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    He let his breath out in a long gasp, like he’d had the wind knocked out of him. ‘Holy shit.’
    â€˜Did you just link to him?’ LK said.
    â€˜Let me see what you saw, then I’ll show you what I saw,’ I said.
    â€˜What did you see?’ LK said.
    â€˜I’ll show you after he’s shown me,’ I said. ‘Do it, Ronnie.’
    â€˜Wait,’ LK said, and came to us. He put his hand on my shoulder. ‘Good God, Emma, you really did that.’
    â€˜Take a seat, Ben, Tom, this won’t take a moment,’ I said. ‘Help yourselves to the food if you like. The demon will be coming in a moment to take drinks orders.’
    â€˜This is it,’ Ronnie said. ‘Tell me if you need me to back off.’
    He showed me, and LK hissed quietly behind me. I wasn’t just a serpent; I was huge and black, my head brushing the ceiling. My eyes were as black as my scales, and I was covered in intimidating spikes over my head and down my back, with a frill around the back of my head instead of a cobra hood.
    â€˜Looks like a Serpent form of John’s Turtle …’ I said, and my voice trailed off. I released Ronnie and fell to sit at the table, my head in my hands. ‘Oh dear Lord, no.’
    â€˜More demonic than the Dark Lord,’ Ronnie said. ‘That thing was scary. Immeasurably big; I think it could take down the King easily. Immense destructive power, and so damn dark the centre of it was likelooking into the Abyss. Whatever you were, Lady Emma, it certainly scared the living shit out of me, and I’m big enough to sire spawn on a Mother.’
    â€˜You saw something too?’ LK asked me.
    I nodded into my hand.
    â€˜Are you concerned you’re his Serpent?’ Ronnie said, sitting next to me. ‘Is that what this is about? I’ve heard stories.’
    I wiped my eyes. ‘If I’m his Serpent, then when he rejoins — well, that’s it, isn’t it? I’d be gone.’
    â€˜You’re afraid of losing your identity into his?’ Ronnie said.
    â€˜No, I’d welcome it,’ I said. ‘But for Simone, it would be the same as if I died. She’d gain him and lose me, and I’m like a mother to her. She’s lost enough family members as it is. I really can’t do it to her.’
    â€˜You may not have a choice,’ Ronnie said.
    I nodded.
    â€˜Show me what you saw,’ LK said to me.
    I raised my hands and each of them took one. I reestablished the link and our minds touched.
    LK was a human Immortal, not a Bodhisattva, so his soul didn’t have the ringing purity of a Buddha, but he was connected to the Universe and one with Eternity. His soul smelled of mint-fresh shen energy, intertwined with constantly regenerating ching energy, tasting of firelight and summer heat. His chi enveloped both and moved with his breathing, full of the essence of sunshine and autumn leaves. His Immortal nature sang in tune with the Universe, and was at the same time as small as an atom and as vast as a galaxy.
    â€˜That I could attain such heights,’ Ronnie said with awe.
    â€˜You have made the first step onto the Way,’ LK said.
    â€˜It would take so long for me to travel there,’ Ronnie said.
    â€˜You cannot travel to a Path, you are already on it,’ LK said. ‘And as you travel, time has less and less meaning. Eventually you are pure thought and time does not exist at all.’
    Ronnie’s essence was the dark roiling thickness of demon, but there existed strands within it of chi; he had cast off his nature and turned, and was attempting to attain humanity. He didn’t taste of the foulness of demon; he was more like dark chocolate, deep and bitter, with the chi making sweeter and lighter strands through it. My heart went out to him; he’d turned hundreds of years before and still had achieved so little.
    â€˜Remember what I said. Time is an