"Seventy nine thousand, five hundred and fifty one! Seventy nine thousand, five hundred and fifty two! Seventy nine thousand, five hundred and fifty three!"

Lulu puffed out her chest, hammering her fists down onto her hips to strike a triumphant pose.

"That's how many leaves you have on your branches! You may now applaud!"

The crowd of forest animals, swept up in the bustling excitement of the perky yordle girl standing before them, clapped their tiny paws together for her in confused excitement.

Claris, on the other hand, was not so pleased. Willow trees could not sigh, but surely he would have if he was at all capable. Instead, a branch unraveled to meet the curl atop Lulu's hat.

"Aww, you want to pat my head, don't you? Well go ahe-"

Woosh

He sent it flying in the opposite direction.

"My- my hat! Hehehe! You jerk!"

Immediately losing her previous train of thought, Lulu gleefully pranced to where it had landed. Follow me, my fluffy army! We set sail for the next adventure!"

She smoothly and carelessly skipped, hopped, and jumped over to it, before grabbing a stray stick and taking flight on it. Flying by the awkwardly oversized witch cap, the girl seized it with one hand. She tightened her grip of the stick in her other hand before zooming up towards the air, completely oblivious to the fact that her furry followers could not fly.

Lulu soared past the foliage that blocked out the warm light above, and took a gasp of fresh, forest air. She slowed her stick-turned-vehicle into a mild coast and gave her hat a thorough looking at with both hands, suddenly finding herself deep in thought. It was interrupted however, by a thin, lanky winged creature flying right out from under it. With an irritated expression, it brushed itself off before taking a good look at Lulu's sour expression.

"Why do you always bother Claris like this? He doesn't seem to like it, and you always get like this afterwards."

"That's not true! He loves it! I know he does…"

Lulu took her hat into her arms, hugging it like a pillow. It was just about big enough to match her in size, making an apt cuddle partner. Pix saw this reaction, and felt a bit bad for his harsh statement.

"Well, maybe he does... But what about you? Are you okay?"

"I'm just fine!"

She buried her face in the cloth of her hat, hiding from the little fairy's inquisition. He hesitated to tell her that she was clearly not "just fine". It was so rare that the girl blatantly lied that she was absolutely no good at it; but exactly because it was so rare, Pix was just as no good at contesting her.

"I see…"

He had nothing to say. Gloom wasn't an atmosphere that fit Lulu, and yet she was plagued with it all the more lately. He wondered if it had anything to do with the rumors among the whispering winds, but there was no sure way to tell.

Bandle city, and the Glade especially, existed on a different plane than the mortal realm. That meant that the regular happenings of Runeterra would, by normal means, never reach the ears of a yordle. However, more concrete than magic, and more true than mere words, the whispering winds would travel between realms carrying all sorts of information, ranging from meek fashion trends to catastrophic events. However, Pix began to notice something strange within the Glade lately. It seemed that the stream of winds had been forcefully broken up and filtered before reaching the more dense areas. It was as if the forest itself was trying to hide something from those who resided within. He left it to himself to investigate, and there was one particular name that seemed to be more sensitive to the trees than the rest. The rumors were dangerous, so it couldn't possibly have had any good implications. But if there was even the slightest chance of getting to the bottom of Lulu's anguish, Pix had to take a chance. He was in her debt, after all.

"Lulu, have you heard of the name, "Veigar" before?"

She turned in great surprise ah her miniature companion's words, with eyes full of vigor like he had never seen.

"That's it!"

"You- you've heard of him?"

"Let's look for him!"

She snatched him up like prey with her child-like hands, and held him up close and personal.

"Let's look for Veigar! Why didn't I think of that!?"

But you just did, he thought.

"What? But haven't you heard the rumors? He's-"

"A super cool mega powerful warlock hero who saved the Noxii people from complete destruction by the hands of the ultra villain Mordekaiser? I know! He's doing super great! And he turned out super cool, too! How could I not have heard?"

"What? No, that's actually not-"

"You'll come with me Pix, right? To go see him? I'm sure he's lonely without me!"

No no no, this was clearly wrong. Before he could even blink, Lulu had twirled off into another one of her fantasies. He didn't really understand, but it was clear that if there was no intervention, this was going to become a dangerous adventure.

"Lulu, that's not-"

"Come on slowpoke, I'm going to leave you behind!"

She had already swooped down below the treetops, far from his sight by the time he refocused his attention. The pixie followed her down to the forest bed, where she was packing up her necessities into her ever-large hat which conveniently doubled as an endless storage space (he didn't quite understand how it worked either) and prepared for a long trip. Pix could hear the trees rustling in response to a strong gust of wind, which carried their haunting whispers.

"You've made a terrible mistake."

"Why did you mention him?"

"Can't you just let things be, foolish fairy?"

"Our poor Lulu…"

Drowned out by the radiating happy-go-lucky glee beside him, his stomach sunk in as he realized that he had just caused major trouble.

"Who is this "Veigar"? How do you know him?"

"We're friends! Best friends!"

"I see…"

Wasn't I her best friend?

"What about the rumors? You know he's killed people, right? He's killed lots of people."

Lulu grew silent, pausing her hasty behavior. Perhaps she had heard the rumors after all? Or the whispers of the forest? It wasn't apparent to most, but the yordle girl was unusually sharp. Surely, this statement shook her at least a bit. She turned her head, and Pix braced himself for an unpleasant expression; but the only thing that greeted him was a gleeful, carefree smile.

"He would never! Veigar isn't that kind of person, you know?"

How exactly would I know?

"And why exactly do you need to go looking for this person?"

"Well…"

Lulu paused again. Unexpectedly, this was the point where she showed a hint of unease.

"He misses me! He definitely does!"

"Then shouldn't you have gone to see him earlier?"

"No... That would have been a bad idea."

"What? Why?"

"Because…"

She was embarrassed. In fact, seeing her cheeks flush in such a timid way caused Pix to feel the same way. From the way she acted, it was as if she was becoming a whole different breed of creature.

"You ask too many questions! We're going, and that's that!"

As she quickly returned to her preparation, Pix only grew increasingly panicked. This wasn't the usual harmless Lulu trouble… She was really planning to leave the glade this time. Carelessly, thoughtlessly, on an adventure to find some crazy warlock whom she supposedly had some connection with. It was a Lulu adventure, through and through, and the most dangerous one yet.

Pix tried to call out to her, weary of what she would be getting the both of them into if he didn't, but no voice escaped. He was helpless to her careless excitement. It was a weakness that he couldn't stand about himself, but had eventually come to accept.

He loved Lulu adventures.