For the first time since Li-Ming had been in New Tristram, the town had a since of calm, it was quiet and peaceful, the only ones that were still up was an owl making noises somewhere and some guards who were making their nightly rounds. Two guards on patrol, who were talking amongst themselves walked by her, one of them winked and tipped his helmet to her with a pleasant smile in a suggestive manner. His expression was lost on her as she didn't even notice them and continued towards the Slaughtered Calf inn so she could lie down and get some sleep and rest her aching body.

No one was in the Tavern except a patron who passed out at the bar and the owner of the inn who was finishing his close up routine so he too could get some rest. She entered Leah's room and leaned against the door as she closed it. Her stomach growled again, she thought maybe she should eat something but her fatigue was too great to really think about food. She removed her travel bag where she stored the crown and took off her robes, feeling a coolness touch her bare arms and shoulders and removed her pony tail but didn't bother with her armor except for her sword. She unstrapped it from her waist and dropped it on the floor. Leah's bed made Li-Ming feel like she was sinking, it was too soft, her back ached as she got comfortable and almost instantly, her eyes got heavy and her eyes slowly shut until they were closed and Li-Ming quickly fell asleep.

A quill was scratching against paper behind the curtain in the other compartment when Li-Ming woke up, she sat up and popped her neck. She sat at the edge of the bed for a moment with heavy eyes for she was still tired and stiff and her back and shoulders were very sore. Standing up, she stretched and twisted making her spine pop all the way down which got rid of a bit of the stiffness. Leah was sitting on her desk, writing in her journal when Li-Ming stepped into the other compartment looking like she had been through hell and back.

"Good afternoon! Did you find the crown you went out looking for?" Leah asked half interested. She never put a lot of stock in her uncles "stories" and Li-Ming seemed to buy into them with more interest than what was probably healthy and Leah didn't think there would be much she would be able to about it so she just went along for the ride.

"Yeah. I found it." Li-Ming answered. She went to grab a stool out from under the dining table that stood on the other side of the room and Leah noticed a dark purple spot on her shoulder.

"Oh my god! What happened?" Leah asked with a concerned look.

"What?" Li-Ming looked back at her, confused as to what she was talking about.

"You have a large bruise on your shoulder!"

Li-Ming craned her neck so she could look at her shoulder and saw what Leah was talking about. There was a swell and her skin was a dark blueish purple. At least she knew why her shoulders were so sore now. "Oh! I didn't notice."

"Sit down, let me see it." Leah commanded.

"Honestly Leah, I'm fine."

"A bruise that big isn't fine! Now sit down!" Li-Ming rolled her eyes and did as Leah asked, she sat down on the stool she pulled out and turned her back towards Leah so she could get a good look at it. Leah moved Li-Ming's hair out of the way and upon inspection, Leah could see the bruise traveled down Li-Ming's back a little and past her armor and thought that she would have had to hit something pretty hard for it to cause a bruise like this. She touched it lightly with her fingers and Li-Ming winced and hissed and Leah quickly pulled her hand away. "You should talk to Malachi, the local healer, he'll be able to patch this up. He lives in a rundown house down the street from here.

"I think I'll pass." Li-Ming said with a hint of bitterness.

"I insist." Li-Ming didn't take being ordered around lightly, it made her feel like she was back at the Yshari Sanctum where she had been restricted from being able to do what she wanted like she was some child who needed constant supervision and this was really no different. Leah was acting like she was her mother and she was a little girl who just scraped her knee. She was nineteen years old now, a grown woman, she shouldn't have to take anyone's orders anymore. Leah could see Li-Ming's reservations but she wasn't going to back down no matter what Li-Ming said.

"Look, your concern is appreciated but I can take care of myself just fine." Li-Ming was trying to remain polite. She didn't have time for this, all she wanted was to give the crown to Haedrig so he could fix it so she would be able to take out the Skeleton King and reach the fallen star.

"I'm not saying you can't but I consider you a friend and as a friend, I'm asking you to have Malachi look at this so it doesn't become something that can come back to bight you later. And, since you like to go out adventuring during the late hours of the night, I think it comes highly recommended."

Try as she might, Li-Ming could not come up with a retort for that because Leah's reasoning was on point. "Fine." That was all Li-Ming said in response. She got up from the stool and grabbed her robes off of the floor and put them on and pulled her hair back into a pony tail again. "But, I'm going to see the blacksmith first thing before I do anything else."

