According to the outsiders that had shown up (particularly humans), the devil was in the details. In this case, they were right – Shuchun and Cho had both noticed that the coastline in the picture that Shuchun had found was too detailed to be simple window dressing. It had been based on a real location. Once they'd established that, finding the location was the tricky part – the coast of Kun-Lai changed regularly, and the recent parting of the mists would mean that any picture that had them as a reference would be affected accordingly.
It took some time to find the specific place in the portrait's background. A few of the elders had laughed when Cho had asked them about the Quaking Coast. Finally, an older woman had told them that the coastline from this village all the way up to Zouchin was called the Quaking Coast. That wasn't something that helped them narrow the search area. Fortunately, they had the benefit of a high, stony quartet of ice-capped mountains in the far background. Coasts could change drastically within a single year, but the mountains of Kun-Lai changed with far less frequency.
However, their first responsibility was redistributing the books from Towasuu's study. This was far from a simple task indeed – Shuchun twice made the long trip to the Shado-Pan Monastery that a few volumes belonged to. When she could find the time, she read the other books about the Captain of the Quaking Coast.
One was an account of a lorewalker that had traveled aboard Captain Sunstriker's vessel from Honeydew Village to the coasts of Krasarang – the descriptions of the crew and the life aboard the ship were so rich that when Shuchun opened the covers, she could see herself standing on the deck, the timbers secure beneath her feet. The noises of Pandaren at work surrounded her ears, and within moments, she'd fallen asleep…her thoughts of the book she had read.
Waking up was not something Shuchun looked forward to when she had the dreams about being at sea. It was on her second trip to the Monastery that a wild snowstorm blew down from Kun-Lai and blocked the passes. Shuchun had two days to herself to enjoy the books. In a small room in the Shado-Pan Monastery, huddled near a fireplace, the Lorewalker's eyes began to rove the pages of Kaara's account – now that she knew a good deal about the ship, she could delve into the story of the ship's captain.
It began not far from the village that she had uncovered Kaara Sunstriker's portrait. Shuchun discovered very quickly that had not always been Kaara's last name – in fact, her name was something very different at the outset.
All legends had to begin somewhere.
Kaara Galebreath woke with a weary yawn to the sound of pounding waves. Life as she knew it was constantly spent on the move – her parents were members of the Anglers, a guild of Pandaren that plied their skills up and down the coasts of Pandaria. The day was a cold one, the sky was overcast, and Kaara was quite hungry. She rose to her feet, yawned, and adjusted her garments about her – she'd worn a raincoat to bed, just in case a storm broke over the coast. With the small vessel her parents and aunt owned only having one deck to work with, Kaara had found quickly that sleeping in a rainslick (and being somewhat uncomfortable) was better than sleeping in her undergarments and waking up drenched to the bone by a squall.
Such was life on the Quaking Coast, or so her mother always told her. Her parents were Pandaren of the sea, born and bred to fish the waters, but they still needed to make land from time to time. When Kaara had been born, their journeys didn't carry them quite so far, and their nets didn't drag up fish from the deep…but that was fine by them. Making sure Kaara grew up with an appreciation for the land as well as the sea was something they'd valued very highly. She'd been born on land, in the Village of the Singing Winds, but most of her life was out here.
Her mother whistled slightly as Kaara stood to her feet. "Sleep well, my little one?" Jinsong Galebreath, a Pandaren with jet black fur contrasting with sheer white in the places most Pandaren had that fur, reached out one hand, and gathered Kaara into a hug.
"I did." Kaara smiled and wrapped an arm about her mother's broad back. She'd heard her mother described as 'traditionally built'…something that Jinsong laughed at when Kaara had asked her what that meant. She took it as a good sign – her mother was no waif who the winds might carry away.
From the aft of the ship, Jaryit Galebreath, Kaara's father, worked the sails. The winds were blowing from the south, and to remain on course, Jaryit was tacking as best he could. He growled ferociously as a line attempted to disobey his will, and pulled it tighter…reining in the sail slightly.
"Your father and I had a disagreement." Jinsong murmured confidentially.
