Nixxie awoke early in the morning. The sun had not risen yet. She blinked a few times and started to get up. It was about 5 am so she didn’t want to go back to sleep. Nixxie had a bad habit to get an extra 5 minutes of sleep and then wake up in the middle of the day.

Nixxie cleaned up her small room and headed downstairs to her shop. Once she had everything turned on she made her coffee and ate a small {tiny} meal. Once she finished she started to do her daily activities until she remembered the events of last night.

She turned her head and looked at the curtain leading to the back room. After a moment of thinking to herself she got up and went to the back. She headed to the strange gnome’s cage and peered through the top of it.

She was not surprised to see the gnome using its coverings as a blanket, but was surprised to see her using the dead gnome she killed yesterday as a make shift pillow. Nixxie felt a shiver go down her spine looking at the scene before her.

Nixxie reached her hand down into the cage and poked the gnome below her. The gnome wiggled a little and turned over. Nixxie poked her again with the same results. After about 7 pokes nixxie was getting annoyed.

“Hey gnome, Come on wake up!” She pushed her finger into her stomach and heard a light giggle followed by the gnome grabbing onto her finger and cuddling it to her chest. Nixxie sweat dropped at this.

This was one of the most adorable and aggravating things she had ever seen. “I said get up” She pulled her finger back and flicked the gnome an inch. The gnome yawned and leaned up, not knowing what was going on.

Her confused haze wore off when she saw Nixxie above her. With a smile she lifted up her arm and waved at her. Nixxie grabbed the bridge of her nose with irritation; it was a habit she was trying to break.

“Time to talk, we have some things to discuss” She told the gnome in a stern tone. The gnome below her flinched a little at her tone, making Nixxie lower her anger a little. She didn’t know why this gnome was affecting her so much, she was never nice to gnomes, why start now?

Nixxie unlocked the latched to the cages lid and opened it up. She lifted the largish gnome up and walked to the front of her store. Once she reached her desk she plopped the gnome down {somewhat harder then she needed to} and sat down on her chair.

Nixxie watched the gnome eying her desk she looked confused of her surroundings somewhat. Nixxies voice broke the gnome’s confusion and she focused on her face. “So then, how did you come to find your way here? I know the Worgan {hairy} Found you but what made you like are now?” Nixxie inquired.

The little gnome had a thoughtful look on her face then started to act out certain memories.

~Flashback Gnome’s POV~

The little gnome looked sad, her family had gone missing one day and she had been wondering ever since.

 She started out in a small mountain range with 7 siblings. She was the largest of the gnomes and most independent to. Her family consisted of her mother and father 2 brothers and 5 sisters. She had been aware of the dangers of life outside the mountain home her family resided in.

It was a large cave system once owned by prairie dogs. When her mother and father came there they had forced them out and made it their new home. Most gnomes did the same thing, or built there new homes themselves.

Her family always moved from home to home every year it seemed. Since gnomes where hunted so often nowhere was safe very long.  The little gnome was always adventuress and curious of the outside world. While her siblings would stay in the caves and never leave she would always explore with her father bringing back food or other odd items from time to time.

It was a simple day today; the sun was shining bright over the mountain range. The gnome’s father had been ready to leave to find food for the family. As he left the little gnome trailed behind him following him giggling.

The father had not minded her accompanying him since gathering enough for everyone took multiple trips on average with her help it meant less time out of their home, and less chance of them being caught.

They headed down the small cliff overlooking a human village. It was always dangerous to get near these villages since the giants where always cruel beings. He crept down towards the market place with his daughter close by.

As they came upon a small cart of fruit the gnome lifted his daughter first followed by himself up to the cart when they made sure no humans where near. They gathered some mixed barriers, about 10 in all and got off the cart.

The barriers where a good start but they always gathered more food and stored it so they would not need to come back each day. After they hauled the barriers back to their home they set back out to the village.

This time they went towards a bread vender. This was more of a risk since the man was right in his stall, but they needed food that would take a long time to go bad. He pointed at his daughter and up at the table.

