Ok, I think we all know the drill in this one. I only own OCS, Blizzard pretty much owns everything else.
I think I should warn to some people that Ji's and Lang Ling's relationship isn't exactly well as what most brother and sister relationship usually are. Sure, they're on opposite sides and therefore that's kind of a reason, but I think you should also remember from the last chapter, only two members of Ji's family ACTUALLY stayed true to the Huojin ways. Lang Ling was once one of the Huojin Pandarens, but she tended to listen to Tushui Pandarens a bit more, so she never stood true to the Huojin ways. So technically, there are a little bit more difficulties in this family relation for Ji and Lang Ling due to their earlier decisions back on the Wandering Isle.
I also want to say that the look I have mainly designed for Lang Ling personally isn't in the game. One good example is her hair style. I'm sure one thing some people will remember from Lang Ling's letter is that she wanted to keep her hair in her family's traditional way. It's based on some hair styles in the game, but the style itself isn't. Lang Ling's armor is also a good example. It's also based on a lot of the kinds of armor from the game, but it's still not at the same time.
I also want to say that there is only one other dude pandaren I also like in the game. And he is Jojo Ironbrow.
Yours truly,
Leopard the Warrior of Africa
Ji paced about his room, the letter from Lang Ling on the table. His living quarters weren't much really, it was right besides The Wyvern's Tail and very small compared to most houses in Orgrimmar.
Pausing for a moment, Ji looked at the letter with a worried glance. The tone Xiai had when he over heard her saying that last bit to Duvainel made him even more worried in this situation. What if they had read it? What if they knew of his secret letters from and to his sister? Would he have to make sure they didn't tell about it like he'll eventually have to do to Zorena Cheetahspot? Sighing, Ji Firepaw placed the letter inside a drawer that had more letters from Lang Ling, blue envelopes, and a small picture that Ji had almost never looked at.
"What am I'm going to do?" he asked out loud to himself. Sitting down on his bunk, the mink trainer buried his head into his paws. The words that Warchief Hellscream had said that stated of no interactions across enemy lines still was deep within his head, and yet he had been writing to his sister, who was so far the only relative he knew was alive, for over two years at the least. Until now, the secret had been so easily kept, not even Korga from the Horde, or Aysa from the Alliance, no one had even suspected. Now, one student, possibly three, either knew, or were superstring them.
Aysa…..
Ji sighed even louder, the thoughts of the Tushui monk; the newest leader in the Alliance filled his mind as well. She didn't know about this either, like almost everyone else Ji knew. He almost wished he had also chosen the Alliance, just to be with her again. Maybe then, he could of confessed his crush on her, wouldn't have this "no across enemies lines" rule with communication, wouldn't have to keep it a secret that he still cared for Aysa, and all his friends and (if the rest of remaining besides Lang Ling) family that had joined the Alliance.
"Ji? Are you ok?"
The brown-eyed pandaren nearly jumped fell onto the floor at the sound of Korga Strongmane's voice. "Ever heard of knocking?"
The tauren chuckled before putting a serious expression on and crossing his arms. "To answer that, it would be yes, but it's not really needed in the culture of the Tauren. You still need to answer my question." Ji chuckled nervously and looked away from his friend to avoid eye contact.
"I'm fine, really Korga."
"Then why don't you tell me that while looking at me."
A moment of silence.
"What's wrong Ji?"
Ji sighed heavily and looked at the brown furred warrior. "Do you think I made the right choice?" Korga stared at him in confusion for a moment. "Do you ever think I should have never joined the Horde was what I meant to say."
The taller male laughed and patted his friend's shoulder. "No, I think you're perfectly fit for the Horde, my friend! You just joined at the wrong moment. As soon as Thrall comes back, you'll be feeling ok as well!"
Ji looked at Korga with uncertainty in his eyes. "It's not just that." Korga's trying-to-cheer-up smile faded. "Sit down, I... um… I should explain better." The tauren did so and watched his friend carefully.
Ji ran a paw through his fur and hair on his head. "First off, promise me you'll never tell anyone what I've said to you?"
"I promise, Ji."
"Do you promise on your honor, life, and culture?"
Korga paused and thought for a moment. Ji had never been someone to ask something like this before, or in such a serious tone. "I promise on my honor, my culture, and my life." Ji nodded and sighed against rubbing the back of his neck.
