The Wild Child

*Feralas wilds, night time.*

Henrik Elmswood sighed, leaning forward on his camp chair to throw another log on the fire. It crackled merrily before him, driving away the moisture that came with the cloying mists that traveled across the grounds around his encampment. Behind him he had erected a tent, purchased in Stormwind long before he had begun to plan out the specifics of this mini-expedition, the shelter perfect for two people to rest in comfortably and stocked with an ample quantity of supplies.

Henrik was planning to stay in the wilderness for a few days. After taking classes in Stormwind's library relating to anthropology and archaeology, he'd scheduled a little vacation for himself and his wife so that they could explore some honest to goodness ruins. The vacation was a welcome break from his work in logistics, and he was looking forward to diving into some ancient elven artifacts come the morning.

He shifted in his chair, peering out into the darkness of the wilderness around him, the dense foliage close in on the little clearing he'd found to set up the tent. As his eyes wandered across the varying shades of blackness that the campfire did little to dispel, he paused for a moment in freight. There, in the nearby bushes, a pair of silver cat eyes stared back at him from the night, quietly observing him.

Terrified, he rose slowly from his camp chair, staring hard at the foliage where they eyes had appeared. He picked up a log, although it was debatable what such a blunt weapon would do against a big cat. Even so, it made him feel better as he blinked a few times, peering into the night. To his surprise, in the moment he had taken his gaze from the location to pick up the log, the eyes had disappeared.

After a few more terror filled moments, he began to relax, shaking his head and dropping the log back into the pile he'd made. Perhaps it had been his imagination or a trick of the fire's glow. Sighing again, he eased himself back down into his chair, peering across the glowing campfire.

And seeing an elf sitting upon a log on the opposite side of the fire where none had been a moment before. Henrik sputtered out a curse, falling over backwards in his chair in surprise. He scrambled to his knees, peering from around the toppled camp chair, staring hard at the intruder.

His first thought was that she was beautiful, with flowing silver hair that matched the silver glow of her eyes perfectly. Smooth, lightly purple skin was exposed along her arms and much of her legs, the barefoot elf sitting with her legs crossed upon the log. Although her head was forward and her hair fell around her face, Henrik could see that blue markings resembling a butterfly spread across her face.

For a moment, he simply stared at the exotic intruder, noting that she was paying him almost no attention, her focus on a small journal in her hand and a small piece of what appeared to be charcoal that she rubbed on the page as she drew...what...a picture of the camp it seemed, of his tent.

Slowly he rose from his place on the ground, righting his chair and clearing his throat, "Um...hello there..?"

The night elf, for she was indeed a rather petite Kaldorei, looked up at him, her head tilting to the side as if confused and curious at the same time. Henrik blinked once and then shook his head, trying the greeting again in rough Darnassian, "Hello there, miss."

She smiled at him, nodding and speaking in Darnassian, "Hello! It's nice to meet you! Did you know that you've made a camp on haunted grounds? Also you're a human right? I've not seen many of your kind here! Is that your tent? I don't usually need a tent because if you know where to look there's plenty of shelter out in the wilds here. You should be careful not to make your fire too big! Did you know that you could attract things to your camp with the light?"

Henrik blinked at the barrage of questions and information, his Darnassian rough enough to make it take him several moments to parse through everything she'd just said. After a moment he smiled and shook his head with a laugh, "Hello! I'm Henrik, and yes I'm a human. I'm not so sure about haunted grounds or things being attracted to my camp, but thank you for the warning. And yes, this is my tent which I purchased so I could stay in the wilderness for a few days. What is your name, child?"

The elf blinked a few times and then resumed her drawing, talking as she worked, "Oh, I'm Saveenah! And you really shouldn't camp here! There are dead ancestors who don't like it when people come near their old houses. I don't see why they are like that; if I was dead I wouldn't care if someone was near my house because I wouldn't be using it anymore, but they used to use a lot of magic and maybe that made them angry or something. My father said that they were bad people but I think they were just people who lived the way they knew best at the time!"

Henrik smiled, sinking into his chair and studying the elf. Clearly she was a native to the area, and though he thought little of ghost stories, he would still listen to her words and heed her advice if she had any to offer, "Can you explain more, Saveenah? What old houses do you mean?"

