Shadow of the Hunter part 1

                                 Shadow of the Hunter
                                      Part 1


  The man was getting on Chad's nerves.  Standing in line for cupcakes, of all things, the inconsiderate jerk-off butted in line then held it up by talking on his cell phone.  When the clerk tried to direct his attention to a sign requesting costumers not be on cell phones while placing an order he went off on the beleaguered young woman, delaying things even further.  Once that tantrum appeared to be over, he placed his order and berated the clerk on the speed and quality of her service.  He then didn't have enough to pay cash and insisted the clerk cover the difference.  

     Chad made his way to the front of the line, dropped a five dollar bill on the counter and returned to his place without a word.  The man glared at him while the clerk completed the sale and then sulked his way out of the store.  

     The next few people placed their orders and left, offering sympathy to the clerk as they did so.  When Chad reached the counter, the clerk thanked him as she handed him his change.  

     "It's not a problem."  

     She bagged up his order, three red-and green-iced gingerbread cupcakes.  "You must really like cupcakes to wait through all that."

     "They're not for me, they're for my rat."

     "Really?  Wow, that's really cute."

     Chad gave her a smile that somehow didn't reach his eyes.  "I guess it is.  Have a nice day."

     Chad walked out into the cold, snowy day.  It was the Monday after Thanksgiving, and the Christmas decorations were already up.  He considered taking a bus, but decided walking would give him an opportunity to scout.  The sun was hanging low and dusk would come soon.  It seemed at this time that...things were more active.  

     He was also curious.  He'd been reading about the solstice and how there were some ancient beliefs that reality somehow came unglued around this time and the supernatural became more active.  He wanted to see if he could chart that.  

     "Well if it isn't the do-gooder."

     Chad repressed any reaction to the voice of the belligerent customer and made a point of looking up and down the street for something.

     "Hey, buddy, I'm talking to you."

     Chad recognized the man's tone, though he'd never met the asshole before that day.  He sounded petulant because his fun had been ruined and aggressive because he had something to prove.  Given that Chad was barely in his twenties and this man appeared to be at least ten years older, the man assumed Chad made an easy target.  Chad recognized the situation all too well.  Karma sucked.

     When Chad continued to ignore him, the man stalked over and grabbed him on the shoulder.  Chad expected the move, and was calm when he looked over to his antagonist.  

     "What, can't hear?" the man sneered.

     Chad kept his voice even.  "I hear just fine.  It's just that I was always told not to mention it when someone farts."

     The man's look of contemptuousness turned confused.  "Farts?  What do you mean by that?"

     Chad cocked his head.  "Isn't that what it's called when an asshole makes noise?"  Chad knew he was pulling the guy's chain and knew from experience just how badly that could go.  Something dark twisted in Chad, with predatory glee.  This guy was just begging to be taken down a notch.  

     He stared dumbly at Chad before responding.  "You little shit," he blurted out, confusion turning to anger.  "How dare you say that to me!"

     "Pretty easily, actually.  Wasn't much of a dare at all."

     The man seized Chad by both shoulders and pushed him into an empty alcove.  "OK, you little fuck.  Now we're--"

     The man chocked off as Chad stared at him.  While the smile never reached his eyes, the look of malignant predation went there and stayed.  He reached with his right hand to his left shoulder and grabbed the man's hand.  He twisted it hard.  

     "We're going to what?" Chad asked.

     The man's face went white from pain and fear.

     "Let go."  The man tried to put force behind the command, but it fell flat.

     Chad still released the hand, then reached for the other.  

     "Are you removing this or am I?"  Though his voice was even, his eyes promised more pain and possibly worse.  The man released his shoulder.  Chad was almost disappointed.

     "You still haven't told me what we're going to do."  It was a simple question, said without much inflection.  Chad knew from experience how to pitch his voice for maximum effect.  

     The man backed away while trying to project an air of defiant contempt that was undercut by the fear Chad could see in his eyes. The man shook his head and stalked off.  Chad let him go.  He took a few deep breaths and set out on his way.

     Like an orgasm that wasn't reached, the urge--the need--to break something, or someone, rose within Chad and made demands of him.  Demands he barely wanted to discourage, and that frightened him.  He walked faster.  He couldn't outdistance himself, or his desires.  Soon, he was running head long to escape.  

     Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark form dart off.  With a grim smile, he turned to follow the figure from what he hoped was an unobtrusive distance.

     The little creature was a blur of black and gray as it weaved through the crowd of oblivious humans.  It was perhaps two feet tall.  Chad could make out a tail and four limbs; sometimes it dashed on all fours,  but when that wasn't possible, it moved on two legs.  

     The head was perhaps a little too large for the body, and appeared to have a mane.  He couldn't quite make out the face.  Then it stopped and a mischievousness smile lit up its face, which had an animalistic cast.  The mane that hung in a shaggy mass around the face added to the impression of an animal, though Chad couldn't have named what animal.  He followed its line of sight to a sidewalk bell ringer.

     What, some little shadow creature's going to rip off a Salvation Army guy?   He thought as he continued to follow.  

     The little creature scurried up to the man, who continued to ring his bell, greet folks on the street and thank them for the occasional donation.  The creature rose up on its digitigrade hind legs and tugged hard at the man's arm.  He dropped the bell with a look of surprise.  With its tail, the creature knocked the bell down the street.  As the man chased after his bell, the creature dumped his hanging pot, forcing the lid off.  Once the man realized that had happened, he forgot the bell, went back to his kettle and tried to collect the flying cash.  

     Chad started to head over, but a small group of people had already gathered to help.  Chad looked over to the creature, which was laughing uproariously at the pandemonium it had created.  Chad's expression hardened and he headed for it.  

     The strange little creature saw Chad.  He saw the fear in the creature's face and it stoked the burning need he had.  The creature panicked in its efforts to escape.  After a few scrabbled lunges it managed to get to its feet and run into a deserted alley.  Chad smiled.  These creatures almost always ran for hidden places.  It made what he did so much easier.  

     He followed the creature into the alley.  His gaze fell on a discarded bit of pipe and he seized it with his empty hand so that he entered in clutching in either hand a bag of cupcakes and a heavy metal pipe.  He pursued the creature until he found it cowering against a wall; its face paled when it saw the pipe.

     As Chad looked over the creature, he took in its trembling form as it shrunk away even further.  It (he, Chad realized) lifted a spindly arm (foreleg?) in a vain attempt to protect himself from the coming violence as he cringed.  

     Other things came to Chad, unsought and unwanted knowledge.  The creature seemed harmless.  He had no evil intent; rather he thought the whole trick was funny.  A prank and nothing more.  Chad's grip tightened on the pipe, but he stopped advancing.  

     NO NO NO!  screamed a part of himself.  Forward!  Look at the pathetic thing!  Break it! Chad felt  himself grow hard in the threat of violence that hung in the air.  The promised orgasm was one act of violence away.  

     "Why did you do that?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

     The odd little creature looked at him.  It was still frightened but answered.  "It was a prank."

     "Why him?"

     "He's always there.  I was just playing with him."

     "He didn't think it was funny."

     The little creature looked down.  "I guess he didn't at that."

     "Do you know what he's doing?"

     The creature returned his gaze to Chad, fear mixing with curiosity.  "Gathering money."

     "Do you know why?"

     The creature shook his head.

     Chad crouched so that he was closer to the creature's level.  "The money he gathers goes to those who need it.  Now they won't have whatever you made him lose.  Not only does he suffer the inconvenience of your game, other people will suffer by having less."      

     "I didn't know."

     "Did you ask?"

     The creature looked down again.

     Chad was still angry, the need still hammered at him.  Instead of striking he raised his voice.  "You know, there's a piece of shit over at the school passing out junk to kids.  There are peddlers of every conceivable horror out there and you fuck with some dude trying to collect something for the poor.  God!"  Chad shot upright, throwing his hands wide.  "Why don't you fuck with someone who needs a good fucking?!"

     The creature stared at Chad as though the concept had never occurred to him. "Of course, hunter.  Those are targets worthy of a good game."

