^^ Qiáng-Lóng ^^

--- Tama Arashi-Kumo ---

I blinked in shock at the lukewarm greeting, and looked at Sora.

He hummed. "Remember, as your father said... she is likely unenthusiastic about this." He said softly, his head next to mine.

I nodded. "Right."

We followed the princess, and I hummed at the sight of her scabbard, which was as used as her armor, but still beautiful.

She looked back. "You have something to ask?"

"Yes. You see a lot of personal combat?" I asked.

She blinked at my direct attitude, and looked away, hiding a smirk. "I do. I was Commander of the Royal Guard, until last month, when my father called me home for this... situation."

I nodded. "Your Japanese is very good. Is my Chinese passable? I learned during my training with Wong-Fei-Quan."

She hummed. "It is passable. Your verbiage needs a little work, in the non-formal tenses."

"I will work on that, then. And Sora?"

She looked at him. "His Chinese is surprisingly fluent... I'm impressed. Do the smaller ones speak Chinese as well?"

"They should be almost as good as me, by now." I nodded, and then paused as a child of about 10 fell, to our left, with a bruise on his forehead.

Sora hissed softly. "Arashi, be calm..."

I slowly picked up the rock, and gazed at the thrower, a boy of perhaps 15, crushing it in my hand. "I am perfectly calm." The sand fell to the ground slowly, sparking with lightning.

The princess hummed, and snapped at one of her guards. "Lash that one, on the Docks. He brings dishonor to his city and his family."

They dragged him away swiftly.

I knelt next to the unconscious boy, and tapped his skull slowly to test for a concussion. I found his skull sound, and nodded, feeling his neck for any internal bleeding. Again, negative, so I poured some cold water on his face, and he snapped awake.

"Follow my finger." I murmured, holding his head still, and moved my finger before his eyes.

All was well, so I nodded, releasing him. "Stay off your feet for a few hours, drink some bone-medicine, and you'll be fine." I said, then stood him up.

He immediately knelt, and I stood him up again. "Keep your head as level as possible, you've taken a strike to the skull." I chastised him, and shooed him into the arms of a woman nearby who was speaking to him quickly.

I walked back to the princess, and bowed my head. "I apologize for the delay."

She shook her head. "I understand. Let us continue."

I looked behind us, and the Dragon-Physicians, servants, and guards followed us a a small distance.

Sora was circling above us, looking at the city, and I grinned at my idea. "Would you like to ride a dragon?" I asked the princess suddenly.

She blinked, and raised a paper-thin eyebrow. "Perhaps."

I waved to Sora, and he landed swiftly. "Yes?"

"Can you please escort the Princess?" I asked softly.

He hummed. "I see... If she wishes."

I grinned and leapt onto his paw, then held a hand out to the Princess. "Would you like to be escorted by the most noble dragon this side of the border?" I asked happily.

She raised an eyebrow. "Hmph... I will consent to your escort, Lord Sora." She stepped past me, onto his paw.

He laughed softly, and set us on his neck. Lee-Kahn sighed at us, but hopped onto Sora's back-left paw, something he hated doing.

One of the Princess's guards saw this, and hesitantly approached. Sora extended a toe. "Let's get a move on, little human." He said in Chinese, his voice dripping boredom.

The guard hesitantly sat in between the claws, as Lee-Kahn had, and we were suddenly whipping through the air in a spiral, gaining altitude.

I laughed as Sora started showing off, spinning so fast that I had to grab the princess to keep her on his back. I guided her hands to his fur, and then yelled at him to cool off.

He leveled out, and I grinned at the birds-eye view of the city.

The Princess chuckled. "I haven't seen this in ten years or so."

"You haven't flown in a Decade? Now that is a travesty." I laughed softly.

She snorted gently. "So you're sarcastic, huh? Good to know. I haven't flown because the last breeding dragons of the Royal Family died many years ago. Only four Imperial Dragons remain, and they do not fly anymore."

"Hmm... I'll have my Dragon-Physician have a look at them... either way, hopefully one of the Imperials we brought takes a liking to you. Or one of the eggs." I pointed at the Palace, and Sora sighed, but started angling towards it.

He landed in a small cloud of sand, on top of the plateau-like structure that housed four other dragons, though oddly shaped.

I blinked. "They have wings... that's interesting... they fly by strength, not magic?"

She turned her head to look at Sora's back. "Oh... he doesn't have- whoa, wait, Dragons are Mages?" She stared at me incredulously.

