June 27th
Dear Journal,
There has to be a way to annihilate virmen without having to do the two-step dance through your rows of plants. Honestly, about the time that I think that I am done with my weeding and ready to settle into some real harvesting – here come the virmen. Oh, I’ve come to expect some of the shenanigans of these pesky little creatures, however, I’m one of those people that like to get up early in the morning and get my field work done before the heat sets in. So, I’m usually like one of those people that stumbles over everything when they are trying to be quiet – of course, with these little things jumping out of the ground, it goes for making some loud noise.
I know my sister has stumbled to the front door a few times to make sure that I wasn’t killing off the neighbors or some such thing. Once she sees what I’m doing, she usually turns around and goes back to bed. Luckily for me, she hasn’t seen me get knocked on my backside a few times because I would never live that down.
Here I am a great big hulking Tauren to start with and then add the Death Knight business and I should be rather formidable, however, these virmen creatures are no respecters of height or girth. I know I shouldn’t notice getting knocked down, however, after getting tangled up in my own tail a few times, I’ve taken to tucking the thing in my belt loop for safe keeping.
Oh, I know that my sister, Mahamura, is very happy with the idea of keeping the farm going here in Pandaria along with the new found freedom that we have, however, there are times I do miss charging into battle and letting my Rune Blade sing it’s song. Oh yes, I do get away from the forge now and again and take part in some rather heavy duty fighting because I know a few Death Knights and we do like to stick together sometimes. At least people don’t act like they are absolutely petrified of a Death Knight up here in Pandaria, a few even act as if they are pleased to have us around.
We did get home long enough to go to the Faire with Mom, Nahai and Tahfal. I will have to admit that I had more fun this time because we had no set schedule to keep and we didn’t have to scurry back to Pandaria so we could dance to some Orc’s tune. Nope, we stayed several days and I got to work with some of my old friends at the forges for a couple of days. Yep, I’m still the A-Number One fellow for fixing the cookware that people just refuse to replace. I turned out one good set of armor for one of the Light Walkers in Thunder Bluff and I think that the word will get out that I do come back to visit now and again.
It was fun at home, it was relaxing and I felt more like myself than I have in years. Of course, I’ll never be the same fellow that I was before the change, however, I just felt good about being there. At least I didn’t hear the whispers that were real common when I first came back – you know, people actually praying to the Earth Mother to protect them from the demon walking in their midst. Guess, they got over that or that particular group has moved on to another place to live.
I know that my Mother always tries to spoil me with her “special” treats when I’m there. I have told her countless times that I don’t eat food like I used too, however, she doesn’t want me to lose weight. Fat chance of that ever happening and I won’t age either – she just thinks I’m still her oldest son. Pine nuts, she can make the best pine nuts in the world – cakes, ground pine nuts to put over your other food for extra flavor and her best yet are the baked ones that she lavishes plenty of oil and salt over. Yummy! Yeah, I’ll eat those even though I know that there is a price to be paid eventually for overindulging in that sort of thing when you don’t have the best digestive tract in the world anymore. Maha has tried to make them a few times but they just aren’t the same as Mom’s food.
I know that I am enjoying being able to use the forge here at the farm and I’ve actually gotten a few orders for new armor as well as doing some repair work on some other stuff. Honestly, one would think that some of these people would at least know how to clean their gear better. I do charge extra if I have to clean gore and other unknown substances off the stuff before I can work on it. I know I’m “dead” in the true sense of the word and carry my own brand of diseases with me, however, you never know what you might catch from some of this stuff I’ve dug out of the armor.
I do get to see more of Mr. Morningstar since we’ve been staying in Pandaria and I will have to say that I never realized what a nice fellow he can be either. Oh, yeah, he’s the Boss and all that, however, he didn’t have to set us up the way that he did here. He got us out of the service and he could have left us with our own devices as to how we were going to make a living, however, he chose to make sure that we were well settled here in Halfhill. He knows the rest of our family and he probably realizes that we’ll have the rest of the clan up here before he even has a chance to realize it. Yep, he’ll have the whole herd up here before he even knows it. I know Mom would love it up here and she can sit on the front porch all day if she wants, or go visit with the people in the market too. She’s a sociable old thing and I know that she will make new friends up here – she thinks the Pandaren are just too cute, even if they are fuzzy and they talk funny.
I don’t know why I am so damned happy today but I am. Even if my day did get started off on the wrong foot, getting rolled around in the dirt by a little fast vermin is just a small thing, pardon the pun. At least I didn’t hurt myself and the scarecrow is still in an upright position. I wish if we were going to have the darn thing that it was sturdy enough to hold someone upright that is my size when you grab it. I’ve put a few extra braces on it and done some other shoring up on the foundation a bit to see if it will hold my weight. There’s nothing like losing one’s dignity to little virmen first thing in the morning.
I am looking back in my journal; it’s been a while since I’ve written anything down in it. My how my life has changed for the better since I got away from Hellscream’s bunch and have a life to live as my own again without anyone trying to give me, of all people, orders to do anything. I’m here with my sister, she’s happy with things being the way they are. No one realizes what freedom really is until they sign up with a bunch of Orcs running the show. Yup, there are a couple of those Orcs that won’t be yelling at anymore Tauren or anyone for that matter and my blade seemed to be well-fed for quite a while. I doubt that anyone would miss a few more Orc roaming around the countryside; however, I’ll have to keep that to myself because I’m sure the authorities might get a tad bit upset about it.
Well, its daylight enough to where I can fire up the forge and start “banging away” as my sister puts it. I have quite a few pieces to work on this week and I’ve promised to have them done – plus, I need to get off the farm and do some more mining. Wish that Tahfal was up here to help with the mining, that little fellow can sure gather ore like no one I’ve ever seen amongst the living.
Naton “Sadheart” Cloudhoof