     Chad suppressed the snarl that threatened at being called a hunter.  The look on the creature's face still held some fear, and this continued to feed the darkness crashing around him.  But the look of consideration spoke to something else.  Chad stood uncertain.  He wanted to hurt the creature, and wasn't sure if he was being played.  With tremendous effort, he stayed his hand.  

     "Fine."  With a sharp jerk of his head he added, "Go."

     The creature scurried away.  

     Chad waited until the creature was long gone then dropped down amongst the gathered refuse of the area.  He curled into a ball and held his head as the frustration over the lost opportunity washed over him.  He rocked himself a bit as his hard-on faded and his body came crashing down from the adrenaline high.

     When he was able, Chad rose, tossed aside the pipe, and carried his cupcakes home.

     High above the alley, perched on the ledge of the building roof, a figure watched Chad with great interest.  Having witnessed the entire exchange, he decided this new hunter merited closer scrutiny.  He nodded to himself.  Yes, this hunter definitely merited scrutiny, perhaps even a visit. With a mischievous grin, his form blurred into a flurry of snow and disappeared.

     Chad arrived home to the weekly-rate motel he lived in at close to nine.  The motel wasn't bad; it was quiet, and most of the tenants were, like him, semi-regulars.  

     "Evening, Mr. Chad," said the older black man who worked the night desk, Mr. Franklin.

     Chad grunted in reply and waved as he made his way up the stairs.

     Once he reached his room, he locked and chained his door, put away his coat, and tossed the now-mangled bag of cupcakes on the counter by the fridge.  He sat in a chair in the small sitting room, thinking he would do some work on his computer.  He was building a database of encounters and researching any lore he could get his hands on.  

      As he tried to do some research, his eyes kept closing and exhaustion crashed down on him.  He gave up and went to bed.

     Chad was walking through a forest.  Trees arched cathedral-like above his head, blocking out the sky.  The path was worn smooth beneath his feet.  He glanced about the woods on either side of the path, but they were a mass of impenetrable darkness.  

     Someone walked beside him, but no matter how much he looked at them, he couldn't see what they looked like.  Sometimes the person almost looked like him, sometimes like someone he felt certain he should know but couldn't place, and sometimes nothing but a dark mass that traveled alongside him.  There was something both revolting and companionable about the co-traveler, however, and it seemed to Chad that that should bother him.

     They reached the end of the corridor of trees.  It opened into a small meadow where deer were grazing.  A doorway stood in the middle of the meadow.  Chad cocked his head in consideration, then set off to investigate the door.  About half-way across he heard a wailing from behind.  Encapsulated in that cry was a loss that was both devastated and infuriated.  Chad looked back.

     Still on the path, in the protective corridor of trees, was his companion.  Again, even looking directly at it didn't tell him what it was.  The thought occurred to him that it was best that it stayed there, forever in a place he'd left behind.  Then he started to walk back.

     An enormous deer left the herd to stand in front of Chad.  His gaze was level with the magnificent beast's chest.  He raised his gaze upward and looked into eyes as intelligent as any he'd ever seen.  The rack that crowned the deer's head spread out wide then curled back in.  The deer lowered his head so that the rack of antlers surrounded Chad's body, blocking his way back.  Chad could smell the musk of the animal, rich, exotic, and hauntingly familiar.  

     "No," he heard.  "You may not go back.  You have started on the path, and the way lies ahead."

     Chad awoke with a start, the scent of the deer still lingering.  He was surprised to find himself trembling.  

     It was just a dream, he told himself, then repeated for emphasis.  He said it aloud.  No matter how, or how often, he said it, he didn't quite believe it.  Chad rose from his bed, showered and dressed.  Since having to move from his previous apartment due to legal troubles, he'd been building a wardrobe of the best pickings he could find from second-hand and Salvation Army stores.  He had found some nice things that way.  

     As he drew on his hoodie and duster he glanced over to the counter by the fridge.  The bag was gone. I'm going to have to wait up for him some night, find out what this is all about.


     
     Chad set out to The Dragon's Garden, a Chinese buffet he frequented.  He went there to speak to the dragon who owned and operated it.  They had a--complicated relationship, one that Chad had yet to completely figure out.  The dragon appeared to be looking out for him.  What Chad couldn't figure out was why.  

