The Dragon Awakens

Chapter Three

"Nainai?" Mulan asked softly, narrowing her eyes. And there, on the porch swing sipping a cup of tea, was her grandmother. Mulan hadn't seen her since she was a little girl; before Dragon Army, before the boarding school. She somehow seemed smaller now and she had more wrinkles on her face but the kind smile she gave to her only grandchild was exactly the same. 

"When did you get here?" Lanie cried, running to her grandmother and giving her a massive hug. She kneeled in front of her, pulling over one of the ornamental pillows to sit on. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I tried to make it for your graduation but my flight got delayed in London due to bad weather," she frowned and reached behind her and held out a red box wrapped with a gold ribbon. "So I tried to find a suitable gift. I hope you like it dear."

Lanie took the box and smiled up at her grandmother, the only family member she'd ever known to give her more than five minutes of attention before a phone rang or an email needed to be answered. In fact, Nainai had been the one who raised Mulan until she was old enough for her parents to ship her off to boarding school. Then her grandmother had disappeared from her life, only sending her birthday cards and gifts every year as her only form of contact. Nainai had been Lanie's idol as a little girl and it was the worst heartbreak she'd ever experienced, her grandmother leaving her. But seeing her now sitting on the porch, the anger was already starting to melt away.
     
"Nainai just you being here is a gift enough." 

"Nonsense, open the present." She waved her hand and Lanie pulled off the string and opened the small box to reveal an gold dragon necklace. It had rubies as eyes, emeralds tracing down it's back, and diamonds in its claws.

"Oh Nainai..." she took out the dragon and held it up in the sun. She couldn't handle the irony of the fact her grandmother had given her a dragon. If only she knew.

"Go on, let me see it on you." She leaned forward and Lanie clasped it around her neck and looked down at it hanging between her collarbones. It was gorgeous. "Stunning. Just like you."

The front door opened, banging against the wall and Lanie stood quickly, turning around to face her father who was the only one to open the door with that much force. He was still in his slacks and button down, tie loose around his neck, and on the phone yelling at someone in Portuguese.

"Fa! Get off your phone!" Nainai yelled at her only child. She stood and grabbed her cane, hobbling over to him. He didn't see her as she walked up to him and smacked his shin. He turned around, ready to yell, and looked down at his mother and immediately ended his call.
    "Now that's better. You spend all that time on your phone and none with your family? I raised you better." She smacked him again and he stepped away from her, irritated look on his face.

"Hello mother. Lanie, how was school today?" he asked, holding the door open for them to come inside.

Lanie stood there a second, a little shocked, before following her grandmother. "Oh it was fine. I gave a speech, graduated, it was nice," she answered, tossing her diploma on his desk as they walked into his office.

"Wait, that was today?" he looked down at his desk calendar and then back at his daughter who was standing in front of him, cap in one hand and her gown in the other. He glanced at his mother who shook her head slowly. "Was your mother there?"

"No, she's still in Paolo Alto," Lanie muttered. Her father opened his mouth to respond but his desk phone rang and he picked it up with an apologetic shrug and turned to face the window. Lanie sighed and picked up her bag, walking out of the room.

"Do you need me to show to your room Nainai? Help you with your bags?" she asked, forcing a smile at the wrinkly little bundle of joy hobbling next to her.

"No dear, I think we should make dinner," she said, turning down the hallway to get to the kitchen.

"Wait, what? You don't want to just order in or have Charles cook us something? He came back from Italy a few weeks ago and made us hand made pasta."
   They'd hired Charles, their personal chef, when Lanie went away to school and her parents hadn't needed to cook for themselves anymore because of how fast their careers took off. Since they were tired of ordering food, they just hired Charles to cook for them. He'd studied in Paris, London, Beijing, and now some small Italian city Lanie couldn't think the name of. His next travel excursion was to Greece and Lanie couldn't wait for that. Everything he cooked was like heaven on a plate.

"Kāihuā, you don't cook for yourself? Ai-yah, what am I going to do with you." She shook her head and pushed open the door to the kitchen. It was massive, like something you'd find in a restaurant. The pantry itself could have been a small bedroom. They had two refrigerators and freezers, four ovens, a couple toaster ovens, and one microwave. Her parents threw a lot of parties, catered by Charles of course, so they needed a lot of room. The wine cellar in the basement was almost the size of the house.
    "Go on and get the flour and salt, we're going to make some traditional Chinese food," she declared loudly. "And make tea! You can't cook without some jasmine tea."