Crimson Revenge - Payback in Blood. Part 10

It was 3 years since Ravvyn was successfully extracted from the Whispering Woods.  Even now, she remembered how a giant panda, Mengtao, came crashing and bouncing through the forest like a black and white bouncy ball.  He was followed shortly by a stuck up blood elf named Cazora and her mysterious and sneaky spirit feline, Saberhagen.  If she hadn't pinched herself, she would have thought it was some bizarre dream.

Ravvyn enjoyed being with her new clan.  Crimson Revenge was a guild of exceptionally talented fighters, from all races and backgrounds.  They believed that justice involved more than a simple punishment.  They believed in revenge.  They fought for all that was good and Light in the world and weren't afraid to kill for it.

Ravvyn stood at the gates of an ancient, night elf temple, holding Joliset's acorn.  She had consulted many scholars.  She searched old libraries for scrolls... she was finally sure that this was the right course of action.

Ravvyn stepped over the fallen pieces of stonework, vines that wound there way around and into the temple. Inside a large hole in the domed ceiling allowed a soft and vibrant beam of light to shine down on a statue of the druid goddess of nature... Ashia Timberspark.  The statue was still magnificent, even though it had stood for millenia. Her arms outstretched and in mid transformation into a tree, her hands were branches and her feet were roots.  At the base of the statue glittered a small pool of glowing water.

Ravvyn stared down at the acorn in her pale hand with a mixture of hope and fear.  She gently placed the acorn into the pool, watching it float for a moment, then slowly sink below the surface.  She took a couple steps back and waited.  The look of fear and hope interchanging as the moments ticked by.

Suddenly, she felt the smallest vibration.  It began to increase in intensity and the water began to bubble up until it could have been a boiling cauldron.  Ravvyn looked around her nervously. And then the vibrations and boiling stopped.

"Is that it?"  she asked the statue, puzzled. There was no reply, of course.

She peered over the edge of the pool to see where the acorn had gone, but it wasn't there anymore.  Only two halves of the shell bobbed to the surface.

Ravvyn sigh sadly.  Picking up the two halves, closing one in each hand.  She hung her head in defeat.

"Years of research... for nothing." she whispered to the ground.  So she turned to leave.

After a few steps a tiny scratch sound came from behind her... by the pool.  She turned to see what had made the noise.  "Probably the wind on the vines." she thought.  But the scratching sound persisted.

She walked back to the pool, placing the acorn shells in her pockets and drawing her weapons, taking up a cautious stance.  She couldn't see anything, so moved some of the tangled vines and then, she saw...  It?  Her?

A tiny living sapling was trying to free itself from the vines next to the pool.  It looked up at Ravvyn with large innocent eyes, then it squeaked and smiled, holding it's tiny branches out to Ravvyn.

Ravvyn had never smiled as big as she did at that moment as she gasped, scooping up the fragile plant in her hands.

"Hello...  Joliset." she whispered to the smiling baby tree druid.  It squeaked and bounced excitedly in her palms.  Ravvyn laugh/cried.  "Oh, I missed you!"

She held the baby tree like a precious treasure and left the temple on their way...  home.