World of Warcraft: Journey of the Huntress

Chapter Eight

Larraine stood by as Rell and Sully spoke to Bold Karasshi and another jinyu who she assumed to be the leader of the village, occasionally looking to where Admiral Taylor was resting. Mishka had come as soon as she could following Rell's communicator call to her, and after a cursory examination assured them all that Taylor would be fine and merely needed to rest for a while. Larraine was still anxious, however, as the longer it would take for him to regain consciousness the longer Anduin would be out in the wilds of Pandaria. She knew he wasn't completely defenseless, but if he were to be ambushed by a group of Horde soldiers he would likely run out of stamina and end up at their mercy... and the Horde weren't exactly known for showing mercy, especially since Garrosh Hellscream took over.

"Please, take my younger brother with you," Karasshi said, gesturing to a shorter, slimmer jinyu nearby. "We may not be friends, but you should not go into unfamiliar territory alone."

"What's he talking about, Rell?" Larraine asked, approaching the small group.

"We're goin' ta go look fer Prince Anduin," Sully informed her, and Rell looked to him before turning his attention to Larraine.

"By 'we,' he means the two of us," he told her sternly. "I want you to stay here in the village until we return."

"But, Rell-"

"Someone needs stay be here in case Taylor wakes up," he cut off her protest, nodding toward the admiral's resting form.

"Mishka can-"

"He might know where Anduin is," he reminded her. "I'm sure you're anxious to hear whatever he has to say. So just stay here and make nice with the locals while we scout nearby for signs of the prince."

"Fine," Larraine reluctantly agreed through clenched teeth. She watched as Rell and Sully prepared for their trip, along with the young jinyu – who was apparently known as Little Lu. Karasshi asked Rell to look out for him, which Sully agreed they would do, and within the hour they were gone.

For the rest of the day, Larraine spent time introducing herself to some of the higher-ranking jinyu in the village. They all seemed friendly, if a bit suspicious, and one of them even admitted that they preferred to keep to themselves ever since they made the mistake of trusting the hozen – who then promptly wiped out the vast majority of their tribe. They weren't nearly as hospitable as the pandaren had been, but they were kind enough and offered her, Mishka, and Fang something to eat and a place to sleep for the night.

The next day was fairly uneventful, as well. Taylor was still recovering, and so she offered to help the fishermen of the tribe. They were doubtful that she would be of much help, but when she successfully pulled in the first catch of the morning they started to open up to the idea of her presence. She didn't catch much else throughout the day, but she learned that the village had been having trouble with the nearby hozen for a while and that their warriors weren't having much luck fending them off. To her surprise, when she asked if perhaps they had tried attacking at range the jinyu looked at her as if she had suddenly sprouted an extra head... and so she took the question to the village elder.

The elder gave her much the same response to the question, but with the addition of informing her that all of the jinyu received the same training in close-quarters combat. After confirming that they actually did have the appropriate weapons for different fighting styles available, she suggested letting some of the members of the tribe try something other than melee combat if it suited their skills. The elder agreed to give her suggestion a try, albeit begrudgingly, and then tasked her with deciding which of his people should be give the opportunity to try their hand at something other than the standard warrior training. And so the rest of her day – and much of the following one – was spent talking to nearly every resident of the village, determining where their skills were best applied in a combat situation and attempting to instruct them on how to use those skills. Those whose abilities mirrored the ones of the rogues she knew were a bit easier for her to assist, since she had been living at SI:7's headquarters for the better part of three years, but the casters posed more of a problem for her. Thankfully, the innate ability of those who were able to wield spells of magic and healing did most of the work for her and she only needed to focus on helping them learn to properly aim their spells – which, as an archer, was more her forte.