Title: Winging It
Fandom: Guardian (TV)
Rating: G-rated
Length: 600 words
Notes: Much thanks to trobadora for beta, including making me add the final section. <3
Tags: Gen, Post-Canon, Everyone Lives, Yashou Renewal, Education, A New Era for the SID, Original Crow Character, Drabble Sequence
Summary: The Crows need a science tutor.



Ya Qing attends the New Treaty negotiations as the High Chief’s second. Finally, the three peoples scratch out a satisfactory agreement, and she’s free to return home.

Her heart lifts as she flies. The Crow Forest always bustles with activity. But today something new flashes above the trees.

She changes shape as she lands. “What is that?” she asks a passing soldier.

“A windmill, Elder. Xiao Qiu built it to charge a toy she made,” he reports. “Should we have stopped her?”

Wide rotating blades catch the afternoon sun; a cable snakes down the tree trunk. Ya Qing smiles. “No.”



*



Lin Jing’s happy to be re-reassigned to the SID. If nothing else, he has his own lab and nobody monitors his web use. He’s approaching the front door when a flurry of jet-black feathers bars his way.

He yelps and drops his takeout coffee as the crow shifts into human form.

Standing proudly, Ya Qing doesn’t react to the splash on her dress. “Scientist Lin Jing, I have a request to ask of you.”

The Crows are theoretically the SID’s allies now, but she’s as fierce as ever. Lin Jing swallows. “What kind of request?”

“I need a science tutor.”



*



After the third fire alarm, Zhao Yunlan’s tolerance snaps. “Lin Jing, if she burns the SID down, repairs are coming out of your pay.”

“I won’t!” Xiao Qiu is small, bright-eyed and chirpy. “I use circuit-breakers now.”

“You should be in school,” mutters Zhao Yunlan. “Lin Jing, tell me straight: is she a safety risk?”

“I learned how to use a fire extinguisher,” interjects Xiao Qiu, helpfully.

“I wasn’t asking you. Lin Jing?”

“She’s fine, boss.” Lin Jing grins. “No more dangerous than Xiao Guo when he first got his baton.”

“That’s supposed to be reassuring?” Zhao Yunlan’s head hurts.



*



“Xiao Qiu isn’t ready for human schools, and the Haixing curriculum isn’t inclusive for Yashou,” Zhu Hong tells Lao Zhao. “I appreciate the SID’s assistance in the meantime.”

“We’re not an educational institution,” grumbles Lao Zhao. “We have work to do.”

“Lin Jing doesn’t mind,” says Zhu Hong. “Xiao Guo offered to teach her literature.”

Shen Wei has been quiet till now. “She’s talented, but integrating into modern human society isn’t easy, especially at that age.”

Lao Zhao sighs. “Fine. But the moment we get a case, I need my team ready to go. And next time, ask me first.”



*



Xiao Qiu traces a circuit diagram. The explanatory text is too hard; Lin Jing breaks it down.

The SID is a circuit, too: High Chief and Lin Jing are power sources, Chief Zhao is a resistor, Xiao Qiu the load.

At home, she invented through trial and error; now she’s starting to spot errors in advance. (The fire alarm hurts her ears, and Lin Jing made her promise not to disarm it.) She likes the intricate lab equipment and learning new things, but misses her friends. So she makes plans to bring them here; she’s not the only clever Crow.



*



Da Qing chases a dozen Crow children around the meeting table. “Beware the cat, beware the cat!” they chant. Inevitably, the youngest trips, and they all tumble into a giggling heap.

Da Qing saunters over to join Lao Zhao and the others.

“Children should play outside between lessons,” Ya Qing is saying. “Now the SID is a school, you need to relocate somewhere with trees and a field.”

“It’s not a school,” says Zhu Hong, hastily.

“We’re not moving,” says Lao Zhao at the same time.

Da Qing elbows him. “Principal Zhao! You’ve been angling for new premises for years.”



END