Gnomes could speak odd noises that no one understood but gnomes always seemed to know the meaning. To add on to their strange words they would make movements for certain actions. His daughter nodded and started to crawl up the table cloth while her father kept watch.

Once she reached the top she waved at her father and he set to work.

~human POV~

It was mid-December. The man before you was a local bread vender for the small town of Lakeshire. The Village was very old; it was considered one of the first human villages before the second war broke out. The name was given to the town for the large lush lake that stretched through the Redridge Mountains.

The human was in a family of venders in the city. He like his father had also sold bread to the town, and was going to pass it to one of his children. It was a normal day for the vender. He was trying to sell the last of his merchandises before the full force of the cold winters came upon them.

Once the snow hit they wouldn’t be able to sell their bread till late January so he was in a little bit of a rush. He had about 17 loafs left all spread out evenly on the table for the townsfolk to see. As a customer walked up to him he was about to say hello when he felt something bite his ankle.

He yipped in pain startling the customer. He looked under the stall he was in and saw nothing there. He leaned back up and shrugged. He was about to talk to customer but he was gone. “Damn I need to sell the last of my loaves before nightfall. I wonder what it was that bit me though?”

He started to sit back down but stopped when something made him curious. A couple of his loaves of bread where crooked. He pushed them back in to place and sat back down. After a moment he wondered what had happened.

He was slightly OC about things around him and started to move the bread around. He gasped when he realized that he only had 16 rolls left, one went missing. He got up and looked for the customer running off from his stand for a moment.

Unknown to him he had just made the mistake and had 2 more loaves mysteriously vanish.

~POV End~

The pair of gnomes where running with a few rolls in hand each close to their size. The littler gnome was giggling to herself while the older gnome had a stern look on his face focusing on the task at hand as they ran to their home.

Once they reached home and moved the food to their small cubby and went back towards the main area. The Father gnome looked at his daughter and yelled something at her making her sad. He had wanted to get out of there as soon as they had the 1 loaf of bread but she wouldn’t get off the table.

She had very good skills at sneaking despite her size. She waited till the right moment and moved 2 more loaves of bread off the table scaling the cloth down giggling to herself. She started arguing with her father and they kept yelling at each other.

Finally the father shouted {louder then he should have} at her and slapped her on the cheek. She was stunned at what her dad had done to her. She started to cry and ran out the entrance of her home down the small cliff.

She went down away farther and farther, she wanted to get away from her father. She stopped at a small lake and sat by the shore sobbing softly to herself. Minutes went by then the minutes turned into hours.

The sun had almost set and it would be dangerous to be out at night. She got up, dusted herself off, and went back towards her home. She was almost there when she heard screams coming from the direction. She ran up the hill faster till she stopped in horror at the sight before her.

In front of her house where 2 humans and a large beast. The humans where laughing with evil grins on their face looking down at the gnomes below them. In one of the human’s hands were her parents. The humans started speaking to each other in some unknown language to her and through her parents into a cage.

They then started to round up the rest of her brothers and sisters and throw them in cages to. She watched in fear as her siblings were rounded up and there small hole buried by the 2 humans. They started laughing again and where pointing at her family in the cage.

The larger reached down and pet the large beast next to him. He then reached into the cage and pulled out her mother. She watched in horror as her mother was lifted up screaming. She wanted nothing more to run up and attack the humans but fear controlled her and she just couldn’t move.

With shock she saw the human toss her mom into the air above the large creature. The large tusked beast jumped up and snapped its jaws on her mother. Blood dripped down its mouth as the humans laughed at what had just happened.

She wanted to puke, seeing her mother’s remains drip down the side of the beast’s mouth as it ate. She started to cry to herself. Her family had been captured, her mother had been killed, and worst of all something was coming towards her.

She first felt the ground shake then looked up in fear seeing the humans facing her direction. The large tusked beast let out an oink and charged towards her. She was still scared beyond believe but 1 instinct trumped fear, Survival. And with that she ran.

She was running down hill and was very nimble and quick from her experience doing this. The large beast however was much larger and gaining speed. She could almost feel the beast’s hot breath on her back when she fell.