Saveenah tilted her head, pausing her drawing (which appeared to be quite good!) and stared at him, her silver eyes unblinking, "The old houses! You know, the nobles and things? The magic users? The ones that lived here a long time ago? They get mad when you touch their things!"

Henrik shook his head, trying to speak slowly, "I'm not sure I follow, Saveenah. I have been looking for ruins, but I've not found any yet if that is what you mean."

Saveenah grinned, "You're silly. You are camped right on top of them! Look, let me show you."

She unfolded her legs, rising from the log and setting her journal down for a moment. She walked barefoot across the grassy clearing, studying the ground intensely as if searching for something. After a moment, she knelt down near to where Henrik was sitting, her hand pressed against the grass and vines that grew in that spot. To Henrik's surprise, some of the vines seemed to writhe beneath her touch, slowly moving away from her hand as if growing away from it. As they moved, they dragged the earth and grasses with them, revealing ancient stones with rather dire looking magical symbols on them. Saveenah smiled up at him, "See? The old houses!"

Henrik rose from his chair, approaching the spot that Saveenah had revealed. He noted with curiosity that she moved away from him, always keeping a certain distance from him as a wild animal might. He knelt next to the spot, his eyes widening as he recognized the ancient Darnassian carvings of the Highborne. Saveenah had indeed been right; he'd been encamped on top of some hidden ruins, and based on the markings on the stones they might once have been held by a powerful Highborne family in the ancient past. It would make an amazing find and be something to study...in the light of day. Staying encamped in such a place could be quite dangerous though.

He looked up at Saveenah, nodding his thanks, "I think I understand now. Thank you, Saveenah. But, may I ask you, how did you know these were here?"

Saveenah shrugged, wandering back to the log to collect her journal, "The vines warned me. They've been containing this danger for countless eons. You should not explore this place; some of the ruins in the wilderness are safe because the ancestors have long since left, but sometimes they stay for whatever reason! Maybe because it is so beautiful here, although I think they didn't care about the forest, which is silly!"

Henrik nodded, slowly rising, his eyes affixed on the stone, "Well, I do not need to be warned twice. I'll see to it that the camp is moved before another hour passes. While I'm not afraid of ghosts, I don't need to press my luck either!"

Saveenah looked at him, her face sad, "You should be afraid of them. They don't like you. You're not of the forest, and not of their kind. They don't like me either even though I've tried to talk with some of them. Just leave them alone and they will leave you alone!"

"Okay, Saveenah, I will remember that," Henrik said with a smile. The elf was something of a fey creature of the forest but this was obviously her home and she likely knew far more than he did about it. He was not so educated as to think he knew everything!

Saveenah smiled, perking up and forgetting all about the dark matters they had just been discussing, her smile a beautiful sight to behold, "Oh good! Sometimes people don't listen to me for some reason and then I have to go get help for them! It's a long trip to get help!"

Henrik chuckled at this, already starting to fold up his camp chair, "I just bet it is my friend."

"Friend...I have not had many friends," Saveenah said, clearly happy. "There is just the wild out here, which can be your friend if you are wise or your enemy if you aren't careful!"

Henrik opened his mouth to respond when the tent flap behind him moved, his wife Ellen making her way out of the tent, blinking sleep from her eyes. She peered up at him, a curious expression on her face, "Who are you talking to?"

Henrik turned to gesture to Saveenah, only to find that she was gone. There was no trace she had ever been there, no footprints where she'd trod; there was only the night looming endlessly from around the little glow of their campfire, and a spot of exposed ruins on the ground near his feet. He paused, surprise passing over his face as he responded slowly, "I was talking to...a friend. I think we need to move our camp; it may not be safe here. There was another clearing back down the trail a bit. Let's relocate there."

With his wife helping, Henrik quickly repacked his gear, extinguishing the fire and heading away from the spot that they'd previously been camping. As they made their way through the foliage towards the new camp area, Henrik paused, scanning the darkness around them.

For a brief moment, he could have swore he'd seen two silver cat eyes peering at him from the dark.