"Yes? They have a brand of magic to themselves, or at least, Imperial's do. I suppose yours are different. Sora, can you tell what's wrong with them from here?" I asked him.

He sighed. "It is simply Old Age. Time comes for us all... and their wings have aged like your human hair, becoming thinner, weaker. Perhaps this is another factor restricting flight... though it's hard to tell. They are very small, and frail-looking." He coiled himself slowly, offering us a step down.

"Alright... and-"

A loud roar interrupted me, and Princess Tiān Kōng ducked. "Get down!" She hissed.

I laughed. "I have Sora and Magic, what could possibly- HEAVEN ON EARTH!" I ducked as a Dragon of the same shape as the others, but much bigger and obviously younger, flew overhead, spewing flames at us, then disappeared into the sparse clouds.

Sora raised his front left paw, and the flames disappeared in midair. He snarled lowly, and uncoiled, standing up on his back legs, and then roared a full-powered Divine Breath into the clouds, parting them, and revealing the dragon.

He roared words, next. "COME CHALLENGE ME LIKE A REAL DRAGON, YOU OVERGROWN NEWT!!!"

The dragon controlled it's descent, having been knocked out of the sky temporarily by the magical attack, and then landed suddenly, in front of us, cradling a dislocated wing, and spoke in hissing Chinese I couldn't understand fully.

Sora hissed for a moment, then stopped, perking up. "Hmm... She's of breeding age, and in season... it seems she meant only a display of territorial claim... Her name is 'Qiáng-Lóng'... I am trespassing, Arashi, what do I do?" He asked softly.

"Uhm... apologize, and say you're from Japan? With the Emperor's permission?"

He nodded, and translated, then bowed his head slowly.

She blinked, and bowed back. She was almost as big as him, I noticed, and so I turned to Princess Tiān-Kōng. "So they shrink, with age?"

She shook her head. "That Breed is bigger, and they breathe fire... most are smaller, and have more speed and endurance." She explained simply.

"Ah. I see."

Sora finished explaining, it seemed, and he approached her cautiously, gripping her wing and relocating it with the practiced ease of a veteran surgeon.

"Not unlike an Eagle's Wing-Joint. Is there any stiffness, soreness?" He sniffed her skin, which was covered in a thick, metallic plating, not unlike a shark's scales, with fur growing through the slim gaps, covering the scales fully.

I blinked. "I thought-"

Princess Tiān-Kōng shrugged. "She isn't one of ours. We cannot ride her, because she will not let us. She comes around every once in a while, and claims this as her breeding ground- oh dear." She turned away, and I blinked, turning to see Sora in a way I never hoped to see again.

I immediately started walking away, and the Princess followed, along with our guards.

"Well, they'll be interesting dragon-kits... a Crossed Breed. I don't think that's ever happened with Japanese and Chinese Dragons." I hummed.

The princess sighed. "Indeed... well, we must get you to the Emperor."

I nodded. "Let us not keep him waiting."

---

"So, don't look him in the eyes, and don't speak his name-"

"He has a name? I assumed he didn't." I asked.

"Good, continue to assume so." She nodded.

"Hmph. I am Crown Prince of Japan-"

"And I am his daughter, the Crown Princess of all China, and I follow these rules." She rebuked me quietly.

"Hmph." I nodded grudgingly.

The doors opened, and she handed her sword to the guard. I handed White-Lotus to Lee-Kahn. "Stay here, alert me if there is any activity you find off-putting."

He bowed his head.

I entered slowly, and knelt, thirty paces away from the throne, then slowly walked on my knees, next to the Princess, the last twenty, then halted when she halted. We both bowed deeply, and then stood when the Emperor raised his hand.

He gazed at me, and nodded slowly. "Our greetings to the Crown Prince of our honorable Neighbors, Japan."

His Throne Voice wasn't as imposing as father's.

I bowed my head, and then used father's Throne Voice, making a strong statement. "The Great Jade Emperor sends his most honored greetings as well, to his colleague, the Great Opal Emperor, and his Prince, Vassal, and Son, to give his Greeting courteously on this, the 12th day of the 9th month of his 1,192nd Year."

I felt Sora enter the Throne Room, and then heard the murmurs. "He also sends Lord Sora, the Companion of Crown Prince Tama Arashi-Kumo, with four young dragons, to be hopefully paired with your most honored nobles, and four eggs of the Imperial Line that we hoped will be bred with your own, to further Unify our Empires."