There was a small crack in the earth she tumbled through. As she fell she felt death approaching but suddenly there was a splash and water over took her. She had fallen into a small waterway leading towards the lake.

She tried to outswim the small stream, but to her size it was a rapid current she couldn’t hope to break away from. After what seemed like hours she fell again from a small waterfall and landed with another splash.

She drifted down the now calm stream on her back not moving, she was just too exhausted to move and ever so tired. Slowly she started to drift to off to sleep. She awoke to the sun in her eyes. It was mid-day. When she leaned up she had some nasty bruises on herself but nothing was broken from what she could tell.

She looked around and saw she was on a river bank for some reason. What caught her eye though was that there weren’t mountains around her, only tree’s as far as the eye could see. She started to get up but fell back down in pain.

She laid there for minutes then started to cry. The memories of what had happened the previous day flooded into her mind and all she could do was cry into the sand.

“Do you hear something?” She heard a voice close by and panic over took her. She started to crawl with her hands. Her feet would not move. “I think it was over here”. The voices got louder now. She pulled herself farther now and collapsed, she was just too weak to move.

Suddenly a very large shadow was cast over her form. She started silently crying to herself. “Do you see this?” Came a soft feminine voice. “What is it?” Asked a slightly deeper voice.  “I think my parents had called these things numbs”

“No there pronounced Gnome’s” Said the female voice. “What she we do with it?” asked the deeper voice. She felt finger move her onto her back. She squinted looking up at the faces of 2 kids. They looked about 10 and 12.

“We can’t leave her here” Said the female voice. She felt her body being lifted up limply, she did not struggle. All the fight had been taken out of her. “What are you going to do with…” That was all she heard when she lost consciousness.

~5 Hours Later~

The gnome awoke with a gasp! Fear struck her not knowing where she was. She looked around ad found out she was on a bed, except it was 20 times her size. She started to panic now fearing what was going to become of her.

As soon as that thought entered her head a door opened up into the room. The gnome looked at who entered but didn’t move. In walked a female human girl. She was about 12-13 from what she could tell. She was short with light auburn hair. She had it flowing down her back it went past her shoulders but not past her waist.

She was wearing a simple dress and it had stitched batches and small tares on it. The human smiled seeing the gnome awake. “Oh I’m so happy you’re alive!” Said the human. The gnome started to shake seeing the human smile; it reminded her of the hunter’s smiles.

Upon seeing the gnome shake in fear the human girl dropped her smile with a look of concern. “What happened to you?” Asked the human. The gnome didn’t understand her though and continued to shake in fear.

The human girl walked over and sat down on the bed making the gnome start to cry. She immediately grabbed the gnome and held her to her chest hugging her and humming softly.  The gnome screamed when she was picked up and kept crying as she was being held.

Then she heard a soft tone. It sounded so soothing. It reminded her of her mother singing to her when she was younger. This just made her cry more remembering her mother. The human kept humming softly, cradling the little gnome in her hands.

After an hour the crying died down and the gnome lay in her hands tired. The human looked down at the gnome with a smile. The human in almost a whisper began to speak, “I found you by the river leading to west fall little one. I don’t know what happened to you but you were very beaten up. I brought you back to my house about 5 hours ago.”

The gnome couldn’t understand her but the sound of her voice, the soft humming of it in her ears, it made her feel safe and secure. After a moment the gnome started to move a bit and tried to stand up. She got up a little but fell back down.

The human had a concerned look, “You can’t move yet little one, you were close to death not too long ago. You need to fully heal first”. The gnome seamed to understand and laid back down. The human slowly moved her hands back to the bed and laid the gnome on the small cot.

She tucked her in and just watched her as she started to fall asleep. “Good night little one”. The human leaned down and lightly kissed the gnome’s forehead before heading out the door.

~10 hours later~

It was morning in Elwynn Forest. The little Gnome woke up with a yawn.  She looked up and saw the human girl at a desk. She got up and stretched then waved at the human. After a minute she got her attention and the human smiled at her.

