Xu Hao had never been so eager to wake up.
Unfortunately, he hadn't slept.
He'd dozed in brief stretches, each one interrupted by the sensation of something waiting just out of reach. When he closed his eyes, he could almost hear Sia scratching at a door. When he opened them, there was only the shelter roof and a forest full of insects.
By dawn, he had worked himself into a thoroughly unreasonable state.
Da Bao noticed immediately.
"You look terrible."
"Thank you."
"Did you sleep?"
"A little."
"That's what people say when they haven't."
Xu Hao stared at him. "You are remarkably observant for a man who once lost a boot while fishing."
"It was stolen by a fish."
"We discussed this."
Da Bao grinned and handed him a bowl of porridge. "Eat. Then find your dog. Er Bao says you're not allowed to try it on an empty stomach."
Xu Hao ate. He checked his pulse out of habit, then flexed his arms and stood, relieved that his legs no longer felt ready to buckle. Whatever card creation had done to him, it was not something he intended to repeat casually.
Er Bao waited beside the flat rock above camp.
"Before you begin," he said, "tell me what you're going to do."
"Call Sia."
"And if it hurts?"
"Stop."
"If you feel faint?"
"Stop."
"If the beast that appears doesn't recognise you?"
Xu Hao had no ready answer for that one.
Er Bao handed him his training staff. "Then step behind me."
"She's my dog."
"She may be something made in the likeness of your dog. We don't know yet."
Xu Hao looked at the staff. He disliked the distinction more than he wanted to admit. He'd been clinging to the promise contained in the picture, but Er Bao was right. A card could be a copy. It might have memories. It might have none.
He took the staff and laid it beside the rock.
"Fair enough."
* * *
He sat down and closed his eyes.
The hall was waiting. So was the presence behind that invisible door. This time he didn't look at the brush or the remaining blank cards. He concentrated on the thing that had drawn his attention away from them.
Sia?
There was an answer—not in words, but in a rush of recognition so immediate that Xu Hao nearly opened his eyes. It felt as though somebody had heard him calling from another room and was now running to find him.
He remembered the little command he used at home when she hid beneath the dining table with something she'd stolen.
"Come on, girl."
He opened his eyes.
White light gathered above the rock.
At first it was no larger than a lantern flame. Then it spread, bright enough to turn the surrounding stones pale. Xu Hao recoiled, expecting the terrible pain of the previous night.
None came. He felt a brief tug beneath his ribs, but the strength stayed in his limbs.
The light took shape.
Four legs. A broad back. Pointed ears. A curled tail.
When the last glow faded, a husky lay on the rock with her nose tucked beneath her tail.
Xu Hao forgot to breathe.
She stirred, raised her head, and looked at him.
One blue eye. One brown.
"Sia?"
Her ears shot up.
She came at him with enough force to knock him backwards.
He caught her around the neck, though catch was a generous description of what happened. A very large dog hit him in the chest, and he went over with both arms full of warm fur.
Sia whined, licked his chin, stepped on his stomach and tried to lick him again.
"You ridiculous animal," he said, laughing helplessly. "You could have warned me!"
She planted one paw beside his ear and gave his nose another enthusiastic wash.
He buried his face in her neck.
The fur smelled different. Cleaner, perhaps, with a faint scent of wind and something sharp like pine needles. But the way she pressed her head beneath his hand was the same. The little sound she made when he scratched behind her crooked ear was the same.
"Hello, girl."
His voice broke. "I missed you."
Her tail thudded against the stone.
Xu Hao stayed on the ground longer than he needed to. He was aware of that. He was also aware that Er Bao had stepped away, pretending to inspect the trees while giving him privacy.
He didn't care.
For several minutes the forest and the questions and the pain of being lost all seemed very far away.
* * *
Then Sia stood up.
Xu Hao sat back on his heels and stared.
When he remembered Sia from Earth, he remembered a medium-sized husky who took up an unreasonable amount of space on the sofa. The creature standing in front of him now reached nearly to his chest. Her shoulders were broad, her paws larger than his hands, and thick muscle moved beneath the familiar grey-and-white coat.
