#Hunjun Sweetbreeze

[0l1v3juice]

First Impressions

There was landfall, and we felt ourselves tense. We had entered a completely new territory. As we looked around, there was almost nothing that we recognized. Trees with unnatural shapes and sizes compared to the ones we remembered, shrubs that were lacking in color (as it seemed most of the land was just...green), and most importantly, leaves that blocked the whole of the sky. We couldn't see a thing. Everyone was terrified to start moving, so I took the lead. 

“Everyone, follow me. Wherever we are, we are strangers. Do tread lightly,” I ordered.

We stuck closely together and climbed off of our ship, passing over the warm sands and onto the greenery. When we began making progress, we began to see even more peculiarities. 

Along with the strange fauna, we began to see other life similar-but-not-identical to ones we recognized. Small, rodent-like creatures bounded across the grass and scurried up the trees. Wolf-looking creatures constantly chased the small ones around trying to get their next meal. Flowers and leaves bloomed in the endless beauty of the land. It was still quite foreign, but there was a sense of familiarity in our surroundings that brought us great comfort. Though nothing was exactly the same, it was reminiscent of the blossoming forests which our village would gather honey from. Even the sunset's colors reminded us that there are things unchanging about the world we live in. We knew we had found our new home.

“I think I see a fence up ahead!” exclaimed Mao Cung as he started for it.

“Mao, wait!” Maysam shouted as she ran after him.

Soon, we were all chasing after Mao Cung while he darted straight for the fence. When he reached it, he stopped and stared. Upon catching up to him, we saw why.

“Well… which way should we go?” Maysam asked the obvious question.

Behind the fence, there was a path. The path led in two directions. One went to the left, the other, to the right. In blank confusion, we all sat unsettled for a moment. What if we went the wrong way? This was a sign of civilization, was it not? What if they were not friendly? How could we be sure it was not a trap?

“Everyone, stay calm. Let us think this through,” Mao Cung began.

“Well, Mao, I don’t believe there is a way to think this through,” Songxue interrupted him, “Both sides look the same, and there is nothing pointing us to one specific direction.”

“She's right,” Shen agreed, “Let's just pick a direction and go with it.”

Not long passed before I decided for us the direction which we would take.

“Left,” I stated.

No one questioned why, as I am sure that they knew I had no reason. Intuition would have been my excuse. What happened next, though, I had no way of foreseeing.

Just a ways down the path, I began to hear a low growling sound. Looking around, we saw nothing. Yet, the sound grew louder and louder. We became very afraid, and Maysam poised herself to fight. As Shen and I were healing folk, Maysam and Songxue were our hopes for defenses, and Mao Cung could only aid in distractions or diplomacy. We stopped, watching carefully. With Maysam and Songxue preparing themselves, Shen and I took to protection behind them. However, the source of the growling revealed itself to me instead of our fighters. 

Looking at the path ahead of me while watching Maysam's back, I saw a shadowy figure slowly tread out of the darkness, revealing a huge, cat-like creature. Terrified, I instantly screamed and fell backwards into Maysam, taking her and Songxue down with me. Shen positioned himself to protect us, and Mao Cung followed suit. But the creature did not attack. It just...stared at us. The growling even turned into more of a low and steady purr. Perplexed, Mao Cung slowly approached it, taking each step with caution. Songxue and Maysam watched as they were too petrified to move. 

The cat stood in the middle of the path, awaiting Mao Cung's slow approach. Purring in anticipation, its tail waved back and forth. We could not tell if it was hostile or docile. It almost seemed playful. But we could not let our guard down; Mao Cung was our hope. 

He finally stood face to face with the creature, letting it look him over and supposedly decide how to react. It began circling him, smelling him and watching him. Though he was most definitely experiencing sheer terror, a mask of calm adorned his face as he underwent the beast's judgement. We made silent prayers for him. He did not move.

