A rainy day it was, long ago, when the time, or at least the Night Elf girl was still young. Young and pure, still in touch with her surroundings. She still loved, and knew she was loved in return. The bad weather would later on be called a presage of something bad, something that would suddenly blow up the normal and easy life the elf had been living. Shattered to pieces..

A loud crack made Duvessa turn around, who was it, daring enough to come close?! She listened to the sleeping forest, everything was silent as usual. But no, this was different. Almost like the trees were holding breath, just like that one time before. The Night Elf shook in a mixture of anger and fear. In her eyes you could see a glimpse of pain, carefully hidden from the sight of not-knowing strangers. Not-knowing strangers, they would never know. The ones who did know what this shady figure was about belonged to a precious few, or won’t live to tell the tale.

The sound seemed to fade in the night, just as the warning Duvessa’s instincts had given her. “Djali..” The soft elven voice carried off in a typical forest breeze. Right before her a bluish being appeared. Taller than Duvessa, he looked down on the elf. He smiled tenderly. “I not mean to scare ma pinkskin girl.” He grinned, sat down, and made gestures at Duvessa to follow his example. If somebody would see the two, they wouldn’t believe their eyes, it’s not like a daily business; elves and trolls talking to each other, instead of the usual slaughter on sight. “So why are you here? How did you find me?” The troll looked down, taking no haste to answer. “Why are ye so hurried, we have da time, pinkie. Do I need to ask for da hug or what?” No bitterness, suspicion or hate. The two seconds she hugged him seemed like a flashback in time, she remembered the bonfires, the singing, storytelling and the dancing, how she loved dancing. A tear blinked in the girl’s eye. “I’m glad you’re here, daddy. I really am.” Djali took her in his arms and kissed her on her forehead. “Ye are my little girl, pinkie. Just remember. I know you are a tough longear, yeah, y’are. World can be cruel, but yer not alone. If someone can bear the burden, it’s you.”

Duvessa woke up when the first rays of sunlight touched her skin. Still a bit sleepy she scanned her surrounding for Djali. She found him sitting on a tree-stump, smoking a pot-like substance. As Djali exhaled smoke, a clearly noticeable purple cloud rose up in the air. He seemed to ignore a bird that nearly choked and fell down. Duvessa walked to the river nearby and washed herself. Looking at her reflection in the water she noticed her eyes shone more spirited than ever. Looking further, she saw herself wearing a necklace with complex symbols painted on. She could distinguish a few of them, ancient troll symbols she had once learned. When she turned around, she realized the big troll figure had left. He had always been able to trick the rogue, even though she was a master of deception herself. Next to the tree-stump she came across a letter, written in the language of trolls. Duvessa sat down and started reading.

Sorry me be leaving you all of a sudden,
But ye do now these are strange times now. I feel destiny join and getting’ closer, I know you do as well. da necklace I gave ye is meant for you only, hide it from curious eyes, for they shall not understand, nor accept. Go back to longears’ land, for ye shall not be save in ‘ere. Do come back at you-know-where once da moon is lightened by 7 stars, Shayla and I will watch over you. Follow what yer meant to follow, and do not hesitate.
-Djali

Just as she finished reading she smelled a scent of blood. Instinctively she turned around, fortunately able to dodge the arrow, clearly aimed at her. A troll was looking at her aggressively, trying to decide what to aim for now. The troll shouted some random things at her, not knowing she could understand every single word. Of course she had to act like a proper Night Elf, which means no troll speech, and no mercy. She evaded a series of poisoned arrows, and reached the troll. She quickly knocked him over, (which was quite stunning, seeing he had more height and weight), and just as she was about to cut his throat, a furious bear popped out of nowhere, answering the whistle of his master. He almost slammed her unconscious, and a burning pain razed through the Elves body. The troll stepped towards her, looking down on her with pity. “So this is how the weak Elf ends..” He grinned, and aimed the last arrow at her. Duvessa felt her head pounding; she didn’t have enough strength left to get up again. “Please..” she mumbled in trolls, “do not kill me..” The large being gazed upon Duvessa with a look of amazement on his face. You could almost see him thinking, now how to deal with this? The blue skin hesitated for a second, and lowered his shining bow. “Who is ye, able to speak me tongue?” Duvessa tried hard not to faint, and whispered softly, “I’m Duvessa..” After these words she felt down, seeing nothing but sweet darkness.

