Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Warning: Swearing

The prankster had faced down many foes, but none quite like these. The yak he had no trouble assessing; he was big and brawny like the others who had been sent to drive him out of town, and would be dealt with similarly. But his companion was small, elderly; he didn't threaten Monkey as the others had, didn't brandish fists or weapons or call out insults, and yet he seemed to be the leader of the two.

Monkey was rather embarrassed, later in the day after he went off to be alone and think, that he hadn't remembered that turtles didn't even wear any damn pants.

He'd gone for the yak first, eager to wipe the smirk off his face. He was huge, heavily muscled and larger than any opponent Monkey had yet fought, and he was significantly faster than he looked; Monkey had gone for his belt only to have his hand caught fast by the yak, who looked extremely affronted.

"The fuck do you think you're doing?!" He screamed, throwing Monkey back into a building. He twisted in midair and landed well, swinging onto the roof and grabbing a staff he had stashed there among a pile of banana skins which he threw onto the courtyard, surrounding the yak and tortoise with slippery peels. The yak made an exasperated noise but his companion merely looked at Monkey, as calm as ever.

"Bananas? Seriously?"
"What are you going to do now," said Monkey, jumping from the roof and landing just on the edge of the peels.

"I'm gonna choke you with your own tail, you spineless little – "

The tortoise took a step forward onto a peel, and seemed to fly through the air at Monkey; he tried to kick at him, but was sent spinning back by a hit from the old man's staff. He landed on his back and shook his head, staring at the tortoise with wide eyes: none of the others had ever managed to land a hit on him before. Who was this geezer? Monkey rolled to his feet and launched another attack, fist out to meet the tortoise, but to his surprise, he missed; the tortoise withdrew his head into his shell and Monkey tumbled down his back, landing into his own banana skins. He slid forward and crashed painfully into a tall wooden pillar, which, to his horror, began to topple down on top of him. He tried to scramble back, but the slippery peels around him prevented him from moving more than a few inches. Something suddenly snatched him from the ground and pulled him out of the way, the pillar landing heavily enough to furrow the ground where Monkey had laid helpless…but he was safely away from it, set on his feet by the tortoise he had attacked.

"You…saved me…" Monkey said, looking at the fallen pillar, dust softly threading through the air. His heart was pounding from the near-death experience, and confusion welled up within him.

"…Why?"
The yak snorted. "Good question," he muttered. The tortoise poked his arm with his staff and smiled.

"Monkey," he said fondly, "You have shown me great skills." He laid a clawed hand on Monkey's shoulder, bringing his head level and looking him in the eye. "But I also sense in you great pain."

Monkey felt tears well up in his eyes, a sudden memory wrenching at his heart. He'd known, back when he was a kid, that he would always be different from the others in his village, but to be made a laughingstock, a joke, had been too much for a young child in a strange home. He ran away in tears that day, hot embarrassment settling inside his stomach, and he had promised himself that he would never be laughed at again. He would laugh at them, and show them how it felt. For someone who loved company and attention, being the village's most despised prankster had been very difficult, and until the tortoise gazed at him with such understanding he had never allowed it to affect him. But the pain of years broke through his walls, and he cried into the tortoise's arms, unable to stem the flow of tears with his own hands. After a minute he collected himself and turned away.

"You win," he said heavily. "I will leave."

The tortoise's claws tightened on his shoulder.

"Stay," he said, "Use your skills for good."
"What?!"

The yak grabbed the tortoise on the arm, towering over him. "We came here to get rid of him and now you're telling him to stay?"

"That's right," said the tortoise cheerfully, looking deep into Monkey's eyes. "You must find the one thing you were denied so long ago…"
"My pants?"

The yak glared at him, but the tortoise smiled.

"Compassion," he said gently. Monkey nodded, and bowed his head.

"Thank you, master," he murmured.

"Un-fucking-believable," the yak growled, stomping at the ground. "We couldn't have just told him to stop being an ass from the beginning?"

The tortoise merely smiled, enduring the yak's rants in peace as they left Monkey to his thoughts.

Occasionally, Shifu wondered what it would be like if the Jade Palace and its grounds were actually quiet. His sensitive ears picked up the slightest sounds, and the stomping that followed Grandmaster Oogway's…friend was certainly not slight.

Shifu had grown up under the watchful eye of the old tortoise, listening to his immense wisdom and learning kung fu from its original master and creator. Oogway had fed him, clothed him, and cared for him since he was ten years old, and though he had over forty years of experience with Oogway, he found that he always had something else to learn. The old tortoise was constantly surprising him with unknown techniques and practices, and just when he thought he had mastered them all, there were more. But he enjoyed every day of it; every form, every training session, every pearl of wisdom.

If only Kai didn't have to be there as well.

He just didn't leave Oogway alone. Rarely had Shifu seen the two separated from more than a few minutes, though this seemed more an effort of Oogway's old 'war buddy' than Oogway himself. Heaven forbid that Shifu try to talk to the Grandmaster privately; whenever he asked, there would be Kai, prowling around the corners of the room, ignoring the two until Oogway said something particularly infuriating and he interrupted to make sense of it. Shifu figured that he had learned the art of sarcasm solely from listening to the grumpy yak.

He wasn't actually sure exactly how old Kai was, nor how he had achieved such a long life. He knew that the two had met nearly five hundred years ago, as high-ranking officers in China's army. They had both achieved warlord status, and while Kai remained a general (technically he had never retired, but the army seemed to quietly ignore this) Oogway had gone on to explore the fighting art he had created before the wars, becoming Grandmaster of the Jade Palace and leader of everything kung fu, with Kai following him out of the army and into the Valley of Peace, never leaving his side except to storm off in one of his tempers or terrify whatever visitors came up.

Shifu, when he had first arrived at the Palace, had been scared to death of Kai. At close to eight feet tall, the yak had been huge to Shifu, who had only measured up to a foot and a half at that time, if you included his ears. Kai, of course, was still tremendously taller than him even after he had grown up, but at least Shifu knew how to defend himself over someone so immense. One of Shifu's fondest memories was of finally uprooting Kai in a spar when he was twenty-two, which caused the yak to stomp away in a huge temper, as he had never lost a spar to someone so small; the recollection of his enraged face made Shifu smile every time he remembered it. Oogway had found it amusing as well, and had congratulated Shifu on his achievement before heading off to cool Kai down. That was one of the things that Shifu had always found interesting about the two; no matter how often Oogway annoyed Kai, mostly on purpose, he was always able to calm the yak down.

How to define their relationship was a bit tricky. Oogway and Kai always referred to each other as 'brother' or 'old friend', but more than once Shifu had seen Kai grab up Oogway and – for lack of a better word – cuddle him, though he promptly would drop the tortoise if he thought someone was coming. Oogway, for his part, always seemed to be finding ways to annoy the yak, whether through completely indecipherable wisdom or sudden bouts of affection. He would casually call Kai 'dear' or 'my love', though Shifu noticed he only did this when Kai had annoyed him. When the yak was being particularly ornery, Oogway would try to hold his hand, which Kai tolerated until Shifu or one of the Palace servants appeared. When Shifu had first come to the Palace he had accepted the 'just old war buddies' explanation that Kai always insisted upon giving everybody, but he had long since abandoned any presumption that the two were simply good friends.

Tai Lung had that thought Kai was a riot. He loved having someone so big and brash around, and Shifu constantly had to haul the growing cub away from the yak before he learned yet another swear word. Kai, of course, was doing it deliberately, and took every opportunity to pull the cub away from training to tell him a story about his glories of war, immensely happy to have found someone actually willing to listen to him. He was one of the least shocked at Tai Lung's betrayal, though it still hit him hard.

"Give a kid all that hope and then take it away, he's bound to go nuts," he had said, solemnly watching as the acupressure tortoise shell was fit over Shifu's son. "You should have let him down easier."
"It would never be easier," Oogway murmured, looking more minuscule than ever at the yak's side, standing by in case the nerve block wore off prematurely. "His mind and his heart were made up; any manner of rejection is still rejection."

"I should have followed him," Kai whispered, just on the edge of Shifu's hearing. "I knew he was going down to the village, we all knew he's violent when he's pissed. I should have known that something was up."
"You could not have stopped this," said Oogway soothingly.

"We could have tried!" Kai yelled, suddenly slicing the air with a jade knife. "We should have seen this coming! And you!"
He pointed the blade at Shifu.

"What did I tell you about pushing that boy so hard? Telling him he was 'destined for greatness' or some shit, no wonder he was so fucked up about not getting the Scroll-"
"That's enough, old friend," said Oogway, quietly but with more firmness than Shifu had heard in a long time. He pressed his peach staff over Kai's chest, forcing him to lower the blade. Kai snorted and stormed off, throwing a last angry look at Tai Lung's bent, chained body. Oogway tried to comfort Shifu, but the pain in his heart had grown stronger than even the pain in his broken hip, and he barely heard Oogway's words. He wrenched his eyes way from Tai Lung's and limped away, leaning heavily on his crutch. His new – and now his only – student offered to help him but he ignored the girl, too entrenched in his thoughts to be bothered by her.

Kai, now absent of a willing audience for his stories and dirty jokes, stomped around the Palace grounds more than usual, even when Shifu's remaining student asked him about his battles or for fighting tips. Tigress was torn between disliking Kai because Shifu did and liking him because Oogway did; she found him too rowdy and crass, but respected his immense knowledge of kung fu history and techniques. He rarely called Shifu to quit training early, no matter how hard Tigress was pushed, but she would occasionally receive small marks of praise from the yak, quiet and sudden, when walking past him or Oogway. They were few and far between, but every 'Good form today, kid' or 'Ya got that kick down well, little kitten' gave her a little more heart and lightened the weight she felt in her gut after a typical day of dealing with Shifu's perpetual disappointment.

As the years went on she felt Kai carefully watching her, and it pissed her off; she was big, she was strong, she was feline, but she was not Tai Lung, no matter how much Shifu both did and did not want her to be. She tried to rally by being just like him, but every time she tried her form was off, or her balance, or she wasn't controlled enough. She felt that if she worked hard enough, tried hard enough, he would finally look at her like she was worth his time. All she ever wanted was to make him proud.

Kai did not take kindly to Shifu's teaching approach, it turned out. Tigress, unable to sleep after a truly horrific day of training, had returned to the Training Hall late one evening, four years after her arrival at the Jade Palace, to hear the yak yelling at Shifu. She pressed against the building, ear to the crack between doors.

"You're pushing that kid too hard, you idiot; don't you see where this is headed? Or are you really too thick-headed-"
"-Kai," interrupted Oogway's voice, but he was overridden.

"I train her no harder than I would train any student. She could lighten her load by doing it correctly, for once-"
"You need to give that girl a break," Kai said, "Before she decides to fuck it all and she snaps-"
"You are not helping, or did you think I didn't notice you always trying to coddle Tigress, praise her for shoddy performance and take her out of training-"
"I'm trying to make sure that girl doesn't kill herself trying to make you proud-"
"That is not your responsibility-"
"Well, seeing as how you're doing such a good job at raising her, she's punching trees for fuck's sake-"
"Kai!"

Tigress clenched her paws into fists, squeezing them against her chest. Though Shifu and Kai often got into arguments, she had never heard them go at it like this, and especially not about her. Even Oogway was involved.

"You're not seeing where this could go, but I am, and I'll be damned if I have to deal with another kid so desperate to make your hard-ass proud that they go on a rampage to try to prove themselves-"
"Don't you bring Tai Lung into this, you-"
"That is enough!"
Oogway's yell came clear and loud, the sound of his staff hitting the floor bringing a sudden silence.

"You two, you will stop this useless argument-"
"We can't just let him fuck up another kid-"
"She is right outside," said Oogway sternly, cutting him off. Tigress scrambled to her feet and sprinted around the side of the Training Hall, not even bothering to get to the gate but hopping over the wall instead. She heard the doors of the Hall open, but nobody called out, and she leaned back against the wall, hugging her arms around her torso until her heartbeat calmed and silent sobs stopped wrenching from her lungs. Kai was wrong. She wouldn't be like Tai Lung. She wouldn't. She'd do it right, she'd make her master proud, no matter how long it took or how hard it was, and if she failed…

Tigress roughly scrubbed the heels of her palms against her face, wiping away the tear tracks. It didn't matter how hard she trained, whether she collapsed in exhaustion or her bones cracked, she'd be a worthy student or die trying. And she'd be better at it than Tai Lung. She wasn't just some…second-rate…replacement.

The next six years were bloodied and bruised into submission, Tigress growing stronger, harder, and just plain growing every day. She stayed determined to make Shifu proud, as impossible a goal that was turning out to be. Tigress had long before given up any notions of them being a family; she was the student, he the teacher, nothing more.

Oogway and Kai she wasn't so sure about in that respect. Oogway, though he rarely interfered with Tigress's training, was the warmest presence in her life, and she knew that this was what grandfathers were supposed to be like. He made sure that she ate whenever her drive to train overran mealtimes and would sit and talk with her when her mind turned to darker thoughts, and when she pushed herself too far he would interrupt training with a sudden meal or meditation exercise, leaving Shifu to either allow Tigress a break or stomp off in a huff.

Kai, interestingly enough, was the one who – albeit grumpily – offered her cold compresses and bandaged up her hands when her fingers were too sore and shaky to hold the cloth. He always told her that she needed to tell Shifu where to stick it, but she stubbornly refused. He was right, she believed, in pushing her to her limits, forcing her to break herself down until she had complete control and perfect form, and she refused to hear a word against him. Kai always snorted and left in a mood, but whenever she stayed up punching ironwood trees only to exhaust herself in training the following day, he would still be the one to patch her up when she punched too far through pain and tiredness to be able to fix herself. By the time she was fifteen, she could punch through stone tiles with hardly a grimace, and although she could lift the yak himself with one hand her self-control was fine-tuned enough to study the Thousand Scrolls of Kung Fu without making a single rip or tear in the paper.

Shifu himself was not blind to the Grandmaster's interference, nor to his companion's. He tried his best to stamp down any hubris, any pride, that his student felt, making sure that the only goals she had were the ones he gave her in order to avoid another power-hungry student willing to do the unthinkable in order to get what they wanted.

Like Tai…like his former student, Tigress was eager to please him, but with her he saw imperfections in every form, mistakes in every training session. He knew she both admired and was scared of him, and found fault in neither. Despite her strength and dedication, she still had much to learn; the fact that his chosen form did not come easily to her didn't factor into his opinion of her prowess as a kung fu student.

"I can't even tell them apart," Shifu heard Oogway say quietly one autumn day, while they were drilling in the courtyard.
"We let him raise another kid why?" said Kai, making Shifu grind his teeth. There was a quiet thud of a peach branch hitting hard muscle.

"Hush."

Beside Shifu, Tigress seemed to be deviating from the form. She hissed, and the sound sent icy shivers into his nerves. He opened his mouth to admonish her but she leapt into the air, slashing at flying leaves with her claws before landing on the ground on all fours. He felt a moment of horror at the wild display, coupled with disgust at her lack of control. She looked so utterly pleased with herself.

"Tigress! What are you doing?"
Her ears flattened and she looked up at him with wide eyes, shrinking back, still crouched on the ground.

"That is not control – and stand on your feet!"
"I'm sorry, Master Shifu," she said, hurriedly standing upright. He set her to do laps around the courtyard, limping back toward the small porch of the Training Hall, where Oogway was having tea, Kai leaning up against the side of the building with a dour look on his face. Shifu nodded to them and sat down beside Oogway, forcing himself not to shake; he felt he gave himself away by breaking the first teacup the attending goose handed him. Kai snorted quietly.

"She just wants to make you proud," said Oogway quietly, as Tigress passed the porch, huffing with the controlled breaths of the jog.

"Maybe I could be proud, if she was doing the correct form," Shifu said.

"Your form," said Oogway lightly.

"Is there any other?"

"Shifu," said Oogway fondly, "The acorn can only become the mighty oak; not a cherry tree. You must let her grow into what she will be."

Behind him Kai heaved a heavy sigh, but Shifu knew what Oogway was saying, and privately disagreed. He had raised a damn 'mighty oak' before; it didn't work out well for anyone involved. Tigress was already stronger than himself, stronger than Tai Lung at been at her age, and this sudden showing of her more predatory instincts had unnerved him.

Before he could answer Oogway, though, a slim figure ran through the open gate, dodging around Tigress and collapsing on the stairs of the Training Hall.

"Master Oogway, Master Kai, M-Master Shifu…!"

"Master Mongrel!"

Shifu bent down and propped him up, shifting a bit to keep his balance as Mongrel clutched at his robe and gasped for breath.

"He's coming," he panted, "A giant of a warrior! He calls himself Boar. He's unstoppable…he's invincible!"

Kai straightened up.

"Yes! I've been itching for something to kick the shit out of-"

"Shifu," continued Mongrel, "You're the only one who can stop him!"

"What?!"

Shifu waved over the attending goose and told him to get Mongrel to the infirmary, but he was interrupted by Kai, who crouched at Mongrel's side, hands glowing.

"Has everyone forgotten that Oogway and I exist?"

"We will not interfere," said Oogway quietly, making Kai groan.
"Fuck's sake, is this another one of your destiny things? I can take care of this asshole before he even gets here!"
"I know you can, old friend," said Oogway calmly, also passing a glowing hand over Mongrel's chest. "But this task is not ours."

"Could you be a bit more vague and mystic," growled Kai, taking his hand away from Mongrel, who was not sleeping peacefully. "I thought I almost understood you there, it sounded like you said not to do shit."

"Let us get Mongrel settled," Oogway said, completely ignoring Kai's simmering anger. "Shifu needs to prepare."
They argued all the way out the doors, Mongrel folded into Kai's immense arms like he was no heavier than a child. Shifu's ears twitched at the lingering curses that followed them down the mountain path, and he looked toward Tigress, who had stopped running when Mongrel had staggered into the courtyard. He set her back on her run and told the goose to fetch a few things, preparing himself for the fight.

The rest of the day didn't go as well as he had planned. Oogway had interrupted his training for lunch, which had made Shifu extremely ill. He wondered, as Kai laughed into his bowl of sweet-and-sour udon and Tigress set off to get his cousins at the Wang Fu academy, if Oogway had actually planned this.

The so-called 'doctor' brought to cure him turned out to be a praying mantis with acupuncture needles longer than his body, and whom Shifu was convinced had no damn clue what he was doing. He had never been in such misery, especially since Kai and the doctor hit it off immediately. Kai showed immense interest in the doctor's practice, asking what happened if a needle was poked in a specific place and suggesting different spots to the mantis, who welcomed both the audience and the suggestions. If Shifu could do more than twitch, he would have smacked the bug away, but as it was his arms were too numb to move. Evening came and the insect finally left him alone, and Shifu, Kai, and Oogway exited the Palace to find Tigress waiting for them with the most pleased look on her face, four complete strangers preening behind her.

"And with the doctor," she said, sounding out of breath but proud, "You have the four you requested."
Shifu glanced behind him to the dumbfounded mantis and stared at the strange assembly, his face and ears still twitching from the doctor's 'treatments'.

"And may I add," Tigress continued, bowing to him. "It was an honor to serve y-"

"Tigress, what is this? Who are these people?"
Her face fell, posture tensing.

"The…the warriors you requested," she said, gesturing to the strangers. "The ones on your list."

"Warriors?"
"Where?"

Shifu ignored the strangers behind his student as Tigress produced a scroll and handed it to him; he blinked at it, only one eye currently working enough to read:
Cleaner

Comedian

Dancer

Doctor

"This is not my list," he croaked as Kai began to laugh, gazing at the unfamiliar words incongruously scrawled on what was a Jade Palace scroll and throwing it to the ground. Despair shook him briefly, before it was overshadowed by anger.

"Where are the warriors I sent for?!"
"I…I don't understand," Tigress said, her eyes wide and confused. "It must be an accident!"

"Ah," Oogway began. "There are no acci-"

For the first time, Shifu interrupted Oogway with a wave of his hand, making Kai stomp a hoof and snort in indignation.

"Now, listen here, you little fuzzy-"

"You disappoint me," Shifu said quietly, ignoring the yak. Tigress truly looked despaired, her ears dropping back, shoulders and head sinking as she bowed to him.

"Who will defend the Valley now," he said to her, driving home the consequences of her actions; her paws shook, and she looked close to tears.

"Wait…" The crane pulled Tigress back to her feet, smiling at her.

"We can help Tigress," he said, looking more nervous than he sounded. "We can fight...a little…bit."

"Yes," said the snake, "You can count me in too!"

"Let's do this!" said the monkey.
"I'm not actually even a doctor," chimed the mantis at Shifu's side. "I'm in-"
"You can help by leaving," said Shifu firmly. The monkey immediately agreed, but the crane stopped him with a wing. Tigress looked between him and the four, gesturing with clawed paws, but Shifu turned around and began to walk back inside. Behind him, Tigress raised her voice in desperation.

"No, no, Master please listen, I have seen them, they have skills-"

How dare she argue back at him, when she had failed so miserably!
"But they are not the warriors I sent for," he yelled, turning around and slicing a hand at the strangers behind her.
Tigress looked angrier than he had ever seen her, but she bowed briefly and turned back to the four.

"It had been an honor to know you," she said. The viper briefly protested, but Tigress shook her head and walked through them. "I'm sorry."

A goat then stumbled past her, one of several sentries Shifu had sent to keep an eye on the borders of the Valley.

"Master Shifu! The boar," he bleated in a panic. "The boar has been spotted by the Great Forest!"
Shifu ordered the immediate evacuation of the town below, sending the four strangers on their way. He clutched his robe to his chest, a chill falling over him as he walked past Oogway and Kai.

"I'll do what I can," he rasped. Kai started to say something, but Oogway's claws on his arm stopped him. Shifu began to trudge his way to the infirmary, hoping that he would find something to cure him in time.

The sound of Oogway's quiet footsteps and the soft thunder of Kai's hooves didn't help Tigress's mood; she only wanted to be alone, to have everybody leave her alone as she contemplated her failure. Tigress crossed her arms over her knees and pressed her face against them as Oogway sat down next to her; a quiet scraping indicated that Kai was leaning against the peach tree.

"The cleaner…" Oogway began, lightly tapping the bloody scroll in his claws. "…The comedian, the dancer…heh, and even a little doctor. It was no accident that you found them," he said.

"I failed Shifu," said Tigress, the words almost choking her.
"Worse," Oogway said softly. "You are failing yourself."

"No matter how hard you try, you will never be Shifu," said Oogway. Tigress clenched her paws tighter on her arms until the claws dug into her flesh, a cold shame washing through her. Behind them, Kai snorted. Oogway ignored him.

"The question is," he said quietly, getting up to leave. "Can you be Tigress."

Did it matter? Shifu was the best of the best; why would being Tigress possibly be a better idea? So she could fail further?

Kai sighed as Oogway began to descend the staircase, stepping up just beside her.

"Look, kid," he said, "What he's saying is, we already have one orange asshole in the Palace; we don't need another."

Tigress almost objected to Kai's insult, but he held up a hand before she interrupted. "Be yourself, little kitten," he said, with more gentleness than she had ever heard him speak with. "Shifu can deal with it."
"I just said that," called Oogway from the staircase.