"Back on the Wandering Isle, before I become master of the Huojin ways, before I attended Master Shang Xi's Academy, when I was still a pandaren cub; I belonged to the Firepaw Clan, a family that traditionally had the males as the guards for the Temple of Five Dawns and the females as the temple's priestesses. Every once in a while, there would always be a family member that became a monk, a hunter, a mage, warlock, shaman, warrior, priest, and so on that didn't work for or at the temple. My Aunt Yung was a shaman as an example. I… I had two older brothers, an older sister, and a younger sister. My brothers were Bo Bingwen and Da Dong. My sisters were Li and Lang Ling," Ji paused for a moment to take in a deep breath and went on with his words. It seemed to Korga that the monk trainer had been wanting to talk about this for sometime surprisingly.
"Da Dong became a Temple Guard, like my father, and his father, and so on. They stayed on the Wandering Isle, like almost everyone else in my family. Bo Bingwen, Li, Aunt Yung, some of my … dangerously curious cousins, and Lang Ling came with me, Aysa Cloudsinger, and Jojo Ironbrow out and away from the Isle. My aunt and sister Li were the only ones to join me with the Horde, Li being a mage. They're both dead now. I never heard about or from Bo Bingwen, who became a warlock, studying for the Alliance leaders. I've heard that some of my cousins were part of the exploding attack that happened at the fort the Horde has somewhere near 35 to 50 miles away from Booty Bay with some help from gnome and the remaining neutral goblins there. And Lang Ling…," Ji paused there, thinking carefully over the words he should say.
"She became one of the most dangerous monks against the Horde," Korga said, thinking he finished his friend's sentence about her. Ji looked at him for a moment and bowed his head. "There's nothing to be ashamed of, Ji my friend. Just because almost all the assassins and bounty hunters are after her (and also since the wanted poster for her capture is almost at all the Horde camps), doesn't mean you should be ashamed of the fact of your family. She's still your sister after all. And if she's captured and executed, I'll ask the Warchief if you could perform a proper funeral for her."
"But I don't want her captured! I'll be the first to admit it to anyone, even from the beginning, Lang Ling and I never truly got along like most brothers and sisters do, but so far, she's the only kin of mine that's alive that I know of!"
Korga saw Ji open a draw and took out a picture. Ji handed it to him and sat down on the bed. The tauren looked at it. There were defiantly a lot of pandarens in this family portrait compared to what Korga would think most family portraits looked like, but the cubs in the front row caught his attention the most.
One was obviously Ji, with the same hair do, the same brown eyes, already wearing the tradition colors for the Huojin pandaren. Yet, the younger Ji in this picture was fluffier, and, to Korga's surprise, had a more reddish highlight in his markings. On the younger Ji's right were two boys, twins most likely if Korga was to judge age by looks that were in their teens. One had brown fur markings with brown eyes, and stood proud and tall while the other had gray fur markings and green eyes and had a small demon-looking creature on his shoulder. On the young Ji's other side were, Korga guessed, his sisters, one was barely a preteen, the other obviously a very young cub. The preteen had black fur, similar to Ji's, but had piercing, bright green eyes. Her hair colors that didn't match her fur markings were red, and her hair style was like no other female pandaren hair style Korga had ever seen before. It had a tail in the back much like others, but the front was like the hair color fall to one side hairstyles. The tail of the hairstyle had ribbon going down with it, and tying off the bottom. The tail also seemed to fall along the back, not like the other "ponytail-like" tails. Also, unlike most pandarens with black fur markings, it seemed this sister (Li, no doubt) had a tail that was found on the red-furred pandaren females. The youngest cub on the other hand, Korga had no doubt who it was. The younger female cub had reddish fur markings with a hint of brown and black around the edges, teal eyes with a thin, brown ring around them, the same hairstyle that Li had, green hair markings, and bowed down in the way many monks would.
Korga looked to the Ji that was with him presently. The monk trainer sighed and buried his head in his hands. "As I'm going to repeat the question I asked you earlier, did I make the right choice?" the pandaren asked.
Korga kept silent, thinking about his answer. He, a tauren warrior, had never truly understood the pains of family separation between sides like Ji was facing. But the tauren had also thought of the times he had seen mourning of families around him in this chaotic war. "I think… it really depends on how you look at it."
Ji didn't raise his head, but Korga could clearly hear what he was saying. "Thanks. Just leave the picture here on the bed; I need to be alone for a while."