“Good morning little one” She smiled cheerfully. “Here” She lifted a small dish to the floor with mixed food on it. There was a little bit of bread, cheese, and fruit on it. The gnome looked up at her and smiled again.

She soon dug in and cleared the large plate. The night of her family’s home raid she had not eaten and was going on 2 days without food. When she finished she let out a small burp and started to blush. This made the human giggle to herself.

“I didn’t get to talk to you much little one. Do you have a name by chance?” Asked the human. The gnome looked confused still. “A name” she pointed to herself. “I’m Amelia, A-me-li-a” She sounded her name out slowly for the gnome.

The gnome lessened to the word being repeated. “e-me-la” said the gnome startling the human. “That’s good, try it again A-me-li-a.” She smiled. “e-me-la” The gnome smiled. The human giggled at how the gnome said her name.

“What about you now? Do you have a name?” The gnome seemed to understand now what she meant. She shook her head. Gnomes where not given names by their parents they were usually just called by noises.

She thought it over for a moment. Her mother had always called her by saying, Chiee. After a moment the gnome spoke up, “Ch-e.” Amelia looked confused. Chi? She asked. The gnome nodded. “Ch-iee” She said again sounding it like Amelia had.

She smiled at the gnome, “Alright Chi” She said happily watching the gnome smile.  They kept talking for the next hour. Amelia had been teaching Chi little bits of grammar off and on. Gnomes lacked speech like common or a racial speech but that didn’t mean they couldn’t pick up little bits and pieces here and there.

Amelia had heard her mom calling her and had to leave Chi for a while. “I need to go help my mother with the livestock Chi. Be quite while I’m gone my parents down know you’re here. Chi understood she wanted her to be quite and nodded.

And with that the human left. Chi sat back in the cot and smiled thinking about how this all turned out. Yes her life had gone to hell and her family had been caught but all things considered it could have been a lot worse.

She sighed sadly recalling her mother’s death it still made her sad. She shrugged it off and went back to speaking. She wanted to learn her master’s name. Master? Where did that come from she thought? She went back to her speech. “E-me-le-a”.

“A-me-la”. “Am-li-a” She kept trying for the remaining hours. After about 2 hours The door opened and Amelia walked back in slightly dirty from the yardwork she had just finished. “Im back Chi” She said happily. She saw chi talking to herself.

“Chi are you ok?” She asked. Chi looked up and smiled at her. “Ame-lia” She said. Amelia gasped. “Di.. Did you just. ..Just say my name?” Chi grinned “Ame-lia” She said again. Amelia laughed blushing lightly at the little gnome saying her name.

“That’s really good Chi” She praised. Chi looked happy at her comment and went back to talking to herself. Amelia finished some work in her room then sat back down to talk to Chi. This continued till witching hour and they finally went to sleep, Chi sleeping in Amelia’s hands on her chest.

~2 months later~

It was mid-February now, the winter had passed and spring had come.  Chi and Amelia had become great friends since they had first met. Some things changed since then. Chi had hit a growth spurt not uncommon but the size was she was an inch over a foot.

Amelia had also grown an inch since then not as much as Chi but then again it was a different story for her race. Amelia had helped Chi with her common every day for a few hours and had been able to make Chi understand even the most complicated of sentences.

Although she still could not speak much besides simple words toddlers would, she could still grasp full conversations Amelia had with her. She also helped Chi with her Hygiene. She bathed with her every other day and had made her some cloths out of her old linens. She even tied 2 bows into her hair giving her cute little pigtails.

Chi was on cloud nine. Her life went from living hell to perfect by a fateful tragedy. She still shed tears from time to time about her mother and siblings but it soon passed when she saw Amelia each day.  Chi had felt more than friendship for Amelia though.

Since Gnomes where instinctual creatures the thought of liking other girls had not bothered her in the slightest. She had come close to the age most girls did and felt an overwhelming urge every time she was near Amelia, she just couldn’t describe it.

It felt good. Simple good she found no other way to describe it. Eventually she found out the pleasures of rubbing certain parts of her body. Her parents had been killed before such things could ever come up. She also found out that such urges became much better when she thought of Amelia.

