The fellow named Jon Chess had finished handing out cheese wheels of fine aged Cheddar, Dalaran Sharp, and Alterac Swiss to the children of the Stormwind Orphanage. Jon was known as a regular visitor, for he had once been an inmate... occupant of one of the beds there, and still thought of the other Stormind Orphans as his little brothers and sisters. The children sat in a circle, munching on their cheeses, for they knew what happened next when the Cheese Man - or so they called him - visited.
A story!
Jon sat down at the head of the story circle, and in a soothing voice redolent of warmth and humor, began today's story.
"Once upon a time, a young mage was given instructions by the head of the Westfall Brigade in sentinel Hill to take a message to the Mayor of Lakeshire, in the distant Redridge Mountains. The mage was shapely and beautiful, with long ginger air and purple eyes that were full of mischief and mystery, and her name was Alia.
As she crossed the long amber grass of the hills of Westfall, a pack of coyotes wanted to eat her! They gave chase, running swiftly on their four legs. When she saw them, the mage started to run for the river - if she could cross the river, she would be safe! She had almost made it when she heard the panting growls of the coyotes, who were close enough to snap at her heels. She was she afraid? Not Alia! She cast a spell, encasing the legs of the coyotes in ice, while she ran forward and with a single leap crossed the river into the Elywnn Forest, singing "I will not be your lunch with parsley and sage! You can't catch me, I'm the Ginger-haired Mage!"
The mage had made it as far as Goldshire when an ancient scholar and lore-master saw the intelligence and knowledge in hey eyes and was determined that she should become his apprentice and wife! He drew close, offering her a Scroll of Intellect, but before he could come close enough to cast a spell of Charming on her, she ran swiftly away, as graceful as a deer, singing "You cannot tempt me with words on a page! You can't catch me, I'm the Ginger-haired Mage!"
Deep in the Elwynn Forest, a leader of the Defias Brotherhood named Dead-Tooth Jack was lonely. He was determined to capture himself a bride - or at least a woman! Then he saw a beautiful young mage going from the Tower of Azora to Lakeshire. He ordered his bandits to capture her. They gave chase, running as fast as their legs could carry them. When the mage saw them, she ran down the road singing and *blinking* "I will not see a prison or cage! You can't catch me, I'm the Ginger-haired Mage!"
She crossed out of the forest and started climbing the hills that led to Lakeshire, the town on the banks of Lake Everstill. At the top of the hill, she found the remnants of a great battle. A man was on the ground, wounded and bleeding, surrounded by a score of dead gnolls. She marveled at the bravery of the man, and her kind, tender heart was filled with pity. The mage had a Potion of Healing, and she thought perhaps she could help the man before it was too late! She knelt by his body, and before she could react, the fellow put his arms around her and kissed her! The fellow had been feigning his wounds and had killed the gnolls as part of a clever trap to claim her as his own Beloved. Alia was flattered that he would go through so much trouble to catch her and thought him very brave for fighting the gnolls to make such a convincing trap, so she returned his kiss.
The rogue - for surely such a trickster must have been a scoundrel indeed. "With guile and toil I earned my wage - a price without equal! A Ginger-haired mage!"
And they lived happily ever after... or at least until the Ginger-hair mage turned the Rogue into a sheep as punishment for his trick. But that... is another story!"
