Visiting Hours

I missed the Story Circle this evening, which is an overwhelming disappointment. I have not missed one since I began going. I have been reprimanding myself all evening for not watching out for myself better. I moped about all evening as I imagined the stories being told and everything I was missing. It was so upsetting.
 
Eventually, though, I was visited by Hakiro briefly, but I was mostly surprised that Elder Huwah himself came to see me, though I know his obligations are many. We spoke for a time about what happened at the Story Circle, the Bloodtotems and their disrespectful disruption. He told me of the Bloodtotem woman's words and it dawned on me that she simply does not understand the spirit of the event. It is not solely a showcase of a shu'halo tradition, but one that we wish to share and have others experience through the lens of their own culture and experience, their own stories, even as they share them with us. I am a firm believer that knowledge can overcome all things, which include this Bloodtotem's misunderstanding. Someone must educate her, be patient with her, and get her to see the Light.
 
Elder Huwah thinks so highly of me, it is humbling. He says that I am a leader in the shu'halo community, though I do not feel myself as such. He gave a list of my accolades; from helping the Wolfmane to advertise and spread the word of their events, to speaking myself at Story Circle and participating in those events, he even tied in protecting Mulgore and the Story Circle from the encroachment of these Fel-touched quillboars. He says a leader is the sum of their deeds and if my deeds are anything to go by, then I am an inspiring presence, indeed, which is ultimately what a leader is. I could only blush and demure.
 
I spoke to Huwah of Longwalker Raton and how the hunter had spoken to me of the Wolfmanes' need in Darkshore. He made mention of a "Helping Hands" coalition that has been helping the kaldorei there. He spoke of a priestess or a Sunwalker, his son, with whom I might speak. But later, after I recover.
 
Not long after, Zagosh came to see me. I admit, it was a relief to see him and Hakiro both. After the other night, I worried -- unnecessarily -- that I had done something to offend one or both of them. Huwah left to bed, Qiao left to pack for her journey. Through sheer happenstance was I left alone with Zagosh. I apologized to him for missing his performance at Story Circle, and for missing our planned spar. He was concerned for me as he assessed my injuries, but he did not fuss and fret over me, nor did he sing my accolades for a job well done. It simply was. And there was something oddly comforting in that.
 
He was wearing painted runes on his skin from his performance at the Story Circle, when I asked of them he explained that they were runes that meant "Mountain" in the ogre tongue. He said that they made him feel sturdier. I explained to him the nature of my tutelage with Forgemaster Aurok and the Runeshaping that I will be entrusted with. How those runes are meant to be etched into arms and armor to empower them. I told him it might be worth investigating, if he felt these runes helped him. While Runeshaping is a long-forgotten art of the ancient tauren, it has also spread to dwarves, and perhaps other cultures in the intervening millennia. Perhaps even ogre-kind. So there might be merit to those feelings of bolstering.
 
Zagosh made the suggestion that he might play his drums for me this evening, though he worried for the healers being offended by the noise. I offered to take him elsewhere in the city, one of my favorite spots that most everyone else knows of by now over on the Hunter's Rise. But Zagosh balked at that.
 
He had seen the numerous conversations between Tazzi, Rory, and I the night Qiao had her duel. He had seen how I had become quiet, and Rory aloof. Zagosh is no one's fool, he can read between the lines as well as anyone. So he asked me, forthrightly, if our banter and time spent alone would raise hackles and hurt feelings. That if he had crossed a line, he was not looking to cross it again. That he does not do strings attached, and that he did not look to make a tangle of mine.
 
So, I was honest with him. I told him that my conversation with Tazzi had been to "go for it" -- that matters with Rory stemmed from Rory's past and betrayals he'd endured where people left him that he cared for. I told him that Rory must learn to outgrow his past, that Tazzi and I both feel that he must be challenged in order to change his way of thinking. I told him I was not looking for strings. And whatever happens with the strings I do have are my concern, not his. That I would be a liar if I did not say I was not interested in him.
 
It was hard not to laugh at how utterly stunned he was. I am not sure what he was expecting for an answer, but it did not seem to be the one I gave him. Zagosh... actually became flustered! I think he even blushed, though it was difficult to see at night with all the paint marring his skin. I do not know that I have ever had a man get so unmanned in my presence. Yet, even in spite of that -- he still offered me a song, so I took him out to Hunter's Rise, where I have taken all my friends in our time together, as it is my favorite place in all the city.
 
There, Zagosh played his drum and spoke of himself, how he came to find them and use them. Their significance in his life. There was talk of some of his experiences in the Pit, fighting for life and limb in front of a bloodthirsty crowd. It is why those elves at the spar between Qiao and Kiri, yelling to eviscerate the vulpera, to skin her, to do deadly harm to her upset Zagosh the way they did. They reminded him too much of his own painful experiences. How could they not when not hours beforehand he had been out at the Blade's Edge Arena watching the tournament there. Surrounded by the very prison he escaped from, filled with the sights and sounds of battles so akin to those in his past. I am glad that he had Hakiro with him, to help him process his way through such pain.
 
Even though my day began in pain and frustration, the ending was not so bad. I was humbled by how many came to see me in my invalidity, reminded of how much and how many people care for me. Even those I might not have expected, like Elder Huwah. And, of course, there was setting things straight with Zagosh, which seemed to settle things between us.
 
Tazzi will, of course, say: "I told you so."