Every few nights when Amelia would sleep she felt the need to rub her flesh between her legs. The feeling of being in her Masters grasp made her rubbing feels better than before. She wanted to tell Amelia but for some reason whenever she tried her cheeks would flush and she could not stop her blushing.

She buried the feeling and kept it to herself. She had seen her master talk about such things as human men to her before and could tell she had the same urges she had for her. With a sigh she slumped down. She could never do the things she wanted with her master, but at least she could still be with her.

It was mid-day in Eylwnn Forest. Chi had been alone to her own Barings for the day. She continued to practice her common. She had been getting better at it. In a few years she could probably speak it fluently without stuttering she thought.

After a few hours it was close to 5 pm Amelia had just entered her room and saw her friend speaking to herself like she always did. If Chi was anything, she was determined. “Oh Chi, guess what” Amelia said happily.

Chi looked up at her with a smile. “I have great news. I went to Goldshire with my parents today and the boy I liked was there. When we were selling are meat to the local butcher he approached me and we talked for a couple hours! He said he wanted to see me again and I said yes! We are going to meet again tomorrow.” She squealed with joy, adding a slight hop to her step.

Sadness. Overwhelming sadness surged through Chi. Her master had found a new person to be with. She wanted to break down and cry from the feelings she felt but bottled them in and smiled at Amelia. Amelia went through telling Chi the rest of her day oblivious of Chi’s saddened demeanor.

Once it was 6 o’clock her mom called her down to dinner. “I have to go now Chi, I’ll bring up some food once we finish” She said and waved bye to Chi. Alone. She felt so alone. Not once in her 2 months of living with her new master had she had this feeling.

It hurt; it was painful to Chi. Soon she started to cry. She wanted her master to feel like she did. She had given her master little kisses once and awhile but she had just smiled and patted her head oblivious to her feelings.

Chi cried her eyes out. The pain was just unbearable. She wanted to be with her master. She wanted to be, loved. This continued for a while till she heard a door click. She wiped her eyes and looked at Amelia enter.

“I’m back Chi. I brought up some pork your favorite. Chi?” She asked concerned slightly. She had been able to read Chi’s Emotions for a while but she could tell something was wrong. Chi’s eyes where puffy and red from crying.

“Are you ok Chi? Did you remember something bad?” She asked. Chi nodded and put on a fake smile for Amelia. She frowned, “Chi I can tell when your lying to me” She scolded, “Tell me what’s wrong please”. She said softly.

Chi wanted nothing more to tell her what was wrong, to tell her, her deepest feelings and have them received and given back but she knew that wouldn’t happen. Amelia picked up chi and held her close to her chest.

Chi snuggled close and just hugged her. “Ohh chi” She said softly. She didn’t know what had gotten into her. This had been happening since she had gotten home. She didn’t know why Chi was acting so sad. With a sigh she lifted chi back to the bed and lay down with her and went to sleep.

~2 AM~

Chi awoke to being shoved around roughly. She opened her eyes and saw Amelia stricken with fear. She didn’t understand what was wrong till she heard yelling and screams coming from outside the house. Chi poked Amelia and started to panic a bit when she did not move.

“Ame-lia!” She said out loud breaking her from her fear driven trance. “Something is wrong, something is terribly wrong!” Amelia quickly grabbed Chi and put her in her nightgowns front pocket. Chi blushed lightly. She didn’t get to be in her master’s shirt very often but she felt urges whenever it happened.

Amelia quickly opened the door and rushed down the stairs to her family. “Father, Father! What’s happening!” She asked in panic. A large tuff looking man with dirty blonde hair looked down at Amelia. “Gnolls!” he spoke through clenched teeth.

Amelia went pale. Gnolls where the Terror of The forest. Lead by their leader Hoggar, Gnolls where a nasty race to gnomes and humans for that matter. They burned and pillaged homes. They even raped women before, although uncommon it had happened.

“What do they want father” Amelia asked in fear. “Her father held a gun close to his chest and was peering out the window. “They probable just want the chickens and cattle for themselves, but you can never be sure with these furry bustards”.

