Lan Yi stomps into his room, crosses his hands over his chest, and sits on his bed with enough force to bounce a bit. He’s upset and for a very good reason. He scowls at his feet for a good measure, trying to look as disapproving as Teacher Lan whenever he sees Lan Yi after the incident where he climbed a tree, and Teacher Lan caught him.
”A-Yi?” Mama calls out.
Lan Yi doesn’t answer.
Mama comes to his door and looks at him for a moment. Then he sighs and walks to him, kneels in front of him, and ducks her head slightly to look him in the eye.
Lan Yi draws his shoulders up and turns his head.
”A-Yi, won’t you tell Mama what happened?”
”Stupid,” Lan Yi grumbles.
”What was that?”
”Stupid! Adults are stupid!” Lan Yi huffs. He knows it’s against the rules to say that, but the rules also say no to lying and Lan Yi’s had it.
”That’s…an unfortunate side-effect of being an adult,” Mama says mildly. ”Which adults were stupid this time and what did they do?”
Lan Yi glances at Mama from the corner of his eye. Sometimes it’s hard to say if Mama is making fun of him or if she’s being serious. This sounds like making fun but Mama looks serious.
”The aunties in the creche,” he mutters.
”Ah,” Mama says and nods. ”They have a history of being stupid.”
Lan Yi frowns. ”They do?”
Mama nods. ”Yes. Many children think they are especially stupid.”
”Huh,” Lan Yi says. He’s never heard an adult admit that some other adult is stupid, but if Mama says so, it must be true. He rubs his eye with a fist.
”What about the aunties?” Mama prompts.
”They said I shouldn’t make things up. But I wasn’t! I just said what I saw!” Lan Yi says, his volume rising toward the end. ”It’s not lying if I saw!”
Mama looks serious and nods several times. ”Hm,” she says. ”And what did you see?”
Lan Yi bites his lip. ”Zewu-jun is a dragon!” he whispers.
”Oh, my,” Mama says. ”Really?”
See, this makes Lan Yi angry. Back in the creche, when he’d said this same thing, the aunties had scolded him harshly and accused him of making things up. ”There are no such things as dragons in this world,” they said. ”A-Yi, don’t say such things! Zewu-jun is a strong cultivator and our sect leader, not someone for you to make up silly stories about!” When he protested, they threatened to slap him if he didn’t stop.
”Yes!” he now exclaims. ”He’s so tall, Mama, have you seen how tall he is? And he has so fine robes! And he has a dragon in his hair!”
”Does he now?” Mama asks.
Lan Yi nods enthusiastically. ”Yes, Mama! It’s silver and small—I think it has to be because if it was bigger, it would be bigger than Zewu-jun’s head, and then it would look like it ate his head. And that would be bad.”
”I would think so, yes,” Mama says seriously.
”But why did the aunties say I was lying?” Lan Yi asks, a bit of whine entering his voice. ”It’s so unfair!”
Mama purses her lips and taps her cheek with a finger. ”I have to say I’ve never seen a dragon,” she says slowly. ”But you are right, A-Yi, that Zewu-jun’s guan does look like a dragon’s skull.”
”What if he’s a secret dragon!” Lan Yi gasps, eyes going wide.
”Ohh!” Mama says, nodding slowly. ”That would explain it. I think you should be careful in the future, A-Yi, not to reveal him to others.”
”Mn!” Lan Yi says, determined, his anger at the stupid adults now set aside. It would be stupid of him to stay mad at people who aren’t supposed to even know about Zewu-jun being a secret dragon, wouldn’t it?
”Did you know that when I was, like, five, I was convinced you were a dragon?” Jingyi says to Zewu-jun as he pours him tea.
It’s been shy of two years since the events of the Guanyin Temple, and Zewu-jun has started to slowly pick up his duties after emerging from seclusion. Jingyi had decided to help him out, and as no one protested to this, he’s decided he’s Zewu-jun’s unofficial assistant now.
Zewu-jun blinks. ”Pardon?”
Jingyi grins. ”Your headpiece, the bigger, silver one? It looks like a dragon’s skull when you put it on. I was sure you were a dragon in human disguise and got spitting mad at the poor caretakers in the creche when they told me to stop making things up.”
”I can assure you I’m not a dragon,” Zewu-jun says slowly, bemused.
”Well, I know that now,” Jingyi says. He nudges the small basket filled with fresh buns closer to Zewu-jun, who huffs softly and picks one up. ”But wouldn’t it be so cool, though?”
Zewu-jun bites into the bun with a contemplative air. ”What would’ve been the reason for my hiding?” he asks a moment later, scandalously breaking the rule of not talking while eating. Jingyi is delighted.
”Huh. I don’t think I ever really thought that far?” Jingyi says. ”Maybe you were on vacation?”
Zewu-jun’s eyes crinkle slightly with his small smile. ”A dragon on vacation in the Cloud Recesses,” he muses. ”I like that.”
Jingyi takes a sip of tea and thinks about how thrilled Mama would’ve been to hear that.
