The soft rays of the dawning sun’s crown danced and peekedthrough the breaks in that veil of leaves that hung overhead within the PaoquanHollow; their faint light shimmering and reflecting off against the stilled surfaceof that small pond set within its center. It was still fairly early in themorning; the surrounding wildlife still ensnared by the realms of their unconsciousminds. However, like most mornings, a certain Elf could often be found duringthis time of day. Having propped himself up in a comfortable manner—spine havinglightly eased itself back against the rows of bamboo wood that made up the sideof his home—Aki offered a content sigh to the world around him. Sure, while hefound himself enjoying the business that the city life offered, he couldn’tdeny that he thoroughly enjoyed being able to get away from all that; even ifit was just for a few days.
Arms propped up above his shoulders and having been placed behindhis neck—being used as a makeshift pillow—the monk slowly took in a longawaited breath and held onto it while humming pleasantly when the sweet aromasof the surrounding vegetation filled his senses; lightly releasing that samebreath he had held captive longer than what was necessary. Moments such as thiswere what he lived and longed for—the reason why he still continued to walk thatwinding and cruel path that life had to offer him—and in short, this place washis safe haven.
Having long since returned to one of his rare, overly calmedand carefree trances, the monk’s two-toned eyes fell onto the swarm of fireflybugs that fluttered by; the bottom half of their abdomens flickering in thedull light of the forest. Looking out across the small pond that had beenrecently added, Aki couldn’t prevent the corners of his mouth from twitchingupward; forming a genuine smile. Nothing could possibly ruin this moment forhim… or so he thought.
When the gentle breeze cautiously eased its way through thatgreen sheet that hid the sky from view and forced those delicate leaves torustle with excitement—those wispy, unseen fingers gingerly caressed the blondelocks of hair that covered his crown— the invasive whispers that followed soonafter broke through and scattered those thoughts of bliss when a single namewas uttered.
That voice. Ears perking to their full height, the monkcautiously shifted his sights to the scenery around him. It wasn’t the first hehad heard the cords of that otherworldly voice—and frankly, he was anything butecstatic to hear of it again.
There it went again. Those narrowed eyes seething as theblood within his veins was being brought to a boil; Aki found himself clenchinghis jaw tightly; he really was not to have a moment of peace. Doing his best tosimply ignore the taunting gesture, the fact that it continued to find a wayinto his head was proving to be a rather difficult task. And here he had beendoing so well with keeping that short fuse that was his temper at bay. Eyeshaving closed since his full name had been spoken, Aki slowly rose to hisproper footing and sauntered a few paces away from where he had been sitting.Flexing the fingers of his left hand before coiling them into a tight fist, hewaited patiently. He knew that if he just waited…
With a click of his tongue and a tick of an ear, the monk senthimself pivoting around on the ball of his left heel just as that voice hadbegun to roll that foul name off its tongue. Craning that same arm and balledfist around, the monk inhaled a sharp breath before he slammed that fist itinto those boards that made up the side of his home; the sound of the woodworkcracking and splintering from the force reverberated off the surrounding trees.As that breath eased its way out through his parting lips, Aki couldn’t helpbut smirk with a hint of amusement when he found that the air around him seemedempty and lacking that unwelcomed presence.
Sure, the fact that he had nearly punched a hole through thewall of house with that need to release his building anger was a bit of anissue and would definitely take a fair amount of time to fix, but in the monk’seyes, it was well worth it if it scared that unseen being off. Giving his wrista light flick in a feeble attempt to shake the pain away from his now throbbingknuckles, Aki moved about and returned to his previous positioning against thePandaren home. Returning those arms to their place behind his head, the Elfcasually leaned himself back until he felt the solid material against hisfigure. Sighing lightly as all that excitement had finally died down, Aki slowlyclosed his eyes; hoping he would be able to return to that peaceful mindsetthat had been so rudely interrupted.