Stepping into Ul'dah for the first time in five years sent shivers up his spine, but stepping outside of the city walls and into the desert south of town caused K'akhi to freeze in his tracks, golden eyes darting nervously across the rocky horizon far in the distance and tail thrashing anxiously.
To be entirely honest, life before the Calamity was a bit of a blur. He hadn't been that young either - fifteen, just shy of sixteen - but light, heat, fire and flame devoured all the gentler memories he had held. But he remembered the dirt, the sand, the sparse greenness - nothing like the Black Shroud, the place he currently called home.
He lifted his head to breathe in the arid desert air, and it was the same as he remembered, but newer, fresher, cleaner. The Calamity took life away, but that same life grew back, stronger than ever, in the same way the Thanalan had always been - tough, resistant, and unconquerable - just like the tribes that lived there.
K'akhi closed his eyes and in hesitant, almost inaudible voice, murmured, "I'm home."
(After a moment of embarrassed silence, the young Miqo'te spun on his heel and darted back inside the walls of the city. He'd visit his old tribe one day. Just maybe not today.)
To be entirely honest, life before the Calamity was a bit of a blur. He hadn't been that young either - fifteen, just shy of sixteen - but light, heat, fire and flame devoured all the gentler memories he had held. But he remembered the dirt, the sand, the sparse greenness - nothing like the Black Shroud, the place he currently called home.
He lifted his head to breathe in the arid desert air, and it was the same as he remembered, but newer, fresher, cleaner. The Calamity took life away, but that same life grew back, stronger than ever, in the same way the Thanalan had always been - tough, resistant, and unconquerable - just like the tribes that lived there.
K'akhi closed his eyes and in hesitant, almost inaudible voice, murmured, "I'm home."
(After a moment of embarrassed silence, the young Miqo'te spun on his heel and darted back inside the walls of the city. He'd visit his old tribe one day. Just maybe not today.)
