A/N
So I was going through Cain's 'poke lines' in Heroes of the Storm, and he mentions that Li-Ming is "his favourite champion to fight beside." To which I thought "um, okay..." I mean, it's not an error per se, and I can sort of get why, but I find myself being reminded of The Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy tells Scarecrow that he'll miss him the most, right in front of the Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. I mean, hello? Favouratism?
Anyway, drabbled this up, though I admit the inspiration became tangential.
Playing Favourites
Up until about a week ago, Leah had been dubious as to the existence of Hell, Heaven, and the spawn of both realms. Even now, after seeing said spawn, she still had trouble wrapping her head around it. But on the subject of Hell in particular, supposedly being a realm of fire and brimstone, she had a few questions about that. Namely why Hell was needed in a world where Aranoch existed. Because if Hell was this really warm place that was inhospitable to humankind, then she felt that she'd found it.
"We shall rest here for tonight," Tyrael said.
Leah obliged, falling down in the sand that the rocky crag cast its shadow over. In a few hours, the travellers wouldn't have to worry about being boiled alive by the searing sun, but rather freezing to death. Already Valla was lighting a fire, and while Leah wanted to point out that that could attract bandits (or worse), she remained silent. She'd seen her companions fight against things that mere mortals would collapse at the sight at. If bandits did attack, she had no doubt that her fellows could handle them. And if things worse than bandits attacked…
She supposed she'd once again see an example of their prowess. Maybe even that of Tyrael, who appeared unaffected by the searing heat. He was mortal, and as part of that came the requirements of food, drink, and rest. But even having lost his divinity, she could see that his strength and stamina were far beyond that of any normal human. A statement that could be said to apply to all of the nephalem. And even the likes of Kormac, Lyndon, and Haedrig, they appeared to be taking the heat in their stride. They were perhaps "mere mortals" compared to the likes of the angel or the nephalem, but the "mere" part didn't really apply.
So that left her. She rubbed her eyes, fighting against the stinging of the sand, and the burning feeling the sun had left. She reached for her waterskin, her hand reaching it, but she didn't bring it to her mouth. It would be days before they reached Lut Gholein, and days more for them to reach Caldeum after crossing the Twin Seas. Water was in short supply, and as exhausted and thirsty as she felt right now, she could scarce waste it.
"You should drink you know."
She opened an eye. Before her sat Li-Ming, seated on the ground, her armour already collecting sand beside her. Light armour, and of little use for a wizard who liked to keep her foes at range, but armour nonetheless. Armour that was apparently heavy enough to give even a nephalem pause.
"I'm fine," Leah murmured.
"Oh, you're a poor liar." Li-Ming took out her own waterskin and dangled it in front of Leah. "Here. You deserve some water for trying."
"If I was a good liar, would I still get water?"
"If you were a good liar, you'd have fooled me into thinking you didn't need water. But as you're not a good liar, you've therefore revealed the need for water you possess and-"
Leah grabbed it and took a sip. Then another. And almost a third, before she gave herself pause and handed it back to her friend…using the broadest possible definition of "friend" that was.
"Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome." Li-Ming took a sip of the water as well, giving time for Leah to gaze around the camp. Hardly anyone spoke apart from Kormac and Lyndon, who were still bickering and discussing the finer merits of honour vs. opportunity. But aside from that, the only sounds of note in the air were the crackling of the fire, and the whispers of the wind. One, a reminder of the flame that awaited all mankind if Belial and Azmodan weren't defeated. The latter, a reminder of…what, she wondered? Home? What was home for her now? Caldeum had been her home for eight years, and New Tristram for a few months, but heading back to the former brought her no joy, and leaving the latter made her feel nothing. Home for her had been with Deckard. And where was her guardian now, if not taken by fire, and his ashes scattered to the wind.
"I've crossed Aranoch before you know."
The words came out unbidden and unwanted. Sure enough, Li-Ming looked up at her from the tome she'd picked out of her rucksack.
"Pardon?"
"I said…" She swallowed, before saying, "I've crossed Aranoch before."
"Oh." Li-Ming paused. "I crossed as well, after I left-"
"It wasn't as hot then." She glanced out to the shifting sands. At the setting sun, and the moon, now visible in the twilight sky. "There's something about this place."
"Hmm."
Leah sighed – her words were nonsense, and she knew it. She'd crossed Aranoch once before as part of a caravan headed for Westmarch, with she and Deckard leaving the group at New Tristram. This 'caravan' was much smaller. Better armed, but for her, less intimate. Deckard had taken her from one corner of Sanctuary to the next, as part of what she'd then thought of as a mad quest for evidence of a non-existent apocalypse. She'd pitied him, but not resented him. Now, she missed him, and resented herself.