Suddenly, the unexpected happened upon us once more. The beast, having decided it would spare Mao Cung, looked to the rest of us. Its glowing eyes fixated on each one of us as it silently padded across the path. It came toward me. 

I laid there on the ground, still too terrified to move from my position after falling. The panther approached me and gave me the same treatment as Mao Cung, although closer. When it was done, we had no idea how to respond to what happened next. 

Suddenly, the beast backed up from over me, and began to transform. It turned into a person: a tall, pink-skinned humanoid with flowing purple hair and the same glowing eyes we had seen on the panther.

“Where do you come from?” the strange woman asked us. 

Dumbstruck, we could not answer. Shen simply returned with a question. 

“Where are we?” 

The creature cocked her head at us, confused by the question. 

“What do you mean ‘where are we’? You've never been outside the city before? Or maybe you're not from there?” she asked again.

“City? What city?” Mao Cung questioned. We were afraid to tell the shapeshifter that we had arrived from Pandaria in case we were not welcome wherever we were.

Instead of returning a question again, she stood silent for a moment before coming closer to me and extending her arm. Realizing I was still on the ground, I took her hand and stood. 

“You're not from the Eastern Kingdoms, are you?” she asked me while still holding my hand. Her tone was accusatory, but not hostile. Probably, she was just irritated that we had not been giving her answers - just questions.

“No, miss, we are not from here. We…” I started and looked to the group. I felt that we would only make progress if we told the mysterious person our origin. The group seemed frightened. Should I tell her where we were from?, I thought.

“...are refugees,” I finished. The tension was still there, but eased just so. Yet, she had figured it out herself. Her eyes filled with bright excitement, and she gasped and said:

“You all are from Pandaria!”

We stiffened. Our breaths hitched. How did she know? What gave it away? Would we be okay?

“My lady,” Mao Cung began to speak hesitantly. “Would you kindly tell us where we are?” I was unsure why he still asked the question.

“Of course, my apologies. We're in Elwynn Forest! How did you make it here? Why are you here?” she spoke that last question with an unsettling tone. The rest of our exchange seemed to have honest affability behind it. The last question, however, seemed like it would be the difference between a favorable or unfavorable experience with the cat lady. We observed our settings and chose our words carefully. 

“We came here on a ship, guided by our fallen companion. Our only goal here is to seek refuge from our war-torn homes,” Maysam spoke.

The woman seemed unsatisfied with that answer, but moved on to the question of why we were wandering around at night and headed up the path.

“It has been weeks since we have seen civilization or even land, my lady. We seek the warmth of a safe place to lay our heads for the night,” I told her. 

She studied my face as I spoke, scrutinizing everything. I am certain she analyzed my breathing too, but she insists that she did not. Following her analysis, she asked me a simple question. 

“What is your name?”

I froze. Her eyes stayed fixated on mine while mine frantically searched her for signs of attack. Glancing at the familiar scenery around me, I took a deep breath to calm down.

“Hunjun,” I said, eyes on hers. “My name is Hunjun, miss.”

After a short moment, she simply replied,

“I believe you.”

We smiled at each other, and, after realizing that we shared a genuine moment, we smiled again. The woman trusted me, and so I trusted her. 

“If you don't mind my asking, what is your name, my lady?” Mao Cung interjected. 

The lady watched all of us intensely before deciding to share her name with us.

“Jalvia.”

I nodded at her in acknowledgment. My group stepped forward one by one, offering their names as a show of trust. Finally, Songxue asked the important question. 

“Do you...do you think, Jalvia, that you could show us up this path?”

She thought for a moment, processing the idea. She seemed to go back and forth deciding on pros and cons. Eventually, she decided she would show us. But we had to follow her rules.

“You are to stay in front of me where I can watch you, and you do not speak to anyone, understand?” Jalvia ordered.

We all agreed to comply, and we headed off up the path. There was no talking, no lagging behind, and no fooling around. It seemed that Jalvia knew what was ahead of us up the path. In my head, I wondered if I chose the right direction. Was she leading us to a trap? What would have happened if we went the other way?