"As long as you see the healer, that's fine." Leah felt a little proud of herself. Li-Ming was a stubborn individual with a will that would tire anyone but that didn't mean it was unbreakable, you just had to be equally as stubborn. Li-Ming grabbed her travel bag with the crown inside and left.

Down the road from the inn, Li-Ming could see Haedrig was hard at work forging a sword at his forge. She coughed to get his attention. "It's nice to see you working so soon." Li-Ming said with a smile.

"Yeah well, there's no point in grieving for too long, what's done is done. My wife was buried this morning and I can't just sit around and do nothing." Haedrig said stoically.

"I am sorry about your wife, Haedrig. I wish it didn't have to come to that."

"You've got nothing to apologize for. She was dying, and you put her down."

"Haedrig," She was surprised at how easily he was dismissing her. "It is only proper to grieve for Mira. I can't imagine your pain. I've never been…close to anyone."

"I don't want to talk about my wife." Haedrig's voice became deep and his words were firm. "Dead is dead and gone is gone. Do you want work done or not?" Li-Ming pulled Leoric's crown out from her bag and handed it over to Haedrig. "You've found the crown? Truth be told I didn't think you'd be able to." He took the crown from her hand and looked it over. "Ahh, needs repair. Should be no problem. I'll get this back to you as soon as I can."

"Thank you, Haedrig." She said hoping it would take back what she said a moment ago then left him be so he could get back to his work in peace.

Next on her list was the healer and the house that Leah and described was right in front, there was an old man a balding head and a thin white beard, dressed in ragged, yellow robes sitting on the front porch. "Excuse me, are you Malachi? I was told to come look for you."

"Yes I am Brother Malachi. What can I do for you, miss?" Li-Ming turned and pulled her robes down far enough for the old man to see the bruise. "Oh yes, that is something. Come inside and we'll get that taken care of." They walked inside and the old man's home was a mess of papers that had all sorts of potion recipes and flowers growing in pots all throughout the house. "Alright first things first, I'm going to need you to remove your armor."

"I'm sorry?" Li-Ming asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You have a large bruise and your armor is covering a portion of it, I need you to remove it. You don't have to worry, I'm not some lecherous old man. I'm not going to ask you to do anything that you don't have to do."

Rolling her eyes in apprehension, she did as she was ordered. She was getting real tired of being told what to do, even though they were for her own sake. She removed only her top, leaving everything else on and placed her cloths on a nearby table, she was glad to see that Malachi had left the room to give her some privacy but he came back with a little jar and dipped his fingers in it, showing a thick, clear salve that looked like honey. "Take a seat." He said and Li-Ming sat down on a stool, facing away from him. "I'm going to apply some pressure when I start rubbing this on your back so this may hurt a little."

"I don't doubt it." Li-Ming replied.

He began to rub the salve on her back and Li-Ming held her breath as he pressed down with his fingers.

The old man had seen many injuries in his time but he couldn't place what this young woman had been doing for her to get such a large bruise. It started on her shoulder and went down to the middle of her back. His first thought was maybe an abusive relationship but he's seen plenty of those and the bruises were more numerous and a lot smaller. His next thought was a fight of some kind, she did save the town from the undead, and so she more than likely got into something that didn't agree with her. He didn't ask questions, it wasn't his place to know peoples business but there were times it was incredibly tempting.

"Alright, you can breathe now, I'm done. I'll return in a second, I need to go get some bandages." He left again to put the salve away and came back with a roll of bandaging. Li-Ming lifted her arms and Malachi applied the wrapping around her torso. "There, you should feel better in no time." She was already feeling fine, it wasn't like she was crippled.

Li-Ming put her cloths back on and pulled a small bag of coin from her travel bag and asked, "How much do I owe you."

"This one's on the house."

"What? Why?"

"You saved Tristram. That's payment enough." He said with a small smile.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Well thank you and thanks for your time." She said. She grabbed her travel bag and left the house. When she got outside she was reminded how hungry she was when her stomach growled again. She had not eaten in two days and since she had time because she needed to wait for the Haedrig to finish repairing the crown she would eat something to satisfy her stomach for a while.