"What sort of argument did you have?" Kaara asked, her eyebrows furling downwards. Her parents did not agree all the time.
"Which way we should go, for one." Jinsong shrugged. "We're good for another day or so at sea."
"Are we heading for home, then?"
"Not just yet, little one." Jinsong shook her head. Long black hair trailed messily down her neck – Jinsong saw no need to arrange it if the wind was simply going to tease it into disarray at every opportunity.
"I could use a hand on the rigging." Jaryit spoke for the first time since Kaara had woken up. "Song of my heart, would you mind?"
Kaara rolled her eyes at the pet name he had for her, but made certain to do so while her head was angled away from her dad. Jaryit smiled as Kaara made her way to the back of the ship, near the wheel.
A few moments after she'd joined him astern, Kaara smelled something on the winds…which seemed to have shifted suddenly. "Father, I smell smoke."
"It's not simple woodsmoke." Jinsong spoke firmly and walked to the prow. "Jaryit, take her to the closest shore." There was something in her mother's tone that was not to be disobeyed…
Jaryit didn't disagree. Within moments, the fishing vessel was headed towards the craggy coast of Kun-Lai. The wind died as they drew closer, and soon Jaryit and Kaara had their hands full with pulling the sail in so that if it did pick them up, it wouldn't carry them out to sea. Jinsong kept them on course, making certain they didn't get grounded on a sand bar or a reef.
The smoke smell grew thicker as they drew close to the coastline, and an evil-looking plume rose in the distance. A sandy shore spread before them, Kaara recognized this area not as the harbor close to the village but one about three miles away from it. No sooner had they come close enough to the shoreline for Jinsong to step out and guide the ship in than she did so. There was urgency in her motions, and Kaara looked to her father in concern.
This was the first time she'd ever seen fear of that sort in his eyes. Jaryit had guided them through many storms, some of which had been incredibly strong…but this was no storm. Something else was happening. The three Pandaren worked together to pull the fishing vessel ashore, but rather than keep it on the shoreline, Jinsong pointed to the trees. "Get her out of the water."
"Out of the water?" Kaara questioned.
"I'll explain later." Jinsong muttered, short of breath. "For now…please do as I tell you."
Jaryit placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Keep working, little song."
It took a few more minutes for the ship to be pulled into the tree cover, and Jaryit had to yank the mast down. The small vessel was soon concealed in the forest, and before they could head towards the village, her mother held up a paw. "Something is amiss, possibly terribly so." Jinsong muttered. "We ran into two other fishermen the other day, remember?"
Jaryit answered this question. "Bao-Kwun and Kado, yes. They said they had nets down."
"If they had nets down, why didn't we see them on our way in?"
Jaryit's mind filled in the blank faster than Kaara's. "Spirits."
The sound of a scream filled the air…of a young Pandaren man's scream, which had carried over the pounding surf. "Jaryit, stay here with her." Jinsong stepped up on deck and removed a long pole, one with a wicked hook at the end. It was a harpoon…an implement that the Galebreath's seldom had to use.
"Mother…" Kaara held out a paw.
Jinsong grasped it in her free hand. "Mogu may have attacked the village. I am going to see who that was."
A second bellow, this time of someone in great agony, reached through the forest. "Please come back." Kaara beseeched her mother.
"I will." Jinsong promised, touching her forehead to Kaara's. "I swear."
Her mother vanished into the underbrush, heading back towards the Village of Singing Winds.
By the time Jinsong returned with a trio of elderly Pandaren following her, the attack was over. Jinsong's face held greater severity and concern than in any of the times Kaara had disobeyed her will. Jinsong, Jaryit, Kaara and the elders worked to move the ship out of the forest and back into the water. It was a hard task, but despite the fact that the elders were obviously injured and exhausted, it was done rather quickly. No sooner were they back in the water than they had to sail around the Quartet of Spires, which separated the bay the Galebreaths had taken refuge in from the harbor that the Village of the Singing Winds.
