Tananda was a homely child, at least according to her parents. She doesn't remember this, but immediately after she was born, her parents had this conversation:
Father (we assume): "Yehrk! Something wrong with whelp!"
Mother (struggling to sit up, still panting from effort of giving birth): "Hunh!?! What is... wrong... with kid??"
Father (looking disgusted): "Too smooth! No bumps!"
Mother (lying back down): "That mean... she a girl... stupid!"
Father: "Me know that, me mean no lumps at all!"
Mother (sneering): "She too young for that, stupid."
Father (exasperated): "AAAAAAA! YOU one being stupid! Take look at what you made!"
Mother (sits up, looks, is horrified): "Echk! You right! And look - all one color!"
Father: "What we do? Tribe see this brat, they all laugh at us. Or worse, think something wrong with US!"
Mother: "Can't just kill it, even if IS ugly..."
Father: "Leave in woods, pretend never born."
Mother: "Mmf, onlyst thing we can do, I guess."
And so it was that one Muriel, a druid, returning from an adventure chanced across a large green baby in the woods outside of Uniondale, a small town just south of the Silver Marches. Despite her coloring, she was almost cute, if you ignored the squirrel's tail sticking out of her mouth1. The druid decided to take the baby back with her to her order's retreat and take care of it, at least until she could find its parents. The baby soon finished its squirrel snack and tried to take a bite of her rescuer's arm. The druid avoided the bite and gave the baby her wooden buckler as a pacifier. By the time she got home, the baby had finished the shield and was looking for something else to eat.
That was when Muriel finally realized she had a baby troll on her hands. Up until this time, she had believed the rumors that trolls reproduced by fission2. The druids' search for the baby's parents proved fruitless. No trolls would admit to being the parents of this child, and nobody else of any race would take the child in. Muriel wound up being forced to raise the child herself.
Much to the druid's relief, her "daughter", which she named Tananda, did not develop the typical troll's disposition, and actually prove capable of learning. While her skills tended towards the physical, she did manage to learn the Sylvan language and even something about nature other than how to devour it. ( To keep the woods from being stripped bare, the druid's order managed to obtain for her a ring of Sustenance, which lowered her appetite to merely human levels. ) Then, when Tananda was about 17, and her adopted mother and her brethren were debating about whether to allow her to formally join their order, something happened which would send her life in a totally unexpected direction.
A Blackguard named Gholgoroth the Foul and his minions were fleeing from Sir Gavinrad, a very powerful Paladin, when by pure chance they stumbled across the druidic retreat that Tananda called home. Seeing a chance either to delay the paladin by leaving him wounded to heal or to take hostages, the miscreants attacked before they noticed that that there was a nearly-full-grown troll to help defend the place. By the time the Paladin reached the retreat, an intense battle was in progress with neither side having a definite advantage.
In less than a minute, Gavinrad managed to save four druids (by blocking what would have been lethal blows with his heavily-armored body), kill two of the minions, and wound three others3. Then he attempted to "smite" a certain greyrobed troll.
When his target merely flinched and exclaimed "Hey! I thought you were on our side!" in very feminine tones, the paladin was quite surprised4. So much so, in fact, that Gholgoroth was able to sneak-attack him, causing him to drop his sword and leaving him dazed.
If Tananda had had any doubts about Gavinrad's intentions, they were erased by the blackguard's underhanded attack on him. On an impulse, she dropped her staff and picked up the paladin's sword, which had fallen at her feet. It proved to be surprisingly easy to wield...
Shortly thereafter, Gavinrad came out of his dazed state thanks to Gholgoroth's hand slapping him in the face. The first thing that the paladin noticed was that said hand was no longer connected to the blackguard's arm. Then a familiar gleam caught his eye and he turned to watch in amazement as Tananda quite literally hacked Gholgoroth into small pieces with his sword, which was glowing every bit as brightly for her as it did for him5.
The druids and the blackguard's minions had, without consciously realizing it, stopped their fighting to also watch the gory spectacle. When she was quite through, Tananda, who had already regenerated what damage the late Gholgoroth had managed to give her, looked around the room for another target with a snarl of disgust on her lips. "Okay, who's next?", she growled.
The minions decided as one that they had seen more than enough, and those that could still move ran pell-mell from the sanctuary. Gavinrad and the druids let them go, watching Tananda somewhat tensely to see what she would do next.