“Not to worry, Hunjun. All that's behind us are logging camps and bandit groups. You chose the right way,” Jalvia assured me, noticing that I had been constantly looking behind me at the path. “I guess that clears my suspicions, then,” she said with a relieved sigh.

Songxue turned around as soon as Jalvia finished speaking and asked “Why were you so suspicious of us? Do we appear as a threat somehow?”

“It was definitely obvious that you were hiding something,” Jalvia replied nonchalantly. “I just wasn't sure what.”

As she said that, I felt just a twinge of guilt. This Jalvia, however strange and wonderful she seemed, was offering us help. We thanked her by hiding our motives and origins? It didn’t seem right to me. I stopped walking to confess our story, and I believe the others knew my intention as Maysam shook her head. 

“Actually, Jalvia, we are hiding something,” I sighed. “While it was true that we are from Pandaria - as you correctly guessed - we were actually looking for a new place to call our own. Not just someplace to rest ourselves, but a new place we could continue on the legacy of our village in,” I finished. As I spoke, I could not look her in the eyes. I felt so guilty for lying to her even though I barely knew her. When I finished speaking, I finally looked up at her with hope that she would not be angry with us. In actuality, she appeared to be feeling quite sorrowful. She looked at me like she shared my pain and felt what I felt.

“It's okay. I know,” Jalvia said. 

Shocked and confused, Mao Cung immediately tried to discredit her. “How could you possibly know? That does not make any sense. Why are you so calm?”

Shen tried to calm him as Jalvia sighed heavily and shared with us what gave it away.

“Mao Cung, your belt. I've seen that symbol before. That's the crest of your family, right? The ones who lead the village? I've been there before. My best friend is an Alliance commander, and her first assignment a few years ago was a small peacekeeping operation in your part of the country. She established trade with the bigger cities of the system you were a part of, but she made sure to visit all the neighboring small villages. Your people were very sweet. They let us taste the honey they used for the liquor you brewed. I didn't want to believe that your kind little village was war-torn. So torn, you ran from it…” she trailed off and became silent before continuing. “If you were refugees fleeing a war-zone, I didn't want to believe you were from where your apparel indicates you are. And...I didn't want to believe that my people were the ones responsible.” Her eyes began to well up with tears, and the light in her eyes seemed to grow dimmer. 

“If...if it is any consolation, I did not see any people that appeared as you do. They were different. Shorter, louder, and they did not shapeshift. It was them, adorned in the colors you wear, against a louder group of people with green skin and sharp teeth,” Shen recounted.

Jalvia's expression shifted from disappointed to agitated.

“Of course. It always comes back to those reckless humans and orcs,” she began, intensely frustrated. “When will they understand that their war is pointless and must end? They're fighting over land that's already inhabited! What kind of self-serving, spineless--”

“Jalvia!” Maysam exclaimed. “Please, calm yourself.”

“Thank you for being outraged at these tragic events, but we must look only forward,” I thanked her and hugged her. She squeezed me tightly, breathing in slowly and letting herself be calm. 

“For now, there is someone I must introduce you to. Remember that friend that I was talking about?” Jalvia asked us.

“The Alliance commander?” Songxue recalled. “Why would she want to see us?”

“Well, she would want to know what's become of your people. Also, she’s not a human. She's like me!” Jalvia beamed. 

 “And you are…?” Shen cautiously inquired.

“My sweet pandaren, I am of the kaldorei. I'm a night elf, in the common tongue. I suppose you've never seen one of my kind,” she gleefully informed us. 

“What does your friend look like?” Mao Cung asked.

“Oh, you'll meet her soon enough. While I wish it were under better circumstances, I can’t wait to bring you to her. She’ll probably want to offer you all a place to stay with her,” Jalvia giggled.

“Well, she sounds very nice, but, uh…” Shen chimed in again but trailed off, afraid to finish his sentence. “Is she…you know...like you?” 

