July was normally the rainy season in Azeroth.
This year, however, the weather in Quel'Thalas was unusual. From the beginning of the month to the last day of July, not even a light shower had fallen.
Throughout this time, Karin had stayed at his usual haunt, the little grove, continuing his studies. He was either meditating or practicing magic.
An emerald arrow flew in a slanting arc, then struck the trunk of a tree fifty yards away... The bark immediately began peeling off, and the stench of decay filled the air!
Karin nodded in satisfaction. After so much practice, he could finally say he had become quite adept at controlling Melf's Acid Arrow.
The two lynxes lay lazily at Karin's feet. By now, they had grown thoroughly accustomed to him and no longer huddled inside the tree trunk, trembling!
"Mr. Mage!" A clear voice rang out behind him.
The female priest appeared behind him, dressed in white priestly robes and carrying a bag.
"Hello!" Karin gave her a friendly nod.
"Cluck... cluck..." The priest carefully lifted a tightly bound hen out of the bag.
Karin paused, then smiled. "Are you planning to feed them with that?"
He pointed at the two little lynxes at his feet.
"Yes!" The priest nodded. "I deliberately haven't come to feed them for two days!"
The priest walked over with the hen, and the two little lynxes quickly gathered around her in curiosity.
They had expected their owner to bring dried meat as usual, never imagining that a live hen awaited them this time. Neither lynx knew how to hunt, but since this living meal had already been securely bound, they instinctively extended their claws...
"How gruesome..." Seeing the usually sweet, adorable lynxes do something so cruel, the priest could hardly bear to watch.
"The strong prey on the weak. That's simply the nature of this world!" Karin said calmly. "Perhaps it's instinct, or perhaps it's a matter of survival!"
"The strong prey on the weak..." The priest turned back, forcing down her nausea as she watched the two lynxes eat... Suddenly, she said with great seriousness, "No, perhaps Quel'Thalas is an exception!"
"Quel'Thalas is an exception?" Karington froze.
A moment later, he suddenly smiled! Perhaps... Quel'Thalas was now at the height of its prosperity. Its resources and strength were at their peak, so everything seemed to possess an extraordinary warmth! But twenty years later, when that terrible catastrophe struck, all that warmth would be mercilessly shattered, replaced by one bloody, brutal scene after another!
"Mr. Mage, do you think I'm terribly naive?" the priest suddenly asked softly.
"No..." Karin hurriedly shook his head. "It's just that, whether it's the Royal Court or the families, the only reason they treat weak people like us with such kindness and warmth is that doing so costs them nothing!"
"I don't quite understand. Isn't that a little too profound?" The priest shook her head.
"Take yourself, for example. Since you never have to worry about food, clothing, or shelter, you can feed these two little fellows dried meat, or even a live hen!" Karin calmly pointed at the two lynxes, their mouths smeared with blood. "But what if one day you were like those impoverished humans, struggling even to feed yourself? Do you think you would still do this?"
"I..." The priest was momentarily at a loss for words. "Are you saying that Quel'Thalas will one day decline too?"
"Let's hope I'm just worrying over nothing!" Karin did not agree with her outright...
They fell silent for a moment before Karin broke the awkward silence. "By the way, I'm from the Sunfury family. May I ask which family you're from?"
"I... I don't have a surname..." The priest's expression first went blank, and then she spoke in a very small voice.
"What! You don't have a surname?"
There was only one circumstance in which an elf would have no surname... When every male member of a family died, that family was considered extinct, and the few surviving female members would lose their surname as well.
So...
"I'm very sorry..." Karin gave the priest a sympathetic look. He so rarely saw sadness on her face.
"Actually, I remember very little about my family or my relatives!" The priest sat down and said calmly, "My home was in Tranquillien, but I remember very little of that place either... I was very, very young when the Amani Trolls attacked the town. My parents and all my other relatives died, and the trolls took me away. Perhaps they intended to offer me as a sacrifice to their gods..."
"When I was close to death, the Farstriders' rangers rescued me from the trolls. Then I met Mr. Vondelor. I was barely clinging to life, terrified and wounded, but he saved me, adopted me, and raised me..." A faint smile appeared on the priest's face.
"You were very lucky!" Karin said with feeling.
"Perhaps... Because of what I went through, because of Mr. Vondelor and those Farstrider rangers, I firmly believe that even if the Sunwell goes dark, the warm sunlight of Quel'Thalas will never fade!" the priest said resolutely.
Karin nodded gently, then sank into a brief reverie.
One of the little lynxes beside them suddenly burped!
Both lynxes had eaten their fill. Only the hen's bones and a few bloodstains remained on the ground.
"They're very clever, and they learn quickly!" The priest broke the silence. "It won't be long before they know how to hunt!"
Karin's voice suddenly sounded a little strange. "Yes, perhaps they're beginning to understand that only by relying on themselves, rather than outside help, can they make a better life for themselves in this world!"
"Mr. Mage, what's wrong?" The priest noticed something unusual about Karin.
Karin did not answer. Instead, he closed his eyes and sat down quietly.
He did not know how much time had passed before he opened his eyes again... The instant he did, he felt the powerful fluctuations of magic within his mind and sensed the ley lines in the sky with greater clarity. Even the entire world seemed to have grown considerably smaller.
"Mr. Mage, are you all right?" The priest had stayed by his side the whole time. When she saw him awaken, a smile appeared on her face.
"Yes, I'm fine!" A delighted smile appeared on Karin's face as well. "I've just... grown stronger!"