Suddenly they heard a battle cry {sounds kind of like a hyena} from the leader of the Gnolls outside their home and they felt banging at their front door. “QUICKLY AMELIA GO WITH YOUR MOTHER OUT THE BACK!” Yelled her father.

“But Father…” She started, “NO AMELIA NOW GO!” He yelled at her. Her mother grabbed her wrist and led them through the back of the house. They heard more cries and gunshots coming from the house soon followed by a scream of pain.

Amelia gasped in horror as the gunfire stopped but the cries of the Gnolls continued. They started running through the Trees in the back of her house trying to get far away to the nearby garrison. Soon they saw a large fire behind them, it was there house being burned by the Gnolls.

Amelia kept crying while being dragged by her mother. They kept running till they got to the river separated by a bridge a quarter mile away. “Quickly honey we need to cross the river bef…” She stopped mid-sentence with fear as she saw 4 Gnolls all holding sharp weapons approach them from behind.

Her mother hugged her close and started to back up slowly. The Gnolls growled at them and started to advance. They lost 3 men to the human male; they were now out for blood. Suddenly her Amelias mother grabbed her wrist and started to sprint along the river.

The Gnolls where fast behind them matching their speed and gaining. After a minute of running Amelia had tripped and fallen into the dirt. Her mother panicked and tried to get her up but it was too late. The Gnolls where upon them now.

Amelia’s mother lifted her daughter up and looked around. They were surrounded. The river behind them lead to a waterfall so they couldn’t go into it. They couldn’t go forward the Gnolls blocked there path. They were trapped.

The leader walked forward. He had a bloody eye most likely given to him by her father. The gnoll lifted up his sharp axe and let out a cry. The gnolls then started to charge. Amelia closed her eyes in fear but felt herself being moved.

“Mo..Moth…mother??” She stuttered out. “I love you honey” Her mother cried and laid a kiss on her forehead. She then tossed her daughter into the river. Amelia came up for air gasping and crying out as she watched the gnolls attack her mother.

She heard her mother scream in pain and fall to the ground before she was swept down steam. Soon she heard the water splashing and fear overcame her. She looked and saw the falls ahead. She tried to swim away but the current was to strong and she fell.

~8 AM~

Chi gasped! She started to choke up water she had swallowed. After a moment she caught her breath and leaned up. She was all alone. She looked down and saw that she was on a river bank somewhere almost ominous.

The sun shined through the thick tree branches but it was dark, the little strands of light shining through lit small sections of the unknown forest she was in. It was not like where she started the trees all looked dead or dying.

She tried to figure out where she was when memories flashed through her mind. She remembered the fire, the Gnolls attacking her master’s family, HER MASTER! She looked around; her master was nowhere in sight.

“Ame-lia! Ame-lia!” She called out into the darkness. No one responded though. She was truly all alone. Chi started to cry. Was this her fate? To be driven from happiness to despair? Something snapped. Chi stopped crying.

She turned around and saw nothing but she could hear hissing. Ever so slowly Chi started to back away. Out of the dark foliage came a large black spider. It was about 3 feet in size but to chi it was a giant 8 legged monstrosity.

It hissed as it slowly crept closer to her, venom dripping from its fangs. Chi panicked and went back on instincts and ran. The spider soon chanced her hissing and letting out a cry. She soon heard more hissing and knew there were more of them.

She kept running till she got closer to a large valley full of odd stones.  She quickly hid behind one of the large square stones and held her breath. The hissing got closer and closer but she didn’t move, she made no sounds to alert the spiders of her presence.

After a few minutes the hissing retreated. The spiders had lost her and given up there search for no doubt there latest meal. Chi let out her breath and felt tears begin to fall. Here she was again all alone. The wind brushed past her and made her shiver.

She looked down at her beaten and dirt covered body. All of her cloths had been lost and she was naked, all except the 2 ribbons holding her hair together. Chi reached up and rubbed them recalling her master giving them to her.

She continued to cry for a while just softly to herself. Finally the cold had been too much. She got up and started to head out of the valley in search of some clothes to wear.

To Be Continued…