“It was amazing! Cliffs, tens of lei tall, with phoenix nests all the way up, and the phoenixes themselves all shining like flames. I got to hold some of the chicks in my hands. They were so cute and small and warm! I wish you could have held them too.”

“I probably couldn't.” Cheng Baak-hap smiled, then coughed, a rattle in her lungs. She had woken with a sore throat and a slight temperature. “You can do it because of your Fire abilities. Can you show me what you learned?”

Chan Bik produced the tiny point of light again, and Cheng Baak-hap stared at it wonderingly.

“I can feel the heat coming off it. And it's... actually so bright. I can't look at it for very long.” Se blinked, her eyes already watering. “It's like a little star.”

“Are you going to be okay to travel?” Chan Bik held a hand to Cheng Baak-hap's forehead and the other to her own.

“Haha, you're not leaving me behind that easily. It was hard enough getting this far.” She smiled and her narrow eyes turned to crescents.

“That mole under your eye...”

“Hm? What about it?”

“Uh... N-nothing. I, uh, wonder where Gaam Si-hing went?”

Cheng Baak-hap coughed. “Apparently the Grandmaster asked him to look for someone.”

“Who?”

“I don't know. Master... Maan Dzi King wouldn't tell me.”

“That bitch!”

“Can Si-mui! You can't say that...”

“So why are you smirking behind your sleeve?”

They giggled and nudged each other until Cheng Baak-hap started coughing again.

“Sorry, Si ze.”

“That's... ugh... okay.”

“Si ze, what happened?”

“Lady Maan... I don't know why, but she seems... ha... very driven. And she also seems to forget about the limitations of others.” She uncomfortably cleared her throat.

“She bullied you. I don't care if she's a divine dragon or whatever, she treated you really badly. How dare she!”

“Are you going to tell her off for me, Chan Si-mui?”

“I would if Grandmaster didn't,” Chan Bik huffed. “But she and Lady Gong already seemed like they weren't going to let her off.”

“You'd really go and shout at a dragon, Bik Mui?”

“Of course I would! Just because she's a loong – No, it's even worse! She's in a position of power, I bet she took advantage of that, thinking you wouldn't dare to tell anyone what she was doing. The... arrogance! I'm glad Gou Si-hing said something.”

“So am I. I was so tired, I couldn't even think straight.”

“Did she make you work without taking any breaks?”

“Mm.” Cheng Baak-hap tried to clear her throat and went into a coughing fit. Chan Bik gave her hot water to drink until her coughing stopped. “It just seemed like I couldn't do anything right. If I finished a task, it wasn't fast enough, so I had to do the next one faster. If I made the mistake, it was like I had personally offended her mother. But strangely... she seemed desperate. I don't know why, but she seems to want to try to prove something.”

“What, like how uncaring she can be of other people? Yeah, great job.”

“Haven't you noticed, Chan Si-mui? The way she and Gong Lau Yan interact is kind of strange, like something happened between them.”

“I guess so, but that's not a reason for her to be a bitch.”

“Careful, Bik mui, you could get in trouble if someone hears.”

Chan Bik grumbled but held her tongue. “And where's Gou Si-hing gone as well? He isn't becoming more like Gaam Si-hing now that they're dating, is he?”

“So you've decided that they're dating, have you?” Cheng Baak-hap's eyes sparkled mischievously.

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“Of course they are. Have you seen how they look at each other? And Gou Si-hing kept sneaking off to see Gaam Si-hing as soon as he got back to Mount Faa. They're ridiculous.”

“Are you jealous?”

“What? Of who? If anything, I'm relieved that Gou Si-hing isn't actually dating-” Chan Bik's words ground to a halt. She fumbled for a bit, then suddenly blew a raspberry.

“What was that for?”

“Nothing!”

“What were you going to say?”

“I'm not telling you!”

A knock at the door interrupted their spirited bickering.

“It's Gong Lau Yan. Can I come in?”

She entered as the two young woman called out in response, and sat down at the end of Cheng Baak-hap's bed, hugging her long legs to her chest, looking for all the world like a peer of the same age.

“I'm sorry, Little Cheng.”

“Why, Lady Gong? It's not your fault.”

“You can just call me 'Miss Gong'. I think... No, Dzi King... Maan Dzi King and I had a falling out, and she definitely took it out on you. So I'm sorry.”

“It's still not your fault,” Chan Bik said fiercely. “She's a divine dragon, hundreds of years old. She should be grown-up enough to behave herself, not throw a tantrum and hurt someone else!”

“Haven't you ever let your anger get the better of you, Little Chan? And hurt someone? I know I have.”

Chan Bik couldn't respond to that. She scowled at the floor until Cheng Baak-hap reached out and squeezed her hand.

