That night, Theramore's Royal Palace finally regained its usual tranquility after more than half a day of chaos. Yet tainted by over three hundred deaths, the palace still felt ominous in the dim light. Only after the priests purified the entire palace with Holy Light did a peaceful atmosphere return.
Daelin, Caliea, Dick, Jaina, Erigor, Liadrin, and the other senior officials-the entire leadership of Theramore-gathered in the Royal Palace's meeting hall.
On the open floor before them lay the corpse of a fat purple bug. Even in death, it remained uncanny. At the very least, Princess Caliea forced herself not to look at the thing, while Little Anduin had lost his earlier courage and quietly hid in Caliea's arms.
Clearly, the child had been badly frightened too.
Naisha, the Wardens' leader, still wore their unchanging combination of a dark green cloak and armor, without even removing the Owl Helm covering her face. But no one paid any attention to that now. Everyone sat quietly to one side, listening as Naisha, who had personally experienced the last War of the Shifting Sands, explained where these strange bugs had come from.
"These creatures... we call them Qiraji!"
Holding a dagger, Naisha gently pointed toward the worker bug's remains beside her. "But they actually call themselves the 'Aqir'!"
"Call themselves?"
Daelin sounded puzzled. "You mean these bugs can talk? I've seen talking lobsters and murlocs, and even sea giants can communicate once they've had their fill, but bugs..."
Naisha nodded. Although she had lived in Theramore for nearly two years, she still wasn't accustomed to human etiquette. The generous Caliea allowed all the Wardens to live according to their own customs, so Naisha used no honorifics and spoke bluntly.
"Yes, human king. Not only can they talk, but they also have a civilization