     As Chad made his way to the restaurant, he realized he wasn't alone.  Someone appeared to be pacing him through the crowds.  He feigned one direction and ducked down a street in another.  The sense of being followed persisted.  Chad maneuvered his way to increasingly-deserted areas until he turned down an abandoned side street and waited.  Once the figure appeared around the corner after him, Chad seized the stranger by his arm and swung him against a close by wall.

     "Well, you're certainly a bundle of laughs."

     The figure that addressed Chad was perhaps half-a-head taller than Chad's own six feet.  More than his height, the startling thing about this man was his stark white skin tone and glittering shag of hair hanging about his face, shoulders and down his back that was by turns blue, white, or silver depending on how the light caught it.  Inhumanly bright blue eyes looked into Chad's with unrestrained good-will and amusement.  His outfit was a mish-mash of blues, grays, and silvers, in what appeared to be a tunic, breaches, and a long coat.

     "Oh for fuck's sake," Chad said as he released the figure.  He rubbed  his hands across his eyes.  "Isn't there a single other person in this city you people can screw with other than me?"

     The figure cocked his head and took on the exaggerated appearance of considering the question.  "Probably," he answered in a voice like the wind.  "But you're here right now."

     "Of course," Chad said with a sigh.  He gave the stranger a long once over.  "And who are you, anyway?  The Snow Miser?"   

     Much to Chad's annoyance, the entity began to sing.  Even waved his arms a bit in a pantomime of dance.  

     "I'm Mister White Christmas, I'm Mister Snow.
      I'm Mister Icicle, I'm Mister Ten Below.
     Friends call me Snow Miser, whatever I touch
     Turns to snow in my clutch, I'm too much."

     "Damn straight on that," Chad snapped as he stalked away.  "You're way too fucking much."

     The entity fell into step right next to him.  "You know, I never understood why they were the 'Miser Brothers'.  They weren't especially miserly with their particular influences.  Quite the opposite, in fact."

     "Because the 'Meteorologically Fanatical Brothers' isn't very lyrical."

     "True."

     Chad stalked on with this latest bit of strangeness keeping pace step for step.  Chad's eyes flicked back and forth from the path in front to the entity at his side.

     "Is there some reason you're following me?"

     "Technically, I'm not following you.  I'm walking beside you in the same direction.  Following would put me behind you."

     "Is there something I can do for you?"

     The smile the wintery man wore bloomed into a tremendous grin.  "Well, now that you mentioned it..."

     "Ughh," Chad groaned.

     "Oh," his companion said as he pulled up short.  "Is now a bad time?"

     Chad grasped at the opportunity to be rid of Snow Miser.  "In fact, it is.  I'm on my way somewhere.  So if you could go away and never come back, that would be good for me."

     "I won't keep you then.  But I'm not certain I can promise to never be back.  Until we meet again, then." He gave a nod of his head and his entire form broke down into snow and blew away.  

     Chad looked around to see if anybody seemed surprised by what happened.  People continued on their way, oblivious to anything unusual.  Chad envied them.

     He reached his destination with no further diversions.  The Dragon's Garden was a large free-standing restaurant, set away from the other buildings in the shopping center across a patch of snow-covered grass.  Behind the building was undeveloped land.  To Chad it appeared standoffish, though some of that he could attribute to how much the building felt like Qiang, the dragon who owned it.  Qiang was the definition standoffish.  

     As Chad entered the restaurant he was greeted by a pretty Chinese woman whose face lit up in a smile.  Her black hair was done up in braids with a silk poinsettia and ivy woven in.  It was Chad's understanding that she was the lover of the dragon owner, but whoever or whatever she was, she'd always been kind to him  

     "Where would you like to sit?" Mingzhu asked.

     "In the back," he answered with a shrug.

     She smiled.  "Of course."

     She led him to a booth in the far corner of the seating area.  He'd come to think of it as "his;" it was  secluded, dark and away from other tables.  He slid into his normal side, with his back against the wall.
  
     Mingzhu left and returned with a soda.  "I'll tell Qiang you're here," she said.  

     Chad gave another smile that didn't reach his eyes.  Mingzhu returned his smile and left to find Qiang.

