Blue Dragon

John said. ‘Some of them havecrossed over into the professional field. Not many—maybe two or three at the most; they’re more interested in the Arts, that’s why they’re good enough for the Mountain in the first place. I will only take the most dedicated young people who love their Arts more than anything else.’ His smile became more gentle. ‘You knew you were fast, Emma.’
    ‘Michael’s turn,’ I said, gesturing. ‘I’ll bet he’s faster than me.’
    ‘No way !’ Simone shouted. ‘Me next!’
    ‘Emma, take Simone, hold her hand,’ John said. ‘Help her with the centres, make sure she does it right.’ He moved closer to me and spoke softly. ‘I’m counting on you. Keep her safe. You know this can be dangerous.’
    ‘You know what to do, Simone?’ I said, taking her hand.
    ‘Lift the energy centres, the dan tian,’ she said. ‘I saw what you did.’ She hesitated. ‘Watch me carefully; let me know if I do it wrong, Emma.’
    ‘Okay, sweetheart. Ready?’
    ‘Ready,’ Simone said, and gathered herself.
    We ran together, holding hands. She wasn’t as fast as I was, but she was still very fast.
    She grabbed the centres and lifted them, and I lifted myself as well. We hung on the air together, then both dropped and hit the ground running. Simone stumbled and I held her up. We skidded to a halt together and turned. I felt her excitement through her hand.
    ‘Again!’ she squealed, and jerked my hand.
    ‘One, two, three !’ I shouted and we ran together again. She lifted herself, I lifted myself, and we flew together.
    When we touched down again, Simone continued to run and this time didn’t stumble. She didn’t stop; she let go of me, ran straight into John and tackled him, nearlyknocking him over again. She grinned up at him with her eyes sparkling. ‘Can I go again?’
    He grinned. ‘Go.’
    She laughed, turned and ran again, lifting herself on the centres. She had it.
    I moved closer to John. ‘I wish we had the space to do this at home.’
    ‘So do I,’ he said. He gestured and Michael approached us.
    ‘You want me to go with you?’ I said.
    ‘Can I try by myself?’
    ‘Go. Try,’ John said. ‘Take care, but I think you can do it.’
    Simone returned, her face flushed and her eyes sparkling. ‘That’s more fun than swimming. Can I try jumping down?’
    ‘Jump down off the obstacle course,’ John said, and she ran to climb the ladder. The Dragon moved to catch her.
    ‘She won’t need him. She’ll get it right first time, same as Michael,’ John said, motioning towards Michael who was flying along the side of the obstacle course.
    He was right. Both Simone and Michael were like children in a playground. They couldn’t get enough of the flying and falling. John and I watched them with amusement.
    After five minutes I moved to sit under a tree, leaving John to supervise. I faced the water and enjoyed the view, relaxing.
    I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and leaned forward to see.
    Leo and Martin stood at the end of the beach, watching the water together and talking. Leo had his arms crossed; Martin had his hands folded behind his back.
    They faced each other. Leo reached up and stroked Martin’s cheek and lowered his face to Martin’s. Martin put his hand around Leo’s neck and pulled himself closer.
    I faced the other way.
    A couple of minutes later they strolled past me along the beach, hand in hand, talking softly. They didn’t notice me. But they dropped their hands when they were within view of Michael and Simone.
    I sighed.
    ‘Don’t wear yourselves out,’ John called after about half an hour of Michael and Simone flying and leaping from the obstacle course. ‘There’s one more thing we need to do.’
    He gestured for us to approach and we gathered around him.
    ‘Simone should do this first, she has good control of her shen,’ John said. ‘Projecting your consciousness into your chi. Generate chi, and move a very small part of your shen into it.’
    ‘But that’s shen work,’ I said, protesting. ‘I can’t do that on the Earthly Plane, only on the Celestial Plane.’
    ‘Not quite shen work,’ John said. ‘Joining the energy together, working with them together. Just more advanced chi work. You should be able to do it.’
    He gestured for Simone to approach. ‘Generate about this much.’ He indicated about a tennis ball’s worth.
    Simone nodded, concentrating, held out her hands and generated the energy.
    ‘Try