"Hey!" Leah said, walking towards Li-Ming.

"Checking up on me?" Li-Ming replied.

"Yes actually. After you left I wasn't sure if you were going to actually do it, so I wanted to make sure. Where are you headed?"

"Back to the inn. I need to eat something."

Leah accompanied her back to the inn and sat down while Li-Ming went to ask the owner for some food and shortly joined Leah at the table. Li-Ming sat with her head down and neither of them said anything for a while. Leah looked at Li-Ming and wondered what drove Li-Ming to be the kind of person that she was. She had never met anyone with her kind of drive before, except her uncle, and her arrogance and altruistic nature was interesting.

"So Li-Ming?" Leah said to break the silence between them. Li-Ming brought her head up and looked at Leah. "What motivates you to help others?" It was a simple question, just something to get a conversation going.

"I'm a wizard, Leah. I am capable of a great, many things and I believe that with my power I can better people's lives along with proving that magic isn't something to be feared like too many people do."

"Well, there are those who can't control their magic and people will see that as a reason why it should be left alone."

"What would you know about magic? When I was at the Yshari Sanctum I was surrounded by people who knew magic but never used it because they believed it should be kept to themselves and out of the real world."

"I didn't mean to be offensive." Leah said. She knew enough about magic that if it couldn't be controlled it could be incredibly dangerous. Something told Leah that there was more to Li-Ming than what she was saying, her apparent obsession with helping others was more than just going out to prove a point. There was something else, something that compelled her more than anything. She's seen this trait in her uncle as well, he and Li-Ming had a lot in common when it came to what they believed was important and that was they would work endlessly until the issue was resolved and even then they will still keep going despite themselves.

"I know. I'm simply tired of people fearing what they do know." Li-Ming replied.

"Maybe that's why they fear it."

"That's idiotic."

"How come?"

"To fear what is not known is a good way of keeping yourself held back. If one does not know something they should go out and seek the answers so they may understand what it is they do not know, otherwise they'll just live their whole lives in fear and if that's the case they should just sit in a corner and cry to themselves every day and pray to whatever futile god they believe in to will the scary away and keep their noses out of the affairs of those who go out and try to make some progress in this world. I'm not going to live in fear, I have never feared anything that I didn't know. I relished it, and I went out, and sought the answers to gain an understanding. If I chose to ignore my ever going thirst for knowledge, I'd still be at the Yshari Sanctum being treated like a disappointing child and see what my ambition has already done? I saved New Tristram from being destroyed by mindless, walking corpses."

Leah just sat there and made mental note not to push Li-Ming's buttons anymore, not after hearing maybe the most impressive rant she had ever heard in her life. The inn owner came by with Li-Ming's food and set the plate down, taking a quick look at them both and feeling the tension. He left them be.

"Well…I can see you have put a lot of thought into this." Leah said.

"Whole-heartedly." Li-Ming replied and dug into her food. "And, I am sorry about ranting."

"Oh no, it's okay. I think I kind of had it coming."

"On a lighter note, did you learn anything of your mother after I left?"

That wasn't something that Leah would describe as a 'lighter note' but she was happy to see Li-Ming was still willing to be civil. "Well I learned she wasn't from Tristram originally. She came here during the troubles. She was in search of something, but I am not sure what. She reminds me of Uncle Deckard, obsessed with the war between angels and demons."

"What was it like? Living with your uncle I mean."

"Uncle Deckard and I traveled all over the world in my youth, looking for lost lore and artifacts. It was so exciting," Leah said with a look of longing. "Crawling around ancient temples, digging through forgotten crypts. I feel fortunate that Uncle Deckard raised me the way he did. The things I learned from him…But now I don't know. I see what his obsession with his quest has cost him…has cost us."

"What is he looking for?" Leah's uncle sparked an interest in Li-Ming from what Leah had just told her. She was beginning to develop a since of respect for the man for many reasons. He raised Leah on his own when she was a kid, even when he probably didn't need to and he was on an ongoing quest of some kind. He was going to be man that would be remembered.

"He's convinced that the forces of Hell will invade our world and bring about the end times. All these years, he's still searching for a way to stop this…apocalypse. You're a lot like him in a way."

"How so?"