Sora bowed his head slowly, and the smaller dragons bowed slowly, then scampered up his legs, hiding in his mane. "Greetings to the Great Opal Emperor. I, Lord Sora of the Imperial Jade Dragon Clan, give greetings on behalf of the Imperial's." He said, raising his head.

The Emperor blinked slowly, his face impassive, and then nodded once. "Indeed... The Great Opal Emperor is pleased with these greetings. We would move forwards to the next matter, that of our Empire's Unification, by way of marriage."

Princess Tiān-Kōng tensed up slowly.

"You are aware of your purpose, here?" The emperor asked me.

"Indeed. To foster good relations between our loving cousins in the Great Chinese Empire, and to ask Princess Tiān-Kōng for her hand in marriage, forever uniting our countries as one against the growing menace to the north and west." I nodded.

She stood straight. "The Princess would speak."

"Speak." Her father said, his eyes warning her to watch her tongue.

She frowned, and clenched her jaw. "I will not marry a weakling. I would have this Prince Prove himself against me." She said simply.

I nodded. "As you wish-"

"Absolutely not!" The emperor snapped.

She frowned slowly. "He has agreed."

"He will not harm you-"

"Then we agree? Wonderful." She said dryly.

He frowned slowly, exactly the same as she had. "Young woman..."

"Yes, father?" She smiled sweetly.

He sighed slowly. "Guards, have training weapons brought for them. No blades." He snapped.

Almost instantly, oddly-shaped wooden swords were produced, and I shook my head when one was offered to me. "Lee-Kahn, may I have my Bokken, please?" I asked.

He reached into his bag, and drew out the training swords, laced into a belt already, and tossed them to me.

I laced them around my hips swiftly, and bowed to the Princess. "I bid you luck and good fortune in this match." I said ceremonially.

She blinked, then bowed back, repeating it in Chinese.

"If the Emperor would mark the beginning of the match?"

He clapped once, and I darted forward as swiftly as possible.

She gasped, then dodged instinctively, and my sword left its sheath in a smooth movement that barely scratched her neck, and her own sword was still in the sheath.

She couldn't find time to take it out as I pressured her, and she had to block with the sheath.

I stepped back to allow her room, and she narrowed her eyes, drawing the weapon.

Immediately, I was behind her, my short-sword against her kidney, my bokken against her throat.

I darted away when she swung at me, and began marking her skin with imaginary 'X's, marking when I could have killed her, as she didn't stop, even when I won conclusively.

Eventually I disarmed her. "I believe we have seen enough of each other's skill, yes?" I asked.

She frowned slowly again. "You went easy on me."

"I did. I only use the required amount of physical exertion in any given movement, as Wong-Fei-Quan taught me, these past 12 years training with him and Lee-Kahn." I nodded.

She blinked slowly. "You were taught by a member of the Wong Clan? I'd heard one was overseas, but... hmph. Either way, I do not want to be taken lightly. Attack with all you have." She raised her sword.

"As you wish." I sliced the wooden sword in half with a flick of my wrist, and smiled when she stared at the lead core, also severed cleanly.

"How did you do that?" She asked slowly.

"A dozen years of training with the best swordsman and hand-to-hand fighter the two Empires have to offer... And lots of meditation." I chuckled, sheathing the wooden sword, and then the smaller sword, handing them both to Lee-Kahn.

She received another sword. "And who is the best swordsman in Japan?"

"The best in All Japan? Lee-Kahn. That's why he's been my Personal Guard since the day I was born. He's killed more assassins than any man I've ever seen, and effortlessly." I patted him on the shoulder.

He grinned, and chuckled, shaking his head, then signed 'Effort', 'Much', and 'Often'.

"He's also very humble." I shrugged.

She blinked slowly. "This man is the greatest swordsman in your Empire?"

I smirked. "Take a crack at him. Prove me right. Lee-Kahn, don't harm her."

He bowed to me, then her, and belted on the wooden swords.

She narrowed her eyes at my words, then centered herself, and struck at him with her blade.

To anyone who wasn't a martial artist, they simply saw his sword arm flicker, and then stop moving, with the sword still in the sheath, and her sword snapped into three pieces.

She blinked, looking at it, and then laughed. "I am bested twice, and I cannot muster any emotion but awe and respect! That surprises me more than the swordplay!"

The Emperor clapped softly, and the entire room politely followed, as she bowed to me and Lee-Kahn deeply, and thanked us for the honor of a Spar.

Then the Emperor Spoke, and we all silenced.