The Winds did not sing…rather, they screamed. Perhaps that mingled with the injured Pandaren that lay on the shore, towels arranged beneath them while two of the monks from the small village's temple worked some sort of green mist about the wounded. The huts closest to the shoreline had been burned, as had two of the docks, one of which continued to blaze merrily. Support struts that held several houses up for when the tide came in were splintered. Jinsong held a hand to Kaara's shoulder almost the entire time.
"They came in the middle of the night." The elder who'd been the most wounded of the three murmured. His left arm hung limply at his side, his elbow unable to move much. "Mogu…they stormed the shoreline…"
"Were there guards out?" Jaryit inquired.
"Of course not!" The elder responded in a waspish tone. "Not with the fog we had!"
Jinsong let loose a heavy sigh. "Who did they take?"
Another elder shook their head despondently. "Most of the folks in their middle years and a few older children."
Kaara, not even ten years old, shivered involuntarily. It was not the wind that caused her to do so. Had she been here…she wondered if they might have taken her. She felt sick to her stomach…but also happy that she had been where she was.
"Why didn't you come straight here?" The elder that hadn't spoken up asked sharply.
"Keep your voice down!" The one with the bad elbow snapped. "Do you want to make matters worse?"
"How can they get worse?" That elder responded defiantly.
Jaryit placed a hand on their shoulder. "Elder Huan, please keep yourself composed."
Huan glared but then caught Jinsong's determined eye, supporting her husband's words. At once they backed down. "I…have never been through something like this before." Huan admitted in a low voice that would not carry to the surviving pier. "Mogu…I thought they were only legends…"
"I've heard of them raiding Zouchin." Jinsong spoke quietly. "Clearly they are not simple legends."
The elder with the bad elbow gritted their teeth. "We must rebuild the village at once. Situate those who have lost their parents…find out exactly who is missing."
Kaara did not speak only because she did not feel her voice could lend much to things. Her mother tapped her on the shoulder. "Kaara, we will be staying here until the village is rebuilt. Will you be fine with that?"
"I will, mother." Kaara bowed her head.
Jinsong hugged her daughter to her full stomach. "This…is not something I ever wanted you to see, little one."
"You can't control the mogu, mother." Kaara had only heard them spoken of in the legends, the stories that the aging lorewalkers told. This attack was their handiwork. Her hands gathered into fists for a moment.
Jinsong's eyes squeezed shut. "No…I can't."
It was the first time Kaara had seen her mother close to tears in a very long while.
Shuchun's peace was disturbed by a triple knock at the door. At once, she looked up from the book and addressed whoever was here. "Yes?"
"Lorewalker Pao?" The voice of an older Pandaren woman asked. "It's Snow Blossom."
"I'm afraid you've got the wrong lorewalker if you're here to see him." Shuchun said with a low chuckle.
"But you are a lorewalker?" The voice of Snow Blossom insisted.
"I am."
The door opened, and Shuchun squinted – the light in the hallway was far greater than that of her own room. "Is everything well, Lorewalker?" Snow Blossom inquired.
"As well as can be managed." Shuchun marked her place and closed the book…but only with incredible reluctance. "Is there something I can help you with?"
The Shado-Pan bowed. "I apologize for the interruption. Lord Zhu wanted me to see that your needs were attended to while you stayed here, Lorewalker Shuchun."
Shuchun smiled at once. "If there is one whose will is not to be disobeyed, it would be Lord Zhu." She stood to her feet. "I am…a bit hungry, now that I think of it."
Snow Blossom smiled in response. "Indeed. Dinner is to be served soon. Would you like to eat it in the main hall, or would you prefer I bring it to you here?"
The last prospect caused Shuchun to shake her head. "I would prefer to enjoy it in the main hall. I have…spent a great deal of time here." She tucked the book under one arm. "I would be honored to follow if you led the way."
"Of course. Today's meal is fresh duck, served with leeks and a special sauce prepared by a brewmaster."
"Oh, that sounds delectable!"
The fireplace, no longer attended to, soon petered out. Embers clung to life a few moments longer before fading, but the room would be dark when Shuchun returned.