The Bird and the Wyrm-Chapter 54: Larger Family

Bran’s aunt laughed and took a seat on the other side of Misha. He now realised he was actually lying on a thin mattress on the floor and that both Bran and his aunt were sitting cross-legged and also on the floor.

Misha let go one of his hands from Bran’s and held it out to the woman.

"Nice to meet you. I’m Misha Long," he said.

"Ho, he has manners," she said to Bran and shook Misha’s hand. "Yeung Serng Yin. You can call me Auntie Yeung, like Bran. And, now that you’re awake, I can finally ask you..." the smile did not leave Auntie Yeung’s face yet it was like the sun had suddenly hidden behind a cloud, "why did you wait this long before bringing Bran to me?"

"Huh?"

"You knew he was sick and you waited until he was right at death’s door before you thought to bring him? Mm?"

The room seemed to darken and Misha instinctively tried to pull his hand away but Auntie’s Yeung’s grip was ironclad.

"N-no, I-"

"He didn’t know," said Bran firmly. He gripped his aunt’s wrist and slowly pulled Misha’s hand from hers. As he did, Misha noticed that Auntie Yeung’s nails were as sharp as claws. Her eyes flicked to Bran.

"He didn’t... You didn’t tell him?" the woman’s eyes glinted in the dim light. Her pupils were long and sharp like a cat’s.

"He, he did tell me he was unwell," piped up Misha. He was terrified of this aunt, absolutely terrified, but he also didn’t want Bran to get all the blame. Let him shoulder some at least.

"Unwell’s different from..." Bran waved a hand then stopped and looked down at the hand still holding his. Misha’s hand. "I’m sorry," he said quietly, "I... I didn’t want to worry you."

Before Misha could reply to this heartfelt apology, Auntie Yeung sighed dramatically. "Well, when you two have finished playing out this little drama, come downstairs for lunch. It won’t be there for long, so you’d better get a move on." She got up nimbly, shaving off years to her apparent age. "Oh, and Misha Dragon, you’ll need to get that wound checked by High Cliff. Bran, take him there later."

"Oh."

Auntie Yeung gave a little wave of her fingers and flounced over and down a set of rickety wooden stairs at the far end of the room. After she’d disappeared, Misha could still hear the thump of each of her footsteps on the floor below.

When these had finally faded, he turned to Bran. "Your aunt’s fun," he said.

Bran gave him a weak smile. "Ha. Ha."

Misha was glad to see a smile on Bran’s face but he just couldn’t set aside what he was thinking. "How are you now?" he asked. "You can talk normally now. Did your aunt do that?"

Bran didn’t immediately reply and instead turned and laid down next to Misha. "I feel okay. Not great, but not too bad. As for the talking... actually it was more you that fixed that. You and your blood."

Misha immediately blushed at the sound of the word ’blood’ and all the images of past events it conjured up and he was glad that he didn’t have to face Bran right now. He’d also just recalled that he’d kissed Bran on the cheek and he didn’t know if he knew or not...

"S-so, you’re secretly a vampire," said Misha.

Bran seemed to find that idea musing. "No, not a vampire. That was the sword needing blood."

"Sword? But I thought that kid stole the sword!" Misha perked up and leaned a little over Bran in his confused excitement, making Bran’s heart skip a beat.

"I told you I’m the sheath for the demon blade, right? So that means that the demon blade is right here." Bran took Misha’s hand and placed it on his own chest. "That sword, the one the kid stole, that was just a prop to help me channel the demon blade’s power. It acted like a window."

"A window..." mumbled Misha. He could feel the warmth of Bran’s body through his shirt and the rise and fall of his chest. "So that bow you got from the pawnshop, you used that to channel the demon blade too?"

"Just so."

A moment passed then Bran sighed and sat up.

"I have a little bit of an idea of how hard it was for you to get me here, Misha. I was pretty out of it, but I still have some vague memories of that time..." He leaned closer to Misha, making the dragon’s heart race. "Thank you," he said, then kissed Misha on the cheek.