     Chad got a plate and filled it from the buffet.  As he ate, he turned over events in his mind.  First a bizarre dream, then the Snow Miser.  The day had become by turns weird then weirder.  Not as weird as being turned into a goldfinch, perhaps, but weird enough.  To make matters worse, that insidious song was stuck in his head.

     "That's a jaunty little tune you're humming.  You never struck me as musically inclined."

     Chad looked up at the source of the statement.  A Chinese man stood at the end of his table.  Qiang appeared, to all outward appearances, to be human.  Roughly the same height as Chad, his black hair was long and worn lose.  His features were handsome, his bearing regal, if just the slightest bit haughty.   His eyes were brown, with a hard to see red gold ring around the iris.  

     However, Chad could pick out the dragon underneath the facade.  The way Qiang turned just so, looking like the twist of scales.  The way he moved his hips that suggested the great length of tail.  The way a sense of fire surrounded him.  Chad suspected he was allowed to see as much as he did.  He was also certain he would still see something even if he wasn't.

     "May I?" Qiang indicated the bench seat across from Chad.

     Chad nodded and gestured to the seat with his fork.  Qiang sat down and twisted himself sideways, with his back was against the wall and his long legs stretched out along the seat.  Even this suggested a dragon lounging in his lair.

     "Yeah, it's this song I heard today," Chad explained.

     "Oh, really?"

     "Yeah." Chad rolled his eyes.  "The blasted Snow Miser showed up."

     "The what?"

     "Snow Miser.  He was a character from this old animated Christmas special."

     Qiang regarded Chad with uncertainty.  "So a character from a children's show accosted you?"

     "Not the actual character, just someone who reminded me of him."

     "Oh.  Well, that's good."

     Chad looked at Qiang.  "I haven't lost it that badly.  Yet."

     "So who was this person?"

     "Person is playing lose with the definition,"  Chad responded, then described the encounter.

     Qiang rested one elbow on the table and the other on the booth, his fingers interlaced.  "It sounds like a weather elemental of some form."

     "And what did it want with me?"

     "I couldn't say for certain, but my guess is it has something to tell you."

     "So why didn't it tell me then?"

     "You told it you were busy."

     "So I should expect it back?"

     Qiang shrugged elegantly.  "I would.  It did say it would be back, didn't it?"

     Chad sighed.  "Yeah, it did.  Oh, joy, can't wait."

     There was something in his mannerism that suggested to Qiang that this was perhaps not all that had happened.  "So was this visitor the whole of your day?"

     Chad gave him a level look.  "You don't think so."

     "What I think is immaterial to the situation.  If you have something to say, you have something to say.  But if you simply came to eat, that is acceptable."

     Chad studied his food before answering.  "I had a dream."

     "Yes?"

     Haltingly, Chad described the dream.  Qiang listened, his fingers interlaced except for his index fingers pressed against his lips.  

     "Interesting," he said when Chad finished.  "Though not altogether surprising.  When you engage the spiritual aspects of this world, they will engage you back."

     Chad looked up.  "What do you mean 'engage'.  I'm not engaging anything."

     "Oh?" he said with a cocked eyebrow.  "So it's some other young man who is apparently aware out there hunting?"

     Chad sighed.  "Why do you ask questions you know the answers to?"

     "To see what answers I get.  And the answer is?"

     "Yes, it's me."

     Qiang nodded.  "I thought as much."

     "You mean 'knew'," Chad muttered.

     Qiang shrugged.  "If you like.  If you're finished, please follow me."

     Chad looked down at his empty plates.  He nodded, then followed where Qiang led.

     Their path went through the kitchen and into his office.  Once there, he shut and locked the door.  He turned to an ornate wall hanging that covered most of the back wall of the office.  It was an abstract piece, done in vibrant colors that evoked images of flames.  Chad  could sense power emanating from it.  He could almost feel the heat and see the colors move.  

     Qiang laid his hand on the tapestry and the flames sprang to life, then parted allowing access.  Qiang indicated for Chad to enter and he did so.  Qiang followed and the flames fell closed.  

