The History of Meglan

A Story by Sea Witch

Just a story about my D&D character.

For one to truly appreciate goblins one must understand a few things about their biology. The goblin female is a rarity among their species, generally born at a ratio of one female per every nine goblins born. This has had many cultural implications for goblins, and their society. One of the more obvious ones is selective pairing. Fanciful ideas of love and attraction or even compatibility are considered absurd reasons for pairing. For the benefit of the species only the strongest of the tribe, or in special cases tribes should be allowed the honor of pairing. That is, in theory, how to keep the goblin bloodlines strong though in practice it seemed to only produced somewhat decent results, as one lucky punch or someone looking the wrong way could change the genetic makeup of goblins for generations to come.

To decide the strongest goblin the species quickly evolved from all out warfare to non-lethal (for the most part) contests. The search for the most deserving goblin generally starts as a pose off but as tradition dictated, and goblins are sticklers for tradition, it quickly devolves into an all-out brawl. Over the years the brawl was refined to no longer include weapons and hostages but other than that there hasn’t been much protocol developed to follow. The fight continues as long as there was more than one goblin standing.

It was Meglan’s day of pairing, and she was one of those special cases where multiple tribes would compete, and in an even more unusual set of circumstances her own tribe wasn’t allowed to participate. Meghan was after all the chiefton’s daughter, and her pairing could mean a political alliance with another tribe. Her father didn’t want to risk a potential alliance by one of his own members getting a few good shots in, particularly not with the recent hostile presence in their forest. Rumors had been making their way back to their village of large groups of humans and dwarves amassing just outside the borders of the forest in large militaristic camps. Ore, it was all about ore and the greedy creatures wouldn’t rest till they had it all. They didn’t care whom they had to take it from and whom they had to kill. They simply would send more and more creatures to die.

Meglan was a pile of nerves that day, every bit of her felt numb with terror except for her stomach whom wanted to make its own complaints known. She had thrown up three times that morning before finally taking the platform and standing between her mother and father and needed the assistance of her father’s arm to allow her to stand without shaking.

As the participants spread out before the platform her brother Terrick came to stand behind her shoulder. “Lucky for all these losers it’s my sister up here or I’d best em in record time.” He gave her a slight jab in her shoulder with his finger as the last of his words left his lips.

Meghan scowled at his boast but before she could reply her mother said soothingly “That’s right baby boy. You are the biggest and toughest goblin.”

The condescending nature of the comment and her brothers angry huff was enough to bring the first smile to Meglan’s lips that day. It was at that moment that her eyes found the eyes of a handsome goblin, nearly a head taller than most of the other goblins on the field. His eyes found hers and they locked for a moment, the smile quickly slipping from Meglan’s lips as she stared at him. He was the single most beautiful creature that she had ever seen in her life.

Her brother made a sound like Hmph before saying “Gretex of the Winter Worg clan came. I had heard he skipped three pairings in his own clan for this day. He has high aspirations of being a chiefton it seems.” Her brother growled slightly, not liking the idea of competition to a position he already saw as his own, but it was lost on Meglan as her attention was completely held by the competitor.

As though hearing the words that her brother has said Gretex turned to her and gave a smile and a wink that made her heart flutter and her belly clentch. After taking a few moments to appreciate her in return he broke her gaze as he looked about to size up those about him, his competition. Though his eyes were lost to her at the moment she continued to watch him, taking note of every movement, every flex of his muscles until her father began his speech.

The speech was… well the sort of speech that you would expect of any proud father. It was extolled her many virtues, most of which were idealized, and told many embarrassing stories of things she would never want anyone to know. She stared straight ahead at the trees in the unrelenting horror of having at least five tribes listening to a story regarding how she used to have a hatred of wearing clothing and her mother chasing her through the village naked every morning.

Mercifully her mother elbowed her father in the ribs as he began a story about her getting poison ivy on her bottom and with a wave of his cane the pose down began. She let her eyes skim down the line until she found Gretex again. To her surprise he wasn’t posing at all, just watching her with the same captivating smile. Every eye was on her as her lips parted in a return smile to him, the warmth from his eyes and lips melting away the embarrassment from her fathers lack of decorum.

The simple gesture had an effect that she hadn’t anticipated as the goblin next to Gretex, whom had previously been pleasing the on-watchers with a series of classy pelvic thrusts to throw a punch at Gretex. Meglan’s smile fell and her eyes opened wide in horror as she opened her mouth to call out, but Gretex had seen the punch coming and grabbed the arm of the other goblin and used it to propel him into three of the other contestants. That was the official beginning of the brawl.

Gretex was every bit as impressive as a fighter that she might hoped for. He heaved goblins this way and that, lifting them over his head and throwing them, or picking them up only to slam them to the ground. He had made such an impact in the brawl that a wide berth was soon given to him as no one was too ready to be the next victim of his reach and strength.

As the competitors were whittled away Gretex began to show signs of the brawl. A swollen eye adorned his face, scratches and bruises bled, but after each elimination he would always turn to Meglan and give a smile and a wink, as though paying her a small honor.

Meglan couldn’t help but to let out a small cheer as the last opponent was sent flying through the air. He had jumped on Gretex’s back, and he quickly flipped him over, then gave the prone goblin’s stomach a quick kick to take away his breath. She found that her nervous feeling, had turned into a hopeful feeling had now erupted into a feeling of joy. As her eyes again met his and she was vaguely aware that there was cheering and more speeches unfolding, but for that moment there was just two of them in the world as they held each other’s gaze as he approached the platform and presented himself to her.

Meglan knew about sex. It wasn’t something that goblins was taboo in goblin culture, as goblins tended to live in a small villages, and privacy tended to be more dangerous than being close to your neighbors. While your neighbors could hear and generally knew everything about you, your chances of not being attacked by some horrible creature greatly reduced while in safe numbers. Her mind increasingly turned to the idea of what would happen after the feast for them. Her emotions would go from nervous to excited with the smallest gestures from him, a look her way, or a touch of his hand.

There had been feasting and celebrations, talks and even a few brawls to even scores that had been created during the fight. As the moon rose high over head though it was time for them to retreat to the special hut that her parents had prepared for this day. The drinking and parting continued but not for the new couple, it had been a long day for them and neither protested as her father shooed them away from the continuing party.

As they stepped into the hut Gretex lifted her from her feet, and gently deposited her on the pile of pillows that would serve as a bed for them. she began to strip away her own clothing and as Gretex eased down next to her a moan escaped his lips. He was hurt far more than he would have let on in the presence of his peers, but alone with his wife he didn’t seem to mind. Meglan gently began to unravel his kilt and pull his loose tunic over his head. As his arms were freed, he pulled her close and whispered in her ear. “The forest festival of falling leaves.”

She stopped and turned to him not sure what that had to do with anything. It was a yearly festival where all the goblin tribes gathered to celebrate the turning of the year. Meglan tilted her head to the side as she curled up in his lap. “Yes?”

“Three years ago. That’s where I first saw you. You were wearing a yellow dress and had a large sunflower that you were so proud of.”

Meglan flushed in memory of that day, and opened her mouth to demure. “Yes.. I remember, but I don’t remember seeing you.”

Pulling her tighter to him he silenced her with a kiss on her lips before saying. “No you didn’t, you were so in love with the sun flower, that you never noticed who gave it to you. It was at that moment that I wanted to make you look at me that way some day. Now you are.”

Her mind desperately retreated to that day trying to remember the moment. But he had her in his arms now, his lips taking kisses from hers again and again. No, she would have to remember another day as the only thing that mattered at the moment was being there with him.