Big Note: I know that main land China and the city of Hong Kong have two different dialects that are mainly spoken – Mandarin and Cantonese, respectively. I'm now aware that Lao Shi's family is from Hong Kong, not the main land and thus would have traces of the Cantonese dialect in their English but the Chinese phrase will stay in Mandarin for now because one, I don't know Cantonese and two, they're in mainland China for the fic so . . . and about being hundreds of miles too far, let's just say they moved to . . . escape. But not from the Dark Dragon.

Turning the corner, Susan stumbled in her skip. She stopped to look at her foot, the cause of the problem, and saw a small streak of grey clashing against the deep black on the side of her tiny shoe. Her lips pursed. Baba wasn't going to be happy, she sung in her head. Worry of being scolded stir the urge to look around her, fearful she would find Baba with a frown plastered on his face. When she did turn she didn't see him or even the house – just Fu lugging himself up the last leg of the hill some distance from her. "Come on, Fu, we are going to be late!" His face lifted up to look at her. It soon dipped back down, shaking slightly. She pouted and spun, the edges of her little skirt flaring up, and continued down the road. It would lead her to the market, she remembered. Pass that where the trees grew really tall, probably three lengths of Baba's dragon form, and were covered in thick, fuzzy moss was Xing Lao Lao's house (Grandma or the Elderly Xing). She giggled, remembering the velvet feel running under her hand and how, when she had lifted her hand up, her hand had sparkled with fairy dust. What she didn't know was how her father had to repeatedly apologize for his child messing up the fairies' lighted roads.

Further down the road she paused again, following her nose to one of the open stalls. Steam bellowed up from slacks on the side held open by poles. The clacking and the more beautiful sounds of bell-like tings of pans could be heard. She anxiously looked for Fu who still was a few meters behind her. "Fu!" He looked up at her. "Let's get some snacks!"

"Young lady, you just had breakfast," he shortened the final distance between him and the child. Slightly panting he leaned over. The kid walked too fast. Looking down he noticed his belly and a sheepish grin slowly crawled across his face, remembering what Lao Shi had said.

"Fu? You okay?" The dog hadn't straightened up yet. He was starting to make her worry. She folded into herself, balancing on the balls of her feet, and twisted her face to look at Fu who quickly noticed the girl's antics.

"Enough dilly-dallying, kid! You're going to be late."

She pouted. "That what I said!"

"Hmph! You're the one who wanted snacks."

Susan's little form sharply straightened, turned and skipped ahead insulted.

Twirling around, the soft fabric of her dress lifted and danced. Staring up into the web of branches above her, the light streaming down through the leaves like a stained glass window, she giggled. Oh, the places she would explore once she could fly.

"Susan? Come on, kid. Jeez, you're so rambunctious today."

Her twirling ended in the manner of a sharp salute facing Fu Dog, the ruffles of her dress wrapping around her then drifting free. He had almost reached the door. "Wait, I want to ring the bell!"

"Then get up here and ring it." Fu watched her run full force at him and the door, jumping out of the way as she darted up the steps in front of him. "Only ring it once now, k?"

"Shi." She could hear Fu's heavy footsteps behind her. Today they were going to make crafts for the festival in a few days to hang up at their homes. There would probably be festive snacks and old stories. She teetered back and forth waiting for the door to open. She beamed brighter as the door clicked.

"Oh, Susan. Fu." An elderly woman greeted them warmly with a relieved smile. "Susan. Why don't you go play with the others in the court yard? We'll start making jianzhi (paper cuttings) and puppets as soon as I finished asking Fu some questions."

"Okay," she beamed, briskly walking off to a side door she knew would get her where she wanted.

The elderly caregiver turned to Fu with a somber expression. Her worry clearly pronounced in her creased winkles. "Come into the kitchen." She gestured to the dutch door (I don't know the proper name). "We'll have some tea."

Fu pulled out the chair closest to him – simple and wooden but beautiful and functional at the same time. The air was scented with fragrances from the many spice jars and drying herbs that laced the small room.

"Is Lao Shi alright?" The kettle pot clinked as she settled it in its rack.

"Hm?"

"This is a small town, Fu. Big news spreads like wild fire and a whole pack of Kludde going mad and attacking its own as well as nearby human encampments is no small incident."

"He's fine. Just a little scratched up."

"He was there, wasn't he? What happened in the pass to ChengShi?"

"From what he told me it is essentially like you said: a pack of Kludde had a coup from within by a smaller group and things got way out of hand." He watched the tea fill his cup.

"The report from the village guard said there were causalities, a fair number of them and that many of the pack are not accounted for."

"It was a pack of Kludde. They are not the most sociable species and the village guard probably doesn't have the actual number of members. We're just lucky that there were no fatalities."

She placed her cup down and gave the dog a stern look. "Some of those unaccounted for are rumored to be the ones that started it all. The incident was too close to this village. I- we need to know if there is a danger to the village. I cannot have the children walking home on their own when lunatics with big teeth are possibly running around in the forest."