--

Lunch was a complicated affair with many participants all around a long, long table in the centre of a large traditionally decorated room with walls that had been slid all the way back to reveal the tranquil garden outside, not that this helped at all with all the chaos. At first, I tried to count how many little children there were, but between all the flapping wings and swishing tails, I figured I should just give up. There were adults too, many with non-human additions to their bodies as well, much like in the Under City.

But while it was exciting to suddenly be in a crowd again, and the food was amazing, I found myself unable to really concentrate on any of it. Instead, my mind refused to think about anything other than that kiss on my cheek and how final it had felt. I should have been happy, absolutely ecstatic, yet in that moment, I’d felt from you an indescribable wave of loneliness that comes from knowing that it’s nearly time to say ’goodbye’.

"Eat this!"

I looked down to find a half-snake, half-little girl had deposited a very plump looking wonton into my bowl. "Thank you. I’ll trade you this."

I reached out with my longer arm and retrieved a slice of soy sauce marinaded chicken for her. She squealed and raced off with her bowl to join her friend at the far end of the table.

You were also down by that end of the table having been called over just now by your aunt to greet some of the adults, that I assumed were your elders of some description. It reminded me of Chinese New Year when all us cousins would go around to different relative’s houses, wish them good fortune and health, and they’d give us a red packet. None of these elders gave you red packets, but there was a warmth in their eyes that was the same.

This was basically your family, I realised. Though perhaps it was all the excitement around us that made you seem more sleepy by comparison, but I couldn’t help thinking that you seemed more tired than before. At first I thought it might be from all the noise - you always seemed to like peace and quiet - but when you finally moved away from the group and started back towards me, I still saw that exhaustion in you.

"You okay?" I asked as you took a seat next to me.

"How many times have you asked me that today?" you asked in return, filling up your bowl. "Have you tried the wontons? They look plain, but they’ve got some really special stuffing."

I nodded. "A little snake gave me one," I said.

You looked around and spotted the little half-snake girl. "That must be Gou Ngaam’s kid. You have to go see her later. Auntie Yeung told me to remind you."

"Gou Ngaam? I thought I was supposed to see High Cliff?"

You looked at me oddly then glanced at your aunt. "Interesting. I didn’t expect you to have higher authority."

"Higher..." I also looked at your aunt. "Oh, so she’s a magical creature too?"

"She’s a dragon, one of the oldest and wisest still living." You swallowed a wonton. "She’s going to have a fit when she finds out you out rank her."

I blanched. I respected the woman but also feared her. A lot. "Can you... not tell her?"

You laughed and my heart naturally skipped a beat. "She’ll find out whether I tell her or not, you know."

You were in a good mood and I was glad to see that. I’m glad that being around this family of yours made you happy.

"You know, I’ve actually been thinking about what you said about how why I can understand some people and some I can’t," I said.

"Mm? Go on." You took another wonton. If I tracked down whoever had made them, then pressed them for the recipe, would I be able to make some for you that made you happy too?

"Oh, just... you said I can’t do that with humans, but you remember that kid who stole your sword, he spoke some strange language that I couldn’t understand, so he should be human, but how can he be? He has all those superpowers." I’d been thinking about this on and off while flying earlier.

"You should ask Aunt Yeung about that," you replied. "I don’t have all the answers. Heck, I don’t have most of them. The faster you make more contacts, find more people you can ask for information, the better. I’m not a good source."

You said all this with your same usual attitude but it still annoyed me. "I’m not going to ask anyone else," I said, pouting as I reached for a wonton myself.

You chuckled again then suddenly reached toward me. "You’ve got some sauce..." You pinched my chin then used a thumb to wipe at the side of my mouth. "There," you said, before licking that thumb.

My brain ground to a halt and my face flushed.

"Raven-brother!" a squeaky, child voice cried out. We both turned to find a little boy with small white bird wings some metres away. "Yeung-grandma wants to see you!"

"Jee dou," you replied. "I should go see what Aunt Yeung wants..." You got up and followed after the little girl, leaving me behind to try to restart my brain.

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