Somewhere in the Outlands two days later…
Jonathan Felltham looked up at the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs before going back to serving an orc some pints of mead. The orc, on the other hand, kept looking up to see the owner of those footsteps. His answer soon was a full grown version of the little pandaren cub Korga had seen in Ji's family portrait. Lang Ling sat down at the bar, took out some maps and seemed to be planning something on them. The orc curiously tilted his head at the female, most likely the mead making him a bit drunk. Lang Ling covered her work quickly at the hint that the orc was trying to look over. She was thanking quietly that the small village she was staying at the moment was also a neutral area. The orc, who to no surprise had the usual black hair color, moved closer to Lang Ling.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" he sludgy asked, looking at the pandaren's armor, which contained bluish leather gloves, a golden, crown-like headband with a blood red ruby in the center, reddish leather armor that covered her torso with an added scaly look, a blue monk's belt, and dark brown pants that went to the blue footwear Lang Ling wore.
"Never have I seen you, therefore no, I do not think you know me," she replied, careful to hide most of her face. The orc shrugged and drank the rest of his mead. It wasn't long before a worgen rouge and a tauren warrior, both seeming to glare at each other now and then, sat near the orc and Lang Ling in the inn. All of the sudden, Lang Ling paused and looked up towards the orc and tauren. The orc was drinking his mead, but the tauren was staring at her in disbelief. Putting her map work away, the monk tried to concentrate on when her next letter from either of her brothers would come. The worgen rouge, who was on her other side glanced at her and then at the tauren.
"Don't worry about that old cow, worse he could do is stomp on your tail," he said, his Gilnean thick as he held out a clawed hand for her to shake. "Name's Aleco Forestmane," he added. Lang Ling turned her head to him, looking at his grayish black and red colored armor, pure black fur, and orange eyes before nodding her hand and shaking his hand.
"Lang Ling Firepaw," she whispered, so that only Aleco could hear her. The worgen raised an eyebrow at this, a huge grin on his face before chuckling.
"Great honor meeting you then, though I think I should ask why you're in a neutral village here and not in a pure Alliance once."
"I would ask you the same thing, seeing how you do not like the tauren here."
Aleco chuckled a bit before lowering his voice. "Closest place where I can do the job I'm on," he said, trying to avoid glaring at the tauren. Lang Ling smiled softly before a noise at the door caught the attention of most of the people within the inn. The mail ogre looked into the inn and smiled a mostly toothless grin. He managed to squeeze in and walk over to the bar where the orc, tauren, Aleco, and Lang Ling were.
"Two letter for Miss Firepaw."
Lang Ling took the red envelope and rolled up scroll tied with a green ribbon from the ogre. Smiling at both, the monk placed both in her backpack. Aleco looked at the red envelope carefully, and apparently not the only one looking at it. The tauren and the orc were also looking questionably at it too. Once the ogre left, both the Horde member leaned more towards Lang Ling.
"Why is the envelope red?" the tauren asked, still eyeing the pandaren's backpack.
"It helps to know who it is from," she answered, looking at the list of food the bar keeper gave her.
"Who is it from?" Aleco asked, smoothing out his rather lion-mane looking hair. Lang Ling looked at him for a moment before replying, "One of my brothers."
"I'm sorry, but what is your name?" the orc asked bluntly. Lang Ling looked down and kept looking down the list. "You don't have to say your first; you can just say your last name."
"Firepaw. Um, I'll have the fish and noodles, Jonathan," she said, looking up at the bar keeper at the last one, and soon was handed a bowl of her order.
The tauren looked over at her for a moment before taking a glass of water. "As in, like, Ji Firepaw?" he asked before drinking a bit from the water glass. Lang Ling nearly dropped the bowl of her order for a moment before looking at the tauren.
"Wha- what do you mean by that, sir…?"
"Torun Roughlong. I'm just asking because in Orgrimmar, the monk trainer's last name is also Firepaw," the tauren answered, giving Lang Ling a suspicious glance. Lang Ling took a deep breath in and returned the glance.
"I know of no such monk trainer, or monk himself. I only know that that of which you have told to me as of here now," she answered, though having a bit of nervousness in her voice before taking her food. "Sirs, good day to you. If you need me, I will be reading my mail and doing some …. Map planning." And with that she went up stairs.
Torun raised an eyebrow at her behavior. "Strange, for both a monk and a pandaren." Aleco nodded and looked towards the two horde members. "She's cute though, you've got to give her that. And proper, in her own way. I don't see why she would say that about this Ji Firepaw," the worgen added, tilting his head back towards the stairs.
