrible burden on you isn't it?"

Malandrae lowered her hands, gaping at her friend in disbelief. It was obvious that her ear covering and singing had not blocked out Eldre'nor's words. "Well, I NEVER!" She leaned over and shoved Eldre'nor.

Unfortunately, Eldre'nor was in the middle of hurling magic missiles at the now large gathering of murlocs that was continuing to pelt them with projectiles. She stumbled, her hand going wide as the spell was released. A line of deadly magic missiles flew through the air, stitching up the side of a nearby tree with thunderous detonations. The wood shattered and the broken pieces of tree rained down between the elves and the murlocs. The fishy creatures used the obstruction as cover, darting forward and taking up positions behind the protection of the wood.

"Malandrae, you know it's true. I don't know why you are being so boorish today," Eldre'nor replied. "You simply are lacking imagination!"

Malandrae shot her friend a glare, her hands on her hips. "I'll show you a lack of imagination!"

She turned and flung magical dust into the air. It sparkled before blowing towards the murlocs cowering behind the downed tree. As it settled over a few of them, they began to sprout glorious manes of gorgeous flowing blonde hair. Eldre'nor looked on, unimpressed.

"You are simply copying MY spell that I wrote in my journal, can't you ever think of your OWN spells?" she sighed.

Malandrae merely smirked and pointed. As the two elves looked on, the murlocs with the flowing manes paused, the other murlocs around them confused at the sudden change in their companions. The battlefield fell silent...until the cracking of bones began to be heard. The maned murlocs howled as their bodies began to sprout more hair. Their backs arched as their bones broke and reformed, their faces becoming fanged snouts and their arms extending into sharp claws.

"I used the hair from that wolf-man that I was studying the other day to modify the spell!" Malandrae said proudly.

Eldre'nor nodded in appreciation of the work. "You've made a hair-loss cure for worgen! Impressive my friend! I shall have to copy this down in MY spellbook!"

As the two watched, the now-lycanthrope-murlocs began to attack their own allies, terrible howls echoing through the forest. The murlocs began to tear each other to shreds as they fought the afflicted ones, only to be bitten and turn into murloc-wolves themselves. Within a few minutes, the elves were looking at over twenty murloc-wolfmen, who growled and drooled with hunger.

"Um...Malandrae...this doesn't seem so safe," Eldre'nor said hesitantly.

Malandrae nodded sadly, "I know. The spell isn't perfected yet. I'm still working on the fine tuning."

As she spoke, the transformed murlocs began to howl again, slowly reverting to murloc form, and then back to wolf form, and then back again. Each time there was the sound of bones cracking and re-knitting, the process getting more violent with each passing minute. After a few minutes of this, all that was left were puddles of goo, unrecognizable as either worgen or murlocs.

Malandrae sighed, eyeing the mess over with disappointment. "At least they lasted longer this time! I need to experiment on a REAL worgen to see if I can get the spell to work properly!"

Eldre'nor patted her friend on the arm and smiled. "Don't worry my friend, your work is excellent so far! I'm confident that with some refinement even worgen will not have to fear male pattern baldness!"

Malandrae looked at her friend with a smile. "You really think so?"

Eldre'nor nodded. "I know so. Now, let's go celebrate shall we? I believe that town back there, what was it called...Goldshire? I believe there is a tavern there!"

Malandrae squeaked happily and nodded. "Yes yes! Let's have some wine!"

Eldre'nor nodded again and said, "Not too much though! I don't want you dancing on anything this time!"

Malandrae sighed and replied mulishly, "That only happened FOUR times! You really must let such things go my friend."

As the two walked away from the sight of the battle, Eldre'nor's voice echoed through the forest. "But it was the High Prelate's TABLE Malandrae! I mean really, show some sense!"

Malandrae's parting shot could be faintly heard in the distance, "It's not like he MINDED looking at my legs..."

Blessed stillness returned to the forest, and after a while, the birds and animals of Elwynn forgot their fear and returned to their regular day. Hours later, Professor Ilhedith Knox would be contacted by a messenger from Goldshire, with a request to remove her drunken and sleeping apprentices from the establishment so they could close for the night.