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 A letter to the Silvereye
Ashtear
Posted: Dec 8 2006, 10:50 PM


Guardian of the Ancient Ways
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Posts: 106
Class: Druid


While the writing in the letter before you is not pretty, with ink blotches here and there, it is readable. The letter also appears to have been written by someone who is used to conserving writing space; the script is very small, but not too small to read.:

Greetings everyone!

I am writing to you because I wish to become better acquainted with the Silvereye, so that perhaps I may one day join your cause. Most of the time I write my letters quite differently. They are official, humble and displaying none of my real character. Since I wish to tell you some things about myself it would have been quite conceited of me to write in that way now. However, I cannot reveal everything I would wish, lest this letter fall into the wrong hands, damage what is left of my family and most certainly kill me.

I should start with my family, and most importantly my grandmother, if you wish to understand the reasons for being what I am; not a full night elf.

Over a thousand years ago my grandmother, Shendrin Goldentree, sailed to Azshara with a group of other Quel’Dorei. They were searching for magical artefacts left behind during the exile. By chance she met with a druid of the claw, my grandfather. His last name is Shadowstalker, I’ve met him, he is alive, but sleeping in the emerald dream. I cannot give you anymore personal information about him, but know that he is an honourable person. My grandmother on the other hand is not. They had a short whirlwind relationship, but when the Sentinels came out of Ashenvale forest to chase the Quel’Dorei off my grandmother left Kalimdor with the rest. She was pregnant, she knew it, she had ample time to tell my grandfather, yet she did not.

In Quel’Thalas Shendrin gave birth to my mother, Erhana Goldentree. My Mother only differed very little from the other Quel’Dorei; she was taller and had blue hair, but it was enough to make her stand out and be scorned. Being unable to stand the biting remarks of her people she moved to Dalaran as soon as she was able to take care of herself. There she became a Lore Keeper and a talented mage of the Kirin Tor.

However one impossible wish always remained; the wish to see her father and learn from him what she could not learn from her mother. Money was the main reason it was impossible for her to sail west. And while the Goldentree family was rich my mother never had access to the fortune; compliments of Shendrin I dare say. The Kirin Tor provided for my mother, but they made it clear they did not wish her to leave. Eventually a rich and powerful friend helped her barter passage on a small exploring vessel.

She landed in what is now called Durotar, which was still a part of the barrens back then. When she arrived in Ashenvale forest after a hard trek, the first night elf she came across was young boy named Tephras Moonfang, my brother. Well, half-brother, if you want to be picky about it. My brother took my mother home near the ruins at Forest Song. They stayed there alone for a while, my mother taking care of him. My father had entered the emerald dream a few days before my mother arrived and my brother’s mother had died years ago. They were, however, visited often by a demon hunter who had named himself Sindweller.

Finally the time had come to awaken my father, who was also a druid of the claw and could help my mother locate her father. Tephras convinced him to do that for her. She found my grandfather, who warmly took her in and taught her all she wanted to learn. For the first time in her life was content and she also grew closer to my father. My mother was allowed to stay in Ashenvale, but she would never be a real part of Kaldorei society.

However, happiness did not last. As with all druids the emerald dream calls. My grandfather had gone back when he knew his daughter was doing well and my father had to go too. Though he was greatly saddened that he could not be there for his pregnant mate, the pact with Ysera still remained and he was not spending enough time in the dream as it was. While my father was in the dream my mother gave birth to me surrounded by my brother, a priestess and Sindweller. My mother was so sad and felt so abandoned that she named me Ashtear, meaning ‘Tears of the Ash Tree’.

I grew up a mischievous little elf. Spending most of my days with my brother, playing pranks on people and making Ashenvale Forest a dangerous place. I also often played at Forest Song after which my mother proudly named me one day when I came home having spend another evening mucking about the ruins. She also took that name for herself not wishing the family to be blemished with the name ‘Goldentree’.

My father came around from time to time. Those were the happiest times. He taught me about nature, but my brother always got taught specifically of druidism in hopes that he might one day become one. I was slightly jealous of this, however my brother always remedied that. While he wasn’t the slightest bit interested in becoming a druid, he always did his best to remember his lessons so that he could tell them to me. My brother was more interested in the stories Sindweller told us when he came around, and the arcane teachings of my mother. My mother was always very careful with her teachings. Magic practice was done outside and out of sight of Kaldorei borders. Sindweller would always come along, smirking and hoping our fumbling with the arcane would bring out demons for him to slay. But my mother knew exactly what she was doing and demons never appeared much to the demon hunter’s dismay.

I was taught many things by many people. Read book after book full of lore my mother wished me to remember, history and languages, such was the job of a lore keeper. A kind night elf taught me how to recognize herbs. My father taught me to respect nature. Sindweller taught me with his stories how fine the line between right and wrong is and how to recognize the difference. My brother taught me how to have fun. And I taught myself how to care. I always cared deeply for the fate of other living creature. Often I took in strays, sick or injured forest creatures, young who lost their mother and cared for them. I found out I could heal them, even if they were close to death, with a power that felt better and far sweeter than the arcane magic my mother taught me. Sindweller noticed the incredible healing ability and called me a favoured of Elune. Other Kaldorei scoffed when they heard this and did not believe that something coming from a Quel’Dorei bloodline could possibly have held any kind of favour from the Goddess.

