"Let me get this straight. You're telling me that I can't speak to King Magni because he's turned into a rock?"
Standing before the Council of Three Hammers in the throne room of the sprawling, subterranean dwarven city of Ironforge, Li Li Stormstout drew herself up as tall as she could, gripped her staff tightly, and jutted out her chin in her best attempt at an outraged expression.
"Boulder-dash," she said.
"It's th' truth!" the dwarf at the center of the stage answered her. "Ye can go down tae Old Ironforge an' see fer yerself! Me brother performed a ritual tae commune with th' earth nae long afore th' Cataclysm." Muradin Bronzebeard balled his fingers into a fist. "An' that was th' result."
"You're rather brazen to call the Council of Three Hammers liars," Moira Thaurissan added in a deliberately silky voice. "If your behavior is indicative of your people, well, I can't say I'm disappointed that I haven't met them before now."
"The feeling's mutual, lady," Li Li muttered under her breath. Audibly, she addressed all three members of the council. "What I'm hearing is that you can't help me."
Muradin shook his head. "I'm afraid we canna. Whatever Magni may have once promised ye, he canna confirm it, an' th' council is divided about ye."
"All right, then. I guess I'll be going now." Li Li turned to leave.
"Manners, manners, young lady," Moira reminded her. Li Li paused a moment, then, in one smooth motion, whirled around, folding one arm across her belly and pitching forward in an exaggerated bow.
"O great Council of Three Hammers, your maneuvering is deserving of the highest acclaim! You have proven to be no less than the proverbial hard place to King Magni's literal rock, and I do feel so honored to find myself in between the two."
Moira's cry of indignation was partially drowned by Falstad Wildhammer's roar of appreciative laughter, and by the time Muradin managed to shout them both down from bickering, Li Li had long since left the room.
***
The Stonefire Tavern better exemplified the dwarves' anticipated hospitality than the throne room had. Cheerfully chattering patrons filled the tables, laughing and sharing drinks. Nonetheless, Li Li preferred to sit alone in the back. Though she was somewhat of a curiosity, the others left her to sulk into her pint of ale.
"Guess it was dumb of me to send the Crane off on his merry way before I talked to the council," she muttered. "Though I wasn't exactly expecting the king of Ironforge to have turned into a rock."
She slurped her beer, nodding approvingly, and leaned onto her elbow, absently tracing patterns on the hardwood table. Lost in her own thoughts, she didn't hear the steps approaching from behind until a shadow fell across her.
Li Li didn't look up. "Scram, will you? I'm busy."
A familiar chuckle responded to her. "Too busy to share a drink with your uncle? That's a shame."
Li Li jumped up and spun on her heel. Chen stood in front of her, a rucksack across his back and his staff in hand.
"Uncle Chen!" She threw her arms around him. "Er, sorry about being rude."
Chen laughed, giving her an affectionate squeeze, and took a seat across from her. "No problem. I bet you can guess why I'm here."
Li Li sighed and sat down. "Papa sent you to bring me home."
"He did, but I'm not going to. I read your letter, and it has also been noted that the pearl Wanyo brought back is missing."Li Li tried, and failed, to control the sheepish look on her face. Chen raised an eyebrow.
"Well?"
Knowing she was caught, Li Li took a deep breath and explained what she had seen in the pearl before she left on her journey to Ironforge.
Chen sipped his drink thoughtfully. "I was pretty sure you had decided to try to find Pandaria, considering that we once spoke about it. This pearl thing actually granted you a vision?"
Li Li nodded enthusiastically. "That's why I took it. It wouldn't have shown me the vision for no reason!"
***
Chen glanced at her sideways. "I don't entirely trust some random magic pearl that Wanyo got from a murloc, but I do trust your judgment, Li Li."
"No doubts about it, Uncle Chen!"
"Okay. So, what are we going to do now?"
Li Li fidgeted in her seat. "Well, things didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, and I, uh, didn't really have a back-up plan."
Chen grinned. "You said the pearl grants visions, didn't you?"
The heel of Li Li's palm made a satisfying whack as she slammed it into her forehead. "Of course. Why didn't I think of that sooner?" She drained the last of her ale and jumped up. "Come on; the pearl's in the room I rented."
***
Li Li sat on the edge of her bed, holding the large gem between her hands and letting its soothing glow lull her into a trance. She blinked, closing her eyes to the pearl's pale sheen, then opening them to find herself standing on the edge of a dock, staring out at a bright blue sea. A large island rose from the middle of the natural harbor, a battered granite statue of a one-armed goblin on its crest. Li Li turned in a circle on the spot, taking in her surroundings. Ramshackle wooden jetties and houses were arranged in a U shape around the bay. In the spaces between the buildings, Li Li caught sight of deep green palm fronds and other dense jungle foliage.
"What did you see?"
Chen's voice returned Li Li to the physical reality of the Ironforge apartment. She set the pearl back in her travel sack next to the bed, carefully hiding it from view with folds of cloth.
"Booty Bay," she answered.
"What?" Chen sat down beside her. "Are you sure? Wouldn't it be easier to just travel out of Stormwind?"
"Yeah, it would, but I was clearly in Booty Bay." She groaned and flopped onto her back, flinging one arm across her face. "Booty Bay is forever away!"
Chen made clucking noises to himself, staring at the far wall. After a few moments, he clapped his hands together and jumped up.
"Come on, Li Li. Looks like we've got some walking to do. Life is an adventure, remember?"
Li Li lifted her arm just a smidgeon to peek at Chen. His eyes twinkled down at her impishly, and she had the sudden urge to kick his feet out from under him. Not that she had much hope of catching him unawares, but it was a momentarily satisfying thought.
"All right, all right." She sat up. "Let's get going."
***
They took the Deeprun Tram south to Stormwind City, the reverse trip of what Li Li had done with Bo on her first journey through Azeroth. She found herself unable to be quite as excited for the ride this time, feeling Bo's loss keenly as she revisited the places they'd been. On the tram, the two of them had battled a goblin who was later revealed to be working for the same naga-and-orc team that would be responsible for Bo's death. In hindsight, Li Li wished she had better recognized the danger posed to her and Bo. Maybe things would have turned out differently.
Li Li forced her mind away from those thoughts. There was no point dwelling on the things that couldn't be changed.
Stormwind, on the other hand, had changed, more than she ever could have anticipated. In addition to the new construction in the Dwarven District, where the tram arrived, she could see charred rooftops, burned-out buildings, and crumbled stone battlements along the tallest towers. Telltale signs of severe fire damage were all over the city. Chen pulled aside an idle merchant to ask about what had happened.
The merchant furrowed his brows at them.
"Deathwing," he said.
Chen pressed him for information. "Deathwing, the great dragon?"
"Yeah." The merchant shrugged. "I'd never heard of him, but I guess he'd been hiding. That's what the educated folk have been saying, at least. Anyway, he came back, burned up the Park, wrecked half the city." He shuddered at the memory. "Scariest day of my life, seeing that huge beast in the sky, raining fire on us. Thought the world was coming to an end."
"Thanks," Chen said. He bought a bauble, grateful for the merchant's time."I know you read about dragons in my journals, Li Li," Chen told her as the two of them walked away. "We had those horrible waves a while back on Shen-zin Su. That must have been around the time that Deathwing returned to the world." He looked up at the sky, and Li Li wondered if he half expected to see the legendary former Aspect pass overhead.
Li Li nodded. She did know a little bit about the dragons, but Chen clearly knew more, and the news of Deathwing seemed to worry him very much.