Jalvia's smile faded slightly, and she cocked her head to the side. You could tell she was trying not to be offended and instead trying to understand. “What do you mean by that?” she asked. 

Mao Cung stepped forward before Shen could dig himself a bigger hole. “I think what he means, miss Jalvia, is if your friend is able to...shapeshift as you do. It was quite fantastical to witness. Do all night elves do that?” he politely questioned.

Her smile returned and she shook her head. “I see. No, she cannot shapeshift. I can only do that because I’m a druid. My bond with the nature of my home is so strong that I am able to take her forms at my will. I use it to protect Her, myself, and others. Just then, I used it to protect the people up this path which leads to the castle. Guards patrol this path, but they have a longer route to survey at this time of night. My friend, on the other hand, is merely a hunter. But, make no mistake - she's the best hunter I know! I’ve never seen her miss a shot or meet an animal she couldn’t tame. It truly is a gift.”

“She sounds amazing,” I said. “When will we get to meet her?”

“Soon, my dear, soon. First, we have to find you all someplace to rest for the night. If my memory serves me, there is an inn up ahead. It's been a while since I've visited, but I'm sure they remember me.” Jalvia giggled to herself on the last comment. The rest of us shrugged our shoulders and continued up the path. 

Eventually, when the moon hit its peak, we began to see buildings ahead of us. We became excited and scared at the same time. Finally, civilization of some sort, however small. Jalvia hushed our excitement before we could get carried away, though, reminding us to watch our tongues around the travelers and adventurers passing through. 

Soon enough, we arrived at the inn. There were two buildings; one held a pen with livestock in the front, while the other appeared to house a forge. Jalvia lead us into the building with the pen in front had us sit down while she talked to the innkeeper. He kept glancing at us and muttering things to Jalvia with a worried expression. But I could tell that Jalvia was good at vouching for our intentions. He nodded and smiled at us, and she headed back over with her arms spread wide. 

“Welcome to Goldshire!” she announced and threw her arms around us. 

[0l1v3juice]

Arrival

Weeks passed before any of us saw civilization again. We had escaped onto and stolen an unguarded enemy ship, stealing food from the soldiers along the way. Our supplies were running low, and we became more antsy each day. One day, Songxue had finally had enough of the endless ocean. 

“We should never have tried to escape,” she bemoaned as she held her stomach in pain.

“What do you mean ‘try’? We succeeded! Hold your head high and be proud, Songxue,” declared Shen. I felt it necessary to remind him what she really meant.

“Shen, I envy your excitement. We have been at sea for weeks now, who knows where we are headed? We will die out here,” I lamented.

Honestly, I had accepted this fate long before when we veered off-course after a storm. The others did not understand the gravity of a slight change to Toolani's calculations and what that may meant for our future at sea. But I understood.

“We could be headed for the Maelstrom for all we know!” I cried in fear.

Everyone except Mao Cung began to panic. He had taken notice of something that I had not.

“Hunjun, calm down. Don't rile the others up with unsound fears. Look up; do you see that? Bird formations, headed straight in the direction that we are. They started passing over our heads not too long ago. Birds cannot fly forever - if we follow their paths, we will reach the land that they rest at. Whether or not there are people there, it will be an opportunity to replenish our resources. Be calm, alright?” Mao Cung patiently entreated me.

In the end, he was right. A mere two days later, we spotted land ahead. It appeared as though we were actually headed for a forest of sorts. Small, minute amounts of sand and beaches were overshadowed by the tall trees which stood up the shore. We felt ourselves become excited once more. We really were going to make it! Ahead of us laid fertile soils, ready to be planted with new life and history.

“So she didn't leave us in vain…”

I heard Maysam quietly affirm herself as tears welled up in her eyes. Gently, I pulled her into an embrace and allowed her time to let it out. As the rest of them rejoiced in our findings, Maysam prayed a quiet ‘thank you’ in remembrance of Toolani's sacrifice. I'll never forget how perfectly the swirling ocean mimicked our emotions that day. Feeling both great pain and great joy, we headed straight for land.