     They were in the cavernous room Chad remembered from their previous meeting.  Flaming braziers dominated the room, five all together.  A large brazier was in the center with four smaller ones in the corners.  Pillows of every conceivable style, size and shape were strewn over the floor.  Along a wall was a table and chairs, book cases, and a bed.  These seemed to be the only nods to Qiang's human side.  The rest of the room was set up to house something much larger.  

     Qiang gestured and the brazier and pillows slide aside, exposing the tile floor and leaving an open space.  Qiang strode to the center and gestured for Chad to join him.

     Chad walked over.  "If you could do that, why did you have me moving the brazier that night I was here?  The damn thing is heavy."  

     "If you'll recall, I had been poisoned.  I wasn't in the position to use power I didn't have.  Fortunately, that is not currently the case. Now, then," he said, turning to face Chad.  "How are you initiating these hunts?"

     Chad looked away.  He shifted uncomfortably, a behavior Qiang had come to recognize whenever Chad was asked to discuss the particulars of his talents.  He was new to the situation and it was to be expected.  It also needed to be corrected quickly. He was hunting and didn't have the luxury of being evasive.

     "Since you're going to be doing this, I need an idea of what and how you're doing it."

     "Since I'm going to be doing it?  It's already a foregone conclusion?"

     Qiang recognized the dodge and met it head on.  "Had I said 'if  you're going to do this' you would have argued you don't have a choice.  I haven't time to waste on semantics."

     "Fine," Chad conceded with a glare.  "It's like I can feel them when I'm close by.  I can feel their darkness, their...evil isn't quite right.  But I can feel that there's something not good, not...safe.  And I follow that.  It's like the feeling spikes when whatever they are about to do something bad.  Or something predatory.  They go after the street people.  A lot."  

     "Not surprising, they're easy targets.  And what do you do when you attack.  Show me."

     Chad looked uncertain.  "Come again?"

     Qiang gestured with his hand for Chad to come at him.  "I know what I'm doing, just have at me.  I want to see your style."

     "Well, I don't know that I have a style, exactly," Chad answered as he approached.  Everything in his mannerisms was relaxed.  "I just kind of fly casual until," Chad was now next to Qiang and about to pass when he swung his elbow for Qiang's temple.  

     Qiang moved smoothly out of the way, but was impressed with suddenness of the attack.  "So you strike from surprise.  How do you get that close?"

     "They don't know I can see them."

     "Play against their ignorance."  Qiang nodded.  "That's good as far as it goes, but they'll figure it out.  That won't work for much longer."

     Chad nodded.  "I know.  That's why I also carry an automatic rifle.  I prefer not to use it because it makes a God-awful amount of noise.  Though some neighborhoods seriously don't care.  And those get frequented―a lot."

     "An automatic rifle?" Qiang said with some disdain.  "You have no finesse.  And where did you get one, anyway?"

     Chad looked incredulous.  "I know some people.  And finesse?  I'm just trying to kill the fuckers, not get points for style."

     Qiang looked thoughtful.  "And you're just going after the predatory ones?  You're leaving the rest alone?"

     The image of the strange creature from the night before rose up.  Still, he hadn't hurt the little thing, just scared the shit out of him.  

     "Yeah, just the predatory ones."

     "Good.  The same as every other aspect of the world, there are lines that should not be crossed.  I shouldn't need to remind you of the consequences you experienced when you crossed them in the human realm.  The price for crossing them here will be staggeringly higher, I promise you."

     Chad repressed a shudder.  His time as a goldfinch had not been enjoyable, but he'd now seen enough to understand he'd gotten off lightly.

     "I know."

***********************************************

     Chad made his way from the restaurant.  He tried to keep his attention focused on his surroundings, but it kept drifting back to the Snow Miser and the dream.  They seemed far too disparate to be related, yet the timing seemed too coincidental for them to be unrelated.  Chad had no idea how to get his questions answered; he doubted the Snow Miser would be inclined to give a straight answer and he hadn't a clue how to find a giant talking stag.

     As Chad crossed back into the city, he felt something sidle against his perceptions.  He stopped and looked around.  Nothing stood out.  The feeling started again when he resumed walking, but it was too faint for him to determine what to do about it.