Tananda did not give chase to the minions, but stood poised until they were completely out of sight and hearing. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she lowered the Paladin's sword from the ready position. The sword's glow died to its usual faint glimmer. The druids exchanged a look that was nine parts smug pleasure and one part relief, and one of them went over to heal Gavinrad's wound.
Tananda opened her eyes to see the paladin getting to his feet and smiled, then glanced down at the bloody sword still in her massive hand. Looking a bit embarrassed, she wiped the sword mostly clean on the cloak of one of the fallen minions and, bowing low, offered the it back to Gavinrad on her palms.
"I believe that this is yours, good sir," said Tananda. "Please forgive my using it without permission; it seemed the right thing to do at the time."
"There is nothing to forgive, madam," Gavinrad replied as he accepted and re-sheathed his sword. "In fact, I most heartily approve of the use to which you put it. Although," he added as he looked a bit queasily about at Gholgoroth's scattered remains, "you were mayhap a little too, eh, enthusiastic in your task."
"Not surprising; our Tananda was never one to do something by halves," interjected Muriel, causing the other druids to chuckle and Gavinrad to smile.
"Muh-therr," objected Tananda, turning a deeper shade of green than usual.
Gavinrad's eyebrows bounced at the word "mother", but he decided not to pursue the subject. "In any case," he continued, "I believe that I owe you an apology in turn. I should not have assumed that you would be working for that blackguard simply because of your species. I most humbly request your forgiveness." The paladin finished his speech with a bow to the young troll.
"It's all right, I'm used to it by now," said Tananda with a wry little smile, but you could tell from her eyes that she was pleased by the respect with which he was treating her.
"Mm. But it does not seem right for you to be 'used to it'." the paladin said pensively.
"Pardon me, good sir," the eldest druid (whose name was Sorbin6) chose this moment to interject, "but might we know your name so that we know who to thank for our so-timely rescue from these brigands?"
Gavinrad nodded respectfully to the elder and replied "Indeed, I have been most remiss in observing the courtesies today. Allow me to correct my error." Stepping to a spot in the room where he could face everyone at once, he coughed once to get their attention, sketched an elaborate bow, and said in formal tones: "Good people, I hight Sir Gavinrad of Everlund, most loyal and humble servant of Tyr. I thank you all for your help today in the vanquishing of the heinous blackguard Gholgoroth and his foul minions."
Turning to look directly into the young troll's eyes, he continued "And especially I thank you, Miss Tananda. You would not have been at all able to wield my enchanted sword if your heart had not been pure. As it was, Gholgoroth himself stood no chance against your valor." He then pointed at her in a dramatic gesture that would have made a televangelist jealous and proclaimed "It was not by mere chance that the evil ones came here to find their doom. The Calling is upon you, girl. Come with me, and you shall be trained to fulfill your destiny as a champion of all that is good and right!" The impaling finger became an outstretched hand as Gavinrad awaited her reply.
Tananda was utterly dumbfounded. She stood wide-eyed, gaping at the paladin for a full minute before turning to her "mother" for guidance, and even then she could not speak.
Muriel understood the look on her face and said "Tananda, it has always been my hope that you would be able to find your inner balance and be able to join our order, here. Perhaps this is not -"
"Hold, sister," interrupted Sorbin. "Perhaps there is indeed a higher purpose to these events. If young Tananda were to prove able to follow such a noble path, it might help to restore her entire people to balance." One by one, the other druids began to nod agreement to their elder's words.
Muriel was the last to hold out; she had actually grown to care for her adopted "daughter". But, realizing her objections were emotional ones, she finally allowed herself to be swayed. "Silvanus walk with you, my child. I'm so very proud of you." she said gently to Tananda, stretching up to pat her on the shoulder.
"I... I... I would be honored to go with you, good Sir Gavinrad," Tananda finally managed to say.
...
The next day, as he rode along slowly in order to let his new ward keep up, Gavinrad's face wore a secret grin that would have seemed most out of character to those who knew him. Not only was he pleased to be rid of Gholgoroth and to have found a possible new paladin, but also he just couldn't stop imagining the look on everyone's faces when next he returned home to the Great Hall.
Note - With the exceptions of "Tananda", "Muriel", "Uniondale", "the Silver Marches", "Everlund", and "Tyr", all names herein were obtained from random name generators and any resemblance to actual or previously published fictional names is coincidental. The abovementioned exceptions were included for humorous purposes only. Disclaimer void where prohibited by law. Your mileage may vary. See store for details.