The first major change in my life came when I was near a century and a half old. My brother, a young adult at that time, and I, a disorganized youth, had been roaming the barrens messing with the arcane again when we came across a group of sentinels escorting a Sister of Elune. They had suffered and attack from centaurs and one of the sentinels was badly wounded. It was the first time I ever healed a person with a life threatening injury. I still remember the exact words of the priestess and how they forever changed my life. 'Elune be praised,' she said, 'but why are you here, child, and why are you not wearing novice robes? I will not allow to let such talent go to waste.'

It was the start of one of the darkest periods I have ever had in my short life. They almost had to force me to become a novice of the sisterhood and leaving my family behind, not being able to visit often, was the hardest thing for me to do back then. My heritage was swept under the rug, only known in the higher circles of the sisterhood. I took my studies together with another gifted novice and we were taught by a positively ancient priestess who, while not as strong as us, was also gifted.

While my studies went well, the Sisters of Elune considered my behaviour to be a problem. I played pranks, I was loud, I behaved unseemly for a future priestess and I had this inane obsession with studying all of the Cenarion lore the sisterhood possessed. What was worst was that it was the High Priestess who had granted me access to those reading materials. The mistress of novices and my teacher, who had both resented me from the start for being a descendent from a infamous Quel’Dorei family, finally decided I should be disciplined. By the will of Elune my sight was forced from me and together with a few other misbehaving novices I was given to the Watchers. For ten years we worked for them in one of the underground prisons doing small chores. But for a person who has always relied on their sight, having to do even the smallest chore blind becomes a long and arduous task.

When my punishment ended I returned and got my sight back. The Sisters of Elune took me back in as a novice, but they all labelled me as Quel’Dorei; someone must have said something. I trained alone as the other gifted novice had gone on to become a priestess. And as I was unable to take any enjoyment from my studies, I never made any progress. I did not belong with the Sisters of Elune, but I couldn’t leave either. At least not for a while.

The third war had reached Kalimdor and left devastation in it’s wake. Many families were torn to pieces and mine was no exception. My mother had felt it coming, she had felt something terrible had happened in Quel’Thalas. I should have felt it too, because when my mother had fallen ill I had become restless, with a buzzing in the back of my mind that annoyed me to no end. Foolishly, I merely wrote it off as stress over my mother’s condition, not believing my brother and Sindweller when they told me the feeling had something to do with her illness.

The first direct blow came with the orcs. With Cenarius dead and the orcs advancing, my family had to move from our beloved home near Forest Song to Astranaar. However, the biggest blow came when the druids had woken up and it became clear that my father would never join them. The barrow den in which he and a few other druids of the claw had been sleeping had been destroyed by a contingent of demons and undead scourge before they had had a chance to wake from the dream. My mother fell into a coma, unable to fight off the corruption, and my grandfather took care of her. My brother, incensed, left with another young elf about my age to demand Sindweller teach them the ways of a demon hunter. And my grandfather told me that if I wanted to become a druid this was my chance. Uncaring of the way things were done, I went over the heads of the mistress of novices and my teacher to directly ask the high priestess to leave the Sisterhood. She granted my request, sad to see a sister leave, and made me swear an oath to always follow the path of Elune; and oath which I gladly took. My grandfather quickly handed me over to my first teacher, a druid of the talon with an odd sense of humour, Shan’do Darkwing.

Shan’do Darkwing took me to Felwood where we were to join the camp of Illidan Stormrage. I had once thought that Illidan might be a bit like Sindweller, they were both demon hunters afterall, but I couldn’t have been more wrong; Illidan was nothing like Sindweller. He was a lot darker than Sindweller, both literally and figuratively. I only saw him up close once when I was running errands and had to bring him a message and because of the strong fel energy surrounding him it was hard to stand that close to him.

I stayed with the in Felwood fighting as a normal Kaldorei to stop the corruption, even after Illidan was banished by his brother. Having found new hope in those desperate times with the druids. They were friendly, though sometimes good-naturedly mocking me about being female. And now I could also one day see my father again in the emerald dream. I stayed with the druids in Felwood until the war ended.

After the war my position as apprentice of the Talon was threatened. Even though many changes were being made the Cenarion circle still did not allow women to join. Having lost many druids during the war the circle was trying to interest young men into joining and Shan’do Darkwing was being pressed into dropping me and taking a male apprentice. My Shan’do, I, several other female trainees, their teachers and female druids who had, up until the third war, not been affiliated with the Cenarion circle took the matter up with the Archdruid. It did not go well and I ended up shouting at him. Oddly enough, I later received a message from the Cenarion Circle that they would not do anything to hinder my training and that I should continue to follow the instructions of Shan’do Darkwing.

