(2024-04-24) Mentors Tend to Mentor

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Author:	teensy
Summary:	Ace returns to Ironforge to mourn the king, and be in the city in case her friend Brannagen needs her. When she escapes to Headquarters for breathing space, she meets her old mentor Lireen, who might be the perfect person to tell about the anger of the stones.
Rating:	T for Teen

Lireen , a well-built warrior with Wildhammer tattoos, is giving a training dummy a good beating.
Lireen stops when Ace enters, wiping her gray hair back from her face and smiling.
Ace is wearing dress armor - not of northrend, but of dwarven crafting. and…makeup. Ace is wearing makeup.
[Lireen]: Hello there! Have we met? Wot can I do fer ye?
[Ace]: Lireen. I'm Ace Stormhammer. We did meet last year.
[Ace]: You recruited me for Cobalt Company.
Lireen 's well-lined eyes are a tranquil grayish blue. "Tha's right! Fergive an old woman."
[Lireen]: I didna recognize ye all made up like tha'.
[Lireen]: Ach, it's been a Titan's age.
Ace bends her head to show her elaborately braided, pinned up hair. "My sister got her hands on me, y'see."
[Lireen]: Ach!!
Lireen laughs gently.
[Lireen]: Well it's pretty. It's not you, lass, but it's pretty.
[Ace]: Indeed, it is not! I've never been…
Lireen peers at you searchingly.
Ace waves a shiny gauntleted hand at her makeup and hair.
[Lireen]: Me either, lass, me either.
[Lireen]: Are ye here lookin' fer work? Or trainin'? Anythin' I can help with?
[Ace]: I wanted to slip out. Of the mourning.
[Lireen]: Oh, aye. I've never been one fer group rituals.
[Lireen]: I'll feel how I wanna feel, on me own time, in me own way.
[Ace]: Maybe I should go and sit in vigil. but I can't concentrate, not on a single thing.
[Lireen]: Wha's the matter with ye?
Lireen looks her over.
[Ace]: Do you know Brannagen?
[Lireen]: Oh aye, we were stuck on a boat t'gether ta Northrend. Cheeky lad.
[Ace]: We were out on missions together in Northrend.
[Lireen]: Oh, well I imagine he made things… jolly?
Lireen tilts her head.
[Ace]: We found Brann Bronzebeard. And then we found —
Lireen 's eyes widen a little as she listens.
[Ace]: King Muradin? It was him. He figured it out.
[Ace]: Brannagen and me and White Squad.
[Lireen]: Oh riiiight! I read in the newsletter! Tha' all three brothers had a reunion up there. Wha' a thing ta see.
[Lireen]: It's especially good, I suppose, now, aye? Tha' they had some time t'gether. Fer the ferst time in a long while.
Lireen sighs at you.
[Ace]: But honestly him. And then we went to Ulduar. White squad, Blue Squad, me, some others. And ever since then the stone is so loud.
[Lireen]: The… stone is loud?
Lireen tilts her head again gently, this time the other way.
Lireen glances toward the chairs. "Here, lass, why don't ye have a set, fer just a minute."
[Lireen]: Hm?
[Lireen]: There we are.
Lireen folds her hands together in her lap and gives Ace a Motherly Listening Face.
Ace sits. " My father and my uncle are smiths. Good ones. Because they can tell when the ore is refined, that the alloys are right, that the stormforging takes in their work. I could hear it too, but it didn't make me a good smith."
Lireen nods, seeming to understand.
[Ace]: I'm a good miner. And Northrend mining is a little bit — there's an ore there that sent me out of my mind for a bit. We had to get away. But I could hear it. And then I could hear it no matter where I was.
[Ace]: Just a hum. Until Ulduar.
[Lireen]: Hmmm.
[Lireen]: An' you said… the stone is loud here, too? Yer hearin' the same kinda ore here?
Ace shakes her head. "Not like Saronite, thank the light. But it feels angry."
[Lireen]: Ye know who ye sound like is one o' me exes. But you Bronzebeard types, ye dinna have shamans, right?
[Ace]: No. But…
[Ace]: We forge stormhammers. I've always wondered - did we stay, when we should have gone?
[Ace]: I can't ask. Uncle won't hear a word he doesn't want to hear.
Lireen looks thoughtful.