“Maan Dzi King will continue to stay with us,” Gong Lau Yan continued, her voice and expression impassive. Having come to know the loong, Cheng Baak-hap suspected that this was her way of showing her disagreement. “But she will no longer be looking after Little Cheng on her own. It's an undeniable fact that she has great organisational and intelligence gathering skills that Little Cheng would benefit from. But there will always be a third party in the room, whether that is A-po, or Gaam Yuk Ying.”

“Not you, Miss Gong?”

Gong Lau Yan clicked her tongue. “Not me. Now, I'll go so you can rest a little more.”

She left the room to a duplication of goodbyes. The girls' voices drifted through the door - laughter, coughing, more laughter, sweet whispers. With a rueful little smile, Gong Lau Yan walked away down the corridor to find somewhere quiet to think.

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“What are you doing?” she shouted at Maan Dzi King, the previous day.

“Gong Lau Yan, if you can't control yourself, I will have you leave,” Wong Tang growled at her granddaughter. Gong Lau Yan shut her mouth, but her eyes jabbed Maan Dzi King like splinters.

“You really just can't behave yourself, can you, Lady Gong?” Maan Dzi King smirked coldly, but a moment later she was forced to quail back as Wong Tang stood before her like a towering mountain over a tiny insect. As though trapped in mud, her limbs felt heavy and stuck; she could only look helplessly as Wong Tang glared down at her.

“Maan Dzi King. You failed to take into account the human limitations of your disciple. You were also requested to train her, not grind her into the ground.”

“D-Divine Empress, one must go through many struggles if they wish to-”

“So you took it upon yourself to become one of those struggles? To become one of those small monsters that your disciple would look back on with disgust?”

“She would thank me. Like I do with you,” she added to the watching Gong Lau Yan, who gritted her teeth painfully tight to prevent herself from shouting back.

“So you allowed your personal feelings to cloud your professional responsibilities.”

“I have done nothing wrong, Divine Empress.”

“Your responsibility is to teach your disciple, not to break her.”

“Is she broken, Divine Majesty.”

“She is not well. If you had been left to your own devices until the end of this week, the damage might have been permanent.”

“'Might', Divine Majesty?”

“Maan Dzi King, are you truly talking to me so disrespectfully?”

“I'm merely trying to understand-”

“Stop, Dzi King,” Gong Lau Yan said suddenly. “Just stop now. Let go of your-”

“Easy for you to say. You tossed me aside and didn't once look back, didn't you? Not everyone can be so callous.”

Gong Lau Yan turned before Maan Dzi King could even finish her sentence.

“That's right, go and hide like you always do. You never stay and try to talk it out, you just-”

“Maan Dzi King, you will no longer be Cheng Baak-hap's Master,” Wong Tang interrupted, as Gong Lau Yan disappeared. “You will continue to train her – there is no doubt about your skills. But at all times, either myself, or Gaam Yuk Ying will be attending.”

“Gaam Yuk Ying, Divine Majesty? That child-”

“Could easily Ascend if he truly wanted to. His Metal powers may be in conflict with yours, but he has great intelligence and abilities, so I trust him to do a good job. And if you cannot come to terms with the grudge that you have against Gong Lau Yan, you will be requested to return to the palace of Joeng Tin Wong. Please come and talk to me when you wish to work through your thoughts.”

“Speak to you, Divine Majesty? You, the grandmother of my ex-lover?”

“Then speak to another. There are many in the palace who would be willing to hear you out and assist you.”

“I do not require assistance, Divine Majesty.”

“I see. I hope you will change your mind, Maan Dzi King. I value you, and I do not wish to see us part ways in anger.”

“I hear your words, Divine Majesty.”

“Keep to yourself for a while, please.”

“And if Gong Lau Yan comes looking for me?”

“She will not.”

“She will. I know her better than anyone.”

“We'll see.”

Maan Dzi King went out into the night, where a light rain fell, down to the opaque blue waters of Yuk-hoi Bay, and waited, her bare feet dipping in the ocean.

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An hour later, she heard a light step that she recognised.

It was not Gong Lau Yan.

A short young man met her deep blue eyes with his silver ones, briefly, before he bowed, just as briefly, and continued on in the direction of the tea house. His robes were only slightly damp.

“Gaam Yuk Ying.”

He paused, turned, and waited for her next words.

“You don't like bothersome things, do you?”

He made no indication to either agree or disagree with this statement.

“People that bother you, day after day. People that don't understand, who make you do things you don't want to do. Who don't listen. Who think they know everything, can do everything, when you are far more capable than they.”

The cool night breeze off the ocean was stiff with salt.

“Think about it.”

Gaam Yuk Ying considered the ground before him, bowed again, and disappeared in the direction of the teahouse, so fast that, had Maan Dzi King not been a divine dragon, she might not have been able to see.

With grim satisfaction, she sat down to wait for Gong Lau Yan, completely dry despite the increasingly heavy rain that fell.

----------------------------------------

Gong Lau Yan never came looking for her.