"You were being vague on purpose," Kai argued, his customary grumpiness returning. Tigress heard him walk away after his friend. "The kid's already confused enough, there's no reason why you have to be all mystical and wise about it."
Oogway's reply was too far away for Tigress to make out. As annoying and odd as the couple could be, they had a point; or half of one, at least. Tigress stood, brushing the dirt off of her robe. She'd deal with the boar herself – but she'd do it her master's way. She wouldn't fail this time.

And if she did?

Tigress looked out toward the northeastern forest, where plumes of smoke were rising behind the distant treeline.

If she failed, so be it. There had been worse last stands.

Shifu skidded along the smooth floor of the Hall of Heroes, took a moment, to catch his breath, then saluted and bowed to the large tortoise shell balanced on a thin wooden staff. At the side of the hall, a huge form detached itself from the shadows.

"Master Oogway," Shifu said solemnly. "You summoned me. Is something wrong?"

Graceful limbs extracted themselves from the shell as Master Oogway gently unbent from his meditation pose. At the side of the Moon Pool, Kai stopped just within the light, folding his arms across his chest. He looked more concerned than Shifu had seen him in many years, and it sent a little shiver of worry into Shifu's stomach.

"Why must something be wrong for me to want to see my old friend," said Oogway calmly as he walked over to the enormous half-circle of candles that lit the Hall.

"So…" Shifu glanced at Kai's tense shape. "Nothing's wrong?"
"Well," said Oogway, "I didn't say that."
"Will you quit stalling?" Kai interrupted, stomping over to stand behind Oogway, who had begun to blow out the candles one-by-one. He extinguished them with an expansive wave of one of his jade blades, then crossed his arms and glared when Oogway sent him a Look.

"I have had a vision," Oogway said, turning slowly back to Shifu. "Tai Lung will return."

WHAT?!

Shifu felt the air leave his lungs, almost staggering with the memory of his son's attack. His hip – never quite having healed well – twinged unpleasantly.

"That is impossible," he said, "He is in prison!"
Oogway sent him a pitying look.

"Nothing is impossible," he murmured. Panic began to overwhelm Shifu and he hurriedly called for the messenger, sending him away without really hearing what the Grandmaster was saying to him.

"We have to do something! We can't just let him march through the Valley and take his revenge, he'll…he'll…"

"Your mind is like this water, my friend," Oogway said, gesturing to the Moon Pool as Shifu felt his heart pound. "When it is agitated, it becomes difficult to see…"
"Calm the fuck down, little bearcat," said Kai behind them, poking Shifu in the shoulder, which really did not help. "We've got an idea."

He gestured upwards and Shifu followed his arm, eyes coming to rest on the golden dragon clinging to the ceiling. A shock ran through his body at what Kai was saying.

"The…the Dragon Scroll?"
Shifu looked back to Oogway.

"But who? Who is worthy to unlock the secret to limitless power? To become the Dragon Warrior?"

Oogway shook his head and smiled.

"I don't know!"

Behind them, Kai groaned emphatically. For once, Shifu agreed.

Po saw the ground getting closer and closer and yelled in terror, spindling his arms as he fell through the air, and –

- Didn't hit the ground. He opened his eyes, his heart pounding, to find himself dangling a foot above the tile, somebody clutching to the back of his trousers. He blinked the black spots from his vision and craned his head, looking into the beady blue eyes and wide jaw of an enraged yak.

"Kai, let him down," said a soft voice in front of him. Po looked away from the yak and into a claw pointing less than two inches in front of his face, which was attached to a green scaly arm, which was attached to Grandmaster Oogway. Po opened his mouth to apologize when he fell to the ground, Kai - General Kai , actually General Kai! – releasing his hold on the back of his pants and stepping away, crossing his arms and glaring at him.

"He nearly fell on you," he growled.
"No, he nearly fell in front of me."
"He would have crushed you," said Kai, gesturing to Po. Oogway waved his staff at him, other arm still outstretched.

"I can handle your bulk, old friend," he said, which oddly made the yak frown and stiffen. He snorted heavily and glanced at Oogway's outstretched finger. He looked between it and Po and back again, before groaning and shaking his head at Oogway.

"You're not seriously…"
Oogway ignored him and maneuvered Po's wrist in to the crook of his staff, pushing his arm into the air.

"Oogway, don't do it-"
"The Universe," said Oogway, a little loud to speak over Kai's protestations, "Has brought us the Dragon Warrior!"

"What?" said Po.
"What?!" said the Five.

"What!" said Master Shifu.

"What!" said Po's dad.

"Seriously…" said Kai. "You can't just pick the first idiot who falls out of the sky in front of you."
"I didn't choose him," said the tortoise cheerfully, watching as Po tentatively loaded himself on a dragon-shaped palanquin. "The Universe did."

"Gravity did," said Kai angrily. Oogway ignored this, walking away only to be confronted by Shifu.

"Wait! Master Oogway, that flabby panda can't possibly be the answer to our problem," he whispered forcefully. Kai snorted and pointed at the red panda as if to say See? He agrees with me. Oogway affectionately grabbed his hand and Kai immediately shook him off, looking both embarrassed and annoyed.

"You were about to point at Tigress," Shifu continued, "And that…thing fell in front of her! That was just –"
"Oh, no, don't tell him it was an acci-"
"-An accident!"
"There are no accidents," said Oogway sagely, making Kai throw his arms into the air.

"Every fucking time…!"
"But-"
They all turned around at the sound of the palanquin breaking under the panda's immense weight, which made the yak forget his frustration and guffaw. Oogway shushed him.

Po gazed out at the moonlit valley, tiny pinpricks of light the only indications that there was a village between the mountains and rivers. Though the night was warm, the thin breezes made him shiver, and he absently dug into the armful of peaches he had gathered from the tree beside him. He nearly felt like crying.

The Furious Five – the masters of kung fu he had admired for over a decade – hated him. They thought he was a joke, some interloper who had royally screwed things up with his presence.

And Tigress….

Po tasted the sweet juice of another peach flood his mouth, and felt a little better, but not much. He knew he didn't belong at the Jade Palace, but to hear his crush, his idol, the very person who had gotten him into kung fu in the first place…tell him that he was a disgrace…

"Hey! What the fuck do you think you're doing!"
Po jolted, dropping his armful of peaches as he twisted around.

"I see you have found the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom," said Grandmaster Oogway, a little dryly as he nudged a furious-looking General Kai.

"Ate the Sacred Peach Tree is more like it-"
"That's what this is? Oh my gosh, I am so sorry," Po said, swallowing the peach in his mouth, stepping back a little from the glaring yak. "I honestly thought it was just a regular peach tree," he said, looking back and forth from Kai's snarling face to Oogway, who smiled and slowly stepped forward, a lantern swinging from his claws.

"I understand," he said gently, "You eat when you are upset."
"Upset?" said Po, waving a paw at him. "Psshhh, I'm not upset, I – what – what makes you think I'm upset…?"

Oogway blinked at him, gesturing behind his back with the peach staff when Kai snorted.

"So, why are you upset," he simply said. Po looked into his eyes, trying to tell what he was thinking, and then the dam broke.

"I probably sucked more today that anyone in the history of kung fu," he said, the words feeling like they were wrenched from his gut.
"No kidding," Kai muttered.

"…In the history of China…"
"Confirmed."
"…In the history of sucking!"

"Probably," said Oogway, giving Kai a Look out of the corner of his eye.

"And the Five," Po continued, raising his eyes to the heavens, despair welling back up in his gut. "Man, you should have seen them, they totally hate me."
"Totally," said Oogway calmly.

"I mean, how is Shifu ever supposed to turn me into the Dragon Warrior?" Po gathered up an armful of belly, putting a hand on it to stop it bouncing when he let it go. Oogway, without looking behind him, slapped the end of his staff against Kai's face, forcing him to hold back a laugh.

"I mean, I'm not like the Five," Po continued, too far into it to really watch the two. "I've got no claws…no wings, no venom. Even Mantis has those…thingies," he said, gesturing hesitantly. He sighed and plopped down onto the edge of the cliff, a tired ache in his bones and a dejected sourness in his heart.

"Maybe I should just quit," he muttered, "And go back to making noodles."

Behind him, he heard soft footsteps. Master Oogway drew up to his side.

"Quit, don't quit," said Oogway soothingly.

"Noodles, don't noodles…."
Po turned around in surprise, finding Grandmaster Oogway looking straight into his eyes, an understanding smile on his face.

"You are too concerned with what was and what will be," he said, softly placing the lantern down on the ground. "There's a saying: 'Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today is a gift.'"

Oogway bent down a little, as if to whisper to Po a secret.

"'That is why it is called the present,'"

He tapped his staff against the trunk of the tree, and a peach fell right into Po's open palm.

Something opened inside his head as he rubbed his thumb across the soft fuzz of the fruit, but his attention was drawn outward when Kai stood from where he had been leaning against the tree. He heaved out a sigh of the long-suffering, rolling his eyes at Oogway's retreating back.

"Fuck's sake," he muttered, and grimaced at Po, who shrank back a little at his intense gaze.

"You know what he means, kid?"
"Uh…kinda?"
"Just – you got an opportunity here, Panda. Don't waste it."
"I just said that," said Oogway from down the stairs. Kai left Po to ponder the words of both masters, descending the staircase much more quickly than his companion.

"You enjoy this, don't you? Everybody calls me the asshole, but I'm not the one who confuses people for kicks. And the hell was that with the peach?"

"You simply prefer to curse at them until the idea is carved into their minds, hmm?"
"Damn right it works, you turtle egg."
"I'm a tortoise."
Po listened to their surprisingly married conversation with bemusement, eating the peach without a thought. He looked back toward the mountain to where the collective buildings of the Jade Palace were staggered, and felt a shock of determination lance through him. He swallowed the sweet fruit, stood up, and brushed himself off.

He'd wanted to train up here since he was seventeen, and nothing – no scornful Masters or harsh teacher or, frankly, complete inability to fight – was going to stop him from doing so.

Shifu ran up the stairs as fast as he could, ignoring the twinge in his hip. At the top, Oogway was doing his evening tai chi beside the peach tree. Oddly, Kai was not present, as he usually was.

"Master! Master," shouted Shifu, catching his breath as quickly as he could.

"Hmm?"
"I-well-it-it…" Shifu sighed heavily. "It's very bad news."
"Ah, Shifu…" Oogway chuckled lightly. "There is just news. There is not good or bad."
Shifu rolled his eyes, waiting for Kai to make a sarcastic comment – but Kai wasn't there. He turned back to Oogway.

"Master, your vision! Your vision was right – Tai Lung as broken out of prison. He's on his way!"
Oogway froze, looking at him with astonishment.

"That is bad news," he said, looking down at his staff. He suddenly smiled. "If you do not believe that the Dragon Warrior can stop him."
"That panda is not the Dragon Warrior, Master, he wasn't even meant to be here! It was an accident," he said, before he could stop himself. Oogway smirked.

"There are no accidents," he said.

"Yes, I know," he said, turning away so Oogway wouldn't see his annoyance. "You said that already. Twice."

"Well, that was no accident either!"

Shifu briefly wondered how Kai had managed five hundred years. And where was he, anyway?

"Thrice," he said glumly. He heard Oogway's footsteps and the soft thud of his staff as the tortoise walked up behind him.

"My old friend, the panda will never fulfill his destiny – nor you yours – until you let go of the illusion of control."
"Illusion?"
"Yes," said Oogway. "Look at this tree, Shifu. I cannot make it blossom when it suits me, nor make it bear fruit before its time."

Shifu suddenly realized just how accustomed to and reliant he was on Kai's sarcastic but useful comments and translations. He looked up at the tree.

"But there are things we can control," he said, speedily kicking the trunk. "I can control when the fruit will fall – hmph."
A peach bounced off his head, making Oogway chuckle at him. He angrily grabbed a fallen peach, ignored the feeling that he was completely missing the point, and threw it into the air.

"I can control where to plant the seed – hiyah," He sliced the peach in half with his hand and punched a hole in the ground, throwing the seed down into it.

"That is no illusion, Master!"

Where was Kai, he suddenly thought.

"Ah, yes," said Oogway soothingly, slowly walking forward. "But no matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach."
"But a peach," Shifu shouted, throwing his hands into the air. "Cannot defeat Tai Lung!"
"Maybe it can," said Oogway, bending down and covering the peach pit with dirt. "If you are willing to guide it, to nurture it, to believe in it."
"But how," Shifu pleaded, the absurdity of the entire metaphor rankling at him. "How! I need your help, Master."
"No," said Oogway, bending his head to Shifu's eye level. "You just need to believe. Promise me, Shifu," he said, looking him full in the eye. "Promise me you will believe."
Shifu felt a shiver run through him.

Where the hell was Kai?

"I…I will try," he said, an uneasy foreboding worming into his mind. Oogway straightened back up.

"Mmm. Good," he said. Wind began to blow around them at his voice, and he looked toward the sky.

"My time has come," he said, a hint of excitement entering his voice. He turned around and gently handed his staff to Shifu.

Where the fuck was Kai!

"You must continue your journey without me."

Shifu stammered, clutching at the staff in disbelief as Oogway slowly walked toward the edge of the cliff. The air around them was swirling with peach petals, and he limped after Oogway.

"Master, wait! You can't leave me-"
Something huge barreled past Shifu, knocking him aside. He looked up to see Kai grabbing Oogway from the edge of the cliff, holding him firm in his arms. Oogway didn't struggle, but he looked more annoyed that Shifu had ever seen him.

"Kai, it's time!"

"Fuck that and fuck you, you fucking egg! What the hell are you do-"
"I am over one thousand years old, my friend, it is time for me to-"
"No."
"Kai, you have to-"

"You said you needed time alone to 'think', you bastard-"

"My time has come!"
"You wanna leave me?"
"Old friend, it is not-"
"You're not fuckin' disappearing into some damn peach petals, you fucker-"
Shifu backed away, shakily laying the staff on the ground. He turned around and stumbled his way down the steps, head ringing with insults and the realization that Oogway had been about to die. He left Kai to deal with everything as he headed down toward the barracks, the knowledge that his extremely angry son was about to return to the Valley pounding a nail into his heart.

Chapter Text

The walk from Bao Gu to Shifu's home – Tigress's new home – was a long one, but though it was very late when they arrived Tigress was alert and excited. She had never been out of sight of the orphanage before, and the walk was as beautiful as it was tiring. The air smelled different; cleaner and wilder, and Tigress wished she had bigger lungs to breathe in as much as she could. Shifu patiently answered every question that she asked, between explaining what her new life was going to be like. They followed along a trail that ran down the side of a mountain and as night fell a turn in the path opened into a view of a small valley, covered in fields and paddies. Houses were built on the islands, and midway up a mountain there was a large, ornate building with a lengthy staircase that led to the village. Shifu paused briefly, and pointed to it.

"That is your new home," he said. Tigress's eyes widened; she was living there?

"It is called the Jade Palace," Shifu continued, making his way around a bend in the track. Tigress looked away from the beautiful building and ran to catch up with him.

"The villages and surrounding farmlands are under its protection. There are three Masters of kung fu living there, including myself; Grandmaster Oogway, and Tai Lung, my son and pupil. We will continue your training there."

Tigress felt a bit of her stomach jump. Shifu already had a son? Did this mean she had a brother? What if she wasn't as good a child – would he send her back?

She looked toward the beautiful valley again. The last rays of sunset lit the winding rivers and turned them bright gold, before everything faded into a quiet dusk. In the moonlight, everything looked ethereal and mysterious, and the smells in the wind were soft and cool. Tigress wasn't afraid of the night; she could see well enough, and she had roamed around the orphanage after dark before. She didn't wonder if Shifu would lose his way; he had not slowed or faltered in step when the light had left them, and the moon cast their path in silver. The moonlight was actually bright enough to cast their shadows, and Tigress was fascinated, having never seen such a thing before. She twisted her arms around and about, watching the shadows move against the mountainside, and beside them she saw Shifu's shadow's ears twitch in amusement.

After what felt like half the night walking along increasingly lower paths, they finally made it to the bottom of the mountains. They crossed several bridges before making it to the main island, and walked through quiet streets toward the grand staircase; Tigress had never been in a village, and she wished they had come during the day, to see what it looked like when it was awake. As they began to climb the huge staircase, the enormity of what was happening finally hit Tigress.

She wasn't just travelling to a new place - she was coming home. Somebody had wanted her. Somebody had accepted her. The young tiger felt her eyes begin to sting; she blinked rapidly, then hurried after Shifu, her throat tight and her chest warm.

Tigress was panting by the time they made it up the stairs, but Shifu looked barely winded. Two geese in bright teal robes solemnly greeted the pair, lanterns held in their wings. Tigress expected them to be wary of her, but when she looked at them they simply bowed and welcomed her; one even gave her a small smile.

"We will go to the barracks," Shifu said to them. "It is very late; introductions can wait until tomorrow."

Tigress let out a breath; she wasn't meeting Shifu's son tonight. The geese bowed again and began to lead them away, one in front of them and the other walking behind. To Tigress's surprise, they didn't enter the grand building; instead, they went across the landing and walked down a staircase to the left. The steps were carved directly into the rock and wound as the mountain did, bushes and trees dotting the sides. From time to time the Valley was visible through the boulders and branches, and Tigress drank in the sight, turning back now and again to glimpse the grand palace behind her. She was home.

"You will be staying in the barracks with Tai Lung and myself," Shifu said, and Tigress turned back to him. He nodded to a wooden building set against the rock.

"Your room is on the main floor; I will be upstairs. There is a kitchen in the main part of the building, and the bathhouse is behind it."
"I get my own room," Tigress asked. Shifu nodded, and smiled slightly.

"Yes, you do. It will be a test of what you have learned, since the walls and doors are made of paper, instead of wood or metal."
Tigress straightened her back and forced her arms to relax, resolving to not make a single tear in the paper, and silently deciding to keep as far away from the walls as possible, just in case.

Keeping an eye on Shifu's back, Tigress didn't notice the irregular edge of the stair until she put her foot down on thin air. Every nerve in her body jumped and she flailed to the side, instinctively digging her claws into a tree to stop her fall. Shifu turned back at her gasp and the sound of scraping bark, to see Tigress halfway hanging by her claws, one foot on the edge of the stairway and one off the side, six inches above the bare rock. He raised an eyebrow. The goose walking in front of them widened his eyes, his beak dropping. Tigress, burning with embarrassment, disengaged her claws and dropped to the rock. She, Shifu, and the geese looked up at the furrows in the tree trunk.

"I'm sorry," Tigress whispered, her throat too tight to speak any louder. Shifu walked back down to her, and laid a hand against the claw marks in the tree.

"It is alright, Tigress," he said. Tigress looked down at her feet, her paws clenched tightly against her stomach; Shifu motioned to his side and she stepped back up on the stairway. She cut her eyes to the marks in the tree again and felt them begin to sting.

"Tigress, your claws are a part of you," Shifu said quietly. He laid a hand on her shoulder and gave her a little push, and they began up the stairs again.

"You must learn to control them, yes, and they can be dangerous. But simply having them at all is not shameful."

Tigress looked up, and Shifu gave her a small smile. The hot, tight feeling in her stomach began to disappear, and she unclenched her fists, silently promising never to use the claws again. As they continued up the stairs, she kept thinking that now the geese would surely shy away from her, but they never did, and the group entered the barracks with no further incident. Shifu led her past a large kitchen and down a long hallway lined with paper walls and doors. He stopped in front of the third on the right, and motioned to Tigress.

She looked at the door before her, took a deep breath, and carefully pushed it open. She felt how fragile the wood and paper was beneath her paws, and handled it as gently as she could. The room beyond was Spartan, to say the least; a bed and a small chest were all that decorated it. Moonlight behind the wall made the paper glow and bathed the room in soft silver light.

It was perfect. It was home. And it was hers.

She turned to Shifu and saw him smiling.

"Be up with the morning gong," he said quietly. "Goodnight, Tigress."
The red panda nodded to the geese and began to walk back down the hallway, but stopped when two strong arms wrapped around his shoulders and a striped face pressed against his back.

"Thank you, Shifu," whispered Tigress. She let go and closed the door of her room before he could answer, and pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes until she heard his footsteps leave the hallway. Her throat tight, she hugged her arms around herself and looked around the room once more, before climbing onto the bed, careful not to rip the covers with her claws. She watched the moonlight softly move its path across the ceiling and walls and played her paws in the light, until her eyes closed without her bidding, and she slept without dreams in a place she could call home.

Chapter Text

It would be a legend in the Valley for centuries to come. A legendary warrior, who's talent at the art of kung fu was the stuff of legend.

Of legend, man.

Across his mighty shoulders hangs a stout, tattered cape. Upon his head is perched a humble farmer's hat.

But do not be deceived by the simple appearance of the shadowed figure – this guy is awesome. You might want to shade your eyes.

The ground trembles under his footsteps as he walks the land, searching for worthwhile opponents to gloriously battle.

He stops.

Danger.

"HALT, YE FIENDISH FIEND," the young panda shouted, waving his mighty sword (well, pretend it's a sword) at the attacker. Two pigs ducked for cover.

The Legendary Warrior peeked from underneath his headgear, puffing out his chest. He gathered his cape around his arm and forced it to flap in the breeze, radiating machismo and covered in total awesomesauce.

Within the walls of the popular noodle restaurant most of the customers looked on in bemusement and amusement as the teenage panda, already a foot and a half taller than anybody in the valley, waved the long handle of his mop at his invisible opponent, wrapping his kitchen apron around his shoulders. Young Po jumped forward, taking a makeshift battle stance. He imagined the young student Tigress watching in admiration, perhaps teaming up with him for an AWESOME double kung fu team!

"Wooo-aaaahhh…" he screeched, kicking into the air and knocking the corner of a table up. He had gotten started in another one of his fantasies after half an hour of mopping the same spot, daydreaming the entire time until he finally grabbed a wok from the counter when his father's back was turned and began to narrate the great adventures of the Legendary Warrior, accidentally smacking a few customers and breaking a few bowls along the way. Nobody made much of a fuss; they were used to the antics of the Valley's largest occupant. Mr. Ping looked out from the kitchen at the sound of breaking pottery, but was too late to stop his son from completely getting into one of his moods. The daydreaming teenager twisted and, farmer's hat shielding the innocent from his awesomeness, the Sword of Heroes in hand and cape flapping heroically in the wind, charged out of the shop to protect the innocent, conquer the evil, and radiate awesomeness to the whole of China.

Chapter Text

'Precious Treasure'

Out of all the duties he had to the palace - messenger, delivery, overseer of various preparations and events - this was one slightly lower-key job that he thoroughly enjoyed. The geese of the palace were often the ones who did things like dusting and cleaning practically anything that was over three feet off the ground, everybody else being rather lacking in the wing department to fit the requirements. Zeng was rather good at delegating but was not above work himself, and though he usually delegated others for the dusting of the palace (which was not a light task, believe you me), this was one area where the others knew to leave for him to do himself. He grabbed a goose-feather duster (the best kind, if he did say so himself) and flew up to the golden dragon clinging to the ceiling of the Sacred Hall of Warriors. Clutching the duster in one foot and a soft cloth in the other he gently removed the light covering that had slithered over the dragon's metallic hide, perfectly balanced in the air in this one job he loved almost above all others. He had always felt the power emanating from the golden dragon, a sense of sacred and hidden energy that lay dormant, something that one could but glimpse as one looked into its fierce eyes. Zeng looked into them now, carefully wiping the cloth over the dragon's snout. Legends of dragons surrounded Chinese history, weaving in and out of legends and folktales, and here was one of the mighty creatures themselves, in his own home. When he was a child, and his father had been the caretaker of the palace, he had dreamed of being a dragon himself, or flying with the golden beast on one of its legendary adventures. He still smiled at himself, sometimes, remembering and still marveling at the great beast. The dragon seemed almost to move, snaking over the ceiling as if walking on air was nothing at all to it. Sometimes he could imagine that it was even alive; sometimes he wondered if it came alive in the night, when even Master Oogway had gone to sleep, slithering through the chill night air at speeds unbelieved, returning only at the very hint of dawn just before he came in to make sure everything was in order, and that the great dragon was still there, walking on the air. This was his favorite part of his day.

