A letter written in charcoal

[Jivah]

"Come on, nah!"  At another jerk of the rope, the little Sin'dorei girl was yanked along firmly, though not unkindly.  Her too-small shoes - for that was all that could be found at the orphanage - slap-slapped along the ground as she trotted obediently along behind her "handler".  The pair were followed by curious eyes, but neither of them seemed to notice.

Another fifty yards brought them to their destination.  A thick finger jabbed at a crudely inked skin that was thrust in front of the child's face.  "This it, yah?"  The girl's fel-green eyes widened as she nodded quickly after peering at the door in front of them.  The speaker grinned at that, four-inch long tusks protruding from her mouth.  "Go on in, yah, see wad you can fin'."

The troll woman released foot after foot of rope as the little girl disappeared through the doorway.  Sinewy and tall, her dark red eyes peered into the building from under a shock of blue hair that seemed to be styled in the manner of...well, just about every single hairstyle imaginable.  Errant braids here, spiked bits there, here a curl, there a curl, everywhere a ratted mess and none of it combed.  As the seconds ticked by, the troll felt the crimson snake that encircled her neck tighten its coils, then relax once again.

Finally, the young blood elf emerged from the building clutching a few pieces of parchment.  "Eh, good work, preddeh!  Almos' done, den we gonna gid you some ice cream an' den back to da orphanage wid ya."

That moment couldn't come fast enough for the little girl.

Swiftly - too swiftly, for she had to be told to "Slow down, nah!" more than once - the girl read aloud everything that had been printed on the parchment.  "Das it?" pressed the troll, as her charge sat gingerly down on the ground and reached for the bit of charcoal that the woman handed her.  She nodded and poised the smudgy tool to write, ready to get this "outing" over with as quickly as possible.

"Me guess we start wid da leddah, den."  The troll spit on the ground and began to dictate.

"Eh dere, preddeh Grim.  Mama Jivah heard dem talkin' about ya an' me come ta see whadda talk was about.  Da Loa don' turn Mama Jivah wrong, nah, an' dey not wanna turn me away from ya Grim.  Me t'ink ya be good ta have me good hex, can' be wrong, nah!  An' all da time remembah - you godda bad juju, you come see Mama Jivah, she fix you up good, nah."

When it became clear that the troll was going to say no more, the little girl offered up the parchment and charcoal.  Jivah took them both and with a few quick strokes made her mark at the bottom of the letter - a crude pictograph of a serpent swallowing its own tail.

She cackled and handed the charcoal back to the girl.  "Now da oddah."