Chapter 86
Zhan’s words hung in the air and we continued our slow descent of the mountain in silence.
It wasn’t exactly a companionable silence, but it was at least one that let me think things over.
From what I could tell, it seemed like Zhan was saying that my belief that I am a dragon is what is limiting what I can do, but that couldn’t be right. If it was, surely you or your Aunt or Gou Ngaam would have told me. You all knew both English and Chinese and I was pretty sure you all knew about the concessions translators had made in their work.
And yet, while I found it hard to believe his words, there was something inside me that told me that it was true, but how could it be?
I watched as a small bird flew high up above the green canopy then darted down and disappeared into the brush. In the air, it was unmistakable, yet as soon as it had some vegetation behind it, it became impossible to see.
Perspective, context, perhaps that’s what this was really about, I started to think.
Aunt Yeung and Gou Ngaam were natives to this place, so for them ’dragon’ meant loong. For you, since you’d grown up here, it was likely the same. None of you thought to tell me about this problem because you couldn’t see the problem because you didn’t have the problem.
But for me it was different.
I was a loong, yes, but I’d been raised in the West and the concept of a ’dragon’ was inextricably moulded by that, making anything connected to it inevitably affected by it.
Perhaps Zhan was right.
"That person on the phone, is she a colleague of Yidi’s?" asked Zhan, shaking me from my thoughts.
"Huh, oh, yeah, Tuesday," I replied. I noted the casual use of just Xu Yidi’s first name but chose not to comment. "I have no idea what she was calling about. Seemed important though."