If only that Dragon Scroll wasn't such a picky bitch to dust.

Chapter Text

It was the first time that Mr. Ping had heard the boy cry since he had arrived. He was still waiting, in the back of his mind, for someone to come looking for the little cub, who grew a little bit bigger every day; in his heart, though, he had already accepted the giant ball of fluff into his life, and at three years old he had begun to forget to mention, when introducing friends, that the boy was adopted. The boy shared a passion for food as much as his father (adopted, Ping, adopted), though his forte lied in eating rather than cooking. Mr. Ping sat him down in the kitchen in the morning and talked to him while he made breakfast, the same thing every day, slowly teaching him the ups and downs and how-to's of cooking and running a kitchen. The cub listened and listened, every day for almost two years, uttering no sound other than a few baby-noises and soft laughs. He was so well behaved, so quiet. He never cried at thunderstorms (Ping admitted that he came and cuddled the cub every time, just in case he got scared, but he never did); when he fell or tumbled he sprang right back up; if something frightened him he would hug himself, sniffing softly, looking around for the goose to comfort him; even when he was hungry instead of bellowing like other babies all he would say was 'nada' (noodles) or 'baba' (for Father. Ping melted.) The goose, after much consideration and thought and a little huffing and puffing (this was someone else's son, after all, surely he had no right. Surely they would come and find him.) he finally named the boy Po.

Peace.

And now, after two years, he heard his boy cry.

His mind didn't quite register the alarm it should have at first - children cry, right? Ping furrowed his eyebrows.

Not my boy.

He pulled his tunic over his head and flipped his ponytail onto his back, putting on his belt as he jumped downstairs. He had stopped long ago trying to put child barriers on the stairs - apparently pandas (especially hungry ones) were rather agile for all their bulk. Ping was just glad his business was popular, else he'd never be able to pay for what made the cub happy.

He had learned immediately that leaving the boy alone was not the best idea, because whenever Ping left for an errand he'd find the kitchen an absolute mess and there was the boy, all upset and sniffling to himself as he munched on old dumplings and raw rice (Ping swore that boy had a stomach of iron). He had also figured out how to brighten all the gloomy faces, vanquish all the child-like fears and scares, and stifle any sniffle: Food.

As the crying became more and more intense Ping rushed down the stairs, until he bypassed the oddly not-destroyed kitchen into the restuarant, to find -

"PO!"

He screamed, flapping his wings and jumping up and down. Every single piece of his brand-spanking-new furniture, imported all the way from Thailand, was either half-destroyed or gone completely. Bits and pieces and little splinters were scattered all around the swept ground. He groaned inwardly at the very expensive wreckage and looked toward the urgent crying. Little Po was ardently chewing up a table leg, tears streaming through his fur, crying in between bites. Ping calmed himself down as much as he could and crouched down next to the panda, wrapping his wings around him. Po sniffled, hiccupping.

"Baba," he said though his throat was tight with tears, and Ping felt his anger flow freely away, melting completely as the boy dropped his half-eaten table leg and nearly broke the goose's ribs with a bear hug. Patting his son on the head, he looked around for the source of the sorrow, holding the panda's hand as he looked out into the street and back alley; it must have been a nightmare.

"Ah, well," he said, beginning to pick up the pieces left. The panda cub waddled toward him and nearly knocked him over as he grabbed Ping's leg, hugging it fit to break. He looked down at the still-sobbing panda and felt his eyes crinkle in a smile. Sweeping some debris aside he hugged his son again, and dried his eyes with his tunic.

Ping left Po to clear up the rest of the mess (damn that boy had an appetite) and set out spare chairs and tables himself, making a note never to buy fancy, expensive, and most of all edible furniture again, before heading back to the kitchen to begin the day's cooking.

Little Po sat in his usual spot in the kitchen after eating the rest of the bamboo furniture, still gnawing a bit as a snack. He stared at the goose, as he always did, with wide, happy if somewhat red-rimmed eyes, a clear declaration of love and admiration. Ping found himself talking over the cooking business as he did every day, every day.

He never noticed that the word 'adopted' never entered his mind again.

Chapter Text

It was the noise that drew his attention at first. His dad let him play a little farther from their home as long as he stayed away from the river, so Po liked to go exploring. Every backdoor stoop, every garden wall was an adventure and he made up stories for everything that caught his eye. Mr. Yung's house, which always had smoke coming out of it, was actually home to a fearsome dragon, and Po would giggle and tiptoe past it, trying not to wake it up. The back of one of the houses behind his own had broken tiles on the ground, and Po would hope from shard to shard, pretending that he was standing over a vast river and the only way to cross was by jumping on the bridge of broken stone.

Sometimes he wished that he had a friend to play pretend with him, but he was good at playing by himself. Last year he had played too hard with one of his friends, and made his arm bend the wrong way; he wasn't completely comfortable playing with another kid again, even a year later. He hadn't meant it – he hadn't even realized he was holding too tight – but his dad said that because he was bigger than the other kids he needed to be more careful.

He was bigger than his dad, almost. He was kind of scared of hurting him, too, but Daddy had fussed at him all year until Po finally gave him a very, very light hug. He was better at it now, but sometimes he still made his dad do that funny quack! noise when he hugged him.

Ever since he had broken Yow's arm none of the other kids really wanted to play with him, so Po contented himself with exploring alone around the houses and stores on one side of the river, and when he heard a funny sound and something crashing, he had to check it out. Maybe there was a dragon at Mr. Yung's house!

Po ran as fast as he could in the direction of the noise, and stopped in the middle of a street of high walls. He knew he was in the fancier part of the village; his dad had told him that behind the walls were pretty gardens, but Po had never seen anything but the tops of trees that poked out. And why did they put the garden behind the walls? Didn't they know that nobody could see them?

Po was a little lost, and he wasn't sure where the noise had come from. Had he already passed it?

"Aargh!"

He whipped around as a huge thud struck somewhere to his left, and to his amazement, a slender crack suddenly spiderwebbed across one of the walls a little bit down the street. Po ran to stand in front of it, eagerly examining the pattern of cracks.

"Uh, excuse me," he called, "You wall is broken."
There was silence in the street for a moment, before it was broken by a low, hesitant voice.

"The wall is broken?"
It came from the other side! Po jumped up and down, but the wall was too tall and he wasn't big enough to grab the top and look over.

"Yeah," he said. "There's a really neat crack. It looks like lightning! It just got here, I was watching it."
"….There's a crack on the other side?"
The voice sounded slightly panicked, and he realized that it was another kid.

"Yeah. You should come and see, it's really cool."

Silence, and then a muffled groan. Po lightly knocked on the stone.

"Hey. Are you okay?"
"I…I broke the wall," said the voice, higher-pitched and wobbly. "I didn't mean to break the wall!"

Po, not really sure what to do about this, patted the wall with a paw as if to make it feel better.

"I'm sure your dad won't get mad," he said. "I break stuff all the time and my dad just gets a funny look on his face and makes a cup of tea."

"It's different," said the other kid angrily, the voice sounding thick and choked like they were on the verge of crying. "Mr. Chow says I can't go outside until I stop breaking stuff. I'll never go outside if he finds out I broke the wall."
Po had a little difficulty hearing the words, as the voice sounded heavier and the wall was very thick.

"Uh…I'll be back in a moment," he said, and jogged around the perimeter of the wall, trying to find some way to get or look in. On the side there was a little diamond cut out of the stone, and though it was too high to look through, it was just low enough to make talking easier.

"Hey! Come over by the peeky-hole," Po called, knocking on the wall underneath the window. He heard a rustle, then soft footsteps.

"Can you hear me better?"
"Yeah," the voice said, and he realized it was a girl talking. He grinned.

"I can hear you better, too. What was that you said? Just a little bit ago?"
"Mr. Chow won't let me out to play until I stop breaking stuff. He's afraid I'll break a person."
Po sat down in front of the wall, scratching at it with a nail.

"You just gotta be careful," he said. "Just make sure you don't hold too tight."

"I'm not!" said the girl, sounding a little closer now. "I don't hold tight! But everything still breaks! I don't wanna go back to Bao Gu!"
"Bao Gu? Where's that?"
The girl was silent, for a long enough moment that Po wondered if she left.

"Um, are you still there? You don't have to tell me what Bao Gu is, if you don't want to. We'll talk about something else."
"You want to talk to me?"
The voice sounded soft, scared. Po nodded, then remembered that she couldn't see him.

"Sure! If you can't go outside, then I'll come over here and we can talk. You wanna do that?"
"Yes," said the girl quickly. "You'll really come here? Every day?"
"Um, I don't know if I can come every day," Po said, remembering that he had school. "But I'll come whenever I can."

"I…"

Tigress felt her heart stutter; this boy wanted to talk to her! She wouldn't have to spend all day in the courtyard alone! She itched to know what he looked like, but kept her eyes off of the tiny window; he didn't seem afraid of her, even though she had broken the wall. She wasn't going to know what he looked like and he definitely wasn't going to know what she was. For the first time another kid was talking to her and he wasn't afraid; she wasn't going to mess it up by scaring him off.

"So, what's your name," the boy asked, startling her from her thoughts.
Tigress panicked for a moment. If he knew her name he'd know what she was! He'd be scared! She frantically tried to think of something different, and settled on the name of one of the other girls at the orphanage.

"Uh…I'm L-Lian."

"That's pretty," said the boy. "I'm Po! I'm almost seven. How old are you?"

"I'm five," said Tigress, stretching her legs out in front of her as she sat down against the wall. To her left, there was a deep dent that she could see behind the edge of a decorative scroll, and she quickly averted her eyes.

"So…what do you want to talk about," asked Po. Tigress leaned back and wrapped her arms around her knees, tail tapping happily at the ground.

"Anything," she said.

Po, as he had said, couldn't visit every day, but the several days a week that he could come were the happiest either – especially Tigress – had known. They talked about everything that ran through their heads, and though they didn't always agree on things they both benefited from having another child to talk to. He was curious as to her situation, since he had never met a kid who had to stay behind a wall before.

"So, why do you call your dad Mr. Chow?"
Tigress rubbed her thumb across the apricot he had thrown through the window, one of the many treats he gave her.

"He's not really my dad," she said. "He and Mrs. Chow adopted me from Bao Gu."
"I asked Daddy what that was," Po said. "He said it was a place for kids who, uh, didn't have a mom or dad?"

Tigress angrily took a bite out of the apricot.

"Maybe they thought I'd bring them luck," she muttered.

"Huh. My dad just says I bring him headaches."

Tigress laughed.

"And you bring me fruit!"
"Oh! And toys! Here, catch this!"
Tigress dropped her apricot and sprang up, her senses alerting her to something falling through the air. She caught it in one hand and dropped back to the ground in a crouch, examining it eagerly. It was a little wooden fish, crude and messily painted, but the paint was bright and cheerful, there were some small indications of scales, and the mouth held a tiny wooden coin.

"My dad says that the fish brings money," Po said, "So I made some for his shop. I don't know if it worked or not – I think a lot of people just sat on them on accident."
Tigress turned the little fish over and over in her paws.

"You made this?"
"Mm-hmm. Do…do you like it?"
Did she like it? Nobody had ever given her something they made before!
"Yeah!"
"Great! You can keep it! I like carving stuff. I'll make you something else!"
Tigress held the fish against her chest, feeling almost giddy with happiness, and then she felt something crumble against her tunic. She gasped and opened her fingers, and little bits of brightly-painted wood fell from them, catching on her tunic, landing on her feet – and she felt herself shake. Instead of the anger than usually came when she broke something, she could feel nothing but a cold horror.

She had broken the fish. She hadn't even realized she was holding it too tight, and she had broken the only gift she had ever received.
Tigress didn't realize she was making a noise until she felt the reverberations of knocking against her back, Po's voice sounding heavy and distant through the swimming in her ears. She was curled up in a ball against the wall, holding her paws away from her as if to deny their actions.

"…Lian? Lian? Are you okay? What happened?"
Tigress gulped for air, taking in a shaking breath before closing her eyes and shaking her head, crying into her knees.

"Lian? Lian?"

"I broke it!"

"You…broke it? What, the fish?"

Tigress nodded, her throat closed too tightly to speak. On the other side of the wall, Po slid his hand across the stone, and she felt him pat it lightly.

"That's what happened? That's okay," he said. "I've got lots more, if you want a new one."
"I'll break that one too," Tigress said, her habitual anger surfacing. She banged her fists against the ground, tearing furrows in the dirt. Didn't he understand? She broke everything!

He was saying something but Tigress shook her head, hitting her paws against the ground again until something broke through:

" - Then I'll make you another one."

"I'll-"
"And another one."

Tigress couldn't find anything to say, so she wiped her eyes against her arms and knocked on the wall, keeping as careful as she could to not make a crack. He knocked back, and some of the heaviness in her stomach lifted.

"Hey, Po?"
She pressed her forehead against the wall, closing her eyes and clenching her fists in her vest.
"Yep?"

Tigress took a deep breath.
"…Can we be friends," she said, quietly enough that she wasn't really sure if he had heard her.

"Oh," he said. He was quiet for a moment and a racing cold flooded through her chest, making her nose sting. Of course he didn't want to be friends; of course she shouldn't have ever asked…

"I kinda thought we already were," Po suddenly said. Tigress's head shot up and she pressed her palms against the wall as if to claw her way through them.

"You thought we were friends? We're friends?"

"Yep! Forever and ever! Now you'll never get rid of me!"
Tigress grinned, knocking on the stone again and feeling her new friend knock back. She was perfectly fine with that.

Po looked forward to every day he could talk to his new friend. He had never met anyone like Lian before; where the other kids were loud, she was quiet. They couldn't really talk about what was going on in the Valley, because she had never been outside of either the walls of the orphanage or of Mr. Chow's house, so finding things to chat about was a constant challenge, and they often made up little songs or games.

They both wanted to see the other, but Lian seemed afraid of Po's reaction and Po respected her hesitance.

"It's not like I'll laugh at you or anything. Here, catch!"
He tossed her a pear, although it took a few tries to get it through the window.

"A lot of the kids make fun of me because…because…"

She was right, Po mused. It was hard telling someone why you were different. He squared his jaw and tossed the pear again, this time getting it through the window.

"Because I'm really fat," he said quickly, before the words could escape him again. "They're kinda mean about it, sometimes."

"That's stupid," said Lian angrily. Po grimaced, starting into his own pile of fruit.

"S'not really stupid," he mumbled as he sat against the wall, the words he had heard many times swelling up in his throat. "I guess I kind of deserve it. If I wasn't such a fatty I wouldn't be such a waste-"
"Stop it," said Lian angrily, and Po felt a slight vibration as she tapped on the wall. "That doesn't mean they have to make fun of you. You can't help it. And you're not a waste."
"You haven't seen me," he said quietly.

"I don't have to. You matter to me, so you're not a waste. Who else would be my friend?"
"Lots of people," Po said enthusiastically. "You're awesome! They just don't know you're here!"
"You're not going to tell anybody, are you?"
Lian sounded a little scared and Po threw her another fruit. As much as he wanted Lian to have more friends, he kind of enjoyed having a secret.

"Not…if you don't want me to," He said.

"I don't," she replied quickly. Po felt a little weird about her response – why didn't she want anyone to know about her? He asked and she took a long moment to reply.

"I'm just…different, okay?"

"Why? Because you break stuff? I do too."
"…Yeah, but I'm strong enough to break people," Lian said quietly. "That's why Mr. Chow won't let me outside yet."

Po stared at the half-eaten fruit in his hands, wondering if he should tell Lian this. Surely she wouldn't make fun of him? Surely she would still be his friend?

Tigress thought, for one terrifying moment, that Po's silence had indicated that he had freaked out and left.

"I…kind of broke somebody, actually," said Po quietly, after a long moment. Tigress's ears perked up and she shuffled closer to the wall.

"You did? How?"

"My friend Yow and me were playing pirates. I grabbed his arm but Daddy said I grabbed too tight. I didn't mean to! But I broke Yow's arm. He cried and now he won't talk to me anymore. His dad got really mad at my dad. I didn't even know I was grabbing too hard."
Po's voice faded to a whisper, but Tigress caught every word, fascinated. Her friend didn't just break stuff because he was clumsy – he was strong too, strong enough to break a person. For a fleeting instant Tigress wondered if Po was another tiger, but she shook her head; if Po was a tiger and he broke somebody, his dad wouldn't have let him outside.

"What happened after that? Did you get into trouble?"
Po was silent for a moment.

"Not…really. Daddy didn't really get mad at me – he just said that sometimes what I think is gentle might not be what someone else thinks is. But none of the other kids will really play with me now. You're kind of my only friend."
She felt shocked. He didn't have any more friends? But Po was fun! She shuffled to her knees and tilted her head to the window, paw laid flat against the stone.

"If…if it makes you feel any better, you're my only friend, too," she said, a little quieter than she had intended.

"But you're great!"
"I break stuff," Tigress said with a grin. "I scare people."
"I'm not scared! You're my best friend and I promise I'll never be scared of you!"
Tigress felt her heart swell at the sentiment, even though she knew it wouldn't be true if he ever ended up seeing her.

Light tapping echoed high on the other side of the wall before another fruit fell through the window. Tigress pounced on it and bit the bruised skin, happier than she ever remembered feeling.

Po had difficulty finding Lian's home one day because the crack on his side of the wall had been fixed. He stumbled around the street for a little bit, disoriented, until he noticed the diamond-shaped window set into a freshly-plastered wall. He jumped over to it, knocked, and waited for Lian's answering knock.
It didn't come for a few minutes and he knocked again, his stomach feeling a little funny because Lian said she was always liked staying in the garden rather than in the house, and he had never been there when she wasn't.

The knock didn't come still, and he tentatively called out for her, clenching his fist around the handle of the little bag of cherries he had brought for them.

"Lian?"

She didn't answer him back, and he wondered if he would get into trouble if he knocked on the front door – he hadn't talked much about his friend to his daddy and he wasn't sure if Mr. and Mrs. Chow knew about him being friends with their new daughter.

Po knocked again, and called out again, and after a long time left with the bag of cherries, and went home.

He came back the next day, again with some fruit, at a different time and when he knocked on the wall he was so sure that Lian was going to be there, but no one answered again.

Maybe she was sick. Maybe Mr. Chow wanted her to play inside instead. Po deliberated for a few minutes between knocking on the front door and coming back the next day, but if Lian was sick or something he didn't want her to be sick alone and think that he had abandoned her. So Po held his pears against his chest, took a deep breath, and followed the wall around to the front.

The door was richly decorated, with carvings and bright paint, and he felt a little nervous and awkward knocking on such a nice, strange door. After a few seconds a goose in a bright servant's robe answered and looked him up and down, eyes wide. Po shuffled his feet and held out the pears.

"H-himyname'sPocanyougivethesetoLian?"

The goose squinted at him and said, "Who?"

Po felt a brief moment of panic – what if he had gotten the houses wrong? – but swallowed it back and pushed the pears at the goose.

"Hi," he said. "My name is Po. Can you give these to Lian?"
"Uh…" The goose slowly took the pears, holding them gently. "I'm not certain that you have the correct house, child."
"Lian," said Po, stronger. He could feel his arms shaking and pressed them against his sides. Talking to strangers was scary and he felt like he was doing everything wrong. "The little girl who lives here. She's five and she's really nice."
The servant's eyes widened and he took a step back.

"You know her?" He said. Po nodded. The goose looked from him and then to the pears and back.

"You mean, you…I'm sorry, but she's not here anymore."
The world shrank; Po suddenly felt like there was nothing more than himself, the goose, and the words 'she's not here' floating in the air. His chest felt cold and tight and his nose began to sting.

"What do you mean she's not here? Wh-" He swallowed against the tightness in his throat and took a deep breath. "Where is she?"
The goose shuffled his feet. "Mr. Chow took her back," he said, his words softening as he looked at Po's face. "She just…he didn't feel like she was…really…right here."
Po stared at the goose, their eyes nearly level, until his vision began to swim and he had to turn around. He left without saying goodbye, and when his dad asked him what was wrong simply shook his head and curled up in his room.

Chapter Text

Mr. Ping was regretting his decision to fuss at his son earlier that day, as the words ‘Dad, can you take me to Bao Gu?’ escaped from the little panda’s mouth.

All parents fussed. Right? Nobody was perfect, he was trying so hard and he hadn’t been prepared for any of this, he’d thought he’d been doing a decent-ish job so far, right? Right?

Ping carefully put down the knife he was sharpening and turned around, noting immediately the damp bag of mangled pears, the nervous feet, the sticky way the fur on Po’s cheeks got when he cried.

Ping swallowed his nerves and stepped forward.

“The orphanage? Po, why do you want to go there?”

Po sniffled. Something melted in the vicinity of Ping’s chest.

“I…” he looked down at the bag of pears, crushed from his anxious paws. With a heavy plop, he sat down on the kitchen floor.

“I made a friend,” Po whispered. Ping waddled forward and crouched down in front of him, the action forcing him to look up at Po’s face.

“A friend?” he said. “I’m so proud of you, Po. You know I told you to stop being so afraid – “
“She’s gone,” Po wailed, tears coming in earnest. Ping rocked back, startled, before leaning forward again to pat his son’s face with his sleeve. Ping was no stranger to tears, Po was a crier and that was a fact, but the utter despair was something he’d never faced before. Not knowing what to do, Ping hurried to the cabinet and pulled out a little basket of sesame balls he hadn’t managed to sell out of that day. Pressing one into Po’s hand he sat down again, patting the panda on the shoulder. Po stuffed the sesame ball into his mouth and kept crying.
“I’ve been visiting her forever and she said she was from Bao Gu and that nobody wanted to be her friend and she was my only friend and I was her only friend and then I went to see her yesterday and Mr. Chow had taken her back and I’ll never see her again. And she was so cool and really really nice and can we go get her? I’ll move all my stuff under the bed and there’s plenty of room and…”

Ping just kept patting. There was no way to tell his son that he was already overwhelmed, running a business and being a parent single-handedly, while living in the tiny apartment over the restaurant that most certainly did not have room for another child. How was he to explain this?

“Po, I’m sure your friend will be alright – “
“But what if she’s not? I gotta go make sure – “

“Po, I…Po, I just can’t.”
“But she could help out in the shop too! She wouldn’t take up any space, I’ll sleep out on the roof – “
Ping bit back the reply that all children, no matter how small, took up significantly more space than previously intended, and simply shook his head.

