Blue Dragon

students and my Lady while we do it?’
    ‘I’m going with you,’ I said.
    ‘You are staying with Simone,’ John said. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
    I sighed with feeling and decided to drop it. ‘Can’t you take some Horsemen or something?’
    ‘No need,’ the Tiger said. ‘In True Form, together, nothing will stand against us.’
    ‘He is correct, Emma,’ the Phoenix said gently. ‘The Bai Hu and the Xuan Wu are the two greatest demon destroyers on any Plane. Together they are unstoppable.’
    ‘Take the Third Prince,’ I said.
    ‘Good idea, if he’s up for it,’ John said.
    The Tiger nodded agreement. ‘He should enjoy some straight-out rampant destruction. Just what he likes.’
    ‘We will meet back here in seven days,’ John said. ‘Dismissed.’
    The Dragon disappeared.
    ‘Let me heal you first, Emma, then I will return and check my chicks,’ the Phoenix said.
    ‘Are they okay?’ I said as she took my hands and her fiery presence moved through me. She was like a liquid flame coursing through my energy meridians, but I felt no heat. Her essence moved to my leg and I felt the warmth on the injury.
    ‘The Demon King obviously did not wish to take advantage,’ the Phoenix said. ‘The Celestial Plane was not attacked. Tell me if the heat is too great.’
    ‘My Lord,’ the Tiger said, shaking his hands in front of his face. ‘I want to wait and see if the Lady can remedy the Lion. If she can’t, I can give him some quick lessons on being a cat. I can have him walking, running and fighting in that form, and you will have a valuable ally in the battle.’
    ‘Ah Bai,’ John said. ‘Bring Michael back. We may need his help to guard when Simone returns.’
    The warmth in my leg stopped and the Phoenix removed her consciousness from me. I shivered; I suddenly felt cold.
    ‘It will pass,’ she said. ‘You adjusted to my fire essence remarkably well. Very impressive.’
    ‘Yang. Serpent,’ John said.
    ‘Yes,’ the Phoenix said. ‘Most serpents are quite yang. Can you transform at will, Emma?’
    ‘No,’ I said.
    ‘Stand up,’ she said. ‘Let’s see how it looks.’
    I rose. The leg was still slightly stiff but the wound had definitely healed. I pulled the bandage off, wrapping it around my hand. There was a large hole in my jeans where the metal had pierced them. I opened the hole and inspected my leg; there was an angry red mark where I had been stabbed, but it was healed. I lifted my leg and swung it: still stiff and difficult to move, but nothing worse than the aftermath of a hard workout with the sword.
    ‘Thanks, Zhu Que.’
    ‘My pleasure,’ she said with a small smile. ‘Rest it for a couple of days. The wound was very deep. By your leave.’
    ‘Go and check your babies,’ I said.
    Her smiled widened, she saluted me, and disappeared.
    Emma, come, the Lady said in my head. John and the Tiger nodded to me and I went out. The door of the training room was closed. Come in , the Lady said before I’d tapped on it.
    Kwan Yin sat cross-legged in the middle of the mats in True Form, her beautiful serene face radiant. The long white robes cascaded around her. Her enormous shining pile of hair nearly touched the ceiling. I watched her with awe. Her hands were held out over Leo’s prone form, a pure white light surrounding both of them. Leo was human again. He appeared to be unconscious, stretched out naked on his side on the floor in front of her.
    Do not approach, she said, her glowing oval face not moving. I am not quite finished. I suggest you go find some clothes for him for when he returns.
    I turned and went out, closing the door softly behind me.
    ‘It worked,’ I whispered, hoping the Tiger’s acute hearing would pick it up.
    Good, the Tiger said into my head. He will be much more useful with a weapon anyway.
    I let myself into Leo’s room and laughed quietly as I went through his drawers. He’d kept some of the pink underwear, hidden at the bottom. I hadn’t known that. I grabbed some boxers and a robe for him.
    Come in, Ms Kwan said when I reached the door to the training room.
    She was sitting exactly the same way, but had returned to her normal human form. Leo sat cross-legged opposite her, his face full of calm serenity.
    I hesitated, then went in anyway.
    He heard me and glanced up. He smiled. ‘I feel doubly naked when there’s no fur.’
    I tossed him the robe and he pulled it around himself and rose. I passed him the boxers and he tugged them