“No, I found her in tha forest, mon’. And till’ I know more ‘bout her, she’s mine. Bloody mine!” A larger Troll, (with heavier axe), stopped the fight between the two Trolls and made them calm down a bit. And yes, they did have some respect for an Elder, merely because he could cut their throat off in one swing of his axe, but formal because Elder are overly respected and honored, for their knowledge and bravery. Another Troll approached. “Elfie is awake. Just to let y’all know.” The curious bunch of Trolls gathered around the laying Night Elf, one even started poking, obviously stunned Elves had skin. Duvessa looked at her new gained stalkers in amazement. How the hell did she get here? She felt her head bouncing, and tasted blood. The poking Troll started to examine her face, accidentally hitting her eye. “Ouch! Could you leave me please, you ugly orckisser!?” She shouted in Elfish. The Elder softly told everyone to take a few steps back and give the Elvenlady some space. He didn’t step back himself. Instead of that he reached for a bucket of water and gave it to Duvessa. The exhausted Elf drunk some, without turning her eyes away from the blue/purple community standing in front of her. The Elder observed her carefully; it was not sure for his surroundings whether he did so because he thought she was interesting, or a threat. He took a moment before he started to speak.

His voice bashed in the sensitive Night Elf ears’. “I am being told one of our young hunters found you in the forest, a piece of forest belonging to the Skullcrusher Trolls. Who are you to just tramp into our lands? And..” The Elder paused for a moment to take a deep breath. “And who are you able to speak our tongue, which is not native for your kind.” The crowd as a whole leaned forward, set on hearing every word the Elf might or might not speak. Duvessa ignored them, and watched the Elder when answering. “I am sorry for the fact I am bothering you now, however, I am not sorry for ‘tramping’ in your land, as you know, it belongs to none, and till today none was that stupid to claim it.” Even though Duvessa found herself in a terribly helpless situation, she still knew how to talk fierce and how to stick up for one self. She was sure the Trolls weren’t too clever, and when subtle, likely to fall into a trap. Every ticking second she could feel her power grow, bit by bit. The necklace resting on her chest felt warm on her skin, and she knew that if she would look at it, it would glow. The Elder caught her eye again. “So, it seems like you do not regret any of your actions, I hope you do know there are enough loyal servants here willing to cut your throat?” Duvessa let the remark pass, and continued like she was never interrupted. “If you don’t mind, let me go in honor, see it as a truce between two races, may we once stand on the same side of the battlefield.” She ended her speech with the universal sign of peace. The Elder seemed impressed, and so did all the others. “You do give me some matters to think of, Elf. But may I remind you, you have never told me your name.” Duvessa reluctantly told her name, and once again fell into silence. “So be it, Duvessa, the Elvenlady who can speak in various tongues.” With a suspicious look on his face he gave the bluish horde of Trolls the order to go away. “Oh, and before I forget..” The Elder grinned. “Guards! Make sure she won’t do a thing without my permission. If she does, kill her.” After these words he walked away, not even once looking back at the Elf. If Duvessa could’ve killed him, she would’ve done so right away, so is told by the look on her face.

The next few days Duvessa was busy revalidating, although the Troll fella’s did take good care of her, it was obvious there was hate from both sides. Of course Duvessa didn’t like functioning like a servant, cooking and taking care of the Trolls, but she somehow had to and was always closely watched. None of the Trolls seemed to have decided yet what to do with the Elf when she would have regained her full strength, and would be ready to leave. Instead of that they tried to use the Elf in as many ways as possible, and a few of the most stupid Trolls even made up a game by poking the poor Duvessa, but shouting for guards as she defended herself.

