Copyright "Frenchslot/Hse_Nao" (2006)
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Prospects always change.
1935, as her father said with a resolute wink, is the year of prospects. And Lei-Fang had to admit that prospects were something she particularly enjoyed. China hadn't been the same since the Japanese had invaded - and although this corner of the country was relatively quiet (her father was the town's headman - a resourceful and barrel-chested man of surprising diplomacy - for which most of this quiet could be rested), there was still a sense of grim deprivation.
But prospects might change.
Early morning was the best time to make a move, and so she'd taken it, when the first few rays of dawn were peaking over the tiles and timber roofs, she'd picked her way carefully towards the forested hills outside town. It wasn't hard dodging the Japanese patrols. Lei-Fang had learnt all the secret routes into the woods, and no matter how dangerous it was to go out these days - what with the Japanese and the bandits and communists - she had never had any trouble so far.
But then, on those other days when she went up there to think and practise her reading, she had never worried about... well, that would be telling.
Lei-Fang was eighteen, and at that cusp of sexuality where she noticed the way men looked at her, but didn't necessarily realise that their cocks twitched and hardened underneath their clothing. Short and delicate, with the smooth pale of her skin offset by the crimson qipao - the body-hugging one-piece dress worn by girls - she was wearing, she easily bested the painted-women who plyed the special areas of town where the menfolk went when their wives were being frigid or unaccepting. The fact that she was wearing no make-up, that her face held no imperfections, should say more. Beneath the tight fit of her dress, was the gentle swell of her breasts - the first demonstrations of femininity without the inordinate fecundity that she'd seen in photographs of the strange ghostly white folk that lived in Shanghai.
She was slight, but not weak. She walked with purpose.
And her purpose was to check on the egg.
She had found it a few days before, while walking by the river. It was a blue-green thing, dappled and mottled, twice the size of a normal bird's egg. At first she thought it might have been some sort of eagle's, like the ones she'd heard about from her mother (her mother had been born in the mountains, where eagles were apparently common). But when it had quivered in her hand, and seemed to glow with a weird light, she had realised it was something more.
There was a cabin that she knew of, used by trappers in the colder months, and she had left it there for safe-keeping. Today she was going to get it and bring it back down into town.
The cabin door was stuck when she got there, and it took a couple of tugs to get it open before she slipped inside, closing it behind her. A thin, dusty stream of light filtered in through the windows and ceiling slats. Lei-Fang made her way across the open centre of the room to the grimy old cloths she had hidden the egg under.
It wasn't there.
She pulled all the blankets apart - dislodging a few surprised spiders and a lot of dust. But no egg. Perhaps it had rolled away? She poked around the edges of the room, finding nothing more than the corpses of a few mice and some old knick-knacks left by previous occupants.
When she turned back the dragon was watching her with a sort of bemused expression. It glittered like fire, even in the pale half-fug that kept it nearly hidden it on the other side of the room, and they both stared at each other for a long time.
"Are you..." started the girl.
Thank you. The dragon's mouth didn't seem to form the words, just twitch. You are the one who found my egg and brought me to this sanctuary.
It stepped forward into the centre of the room where Lei-Fang could see it more clearly. Please step forward. Its voice was soft and hissing, like sand rushing through an hourglass. An ageless voice.
Lei-Fang stepped forward, and then lowered herself to her knees, bowing her head. A dragon, she thought.
It too moved forward to meet her, and for the first time in a long time she felt blessed.
Prospects change, indeed.
The dragon reminded Lei-Fang of a snake. It was long and thin, extraordinarily long, at least as tall as her and she wondered how something that big managed to fit into such a tiny egg. It must have grown. But... if it had only hatched that night... The dragon grinned. A whole foot of snout yawned open to reveal thousands of tiny ebony teeth set into the lipless mouth, and its tongue flicked out like another foot of brilliant red dress-thread. The tip of the tongue waggled in what might have been mirth, its snake-like forks twisting this way and that seemingly at their own will. Tasting the air.
So young, so young, hissed the dragon in that silibant half-song voice. It scampered forwards, head bobbing, to take in the full effect of the delicate young girl kneeling before it. Lei-Fang watched it. With her head tilted down in supplication to the creature, she could only see the glittering of its scales as it twisted first to the left and then to the right. She kept her head perfectly still, following it only with her eyes as it moved to circle her.
It vanished from view.
And then it was back again, this time on her other side, hissing softly to itself as it moved around to face her.
What is your name?
"Lei-Fang," said Lei-Fang, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed, and she blushed. She'd managed to go this entire time without telling him (she presumed it was a him - dragons were always meant to be male) it; but if the dragon minded it didn't seem to notice. Instead the creature seemed to sigh, its jaw opening again in what she assumed was a dragon's laugh. Tongue lashing to-and-fro. Ah, a phoenix. The tongue whipped now, like a rattle, thrashing in the air. I need your help little phoenix, whispered the dragon. It rattled sideways on the short, pipecleaner legs of its, the three needle claws of its feet tapping on the hardwood floor.
"Help?"
Lei-Fang finally looked up. Without stopping its dancing little footfalls, the dragon shook its head. Yes, yes. Help. I need your help. Please, trust me. You trust a dragon, don't you?
Lei-Fang was not a stupid girl, but she was a naive girl. And more importantly, she was an awestruck girl. At any other time, if one of the local boys had offered her a treat or an apple for a touch of her (some had, and a couple of the more uncouth ones more than just a touch) she would have readily told them where to get off. But this was something different.
Without much thought she nodded. Without another word, the dragon darted forward.
The dragon was more like a snake than she imagined. It darted between her legs, underneath her qipao and she felt it scuttle up her back, the claws nicking the flesh of her back. A squeal escaped her lips as this strange, alien monstrosity weighed down on her back - but it latched on all the tighter when she made to shake herself free. Its head rose up above her shoulder and to the side, so that its enormous snout hung next to her cheek. Its breath smelt of wet earth and salt water. The tongue snaked out to move gently now, to brush against her cheek ~ so, so delicately. Like a kiss.
Terror gripped her. She almost bucked against the monster properly - the feather-light dancing of that hot, dry ribbon of flesh against her own. And then, it tickled the lobe of her ear. The breath followed it. The dragon's forepaws reached around, one gripping her shoulder to steady itself, the other arcing around, to rest gently, but forcefully, on her youthful breast.