Ebony Scales

“I thought I should cook tonight, considering you have a bad hand,” he said, emptying out his wok onto two plates. Most of the pile was vegetables, although Joy thought she saw some browned bits of meat that she thought might be rabbit. It was a habit of Longwei to catch a rabbit or two whenever he did dragon training.

“Thanks,” Joy said, sitting down at the low table. “Hey, can you help me? I stopped by Yingtai’s house, and at the end she used a word that I wanted you to help me with.”

“Sure. What was it?”

Joy tried her best to replicate the pronunciation of Yingtai’s words, surprised when Longwei smiled. “Wow, she thinks a lot of you.”

“Will you just tell me what she meant?”

“She called you sister. The real meaning isn’t a family sister, but more of a sisterhood attained through shared hardship, mutual sacrifice, and shed blood. It’s normally not used any more, it’s kind of an old fashioned word. It’s most commonly used in some of the old classics to describe the bond between two warrior women or something similar.”

Joy sat stunned, thinking about what a gift Yingtai had bestowed upon her. She was an only child, and to have someone reach out to her like this was both scary and wonderful at the same time. “I’m not really sure how I should respond. I mean, I’m overjoyed, but I don’t know how to express how I should accept the honor.”

“Just be you. We’re village Chinese, not Japanese. We don’t get hung up on the formality of it all. If you’d like, I can offer to help with any translation next time you go out there.”

“I think I’d like that. But I’m sure you’re a busy man, especially as you’re now a hand short on breaking up those trucks.”

“I’m not worried. I’m actually more worried that we haven’t gotten any more visits from the Triads, or the local government.”

Joy set down her chopsticks, confused. “What do you mean? I figured that attack would be the end of it.”

Longwei shook his head. “Part of me wants to believe that, but I don’t think so. It’s been a long time since the Triads came around here, I’m sure most of it was due to the fact we’re still a poor village, and it just wasn’t worth the effort. It was easier to ignore us instead. Now that we’ve kicked that hornet’s nest, I doubt they are going to just let it go.”

Joy pondered Longwei’s words, eating her food in silence. When she was finished, she set her bowl down, and looked Longwei in the eyes. “Two ideas come to my mind.”

“Oh? And what is that?”

“The first is Sun Tzu. ‘Attack where your enemy cannot defend, and defend where your enemy cannot attack.’ The second is from sports. The best defense is a good offense.”

Longwei nodded. “What do you propose?”

“As long as we sit here in the village, we’re not going to last. Your people were whittled down over however long it took using that method. Instead, maybe we need to move around, stay mobile, and take the fight to them.”

“What do you suggest? That I tell everyone to pack up all their stuff and we become a band of nomads?”

Joy laughed. “Not quite. Instead, I was thinking that our partnering in Hefei produced a lot of good results. What if you and I hit the Triads where they don’t expect us? If we keep them so off balance trying to figure out where we are and what we’re doing, they might just leave the village alone.”

“Where were you thinking?” Longwei asked, his green eyes glowing with anticipation. Joy could see that regardless of his wisdom and his kindness, the dragon in him did want to attack his enemies.

“Well, they’d expect an attack in Hefei or Wuhan, both of which are major cities on either side of us. What if we hit at Chengdu or Chongqing? They’re both major industrial cities, so they’ll have heavy Triad presence. But, both are pretty isolated. I was even thinking if we did want to up and try and move the entire village, the mountains in that area could easily swallow a whole village without any major problems.”

“You realize what you’re saying, right? This village has over a thousand people living in it. You want to take the fight to the Triads, with the possibility of moving the entire village?”

Joy shrugged. “If the Triads attack in force again, I don’t think we can avoid casualties, even with your powers. We were only able to scavenge about three hundred rounds total for the rifles, and they won’t be stupid enough to attack by rolling right down the road next time. They’ll come in from all sides, and envelop us.”

Longwei cocked his head, looking at Joy askance. “Where did you become an expert in military tactics?”

“Two ways,” Joy chuckled. “First, by living in some of the worst neighborhoods of Washington D.C., I got to understand gang warfare on a first hand basis. Then, when I went to college, the area I tended to focus in on for my elective history courses was military history. For a while there, I even thought of going ROTC, except there was no way I could do that and journalism at the same time.”

“You keep surprising me,” Longwei replied with a smile. “But this is quite an undertaking. The initial attacks could be easy, but the idea of moving the village? That could be a difficult problem, not only because of the logistics, but because a lot of these families have been living in this village for a dozen generations or more. There’s a connection with this land that I’m worried a lot of these families will be unwilling to give up.”

“Well, it was just an idea,” Joy said. “And you’re right. I don’t have the connection to the land that a lot of these families might. I just want everyone to be safe.”

“Me too. But first, let’s see if maybe we can cause some chaos in Chengdu. It’s a huge city, and hitting the Triad there is going to be difficult. Although at least this time we don’t have to worry about getting a ride from your friend Billy.”