Kylie Chan: Red Phoenix

Yes, Gold said. Can you understand them?

‘What? You mean they’re speaking Cantonese and I can understand them?’

Gold grinned. ‘Good. It’s working. And it’s Fukien, not Cantonese.’

I had a sudden evil idea, and called out to the workmen. ‘How long before you’ll finish painting the ceiling?’

They stared at me with their mouths open. One of them snapped out of it. ‘About an hour, miss.’

‘Thanks.’ I turned to Gold. ‘What’s next?’

‘We’ll meet with Jade in the sixth-floor common room and talk about the budget.’

‘Oh, damn. Budgets.’

‘Miss?’ one of the workmen called.

I turned back to them. They grinned at me. ‘How come you can understand our dialect?’

‘Magic.’ I grinned back. ‘Come on, let’s talk to Jade and have this over with. I hate dealing with accountants.’

After Jade had gone, I tapped the papers into a stack. ‘I need a folder to put all this stuff in.’

A black manila folder materialised in front of me. ‘Thanks, Gold.’

I leaned on the table and looked at John. ‘You’ll need to rewrite the orientation material. The students will probably appreciate some information on the new location, and they’ll need help adjusting to life in Hong Kong.’

Gold grinned broadly. John glared at him. ‘What?’ I said. Neither of them spoke.

‘You’d better tell me before I start shouting, guys.’

Gold gestured towards John. John grimaced. ‘Gold has been harassing me to write orientation material for years, and I’ve never done it. No time. But nobody else can do it; it has to be me.’

‘That’s his Lordship’s decision, not mine,’ Gold said, his boyish face cheeky. ‘I think anybody could do it. But the Dark Lord disagrees.’

‘I’m the only one with the expertise to prepare the material,’ John said. ‘Nobody else has the knowledge to do it. Not even you, Gold.’

‘John, after we’ve been to Central tomorrow, we’ll sit down together, and you can tell me what you want to say, and I’ll write it,’ I said. ‘We can do it together.’

John hesitated, then put his hands out. ‘Oh, all right. You’re the only one with the brains to do it anyway.’

Gold’s face lit up with a wide grin of triumph, making him look even younger, barely out of his teens.

Three days later we sat together in the dining room at the Peak for a follow-up.

‘Do we have a nomination for a chair for the meeting?’ Gold said.

‘No, we don’t,’ I said. ‘And if you pull that “voted and seconded” and “minutes of the last meeting” crap ever again, I’ll take your head completely off. I don’t have time—I have an assignment due next week, and Simone’s only going to sleep for about half an hour.’

John made a soft sound of amusement. I ignored him.

‘Very well, my Lady,’ Gold said, unfazed. ‘First matter: housing the Disciples in Happy Valley. About a quarter of the flats are vacant now, but we need to make arrangements for who goes where.’

John explained. ‘The barracks on the Mountain housed a large number of juniors together with a senior supervising: standard military style. As they moved up through the ranks they received more private accommodation. We can’t do that here; the walls have to stay put, they’re supporting walls.’

I flipped through the papers in my black folder. ‘I don’t have a copy of the floor plan, Gold. Do you have a spare?’

Gold waved one hand and a floor plan appeared in front of me. ‘Thanks. Four three-bedroom, four two-bedroom units to a floor. That’s nineteen to a floor with one supervisor. Too many; we need a common area and some study rooms.’ I thought for a moment.

‘You think so?’ John said.

‘What we’ll do is give the supervisor one of the three-bedroom units, make the other two bedrooms study areas, and the living room a common room for all of them.’ I scribbled on the paper in front of me. ‘How many students to a floor?’

‘Seventeen students, one supervisor to a floor,’ Gold said. ‘Twelve floors will handle two hundred and four. Enough.’

‘What’s the cube root of six thousand, seven hundred and fifty-three?’ I said.

‘To how many decimal places?’

‘Ten.’

‘Eighteen point nine zero one six one five one five eight—’

‘Stop. How come you can do that?’

‘Do what, my Lady?’

‘I’ve noticed that. You can do enormous sums in your head.’

‘Not in my head, and it’s part of my nature, my Lady. Can we return to the logistics of the accommodation? I’d like to finish it before Simone wakes and starts pestering you.’

‘Simone can go to Leo,’ John said.

‘Use your super Shen mega-powers, John, and see that Leo’s taken Monica out to the market,’ I said. ‘When Simone wakes up she’ll be right in here annoying us.’

‘Mega-powers. You make me sound like something out of a Japanese superhero show.’

‘You are ten times weirder than anything on those shows, and that’s saying something.’

Gold grinned. ‘Even the Beetle Boys?’

‘It’s close, but even them.’ I checked my notes. ‘Okay, junior Disciples, twelve floors. How about we give the seniors their own units, or let them share? Is that acceptable?’

‘Quite acceptable,’ John said. ‘It will be smaller than the Mountain, but that’s Hong Kong.’

‘How many floors, Gold?’

‘Probably about ten; plenty of room.’

‘There will still be room for you and Jade?’ John said.

‘Yes, my Lord. That leaves the top four floors.’

‘The mortal human Masters can go there,’ John said. ‘I’ll take the walls out; they’re not supporting walls at the top. We’ll make some big penthouses for them.’

‘I’ll get right onto it,’ Gold said. ‘I’ll move in some tame demons to clean up the empty units and prepare them. Next item.’ He checked the agenda in front of him. ‘Armoury. My Lord?’

‘That’s your area of expertise, John.’

John sighed, pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. ‘Only a handful of the most robust Celestial Weapons made it. Some of them are very special. I don’t like the idea of them staying on the Mountain without the Celestial Masters to guard them.’

‘Do we have room here for them?’ I said. ‘The seals are set. The answer is: yes,’ John said. ‘Gold.’

‘My Lord.’ Gold nodded and scribbled some notes. He glanced up at John. ‘Seven Stars?’

John leaned back. ‘Seven Stars is the most destructive weapon ever forged. But it was forged for me. It will not shine for another. Leave it where it is. Only my most trusted lieutenants have access. It is safe.’

Gold was silent for a moment. Then he spoke softly. ‘I really am most profoundly honoured, my Lord.’

John waved him down. ‘The forge is undamaged. Gather the forge staff and put them to work. I want them replacing weapons as soon as possible.’

Gold nodded and scribbled some more. ‘My Lord.’

‘Also, go shopping for me. Hunt around the Earthly suppliers. I don’t want anything too poor in quality, it would be a waste of time teaching with rubbish. See what you can turn up.’

‘My Lord, I’ll see what I can do. I’ll go to Japan, they have always made quality blades. Don’t expect too much though. The art of crafting a fine weapon that isn’t a firearm is becoming lost.’

‘I know. Search out the antique weapons markets as well; there are some excellent old blades that could serve us well. We may even be able to pick up some more Masamunes—anything from that school would be worth having. Don’t worry about the expense, the cost is worth it. If you’re not certain about authenticity, let me see the blade. How is work proceeding in Hennessy Road?’