"You're both obsessed with your quests and you devote your lives to trying to help others, always putting yourselves last." Li-Ming chuckled in response. "What about you? Any family or friends?"

"I have family?" Li-Ming responded keeping her eyes on her plate.

"Parents? Siblings?"

"Parents."

"Where are they?"

"They're around somewhere. Probably back in the slums of Xiansai."

"What about friends?" Leah said feeling Li-Ming's bitterness towards the question.

"I've had one friend. She was the one who took me to the Yshari Sanctum and tutored me in the ways of the arcane."

"Where is she now? Still at the Yshari Sanctum?"

"She's dead." Li-Ming responded looking at Leah this time.

Oh, I'm so sorry." Leah regretted asking her. Li-Ming obviously wasn't going to go into detail about what happened between her and her parents or what happened to her friend, doing so might bring about some negative emotions in Li-Ming that she didn't want to cause.

"Don't be. It was years ago."

Leah was about to say something when Haedrig walked in with a bag strapped over his shoulder. "Haedrig!" Li-Ming said excited. He looked to be in a better mood than what he was in earlier when Li-Ming gave him the crown.

"I have something for you." Haedrig said to Li-Ming.

"What have you got for me?"

"Take a look." He said tossing her the bag. It was heavier than she was expecting and opened it like a child would after you gave them a new present. She pulled the crown out from the bag and marveled at it. "New as the day it was placed on black king's head." Headrig said. It was impressive work. It had its shine back and all the parts that were broken were replaced or renewed, it was brilliant. "There's something else in there for you."

Li-Ming's face dropped, she placed the crown on the table and dug through the bag for what Haedrig was talking about. Leah took the crown and observed it for herself. Li-Ming pulled out a sword held within its sheath. It was wonderfully designed, the sheath was made from a black, high quality leather. She pulled the sword out and took in its design. It was light and balanced, the hilt curved and swirled around the handle. Li-Ming lightly dragged her thumb across the blade and pulled away when it started cutting her skin, it was very sharp. "I call it the Sovereign Tsunami Blade."

"Oh Haedrig! It's a work of art. I can't accept this." She said putting it back in its sheath and holding it out to him.

He shook his head and held his hand up, refusing to take the sword back. "Consider it a thank you. I thought about what you said earlier and you were right. I need time to grieve instead of trying to distract myself. It's good to work again but brewing in misery isn't what Mira would want me to do." Li-Ming stood and gave Haedrig a big hug.

"This is one of the best gifts anyone has ever given me. I'm glad you thought about what I said. You need to grieve for a while."

"That's what I'm going to go do once were done here."

"I hope everything works out."

"So do I. I'll come find you once I'm done. I need to stay busy, I need more than making spades to occupy my mind, I want my life to mean something"

"Then once you're done grieving you may help me. I will use your handy work for great things."

"Thank you." Haedrig said. Li-Ming smiled at him and he left and she turned to Leah who was smiling.

"What exactly did you two talk about?"

"It's a long story." Li-Ming dug threw her bag and left some coins on the table, paying for meal. "Come on, let's go find your uncle."

Leah was having trouble keeping up with Li-Ming as they walked. Li-Ming was walking with so much energy that came out of nowhere. It amazed her how suddenly Li-Ming was able to change, all day she was complicated and now that she was able to set out on her quest again she was joyous.

Deckard Cain was sitting in a chair writing in a book when the girls walked in and without missing a beat Li-Ming said, "Deckard Cain, I have the crown. Now how do I reach the Skeleton King?" She was incredibly straight forward.

"Do you really?" He replied unfazed by Li-Ming's abrupt and interruptive behavior.

Li-Ming pulled it out of her bag and showed it to him. "I've had it since last night, it was damaged so I had to wait until Haedrig was able to repair it."

"Ah at last. With it, you can unlock the sealed door in the room where you rescued me and enter the royal crypts. When you find the Skeleton King, place the crown atop his head…and destroy him."

"The Skeleton King dies today! I must find the fallen star."

So when I looked up Li-Ming on the Diablo 3 wiki before I even started writing this story, the article said that was her age during the events of the game. And, on another note I know nothing really happened in this chapter but I thought it would be a good way to get some character development in. Some of what I wrote for this chapter maybe could have been cut out entirely but in the end I'm okay with it. But now things should be getting real exciting in the next couple of chapters.