Heart and Soul

[Nakobu]

A gentle wind blows calmly through the autumn air, small crystalline decorations swaying with its movement, chiming softly for the ears of two kneeling before a grand shrine. A mag'hari boy and an old draenei.

Before them at the base of the shrine lies a depiction. A depiction of the fabled Ata'mal crystal being broken into seven shining shards and soaring off into the open skies, streaks of their coloured light behind them. The depiction symbolising a flight from a world many, many millennia ago.

Above the shrine's base towers a tablet of etched names, a list of those whom never managed to escape on that flight to safety. The sun had past its zenith, the angle of light casting a shadow over the draenei's sombre expression as he focuses on a name etched near to the bottom of the tablet. 'Shaala'.

The mag'hari boy squints from the intensity of the sun's rays as he turns to looks up to the draenei, studying his face. His face was wrinkled, the corners of his mouth pulled into a depressive frown as he sits in contemplation, his eyes dull and unmoving. His heart, heavy.

The boy's expression begins to turn worried, his small hand reaching up to grip onto the draenei's sleeve. “G-Grandfather..?” The draenei turns his head at the name, his gaze moving down to the boy next to him. Slowly, the light returns to the old one's eyes, chasing away the darkness that veiled them. He smiles warmly, reaching out to ruffle the boy's hair.

“Do not look so worried, Nakobu. Everything is all right. It is just being here, remembering her... Remembering our good times before. It is on these days where the feeling of being without her weighs especially heavy. You will...” Vedaan trails off slightly, looking down at Nakobu's confused expression, the boy trying to work out the meaning behind his grandfather's words. He exhales slowly and smirks, shaking his head. “One day, when you have found one to give your heart and soul, you will not look so confused at me, my dear boy.”

Nakobu blinks a bit, only looking more confused. “My... heart and soul? But to who..?”

Vedaan chuckles softly before responding. “I cannot tell you such, Nakobu. But the Light has destined for you someone, somewhere. Just as it did for me long ago. I am certain of that. You just need to find her.”

Vedaan grins, leaning in closer to Nakobu to speak in a low, teasing manner. “Perhaps we will come across her in our travels, hm? Do not worry, I will not tell her too many stories of when you were younger, or get in your way.”

“Wh-.. W-What do you mean?!” Nakobu's face turns a shade of red as he jumps up from his spot, embarrassed. He pouts at his grandfather before turning away in a huff.

Vedaan laughs heartily, his previous melancholy all but gone. He pats Nakobu firmly on the back as he rises up to stand from his kneeling position. “Forgive me, my dear boy! Come now, let us go home.”



Nakobu smiles at the memory, heaving up the remainder of cut up talbuk into his arms to take over to the hut turned makeshift smoke-house. He looks over to Meri sitting on the pier as he walks, beautifully illuminated by the moonlit night. Though did she look... upset, just now? He stops, his face flashing with worry, but she soon waves to him with a wide, warm smile. He smiles back,  returning the best wave he could with the talbuk meat still in his arms. Perhaps he was just getting overly worried. It wouldn't be the first time, and surely it won't be the last knowing himself. Nakobu shakes his head a little, walking off into the smoke-house to begin hanging up the cured meat - part of the spoils of the hunt that they had triumphed over the day before. The hunt they had bested together.

Years later, he's finally come to understand his grandfather's words that day. His state in remembering the one he himself had held closest. Meri had been the first to believe in him - wholly, completely. To place in him her unwavering trust. To support him with her strength when he stumbled â€" even when that stumbling is perhaps far too often. She had filled in him a hole that he did not even realise that he had. A pit of deep loneliness. Of isolation. An empty heart.

He had found her. He had found the one that he would not only give his heart and soul, but everything that he was. Everything, that he would one day be.