She yawned.
Her teeth looked as though they belonged to a wolf.
"Good grief."
Sia sat, pleased with herself.
Er Bao approached cautiously. His hand rested near the hilt of his sword, though he hadn't drawn it.
"She's the beast on the card."
"Yes." Xu Hao swallowed. "Only a little bigger than I remember."
"How much bigger?"
"Enough that I may need to buy her a house instead of a bed."
Er Bao studied her paws. "First layer of the Dust Realm, if the card is accurate. And Wind affinity. Have you commanded her before?"
"Every day for six years."
"Has she listened?"
Xu Hao thought about that. "Not as consistently as I'd have liked."
Er Bao gave him a long look.
"She has," Xu Hao added hastily, "been an excellent companion."
He crouched in front of her. "Sia. Sit."
She sat. Her tail swept dirt across his shoes.
"Lie down."
She folded herself against the rock, then rolled onto her back with all four paws in the air.
Xu Hao looked at Er Bao. "There. Perfectly obedient."
"She didn't do what you asked."
"She did the important part."
Sia wriggled hopefully, waiting for her belly to be scratched.
Xu Hao obliged.
Er Bao crouched a few paces away, observing rather than approaching. "Can you still sense the card?"
Xu Hao closed his eyes for a moment. The connection was present, faint but unmistakable, like a cord tied somewhere beneath his ribs. He could sense Sia standing in front of him, though he couldn't have explained how. When she shifted her weight, that awareness changed slightly. When she turned towards the sound of a distant bird, he felt her attention move with it.
"I can," he said. "It's as though I've always known where she is."
"Don't rely on it yet," Er Bao cautioned. "A feeling you haven't tested isn't a dependable warning."
Xu Hao nodded. They tried a simple experiment. Er Bao asked him to face away while Sia walked around the rock. Xu Hao closed his eyes and pointed where he believed she stood. Twice he was right. The third time, Sia circled him and sat directly behind his knees, so close that he almost fell over when he stepped back.
Er Bao raised an eyebrow. "Accurate?"
"Close enough to be dangerous," Xu Hao said, extracting himself from a large quantity of affectionate dog.
He made a note to ask for a proper notebook the next time they visited town. Memories were useful, but he knew how quickly a researcher could convince himself that a lucky guess had been a repeatable result.
* * *
They were still on the rock when Da Bao came charging uphill.
He had heard Sia bark. That became obvious from the way he arrived with his club raised, ready to fight whatever had frightened his brothers.
His first sight of the giant husky stopped him in mid-stride.
Sia rose at once.
The fur along her spine lifted. A low growl sounded in her chest, deeper than any noise she'd made in Xu Hao's apartment.
Da Bao tightened his grip on the club. Er Bao drew half a step to the side.
"Don't," Xu Hao said sharply.
He wasn't entirely sure whom he meant.
Sia stood between him and the armed giant, head low, teeth showing. Xu Hao had seen that posture before. Once, in a dark car park, she'd placed herself between him and a drunken stranger. It had been enough to end the argument.
Da Bao was no drunken stranger. He could move a wall of earth with his foot.
"Sia," Xu Hao said. "Look at me."
One ear turned.
"It's all right. He's family."
Her growl didn't stop.
He went to her side, laid a hand against her neck and spoke in the tone he used when visitors came to his apartment. Not angry, not frightened. Firm enough that she would know he meant it.
"Sit."
She hesitated. Then she lowered herself onto her haunches.
"Good girl."
Da Bao stared at the enormous dog. Then he looked at Xu Hao.
"You did it?"
"I think so."
"You actually brought her out?"
"Yes."
"And she nearly ate me?"
"Only because you arrived swinging a club."
Da Bao looked at the club in his hand. Slowly, he lowered it.
Sia kept watching him. Xu Hao scratched behind her ear and felt the tension ease beneath his fingers.
Da Bao took one careful step forward.
"Little brother," he said, quieter than usual, "can I say hello to her?"
Xu Hao looked from his oldest brother to the dog who had once guarded an apartment door in another world.
He smiled.
"Ask her nicely."