When Leda awoke, the first thing she noticed was how sore her body was. Surely being dead wasn’t this painful and stiff? The slab of rock beneath her was cold and the dampness seeped through the clefthoof leather she wore. When she had died, it had been a pleasantly cool day with a soft breeze fluttering through her soft, grey mane. But now, in this unexpected afterlife, it was cold and wet – somewhere in the distance she could hear dripping almost as if…
Her eye opened. She was in a cave, no, they were in a cave. Her brother Iyotanka’s body was lying next to her, on a similar rock slab and looked so much younger in death. It had hit Leda hard when Iyo passed before she did. She always imagined them dying together, side by side and yet… It had been 10 years since she had buried her brother. Her breath left her as 70 years of memories came hurling through her mind. It was 70 years ago that she and her twin brother Iyo had lay down and drifted off to sleep to spend a lifetime inside the peaceful paradise of the Emerald Dream.
She remembered the day well now, her mind now restored to its healthy 28 year old state…
[i]”So you’re sure this is going to work Iyo?”
“How could it not? I’ve studied all my life for this, there’s nothing else for me here. I’ve learnt everything I can and still I can’t seem to fix to it.”
I was apprehensive about leaving my body behind. Iyo promised the dryads would take care of them, but who knew exactly how loyal they could be? He had only just established some sort of agreement with them, an agreement I can’t even begin to understand. But we would be sleeping, yes in Moonglade under the watchful eyes of our brethren, and while we slept, our bodies would be as mortal as ever.
We entered the Barrow Den around midday, though it’s always hard to tell time in Moonglade, through its perpetual night. It rained and rained the day before, so the Den was particularly cold and wet that afternoon. We lay down on the smooth, cool slabs of rock provided by the Laughing Sisters and after a series of incantations, potions and a variety of complicated hand gestures, I felt the pull of the Dream.
Inside, time passed more quickly than we were used to; plants and animals were born, lived and died within a much briefer period than in Azeroth. It took some adjusting, but soon enough we fell into step with the world around us, living in peace and harmony with the inhabitants. Iyo was content to live his life within the peace of the Dream and so, I stayed with him. We lived naturally, eating what nature would provide us with and living in the open, fearing nothing as Iyo explained “In life or death, we’re all a part of the cycle and in time our part of its turn will come again.” [/i]
The echoing clip-clop of hooves on stone returns Leda back to the present. A dryad helps her up, pushing a flask of water into her hand. “Ho-“ she croaks, her throat sore from disuse. The dryad motions for her to drink and after a welcome sip, Leda tries again, “How long was I sleeping?”
“In the time of men and orcs, you’ve slept for two seasons; winter has passed and spring come and gone,” the serene dryad answered, her speech slow and drawn out.
Leda sighed; it had been only half a year. What was she to do without Iyo? A single tear escaped her modicum of control, sliding past her cheek and resting on the underside of her jaw. A scraping noise alerted to her to movement on her right. Somehow, Iyo was waking as well. There wasn’t a corpse lying next to her, but it was her flesh and blood brother! In a rare show of affection, Leda leaps up and hugs the brother she hasn’t seen alive in a decade.
“Where are we?” Somehow Iyo’s voice wasn’t as rusty as Leda’s had been. “Oh... the Dream. How long?”
“Six months,” she muttered, “just six months.”
Shaking his head, Iyo’s hooves hit the floor and he tests his balance, readjusting to the renewed vigor of his younger, living body. Following suit, Leda tests her once arthritic knees and finds them supporting her weight again, for the first time in 50 years. Reaching over she grabs her beloved Earthwarden, her fingers wrapping around the familiar leather grip she added ages ago, or at least it felt like forever ago. “Now what?” Iyo asks, picking up his bags and staff.
“Now we pick up where we left off. Back to Thunder Bluff.”
“Don’t you think the mailman would’ve realized we’d been pronounced dead and stop stuffing” Iyo grunted, trying to dislodge a letter from the blocked opening, “these stupid” another grunt, “letters from this stupid” grunt “mailbox!” Leda rolls her eyes, swings her beloved Earthwarden off her back and wacks the mailbox, flinging the top off and into the pond.
“There. Now stop complaining and be quiet so I can concentrate on sorting all this mail.” Most of it was Auction House notices anyway, it seemed the majority of her sales had expired and the postal office had tired of holding them for her. She didn’t blame them; the large shield she found in Zangarmarsh was rather large. But underneath all the slightly yellowed memos from the Auction House was a rather official looking scroll, slightly smushed by a package. After smoothing out the creases, Leda quickly read it and sped off, dropping the rumpled summons onto the grass in front of the mailbox.
Cairn was reading what appeared to be reports when Leda ran up, only slightly out of breath – to her own amazement. He frowned, his brow furrowing slightly and without looking up motioned for his guards to escort her out. “Wait!” She yelled. “I have a summons! Or, well I did… 6 months ago. Scout Leda Savagedawn, reporting for duty.” Behind her, she could hear Iyo lumbering up, his bags overflowing with unsorted, sopping wet mail.
“Savagedawn… Savagedawn… Ah right, the bear with the tag along chicken.” He nodded, rolling his scroll up nonchalantly, gesturing for the next one from a nearby advisor. “We had meant to promote you to Legionnaire, yet you seemed to have dropped off the face of Azeroth. No one had seen hide nor tail of you or your brother for months. We assumed you dead.”
Leda knelt in front of her leader, bowing her head in supplication, “How can I serve you Chieftain?” Bloodhoof appeared to be reading another scroll, yet his eyes saw far off, paying little attention to the information in front of him.
“Leda Savagedawn, you have been promoted to the rank of General and will serve under the Rend Fate banner.” He nodded to an orc in the shadows, “Catch the General up on the situation in Orgrimmar, regarding her new post. You will command Cairn’s Horns, a new regiment from Thunder Bluff, reinforcements of such for the defense of Orgrimmar.” Cairn looks up for the first time since her arrival. “You will meet up with one of your brethren who will head up the forces and you are to report to him. Move out tonight at dusk.” He nods, dismissing the newly promoted druid.