[0l1v3juice]

Departure

Never in my wildest dreams could I have known that I would be granted the opportunity to meet such kind and unique people. I can still remember everything from start to finish, like it just happened yesterday. Even the moments in which I felt consumed by fear, the memory does not fade. I do not think I will ever forget this experience. Then again, I also really do not want to. Who would want to lose any of the memories they have relating to their most cherished relationships, even the ones that hurt or are scary? In the beginning, though, things were neither painful nor scary; things were bleak.

I remember hinting to my friends that we should not leave the village, but of course we would anyway. Whether or not we stayed or left, war would continue to consume our lives and destroy our livelihood. We were far too outnumbered to stand up to either the Alliance or the Horde, so we played an insignificant force in the war as a supplier of food resources. There were a few people here and there who would abandon the village to join the ranks of our oppressors, but the lot of us simply resisted that temptation. We were nothing if not resilient. Our spirits would not be broken by the onslaught of foreign nations declaring war over our own soil. There had been rumors circulating that neighboring villages had driven off all the soldiers from either side that dared to fight on their land, and we used this as our fuel to keep fighting. Eventually, however, one day, we grew weary of the senseless bloodshed.

“There must be a better way to deal with this than to merely ride it out,” I pleaded to my fellow villager.

“When we have the forces to drive them back, we will know. Until then, we must survive. You know in your heart that there is no other way, Hunjun,” she sighed to me. 

As much as I did not want to keep hearing it, I knew that she was right. But I was growing more concerned as the days turned to weeks, and weeks to months. Our numbers were dwindling. Some of us who openly opposed the commandeering of land which was already inhabited and cared for ended up paying the price for speaking out - either by harsh physical labor or other means of subordination. Many of us did not survive the transition into forced servitude. We are a gentle race, but we are also determined and persistent. It was difficult to watch so many of us fall to their torture. We simply would not sit idly by in the face of injustice and cruelty. There was nothing just about the war being fought between the two factions, and so we fought back. 

To fight back was our downfall, as ill-prepared as we were. Our quiet, peaceful village was not as prepared for battle as it should have been. As our numbers grew smaller and more of our resources were stolen by soldiers, our lives diminished before us, and we lost hope of redemption for our village. Soon it was just Maysam, Toolani, Songxue, Shen, Mao Cung, and me.

“I don’t know how much longer we can live like this,” cried Toolani.

“We are not living, we are surviving. If you want to live, first you have to survive,” Shen counseled her.

“But it has been this way for so long. Could you so easily chide our brothers and sisters out there slaving away for our enemies?” Mao Cung rebuked.

“Mao is right; if surviving and holding out were the answer, there would not be so many of us dead or enslaved!” lamented Songxue.

As the days drew nearer to our eventual decision to escape the prison of our last safe house, discussions like this were not uncommon. Shen was always level-headed, but did not understand that we were dealing with entirely foreign forces. Toolani's parents had been a part of the resistance which was stamped out by the soldiers, and it took more and more of a mental toll on her every day. The prospect of our kin being enslaved on our own land enraged Mao Cung beyond belief, especially as the last remaining member of the family who led the village. Songxue knew not what to do besides mourn our losses. Maysam and I typically remained silent during these discussions, since they usually led to nowhere. But not that day. Maysam interrupted the bickering with one thoughtful question:

“What reason do any of us have to oppose the idea of leaving our forsaken village?” 

There was a moment of silence, and Songxue responded first.

“Would we not be abandoning our kin and leaving them to a life of servitude until death?” she remarked.

“Songxue, while it is admirable that you wish to free our brethren, what ability do any of us here have to do so? What makes you feel certain that we would not end up as they have? Should we not carry on a legacy for this village and make our escape before everyone is lost?” Maysam admonished. Songxue lowered her head and nodded in sorrowful understanding.

Mao Cung stewed in his thoughts for a moment before voicing a bothersome detail about Maysam's proposal.

