Red Phoenix

yang, but that’s understandable,’ the Tiger said. ‘Much brighter, much harder, much more…I dunno…’ He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, my Lord, there’s no other way to put this. He was much more of a bastard.’
    ‘Oh, thank you very much,’ John said, leaning back and glowering.
    ‘Why is it understandable that he would be more yang?’ I said.
    ‘Suppose it wouldn’t hurt you to know, Emma, you’ll be spending most of your time with this thing, you’d better be aware of the strange nature of its essence,’ the Tiger said.
    ‘He’s not a thing !’ I said, horrified.
    ‘Yes, I am,’ John said equably. ‘Because I encapsulate both essences in one creature. Two creatures.’
    ‘Essences? Turtle and Serpent?’
    ‘Yang and yin,’ the Tiger said. ‘You know?’
    ‘I know,’ I said. ‘Yang is bright, hard, life, light, metal, hot, male.’ I gestured towards the Tiger. ‘You are extremely yang.’ He nodded and grinned. I thought about yin. ‘Yin is soft, dark, death, black, water, cold, female,’ and I gasped. I looked at John. He was all of those things, except for the female. He nodded. I hadn’t thought of it that way.
    ‘How female are you?’ I said with horror. This was something about him—and something about myself— that I wasn’t really sure I wanted to look at too closely.
    The Tiger chuckled. ‘Ever done it, Ah Wu?’ he said slyly. ‘I know I have.’
    I stared at the Tiger, aghast. ‘You’ve turned yourself into a chick?’
    The Tiger nodded, and his grin widened. ‘We choose the form we take. Gender is part of the form. For us,gender is completely optional. Humans seem to have a great deal of attachment to gender, and often seem to find change in gender threatening. No idea why; most of us Shen can’t understand this preoccupation. The Phoenix’s human form used to spend most of its time male, now it spends most of its time female, and won’t tell anyone why.’
    ‘The Tiger will go to any length to get the girl, sometimes,’ John said, his voice a low rumble.
    I collapsed forward over my knees, laughing silently. I could believe it. I looked up at the Tiger. You guy. Living every hot-blooded guy’s dream. I shook my head. Even as a chick, he would still have been a full-blooded male. This was so weird, and here I was handling it perfectly.
    I crossed my arms over my knees and leaned on them. I glanced up at John. He watched me placidly. Gender was completely optional.
    ‘Is the Turtle female?’ I said softly.
    ‘That question doesn’t really apply to our True Forms, Emma,’ he said. ‘We are essence.’
    ‘But he’s always male in True Form,’ I said, leaning back and pointing at the Tiger. ‘Extremely male.’
    ‘You noticed,’ the Tiger said, grinning evilly.
    ‘Bit hard to miss,’ I shot back, ‘you’re a shocking exhibitionist.’
    The Tiger just shrugged, the grin not shifting.
    ‘The Bai Hu’s essence is yang,’ John said. ‘Extremely yang, even though he is the Lesser Yang. Of course his True Form is male.’
    ‘But your essence is yin,’ I said. ‘Female.’
    ‘I encapsulate both essences, Emma,’ John said. ‘Yang and yin. I am two creatures. The Turtle is yin. The Serpent is yang. The essence of the Xuan Wu, combined, is yin. I am the ultimate yin creature: I am dark, cold, water, winter, death. But my human form has always been male.’
    ‘He’s right, Emma,’ the Tiger said. ‘He’s always been male in human form, despite his yin nature, his dual nature.’
    ‘No wonder everybody keeps saying you’re a very strange creature, Xuan Wu,’ I said softly with wonder. ‘They’re right.’
    ‘Both essences, combined into yin. Two creatures, combined into one. His colour is black, his number is one, his direction is North, and he is Master of the Arts of War. And in human form, he has always been male,’ the Tiger said softly. ‘With perfect alignment.’
    ‘Okay. So you’re a very yin guy, but still a guy,’ I said.
    John nodded. ‘And you’re a very yang woman, but still a woman. Think about it. Aren’t you?’
    I mentally stepped back and studied myself. ‘I suppose I am,’ I said. ‘But I’m still one hundred per cent female, all the way through. I’ve never thought of myself any other way.’ I hesitated. ‘That explains our compatibility, I suppose. Yang and yin.’
    I had a sudden brilliant, wonderful thought.
    ‘Could I be your Serpent?’ I said quietly with delight.
    He wasn’t surprised