Chinese Touch

Epilogue-One Month Later

I cleaned the wound every day. For two weeks, nothing had happened and we'd feared the healing wasn't working. But eventually the wound began to heal very slowly. Slowly, but healing all the same.

I studied the slit wound. It was vertical. I ran my fingertips over the scab. My fingers tingled when I did, and memories surged through me. There was something behind all of the memories. Something I couldn't pinpoint. I sighed and raised the top of my shirt up so that it covered the mark. I walked over to the bathroom door and put my hands on the doorknob.

Knock knock knock.

"Empress?" It was Tao. I opened the door.

"Call me Ming. Now, what is it?"

"The guards say there's a lady to meet you in your room. They didn't say who, and I didn't see her."

"Thank you." I didn't bother with putting a dress on. Shirts and pants were more comfortable, and it was easier to do everything in them. I sprinted down the hall to my room and opened the door slowly.

"Hello, Empress." The voice was so familiar, but I couldn't pin point where I had heard it. There was something different about it.

"Who are you?" I asked, walking slowly into the room. The figure laughed and made her way to the window. She pulled the curtains wide open and light flooded the room. My eyes widened and I gasped.

"Have you already forgotten your dear friend Bao?" She held her arms out wide and I rushed up to her, pulling her into a hug.

"I haven't seen you in a month! Where were you? Where's Chang?"

"I haven't seen you in a month either. I don't know, I was unconscious for most of it. Stables. I hear you've had the biggest adventure of all, and without me! Been to death and back... You're the talk of China."

I ran my hand through my hair. "Oh, tell me about it."

She laughed. "I just did."

"Want to see the scar?" I lowered the top of my shirt slightly so she could see the scab. She brushed her fingers over it and the strange tickling sensation ran through me again. I don't think Bao felt it though. The memories resurfaced and again there was an air of unknown behind them. The something that I couldn't pinpoint.

"Wow." Bao lifted her hand and I raised the neckline. "What... What was it like?"

"Ask anyone in the palace. They've all asked a thousand times. Actually... Do you want to see your brother? I'll tell you on the way to the cells."

"Sure." I held the door for her, swooping a little item off the table. We walked down the hallways as I explained what had happened. Bao would go wide eyed every five seconds as I retold what had happened. We finally reached the cells and I finished my story. I hadn't told Bao about my relation to Hua. We entered the cells and walked up to Huang's room.

"Sister!" He raised his head and reached out to her. "Please get me out of here."

"I can't, Huang. You belong here."

"Sister. Come where I can see you. I know you're there." Hua called from down the line of cells.

"Sister?"

"Yeah, Hua's my brother. Surprised you didn't hear that from the conversation." I walked down the small hall and stood before the door.

"Sister, please. I need something to Change. It hurts not Summoning. Please, give me anything!"

"I thought you might say something like that." I pulled from my pocket the little statue I had put in there earlier. It was a statue of a bird egg. I passed it through the bars and Hua's eyes lit up.

"Thank you sister. Thank you." He pulled his back up against the stone back wall and half the egg gently between his fingers. A smile passed over his lips as he brought life to the egg. It would take a few days to hatch, but he didn't seem to mind. As long as he wasn't alone.

"Bye, Hua." I turned to walk off, a lump rising in my throat.

"Come on." Bao held out her hand and I took it, rising up the few steps into the main hall. The doors burst open at the end of the hall and Ai ran in, followed by Chang. She jumped on his back and sent him skidding across the floor. The guards shouted and Bao and I burst out laughing as they rushed in after the dragons.

"Oh, let them be." I shooed the men back outside. Ai roared in victory and nuzzled Chang sweetly. I smiled as they ran outside together, tails flicking together.

"They really love each other, don't they." I said, sighing.

"Chang told me that she whined every day I was unconscious because she missed him."

"That is one of the sweetest things I have ever heard."

"Not when it takes a day to get here and it' stone only thing she wants to talk about." I couldn't help but laugh. "Oh yeah, laugh it up. Ai will be whining too, any day now."

"Keep thinking that, Bao. He's more concerned with snarling at anyone who gets within a body length of me. He's so scared that this'll happen again." I pointed at the scar, hidden beneath my shirt.

"He'll get over that soon enough. He's just doing what comes naturally to him." We walked outside to see every dragon in the palace running or flying around the palace grounds. Char lay not too far away, hatchlings climbing over his giant body. I was were I should be, I realised. It might not be ideal. It might not be perfect. But I loved it. Bao and I took a seat on a bench, watching the dragons play happily.

"You're right," I said, watching Ai and Chang roll through the grass together, "and I wouldn't have it any other way."