I returned home in Astranaar. There I found my family broken apart. My mother was awake, but still weak and being taken care of by my grandfather. What kept my mother weak was given to me and my grandfather told me she and I would need to meditate everyday, or sit near a moonwell from time to time, or we would not be able to cope with the taint of addiction that was now flowing through us. Thanks to that and the taint I am no longer a favoured of Elune and I will never reach my full potential in anything. A few days later my grandfather told me to go find my brother.

I found my brother, Sindweller and the other elf in a cave fighting remnants of the burning legion, all of them now demon hunters. My Brother was fighting very well until he suddenly seemed disorientated and got slammed into the ground. Sindweller quickly took out all the demons in the cave and explained to me what was wrong with my brother. My brother had faltered during the ritual blinding which causes him to lose his spectral sight from time to time and go completely blind. I vowed to stay with him and help him out. Thus began my three year adventure with the demon hunters. I left everything behind to fight the burning legion and the scourge.

Finally my Shan’do send me explicit summons and the demon hunters nearly had to physically drag me home to answer them. Shan’do Darkwing wanted me to become a fully trained druid of the Talon and join the Cenarion Circle. Apparently the policy about women had been changed when I was gone. Darkwing send me on to another teacher in Stonetalon mountain, a keeper of the grove, Shan’do Nandieb. Shan’do Nandieb send me off to Teldrassil. But before that, I was reunited with my mother for a while. She now lives in western Ashenvale. It’s hard for me to be near her anymore, she changed so much and has become bitter.

Sometime after I arrived on Teldrassil I got word that my brother and his companions managed to create a portal to outland and I have not heard from them since. I so much wish to see him again. However, I continued my training, meeting many interesting people along the way, making friends.
Some time ago, I had joined the House of Deldea, of which I have fond memories. The house fell apart unfortunately and not long after, my travelling companion and fellow druid, Shayila, went into solitary retreat. I moved to Theramore a while ago when I had a really difficult time. My Shan’do has been worried about me straying from the path and when he heard of the Silvereye he encouraged me to become more involved and not to go on alone as I already have for too long.

I do very much wish to join the Silvereye. Though I am still afraid of judgement, I will face it.

When shall we meet?

May Elune light your paths, which ever way they lead you.

Signed,
Ashtear Forestsong

((OOC: Okay, it took me a while to edit, but I finally got it down from twelve pages to five. I always get carried away when writing XD. This is little Ash just pretty much pouring her heart out so don’t be too harsh on her and on me. My English kind of sucks, so sorry about that. If the letter sounds confusing at some points: Good! It’s supposed to. Anyhow, I would like this opportunity to explain that while this isn’t even a quarter of Ashtear’s story it is the only part I will give you IC outside of the WoW game itself. Yes, this letter is IC and you can use it however you like. Most likely I will write a lot more about Ashtear outside of the game, but if I do may I please ask you not to use that info as IC? If you wish to know about specific details of this letter please try asking in-game if you wish to use it IC… though I might not tell you. But I’d love to answer any questions there might be on details in the letter OOC. Oh, and can someone tell me if I screwed up in anyway? I also wonder if some of you recognized some of the names and references, though not all are from warcraft? ))



Danger! Handle with caution.
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Taiev
Posted: Dec 8 2006, 11:18 PM


Keeper of the First Secrets
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Posts: 3149
Class: Hunter


The reply is written in a fair and graceful hand

Sister,

Thank you for your letter. It was refreshing both in its honesty, and its insight. I would hope to meet you during the coming week, and speak with under more private circumstances. I will send word to you of when and where we might meet.

In the meantime, I pray She grants you the insight to the see the shadows in your path, and the wisdom to know when to hide in them, and when to fight them.

I remain,

-a runic T-

OOC: Quite a piece of text, but we like people who write lots! I don't have any immediate OOC questions - we covered most of what I wanted to talked about when we chatted in /w last week.



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Acrona
Posted: Dec 8 2006, 11:27 PM


Augur of the Third Age
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Posts: 531
Class: Druid


(( Indeed an interesting, detailed background story - looking forward to see you In Game! ))



"My temperature is −273.15 °C."
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Ashtear
Posted: Jan 4 2007, 11:16 AM


Guardian of the Ancient Ways
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Posts: 106
Class: Druid


((OOC: I just forgot to add one thing: what Ash wrote in this letter isn't even half on what I got for her background... And even that isn't interly complete yet. *grins*

Taiev, would you mind if I PMed you on some story points that might be interesting, or have a chat in /w with you at some point? *smiles mysteriously*))



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Sentallia
Posted: Jan 4 2007, 11:48 AM


Spirit of Ancient Times
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Posts: 1153
Class: Warrior


((I promise to read it once I get my printer working again. Reading that long a post on the computer makes baby Jesus cry in my case. Besides, I'd much rather learn your background from talking with you. smile.gif ))



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