The moment she was told the news, Gong Lau Jan rushed after Tim Zoeng-baak.

“Will she find her?” Can Bik asked, scratching anxiously at her arms. “Will she be safe?”

“She will be fine,” the Grandmaster assured her, but Can Bik was looking at Gaam Juk Jing with a strange expression on her face. “Little Can, do you understand the relationship between the Five Elements?”

Can Bik pulled her eyes back to Wong Tang. “Yes, Grandmaster. Each element generates another, and each element destroys another. Each element weakens another, and each element exploits another.”

“And so, which element is most destructive of Metal?”

“Fire.”

“Good. Now you can see here. Although Tim Zoeng-baak is at the cusp of Third Daan-tin, and your Gaam si hing is a Third Daan-tin Adept, the elemental match up was bad.” She bent down to look Can Bik in the eyes and spoke gently. “You understand, this means Gaam si hing is so strong that he could take on a Second Daan-tin Expert on the cusp of entering Third Daan-tin Novice, with an element that is destructive of his own, and win.”

“I wish I had the Water element,” Can Bik said glumly. “I could deal with that... with her... if I did.”

“Earth weakens Fire too,” said Gou Zing hoarsely. He hadn't spoken since Tim Zoeng-baak had disappeared. His strong brows knitted fiercely.

“Little Gou.”

Gou Zing did not answer his Master.

“Gou Zing.”

“Yes, Master...”

“There is nothing you could have done. You were not there.”

“... Yes, Master.”

“Have your sword sent back to Mount Faa to be repaired. Hurry. We need to be in the Zyu capital, Ming Jyut, in two days.”

“Master, if I send Juk Jing away, I won't have a weapon.”

Wong Tang took the blackened, damaged gim from where it lay beside Gou Zing. Without flinching, she the blade slowly until it snapped in half. “Gou Zing, have you forgotten everything?”

Her disciple stared at the broken pieces.

“Are you now useless because this piece of metal is gone?”

“... No, Master.”

“Good. Gou Zing, you are not useless.”

“... Yes... Yes, Master.” Gou Zing bowed, picked up the pieces, and hurried away.

“Do you think I was too harsh, Little Zeng?” the Grandmaster asked of Zeng Baak-hap, as she retrieved her pipe from her sleeve and began to carefully fill it.

“You know your disciple better than I, Grandmaster. And you have much experience than I in teaching.”

“Do I?”

“Although I suspect your method of teaching through striking your students with questions is probably very irritating to some.”

Wong Tang laughed. “No doubt. What should I have done instead?”

“It's my turn – Why are you asking me, Grandmaster?”

“Because, Little Zeng, you are the one who grew up with Gou Zing. You studied with him, ate meals with him, sometimes got punished with him...”

“If it's someone who knows Gou si hing, shouldn't we be asking Gaam si hing?”

“He's too incisive. Little Gaam, do you think I said the right thing to Gou Zing?”

“Yes.”

And that was it.

“You see?”

Zeng Baak-hap sighed. “I think what you said was correct, Grandmaster. Gou si hing gets caught up wondering whether his actions are righteous, which makes him question his worth. But I think harsh talking is only a temporary way to bring him out of his thoughts. Honestly, I believe...” She hesitated.

“Yes?”

Zeng Baak-hap lowered her eyes and voice. “... I don't believe Gou si hing is suited to a martial life.”

Can Bik looked scandalised, but the Grandmaster nodded in agreement. Gaam Juk Jing's expression remained as impassive as ever.

“Please explain to Little Can.”

“Gou si hing has a good mentality for a healer,” said Zeng Baak-hap. “He is conscientious, determined to do what is right and just, and I saw how much he enjoyed the work in the past. As a warrior, one must sometimes be ruthless, have an urge to survive, and make quick decisions. Otherwise, anxiety and guilt can eat one up. In truth, healers must also sometimes be ruthless and make quick decisions, but the aim is to preserve life, not to take it.”

“But what if killing someone is the way to save someone or something else?” Can Bik demanded.

“I don't know that Gou si hing would see things so clearly as you, Bik si mui.”

“What if that person were Little Zeng?” The Grandmaster blew smoke and it coiled around her face. “Could you kill that someone then?”

“What? No! Never!”

“Even if it would save the world?”

“I would never hurt Zeng si ze!”

“And you, Little Gaam,” the Grandmaster continued, turning away from the two blushing girls. “If killing Little Gou was the only way, would you do it?”

“Yes.”

“Gaam Juk Jing!” Can Bik rounded furiously on him. “How could you say such a thing? Don't you care about Gou si hing?”

“Yes.”

“And yet you would still kill him?”

“If I had to.”

“Nothing should ever-”

“I would kill you,” Gaam Juk Jing's voice continued relentlessly. “And Zeng si mui and Master and I would cut off my own limbs if I had to.”

“Well,” said Gou Zing, reappearing, “I'll just make sure you never have to.” He bowed to Wong Tang. “The sword has been dealt with, Master. We can leave.”