     Chad approached his hotel in a spiral, trying without success to uncover the source or reason for his feelings.  After making a thorough search of the area and turning up nothing, Chad gave up and returned to his room to wait for nightfall.  

     Edgewalker watched with some satisfaction as the hunter returned to his lair without having spotted him.  He was the best runner amongst his pack and took great pride in that fact.  The goblin pulled his hat down lower and tightened his jacket around himself.  He needed to get back and report that he'd found the hunter's base.  He smiled as he contemplated his reward.

*********************************************

     Qiang sat alone in his office for some time after Chad left.  He was concerned.  He believed the boy's intentions were good, but there existed in Chad disturbing tendencies.  Qiang feared hunting could exacerbate them.  He was still trying to resolve Chad's legal troubles from attacking Dakota, a woman he'd been in a limited relationship with.  Not that that had entirely been his fault.  Largely his fault, certainly enough of his fault that he had to bear the responsibility for it.  But part of the driving force had been out of his control.

     Qiang turned to his computer.  He typed in "Snow Miser" and found a clip of the odd little character singing a song.  He recognized the tune as the one Chad had been humming.

     He started to replay the clip when there was a knock on his door.  He knew who the visitor was and was neither surprised nor pleased.   "Come in, Sebastian."

     A young man entered the office and closed the door behind him. He wasn't an imposing figure, five foot eight with a slim build, brown hair worn a bit long.  His blue eyes made one think of water, and his movements were easy and graceful like a river.  He stopped in front of the desk.  

     "If you have a second, I'd like to ask you something."

     At least he remembered his manners, not always a given when dealing with Sebastian.  "I do.  Please."  Qiang motioned to a chair.  "Have a seat."  .

     Sebastian grabbed a chair and pulled it up.  Qiang looked over his clothes.  Jeans and a casual button down shirt.  It was the same outfit he had seen Sebastian in when they first met in the fall.  

     Qiang looked Sebastian over.  "You know, when you go out in the cold you should at least attempt to dress properly."

      Sebastian looked down as though he'd just realized what he was wearing, or appeared to be wearing as the case was.  

     "Oh."  Sebastian reddened slightly.  "I hadn't thought of that.  Every time I shift, it's just the same clothes I was in that night."

     Qiang shrugged.  "It's not a huge concern, as you don't have that much contact with people.  But it's something you should consider."

     Sebastian nodded as he filed away the information.  "What are you listening to?" he asked.

     "Something about Miser Brothers."

     "The Year Without a Santa Claus?  Didn't figure that to be your thing."

     "It's a reference Chad made when I was speaking with him earlier today.  He compared an elemental he ran into to the Snow Miser and I was curious what it meant."   Qiang paused and watched the clip some more.  "The Snow Miser has some peculiar mannerisms."

     "Yeah, he's gay as a three dollar bill."

     "Oh.  Well.  I wasn't aware a children's animated Christmas special would detail the sexual orientation of its characters.  How very forward-thinking of them."

      Sebastian's blush deepened.  "No, I mean they never said that, it's just...OK, never mind that."

     Qiang smiled.  He was amused by how easily Sebastian could be flustered.  Still, he had asked to enter and Qiang had allowed him.  He should be treated with courtesy.  "I'm sorry.  You had a question."

     "Yeah.  And coincidently it's about Chad."

     Qiang sighed.  He'd thought as much, though he didn't put it off to coincidence.  While they did happen, he was completely aware that this wasn't one.  

     "Yes, what of him?"

     Sebastian looked down and fidgeted.  It was such a human mannerism it reminded Qiang that unlike himself, Sebastian had not been born a dragon.  It had only been a few months since Sebastian had come into possession of a dragon's pearl and consequently became a dragon.  That a Caucasian had been chosen for such an honor still rankled Qiang.  He didn't have a particular problem with Sebastian as a person.  He seemed on the whole not a bad sort.  But in Qiang's estimation, that didn't mean he deserved to be a dragon.  He'd largely been forced to come to a sort of peace with the arrangement.  Heaven had chosen, and he was in no position to undo that choice.  He gathered all the patience he could.

    "Sebastian, I'm aware of your feelings in regards to Chad.  What do you think you're going to ask that's going to upset me?"

