A Good Dragon

Shendu's vertical pupils widened slightly. "Me?"

"Yeah."

Quill said it as if it were only natural. "You know more about alien junk than anyone. There might even be wreckage over in Missouri, right? Weren't you going to check out a warehouse in Brooklyn? Once you're done, we can drive over. It's only a few hours."

The excuse was laughably flimsy. He was plainly saying, I want you to go back with me.

He quickly calculated it in his head. The Brooklyn warehouse would take two hours at most to deal with.

Driving from here to Missouri would take a dozen or so hours. If they left now, they could arrive by nightfall.

And more importantly, Quill had invited him himself.

"Why do you want me to go?" Shendu asked.

Quill froze for a moment, then lowered his head to look at the empty plate before him.

"Because... you're the only one who makes me feel like you can understand this, uh, dragon."

His voice was low. "You said you used to be human, and now you've become this."

"I've kept thinking about what you said. You were right. I really have drifted for too long. Maybe going back to take a look is the right thing to do."

He raised his head and looked at Shendu. "But I'm afraid that if I go back and find everything has changed, I... won't know who to talk to."

Shendu was silent for a long time.

He stared at Quill, his tail motionless behind him, then slowly nodded.

"Alright."

Quill's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Shendu nodded. "You'll come with me to the Brooklyn warehouse. Once we're done, we'll drive to Missouri."

"Deal."

"But you have to agree to one condition." Shendu abruptly changed the subject.

Quill had expected something like this. If the other man had agreed without any hesitation, he would have suspected Shendu had some other motive.

"If you think anything strange has happened recently, you have to tell me."

"Sure. Besides, that hardly counts as a condition." Quill waved it off.

The Brooklyn warehouse was even more cluttered than Shendu had imagined.

Piles of wreckage fragments were stacked in the corners, and Quill followed behind Shendu.

"Are these things really that dangerous? We didn't notice anything when we were sorting them before," he asked.

"Some of them are."

Shendu crouched down and pressed his palm against a piece of dark metal, as though sensing something. "The core energy in this piece has already been depleted. It's safe."

He stood, swept his gaze across the warehouse to make sure there was nothing else requiring attention, then pointed to another pile of fragments. "Those need to be isolated separately. Their radiation levels are relatively high."

The warehouse manager hurriedly wrote it down, though his gaze kept drifting toward Shendu's horns and tail.

"All done?" Quill asked, leaning against the doorway.

Shendu nodded.

"Then shall we get going?"

"Let's go."

By dusk, they had left New York.

Quill drove a rented SUV, with old songs from the seventies playing over the stereo.

Shendu sat in the passenger seat, his tail forced to curl by his feet as he watched the scenery outside change from city to suburbs, then from suburbs to endless farmland.

"Have you heard this one?"

Quill hummed along with the music. "This was my mom's favorite song."

"She used to play it all the time." There was nostalgia in Quill's voice. "Back then, I found it especially annoying. Now I kind of want to hear it again."

By the time night fell, they had entered Missouri.

Quill grew quiet.

He stared at the road ahead, both hands gripping the steering wheel, his knuckles slightly white.

"We're almost there," he said softly.

The town was smaller than Shendu had imagined.

There was one main street, a few shops, and a gas station still open. The streetlights were dim, and an occasional car passed by.

Shendu noticed several pedestrians casting curious looks at their car. In a town like this, any unfamiliar face stood out.

Quill parked in front of a small house.

The house was not large, but it was neatly kept. A lamp hung on the porch, and light shone from within through the windows.

"This is it." Quill's voice trembled slightly.

He sat in the car without moving.

Shendu did not urge him. He simply sat quietly, his red vertical pupils faintly glowing in the darkness.

After a long while, Quill took a deep breath and pushed open the car door.

He walked to the door, raised his hand, then lowered it. He raised it again, then lowered it again.

Shendu stood behind him, keeping just the right distance.

The door opened.

A gray-haired woman stood inside, staring at Quill in stunned silence.

"...Mom."

The woman covered her mouth with her hand.

In that instant, Shendu saw something break in Quill's eyes.

He turned his face away, leaving space for the mother and son.

Through her tear-blurred eyes, the woman saw him. Her whole body stiffened. She saw those red vertical pupils glowing in the darkness, the scaled face, the short horns, and the tail behind him.

"That is...?" Her voice trembled.

Quill turned back and saw Shendu standing beneath the moonlight. Suddenly, he realized something.

"Mom, don't be afraid. He's a friend I met in New York."

He hurriedly explained, "He's not human, but he's a good person... uh, a good dragon. His name is Valmont."

Shendu gave a slight nod and offered a bow in the manner of a gentleman from his memories, though it looked somewhat strange in his current form. "Sorry for intruding."

The woman's surprise lasted only a moment. Her son's return had overwhelmed her with emotion, making any strange thing seem acceptable.

She wiped away her tears and revealed a trembling yet sincere smile. "Come in. Both of you, come in."

Shendu paused on the porch for a moment. It had been a long time since he had entered a human dwelling.

The photographs on the walls and the warm decorations reminded him of his servants and palace when he had ruled supreme in his previous world.

Shendu's tail curled unconsciously behind him as he carefully kept it clear of the scattered belongings.

The house was warmly furnished. Photos hung on the walls—of Quill when he was younger, of his mother, and of a man Shendu did not recognize.

On the TV cabinet across from the sofa sat several cheap but thoughtfully chosen ornaments.

Quill's mother sat on the sofa, her eyes still red, but a smile on her face.

Every now and then, she stole a glance at Shendu. There was wonder in her gaze, though her fear was gradually fading.

"Thank you for coming back with him," she said gently. "This child has been afraid of being alone since he was little."

Shendu nodded slightly. "He's a good person."

Quill cleared his throat awkwardly beside them. "Mom, I brought you a gift."

He took a small box from his pocket and opened it.

Shendu's pupils suddenly contracted, and a powerful desire rose within him.

It was that pendant—the Monkey Talisman.

"I found it on a Chitauri officer."

Quill sounded a little nervous. "I thought... it looked pretty, so I wanted to give it to you as a protective charm."

The woman looked at the pendant with a smile in her eyes. "It's beautiful."

She reached out and took it. The instant her fingers touched the talisman, Shendu felt it.

That pulse of power.

The talisman had recognized its owner.