[Lireen]: I used ta carry on with this hermit fella called Ogan, carried on so much I ended up with a son. He was always talkin' abou' stone havin' moods, talkin' to him. Stonewhisper, was wha' they ended up callin' im fer a surname.
[Ace]: Stonewhisper? could he talk back?
[Lireen]: Aye, sometimes he'd go out an' just… it was like he had whole conversations. Mostly wi' the stone but sometimes water, too, or the wind. I was fascinated. Obviously, heh heh.
[Lireen]: He an' I dinna talk much anymore but our son followed the same path. Goes out there sometimes months at a time ta learn from 'im.
[Lireen]: I think 'shaman' is the word they use in Common. There's usually at least one in most families, where I come from.
[Ace]: so your son can speak to the stones?
[Lireen]: Aye, well, he's learnin' a' least.
[Lireen]: He says he got a bit more air in him, an' tha's from me, he says. He seems to see people in terms of elements. Sometimes fergets they're also people, bless him.
[Ace]: I think that's neat, though. Is it like the draenei say? that there are spirits of the stones?
[Ace]: I never feel like someone is there.
[Lireen]: I haven't talked much with dran-eye. But our shamans at least, they do say that. That stones an' fire an' all that, they speak.
[Lireen]: I canna hear it meself, but I learned long ago that just because I canna see or hear a theng, dinna mean it en't there.
[Ace]: Right. Like shamans. They say the water talks, well, then it talks. They're the ones who know, right?
[Lireen]: Aye, tha's how I figure it.
[Lireen]: So maybe ye got the gift yerself?
[Lireen]: An' ye just dinna know yet exactly how ta interpret wha' yer hearin'.
[Ace]: I really don't know. The Saronite spoke clearly. But it lied. Stone and ore usually feel slow. like a vibration, rather than a voice.
[Ace]: Usually.
[Lireen]: Saronite en't really stone, ye know.
[Lireen]: An' it talks ta everyone.
[Ace]: It did talk to everyone in squad. It really bothered me. and Ralea. She was very disturbed.
[Lireen]: I heard it a bit meself when I was up there. Awful stuff, put me in mind o' me last days at Grim Batol.
[Ace]: You were there? I've heard stories, and stories were a lot.
[Lireen]: Oh aye, I was. Sometimes still have nightmares.
[Lireen]: Livin' shadows that just… sucked all the will t'live right out o' ye an' made ye see everythin' all twisted… saronite gave me a bit o' the same feelin.
[Ace]: yes. Awful.
[Ace]: Should I talk to a shaman, then? A Wildhammer?
Lireen considers, stroking her chin.
[Lireen]: Last I heard from Donnall he was curious about Ironforge. Bad time t'visit but I bet I could convince him. That's me son, by the way, Ogan's boy.
[Lireen]: He's a bit… rough aroun' the edges, but nothin' ye couldna handle, I'm sure.
[Lireen]: Ye could wander the Hinterlands fer a month tryin' ta figure out where he's set up camp, but might be easier just ta drag 'im here.
[Lireen]: Donnall grew up hearin' me stories about back when the Dark Irons an' the Wildhammers an' the Bronzebeards all lived here tagether, an' he's always been fascinated by the other clans.
[Ace]: Well, Ironforge has open doors. Wouldn't suggest Black Rock, though.
[Lireen]: Ach, nae. I've dissuaded him many a time from 'investigatin' Dark Iron settlements.
[Lireen]: He's remarkably easy ta dissuade from thengs. Sometimes talkin him inta somethin' is a bit harder, but this I dinna think will be.
[Ace]: Because of the curiosity.
[Ace]: I'd be happy to see him, show him around.
[Lireen]: I'll send him a note an' then once I know when he's comin', I'll write to ye and let ye know. How's that sound?
[Lireen]: I apologize in advance fer anythin' rude he might say. I have tried time and again ta teach him manners an' every time I make six inches o' progress he goes an' spends some time with his father an' slips back a yard.
[Ace]: That sounds wonderful. and I'll see about managing the rudeness.
[Lireen]: I have no doubt ye can.
Lireen grins.
[Lireen]: Just wanted ta make sure ye know it's his father's doin' and nae mine.
Ace laughs. "I'll remember."
Lireen winks slyly at you.