“Po, I have my wings full enough already – “
“I’ll take care of her! I’ll give her snacks and we can play in the morning and I’ll show her how to make dough – “
“Po, no.”
“But she could – “
“Po. I’ve said no.”
The tears, which had abated as intended with the distraction of the sesame balls, threatened to start again. Ping shifted on his feet and pulled out his Parent Voice.

“Po. I’m glad that you made such a wonderful friend, and I’m sorry that it had to end like that. But we are not adopting a child. Your friend sounds like a sweet girl, and I’m sure that she’ll be adopted in no time. Now! Help me put away the rest of the kitchen.”
Ping scampered around his son and pushed for all he was worth, until the panda finally stood and, upon eating the last of the sesame balls, started wiping the counters with a minimum of sniffle. Ping signed to himself and picked up his cutting knife again, running the whetstone across its surface while watching Po out of the corner of his eye.

It wouldn’t be forgotten, he knew. But with any luck, it would lessen.

A half-week later Po packed up two days’ worth of food, a blanket, and several roughly-carved toys into a backpack, and snuck out the front door when the moon was high enough that his father would be dead asleep and the town would be properly illuminated.

Did he have any idea where Bao Gu was located? Nope.

Did he care? Also nope.

Lian needed him and he was going to go find her if he had to march through a sea of angry, bloodthirsty locusts and carry her back and stow her behind the vegetable bins when his dad wasn’t looking.

Hopefully, there would be road signs.

Po marched along, dutifully avoiding roads where the river ran through until he needed to cross the bridge out of the main part of town, where he and his dad would sometimes have to go to pick up supplies for the restaurant. He picked his way over the bridge with care and continued on, walking with as much quiet determination as he could muster.

His dad had mentioned Bao Gu as being ‘a little orphanage out of town, up in the mountains beyond the valley’. Po didn’t know which mountains, but he knew of at least one road that went out of town, and so he followed it, dust from the gravel and sand sparkling in the bright moonlight. He walked and walked and walked until he was into the mountains and out of sight of the village, until the very last twinkle of candlelight from a window winked out, and he was all alone on the road, with only the moonlight for company.

The trip was okay until he reached the mountains that surrounded the valley, because it was there that the moon said goodbye, hiding behind tall peaks and distant, looming cliffs. It became darker instantly, with an oppressive quietness that had almost a physical presence, and Po only knew that he was still on the road by the faintest difference between shadows. Po had never been afraid of the dark…but out here, all alone, without his dad and with no light to guide him, he began to feel the slightest glimmer of fear edge its way between the determination and stubborn resolve that had driven him to this midnight adventure. The road was longer than he anticipated, darker that he’d like, and had steadily begun to go uphill – literally.

He sat down on a large rock, pulled out a napkin filled with roasted peanuts, and stared into the darkness. His eyes were adjusting, but not quickly enough. The moon occasionally peaked over the tops of the mountains to offer him a very patchwork road, and each stretch of darkness between the silverly streaks of light looked more and more intimidating.
What was he doing?

He was out in the middle of the night, trying to go fetch a friend from a place that he didn’t even know if he was on the right road for. What if he was heading in the wrong direction? What if he just walked and walked until he fell down and his dad never found him because he snuck out without saying where he was going? He was going to run out of food soon – anxious paws had snuck back into the backpack to search for the other nibbles he had stuffed in there.

Lian had been his best friend for almost three weeks. She’d been funny, and smart, and the only other person he knew of who could break things as quickly and easily as he did, and for once he’d had the rare pleasure of being able to take care of someone, to talk to them and make them feel better. His dad did that for him, when he was sad or upset. Lian was the only other person in the village who didn’t mind Po as he was, who didn’t make fun of him for being fat or clumsy or smelling like that morning’s broth.

And Mr. Chow had sent her back to the orphanage, like she wasn’t the best kid Po had ever met.

What would Po do, if his dad just decided to get rid of all the headaches Po caused him and send him away, to live in a place for kids who didn’t have a parent to go home to? The thought sent chills up Po’s spine, and he stamped his feet to make them go away. He wasn’t leaving Lian to think that nobody wanted her. He wasn’t.

With a sigh and a grunt he hefted the backpack up once more, and started up the hill.

The road got harder and harder the further he got, and he had to stop more and more to rest. The moonlight began to get weird; where it had begun high in the sky when Po first started out of the village, now it had travelled over and across, giving Po a good long while of clear, visible road before eventually disappearing behind the opposite side of mountain peaks as it had begun. Po walked in complete darkness after that, clinging to the mountainside when the road turned too steep and he wasn’t sure how wide if was.

Once he’d had to hide behind a crop of trees to avoid someone pulling a cart behind them and grumbling about long roads and short deadlines. Another time he’d tiptoed past a dying campfire some distance away from the road, lumps of sleeping travelers silhouetted against the burning coals. Once, he thought he’d seen the shine of eyes in the shadows of the cliff, and almost turned back, but when he’d eased his way past there was no one there.

By the time that all but one package of food had been eaten, Po was sore and exhausted, and finally left the road to settle down near a small grove of fruit trees. The scent in the warm night air was heavenly, and Po was so hungry and so, so tired, that when he plucked a plum and sat down on a convenient rock, he was almost too tired to scream when the rock moved and said,

“I beg your pardon, young one.”

Po did do a little yelp and fall to the ground, before picking himself and his plum up and retreating back several feet. The rock shifted again and suddenly a flint was struck, burning sparks into Po’s eyes until a small lamp began to glow, illuminating the tiny camp and strange traveler that Po had inadvertently sat on.

The traveler had a long, wrinkly neck, and a hard shiny shell covered in a dusty cloak. He was short and definitely old, but had long dark claws, and the firelight reflected strangely in his eyes. He looked like a turtle, but the largest turtle that Po had ever seen.

The old turtle leaned forward, bringing the lamp closer to Po’s scared face.

“How interesting,” he murmured to himself. With a gesture that was almost too fast to follow, the turtle reached out and grabbed Po with his claws, setting him sturdily on his feet.
“I did not mean to startle you, young panda,” he said. With a gentle smile he moved back and rested his shell upon the trunk of the plum tree. “My apologies. You look lost and tired.”

Po’s surprise melted; with a wobble, he fell to the ground.

“I might be lost,” he whispered. The plum, skin warm from his paws, disappeared in a few bites. The turtle grabbed a long stick and tapped the tree behind him; another fruit fell, and he rolled it toward Po, who took it gratefully.

“And where might you be going? It is an awfully long road you are upon, to be walking along at night.”
“I’m going to Bao Gu,” Po said, settling into a more comfortable position. The turtle, once Po’s eyes got used to the light, had a kind face that was soft with age, and eyes that looked like they laughed more than cried. Everything about him felt calm and quiet, and Po didn’t feel quite so frightened by the dark.

The turtle’s eyes turned sad.

“I am sorry, young one,” he said. “To endure the loss of a parent is a hardship we all must bear, though that makes it no easier. Had you no family to take you in?”
Po, in the middle of eating another plum, stopped in surprise.

“Huh? Nuh-uh, I’m not going to stay there! My dad’s back in the Valley! We have a noodle restaurant, you can come eat there if you want, I’ll see if Dad can give you a discount or – “

The turtle’s eyes started laughing again and Po stopped rambling, rolling a fourth plum in his palm.

“I…my friend got adopted from there, but her new parents thought she was scary because she broke a lot of things by accident, but it’s not fair! I break stuff too and Dad just sighs a lot. But her new parents sent her back and I don’t think she has any friends there ‘cause she said the people are scared of her, so I’m going to Bao Gu to get her back and I’ll just…maybe…”
The turtle nodded his head.

“You wanted to help your friend,” he said gently. “And what was your plan to get her out of there?”
Po shrugged, taking a bite out of the fruit while he thought.

“Um…well…I mean, she’s strong enough that she can break a wall, so I guess if she can just make a tiny hole we can sneak her out? I don’t know what she is, though, so I dunno if I can hide her back home. She says people are scared of her so what if she’s like a – a wolf or a buffalo or something? Maybe I can’t hide her under the counter…”

The turtle chuckled, taking down a plum for himself even as he sent another to Po.

“It sounds as if you care greatly for your friend,” he said with a smile. “What determination you have, to venture out on such a long road to help her. Bravery, too.”
Po blushed and he mumbled a bit, eating the plum to try and cover his embarrassment. He did think it was brave of him to try and get Lian, especially with how dark and scary the road had gotten. But it went on forever and he was so tired and he didn’t even see a sign pointing to the orphanage or anything.

“Um. Do you know where Bao Gu is? Cause I didn’t think it’d be this far.”
The turtle smiled gently. He reached over and gave Po a little pat on the shoulder.

“You are walking in completely the wrong direction,” he said cheerfully. Po groaned and slumped onto the ground, mushing his face into the dirt to try and keep from crying. It wasn’t fair.

The turtle rubbed a little circle on his back, which helped but didn’t help. Pat, pat, pat.

“But you are also going in the right direction!” he said. Po lifted his head and squinted at him; the smile on the turtle’s wrinkly face made him look like a cheery old apple.

“Even if the execution of your plan has not gone so very well, your goal was a noble one. Your friend is lucky to have you. And do not worry, young panda; I will help you.”
Po scrambled up from the ground.

“You will? Can you show me where Bao Gu is?”
The turtle was already shaking his head before Po even finished, but he still was smiling.

“No,” he said, “You are going back home, before your father has reason to panic. But…I have a young student with too much time on his hands, who I believe would benefit from the experience of helping your friend. There are too many empty rooms at my home; I will send my student to help her, and if she is not adopted at the end of it, then she may stay with us.”
Po jumped and yelled, hopping around the lamp as the turtle laughed at his antics.

“That’s great, that’s great, that’s great, thank you thank you thank you! She’s the coolest, you’re gonna love her, she’s smart and funny and she really likes apricots and here, you can give her all of these, I made a lot so that if she breaks some there’s more, here – “
He dumped the rest of his backpack into the turtle’s claws, giving him all of the toys he’d carved.

After many minutes of thanks and celebrations, the exertion of the night finally caught up to the young panda, and he dropped face-first onto the ground, sound asleep with a smile still on his face.

When morning came the unlikely pair feasted upon a breakfast of plums and tea before turning around and heading back to the village. The trip home was significantly shorter and more fun now that it was both daylight and downhill, and Po spent the hours jabbering happily about everything and nothing, or else walking in contented peace, taking in the sights as he could not during the night. On the edge of the village the turtle left him, bidding him peace and joy before disappearing the moment Po turned his head. He decided against searching for him in favor of running down the rest of the way home, finally arriving at his dad’s shop just before the morning rush, where his father squawked and pulled him into as tight a hug as the old goose could manage, fussing and crying and fussing some more. He eventually plopped Po down in the kitchen, in full view of is father, with the strict instructions to never, ever run away again and Po was never going to leave his sight and what had he been thinking, honestly, to frighten his father so, you foolish boy, I’m so glad you’re home. Po endured the hugs and the censure with equal enjoyment, content in the knowledge that his friend would be taken care of, and that all felt right once more.

Chapter Text

Po honestly thought that his father was having him on when he told him that the Jade Palace was ordering soup again. Didn't they remember that Master Shifu got horribly, horribly sick the last time?

(He'd heard that the Master wasn't very nice. Maybe that was the idea.)

Po looked at the order that the warmly-dressed goose had brought them. It wasn't sweet-and-sour udon this time, just plain noodle soup, so maybe they did remember. But why would they still order from the same shop?

His dad, of course, was ecstatic. He had put 'Now serving the Jade Palace!' on their menus and he was eager to back up the claim, telling everyone who came into the shop that he was busy making soup for the masters high on the mountain. It got annoying after the fifth time, but Po, running around the shop in a panic, didn't notice. He refused to have anything to do with the making of the soup, loitering around the tables outside with a teapot in one hand and two bottles of sauce in the other and fervently serving the customers in hopes that Ping wouldn't call on him to help with the Palace's order.

Keeping his face turned away from the kitchen, as if that would stop his father from looking out and noticing the only panda in the entire shop, Po didn't realize he was backing up onto somebody until he heard a honk of pain. He twisted around, apologizing, and saw the goose from the Palace hopping on one foot, the other clutched in his wing. Po quickly set down the teapot and bottles and knelt in front of him.

"Ohmigosh, I am so sorry, are you okay?"
The goose glared at him, his face openly pained.

"I think," he ground out, "That my foot is broken."
Guilt welled up, hot and heavy, inside Po's stomach, and he felt almost like crying as one of the regulars, a rabbit doctor, set aside his bowl of dumplings to examine the gander's foot.

Po ducked inside the kitchen, mumbling apologies in a blurred stream. Ping looked up from where he had been watching from the counter as Po absently plucked a radish from a basket and bit into it.

"Po! What have I told you about being careful around our customers?"
"It's not broken," called the doctor before Po could answer. Ping walked around his son and out the kitchen door; the doctor and the Palace goose looked up at his approach.

"I am so sorry, Master goose, my son is a little clumsy sometimes," Ping said, bowing in apology to the other gander, whose expression lightened somewhat. "You say it's not broken?"
"No," said the doctor, dusting off his paws as he stood and helped the goose up. "Just a little bruised, that's all."
Po, listening from behind the door, slid down the wall in relief.

"I still can't make that order," said the Palace goose grumpily, gesturing to the kitchen with his gratuitously bandaged foot. Ping waved his wing.

"Don't worry about that, my son will take it for you. It's the least we can do. Why don't you stay right here and have a bowl of soup, eh? On the house."
Po looked at Ping like he was crazy when he waddled back into the kitchen.

"'On the house,'" he asked, eyebrows raised. His dad had never done anything for free in his life!

"Pick your battles, Po," said Ping archly, taking the soup off of the fire and wrapping it up to keep the chilly air from getting to it. "If the Jade Palace finds out we injured their goose and didn't offer recompense for it, they'd never order from us again!"
"Ah." Po nodded, the world making sense again. He took the pot from his father and shuffled out the kitchen, Ping behind him with a serving of soup and some tea.

Po paused as he walked past the Palace goose.

"I really am sorry about that," he mumbled. The goose grimaced, accepting the food from Ping with a nod.

"It's fine," he said. "Just let someone know that I'll be up later. My name's Zeng."
"Zeng. Okay, good, alright. Yeah, I got this," said Po, hitching the pot a little higher. "I'll tell 'em, and a thousand pardons!"
Ping shooed him out the shop and he hurried along, not wanting the soup to get cold before he made it to the Palace. Now that he knew he hadn't really hurt the goose, his initial nervousness was returning.

What if they didn't like the soup? What if Master Shifu got sick again? Or Grandmaster Oogway; he was old, old people couldn't afford to get sick! Or what about the tiger girl-

Po, three-quarters of the way across the bridge, froze, briefly stopping the traffic.

The tiger girl.

Po sped up a little, weaving through the villagers and the various market stalls that were set up near the Palace steps. What if she was going to eat the soup? He couldn't make her sick! Even if technically his dad had made the order this time, he didn't want to risk it. They were kung fu masters, they probably ate really good stuff. Po glanced down at the pot between his paws. He had never before doubted his father's cooking; it didn't feel very good. Whatever had been in the soup last time, it had probably been Po's fault, not the actual recipe. His dad didn't mess up on orders, he assured himself. It would be fine.

As he began up the staircase, he thought about the tiger girl again, and the others he had seen her with. Would they be there? Didn't they have a lot of kung fu stuff to do? What if they were doing the kung fu when he got there – he might get to watch!

He re-envisioned the tiger and her fight against that boar, how she kicked and punched so quickly, so strongly that his tusks actually broke off, and he imagined himself there too, watching and cheering her on. As the boar fell, a wolf took its place, and the tiger leapt into the air with a ferocious growl, followed by a panda wearing a long red cape. They twisted their hips, recoiled their legs, and struck, simultaneously hitting the wolf on the snout and knocking him to the ground. But he rolled! He rolled to his feet and snarled at them, baring his teeth in a nasty grimace.

"You'll never defeat me," he hissed. "You're no match for my despicable evil!"
"Maybe not," said the tiger. She and the panda shared a glance, and dropped into a crouch, their arms cutting the air with fists and claws.

"But our kung fu is," she finished, and they jumped high, high into the air, spinning around and striking at the wolf from all sides…

The fantasy slowed down when Po noticed that his knees were shaking, and he set the pot on the stairs just in time to gasp out a wheezing breath and collapse beside it. He'd never been more exhausted in his life!

Po glanced to the side of the staircase, his eyes widening as he took in the view. He had never been anywhere but the village before; the mountains that he occasionally saw between the houses near the rivers looked so different from so high up, orange and gold with the changing leaves of autumn. A quick peak over his belly showed him the village itself, no more than red roofs laid out in curving lines, blue water sparkling around the outskirts. If this was the view the masters always had, no wonder they liked to stay up here. It was even worth the stairs!

Po heaved in a massive breath and pushed himself up, grabbing the handles of the pot and looking up to the Palace.

He was maybe…about halfway.

Perhaps it wasn't actually worth the stairs.

Training had been put on hold for the rest of the day, which tended to happen when Master Oogway wanted to get lunch or the Training Hall caught fire, both of which had actually happened this time. Crane was moping around the infirmary as Mantis patched up his singed wing. It really hadn't been his fault – or, at least, it had been his fault but not on purpose. He had swooped down from the rafters at the wrong moment, the air current pushed by his wings causing a flame from the Field of Fiery Death to catch against Tigress's robe and the wall of the pit. Tigress had put it out before the fire could burn more than the fabric, but the pit - dry from the heat of the summer and the Fiery Field - had caught and burned much more quickly, spreading to half the hall before the fire was put out. Crane, in an effort to correct his mistake, had received a mild burn on his wing, and left the hall with the others just as Master Oogway entered to inquire about the smoke and suggest that everybody break for lunch.

Tigress couldn't help but be relieved at his suggestion. She had felt her body shaking as she went to her room to retrieve another robe, and though she usually enjoyed the stress and challenge of training, Master Shifu had been pushing them harder than ever in the past few months. Tigress had fleetingly thought that maybe he would lighten up a bit with the addition of new students; he had seemed so much happier at the time – he had even smiled at her! But within the week he was himself again, and Tigress worked as hard as she could to bring herself up to his standards. She had made him proud that day with the boar; why couldn't she do it again? What was she doing wrong? She didn't know if he wanted her to work on her 'tiger style' or continue with his form; he seemed unhappy with her either way. Every time she held her ground in a spar, he frowned at her; every time she twisted through the air and explored her natural agility his face twisted further, his fingers tapping his flute against his leg as if itching to hit something with it.

Nothing she did seemed to please him, and she had been taking out her frustrations on the trees in the ironwood grove in the mountains behind the Palace. The pain and adrenaline cut into all of her anger and frustration; she punched the trees until all the hurt inside her head welled up in her hands, and everything felt so much clearer afterward.

The others, who had miraculously stayed to live and train at the Jade Palace, said nothing, though she was sure that they knew. She didn't bother keeping it a secret; strengthening the hands by continuously hitting things was a well-known technique. But she wasn't sure if they knew exactly why she had begun that particular training, or the purpose it really served her. She wasn't sure she wanted them to know.

They all had left to help Crane patch up his wing. Tigress had stayed behind, concerned for her new friend but unsure what to do about it. She had only really met him and the others few months ago, and although she liked being around them, she wasn't quite sure exactly…how. She'd only ever really interacted with Master Shifu, Grandmaster Oogway, and the Palace servants since she had come from Bao Gu; there was nobody her age around. Viper was the closest, but even she was three years older than Tigress. The others just immediately got on with each other, laughing and joking like old friends, sharing stories and memories. They were always so open with each other. She had initially felt the same connection to them but back here, in her own home, it was different. She was different.

The wind stirred the bottom of her old robe as she walked around the side of the Palace, pushing leaves up off of the stone terrace. Her sensitive ears caught the sounds and brought her out of her dour musings, an instinct rising up to chase after them. She fervently pushed it down, but now that she was aware of the leaves she couldn't so easily ignore them.

A gust of cool wind flew against her side, pushing her fur back and puffing up her robe, and Tigress laughed in surprise. She stopped just as quickly, looking around the terrace to see if anybody had heard her. The area was deserted; Master Shifu and Grandmaster Oogway were inside the Palace, waiting for lunch to arrive, as it had been too cold lately for Oogway to be outside as much as he liked. No one came out, so they must not have heard.

A leaf fluttered against her face and she leaned back, blowing on it to shoo it away. The wind blew several others over her shoulder, swirling around her body in a cool spiral, and it seemed to capture her stress and carry it away. She checked the doors again, then extended her arms and spun around, following the path of the wind as it blew across the terrace. She closed her eyes; the autumn wind felt cool as it rustled her fur, carrying with it the scent of approaching winter. She could almost see the curving paths it swirled through the air in her mind's eye, and she leaned and spiraled with it as it pushed against her outstretched arms. A laugh bubbled out of her throat and she let it, enjoying the momentary freedom from the discipline she usually carried herself with.

Po had absolutely no idea where he was going. He had thought that the Jade Palace was just the really big, fancy building at the top of the hill, but there were others dotted along the mountainside, and Zeng hadn't told him where he needed to go. He was hesitant to knock on the front doors of the big Palace; what if he interrupted a super-secret kung fu meeting? It was an important-looking building. Was he supposed to go to one of the other ones? He screwed up his face in worry, kneading the handles of the pot in his paws.

A laugh caught his ear as he carefully walked along the side of the Palace, trying to see if he could figure out where he was supposed to go, and he quickly turned around. He could ask them what he was supposed to do with the soup.

Po walked around the side of the building and hurriedly backtracked, pressing himself against the wall.

It was the tiger girl! It was the tiger girl!

He craned his neck and peeked back over the side of the wall. She was wearing a brown robe instead of the red one he'd seen her in, and she looked around sixteen or so, just a year younger than him. She was smiling, shaking her head as leaves blew in her face, then she threw out her arms and twirled in a circle, laughing again as the wind caught her robe and leaves swirled around her.

The last time he had seen her, she had been kung fu-ing that boar near the forest. He'd never seen anybody move so quick, and when she punched it looked like lighting striking, hard and fast and powerful. And here she was, dancing in the wind, flowing through the air so lightly it was as if she were an autumn leaf herself. He'd honestly never seen anything more beautiful.

The front door to the Palace creaked open and she immediately dropped her arms, looking as serious as she had when he first saw her. A red panda – Master Shifu, most likely – walked out onto the terrace toward her.

"Tigress!"
She stood stiff and bowed to him.

"Yes, Master Shifu!"
Po suddenly remembered what he had come here to do, and looked down at the cold soup in his paws. He felt a moment of panic and glanced back up, seeing the tiger girl leave the terrace and walk down some stairs at the other side. Master Shifu shook his head and limped back inside the doors, leaving one open behind him. Po crept from behind the side of the building, watching to see where Tigress – easy to remember – had gone. He paused before entering the doorway, and smiled to himself.

Yeah – that had been worth the stairs.

Chapter Text

Day One: Taste of Defeat

The Five reached the Sacred Hall of Warriors just in time to see Po and Shifu leaving it. Shifu walked carefully, ignoring every attempt by Po to get him to accept assistance. The old master declined any help or offers to carry him, and instead leaned heavily on his staff while he and the others slowly made their way to the barracks, apparently everybody but the panda nursing painful injuries. Po annoyed Shifu about his choice to walk the whole way, while the Five looked on in bemusement, never having seen the stern master actually banter with anybody or, frankly, anyone who would banter with him.

