Luck of the Dragon
Chapter Two hundred Fifty-one
© 2018 by Walter D. Reimer


Thumbnail art by  moodyferret



“Postponed?” Shin asked after she’d gotten home that evening. “What for?” After Fang explained the circumstances, his wife said, “Was he worried that I’d have a problem with that?”

“Yeah,” the tiger replied. He slid two fried fish from a skillet onto two plates before placing the plates on the table. “You have face, my ringtailed beauty, and your friends and enemies know it.” He sat down and added, “I’m told that Hao and Xiu are here now.”

“They are?” the red panda asked, and grinned as her husband nodded. “That’s great. We’ll be able to have dinner sometime. What else have you heard?”

Fang shrugged as he took a bite of his fish. “Not much. Rain Island’s running a new plane in the Schneider. I put a few shells down on it for us.” He took a sip from an open bottle of Union Maid beer. “I know you’ve got a soft spot for that Greek goat they’ve got designing their planes.”

Shin smiled, recalling her encounter with Stavros Kypriakos the previous summer. It’d been a very busy year –

The thought brought her up short and she sat there, the forkful of fish falling unregarded to the plate.

Has it actually been a whole year?

“You okay?” and her husband’s voice made her blink and she looked across the table at him. “You looked a bit thoughtful, and I know that thinking makes your head hurt.” He laughed as she made an obscene gesture at him before pursuing the errant piece of fish. “What’s on your mind, Shin?” he asked.

“Do you realize it’s been a year since I met Dr. Kypriakos over at Luchow’s?” Shin asked. She took a drink from her own beer as Fang nodded and she went on, “We’ve had a lot happen. Me,” and she swallowed, “me almost not coming back from that Aleutians trip – a couple inches the wrong way, and it would have been my head dislocated, not my shoulder – “

“Shen,” her husband said quietly. “I know you still get bad dreams about that.”

“And Won Lung Ho,” she added, nodding. “Then there’s Hao in Nanking.”

“You’re right, it’s been busy, and probably going to get busier,” Fang pointed out. “You’re starting a business, I still have this place to run, Hao and Xiu are going to have a baby, you’re going to lose – “

Shin had been nodding along, but she gave him a glare at the last item as he chuckled. “I have no intention of losing, widdle kitty – to you or anyone.”

The tiger bared his teeth as he grinned. “Well, we’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?” He leaned across the table toward her and grinned again as her paw lashed out and caught the fur on his chin.

She half-rose from her seat until she was nose-to-nose with him. “Yeah,” she said in a silky voice, “we’ll see,” and her lips met his.

Just before she slapped him.


*********


Professor Fu resolved to send a note of thanks to Professor Sternberg. The subject had resisted, of course, but now stood quiescently in the center of the qilin’s laboratory as it awaited orders. Sternberg and his assistant had assured him that the apparatus was working properly and all that was necessary was to keep the messenger fed.

Well, he’d see to that, of course. Fu never wasted material.

In another day or two he’d send the messenger back to Krupmark with the response of the Ad-Hoc Committee.


*********


“C’mon, keep up!” Shin called, looking back at Juliana over her shoulder as the two jogged around the island the next day. She was deliberately running at a slower pace than the one Songmark’s tutors usually set for first-year students, and so far she wasn’t very pleased by the English rabbit’s physical condition. “Another few hundred yards or so, Mayfield!”

The rabbit was panting, ears down as she fought to keep pace with the red panda. Still, she was still managing to stay a constant distance from Shin, neither falling too far behind nor gaining on her.

And she wasn’t stopping, which was a good sign.

The two finally reached the hangar and Shin unlocked the door while Juliana wheezed and panted, her paws planted on her knees as she bent over. “Don’t throw up,” Shin said in an offpaw manner as she switched the lights on and walked in with her customary caution. “You puke at Songmark, you’ll go hungry until the next mealtime.”

Juliana took another deep breath, hiccupped, and straightened up before following the red panda into the hangar. “I – I thought I was in shape,” the rabbit panted as she started to put on her work clothes. “They do this every day?” she asked, and her eyes widened in shock as Shin nodded.

The red panda paused as a race plane roared overhead, the Italian entry by the sound of the engine. “Yeah, the first years do,” she replied. No sense in telling her what the second and third years did; if she didn’t leave or get kicked out, she’d find out for herself.

She glanced into the bucket under the left engine and nodded. “The leak isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.”

“That’s good?”

The red panda’s nose wrinkled. “We still need to check, of course. The gasket might have swelled.” She stepped back and peered up at the rafters as her banded tail swayed from side to side. “I need to get some paying customers,” she muttered, “so I can afford security.” She lowered her gaze to see Mayfield looking at her quizzically. “What?”

The rabbit frowned. “You’re not doing anything illegal, are you?”

Shin felt a sudden need for a stiff drink. Whisky immediately leaped to mind, along with a cigarette. “What have you heard?”

Juliana shrugged. “Nothing, but the way you act puts me in mind of gangster movies.”

“Heh.”


*********


Arranging a family dinner at the Great Pagoda had been easy. The Chang brothers had the entire top floor of the restaurant reserved for the Nis in gratitude for the family’s help in getting them established on Spontoon. Setting a date and time had been a bit more problematic, as everyone had their own schedules.

Hao glowered at Fei-cui as he held out Xiu’s chair for her, trying his best to ignore his cousin’s smirk. “Don’t expect me to hold out a chair for you,” he growled.