---

If one were in the countries of Sek'syun or Zyu that day, and happened looked up to the skies, they might have seen streaks of flashing gold and silver in the sky. They would have had to have been a Second Daan-tin Expert to do so.

Gaam Juk Jing and Gou Zing stood on the narrow blunt edge of Lou Fu Ngaan. A dou was not the most suitable blade for flying with, give its asymmetrical shape, but both boys had the skill to balance on the blade's following edge whilst hurtling along at inhuman speeds. Gou Zing had his arms happily wrapped around the eternally calm Gaam Juk Jing.

Can Bik and Zeng Baak-hap were riding the Grandmaster.

The Clear Sight disciple had some prior experience of riding a loong after her adventures with Gong Lau Jan, but the experience with Wong Tang was on another level.

Firstly, the Grandmaster's dragon form was enormous. As a loong, Gong Lau Jan's head was the same size as Can Bik's entire body, but for the grandmother, this was equivalent to the size of a single toe. Her whole sinuous length shone like ancient gold, an understated lustre contrasting with the sparkling white clouds that she exhaled. A set of curving antlers crowned her head, and her two thick, fierce whiskers drifted about her face on some unseen breeze.

She stood like a mountain, and the disciples had all dropped reverently to the ground the moment she revealed her loong form.

She swam easily through the air with the two girls on her back, Can Bik almost hopping about with excitement, Zeng Baak-hap seated in a meditative pose, eyes closed, but with a highly furrowed brow. It seemed she didn't like heights. Gaam Juk Jing and Gou Zing sailed in the Grandmaster's slipstream.

“... Do you want to join them?” Gaam Juk Jing asked.

“I'm happy here.” Gou Zing smiled. “I'm happy my boyfriend asked something of me.”

“Does it upset you?”

“Does what upset me?”

“That I don't ask... much.”

Gou Zing rested his head against Gaam Juk Jing's. “It's okay. I know you're not very good at showing affection, Juk Jing. I can do it for both of us!”

“Do you not... worry?”

“About?”

“... that I don't care?”

“Do you care?”

“Yes.”

“Then that's good enough.”

“... Idiot.”

“I'll take that as a name of endearment.”

“... Ah Zing?”

The intimate use of his name made something shiver inside Gou Zing. “Yes, Juk Jing?”

“What... should I do? What would you like?”

Gou Zng's brain stopped functioning for a moment.

“Ah Zing?”

“I... well... um...”

“What?”

“Maybe we should talk about that when we're alone and not racing through the air.”

“... I see.”

“Are you... Juk Jing, are you blushing?”

“It's the wind rushing past.”

Gou Zing pecked a tiny kiss on Gaam Juk Jing's ear and the blade dipped dangerously.

“Stop that!”

“Let's go and join them down there. I know some of the places we're travelling over, I want to talk about them.”

So they joined the two girls on Wong Tang's back, and Gou Zing pointed out the towns along the coastal road, the distant island kingdoms of Yamato and mysterious Chup-Tuk¹Chup-tuk - Sunrise., and a wrecked ship that had been caught in a storm on its way from the Zyu capital Ming Jyut to Juk-hoi. Several times Zeng Baak-hap cracked open her eyes to see the things Gou Zing was mentioning, but hurriedly closed them again.

A dense band of green appeared on the land before them, creeping closer and closer to reveal itself as an old pine forest. Can Bik grew even more excited.

“It's Saam Lam! I get to see Saam Lei again! I'll beat him this time!”

“Who?”

“The fox spirit of the pine forest. Lady Gong brought Bik si mui here toe train,” Zeng Baak-hap murmured.

“There's the main trail... and there's the headwaters of the Ming Zyu River! We used to jump in after training... Wait... is that Lady Gong?”

It was. She lay in her loong form, coiled up with half of her body resting in the waters of the Ming Zyu, bronze scales shimmering in the dappled sun that fell between the pines. A small fox was curled up on her back, nine soft tails twitching. Both fox and loong looked up as the Grandmaster transformed out of her dragon form, too large to find a landing spot otherwise, and the group landed softly, Can Bik carrying Zeng Baak-hap as the only one who had no body-lightening abilities.

“A poh,” Gong Lau Jan greeted her grandmother in a voice that made the trees shiver. Saam Lei leapt down from her back and dived into Can Bik's arms, knocking her flat.

“Bik Bik! You've come back to play!”

“No playing, Siu Lei,” the Grandmaster admonished. “Lau Jan, why have you come here?”

“Where's Lady Maan?” Can Bik interrupted thoughtlessly, then clapped her hands to her mouth.

“She went to Joeng Tin Wong's palace to attend to something. I'm here because Tim Zoeng-baak came here.”

“Here?”

Gong Lau Jan turned to look behind her. They hadn't seen it before, as her body had been blocking it from view, but a strange vision seemed to float in the air. An oval space, shimmering with grey mist and a red glow, hung strangely in the green and lush forest. Like a fogged over mirror, it seemed as though one should see something more in it, but the view was obscured by the mist and the light.

“A portal to the demon realm,” Gong Lau Jan explained. “She went in there.”