"I've seen those red envelopes before…" the orc said, taking another gulp from his mead. "That monk trainer named Ji Firepaw; he sends them out… and gets a blue envelope in a few weeks or so." Aleco and Torun looked at him with questionable expressions. The orc looked at both of them with some confusion. "Well, it's true. I've seen it myself. I even asked him once. The panda told me it was none of my darn old business."
...
Lang Ling opened the red envelope and took out the letter with in. Reading her brother's, Ji's, letter the female monk began to take in every word.
"My Dearest Little Sister,
I want to warn you to be wary of any rouges, warriors, guards, and any other class, and I don't care if they're from the Horde or the Alliance. You have a reward on your head here in Orgrimmar, and many would prefer to have you brought in dead. Be careful of where you go and who you trust. Especially after that attack on the Horde camp in the Swamp of Sorrows from the latest news I've heard from those soldiers.
As with the little problem with my student Zorena, I've taken care of that, just not in the way I actually wanted to. She's now with the rest of her family burial sight.
Now don't you get angry with me, Lang Ling! I did try to talk with her, but I guess there's a good reason why I would never fit in with the Tushui pandarens. He he. I tried to tell her to keep her mouth shut about the whole thing, but she wouldn't listen. (Funny, just like you at 4 years old.) Before I know anything else, she started threatening to tell Hellscream, and… yeah, you pretty much know the rest of this story, don't you? Trust me; it took me awhile to make it look like an accident so I won't have my head cut off.
You should also know, I have told my friend Korga about you being my sister, but don't worry, he still doesn't know our secret and I plan to keep it that way. However, I am planning in questioning two other students of mine who the mail ogre gave your last letter to, and if they read the letter, hopefully I can talk them into keep quiet about it.
Your forever loving brother,
Ji
P.S. Also, by any chance, does Aysa ever think of what could have been if she and I had chosen the same side? I can't seem to stop thinking about that thought lately…"
Lang Ling chuckled at the last part, remembering how Ji had confessed to her about his small crush about Aysa Cloudsinger. Rereading the letter though, the youngest Firepaw relative became concern about the death of Zorena part.
What if someone suspected Ji in any case and found prove? And what two students is Ji suspecting having read her last letter to him? Lang Ling soon began to think of his warning about trusting certain people. Was it really that bad? "Oh Ji, dear brother," she said out loud.
She soon pulled out the rolled up parchment with the green ribbon and began reading her other brother's letter before deciding to work on her plans for the attack of Shadowmoon Village, not noticing the certain hidden worgen figure sneak out of the room she was in.
Somewhere outside of Wildhammer Stronghold…
A gnome paced outside an abandoned hut in the forest in the shadows, waiting for who he was suppose to meet with that night. The sound of a twig snap but the warlock on guard again before seeing a black worgen step out of the shadows.
"Oh, Aleco, it's only you. Did you get the information I asked for? About the Lang Ling girl?" he asked, keeping his blue and purple hood up. Aleco, though, pulled his black one back before handing what looked like notes to the gnome.
"Copied down the letter that came in the red envelope while she was reading it and also even after she put it down to read the other one and work on her plans for the Shadowmoon ambush attack," the worgen answered, taking off her midnight colored gloves and taking out a small scroll from his own backpack. The gnome read what the worgen gave him and looked up at him afterwards.
"And you didn't finish the traitor off?" he asked, looking mildly disappointed. Aleco looked at his employer at the moment before putting the scroll away.
"I find rather… amusing to tempt my victim into believing I'm a trusted friend before killing them, Mr. Ruferi," he said, a wicked smirk forming onto his face. Mr. Ruferi looked at his employee with a disgusted expression.
"You're a sick, sick soul if you find that amusing."
Aleco shrugged and put his gloves back on. "What can I say? I'm a rouge. It's an occupational hazard," he joked, only for his pupils to turn into slits before holding his hand out. "Now, like you promised. The 1,000 gold. Now." Mr. Ruferi placed the notes into his backpack and placed 500 gold into the worgen's clawed hand.
"You get half now. You'll get the other half when you come back with her head, and any other letter from this Ji Firepaw."
Aleco huffed and placed the gold into one of his black pouches. "Fine. Guess it'll have to do for now."
Me: O.O *is starting to back away* Um… wow, didn't know where that last part actually came from... um... ok, everyone just review please.