“No.”

“But he really beat you up, I mean, look, you’re bleeding-“

“No.”

“C’mon, nobody’s going to laugh at you or anything, it’s just a little while-“

“No, Po.”

“But Viper’s doing it!”

“No- what?”

Po pointed to his left shoulder, where Master Viper had indeed coiled herself, pride be damned. As Shifu frowned at her, Mantis jumped onto the panda’s head and sat down, apparently quite happy with not having to walk. Shifu turned his face to the path, forcing himself not to grimace.

“I am well enough to walk, Panda,” he said testily. His mood did not improve when his staff skidded on the stairs, forcing him to skip a step and making his injuries scream. He noticed in his periphery the Five moving for him immediately, and was about to snap at them when two paws nearly as large as himself scooped him up and held him several feet off the ground.

“Panda! Put me down immediately!”

Po determinately looked forward, continuing down the path ahead of the astonished Masters, and ignored him. Shifu jabbed at his stomach with sharp fingers, forcing him to bend over.

“Pan-“

“It’s only until we get to the barracks; you can look after your injuries yourself and nobody’s going to mention this, ever.”

“Yes, because you are going to put me down, now. It is foolishness to continue this conversation.”

“It’s foolishness to hurt yourself more because you’re afraid of being embarrassed,” Po said, surprising Shifu with the force of his words. He looked up at the panda and Po scrunched up his face, eyes angry. Shifu was about to argue again when Master Monkey swung one-handedly onto Po’s right shoulder and hunkered down, leaning against the panda’s head with his injured leg stuck out. Monkey looked at Shifu and shrugged. Beside him, Tigress was holding his staff, one hand to her ribcage. To Po’s left, Crane was limping down the stairs, his neck still at an uncomfortable angle. Nobody looked Shifu.

Shifu sighed, and stayed seated in Po’s hands. Damn panda, he silently grumbled.

Po let him down when they reached the barracks, though he only did so after climbing the stairs and opening the Master’s – now Grandmaster’s – door for him. Shifu jumped down, ignoring the flashes of pain that followed his movement, and closed his door without a word.

Po waited until he heard Shifu walk away before making his way into the kitchen. The Five had agreed to Po’s invitation to breakfast but had gone off to the infirmary to treat their and each other’s injuries first. Crane had held the door open for Po, expecting him to follow, but Po waved him off.

“I’m fine, actually,” he said. The master raised a disbelieving brow, but didn’t insist.

Po was almost through making a brunch of rice and stir-fried vegetables when the Masters reappeared, Shifu among them. They walked stiffly and Po noticed bandages around several appendages before Master Tigress came over to him and handed him a small clay pot. He looked inside and saw a supply of mixed leaves, crushed into tiny pieces.

“If it’s not too much trouble, Dragon Warrior,” she said quietly. The others gingerly seated themselves, watching the two from the corners of their eyes. “It’s medicinal tea,” she continued. Po smiled to her and nodded, grabbing a pot to boil the water.

“I don’t know your name,” she said quietly. The panda looked up at her, surprised, then scratched the back of his neck and smiled somewhat nervously.

“Oh, yeah, I guess we didn’t really have time to introduce…and stuff…”

He straightened and pressed his fist into the palm of the other paw, bowing to her.

“I’m Po,” he said. Tigress bowed back.

“Tigress.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said cheerfully. The corner of Tigress’s mouth twitched and she bowed her head in thanks before taking her seat. While the water heated up Po fluffed up the rice and began to dish it out, topping each bowl with vegetables and sauce.

“Are you not injured as well, Panda,” said Shifu, rather testily. Po shook his head, sliding the bowls from his arms to each place on the table.

“I actually feel pretty fine,” he said. “I got a little crick in my neck, but as long as I don’t look over here too – ow.” He looked to the right and earned a sharp ache for his demonstration. Shifu frowned at him in disbelief.

“You expect me to believe that you defeated Tai Lung without receiving any injuries yourself?”

Po leaned over Mantis and set a bowl of chili flakes in the middle of the table.

“I mean, he wasn’t really gentle, but I got a lotta, you know, padding and stuff.”

He cheerfully patted his rather generous belly.

“I think he tried whatever nerve attack he used on you guys, but it just kinda tickled.”

Shifu raised a brow at him and the Five looked up from their meals, disbelieving looks on their faces.

“Tickled.”

“Yeah. He looked pretty annoyed about that.”

Po put some of the medicinal leaves in a teapot and set it on the table to brew before sitting down across from Shifu and digging in to his own meal. Shifu narrowed his eyes at Po but began to eat; Po quietly grinned to himself when the red panda’s ears perked as he tasted his food.

“So, what, you defeated Tai Lung by tiring him out trying to hurt you?” Mantis asked. The others chuckled. Po waved his spoon at the smallest Master.

“Nah. Actually, I defeated him with the Wuxi Finger Hold,” he said proudly. The chuckling stopped. Crane dropped his spoon into his stir-fry.

“You…what?” Shifu stood in his chair, looking at Po with wide eyes; the panda might as well have suggested that he defeated the snow leopard with cunning arguments and a polite request to bugger off. Po continued eating.

“Yep. Actually, you gave me that idea, Master Shifu.”

The Five turned to the red panda. He sat back down, frowning.

“I threatened you with it,” he said. “I did not tell you how to do it. That is an ancient technique, Po. It is only mastered after immense study and meditation, which I know you did not do under my tutelage.”

“I figured it out. I got a scroll about Master Wuxi in Wu Dan Village when my dad and I went there for the spice market.”

“No scroll would describe how to…you mean you actually figured it out?”

Po nodded and set aside his empty bowl, looking up to see the table staring at him. One of Shifu’s eyes seemed to be twitching a bit.

“How,” he said hoarsely. Po absently twirled his spoon.

“Well, okay, everything I ever learned about Master Wuxi said that he was a master of pinpoint chi attacks, right? And the Finger Hold is supposed to send whoever you used it on to the Spirit World, so – are you gonna eat that?”

Monkey silently shook his head and slid his bowl over. Po tipped the contents into his mouth, swallowed, and sighed happily.

“So, like, everything in this world is in tune with everything else, so what you’re supposed to do is focus your chi in your fingertips, you know?”

He held up a paw and looked to Shifu, on whose face was a dumbfounded expression.

“And then you pull all the bad guy’s chi to you, and when you do the pinky thing it throws their chi out of balance with this world and into balance with the Spirit World, so that’s where they go. And that’s…”

He faltered when the Masters continued staring at him.

“That’s where Tai Lung….s’what happened,” he mumbled, awkwardly looking at his bowl.

“Po…”

He looked up. Shifu was pressing his fingers between his brows.

“That is an extremely dangerous and unpredictable technique.”

Po frantically waved his paws in the air.

“I’m not gonna use it,” he exclaimed. “It was just that time! It – I mean – we couldn’t just put him back in another prison and I don’t know what Oogway did to stop him last time and it was the only thing I could think-“

“Quiet, Panda.”

“Sorry.”

“I just want to make sure that you do not think that you can use something so extreme for every minor thief or bandit that antagonizes the Valley,” said Shifu wearily. Po shook his head.

“Good. I am going to rest for a while,” said Shifu. He carefully hopped down from his chair and made for the door, still leaning heavily on his staff, but he stopped before he exited the kitchen, and turned.

“Are there any other surprises that you believe should be mentioned?”

Po clicked his claws nervously, looking at the Grandmaster with hesitation.

“Uh…I think I figured out the Dragon Scroll?”

Shifu glared at him silently. Po shuffled his feet beneath his chair.

“Is that-?”

“Just eat your lunch.”

Chapter Text

"Okay, okay, but seriously, this is going to be totally awesome! My dad's like the best noodle maker in town, and I know he'll love to have you guys over-"
"Po, you know most of us have ordered from there before, right," Mantis interrupted. Po nodded, walking backwards in front of the others as he led them to Mr. Ping's. He had been talking non-stop ever since they had left the Jade Palace grounds, having invited them to lunch after Shifu had given them the afternoon off, since the Five (and the Palace) still suffered from Tai Lung-related damage. As they walked through the village their eyes slid over the broken gateway at the bottom of the steps, the damaged masonry, the holes in buildings, the giant crater in the middle of the street, and wondered not for the last time what exactly went down between the Palace's fallen son and the…well, the big fat panda. When the Five had last seen Po before venturing off to confront Tai Lung, Po had been clumsy, accident-prone, slow and with habitual bad posture. Watching him now, he seemed no different, despite the surrounding evidence that he had somehow defeated the Valley's most feared enemy.

Po had been back and forth in the days following the fight, helping his father repair his shop and assisting with the rebuilding of both the village and the Jade Palace. In comparison to the Five he seemed shockingly unharmed, with only a few pulled muscles, bruises, and a sore neck. Tigress and her cracked ribs envied him, though watching him collapse every time he climbed the stairs mysteriously made her feel a bit better. She watched him now, still chattering as he walked backwards and occasionally stumbled over a cart, pile of rubble, or passing villager. Around her, various pigs, rabbits, and geese would stop in their motions and bow or wave, and a few villagers shouted out Po's name or 'Dragon Warrior' as they passed. The panda seemed to enjoy the attention, and called back to faces he recognized. Odd, since in none of Po's chatterings had she heard him mention any friends; now he seemed to have several hundred.

All of who were apparently amassed in Mr. Ping's shop.

The Five and the Dragon Warrior entered through the half-repaired archway to an immense crowd of customers, most of whom shouted a greeting at Po's arrival. Po looked over the crowd and waved at the goose behind the kitchen counter, who waved back. The Five were ushered through the crowd until they stood by the kitchen and were given menus from the counter; Po left them to duck into the doorway of the low kitchen, and Tigress soon realized where he had gotten his stoop; the panda couldn't even stand up straight in there.

"Dad, I want you to meet the Masters of the Jade Palace," said Po excitedly, quickly giving the grey goose a hug before putting his paws on his shoulders and turning him toward the Five.

"Wait," said Mantis, crouching at the front of Crane's hat. "Mr. Ping is your father?"
Po nodded, practically vibrating with energy.

"Yep! Dad, this is Master Monkey and Master Viper-"

"The goose is his father?"
"Master Crane and Master Mantis-"
"Hmm. He looks exactly like his action figure," the goose said.

"Wait, that's actually a real thing?" Mantis asked, a grin of delight on his face. Po didn't answer and pointed Ping to Tigress, cheeks turning the faintest pink.

"And this is Master Tigress," Po finished, grinning hugely. She bowed slightly.

"It is an honor to meet the father of the Dragon Warrior," she said, giving Mantis a Look. The extremely-not-a-panda Mr. Ping bowed back and waved a wing that held a surprisingly large knife.
"I'm honored to have you all here! Po, go clear a table for our guests," Ping said. Po jumped and grabbed a rag from the back counter before hurrying to the door.

"Wait!" Ping said, making the panda jerk to a halt. Tigress watched in amazement as the goose threw several bowls at the panda, who caught them on his arms and shoulders, ending with a cup of tea balanced on top of his ducked head.

"Table six needs two servings of the sweet and sour udon, table ten has two spicy noodles and one Secret Ingredient Soup, and table eleven ordered the dumplings and tea. Clear out table two for your new friends, Mr. Yow's just paid."

Po shuffled out of the kitchen and navigated through the over-packed shop, bowls perfectly balanced. Ping went turned back to the Five as if nothing of note had happened.

"Now, what can I get you all for lunch? We're having a special on the dumplings today, two for the price of one!"

The Five were all in agreement to try Ping's Secret Ingredient Soup. Tigress gave her order with the others, watching Po carefully slide each bowl off his arm, not spilling a drop, and expertly maneuver through the tables of a shop made for much smaller creatures than he. Tigress had not noticed before, but the panda really stood out among the crowd, most of whom were barely even half his height. He cleared a table near the kitchen counter for them and they took a seat, perfectly at advantage to see the goings-on in the kitchen. Ping was quick to make use of his son's presence and used him to both cook and serve. The Five watched as the big fat panda balanced stacks of bowls and kitchenware, gracefully moved through the motions of the kitchen, trading places with his father and back again with hardly a gesture between the two. He chattered between the Five and Mr. Ping, explaining the goings-on at the Palace to the goose and the workings of the shop to the warriors while seamlessly preparing their meals. Apparently Ping had shared the secret ingredient with his son, because Po made the soup himself, hiding a good deal of the process from the Five by turning his immense back to them. Oddly, he kept catching his father's eye and laughing.

Tigress had swiftly lost interest in the meal, choosing to focus primarily on the chef. She had not watched him cook the night they had left, and he had stayed in the village for most meals since, but watching Po cook was a lesson in mastery of self. Every move was purposeful, every step, slice, or serving intentional and controlled. The clumsy panda had disappeared and was replaced by a sure-footed, nimble-fingered master, and Tigress got a good view into the foundations of their newest warrior, and how it had been possible for him to become the Dragon Warrior itself. Beneath the layers of fat and monochromatic fur there was muscle mass built by three decades of carrying heavy pots, bags of vegetables, and pulling noodles; feet that seemed clumsy just walking stepped incredibly lightly, dancing over slippery spots and fallen kitchen debris; limbs that appeared bulky and unwieldy suddenly gained incredibly fast reflexes as they chopped the vegetables, threw them into the boiling broth, and moved from pot to pot, stirring and ladling as required. Tigress even recognized a few kung fu moves tossed in.

Mr. Ping's hum of surprise broke her gaze. He was looking at Po as well and nodding with approval.

"I suppose that kung fu of yours can come in handy," he said grudgingly. "I haven't seen you drop anything yet!"

Po laughed expansively, showing off by extending a foot behind him, standing a bowl on the heel, and tossing a ladle-full of soup into the air, catching it in the bowl that he kicked up and balanced on the toes of the other foot. Mr. Ping removed the bowl with a pleased huff, and brought it out to the Five's table. His son emerged from the kitchen laden with the rest of the food, and the Five sans Tigress dug in, eager to see if Po's Secret Ingredient Soup could actually taste better with the addition of the secret ingredient. Their exclamations of delight made the panda smile with something oddly mischievous. Tigress dipped a spoon into her bowl and noticed the peripheral attention of the others on her, though beside her Po made no effort to hide that he was watching her. She tried the soup and paused.

Cursing, Tigress believed, was vulgar, dishonorable, and unnecessary, but holy hell did she feel like doing it. This was much better than plain tofu.

"This soup," she said calmly, resisting the urge to grab the bowl and tip the rest straight down her throat, "Is truly excellent."

Po whooped with delight and Tigress felt herself smile, sincerely enjoying her meal for the first time in…for the first time she could remember, actually. If Po continued to cook at the Jade Palace it would be a wonderful thing, and she told him so.

Po looked immensely pleased.

"This is going to be so awesome! You guys have got to try my sesame dumplings and rice – oh! I can make spicy eggplant for tomorrow, and some chive pies, maybe even a bit of…"
Tigress lost focus in his ramblings, eating her meal with a surprisingly warm feeling in her chest. The option of him cooking for them alone would almost have been decent reparation for the whole Dragon Warrior debacle, if she had tried his cooking several days ago. Gingko-leaf dew and 'universe juice' didn't seem as impressive now.

Po continued to discuss with the Five what he could make for them when they all finished their lunch and paid both dues and goodbyes to Mr. Ping. Tigress once again examined the damaged village while they walked, occasional visions of stir-fry and dumplings making their way into her head as Po chattered amiably. It was only when they began walking back up the Thousand Steps that something broke through her musings.

"What about sweet-and-sour noodle soup," Monkey asked.

"Oh, no, not that," said Po, making a face. "Man, the last time I made sweet and sour udons I poisoned Shifffuuuu…"

Tigress froze. Around her, the Five looked at Po with wide eyes and open mouths.

He poisoned Shifu?

"When did this happen," Tigress demanded, turning to the Dragon Warrior, who had now collapsed in the middle of the stairway and was gently hitting his head against the steps. Po let out a whining moan.

"Po!"

"It was an accident," he said. Po flipped onto his back and covered his face with his paws.

"Look, it was like ten years ago! There was this boar, and my dad had to leave because he couldn't get his vegetables, and I had to watch the shop and the Jade Palace ordered some sweet-and-soup udon soup and apparently Shifu got really sick but my dad was excited because now we were 'serving the Jade Palace!' and-"
"That was you?" Po groaned again.

Tigress knelt down and swiped his paws away from his face. He grimaced at her and gave a nervous laugh. She stared at him until he stopped and sat up.

"There was a boar destroying the north road ten years ago," she said tensely. "The village was evacuated because Shifu was too sick to defend it. Is this the incident you're talking about?"
The panda nodded reluctantly. Tigress stood and stared at him for a moment, then turned away and began walking back up the stairs. The others didn't follow her until she was a good hundred yards ahead, and she didn't wait for them. Behind her, she heard a faint Wasn't that the day she came and got us-? but continued her climb without looking back. She had some meditating to do.

Po was hesitant to cook that night but the rest of the Five assured him that they weren't worried.

"Besides," Monkey said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "If you poison us, at least there will still be you and Tigress and Shifu to defend the valley if something comes up!"
"That doesn't really help, but, okay," said Po, frowning at the vegetables he was chopping. He had kind of forgotten that part of the day, pushing aside the whole 'poisoning the Master of the Jade Palace' thing in favor of the 'finding out about the awesomeness of kung fu' part. He really hoped Tigress wasn't telling Shifu about Po accidentally poisoning him; they were just starting to get along! But every time he glanced back at the entrance to the kitchen there was no angry red panda glaring up at him, no Grandmaster bursting through the doors to spear him with a chopstick.

Viper slithered beside him and gave him the jar of sesame seeds he had asked her to reach for him.

"Don't worry about it, Po," she said soothingly, giving as glare to Monkey and Mantis, who were smiling rather mischievously. "It was a long time ago, and it only happened once. You haven't made anyone else sick, have you?"
Po sighed, and shook his head.

"Then don't fret, brother. I'm sure that Mast Shifu will be-"

"-Understanding?" Came a voice from the doorway. Po knocked his hand against the jar of seeds and fumbled them as they almost fell to the floor. Thankfully when he turned around it was only Tigress and no Shifu, but he still gulped. Tigress entered the kitchen and sat at her usual chair, calmly pouring herself a cup of tea from the pot on the table.

"Breathe, Panda. I have not told Master Shifu about your…accident many years ago."
Po let out a huge breath, holding the sesame seed jar over his heart and turning back to continue chopping the vegetables.

"Whoo! Wow. That's great, yeah, so…does this mean that we're gonna forget about the whole thing and never ever mention it again?"

"No."

Po groaned and hit his head against a cabinet.

"I said I was sorry! I don't even know what I did wrong, I helped make that soup a hundred times over and nobody'd ever gotten-"

"If you had not poisoned Shifu, the Furious Five would never have formed," Tigress said quietly.

Po turned his head slightly, looking at her from the corner of one eye.

"What?"

Tigress smirked slightly into her tea. Across from her, Viper smiled.

"With nobody to defend the Valley, Shifu sent me out to find someone who could. He sent me with a list of four warriors. As I travelled to the village, I tripped over Mantis-"
"Mantis?"

The insect popped up from behind his cup of tea.

"I was brought to try and heal Shifu. Honestly, I have no idea why, I think it was because I was the only one walking around with an acupuncture kit, but I'd just bought…"

Mantis trailed off at the look Tigress gave him. He muttered an apology, and softly slid his teacup between him and her. Tigress continued.

"…I tripped over Mantis, anyway, and lost the scroll. I found it later in an alley, but it was later revealed that I had picked up the wrong scroll. Instead of retrieving the four Masters of the Wang Fu village to help fight the boar, I picked up instead a cleaner…"
She looked over at Crane, who tipped his hat at Po.

"…A comedian…"
Monkey held up his teacup in a silent salute. Po turned around completely, a strange look on his face.

"…A dancer…"

Viper smiled again at Tigress and flicked her tail at Po, who was looking at Tigress like she had sunrays coming out of her face, which usually only happened during training.

"And-"
"A doctor?" Po interrupted. Tigress looked up at where he was hovering over her, and, to her surprise, bouncing a bit.

"Yes; how did-?"
But Po started making a high-pitched squealing sound, hands clutching his head.

"No. Way. AHHHH!"

Po turned in a small circle, grinning like a lunatic.

"You mean you picked up my scroll?!"
"Your….what?"
Po waved his arms at Tigress.

"My scroll," he said, gesturing wildly. "I was trying to write down things I could be instead of a chef, but my dad made me throw it out – did you get find it in the first alley behind the main road?"

"Yes – you're telling me that you wrote that scroll? With the…"
"The cleaner, comedian, dancer, and doctor? Yes! Ohmygosh, this is so awesome-"

"What on earth is going on here?" A voice from the doorway made them all turn. From the entrance to the kitchen Master Shifu surveyed the scene: Po with his paws, one of them still holding a chopping knife, over his mouth, looking like he was about to do something extremely stupid, like hug Tigress; Tigress herself halfway out of her seat, a slightly shell-shocked expression on her face; the rest of the Five in various degrees of delight, though Monkey had completely lost composure and was head-down on the table, laughing into his arms. Tigress composed herself and opened her mouth to explain, but the panda beat her to it.

"SHIFU! Oh, this is so cool!"
"Panda-"
"Remember that day with the boar and you were too sick to stop him and the scroll that Tigress used to find help was a scroll I wrote and threw away and she found it and got the Furious Five together and I saw you guys fighting and it was the awesomest thing I have ever seen and it all happened because I poisoned you with my soup and-"
"-That was YOU?!"

Chapter Text

"Um, guys? I hate to be the one to bring this up, but what are we gonna do with…y'know, with…"
The others turned around. Po had stopped in the middle of the path and was scratching the back of his neck with a grimace.

"With what, Dragon Warrior," said Tigress. Po glanced up at her.

"…With, well, Oogway's body," he whispered. Tigress's eyes went wide and Monkey's jaw dropped. Po rolled his head, throwing his arms out to the side.

"Look, I know nobody wants to think about it, but we've got to have a burial or cremation or something! Shouldn't there be a funeral? Oogway's like, super famous all over China, we actually have to tell people about this. We don't even know where…"

Tigress held up a paw and he quieted. She looked around at the others, all of whom were bearing the same saddened expression.

"We will discuss this with Shifu, Panda. As Grandmaster and Oogway's friend, he will be the one to bear these responsibilities."

"We gotta help him out," Po protested. Tigress nodded.
"And we will. But this has to be handled delicately."

With a look she and the others continued up the mountain path. Po stayed where he was, looking across the expanse of mountains and fields that was the Valley of Peace. If he really thought about it, the grounds felt a little emptier; a little louder, and faster, and busier. The sense of calm that Oogway had projected was missing.

Soft footfalls alerted him to the return of one of his new-found friends; Master Monkey had noticed his absence and was climbing back down the stairs, a comforting smile on his face. Po smiled back, and started to climb again. Monkey walked a little ahead of him, occasionally perching on rocks or tree branches until Po caught up.

"Did you talk to Oogway," he said suddenly. Po nodded.

