Blue Dragon Part 43

'I want to meet his roommate,' I said. 'Can you get him?'

'Tymen!' Leo yelled without moving. 'Come on in.'

Tymen tapped on the door and came in, carefully closing the door behind him. He was similar in appearance to Scott; they could almost be brothers. Both were tall, angular, and bony, with the gangly limbs that signalled some growing still to do. Both were fair with sandy blond hair. Scott was younger, probably only seventeen, while Tymen could have been nineteen or twenty.

I rose. 'Sit, Tymen.'

Tymen sat in my chair. Scott went rigid and Tymen sagged.

'Do you know who I am?' I said kindly.

Tymen shook his head, his blue eyes wide.

'This is the Dark Lady herself, Tymen,' Leo said in a low growl. 'Watch yourself.'

Tymen shot to his feet and fell to one knee, saluting. 'My Lady.' He rose and studied me closely, then offered me his seat.

'Sit,' I said. 'I'll stand.'

'Do as she says,' Leo said when he saw Tymen hesitate.

I leaned against the wall. 'Young Scott here has a problem with you, Tymen. He thinks you're going to rape him in the middle of the night.'

Leo made another soft sound of amus.e.m.e.nt. Scott's scowl became defiant. But Tymen sagged again. He was obviously accustomed to it.

'Please find me alternative quarters, ma'am, sir,' Tymen said softly. 'I have no wish to offend anyone with my presence. I know some people have issues with people like me. I thought...' His voice trailed off and then he pulled himself together. 'I thought the environment would be more accepting here, after talking to both Gold and Master Leo. I spoke too soon.' He glanced desperately up at me. 'Please don't throw me out, ma'am, I want this more than anything. I'll keep my head down and my mouth shut, I promise.'

Scott glared at Tymen with contempt.

'Did you have a boyfriend back home?' I said kindly.

Scott looked horrified.

Tymen sighed. 'I had a lot of friends. n.o.body special; I think I'm too young. But I gave up a lot to come. Please don't throw me out.'

'Hold out your hand.'

Tymen didn't hesitate, and I took his hand and examined him carefully. 'Hand-to-hand?'

'Just as brilliant,' Leo said. 'These two could be brothers.'

I suddenly knew with a certainty that left me breathless that one day they would would be like brothers. The shock of the feeling nearly knocked me off my feet. be like brothers. The shock of the feeling nearly knocked me off my feet.

'Are you okay, Emma?' Leo said softly, seeing my reaction.

I dropped Tymen's hand and pulled myself together. 'Two of the Masters you have already met and spent time with are gay, Scott. I won't tell you which two, because you said you can pick them.'

Scott's mouth dropped open.

'You haven't had much contact with many of the staff of the Mountain, so it shouldn't be too difficult to work it out. One of them can't really be said to be gay because he's not human, despite the fact that right now he's dating another guy. But the other one,' I said, carefully not looking at Leo, 'is one hundred per cent pure flaming fairy queen, right the way through.'

Scott's eyes were very wide, but he still hadn't put it together and didn't look at Leo. I saw Leo's reaction out of the corner of my eye and nearly lost it. Tymen made a small choking sound but I couldn't see his face.

'If you have a problem with learning from a Master whose private life is absolutely none of your G.o.dd.a.m.n business anyway, say so now,' I said. 'If you have a problem sharing with Tymen, tell me right now and I'll throw you out.' I leaned forward to speak intensely to him. 'We will not have discrimination on our Mountain. We take the best; it doesn't matter where they come from or what they are. Some of the students are perfected demons. Many of them aren't even human human. The Dark Lord himself is a reptile, Scott. You will encounter a great deal of very strange stuff in the near future. Compared to that, a gay roommate will be a refres.h.i.+ng dash of normality.' I straightened and folded my arms. 'So say the word. If you aren't prepared to learn to be more accepting of those around you, I will quite happily throw you out right now.'

Scott's eyes were still very wide. 'Who?' He turned to Leo. 'Who?'

Leo made another amused sound but didn't say anything.

'Scott,' I said, and he turned back to me. 'Are you scared of snakes?'

Scott's face went blank. 'I don't like them, but I wouldn't say I'm scared scared of them...' of them...'

'I change into a snake when my family are threatened,' I said, very calmly. 'How big is it, Leo?'

'Oh, it's a good ten metres long, Emma,' Leo said, still amused. 'Big, black, ugly thing too.'

'Big, black and ugly, just like you, Leo,' I said.

'Yep,' Leo said with a grin.

Both Scott and Tymen stiffened.

'Weirdness is the order of the day at Wudangshan,' I said. 'About the only thing that's not weird around here is the fact that some of the staff and students are gay.'

Scott didn't say a word.

'I'm leaving you with Tymen, Scott, and I know for a fact that you two will be good friends one day,' I said. 'Tymen, don't hide yourself. There's absolutely no need. Scott, try to learn, open your mind. 'Cause if you don't do it yourself, the first time you see a Snake Mother it'll get opened so wide and so fast the damage will be permanent. Enough, Leo?'

'I can handle the rest, my Lady,' Leo said. 'Gold can help me.'

'Don't tell him who they are,' I said as I turned to open the door. 'Let him try to work it out himself.'

I winked at Tymen. 'Don't you tell him either; it's obvious you know.'

'You read my mind, Emma,' Leo said softly as I went out to find Monique and see how she was doing in the infirmary.

Tymen's grin completely made my day.

On my way to the infirmary to check on Monique, I pa.s.sed Sonia in the lift lobby. She was pus.h.i.+ng the mail trolley. When she saw me she stopped and fell to her knees.

