The first thing that could be sensed was light - soft, greenish light. Not the sickly green of the fel-cursed Scourge plague, but the green of newly growing plants. Then a gentle warmth suffusing Bookh's body, soothing away the burning pain of mortal wounds. Was this some new unexplored facet of the Emerald Dream? Bookh wondered, pondering this unexpected aspect of the afterlife.
Or was it the afterlife? The sounds slowly becoming audible to Bookh's ears seemed depressingly familiar. Screams, shouts and muffled explosions of the elemental attack on Thunder Bluff continued unabated, though sounding oddly different.
How in the world did I survive that? Bookh wondered, cautiously gathering strength, and beginning to stir. Bookh's limbs didn't seem to be responding quite correctly - everything felt strange.
"Don't move too quickly, mon...I mean... FEL!" Ka'puna sounded distraught, and Bookh felt the gentle restraint of hands on shoulders. Ah, that explains it, Bookh thought. Ka'puna must have found a healer from the Browncoats to come and pull Bookh from the very jaws of death. It was certainly well beyond her capability to cast a proper healing spell.
Bookh's eyes opened, blinking, finding focusing a chore - especially since Ka'puna's face was filling Bookh's vision. They were virtually nose to nose. Bookh lifted a hand to gently push Ka'puna away, but froze, mid-motion. Where there should have been a large, Tauren hand was now a much smaller three-fingered one. Ka'puna sat back, eyes wide, and shaking as she stared at her teacher.
"Whaa...?" Instead of the normal baritone, a mellow alto voice came out of Bookh's mouth. Bookh turned a penetrating stare on Ka'puna, who shrank back into the corner.
"I couldn't find any of da Browncoats, mon...uh...Bookh," Ka'puna looked crestfallen. "After I dragged ya in here, I tried, I really did try to find 'em, but everyone be busy with dese elementals." She cleared her throat nervously as Bookh's silent scrutiny urged her to continue. "Well, I remembered what ye be tellin me 'bout healin, how healthy bodies be in proper balance with nature and all. But then ya stopped breathin, so I tried to bring ya back into balance. And, well, I kinda used myself as a model of healthy balance..." Ka'puna trailed off again, waiting for this to sink in.
Bookh's eyes closed in a silent prayer for patience to the Earth Mother. Opening them again after a long moment, Bookh began a brief self-examination. Hands: three-fingers, much smaller than before. Feet: In place of hooves, three broad toes. And where did my lovely tail go? Bookh thought with a sigh. Streching, hmm, body feels a bit stiff, but not bad, certainly healed up, but not quite...right.
Then Bookh placed a hand on a chest was that no longer wounded, but also decidedly feminine.
"Oh my!" Bookh winced slightly as her new voice grated on her ears. She turned and looked at Ka'puna, who grinned tentatively back at her.
"What is da Cap'n gonna say to dis?" Bookh wondered out loud...
This three part story was written to explain the race/gender change of my character Bookh. With the advent of Cataclysm, druids were able to be Trolls instead of exclusively Taurens. I also took the opportunity to change to a female character - partly because writing the story was so fun! - but also to match my husband's high level character, who is a male Troll priest.
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