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Newt questioned if he was in the right place as he looked around the bustling city of Kweilin, China. He had come to inspect a rare creature after having been reached out to by a man named Yao Wang, a wizard whose job was apparently to be one of the few to safeguard the jungles in the area. He’d expected maybe a town or village, but not a full city with citizens and tourists alike.
He wasn’t sure how Mr. Wang even found his contact information as he had been traveling throughout the wilds of Romania, studying the dragons that called the country home. But the moment he had read the creature was a Quilin, well… He couldn’t pass up the chance to study such a creature.
“Newton Scamander, I presume?” He turned around and saw a man who was a little shorter than him with dark eyes that somehow still shown brightly and hair that was tied back into a ponytail. The man smiled. “Ah, you look like your picture in the bookshop, even if it was taken five years ago.”
“Y-yes, I am.” He responded. “Are you Yao Wang?”
“Shì de, I am, but you can just call me Yao. After all, we have common acquaintances, and you are helping me with an important task.” The man enthusiastically shook his hand, and Newt couldn’t help but smile at the friendly greeting.
“Well then, you can just call me Newt.”
Yao nodded and then his face shifted to being serious. “I hope you know that we won’t be using any machines while out there. Just magic and our own wits.”
Yes, Newt had heard about the Tianzi Mountains and how all of the creatures, both magical and not, would be considered a danger in some way, especially considering the trek between the city and where they were going.
“I expected as much. It shouldn’t be an issue.”
Yao smiled, “Wǒmen chūfāle.”
After purchasing enough supplies and storing them in Newt’s briefcase (Yao had marveled at his little portable sanctuary), the two men disaparated to the entrance of the jungle where the mountain range could be seen just beyond the trees. According to Yao, the range was enchanted similar to that of Hogwarts. It was a sanctuary for China’s intricate and unique landscape and the magical creatures that resided there, so no one could aparate within the spell’s boarders.
As they trekked through the jungle, they talked and the subject of how Yao had come to seek Newt out came up.
“It’s just, you said that I came highly recommended, but never said who.”
“Ah, yes. Well, when I asked around my colleagues for one of my jobs, first it was Gupta who told me you once helped him with saving a Thunderbird from traffickers, then a man named Arthur Kirkland overheard and said you were the best when it came to magical creatures and told me to read your book. Finally, what really sold me was when Alfred recommended you.”
“Alfred? You mean Alfred F. Jones from America?” Newt asked. He hadn’t heard from the blond man who had helped in his time in New York City, but he knew from correspondence with Jacob and Tina that Alfred had taken to working at Jacob’s bakery part time after they’d returned to America from Paris in 1927. But this wasn’t what surprised him. No, it was because commonly Alfred tried his best to avoid anything to do with the magical world if he could help it to the point where he sometimes couldn’t see magical creatures. It was a strange quirk that Newt hadn’t found any information on, but Alfred didn’t seem to be lying.
“Shì de, the very one. If your past experience with Gupta and your book didn’t convince me, Jones certainly did. The man tends to avoid this side of his heritage, the magical side. So, him taking a little interest and recommending you means you must have made quite a good impression on him.” Yao smiled as they came to the bank of a river. There were wooden rafts waiting for them.
It took a while, but Newt got the hang of maneuvering the raft after a few tries, and soon he was rowing on top of the narrow constructs without losing his balance. The climbing, however, was another story. Yao seemed to be a natural despite the fact he looked as if he belonged in a palace rather than climbing a mountain in the middle of nowhere with his bare hands. He kept a steady pace ahead of Newt but would stop occasionally so the Englishman could catch up.
They reached a spacious ledge close to the top of the mountain they had been climbing, and Newt was soon staring in awe at the sight of a Quilin, a creature that was half dragon and half snake. He also noticed how rotund her middle was.
“This is why I decided I would need extra help.” Yao explained. “Meet Lian. She and her kind are kept here, and it is rare that they come to be with child. Unfortunately, the one who had the most experience with Quilin births was killed during the Great War, so I knew I would need help. I never witnessed them and only have his notes to go off of.”
“I would be honored to help.” Newt smiled, stroking the beast’s silky neck. Lian was so gentle, she seemed to sense the good-hearted intentions of her new guest as she leaned into his touch.
“Xièxiè, truly. I don’t think she is due for another month at the very least, but I also don’t want her to be alone for too long. Quilin used to be used to decide the Supreme Mugwump, whoever they bowed to would be chosen. But then the Americans spread the idea of democracy, and soon enough it was changed to a majority vote. The fact that she is due to give birth so close to election day and the unrest in Europe makes me have a bad feeling… Tiān a, I have a feeling within my gut that someone will come along and try to use Lian and her child to convince the world that the wrong person should be chosen.”
The worry was apparent on Yao’s face even through the dim lighting of the almost-set sun.
Newt felt the need to reassure his new friend. “Don’t worry. We can take turns going omn a supply run so someone can stay with her.”
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And so, that was how the two lived for the next month. They would take turns staying with her as the other went back into the city to check in with loved ones (or, in Yao’s case, for one of his numerous jobs) and to find provisions. They’d sleep or take shelter from the rain in a nearby cave, passing the time with talking or playing games of Chinese Checkers that Yao had pulled out from what Newt assumed was a magically enhanced drawstring bag Yao kept on his person.
It was on his way back from a supply run and poking his head over the ledge of the mountain cliff that both men realized Lian was in labor. Helping the Quilin, they watched as she gave birth to a baby.
They smiled as they watched the baby Quilin, only to be alerted by the mother that someone else was there.
In a flash of green light that came mere moments before they were about to turn around, Yao felt his body grow cold as a familiar sensation clogged and drowned out his other senses. His world went dark as he heard Newt shout his name before going to confront their attackers.
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When Yao came to, his body numb and more sluggish than he felt in the last century, he heard Newt’s voice in a tired tone say something about twins, and then saw a creature whose name he couldn’t remember emerging from his briefcase and carry him away from the corpses of Lian and, at least to Newt and his creatures’ perspectives, Yao’s.
Yao cursed inwardly, a bad feeling replacing the sense of numbness.
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Many things surprised Newt Scamander in the time he was a part of a small, ragtag army that Dumbledore had formed, but none more so than seeing Yao Wang’s face while he was trying to escort a case that might have the baby Quilin within it in Bhutan.
He thought he had seen the Killing Curse take the man away, but when confronted after the election and the drama between Grindelwald and the Dumbledore family, Yao shrugged him off and only replied with “Duōme cūlǔ! I won’t die that easily!” before congratulating Newt on a job well done, This was all before taking the surviving baby Quilin and disappearing into the retreating crowds, most likely to return the baby Quilin to a herd in the sanctuary Newt and he spent the month in.