Blue Dragon

human.’
    ‘If you say so, ma’am,’ Ah Yat said diplomatically.
    I laughed again and patted her back. ‘If you ever want an evening off to go and do human things, like shopping, let me know. In fact, I just had an idea. You show Sonia—take her shopping, show her how to buy and how to budget, how to dress.’
    ‘Yes, ma’am,’ she said, and turned to leave.
    ‘Ah Yat,’ I said, and she turned back. ‘You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. It’s your choice. You’re free to decide whether or not you want to do this.’
    ‘No, I’m not, ma’am,’ Ah Yat said, and went out.
    John was in the television room, watching a tape of an appalling Cantonese period drama with martial arts so laboured that you could actually see the actors counting as they performed the moves. Yat, yee . Yat, yee .
    ‘I don’t know how you can watch that trash,’ I said, leaning on the arm of the couch. ‘I need to talk to you.’
    He switched off the television and paused the video. ‘What?’ He moved to the end of the couch so that I could sit and turned to face me.
    ‘Ah Yat asked me to change her into a human.’
    ‘I’m not surprised,’ he said, pulling his feet up to sit cross-legged.
    ‘She asked to see the black chi, and when I showed it to her, she said she’d seen it before.’
    He straightened, suddenly much more interested. ‘Who? Where?’
    ‘Apparently when the current King of the Demons took over, he used this black chi.’
    He rubbed his hand on his chin and studied me appraisingly. ‘I’ve never seen him use it. Interesting.’
    ‘ Are you sure I’m not a demon? ’ I said fiercely. ‘Is there any doubt at all in your mind?’
    He shifted, making himself more comfortable, flexing his bare feet. ‘I am sure. No doubt whatsoever.’
    ‘Then what am I?’
    ‘Stay still,’ he said, and leaned to tap the stone.
    ‘Hm? Yes?’
    ‘She’s worried she’s a demon again. Apparently the King has used black chi similar to what she produced.’
    ‘Really? Interesting,’ the stone said. ‘Not surprising, though.’
    ‘Why?’ I said.
    ‘Because, young Emma, you are becoming more yin all the time. The more time you spend with this yin creature, the more yin you become yourself. When you first arrived in his household, you were extremely yang. Now, his influence is affecting you, in more ways than one.’
    ‘Is it because he is such a powerful creature, even though he’s drained?’ I said. ‘He’s inundating me with himself because he’s so big and I’m so little?’
    ‘You have it precisely, Emma,’ the stone said. ‘I think you knew that all along.’
    ‘But he can’t generate black chi.’
    ‘Never tried,’ John said, bemused. ‘But if I wanted to, I probably could. Must try it when I return.’
    ‘I’m losing my personality into yours,’ I said.
    Both the stone and John snorted with amusement. ‘Not very likely,’ John said.
    ‘No way,’ the stone said. ‘You have an extremely powerful personality, and I don’t think you’re in much danger of “losing” it as you say. In fact, I think you have changed him just as much.’
    ‘You are quite correct,’ John said. ‘Go back to sleep.’
    ‘I certainly will,’ the stone said. ‘I was having a lovely dream. I dreamed I was an active volcano and I had erupted, driving hundreds of fleshies from their homes.’ It sighed with bliss. ‘You interrupted me right in the middle of it.’
    ‘You are a small, square, green creep,’ I said.
    The stone was silent.
    ‘Still worried?’ John said.
    ‘Oh no, nothing to worry about. There aren’t any demons after us, you aren’t on the edge of losing your life, Leo isn’t dying, Simone is quite ready for both of you to go, and I’m absolutely nothing out of the ordinary,’ I said. ‘Everything is perfectly peachy.’
    ‘Come and do a slow set with me,’ he said, pulling himself up from the couch. ‘Something nice and yin.’
    I ran my hands through my hair. ‘God, you hate me, Xuan Wu.’
    ‘You know I don’t,’ he said softly as he opened the door.
    A week later I got a call from our doctor, Regina Chow. ‘Come on down to the infirmary, please, Emma. I have the results of your test.’
    My stomach fell out.
    ‘Sit, Emma,’ Regina said when I arrived at her office. Regina was a delightful Chinese human in her mid-twenties who lived with one of the Mountain dragon staff. She closed the door behind me. ‘Before we do anything else, the result was