"Yeah. I was, ah…not really confident about the whole Dragon Warrior thing. I thought he was gonna get mad at me for eating some of the peaches, or Sacred Peaches or whatever – "

Monkey made a brief choking noise.
" – But he was actually really cool. He told me that I was worrying too much, and I should take advantage of the opportunity I had, and stuff." He chuckled slightly at the memory of the thousand-year-old tortoise, enlightened sage of China, saying '…Don't noodles…'

"He had a good sense of humor, didn't he?"
Monkey nodded, slowly hopping over the rocks.
"He was a very kind person, even to those who did not deserve it."
Po looked at him curiously and he grimaced.

"I met him about fifteen years ago, in my village," Monkey said quietly. "I…wasn't the nicest person back then. I was holding in a lot of hurt and much anger, and I took it out on everyone else. Oogway was asked to send me away."
"What, you? But you're, like, super cool."
Monkey laughed. "I thought I was cool then, too, but I was really mean. Every time a warrior was summoned to get rid of me, I sent them running – " He then turned to Po and grinned. "-Without their pants."

Po cracked up, leaning one arm against a tree to steady himself.

"Oh my gosh…seriously?"
"Mm-hmm. They'd try to beat me in a fight, and I'd grab their belts. Shrieked like children every time."

"Eh heh…that's actually pretty funny."
Monkey still grinned, but it was fading.
"Not all of the time. I would prank all the villagers, make them fall down; sometimes I stole from the market stalls. I didn't think anybody could beat me until Oogway came along."
"Ohhhh," said Po, nodding with wide eyes. "Oogway didn't wear pants!"
"Yep. And he was so fast! I tripped him, and he just flipped through the air and knocked me into a post!"

They turned onto the path that led to the barracks, the rest of the Five already entering the building ahead of them.

"The post began to fall, and I thought that I was going to be crushed…"
Monkey was the one who paused on the stairs this time, staring at his hands. Po stopped and turned around, quietly sitting down on a boulder beside him.

"He pulled me out of the way just in time. He had come to get rid of me, but he still saved me when I was in danger. I didn't understand why, but he said that he knew I wasn't a bad person, just a hurt one. We talked for a long time after that. He told me that I should use my talents for good, and I did."
Monkey looked up at Po, with a soft smile under watery eyes.
"It felt better," he murmured. Po quietly reached around and pulled him under his arm, where he stayed, silent, for several minutes. Po honestly couldn't tell whether Monkey was crying or not, though he certainly was. A person can change a lot of things, affect a lot of people in eighty to ninety years. How much could they do in one thousand?

How lonely did it get…?

Monkey gave a little shake, and hopped down from the boulder.

"So," he said, his voice a little heavy but steady. "Any plans for dinner?"

Po followed him as he began to climb the stairs again.

"I'm starting to think you guys just keep me around for the food," he teased. Monkey aimed a backwards kick at him, which he blocked with a laugh.

"Whatever gave you that idea, Po? So is it mushroom vegetable soup tonight, or stir-fry with rice?"
Po punched at Monkey's back, making him jump on top of a branch. He poked Po in the nose with his tail and scampered up the stairs when Po chased him, laughter banishing the ghosts from their minds.

Shifu arrived for dinner near nightfall, just as Po was cleaning up and readying to leave for his dad's. Po greeted him with a bowl of mushroom stir-fry on rice and quietly watched as he limped over to his seat. Shifu began to eat, but stopped when he noticed the watchful eyes of the other five at the table. Six, as Po sat down between Tigress and Crane. Shifu sighed.

"Is there something you wanted to talk to me about, students?"
Po opened his mouth, then shut it when Crane kicked him under the table.

"I'm sorry, Master, but we were wondering what will be done in…in response to Grandmaster Oogway's passing," said Viper. Shifu's ears lowered, and he looked at the peach staff he had propped against the table.

"Ah."
Po leaned forward a little bit.

"Do you know what he preferred? You know, between, um, burial and cremation?"
"There will be neither," Shifu said tensely. "I will send out messages about Master Oogway's parting in the morning. Let that be it."

"Wait a minute, so we're just going to leave him…wherever he is?"
"There is no 'wherever he is', Panda. There is nothing remaining."

"Well that was fast," Mantis muttered; Viper shoved him off the table.

"Master, if you could perhaps explain," said Tigress. Po nodded.

"Yeah, how isn't there any…I mean, what do you mean no remains?"

"I mean that there are no remains because Oogway ascended to the heavens on a cloud of peach petals," Shifu said, with an agitated gesture in the direction of the peach tree.

"Uh, if you're still feeling a little off, I got my needles in my room-"

"Mantis-"

"He doesn't look drunk…"

"Po!"

Shifu knocked the peach staff against the floor, quieting everyone.

"I am not ill and I have not been drinking, Panda," he said. "Do not ask me to explain how it happened, because I do not know." He exhaled heavily, and sank back in his seat. "We were talking by the peach tree, and he simply said that it was his time. The wind began to blow, the flowers on the tree started to fly off, and as he walked away he simply seemed to turn into peach petals. That is all I know."

Po narrowed his eyes at Shifu.

"He fell off the cliff, didn't he," he said. Shifu stood up in his chair, eyes flashing with anger.

"He did not fall off the cliff, Po! I cannot explain what I have seen, but it happened. The Sacred Peach Tree is bare, and there is no body."

"So…really? Peach petals?" Shifu nodded, brows raised. Po's eyes widened and he clutched at his head, bouncing a little bit.

"That is sooo cool!"

"Therefore…" said Shifu, grimacing at the Dragon Warrior's fanboy moment. "There will be no need for a funeral. I doubt Oogway would have wanted one anyway. I will gather the Palace messengers tomorrow morning and send messages to the schools and temples where Oogway was known, and tell them of the events that have happened here."
He eased himself down from his chair, grabbing his bowl and the peach staff as he did so.

"Now, if there are no further queries, I am going to meditate."
"But-"
"Goodnight, Panda!"
Po and the others stared at the empty door for several seconds, before a voice popped beneath them.

"Well," said Mantis from under the table. "I guess it wouldn't have been Oogway if it had made sense, huh?"

Chapter Text

If intense impromptu training with Shifu did nothing else, it did at least help Po learn how to get up. As soon as the sky began to lighten something within his system jolted him awake and made him roll out of bed and onto his feet, ready to block an attack from the rather sadistic red panda. It wasn’t necessary for him to be up-and-ready so early when things finally settled down in the aftermath of Tai Lung’s defeat, but Po declined to fall back asleep, even when he had nearly at least two hours before the gong rang.

The first week of him coming to live at the Jade Palace was mostly trail-and-error. On the first morning of him officially living there Po sprang from bed like an arrow from a bow as soon as his internal clock went off; he rolled across the floor and took a battle stance, arms up to defend himself from Shifu’s staff or – as had happened on many a morning – a bucket of water. He settled down and looked around the bare room – his new room – and sighed, dropping his arms. Through the paper walls he heard Crane shift around.

“Everything alright, Po,” he mumbled sleepily.
“Yeah, heh, everything’s fine. Sorry.”
Crane yawned and didn’t speak again. Through the wall beside his futon moonlight glowed weakly, and Po knew that it would be a while before the gong sounded. Po stared at his bare walls for a few moments before opening his door and stepping out into the corridor, thinking that he might get an early breakfast and a chance to practice before the others got up.

Squueeaakk!

The panda froze. In front of him, there was a muffled rustle from Master Tigress’s room. Po quickly slid back and closed his door as quietly as he could, silently cursing the hallway floorboards. He knew they were out to get him. He sat on the floor of his room and looked around again, as if something besides a small table and a futon would magically have appeared in the last two minutes. What was he going to do for the next few hours? If he went back to sleep, he might miss the gong, and he was not missing the gong in front of Tigress and the others. He was pretty sure that Dragon Warriors were smoother than that.

A grey haze of boredom began to settle into his head, and he had to stop himself from looking around the room again.

“Thanks, hallway,” he whispered. He fiddled with his feet for a few moments, then smiled and stood up.

If he couldn’t practice his forms and he couldn’t leave the room, then he’d do tai chi. Soft, quiet, and still awesome.

Tigress awoke around an hour before the gong was due to sound. She’d dozed in and out for the last couple of hours, something having stirred her mind before her usual time. She made up her bed and shook the wrinkles out of her tunic before washing her hands and face. Though the walls she absently noted the other masters stirring, beginning their morning ablutions, and as she dried her fur she wondered what their newest member would be like. So far he had proven himself to keep uncertain schedules, going back and forth between the Palace and his previous home in the village below, until Shifu had finally put a stop to it, tired of Po only showing up for training when he wasn’t helping in his father’s restaurant. Though the panda was not as lazy as Tigress and the others had initially assumed, she was curious as to whether he would make the morning bell. There was no sound coming from his room, and she guessed that he was still asleep. To be fair, everybody had an adjustment period where they got used to the rough schedule that the Masters kept; Viper had taken a whole month before she stopped rising late, and Crane had taken even longer to learn to go to sleep at an earlier hour than he had been accustomed to. If Po did not make the gong, it would be no surprise, but no shame either.

Tigress opened her door to go get breakfast, but paused in the doorway when she noticed movement in the room across from her. The early morning moon was setting on the opposite side of the building, shining soft silhouettes through the heavy paper, and she made out a large shadow standing, its limbs flowing across and out from its main mass as it shifted its weight. Tigress, after several moments of watching, recognized the ending moves of a tai chi form; even as she closed her door behind her the figure ended the form, paused for a moment to scratch at its arm, and began another.

She was genuinely impressed. The panda was up before her – before any of them – and was already practicing.

When she returned from the kitchen after a light meal of red bean buns and tea, fifteen minutes before the gong, she saw Crane and the Dragon Warrior leaning against the walls of their respective rooms, chatting with Monkey. They looked up as she passed; the panda smiled and waved, and she nodded back. They continued their conversation on the Thousand Scrolls and which Po should start with. Tigress began to enter her room, but paused, and turned back around.

“How long have you been up,” she asked. Po scratched the back of his neck.

“Uh, a few hours, I guess.”

“You rise early,” noted Monkey. Po chuckled.

“Yeah, we didn’t have a whole lotta time to train me before Tai Lung came, so Shifu was like…getting me up real early and stuff. My dad really appreciated it, though, ‘cause I’m usually a pretty late sleeper.”

Tigress, absently hearing a creak from the floor above, nodded to the panda’s room.

“Why did you not go back to sleep?”

“Well, I didn’t want to miss the gong,” said Po sheepishly, stretching his arms. “Plus, if I get up early, there’s more time to do kung fu and stuff, which is totally worth it, y’know?” He tried to make a pose but smacked his arm against Crane’s hat, sending it flying against the wall. Crane snatched it up before it hit the ground. The panda dropped his arms, laughing over his embarrassment.

“Sorry.”

Tigress heard a door close upstairs.

“Your dedication does you credit, Po,” she said quietly. A small grain of remorse crept its way into her stomach. Her words from several days before –

…You’re a disgrace to kung fu…

- Rang in her head as she saw Po smile at her, again.

Monkey and Crane gestured to Po to go back to his room.

“Wait, what’re we doing?”
“The gong’s about to sound,” said Crane, before disappearing behind his own doors. Po shuffled around in a panic, growling softly to himself as he entered his room. He didn’t shut the doors completely, but looked out through the crack, watching the hallway. Tigress backed into her own room, then called to him.

“Po.”
He inched his door open enough to peek at her.
“Yeah?”
“When the gong sounds just come out of your room and say ‘Good morning, Master’. We do this every morning.”
Po nodded to her and hurriedly shut his door.

“Okay, got it, thanks!”

Tigress closed her doors and stood just behind them, awaiting the sound of the gong. Within a minute, it rang, and she and the others threw open their doors and stepped into the corridor, greeting Shifu as they had for years.

The panda, of course, messed up. Instead of standing stiff with his paws behind his back he leaned halfway out of his door, waving to Shifu, his cheerful ‘goodmorning!’ out of time with the others. When he noticed his mistakes he straightened up and mimicked the others’ posture, though his new and unfamiliar presence still stood out. Shifu grimaced but nodded to his students.

“As everybody has sufficiently healed, we will resume our normal training today, though we will be taking it relatively easy.”

Tigress exhaled in relief; she had been impatient to get back to a normal training schedule, but after fighting Tai Lung her and the others’ injuries had not allowed it. Her cracked ribs had mostly healed, but she knew they would bother her if she worked too hard. In front of her, the panda bounced on his feet, grinning widely.

“This is going to be so awesome!”

Shifu, despite being interrupted, smiled back.

“If you think so, Dragon Warrior. You may change your mind, since you are sparring with Tigress today.”

Tigress’s ears flattened in surprise, but Po threw his arms into the air.

“Yesss!”

The others looked at him like he was insane, and Shifu laughed darkly to himself as they left for the Training Hall.

The overenthusiastic bear was practically skipping as they began the climb up to the Training Hall. The Five and Shifu watched him with wide eyes, while Monkey and Mantis started placing bets in the back of the group. The going rate was one cookie per minute, and so far, neither thought he would last more than two in his first spar against Tigress.

She herself was feeling a tad wary about sparring with their new Dragon Warrior. Big fat panda though he was, he had beaten Tai Lung when she had not. She didn’t doubt her strength or experience, but she wondered what exactly the bear would bring to the fight. Had he only defeated Tai Lung through his knowledge of powerful, obscure techniques like the Wuxi Finger Hold, or was he actually that good at kung fu? She had seen him in the Training Hall, weaving his massive bulk through both fire and wooden warrior, and he was clearly well trained. But was that – and it was clear that the same thought was running through everyone’s mind – enough to beat her?

The panda appeared happy enough at the mere thought of getting beaten up by her, let alone actually winning. And a week ago she would have been perfectly fine with putting him in his place. But the panda had surprised her. Though he constantly fooled around, he was no less passionate about their art than she was. He knew significantly more lore and trivia about kung fu than she or any of the others did, and was more than willing to put in his share of hard work to learn more. Whether it was sparring with the Five or dusting the archives, if it involved kung fu, the panda was happy to do it.

As it was, he still wasn’t able to get up the stairs without stopping for breath, but he still tiredly whooped and hollered when Shifu told them to warm up. Today’s spar was actually a lesson for both Po and Tigress, as Tigress had had little opportunity to train with someone similar to her own size. She stretched and warmed up with the rest of the Five, who were still betting on the outcome of the match, with Po at the other end of the sparring ground. He watched her as she stretched, grinning whenever he caught her eye.

“Ready yourselves,” said Shifu from the steps of the Hall. Po, surprised in the middle of a stretch, fell over.

“I take it back,” said Crane dryly. “Thirty seconds.”
“No take-backsies,” said Monkey as he and the others went to stand the side. “We will see how this goes. I still say a minute.”

Tigress fought the urge to roll her eyes, instead concentrating on her opponent. Po eagerly struck a pose, looking far too enthusiastic about the whole thing. At the side, Shifu tapped his fingers against the peach staff.

“Begin.”

Neither of them moved. Tigress was usually the first to launch herself at her opponent, but she wanted to wait and see what the panda did. Po was watching her, and she slowly stepped to the side. He followed her movements and they turned nearly in a half-circle, and then she struck. He was fast enough to block her punch to his leg, but not to catch it as misdirection, and got a heavy kick to the shoulder. He backed up quickly, blocking and twisting to avoid her hits. The match quickly became one-sided, and Tigress paused.

“The general idea is that you’re supposed try to beat me, Dragon Warrior,” she said. “Just blocking isn’t going to do it.”

He aimed a punch at her gut in response, and she flicked it away with a twist of her wrist.

“Harder,” she said, and struck at his face with the heel of her palm. He twirled in the spot with her hit, but came back round with a fist to her gut, which glanced. He used the momentum to come at her with a spinning kick, forcing her to bend backward to avoid it. She braced her paws against the ground and kicked his other foot out from underneath him, but he managed to roll backwards as he fell, and got back to his feet.

They were past the thirty-second mark. Tigress noticed Monkey smack Crane on the wing, grinning up at him when the bird frowned.

Tigress circled around Po again.

“We gonna do this?” he asked, turned to keep her in his view.

“We are, if you would actually care to fight,” she said. He drew himself up, throwing his arms wide.

“Imma do it,” he said, moving into an overly-dramatic pose.

“You shouldn’t hesitate, Panda,” she said, darting forward and striking at his belly before landing behind him. He aimed a too-slow punch at her and turned; she came at him with a barrage of hits. His size meant that there was more to aim at, but his wide arms could block several strikes without having to move much. He had a habit of waiting for an opening instead of pushing through her defenses, which she pointed out to him. He immediately worked on correcting it, and his style became slightly more offensive than defensive. She was pleased to see that he learned fast, but was less happy with his reluctance to strike at her. She knew he was strong; he had torn the arm off of a wooden warrior with little effort. But the punches and kicks she blocked were barely enough to bruise her, if that.

 “If you hold back during practice, you’ll hold back in a real fight,” she said, dropping her arms and stepping back. Po paused, grimacing a bit.

“I, um. I don’t wanna…”

“Po, you’re not going to hurt me,” she said. He looked up in surprise. 

“That is what you are worried about, yes?”

The panda nodded. Tigress set herself in front of him and crouched in a defensive position.

“Just try,” she said, and sprang forward. Po spun to the side to avoid her, but she landed low and kicked at his feet. He threw out his arms to keep from overbalancing, leaving his midsection wide open to an attack. Tigress got a punch into his stomach before he grabbed her arm, pulled her off her feet, and actually bounced her off his belly. She flew ten feet into the air, twisted, and came down with four sets of claws aimed at his head. Po yelped and scrambled out of the way, but she kicked at him in midair, sending him sprawling onto his feet and paws. He braced his palms against the ground and kicked up, one foot hitting her in the chest, but she caught the other one and threw him over her shoulder. He landed on his back, rolled, and came up swinging.

She twisted to take the blow against her shoulder instead of her sternum, but it didn’t merely glance, as she thought it would. The punch threw her backward and she twisted through the air until she landed on all fours, almost ten feet away. Her claws gouged lines into the stone as she slid and she, as well as the others, looked at the panda in surprise. He was frozen with his arm still outstretched, before he noticed their stares and hunched up.

“Whaaat?”
Tigress got to her feet and walked back over to him.

“Again,” she said, and launched at him. He grabbed at her but was forced to duck as she swiped at his back. He sent a powerful roundhouse at her side that shoved her a few feet back when she blocked it, and she responded with a punch a little stronger than she normally allowed herself to use when she sparred with the others. He took it on the arm and hit right back, and the strength of the punch was enough that she knew her forearm would bruise.

Instead of the usual anger and exhilaration that she experienced during a challenging fight, Tigress felt something akin to excitement. She had fought with larger, stronger opponents, but had never actually practiced with one, and though she knew she beat him in terms of strength, it was a near call. The panda had a lot more raw power than he seemed prepared to utilize, and the thought of tapping into that was exhilarating. Not only was she forced to up the strength of her blocks, but she had the opportunity now to push her strength and hit harder, the panda’s immense bulk protecting him enough that Tigress could, for once, actually give her sparring partner all she had.

Po seemed to realize this as well, if the cheerful grin on his face was any indication. He wasn’t quite as fast as he needed to be, and Tigress ignored many openings in order to prolong the match, but his strikes were increasingly harder and more powerful. She noticed that he was staying away from her midsection, but despite the exertion and unexpected length of the match, Tigress wasn’t feeling any pain from her nearly-healed ribs. She felt rushed; her muscles were singing from the exertion; her breath came in great gulps of air, and she found herself smiling.

Grounding her feet for support, she threw out both her palms, hitting him in the stomach with a strike that had broken the bones of many a larger opponent. And to her surprise, she bounced. Or at least, that’s what it felt like at first, until she noticed an ache in her chest and found herself almost twenty feet away, sprawled on the stairs of the Training Hall.

The Five and Shifu let out concerned gasps, but Tigress wasn’t as much hurt as shocked. She looked over at Po, still frozen with his fists outstretched in front of him, and did something she honestly couldn’t remember doing in years:

She laughed.

Po dropped his arms, giving her a funny look until he began to chuckle himself.

“What?”

“Uh…you didn’t happen to find Po’s twin brother and train him, did you?” Came Mantis’s voice, cutting through the exhilarated haze in her mind. “Because that can’t be the same panda we beat up the first day.”

Tigress ignored him and leapt up, rebounding against the wall of the Training Hall to throw a backwards kick at Po, who squealed and grinned instead of blocking himself.

“Wooaahh, the Tahlia Leap! That is so awesome-“

Her kick sent him flying back to land in the dirt.

“Nevermind,” muttered Mantis.

Tigress rose into a crouch, and jumped. She landed on the panda with enough force to send him flying backward, but he used her momentum to push her off and roll into a half-crouch. He didn’t wait for her to strike but punched at her instead, every hit requiring more and more strength to block.  

Tigress realized, as she hit him with a fist that would have broken Crane’s wing or Monkey’s arm, that she was actually having fun. Her hits grew more and more powerful, until she was using her full strength for the first time with a live partner, and he didn’t fall. The layers of fat she had criticized a week before padded his bones, and he was large and heavy enough that the strength of her strikes didn’t send him reeling back; twice again he actually used his bulk to redirect her, using her momentum and the strength of her own strikes against her to bounce her away. The punches she blocked were strong enough to cut through her immensely high pain tolerance, and she found herself challenged – not by skill, but by sheer force of strength – more than she could ever remember.

Po twisted and aimed a kick at her midsection, but stopped himself before it could hit, leaving his entire side open to a fist from Tigress that threw him several feet backward into the dirt. He feinted to the left when she pounced, but she saw it coming and grabbed him before he could rise, throwing him back down and pulling his arm behind him, placing her claws at his neck.

“You know why you lost, Panda,” she asked, chest heaving as she forced her body to cool down.

“But your ribs,” he protested, trying to shake out of her grip; she had the advantage of weight and leverage, and he settled back down. “I didn’t wanna hurt them again.”
“Exactly,” she said. “You had an advantage and you should have taken it.”

Tigress let go of his arm and, after a moment of indecision, offered him her paw. He smiled at her and took it, allowing her to pull him back to his feet. They looked over at the others, and Tigress’s heart – for a brief second - jumped.

Excluding Mantis, who looked like the Winter Feast had come early, the rest of the Five were watching her and Po with wide eyes, drawn in close to each other. She couldn’t help but interpret their stares as fear for one horrible moment, until she noticed the grins slowly forming. Mantis, oblivious, hopped onto Po’s shoulder.

“That, my new friend, was a-mazing.”

“Quite,” said Master Shifu, walking around the others to stand between Tigress and Po. “You left yourself open far too much, Panda, and Tigress is correct; when you find a weak spot anywhere on your opponent, use it to your advantage.”

Shifu turned around and walked past the others, climbing the stairs to the Training Hall.
“Training will resume in ten minutes; cool down and come into the Hall when it is time.”

Mantis was poking at Po’s arms.

“Where’d all that muscle come from,” he muttered. Po laughed and looked over at Tigress.

“So, I could have beaten you?”
“No,” she said, shaking the soreness out of her shoulders. “But you made a good effort.”
“You laughed,” he said quietly, making her pause. She considered the lighter feeling in her heart, and smiled to herself.

“I don’t know about you,” Mantis interrupted, before she could think of something to reply. “But I have no idea who won that bet. Monkey?”
The simian shrugged and elbowed Crane in the leg.

“That was more than five minutes,” said Viper.