"You think I'm mad don't you?"
Li-Ming closed the book. Leah watched her glance at the fire, and the piece of meat that Kharazim had put over it. She didn't recognise the meat, but she didn't care – she wasn't hungry.
"Actually I don't," said the wizard.
"You don't?"
"No." She looked over her shoulder – to the east, specifically, given that the sun was on the other side of the horizon. "Before I left the Yshari Sanctum, my mentor and I investigated the Borderlands. The drought there…it wasn't natural. It was as if the land itself were dying."
"And you think it might have something to do with Belial?"
"That, or any other malady that plagues this world." Li-Ming smiled. "But it matters not. We find the demon that's behind the malady, kill it, and make everything better."
"Just like that?"
"Of course like that."
"And then what?" Leah asked.
"Then I move onto the next challenge."
"Is it really that simple?"
Li-Ming laughed. "One advantage of living in a world where everything wants to kill you is that dealing with problems can be very simple."
The way she said it, it was clear that she meant it to be the end of the conversation. Watching Li-Ming return to her book, reading what looked like an archaic form of Westron, Leah couldn't help but envy her. Of all her companions, Li-Ming was perhaps the most outgoing. The most sure of herself, the most confident, the most boastful. Leah had seen her kind before – usually once, before they left the safety of a town, and didn't return. Thing was, Li-Ming and the rest of the nephalem could match the claims of their boasts. Which was good, she supposed, but where did that leave her? A girl with a bow and books, the former being negligible, the latter being…She sighed.
"What is it?" Li-Ming asked.
Leah didn't say "it's because I'm not my uncle." Instead, she said, "nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing. Just…thinking of Deckard."
A truth, if not the whole truth. Leah didn't want to confide her other insecurities right now. Not to someone who had no reason to listen.
"I suppose you miss him."
"Of course I miss him," Leah snapped, and for a moment, Li-Ming looked taken aback. "Don't you miss your family?"
"No." The look in Li-Ming's eyes and tone of her voice told Leah that that statement was true, and that she had no intention of discussing that any further. But regardless, she continued to speak. "But I understand that you too were close."
"Do you?"
"The way you looked at each other, the way you spoke to each other, the way Deckard spoke of you to me." Li-Ming sighed. "I cannot claim to know Deckard Cain that well. Not nearly as well as you, or even Tyrael."
Leah frowned – Tyrael. Even now, she wasn't sure what to make of him.
"But I know that as the Last Horadrim, the world is worse off for his absence."
"Yes, well…" Leah trailed off. She picked up some sand in her palm, and watched as the wind blew it away. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. One of many platitudes in a world where death was a constant. There were many men who'd claimed what happened to the human soul after death, but she couldn't say any of their claims was more or less reasonable than the others. All she knew was that death was death. Her uncle, her guardian, and the only man coming close to a father she'd ever known, was dead, and he was never coming back. And Sanctuary aside, her world was indeed much poorer for his absence.
"He spoke highly of you too, you know," Leah said, looking back at Li-Ming.
"Did he?" The twinkle in her eye suggested that this was news to the wizard, and that her ego was eager for more stroking.
"Oh yes." Leah decided that she'd stroke it – she had little better to do right now. "I mean, the magic's one thing, but he could see that you were a scholarly type. Like everyone else you know how to kill, but you were interested in the how's and why's of it as well. I suppose that comes from living in the Yshari Sanctum."
"I suppose," Li-Ming said. "Of course, books can only take you so far when compared to raw talent. But if I'm to be the greatest magic user the world has ever seen…well, 'de scientia, potentia.'"
"What?"
"From knowledge, power." Li-Ming paused. "And I want you to remember that every time you open one of your uncle's tomes."
"Li-Ming, I don't-"
"I see the way you carry yourself. The way your eyes evade ours. The way you look at the tomes you've taken, as if the meaning of their words are beyond you. And every time you think that your efforts are meaningless, remember those words." Li-Ming picked up her tome again. "Because while I'm going to be the one to slay the last two Lesser Evils and gain a place in history, behind every great woman there's another great woman helping her."
"What about men?"
She nodded towards the other nephalem. "History can pick and choose between them."
Leah smiled, much to her surprise. Even as the fire crackled. As the wind blew. As the stars shone, and fortunes changed. As she picked out a tome from her rucksack, and began to read.
At ease, for the first time in weeks.