'Up you get, Sonia,' I said kindly. When she was back on her feet I moved forward and gave her a little hug, just enough to make her feel wanted without embarra.s.sing her too much. 'Is everybody looking after you?'

Her face lit up. 'I cannot believe the kindness I have been experiencing. And some of the other staff here are demons as well.'

I let the fact that she wasn't a demon slide. 'Are you coping okay with the work? It's not too hard for you?'

Sonia glanced down at the contents of the trolley. 'At first I was frightened-I didn't know where anything was supposed to go. But,' she smiled up at me, 'I can ask anyone. n.o.body will harm me.' She hesitated, her eyes wide. 'It's a strange feeling to know that I have nothing to fear from anyone here.'

'When are you moving over to the Folly?'

'I can't believe that happened. The students who asked me to share with them are so kind. They want want to teach me to live as a human. They say they enjoy my company and like having me around.' to teach me to live as a human. They say they enjoy my company and like having me around.'

'Good.' I smiled down at her. She was much shorter than me, slight and slim. Her tiny blue jeans were too big on her, and she wore a typical Hong Kong T-s.h.i.+rt with a random English phrase that made absolutely no sense: 'High Fas.h.i.+on Ice-cream'. 'I'd better go. One of my students drained herself and she's in the infirmary.'

'My Lady.' Sonia dropped to one knee and saluted me.

I sighed. 'You really don't need to do that, you know, Sonia.'

She smiled up at me. 'I know, ma'am, but I want to.'

I pressed the b.u.t.ton for the lift. Sonia rose but didn't move.

I turned back to her. 'What?'

'Uh...'

'Ask me, Sonia,' I said. 'You can ask me anything.'

She glanced up at me, her face full of hope. 'I would like to attend evening cla.s.ses, after work. I would like to study.'

'What do you want to study?'

She dropped her head, unsure.

'I'm thoroughly impressed, Sonia,' I said, reaching out and squeezing her hand. 'If you want to study, I'll support you any way I can.'

Her face lit up again. 'I want to study bookkeeping and typing. I want to help more in the office.'

'Good,' I said. 'If you need time off from work for the study, then just tell me. If you want help getting into a course, or a reference, ask me. Did Gold handle your ident.i.ty papers yet?'

She nodded. 'Yes, ma'am.'

'Good.' I turned back to the lift. 'You'd better get on, Sonia, we can't stay here chatting all day, we both have work to do.' I grinned at her. 'Let me know when you want to take your stuff over to the Folly and I'll drive you.'

'Thank you, ma'am,' she choked, and hurried away.

I bent over Monique in the infirmary. She was unconscious.

'Will she be okay?' Sofie said.

I sat next to Monique and took her hand, examining her. A first-year student like this had very little chi to start off with; and Monique was tiny.

'Everybody stay very still and don't touch either of us,' I said.

I took a deep breath, concentrated, and fed her enough chi to bring her back. The chi moved through her like a golden flowing wave, the energy meridians lighting up.

Monique gasped and her eyes snapped open.

'Don't move, Monique,' I said urgently. 'Stay very still. Relax.'

Monique heard me. She had the concentration of a true energy worker, and controlled her reaction to the feeding of the energy.

I saw what happened when the energy hit her lower abdomen; her face screwed up. This sometimes happened the first time a student was fed with energy and could be tremendously embarra.s.sing for them, particularly the male ones.

'Everybody out,' I said. 'She's fine.'

Monique was gasping. All the other students quickly went out. I stopped the feed, rotated her energy through her, gathered it and put it back into her dan tian. I gave her a small mental pat on the head and smiled. I carefully withdrew my consciousness, but retained my hold on her hand.

'I'm so sorry,' she said, breathless. She blushed furiously. 'I don't know why that happened...'

'It's quite normal the first time,' I said. 'I don't normally talk about it, because if it happens, it happens, and it's not that big a deal.' I leaned forward and whispered. 'It's ten times worse for the guys.'

Monique laughed quietly and struggled to sit. I helped her up.

'How do you feel?' I said, still holding her hand. Internally she looked fine, but emotional damage was possible; she could have been concerned about the helplessness she had felt.

'Warm and tingly,' she said with a cheeky grin. She laughed softly. 'But I did it.' She jiggled with delight. 'I did did it!' it!'

John's voice spoke in my head. Emma, it's happened again. Top floor, please. Emma, it's happened again. Top floor, please.

'Oh my G.o.d, d.a.m.n d.a.m.n!' I said loudly. 'Not again!'

Monique blanched. 'What happened?'

'Nothing to do with you, Monique,' I said. 'Go to the rest of the cla.s.s, tell them they're dismissed, but they're not to return to the New Folly, they have to remain here. A demon's found its way into the Folly again. Happens every time we get a new batch of students.' I dropped her hand and rose. 'I'd better go.'

I called John on his mobile phone as I stormed out to the lifts.

'Wei?'

'John, it's me. Are you coming back? Where are you?'

'I'm still in Splendid China, Emma, but I'm coming back.'

'John Chen Wu, don't you dare!' I yelled. Some students in the lift with me turned away and smiled. 'You stay right there and spend the day with Simone! Is that understood?'

One of the senior students in the lift behind me t.i.ttered.

'You will keep,' I growled. I raised my voice to speak to John again. 'You stay there. You enjoy yourselves. We'll handle it. How big is it? Where is it?'

'Level seventy,' he said, and I inhaled sharply. 'In the New Folly, cornered on the fourteenth floor.'

'I'll get some Celestial Masters. We can handle it. You stay there and have fun. We'll be fine.'

He was silent for a while and I could easily visualise the expression on his face.

'We'll be fine,' I said again, and exited the lift on the top floor.