“A lot more than thirty seconds,” muttered Monkey, earning himself a mouthful of feathers. Tigress left Po to argue with the others as she headed into the Training Hall, her muscles sore, her ribs starting to throb, and a smile twitching at the corner of her mouth.

Chapter Text

At the behest of the Furious Five Po made his Secret Ingredient Soup at least once a week, having completely taken over the kitchen within a day of finally settling in, to no one's complaint. He cooked both breakfast and dinner, and mealtimes began to become a lively, casual social occasion, filled with good food and good company. Before Po's arrival the Masters of the Jade Palace more or less cooked when they felt like it, ordered in when they didn't, or requested a meal from one of the staff, each at individual times and rarely together as a group. With Po's continued presence and excellent cooking, breakfast and dinner were attended more or less by the whole group, and had suddenly become a time for socialization and relaxation. Po, getting to cook for his heroes, enjoyed every meal more than ever, the Furious Five honoring his requests for battle or training stories in return for the food.

Despite his unexpected and rather unwelcome arrival, Po quickly made himself indispensable, and not just because of the more enjoyable meals. The atmosphere around the Palace eagerly lightened with the panda's presence, as did the people, and within a week the Masters found themselves joking and laughing more than they had in ten years. Even Master Shifu had begun to soften a bit, and while he usually ate alone and at horrible hours, he would join them occasionally for dinner, though he more often picked up his meal after the Five had left for bed.

Any Master who did not make it to a meal could come in any time to find a bowl or a plate waiting for them, kept on the stove for warmth, but a missing Master became less the norm and more a rare occasion as the weeks wore on. As the repairs on the Palace began to finish, many of the Masters found themselves lighter in heart, as if they had been patched up as well. Small disputes were settled, quiet secrets were shared, and friendships that had been neglected began to strengthen again.

Po, oddly enough, was a master at tailoring both his cooking and his conversation to specific needs or wants. When he found out that Crane and Viper both had a passion for art, but were currently at odds over a training mishap, he requested their combined assistance to decorate moon cakes for an upcoming autumn festival. After a half hour of polite silence, they began to have fun in making various designs for the cakes, and when Po came to pick up the little pastries they were discussing a training segment to figure out and fix the blunder in their combined forms.

Master Shifu, out of everybody, seemed most susceptible to Po's cheering-up antics. The panda spent a good deal of time training with Shifu alone, and even when he had free time he liked to seek out the red panda and pull him away from his mediation to grab a snack or just sit and talk. The Masters and even staff noticed Shifu beginning to loosen up and slowly cast off his harsh, demanding demeanor, settling softly but comfortably into a more casual outlook.

Now, if only he could work on Tigress.

As his favorite of the Furious Five, Po had the closest eye set on the master of the tiger style, for what little good it did him. Although she respected his position and now acknowledged him as a fellow master, she was still the most reserved of the team and the only one who continued to occasionally skip the communal mealtimes for further training. Po got the impression that she felt her skills were inadequate, as she had failed to be picked as Dragon Warrior – mostly because she had told him so herself when he pestered her about skipping dinner.

Once the majority of her injuries had healed, Tigress had launched herself back into training in a feverish regime that the other Five steadfastly avoided, only engaging her when she personally requested a spar. Po tried to be as (complacent? Amiable?) as possible, but although Tigress took him up on his offers to spar/get his butt kicked, whenever he tried to ask her what was going on in her head she stayed silent.

Finally, Po decided he had to put a stop to it. Admittedly, getting the very private and, recently, very angry master of the most aggressive style of kung fu to open up to the newbie and eat her dinner without also eating the newbie was a rather daunting task, but Po figured that, if she did eat him, at least she'd go to bed on a full stomach that night. Which, really, was the goal.

Po cautiously peeked his head into the training hall, ready to duck or grab any flying shrapnel (he already had a small collection going). The snarls that had leaked through the solid wood magnified greatly, and Po saw Tigress in the middle of the forest of wooden warriors, fervently punching and kicking her way through to the end, where she turned around and jumped back in, fighting until she was at the other side. Two of the warriors, he noticed with an internal whimper, were already demolished, and as he fully entered the hall she dismantled another one with a sweep of one powerful leg, sending one of its rotating arms flying across the hall to nearly land atop Po, who dodged at the last instant. He examined the wood as he heard the growls die down; there were paw-shaped dents in it.

When he looked up, Tigress was staring at him expectantly, tail twitching and chest heaving. She bowed briefly and he returned it.

"Anything you need, Dragon Warrior," she said.

Po gingerly made his way over to the edge of the sunken pit and jumped down.

"You missed dinner," he said. "Again."
Tigress huffed, looking at him with mild annoyance.

"I am sure I will survive. If you'll excuse me, I need to train."
She turned back and began hitting at another warrior. Po made his way across the pit until he was standing a few feet behind her.
"I just wanted to ask if anything was bothering you – you know, if you ever wanted to talk or something-"

He ducked as she jumped into the air and gave the warrior a spinning kick, knocking the head off. Tigress glanced over her shoulder at him as she caught her breath.

"I don't need to talk about anything, Dragon Warrior. Thank you for your concern," she said, turning back to the wooden warrior, "But it is unnecessary."

Po scootched around her until he was just out of range of the warrior's spinning arms, another one poking him in the back of the leg.

"You're lying," he said boldly, then ducked as she looked about to hit him.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Po held up his arms in a block, taking a stance to spar.

"It's not unnecessary," he said, weakly punching at her. She snarled, blocked, and aimed a much stronger hit at his midsection that sent him backing up. He stumbled on the leg of a warrior and nearly fell, but righted himself and ducked in between two of the mechanisms, Tigress following him in.

"You're training harder than you ever have before; the others told me. Even Master Shifu said you're going too hard!"
She kicked up and knocked the claw off a warrior's arm, blocking the other that came spinning towards her. Po moved back a little more into the forest of warriors and she matched his steps.

"What are you trying to prove," he asked quietly.

"That I'm good enough," she snarled, launching off the torso of a warrior to aim a spinning kick at his head. He dodged it and ducked around the warrior, putting it between him and her. She punched at one of its arms, forcing him to punch back at it spun around to him. They hit and ducked together, fighting the same enemy as well as each other.

"What do you mean, you're not 'good enough'? You're Master Tigress: inventor of the tiger style, defeater of the boar bandits of Blade Hill, hero of the twin villages of Wu-Shan, leader of the Furious Five! What do you have to be 'good enough' for, you're awesome!"

"I failed!" she yelled, sending the torso of the warrior flying straight at Po. He blocked it before it could hit him, but Tigress punched over the splintered bottom half and got him in the gut. She jumped over the remains of the warrior and launched herself at him, forcing him to back away, fully in the midst of the forest of mechanisms. She hit at him while simultaneously blocking and hitting at the spinning arms of the warriors beside and behind her, and between blocking her and aiming his own punches Po couldn't help but internally squeal.

"I failed to stop Tai Lung," Tigress said, growling at Po's face. He dropped the smile that had crept across his mouth and pulled his head backward as she tried to punch his nose; the back of his head hit the body of a warrior at his back.

Tigress kicked at its arm and it swung around and smacked him in the shoulder. He nudged it off and widened his stance, hitting fast and hard at her midsection. Tigress blocked his hits with arms that felt like they were made of metal, then kicked her foot to Po's right; the leg of the warrior behind him swung around and knocked into his left ankle, forcing him to hobble to the side.

"I failed to protect my home." Tigress jumped over a leg that tried to trip her and advanced on Po, continuing to simultaneously dodge both him and the swinging arms that attacked her, her exhaustion showing only in her voice. Po threw a feint, getting a bruised jaw for his trouble when she didn't fall for it, and sent a rotating arm spinning against Tigress's chest. She caught it an inch from her vest and snapped it off, then launched it behind Po, where it hit the claw of another warrior and pushed it around to hit Po, who was forced to duck lest he get a bruised nose as well.

"I failed to become Dragon Warrior," Tigress said hoarsely, her voice barely above a whisper, and Po felt a shock of shame. He stopped in his path, a sudden still moment in a flurry of movement, and Tigress took advantage of his stillness to hit at his chest. He blocked her arms and she pushed him back into another warrior, its legs tying his feet up and sending him off balance. If he had been paying attention he would have noticed himself dodging hits from both Master Tigress and the warrior behind him, but all he could see was the exhaustion that barely shook her limbs, and the weight of disappointment that clouded her eyes. He swung his arms over the arms of the warrior lifted his body up, sending two kicks in quick succession at Tigress, who was forced to bend backwards until she was nearly parallel to the floor to avoid them, but Po managed to land a blow on her shoulder when she rose, her arm out for a punch but leaving her side vulnerable. In retaliation Tigress kicked him in the hip, sending him rolling backwards over the legs of the warrior. He straightened but she pushed him back again, and suddenly he was out of the forest, empty space surrounding him. He looked back to Tigress, panting and disheveled and disheartened.

"You didn't fail anything, you know," he said. Tigress gave him a glare, rotating her shoulders to loosen them up.

"I should have been stronger," she whispered her eyes hard and downcast. "I should have been-"
"-More?"

Po almost flinched at the look she snapped at him, cold and piercing and glowing in the dimmed hall. He stepped forward, body tense but arms at his side.

"You don't need to be more and you didn't fail anything," he said firmly. "None of what happened or, or didn't happen was your fault. Who do you think you have to be good enough for, huh? The Five? Shifu? Why can't you just be good enough for you? There's nobody in the Palace or the Valley or wherever that thinks that you weren't strong enough, or that you failed them, nobody, I promise you."
He stopped just within her reach, and prepared himself for pain.

"The only person you're failing," he said, "is yourself."

To his surprise, instead of attacking him again Tigress only blinked, looking mildly shocked. He tried not to fidget as she continued to stare at him, looking as though she was trying to see something else.
"I…have been told that before," said Tigress quietly.

"Oh, what, really? I was just kinda…who told you that?" But Tigress shook her head, her mouth in a half-smile, and let out a breath that turned into a yawn, giving Po a good opportunity to admire her sharper teeth. He was abruptly reminded of why he had confronted her in the first place.

"So…now that you've beaten up the Dragon Warrior and, uh…"

He looked around her to the path of destruction that they had cut through the forest of warriors.

"…Most of the Training Hall…"

Tigress turned and looked at the swath of broken warriors she had left, a debris-littered path cutting straight through to the other side of the forest. She huffed a little, her posture beginning to relax.

"…What do you say we go and get some dinner?"

If the rest of the Five had been in the kitchen still, they would have asked Po how in the world he had gotten Tigress to stop training and get some dinner, but they weren't; it was almost two hours after everybody else had gone to bed, and Tigress had to wait a bit while Po re-heated the bowl of Secret Ingredient Soup he'd left out. They hadn't talked since they left the training hall, but walked in silence and relative comfort, though both were feeling rather sore. Tigress made herself a cup of tea as Po gave her her soup and fixed a bowl of his own, sitting down across from her. Tigress ignored her spoon, lifting the bowl to her mouth and drinking from it directly, to Po's utter astonishment and intense pride. She smiled at him over the rim of her bowl.

"You really are a very good cook," she said quietly. Po felt like sunbeams were trying to burst from his heart, and made to reply but was interrupted by the arrival of Master Shifu, who looked tired but hungry. The red panda seemed surprised to see the two eating together, but greeted each without comment. Po handed Shifu his own uneaten bowl as he sat at the head of the table, and got up to fix a third.

"Another training session, Tigress?" asked Shifu, digging into his noodles with a pair of chopsticks that Po threw at him, catching them behind his head without looking. Tigress nodded solemnly.

"You have been training harder than usual lately, I've noticed. Was there a form you were having trouble with?"
Tigress sipped lightly from her bowl.

"Just a…problem I had to work out, Master," she said quietly.

"I trust it is no longer giving you difficulty."
"No," Tigress said, glancing at Po, who smiled at her as he ladled another bowl. "I've worked through it, thank you."
Po sat at the seat across from her and the three ate their meals in silence, until a burst of laughter from Shifu made Po look up in surprise. He choked on his soup.

Tigress had her bowl in her hand, stopped halfway from the table, a noodle hanging off her upper lip and a look of angry embarrassment in her eyes. Shifu was standing in his seat with a hand on the table, pointing his chopsticks at her and laughing his head off. Po began to laugh himself.

"Wow, Master Shifu, you sure look taller that I remember," he teased.
Tigress tensely put down her empty bowl and placed her paws in a salute, scowling at him. She pushed her chair back and made to stand up, reaching a paw to brush off the noodle, clearly on the verge of leaving. Po quickly slurped his soup and tipped his bowl up until a noodle stuck to his own face.

"You will never be a proper Grandmaster, Master Shifu," he said in a harsh voice, pointing at the frowning Tigress, "Unless you lose three feet in height, and stop being so stripey."
Shifu wheezed in laughter and Po raised an eyebrow to Tigress. She didn't take him up on the challenge and brushed the noodle off her nose, placing it delicately into the bowl, but she did smile when she glanced at Shifu, who was still trying to stop laughing. Though her shoulders were still tense, she nodded at him before pushing her chair in and saluting again.

"Goodnight, Master Shifu," she said steadily. Shifu waved a hand at her, swallowing back enough laughs to bid her goodnight. She turned to Po, and a smile curved at her lip.

"And goodnight…Master Shifu," she said to Po, presenting her salute with a glint in her eye. Po solemnly bowed back, an exaggerated frown on his face. Tigress was still smiling as she left the kitchen, and Po, despite the bruises and scratches and muscles he knew he'd hate in the morning, counted the evening as a definite win.

Chapter Text

Shifu grumbled as he made his way down the last of the Thousand Steps, the bright lanterns on the sides of carts and houses briefly blinding him after the dark walk. He should have just sent one of the Palace geese but no, he wanted to talk with the panda personally. Served him right. It had been a while since he had travelled into the village; somehow, he didn't remember there being quite so many stairs.

His body still ached from his fight with Tai Lung, and his heart as well. Battling a man he had once (and still privately) considered his son had hurt him in far more ways than just physical, as did the knowledge that Tai Lung was gone for good. He had lost his son all over again, and the peace Po had brought him was not quite enough to cover the hole in his heart.

A muscle spasm that briefly wracked his bad leg as he walked through the repaired archway that marked the entrance of the village didn't help, either. Shifu grumbled to himself, nodding absently when a villager offered a bow or a greeting. He limped across the bridge, a whiff of savory scent growing stronger in the evening breeze. Arriving at Mr. Ping's Noodle Hut, he was just in time to see a grey-haired goose wave goodbye to his last customer.

"We'll see you as usual next week, Mrs. Sun," he said, before turning back to his shop.

"Alright, son, let's get started on that dough – oh!"

The goose noticed Shifu, and bowed his head.

"Master Shifu! What a surprise to have you here – come in, come in," said Mr. Ping, waddling between tables. The red panda tried to explain his presence but was quickly overridden.

"I am here for-"

"Po!"
"Yeah, Dad, I've got the flour, it's still good-"
"No, Po, make a quick batch, we have a guest!"
Shifu, following behind Mr. Ping, heard a thump, a bump, and a cry of pain before a large black-and-white head looked out from behind the open counter.

"Master Tiii…Shifu! What are you doing here? What's up?"
Shifu waved a hand at Ping, who was trying to seat him at a table.

"I'm – no, please, I'm not hungry – I need to talk to you, Panda."
"Oh, uh…am I in trouble?"
"Actually, I wanted to tell you that-"
"Po!" interrupted Ping, shooing his son away from the counter and thrusting a ladle at him.

"Get cooking! Master Shifu is waiting!"
Shifu pushed back his chair, patience waning.

"I am not down here for a meal, Mr. Ping, I simply need to talk to Po."
Ping waved a wing at him, setting radishes down on a chopping block.

"It's really no trouble; we haven't even closed the shop yet! Surely you and Po can talk while he makes you some soup?"
Shifu opened his mouth to argue, angry at being so easily shut down, but a sudden motion from Po, who was standing behind his father, stopped him. The panda drew a large hand across his throat, shaking his head frantically before rolling his eyes and looking at him with a pleading face. There's no use in arguing, he was clearly saying. Shifu looked between him and Ping's determined face, then gingerly sat down at the closest table.

"Alright. But not sweet-and-sour udon, please."
Mr. Ping gave him a satisfied look, and started to dice his vegetables.
"Now," he said, with a hint of smugness, "What was it you wanted to talk to my son about?"

Dragon Warrior or not, his tone clearly stated, He's my son, in my shop.

Shifu cleared his throat and tried to regain control of the situation, not exactly sure how he had lost it in the first place.

"Po, I realize that you have obligations to your family-"
"Hmph. Quite right," said Ping. Both Shifu and Po have him a look, and he went back to chopping his leeks without a word. Shifu twitched an ear in annoyance.

"As I was saying…it is honorable of you to be helping your father in his shop, but you have responsibilities apart from your family now. As the Dragon Warrior and my student, I need you at the Palace every day for training, and therefore you need to make your new home in the barracks with your fellow Masters. You cannot continue to spend your nights and mornings down here, only showing up when the shop is having a slow day."

"I can't keep helping my dad?"
Po looked between Shifu and Mr. Ping with despair, a length of dough sticking to his paws. Mr. Ping slammed a carrot onto the counter.

"Now, you wait just a minute," he said angrily. "You can't just walk in here and take Po away! This is my son's home! Just because you're the Grandmaster of the Palace doesn't mean you can just keep him locked up in there!"

He pointed a worryingly large knife at Shifu before Po moved between the two, gently pushing his wing aside.

"Dad, it's not like that," he said, disarming his father and setting the knife out of reach. "I mean, it's not like I'll be gone all the time, is it…?"
Po looked over his shoulder at Shifu, nodding his head. Shifu did not nod back.

"Your training is more important that making noodles, Dragon Warrior," he said testily. Po made a distressed face at him as Mr. Ping immediately bristled.

"You think your fancy kung fu is more important that my shop," he demanded, coming around the corner and standing at the entrance to the kitchen.

"Yes," answered Shifu. Ping practically growled, and was about to launch into another diatribe when Po interrupted.

"Hey, Shifu, do you know how to play xiangqi?"

The red panda glared at him.

"Of course I do, Panda, now will you please-"
"Dad, why don't you and Shifu play a quiet game while I finish up the soup," said Po, nudging his father with his elbow, as his hands were still stretching dough. Ping frowned at him.

"This is not the time for games, son."
He looked back to Shifu, expression clearly stating: This is the time for war.

Po blocked the goose and shuffled him back towards a stairway.

"You two can talk it out while you play, trust me, there's no need to start biting each other's heads off."
Ping looked at Po with narrowed eyes before slowly treading up the stairs. The panda turned back to Shifu and laughed nervously.

"Look, I know I can't stay here all the time," he said quickly, bending over the counter to whisper to Shifu. "But you can't just expect my dad to give in! He's never given in to an argument in his whole life! Can't I just stay down here to help for the dinner rush?"
"I'm back, stop whispering," said Ping from the staircase. He made his way to Shifu's table and set a box in between them, unpacking a xiangqi board and set pieces. Shifu glared at Po while Ping set up the board and Po smiled apologetically.

Mr. Ping took red, and moved first. Shifu scooted a soldier forward in return.

"You must understand, Mr. Ping," said Shifu carefully, forcing himself to calm down. "That Po's presence is not just required by you."

Ping sniffed archly, moving a chariot two points.

"When bandits attack the village and surrounding areas his skills will be needed, and in order for him to develop those skills he needs to train continuously."

"You have five other students, Shifu. Surely you don't need Po every time the Valley is attacked."

Shifu slid one of his soldiers across the river, absently noting that Ping was hardly looking at the board, choosing to glare between him and Po instead.

"But that fact that he is the Dragon Warrior cannot be ignored! His destiny includes more than a noodle shop!"
Po dropped a bowl. Ping angrily huffed and slammed his next piece into place, but did not say a word; clearly Shifu had touched a sensitive subject. Looking down for his play, his hand hovered over an elephant before realizing that it had been blocked. Ping's beak twitched in triumph. Shifu narrowed his eyes, and began to concentrate on the game more. He moved a horse across the river and immediately Ping blocked it with one of his own elephants, making Shifu almost gasped in outrage; if he moved his horse Ping's cannon could jump it and capture his chariot, and if he didn't Ping's other elephant or a soldier would take his horse. He looked up at Ping with frank surprise. Ping serenely smiled at him, and moved an attacking soldier towards Shifu's palace.

"Why don't you let Po train in the mornings, hmm? He can help me until noon, and then you can have him."
Shifu shook himself of his shock, and moved an elephant into a defensive position.

"With the time it takes him to get up those stairs I'll have hardly any time to train him! He needs to stay in the barracks at night and participate in morning training. Kung fu teaches discipline, and that applies to his schedule as well. Waking up early and training early is part of that discipline."
Ping snorted.

"You can try getting that boy to get up early. Po is not an early riser."
Shifu had to laugh a bit.

"Don't I know it," he agreed. "I practically had to tip him into the Pool of Tears each morning during our crash-course."
Po let out an indignant yell as Ping chuckled, trapping the chariot Shifu had been trying to sneak into his palace with an advisor, an elephant, and a cannon that came out of nowhere. The Grandmaster held back a groan of despair, and chased the chariot away.

"Even if he's always late to work, he's still useful in the kitchen."

"Why don't I stay and train at the Palace for half the week," chimed Po, pulling noodles across a floured board, "And then come down and help out here the other half? That would work, wouldn't it?"
"No!"

Shifu moved his own advisor one point diagonally to block the horse Ping aimed at his general.

"You must train every day, or risk your form getting sloppy! A regimented schedule is essential, or you risk regression."

Mr. Ping frowned at him in the lantern light.

"You work my boy too hard," he grumbled, aggressively sweeping an attacking cannon to the side.

"Check."
"Then why don't I stay in the barracks and do morning training, then come down later?"
"You are not skipping evening meditation," said Shifu, ignoring Po's whined Oh, come on!

"You are to stay in the barracks and train when I tell you to train. If you have free time, then you may help in the shop."
"Or," said Ping, capturing Shifu's last soldier. Shifu's ears drooped back as he looked back at the board, trying to find a way out of the mess of traps and chases.

"Po stays here and trains in his free time."
"Training is more important that noodles," said Shifu with clenched teeth. Ping opened his beak with an angry snarl.

"Can I possibly make a decision here?" asked Po.

"No," both Ping and Shifu replied. Shifu grumpily moved a horse he had near Ping's palace, nearly crying out when Ping's cannon took his last chariot and, indeed, his second-to-last gamepiece.

"Check."

Shifu moved his general a point to the side, away from Ping's advancing cannon, and Ping, to his utmost horror, smiled at him. He put a wing on his own general for the first time, and gently flew it directly across the board, where it captured Shifu's own.

"Checkmate," said the goose. Shifu grasped his head in his hands, a deep part of him flinching with shame. He had lost! To a noodle maker!

Po looked out from the kitchen door.
"Uh, is this a good time now?"

Shifu groaned out loud, covering his face with his hands.

"No, Panda, it is not," he muttered. He glared at the goose from between his fingers.

"This doesn't solve anything," he said. Ping raised a brow at him.

"Doesn't it? Po will help me out in the shop, and come up to train when he can. It's settled."
"It is not settled! A simple game is not going to decide what the panda is to do, especially when it is clear that he must leave this place and train!"
"Now, don't you yell at me in my own shop," yelped Ping, waving a feather at him.