A few days (or weeks, who could tell) later something interesting happened. Interesting in the sense of not as boring as being slave to enthusiastic Trolls. A dwarf came in. He seemed a bit dazed at first and quite silent for a Dwarf. His long beard was grayish of all the dirt gathered during his journey. Duvessa watched him getting ‘treated’ by the Trolls, while just sitting in a corner, hoping the Dwarf would survive with a bit of flesh left on his bones. She did not once felt like helping him out, somehow, she did not seem to mind it at all. The Dwarf was tough, and did manage to remain alive. The Night Elf was intrigued with the toughness of the small beings. Small, but clearly not unnoticeable. The Dwarf looked back at the staring Night Elf, rolled his eyes and looked away again. Duvessa rolled her eyes too and turned her back to him.

Even though the Dwarf would probably be better company to Duvessa than the Trolls would ever be, she kept ignoring him. And so did the Dwarf. Both of them had their pride, Elves and Dwarves, it’s like attempting on making a fire in the middle of the deep ocean. So more days followed, Duvessa managed to steal some personal belongings from one of the Trolls; the poor soul had been searching for hours and finally blamed his brother, of course leading to a huge fight, and much unnecessary blood spilling. Things like this kept Duvessa going, it was a good way to practice her skills, and of course a good way to keep smiling all day long. Eventually Duvessa started to think bigger, she felt the time had come to escape. At full strength and with enough time to plan a few alternate strategies things should work out.

First of all she had to make sure none of the blue beings would find out what she was up to, in order to accomplish that, she played the actual nice Elf. Helping when needed, not even hesitating when having to do something extremely disgusting. She figured where and when the guards patrolled, though it surprised Duvessa the Trolls actually followed a scheme. Nothing to mind, the cards were played in her favor this time. The best route out would be right into the forest, where she would be almost impossible to track again. The only problem was the fact that the forest belonged to the Horde, which gave a change of getting caught by some other stupid tribe of Trolls, Orcs, Undead or Tauren. Another way would be along the beach. She would be able to run very fast, but hell, everyone from miles away could easily spot her, even though she mastered in deception.

Yes, now was the time. Duvessa looked at the stars above her. Everything was planned, nothing could go wrong. Fear me, you stupid Trolls. Duvessa grinned, how could they have ever been so stupid, they didn’t think of the idea of an escape for one second. But after this they will. She sneaked around stealthy and found a locked box in which her precious daggers were kept. Easy as it was, she grossed a little stick from the ground; the lock resisted her for a minute, but finally gave up. A soft click and it was done. She quickly sneaked her way out again. With help of her daggers, she ambushed the guards, (which smelled like having smoked way too much). She nearly cleared the way out, and she felt the adrenaline rushing through her veins. She loved doing things like this, because she excelled in these facets of life. And then, everything of her well-thought plan got ruined. Dwarves tend to have a bad timing, but Duvessa had never met a Dwarf with timing like this. Just as she was about to take the last steps out of the encampment, the Dwarf started to randomly hit Trolls, of course waking everyone up. At first it seemed like Duvessa had still a chance of leaving, but all hope was abandoned when the Dwarf shouted and pointed at her. He seemed to say something like “Save me!” but Duvessa couldn’t care less. Guards ran all over the place, hitting everything showing signs of movement. Needless to say, Duvessa was busted. And so to speak, grounded. The Trolls seemed to be not that brainless, and threw her in a cage, together with the Dwarf. It was hard to tell who looked more disgusted, Duvessa, the Dwarf or the Trolls.

The forest grieved for the Night Elf, raindrops fell down, creating a minor pool in the soft soil. Birds, frogs and other small animals enjoyed the water and played around, though their happiness did not reach the two prisoners. They sat there for a long time, atleast three times did the Sun rise, and both of the prisoners remained silent, not saying a word to each other. The only sign of life they sometimes showed were greedy looks when the Trolls came in with their daily bit of food, which the Trolls proudly called a meal. (Actually, it wasn’t even enough to fill a Gnome’s stomach, but the Trolls sure did not want the two to regain their strength too quickly.)
Duvessa groaned. How could she possibly escape now? From the corner of her eyes she could see the guards leer at her. Disgusting. No way she could get out now. And all because of the damned Dwarf, who still sat there, in his ‘own’ corner. Not saying a word, well, not like Duvessa felt the need to talk to something with less than 10 brain cells anyway.