“It's a pretty cowardly thing to do. I know staying here would likely result in our ultimate demise, but in facing our ends with pride, we die with honor. You should like to dishonor the name of our village by cowardly retreating in its dying moments?” he criticized.

Maysam was taken aback by his assertion. She meditated on his sentiments for a few moments before he continued.

“We are not living, we are surviving. We must survive until the very end in order to bestow honor upon our village's name and our own names. What would our ancestors think of us, running away and leaving what they have given us to become ruins? Though our defeat is certain, we still must face it with bravery and pride for our loved ones, do you not agree? Certainly you understand what that means,” Mao Cung finished.

“There is a difference, a fine line between bravery and foolishness, Mao Cung. What good would it do us or our ancestors to wait patiently in our seats for the kiss of death? Brave heroes face certain death when it means a greater good is accomplished. Fools await their demise in the name of the so-called ‘honor’ that comes waiting. There is no honor in senseless bloodshed. There is no honor in this war. I am certain that our ancestors would want us to rebuild their legacy where fertile soil awaits. We cannot change the fates of those we loved and lost, but we can continue living for them. Does that not sound like what you would want, Mao?” Maysam spoke. Mao Cung reflected for a moment before agreeing with the sentiments Maysam expressed. Truly, she was making a groundbreaking decision.

With Maysam's speeches granting reassurance to Toolani and Shen that escape was the right thing to do, it seemed as though we were all in agreement with the idea. Then, I spoke on one important detail.

“Where shall we go?”

Songxue and Mao Cung's eyes fixated on me in confusion, while Shen, Toolani, and Maysam shared a look of insightful despondency. They knew what I meant, and they did not have an answer. No one could have.

“Where shall we escape to? A neighboring village already consumed by the war? What about the dense forests that we can trek through to reach the beaches? Will there not be soldiers arriving on those beaches? What would we do then?”

As I barraged them with question after question, the atmosphere quickly withdrew from hopeful to despairing. It was unintentional, but I refused to welcome hope into my heart again only to have it ripped away. They had all forgotten how prevalent the presence was of those pests we were hiding from. Soldiers were on every beach, constantly arriving with new and improved plans to burn our villages and take our resources. How would we expect to get past them? Daunting as the task seemed, Shen remembered to never lose that hope that I had already lost.

“We are all willing to do whatever it takes to carry on our legacy, so there must be a way,” he proclaimed.

A moment of silence passed before Toolani spoke.

“I may have an idea, but you won't like it,” she told us.

I can still remember the feeling that overcame me when she sighed those words. In my heart, I felt grief - grief that was so strong, I almost thought I had already lost her. I am certain we all knew what she was going to say before she shared her plan with us. Toolani was a very skilled mage, of course her idea would include the use of her talents, likely against the invaders. However, something told me that she would likely not make it with us in our journey onward. It seemed that Toolani was the only one willing to accept the fact that we would not all make it. Before she could continue with the details, Maysam sprung into the conversation.

“No! I will not allow you to put yourself on the line and ultimately die at the hands of these savages! Do you want to end up as the rest of our brothers and sisters have?” Maysam implored Toolani not to go through with it. But Toolani's mind was already made up. 

“No, sister, I don’t. And I wish to shield the rest of you from meeting that same fate as well. But I know - I know full well that they will not stop coming. If we are to escape, it must be now. We don't have the luxury of time. We don't have the promise of good fortune. So, I must do everything in my power to protect you all and keep the memory of our beloved village alive. It is my duty. Please, May, let me lead you all to victory,” Toolani calmly spoke. 

We all sat in a moment of silence in respect to the bereavement we knew we would be experiencing soon enough. Following shortly after, Toolani shared with us her plan. It was bold and daring, just her style. She had carefully concocted the idea so we would have a means of escape and a length of time to expect for travel away from our home. Toolani really did think of everything. 

Though her plan was executed perfectly, it still hurt to say goodbye.