Barrow Fields beyond the reach of human rage

as maia recounted her own tale with a bear run-in, illidan listened intently. his sharp gaze was latched onto her features with a curious intensity. it seemed as though most creatures were fearful of the massive beasts. he wondered why he had not felt the same amount of fear himself – if he was broken. in truth, he had found himself in the pathway of the reaper several times, though he was using different tools. finding himself lost as a child, the bear that had ravaged his family's home, the bear that had then attacked the wolves of the plateau, and the odd moments in between.

“that's impressive,” he remarked to her with a sure nod. as fierce as he aimed to be, he imagined that it would take a true savage to frighten the likes of such a massive creature. “and it could have been the same one,” illidan then added with a noncommittal bob of his head toward her. there was no saying which bears lingered longer than others. one day, the young ghost imagined he would sink his fangs into the beast who had uprooted his family and find satisfaction in that.

maia then asked what had caused him to return to his home, and he turned away from her with a thoughtful and haunted expression on his young face. it was difficult when all of his stories seemed to have complicated origins and endings – that they couldn't be told in a few simple words. “someone from the pack that took me in had found my blood mother and brought her to me...” he said softly. that day still seemed as though it had never truly happened. “i had searched for her for so long that it was hard not to want to go with her then.” almost as hard as it had been to leave the wolves who had taken him in.