The nurse, wearing a skirt and blouse, sniffed and seated herself. “I can take care of myself now, thank you.”

“Really?” he asked in a clearly disbelieving tone. Fei-cui nodded and held open her purse to let him see the small-caliber revolver nestled within. “Nice,” he said. “How many box tops did that run you?”

“None. Your father insisted on making sure that we had bodyguards on Kuo Han, and one of them taught me to shoot.”

Hao nodded as he sat down and Xiu asked, “How are your parents, Fei-cui?”

“Pretty good,” she said with a friendly smile. “My brothers are in school, of course.” She glanced at Hao. “They all want to be pilots.” She turned as the elevator gave a soft chime and the doors opened to let two more members of the party come in, and turned back to Hao, favoring him with a raised eyebrow. “You going to introduce me?”

Aware that Xiu was looking at him, Hao shrugged. “Sure. That’s my sister Shin, and the heavyweight next to her’s her husband Fang.” He jerked a thumb at his cousin. “Fang, Shin, Kung Fei-cui.”

Fang nodded as he took a seat. “Hi. Good to meet you.” He watched as Shin made her way around the table, sized her cousin up, and finally bent over and gave her a brief hug. The tiger started to exchange a few words with Hao through gestures.

Cousin?

Yes. Not like.

Understand.

Shin flicked her tail at her husband. “Never mind him, he’s thinking of his stomach right now. You’re settling in okay on Spontoon?”

Fei-cui smiled. Shin and Hao were as different as day and night, the sister at least trying to be outwardly friendly. “Yes,” she replied. “I’m staying at the dormitory until I can get an apartment, and I’ve already had my orientation at the hospital.” She looked at the others. “I’m also thinking of learning how to speak Spontoonie.”

Shin smiled and went back to take her seat beside Fang. “Has anyone seen Nailani and Peng-wum yet?”

Xiu shook her head. “They have the farthest to go, don’t they?”

Fang nodded. “And with all the tourists here, it might be hard to get a boat hired.” The elevator dinged and his whiskers drooped. “Of course, I could be wrong,” and the others chuckled.

Peng-wum held the elevator door while Nailani stepped into the dining room, the rabbit balancing their son on her hip. He followed her to the table. “Hello, everyone – and you must be Fei-cui.” The red panda femme nodded. “This is my wife Nailani, and this is – “

“My Lord, he’s adorable,” Fei-cui gushed, coming out of her chair and walking over to Nailani. “May I hold him, please?”

“Oh, thank you,” the Spontoonie rabbit said, sighing in relief. “He’s going to be a wrestler when he grows up, I’m sure of it.”

Fei-cui made funny faces at the child, who cooed and burbled a few words in a mixture of Spontoonie and Chinese. “What’s his name?”

“Mikilani,” Nailani said, patting her belly. She was definitely showing. “I think he’s anxious to meet his sister. Oh, thank you, love,” she said as Peng-wum ushered her into a chair.

“His sister?” Fei-cui asked, glancing pointedly at Nailani’s abdomen.

Long rabbit ears dipped slightly. “Well, it’s what we’re praying for.”

Fei-cui nuzzled the child, who giggled. “You like the idea of a baby sister, huh? How old is he?”

“He’ll be two in November – Peng-wum?”

“Yes?”

Nailani pointed at an object sitting in a corner. “What’s that?”

“Hm? Oh, that’s a high chair. I thought that Miki could sit in that while we eat.”

Nailani smiled sweetly at her husband and asked in Spontoonie, “Mate-precious, art thou sanity-bereft? Surely thou knowledge-possessing son-ours uses sitting-constructs never.”

“Sweet truth, mate-precious, yet son-ours to use such must in time-fulness.” The red panda finally caught on to his wife’s expression, and his tail flicked before lowering to the floor. “Affirmation-sharing, mate-precious?”

The other women in the room exchanged glances as the native rabbit’s smile grew a bit wider. “Affirmation-sharing, mate-precious,” she said, “but thou shalt feed the son of thy blood.”

Peng-wum nodded and went to get the chair. “Sure, dear,” he said in English, and he kissed her as he passed by and placed the chair beside his. “How hard could it be?” he asked as he started to glance at the menu. “Are we ready to order yet? It’s been a busy day.”

The others took their seats, surreptitiously edging away from the red panda as he took his son from Fei-cui and started to put him in the high chair. Mikilani fussed as he was put in the unyielding construction and started banging on the metal tray as soon as his father locked it into place.

Shin tried to concentrate on her menu. It was going to be a long night.


*********


Odd lights had been seen north of Mount Krupp that night, and as many of the inhabitants of Fort Bob started their day they paused as the feline walked into town from the north. Feline, Japanese from the look of him, his trousers soaked and muddy to the knees.

Not all that remarkable, until certain things were noted that made the man’s appearance very remarkable.

First, his chest from his collarbone to just above his navel had been depilated. Not shaved; all the individual hairs had been removed, and the bare skin bore several tattoos. Those who could read them flinched and moved away, only occasionally pausing to explain what they were.

Pride of place was given to the clan chop of the Fu, with the mark of the Sai-Fan directly below it. Below that, in precise and artistic calligraphy, were written orders to let the feline make its way to the offices of Ni and Sons unhindered.

Second, the feline’s eyes had been replaced by disks of featureless milk-white glass.




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