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His blue-green eyes were widened and amazed by the sights of the shops and wonders he saw every time his mother took him to Stormwind. The trips weren’t frequent in the beginning, but young Cristianno enjoyed walking down the cobbled streets and staring at the toys and sweets on display while his mother gazed at the extravagant dresses and fine jewelry. The humans and elves who inhabited the city, however, did not welcome their presence. They were “Moonies,” travelling gypsies who caravanned from town to town and continent to continent. Their clothing was obvious, as was the look of awe as they walked the streets.
“Momma! Look! Toys!”
“Yes, baby, but those toys are not for you.”
“Why not?” The little elf boy frowned, staring at the kites and trains on display.
“Because we can’t afford it, my son. Come on. Let’s keep looking.”
Cristianno sighed and followed his mother to another shop, where she stopped and stared at the fine dresses. As she looked, he noticed a group of boys playing with their own toys. Sneaking away from his mother’s side, Cristianno approached the boys, who laughed and threw the ball at each other. They stopped and stared at the elf, who was dressed as a ragged outsider.
“Can I play?” Cristianno asked, his Common was weak and his travels had given him a bit of an accent, especially with all the different races within the caravan, everyone had a certain tone in their speech.
“No.” Said a dark-haired human boy. He threw his ball over to another boy, who promptly ignored Cristianno. Turning to another boy, an elf this time, Cristianno smiled as the boy caused a top to spin with magic.
“How do you do that?”
The boy looked up with bright blue eyes and simply said, “Magic.” However, when Cristianno asked another question, the boy stopped his concentration and the top stopped spinning, collapsing to the ground before he picked it up and walked away.
The children around him stared at the outsider, holding their toys nearby before an older human boy, stocky and with a determined look, walked up to Cristianno and faced him, “You need to get out of here. Now.”
“Me? I didn’t do anything.”
“We don’t like your kind.”
“There are other elves here!”
The boy shook his head. “We don’t like moonies. Get out before I kick you out.”
Cristianno narrowed his eyes and smirked. “Make me, fat ass.” The boy growled and shoved the thin elf. Cristianno laughed and shouted, “That’s all you got? A shove?”
“Watch it, Benny. He’s a moonie! He will make his people kidnap you and eat you for dinner,” a little concerned girl said. She hugged her doll tighter.
“We don’t eat humans,” Cristianno corrected him.
“No, he eats babies,” the boy named Benny sneered as he threateningly approached Cristianno. The children gasped and stepped away from the center of attention.
“We don’t eat babies!”
“You kidnap children and eat them. Baby eater!”
“Baby eater! Baby eater!” The children’s chant grew bigger with each repetition, which caused a few adults to stop and watch, but no one did a thing.
“You shut up, you fat pig!” Cristianno shouted and Benny shoved him again, this time pushing him to the ground. His auburn hair fell loose around his face and the human laughed.
“What’s wrong with your hair? You look like a girl.”
Cristianno jumped up and rushed Benny, hitting him in the stomach with his shoulder. Benny gasped for air and fell back, causing the children to scream. “He’s going to kill you, Benny!” Cristianno walked toward the fallen boy, glaring at him with his auburn hair surrounding his face. “Watch out!” He pulled back his leg, about to kick Benny, when a guard grabbed him from behind.
“That’s enough of you, street rat.”
“Let me go! He started it!”
Benny started crying and pointed at Cristianno. “We just wanted to play with him. I don’t know why he was being so mean!”
“That should teach you children never to play with outsiders,” the guard stated, pulling Cristianno back by his shoulder. Benny nodded and as soon as the guard looked away, he smiled widely at the elf. Cristianno grew furious and fought to break free from the guard’s hold.
“I’ll kick your ass again!” he shouted. The guard pulled him back by his hair.
“I’ll kick you out, you mongrel!”
“Release my son!” Everyone turned and noticed the elf woman with the multi-layered flowing red skirt and the black wrap around top.
“Your son? Your son is causing trouble,” the guard shouted at the woman.
She walked up to him slowly, her arm extended toward her son, “My son is better behaved than the whole lot of spoiled, rotten creatures you call children in this city.” She pulled her son toward her and without blinking, she said, “My son would share his things with strangers.” Her blue eyes glanced over the children before turning around and walking away with Cristianno close beside her.
“We don’t have room for moonies in this city!” The guard shouted, but Cristianno and his mother continued to walk toward the city gates.
“He shoved me, momma,” he softly said as they entered the forest.
“I know, baby. It’s fine. I’ll see who can make you a toy when we get back to the caravan.”
Cristianno looked back and frowned, “Why do they hate us so much?”
“Because we’re different.” But in Cristianno’s eyes, they weren’t any different from him, except that they lived in the city, while he had to travel. “One day, you’ll have everything you want, my son, and you won’t have to share with anyone if you don’t want to.”
“That’s not nice, momma.”
“No, but if that’s the way life wants to play, then that’s the way we’ll play as well.” Cristianno looked up at his mother, who seemed determined with a touch of anger in her voice. He looked back once more before sighing and hanging his head, his auburn hair falling over his shoulders, covering his little face from the tears forming in his eyes.
Upon looking at the package on his desk, Cris quickly opened it and noticed a note. Alaia. He dug through the basket and laughed as he saw the food, the alcohol, the shirts, but what really caught his eye was the ball, the racer, and the yo-yo. He reached into the basket and grabbed them in his hands, laughing over and over like a boy during Winter’s Veil. For a moment, he felt victorious over those children that constantly mocked him in Stormwind. He hugged the silly toys and remembered what his mother told him: You won’t have to share with anyone if you don’t want to.
He knew Ziggly and Gerty would be curious, and they could take the food and the drinks. The trinkets and compass were his, but the toys he wouldn’t share with anyone. They were finally his.
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