A Scripta

Grim put a hand on Lue's shoulder after they landed. Lue was dry, while Grim was soaked through and had goose pimples. "Dude, I think I need a cheat sheet here."

Lue muttered a spell, and the water flowed off of Grim to puddle at his feet. Grim shivered, and Lue smiled at what the shiver showed through the tank top. "What do you mean?"

"The translator is giving me words instead of names. Like your father's name is Blackie?"

"He is called that because some people have said he has a black heart." Lue stared into Grim's grey eyes. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Of course, love," Grim said. He went to reach out and touch his face, but stopped himself. "Whenever you're ready."

Lue nodded and turned to face a red brick townhouse with only two windows. Grim sighed - another closet, this one with one window.

He didn't even have to knock on the door when it flew open and an angry shirtless young man glared out at them. He was lithe and well-muscled, easily a fighter. "Get in here," he snarled.

Lue again held the door open for Grim. "Nice to see you again, too, Xang."

Xang turned around and glared angrily at Grim. "Who the hell is that?"

"He is my friend from America."

Grim bowed, ignoring the palatable anger in the hallway, "My name is Grim."

"You consort with aliens," Xang growled, "and you look like a hoodlum."

Grim muttered in English, "Maybe you should just hand them a piece of paper explaining things, it'd be a lot faster than repeating yourself."

Beyond Xang in the kitchen was another man, no less angry, but not quite as built as Xang. A few other women and children were gathered in another room watching TV, but obviously eavesdropping, since there wasn't much room for them to go.

Lue had already gone into how he was no longer a member of the gang, and Xang went into how the entire family had planned this and already. "There are 75 people coming to this! You're expected to marry her!"

"You can still have your party, just no wedding," Grim said quietly, and the translation stone picked it up. Xang glared angrily at Grim. Lue slapped Xang's shoulder to get his attention away from Grim. Xang turned at Lue and threw a punch at him. Lue caught it easily and twisted his wrist back. Xang also moved his off hand to hit Lue in the kidney, but Lue caught that one, too.

Lue's jade eyes turned dark green with anger. "Don't," he said coldly. He released Xang's fists.

The other man moved from the other room into the hallway. "Easy, Lue, we're not going to beat you up." Lue glanced at Grim who nodded that he was all right.

Xang stepped back to give himself distance. "So, Lue, you think you can beat me?"

Lue slowly turned his head to face Xang, and Grim stepped back. Lue would explode into spines any second now. "Yes," he said, with a predatory smile. "If I defeat you, you will accept that I will not marry Mee Cha and you will not stop me from refusing her." He looked at the other man. "Both of you."

Xang said, with a cold smile of his own, "And if I do defeat you, the negotiations go on as planned."

"Agreed."

"Come downstairs."

The four men headed into the relative coolness of the cellar. At the bottom of the stairs was what looked like a weight room and a medium sized mat in the middle of the floor. Xang took his position in one corner. Lue kicked off his sandals and Grim picked them up. Grim heard thumping from above them, and watched as the stairs filled with kids who all sat down quietly to watch the proceedings.

There wasn't enough room for them to do much more than circle each other for a moment. Then Lue struck out with his hand, and followed it up with a kick. Xang blocked the hand but didn't see the kick and got hit in the kidney. Then Lue was relentless. Grim slipped into mage sight for a moment, and saw Lue covered in shining layers of green, almost like scales. The tattoos superimposed themselves on the green, the nine-tailed fox he had drawn along with a snake from his back joined together and flowed among the scales. Quickly Lue got Xang down.

Grim blinked and studied the two men in real sight, Lue with one knee on Xang's chest and the other dangerously close to his crotch. "Well?" Lue demanded.

"You can refuse her," Xang snarled.

Grim said, raising his hand, "Excuse me? Can I make a suggestion?"

Lue got up from Xang and held out his hand for him. Xang took it and Lue helped him up. "What, Grim?"

"I think I remember Tao - Right? Tao?" He looked at Lue for confirmation. Lue nodded slightly. "Right, Tao - he said something about a dowry? That's when you pay for the bride, right?"

"The dowry is included in the bride price," Lue explained.

"Why don't you just give her the bride price without marrying her? Let her keep the dowry and be free to marry someone else."

"That's an insult!" roared Xang.

"Okay, look, I'm sorry!" Grim held his hands up and backed away.

Xang turned to Lue. "Did you tell him nothing of our ways?"

"He is only trying to help," Lue said. "I follow the traditions to a certain point."

"So long as it is convenient for you. What's the real reason you don't want to marry her?"

Grim said quickly, "He has someone in America."

Lue flushed brightly, and Xang stared at Lue. "An alien?"

"Yeah," Grim answered for him.

Xang sighed in frustration and headed to the stairs. The kids all jumped up and climbed back up the stairs. Xang looked at the other man while the kids moved. "Teng, he doesn't need negotiators. Tell my cousin and his mouthpiece to leave my home." He stormed up the stairs.

Teng looked sorrowfully at Lue. "You heard him."

"I did." Grim handed Lue his sandals and they trudged up the stairs, then quietly left. Lue stood out in the rain in the middle of the path to the door, not bothering to utter a spell to keep himself dry.

Grim embraced him. "Lue," he said, and kissed him. Lue put his arms around Grim, returning the kiss. Grim stepped back for a moment, blinking away rain drops. Lue put a hand on Grim's cheek and pulled the water off both of them. "Say, what about that guy you wanted to see?"

"Thao Pang?"

"Yeah, we can go get some lunch and then go find him."

"Sounds good." The two men separated and started walking down the path. Neither of them noticed the two women and child staring out the window at them.