Blue Dragon

surprised that I turned out to be so good at it.’
    ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Second: are you completely human?’
    Her face went strange and I interrupted her before she could say anything. ‘Wait.’ I tapped the stone.
    ‘I was sleeping, Emma.’
    ‘You will be sleeping in the water if you talk back to me again,’ I said. I saw Amy’s face. ‘The stone in this ring is sentient, abusive, noisy, arrogant and lazy.’
    ‘You forgot bad-tempered,’ the stone said.
    ‘Yeah.’ I asked it silently to check whether Amy was telling the truth. It agreed just as silently. Both of us turned back to Amy.
    ‘Amy,’ I said, ‘are you human? Tell me the truth.’
    Amy hesitated, then sighed. ‘I hope so.’
    True .
    ‘Do you suspect you may not be human?’ I said.
    Amy shrugged. ‘I’m really talented. Everybody else reacted so badly when I generated the chi; I didn’t even know I wasn’t supposed to be able to do it yet.’
    I had a sudden feeling of déjà vu .
    True.
    ‘I would like to look inside you,’ I said. ‘Do you give your permission?’
    Amy’s eyes went wide.
    ‘It won’t hurt,’ I said. ‘In fact, I won’t do it myself at all; only a Shen can do it. It is a completely painless process, the only discomfort being the fact that the Shen will be able to see everything inside you. Everything. But I would like to confirm that you are completely human.’
    ‘Are you worried about me?’ she asked quietly. ‘I know I am.’
    True .
    I smiled and patted her hand. ‘I’m sure we won’t find anything.’
    She smiled slightly in response. ‘Which Shen?’
    ‘Probably Gold,’ I said. ‘He’s the best one availableright now. All the other Academy Shen are flat out with the new recruits, and Jade’s off doing some sort of dragon thing. Besides, as a new student, you know Gold already.’
    She shrugged, the smile widening a little. ‘Okay.’ She shook her head. ‘Who would believe it? That I’m in a martial arts school run by a turtle, taught by a snake, side by side with a dragon and a stone?’
    ‘Freaked my parents out completely,’ I said. ‘Don’t tell your family.’
    ‘They think I’m a NET teacher, getting away from my husband while the divorce papers go through,’ she said. ‘Native English-speaker Teaching scheme.’
    ‘Most of our older students’ parents think that,’ I said. ‘If they’re underage of course we tell the parents they’re coming to learn the Arts, but if the student is an adult, like you, it’s up to you to choose what to tell them.’ I paused, then decided. I took the ring off my finger and handed it to her. ‘Put this on for a moment.’
    She studied it, turning it over in her fingers, then slipped it onto the smallest finger of her left hand.
    ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Give it back.’
    She shrugged and returned it to me.
    ‘Good,’ I said. ‘I’ll arrange a time for you to be examined by Gold. Don’t worry, you know him already. He’s okay.’
    ‘Is that the ring?’ she said.
    ‘Yep. I just had the stone look at you as well.’
    ‘Did it find anything?’
    ‘No,’ the stone said. ‘Amy, you are a perfectly normal human being. Just extremely talented.’
    She sagged with relief.
    I didn’t tell her it was exactly the same thing the stone had said about me.
    She smiled. ‘Why does it sound English?’
    ‘To annoy me,’ I said. ‘Go back to the Folly. I’ll contact you later and we’ll have you checked out.’
    ‘Why do you call it the Folly?’ she said. ‘Both the student residences are called the Folly—the Old Folly and the New Folly.’
    I laughed. ‘Full name is Turtle’s Folly. Mr Chen bought the Old Folly at the top of the market, paid double the current market value for it. He lost a serious amount of money on it.’
    She smiled wryly. ‘I thought gods didn’t make mistakes.’
    ‘This one has made some absolutely spectacular ones.’ I spread my hands. ‘I’m one of the biggest, according to him.’
    ‘Isn’t calling someone a “turtle” here in Hong Kong an insult?’
    ‘Damn straight. Don’t call it Turtle’s Folly when the Chinese kids are around; some of them are sensitive about it.’
    ‘And if someone mentions it in front of the Dark Lord, does he get very mad?’
    ‘No,’ I said. ‘He’s thoroughly delighted with the name. I wish I’d never thought of it, because he had it translated, and has a piece of calligraphy hidden away somewhere that he wants to put in brass above the door.’
    Her