     A look of uncertainty ran across Sebastian's face as he considered his words.  "Well, I mean after what he'd done, how can everything be fine and forgiven?"  Sebastian looked up at Qiang as anger eclipsed his uncertainty.  "I mean he beat Dakota.  And would have done it again if Chang hadn't been there.  That's not all right."

     "No.  It's not."

     "So why is he out there wandering around?"

     Qiang sighed.  Chang was the dragon in charge of Sebastian, why wasn't he covering this?  "We've gone over this before.  Chang laid out the parameters.  He set the punishment and when it would end.  It ended.  It's not that the past doesn't matter, it's that that portion is finished and now we go forward.  And it's not that he's out there not being monitored."   

     "A few weeks as a goldfinch doesn't seem enough of a punishment to me for what he did," Sebastian said hotly.  "Minimally a few years, preferably the rest of his life."

     "Perhaps I misspoke when I said punishment."  Qiang sat back in his seat and interlaced his fingers as he considered his next words.  "I don't believe your definition of punishment is what Chang had in mind.  I can't say for certain, as I'm not Chang.  But from what I can guess, the point of the goldfinch wasn't punitive.  It was to give him a new perspective on himself.  And in that respect, it succeeded."

     "But why are you sticking up for him?  What if he just goes back to what he was doing before?"

     "Then it will need to be addressed.  You have my word, I will do so."

     "Why are you even giving him the chance?" Sebastian's voice rose.

     "Because it's a chance worth taking."  Qiang folded his arms on the desk and leaned forward, closing the distance between him and Sebastian.  "And since you want to play the what if game, what if he backslides, like you fear, for want of somebody looking out for him?  That the difference between him living up to my expectations or down to yours is there being higher expectations to begin with?"

     Sebastian gripped the arms of his chair and glowered.  Qiang gave a bitter laugh as he began to discern a subtext to the conversation that he hadn't previously considered.

     "What?" Sebastian asked, a little sharper then he intended.

     "Do you know what irony is?"

     "The opposite of wrinklely?"  Even now, Sebastian couldn't resist a joke.  

     "Sebastian..."

     "Sorry.  Yes I know what irony is.  So?"

     "So, here is someone I've said doesn't deserve to be a dragon telling me someone else doesn't deserve to be human.  I was just reflecting on how easily our ideas can get turned inside out and shown back to us."

     Sebastian felt his anger recede in wake of the statement.  They were both being told to trust the judgment of others against their own instincts.  Sebastian felt he had more of a right to his opinion.  

     "Yeah, I can see that.  But I'd never done anything like Chad has."

     "True."  Qiang paused to determine the best way to broach his next point.  "But he was half-mad when he did it.  And you know that."  After a pause he added, "And you know why."  

     Sebastian's angered deflated further.  "Yes, I know.  Is that done now?  Is he all better?"

     Qiang shook his head as he sat back in the chair.  "I doubt he'll ever be 'all better'.  I'm not even sure how long it's been since he'd been whole to begin with.  The roots of this situation extend much farther back then you realize.  But he is in better control.  He's seen another view of the world."

     "But how do I trust that?"

     "Do you even want to?"

     Sebastian looked down.  Qiang had as clever a way of cutting to the bone as Chang.  

     Qiang watched his guest while he debated what to offer next.  He knew a way.  But he had to decide if he was betraying a trust between himself and Chad.  He decided peace may be worth a small inconsideration.

     "If you want to get to the bottom, meet him at the river.  It's your place of power and you will know it if he's lying.  However, you have to live with what you see there.  I will tell you now, you won't find a monster."

     "What will I find?"

     "I can't say for certain what you might find.  What I've found is a terribly damaged young man trying to mend."

     Sebastian paused for a long moment, then said, "Please have him come to the river when he gets a chance."

     "I will do so."

     Sebastian vanished from his office, going directly back to the river.  Qiang sighed.  Doesn't he realize this is a place of business, too?  People will wonder why they never saw him leave.  Oh, well, guess I can't expect some twenty something boy-turned-dragon to remember all his manners.  Qiang returned his attention back to the finished video clip and hit replay.  It was a catchy little tune, at any rate.