"I am the Master – Grandmaster – of the Jade Palace," Shifu growled, placing his hands on the table and leaning over to Ping.

"And I just beat you at xiangqi," Ping said, wings crossed stiffly. "Here, in my shop, I am Grandmaster; you are just a guest!"

Po put an arm between them and pushed them both back to their sides of the table, setting a bowl of noodles down on the board.

"Technically, 'Dragon Warrior' outranks both noodle-maker and Grandmaster, so can I please get a word in?"

"No!"

"You eat your soup, Shifu," said Ping tightly. "And then you can go back up your mountain. And you can stop bothering my son about that training of yours-"
"Okay, I'm getting a word in," said Po grumpily. "Dad, I'm going to the Jade Palace."

"…What?"
"I'm not saying that I don't like working with you, or helping with the shop, or whatever! It's not forever, and I'll be down whenever I can, but… being the Dragon Warrior is what I have to do right now."
Ping looked at his son in astonishment, beak open and eyes wide.

"And I know you don't think it's as important as the shop, but I really love kung fu! This is what I'm meant to do."

Po crouched down until he was Ping's eye level, his face more serious than Shifu had ever seen it. The master suddenly felt like he was intruding, and shifted awkwardly.

"I know you wanted me to take over the shop, and I'm really, really sorry that I…well, I can't be like you. But kung fu is my noodles, Dad, and I really want to do this."
Ping looked at his son as if he had announced his desire to dance naked in a house of ill-repute. Po shifted uncomfortably, but didn't drop his gaze, and after a very long moment, Ping bowed his head and sighed.

"Alright, son. But if they don't have food you like up there, you come right back home!"

"There's always room at Mr. Ping's, huh," said Po with a smile. The goose reached up and patted a furry cheek.

"You go pack some things, Po," he said. "I'll wrap up some dumplings for you."
Po reached out and pulled his father into a hug. "It's not forever," he said, then set the goose down and ducked back into the kitchen. Ping turned back to Shifu as they heard Po make his way up the stairs. He looked down at the table.

"I hope you intend to pay for those noodles," said the goose. Shifu looked at him in disbelief.

Ping began to pack up the board.

"Unless you want a rematch," he said firmly. Shifu mournfully shook his head, the image of Ping's triumphant grin still etched into the back of his eyes. Ping laughed quietly into the light, and was still smiling when he waved the two warriors out of his shop.

Chapter Text

For those who looked, it was the epitome of tranquility and beauty; the entirety of their surroundings were greens and teals and pale, muted yellows, and with each ray of dimmed sunlight came thousands upon thousands of jewels sparkling upon every leaf of bamboo, every birch tree, every blade of freshening grass and flowers. But for the few breaks in the cloud-cover the sky was darkened, a greyish-blue that drew out the green in everything below it. It was the renewal of life, itself, and in action.

For those who looked, that is.

For those who were actually experiencing it, it was a really miserable day with freezing rain and skies so dark that the occasional burst of sunlight turned into laser-beams of retinal destruction. The Furious Five were soaked to the bone, and it wasn't getting any better. Po had the luck of a thick underlayer of fur, but even then the chill of the rain permeated his coat until he felt the cold and the damp and decided he didn't like environmental training sessions quite as much. And they would be stuck out here in this freezing wet wasteland for another damn day; not even Tigress wanted to travel through this weeping sky to reach the Palace by the beginning of morning. Po was rather an encouragement on this matter; there isn't really much you can do on a cold and rainy day, except sleep, in his opinion.

Oh, but Po wanted to sleep.

He was almost willing to call Tigress 'pussy-cat' if it would mean that she would knock him out, and maybe then he could get some sleep.

Nobody mentioned getting a fire going. It was far too wet to do anything but huddle up and dream.

Po, bleary-eyed, fell to the ground as soon as Tigress ordered a stop. Three of the Five crowded around him, used to using his bulk and his warmth on travelling nights; Viper wrapped herself around one of his arms, trying to bury herself in his fur, hissing with displeasure when the rain still got to her. Monkey and Mantis huddled close to his side, and Crane stood above, hat pulled as low as possible, one leg raised and beak tucked under his wing. Tigress herself hesitated, but they were in a protected area within the walls of the Valley, and she decided not to argue with Nature this time. Pulling her vest a little tighter, she sat cross-legged, leaning against Po's belly, and tucked her head low, ignoring the permeating rain to the best of her abilities.

Po would have been ecstatic.

If he could manage to sleep.

Po tossed.

He turned.

He twisted this way and that, to Viper's discontent.

He moved the other way and nearly crushed Mantis and almost made Crane lose his balance (and on the edge of sleep, too!)

Po was not a happy panda.

Tigress exhaled in agitation when he moved around again. She and the others had been rather impressed with the Dragon Warrior's ability to sleep damn near anytime and anywhere, through snow and storms and bandits kicking down the doors; why, oh why, couldn't he just sleep now, of all times?

Finally the Dragon Warrior just snarled in frustration and took to his feet, dislodging everybody with a grumpy apology. Turning to the trees surrounding them, he walked up to the first one he saw, jumped up, grabbed a branch, (waddled on the air a bit), hoisted himself up, and PLUNKED down straight onto the tree limb. The Five looked on. Po could never go a minute without rolling around in his sleep (usually mumbling about a 'Legendary Warrior', or something). They only hoped he would land softly.

So Po tossed.

He turned.

He twisted this way and that, halfway falling off the branch.

He moved the other way and nearly lost his balance again.

Finally he curled into a gigantic ball of sodden fluff and sat still, the rain hat he had brought perched on the top.

Those who awoke various times during the night looked over occasionally to see how he was doing. Po said he didn't remember a thing.

Half an hour after turning in, Mantis blinked with unfocused eyes and watched as Po snored, hat over his face, lying on his back lengthwise on the branch.

Viper slithered up the tree an hour later and took position around his neck, almost overbalancing him as he draped perpendicular to the branch, legs and feet danging on one side and torso and head on the other.

Master Monkey was awoken by Mantis, who alerted him that he had started sleepwalking; Monkey replied that he had walked to the tree on purpose - with Po half-curled and half hanging in the air, if he could manage to get sleep in that tree, so could they.

Crane peeked from under the brim of his hat when distant thunder awoke him; the panda was face-down along the branch, head butted against the thick trunk and legs hanging from either side. With a little consideration, Crane shook the water from his wings and flapped silently to the branch above, tucked his beak, and fell asleep.

Tigress was awake when Crane had flown off; she sat in her meditation, listening to the night sounds and how the rain both amplified and softened them. With a brief crack of her neck, she turned around halfway, feline eyes seeing reasonably well despite the gloom; Po had managed to scoot himself halfway up the trunk, so that his back was on the branch, his butt was on the tree, and his legs dangled out into the air, raindrops dripping off his toes. The rain-hat was protecting his tail from getting wet. Her cold face felt about to smile; she wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to warm up, a sudden chill ghosting through her insides at the awareness that none of her friends remained now with her. She turned her back to the tree, and pulled into a crouch, slinging her dripping tail around her and ignoring the mud sticking to it. She held back a shudder:

Everybody had left. The rain felt colder as she shivered, and the wind stung at her eyes. They had left.

Her ears suddenly pricked; padded footsteps behind her echoed in the rain - somebody was approaching her. A soft sigh met her ears, and she relaxed, before suddenly tensing again. What was he doing here now?

Po groaned in exhaustion, barely half awake, as he settled into the mud beside her, rested on his side, and pulled close himself against her. Her eyes closed at his touch; after a moment she burrowed nearer to him, feeling Viper sleepily unwind and slither halfway down the warmer collar of her vest, nestled between the two. Po's arm fell over her; she grabbed it and he pulled her closer, sheltering her, for the most part, from the driving rain. Finally approached by sleep, she smiled.

He didn't move till morning.

Apparently the panda remembered nothing.

"Riiiiight..."
"Shut up, Mantis."

Chapter Text

Autumn at the Jade Palace was as beautiful as he had ever imagined it. Though he was more in favor of spring, personally, there had always been a nagging, quiet little dream lurking amongst all the other Legendary Warrior daydreams, one that had included seeing the Jade Palace in autumn, and the dream had not been disappointed. From the vantage point he had he could see the almost entirety of the Valley of Peace, and except for a few, almost every tree in the Valley had been washed in reds and golds. Seemingly overnight the place he had called home for thirty years turned into a living sunset. Po smiled from the top step of his favorite yet least favorite staircase, resting after a decent day's workout.

That he had fulfilled the other part of that particular dream during it suddenly caused a smile to play across his face.

"What are you smirking about, Po?"

The smile deepened. Master Tigress walked up to him, nodding to the rest of the Five, looking out at the Valley as she crouched at his side.

"Smiling? Me? Naaahh..."
The Master beside him chuckled, and it suddenly made him grin wider that he knew why she was in a good mood.

"Yes, you."
"I'm not," he said, clearly lying through the huge grin smacked upon his face. Tigress herself smiled.

"Yes."
"No I'm not, you are."

Tigress stood; Po felt the slightest glimmer of wariness, wondering if he had annoyed her, but she just jumped down a few steps, circling around him in a sly walk. He refused to take his eyes off the valley, and in his peripheral vision, she vanished amongst a background of red and orange trees. As she passed his other side, the tip of her tail just touched the end of his nose, making him wrinkle it against the tickle.

Po's eyes narrowed. He pursed his lips until they were but a thin line, watching her out of the corner of his eye as she moved slowly out of his sight, her padded paws making no sound against the stones. He stayed perfectly still. The other Masters held one collective breath, not wanting to miss the show.

There was the slightest clatter as a pebble shifted behind him.

"HI-YAH!"

The panda yelled, jumping to his feet and twisting around, arms raised to fight.

There was nothing behind him.

Do not be fooled with a false sense of security, he warned himself, because, as he very well had discovered earlier, Tigress was a master of disguise in autumn. The thought made the corner of his mouth twitch.

The Legendary Warrior, in one of his not-too-long-past daydreams, had once played hide-and-seek with the famed Master Tigress. In autumn. It had been a tie.

In reality, Po had lost spectacularly in the 'environmental awareness' training, being a black and white ball of fluff when he needed to be a black and orange, slinky form of lithe muscle. Monkey had fared rather well amongst the golds of the trees. Mantis had forfeited after one game, truthfully claiming that he always won. Viper had done ok, and Crane had lost a few. Everybody found Po.

Tigress was the only one who stayed missing throughout the entire day, though she answered when they called after her. On the top of the stairs was the first time anybody had spotted her since the 'training' had begun.

He sensed her rather than felt her. And he knew Tigress. Hiding in a bush just wasn't her style. Without further ado, he took a step up the stairs, paused, then turned around and pounced. They tumbled down the stairs; Tigress had been prepared for his pounce by the tensing in his shoulders, but Po had overbalanced her, causing her to slip and bang her knee. She kindly repaid Po with a punch to the head, and he repaid her in kind by completely crushing her as he fell forward and bounced on the stairs. She kicked him off but continued to roll; he had wrapped her tail around one hand, kneeing her in the gut as he did so. She blocked his next hit and raised a paw to claw him, but he rolled on top of her, trapping the arm against the stair. The rest of the Five looked on, wide-eyed, in relative amazement.

"Po, get off me!" Tigress growled, the panda sitting across her legs. He tried, but with her tail tangled and trapping both arms behind his back, all he could do was wriggle his legs a little bit. She used her free arm to push him off and helped him to untangle his arms. Rubbing some feeling back into them, Po grinned to himself and reached over to her.

"Gotcha," he whispered as he poked at her.

She wasn't there. He heard the faintest rustle of fabric, and she was gone. He almost swore he saw a red tree shiver.

The Legendary Warrior's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, it is on," he whispered.

Chapter Text

The Valley of Peace had a near perfect climate. The winters were long but mild, summer warm and breezy, and the surrounding mountains and neighboring valleys protected them from violent storms and floods. Rain more often came as soft showers, snow fell in soft waves, and the fog that blanketed the sugarloaf mountains created a haze of watercolor scenery. There were few places more suited to truly appreciate nature's moods and seasons.

Or, as Grandmaster Shifu called them, environmental awareness training.

Po just called it advanced hide-and-seek.

Viper had quit the day's game early, expressing the need to get indoors.

Mantis had politely excluded himself, citing the fact that he always won these games.

Though Monkey tolerated the cold well, he lost. Several times. Yellow and snow just did not mix.

Crane actually did pretty good, despite the purple pants. He had forgone his usual hat and stayed within the trees, passing quite well for skinny branches and mounds of snow. The cold began to get to him, however, and his shivering had given him away.

Tigress was getting pissed off. She had been spotted several times, despite her immense training and the fortitude she'd mustered to completely cover herself in the stuff to hide her coloring, and she was having a difficult time adjusting to the fact that Po was actually winning at something.

The panda was having a blast, as usual. Po was one of the few creatures in the Valley of Peace who actually seemed to tolerate winter. Not to be mistaken – the winter festivals and feasts were always fun, and the snowball fights that the kids played were a riot, especially now that Po could use kung fu to actually, y'know…not get hit all the time – but two feet of snow is not particularly enjoyable to people who are three feet high or less and don't have a thick layer of fur and a thicker layer of fat. Though Po could get away with a hat and a scarf (when his dad insisted), most of the Valley had to wrap up quite tightly. It made the giant panda feel a little bad, when everybody huddled inside during the snow days and avoided leaving the house whenever possible.

However, today he rather liked the snow. It came down harder in the mountains surrounding the Valley, covering rocks and skeletal trees with thick drifts and sparkling blankets. The sun and reflecting snow made deep shadows on the mountainside, and the panda was actually finding his coloring to be putting him at an advantage.

His belly became a mound of show. His eyes, rocks. Arms and chest? Branches and boulders!

The only thing that could give him away was the deep rift in the snow that he always left when he moved, but he had gotten better at that over the past few days. So far, he had managed not to get caught by mid-afternoon by simply staying in one place the entire day. Sitting in the lee of a large boulder, Po had spent the last several hours alternating between meditation and power naps, though Crane had caught him once on account of his sleep-talking. Today, however, was a day of victory.

And pain. But it was worth it!

Tigress had given up moving from shadow to shadow, only bothering to hide her footprints. She had caught every Master in the game so far, even at the cost at being discovered herself, and was more than ready to head inside and drown herself in piping-hot tea.

Or drown somebody, at the very least, if Monkey didn't stop snickering. He should be one to talk, he hadn't found the panda either.

How, she asked herself yet again, could she lose somebody that big? And how had he not been discovered this day? All anybody needed to do was look for a deep furrow in the snow and follow it back to its source, which admittedly was well camouflaged in the stark landscape. But the snow was pristine – not a single furrow or panda footprint to be seen.

Tigress snarled in frustration and angrily plopped down on a boulder.

Which moved.

The striped Master yelped as the boulder she had sat on clenched two appendages around her legs and tossed her into the air, where she landed on the snowy shoulders of –

"Po?!"

The panda grinned up at her and shook a pile of snow off his face.

"Gotcha didn't I? Betcha didn't see that coming-"

Tigress wrapped one leg under his arm and the other around his neck, shifted her weight, and pulled him to the ground, where he sank a foot and a half into the snow and smiled while he groaned.

Totally worth it.

Chapter Text

'Eyes'

Today, the Valley laughed.

Sitting against the side of the entrance to the Golden Harvest Noodle Restaurant, one child watched in smiles. Around four years old, he was a ball of black and white fluff, a little panda among the geese, rabbits, and pigs of the Valley. The panda cub was known to wander, so his father kept a close watch on him as he tended to his customers inside. Mr. Ping, the owner of the noodle restaurant, had only adopted the young cub a little more than three years before, but to him, the monochromatic fuzzball was his own son. The boy munched on a dumpling, giggling to himself as he watched the fun around him. Many of the other children of the neighborhood were running around with their parents, warm despite the chilly weather, playing tag with each other, and getting 'piggy-back' rides from their fathers. Little Po stuffed the rest of his dumpling into his mouth and ran back into the restaurant as fast as his short little legs would carry him.

"Dad!"
He cried, running over to his father. Mr. Ping put a customer's empty noodle bowl onto the counter; he held out a wing to steady his young son when the little panda tripped. Young Po grabbed the edge of Mr. Ping's winter coat and tugged him toward the party outside. He pointed excitedly to the piggy-back-riders, looking up at his father with hope in his eyes. Mr. Ping scratched the back of his neck, unsure of leaving his restaurant for a minute, but another tug made him look down at Po. He had not put a coat on the little boy; the panda seemed perfectly content in the chill afternoon, his thick fur obviously protecting him. Xiao Po looked up at his father with wide eyes, green as jade and happy as sunlight, and bright as the diamonds on the river water. Mr. Ping smiled, melting.

The houses and streets close to the bridge turned into pure joy.

Today, the Valley played.

An elderly grandfather had taken up a flute and was adding playful music to the festivities in the street. The air was filled with screams of laughter and children joyfully shouting to their parents, urging them to run faster, encouraging others to put their hands in the air; piglets, young geese, a father with several young bunnies asking him to run over the bridge; and -

"Ho-ONK!"

Among the crowd, one father was under extreme strain: Mr. Ping had agreed to a piggy-back for Po, but he had not quite realized exactly how heavy the little ball of fuzz was. Mr. Ping was tripping over himself, overbalancing and overcompensating, but little Po Ping was having the absolute time of his life, probably more than any of the other kids. To the little panda cub, he was flying, enjoying his rolly-polly ride, laughing with absolute joy. His legs shaking and shivering, Mr. Ping stumbled over to the side of his restaurant and gently set his giggling son back down onto the ground before he collapsed next to the panda. Panting with exhaustion, the goose gasped for breath, fanning his face with a wing and opening the collar of his winter jacket, but little Po grabbed his father around the neck and shoulders and hugged him tight, still laughing. Mr. Ping saw the sunlit joy in his young son's eyes, and he couldn't help but grin himself.

Today, the Valley smiled.

Mr. Ping set the small painting down onto the corner of the kitchen counter, grinning to himself.

"Noodles," he whispered once more, beak quivering.

Chapter Text

He lost balance and staggered to the side as her large paw roughly shoved him out of the way.

It made little difference.

The blast was monumental. All their efforts to block the river, every ship they destroyed, and every cannon they sent to the riverbed had all been for naught; the massive cannon on Shen's flagship blasted through everything, throwing them all into the harbor, battered and bruised by shrapnel, flotsam, and the hard water. Triumphant to the point of being obscene, Shen's flagship fully unfurled her sails, sister ships coming to rest beside her among the debris that littered the sea.

Po burst forth from the water, grabbing onto the nearest piece of wood, and looked at the destruction around him.

Three of his companions lay unconscious on a bit of broken hull. Master Shifu, the fastest of them all, floated out of sight on another bit of wreckage as a ship softly sailed past him. To his side, Tigress lay half in the water, barely keeping her grip on a charred piece of wreckage, half-dead to the world. Po paddled over to her, an ache in his heart outweighing all pain in his body.

"Tigress," he whispered, grabbing her paw as their respective bits of debris softly collided. Her thumb weakly pushed against him and she looked up, the fur on her face and paws burnt short and streaked with soot. Her eyes squinted, burned by smoke and salt water, and a relieved smile twitched across her mouth before her head dropped back, her body and mind burned out. She had saved his life.

She had almost died.

Po watched the strongest person he knew fail the struggle to even stay conscious. His friends lay injured and weakened in the wreckage of their fight, kung fu bested by brute, savage force, and he wondered if it truly was time to surrender. He looked behind Tigress to the flagship, where the peacock was watching him from the deck. Shen smiled smugly, and the panda felt another burn in his heart, angry instead of sorrowful. Their eyes locked.

It was at this moment that the world stood still.

The fate of China itself rested on the burned, exhausted panda in the water, clutching to his injured friend. This moment decided whether the world had forever fallen, or if it had the strength to stand up again. The world stood still on the decision to defeat the peacock, or die trying.

Many thoughts ran through the panda's mind. Some of them stood their ground; many of them turned and fled. But one thought ran at the forefront, standing across the line between recovery and defeat, a single thread of determination that pushed its way to the front of Po's mind, and stayed there:

You got scratches on my Tigress.

Open that can of whoopass, panda, said the Universe into his heart, and beat that bird into the ground.

Fight.

Chapter Text

(Spoiler warning)

It was raining on their trip back home. The boat they had was decidedly nicer, having been provided by the remaining members of the Masters Council, and they didn't have to travel as long or as hard across the mountains, free to take more rest and snack stops whenever they (or, mostly, Po's stomach) decided. Tigress let them sleep in a bit in the mornings and things weren't quite so serious. But it did rain. And Po's pack did get soaked.

He fussed for what felt like a rather ridiculously long while over the potential swelling and rusting of his action figures. The others were in agreement that the life-sized Mantis figurine had been useful, but Po noticed that they exchanged pointed looks whenever he expressed concern about the damp damaging them.

"They have sentimental value, thank you very much," Po said one day as they stopped for lunch. They took shelter in the overhanging roof of a shallow cave and built a fire, settling down for a long stay. Outside the mouth of the cave, the rain blew sideways. Po was drying his action figures (again) as he simmered some congee. One of the figurines was stuck head-down in their supply of rice. Viper picked up the figurine of herself.

"But to bring them on every mission?"
"Every-?"
"We know you pack them, Po."

"Oh."

Viper turned the figure around and around.

"They're certainly good," she said. The little parts bended when she moved them with her tail, and suddenly miniature Viper was posed in an offensive position. The panda had even gotten her tattoos right. Po shrugged at her and started to ladle the congee as the others gathered around.

"I made them the day I fell in love with kung fu," he said with a smile. "I like having them with me – here ya go-" Monkey nodded his thanks and accepted a bowl. "-Even if I have the real Furious Five around."

Po scratched the back of his neck, watching Monkey manipulate the little figure of Crane. He handed Tigress her lunch and added a bit more seasoning to Mantis's, who liked his spicier.

"They were kind of my only friends when I was a teenager," said Po. "Everybody in the Valley was used to me by then, of course, but that still didn't make me popular. I broke stuff and knocked things down a lot, not to mention I was a head and a half taller than everybody else. But when I learned about kung fu, it felt like a big light swelled up in my chest, and when I made these I didn't feel so AAAH-putherdownputherdowndidyouGETSCRATCHESONMYTIGRESS?!" Po dropped the ladle and the bowl in his hands - spilling congee right on top of Mantis - as he dived for Crane, snatching up the Tigress figurine that Crane had fumbled and dipped in congee.

"Gimmegimmegimme!"

Po hunched over the figurine and wiped off the soggy rice with a rag from his pack, rinsed it with water from his supply, and buried it in the rice after removing the Monkey figurine from the bag. He turned to glare at Crane, and suddenly realized that everybody was staring at him, though Mantis was busy trying to clean himself of congee.

"Oh, ah…he he…it's an original?"

Tigress gave him a pitying look. Po quietly served the rest of the lunch, his face feeling hot. Nobody talked for a while, simply eating and listening to the rain pour outside, muffled by the rock. The other four scooched a bit to the side when Tigress volunteered to help Po clear up the dishes.

Po didn't talk to her while she scoured out the bowls and pot with sand, handing them to him to dust off and stack next to the fire. He didn't protest when she removed the figurine from the rice bag, simply taking it with a nod while she closed the bag. The others surreptitiously watched them politely ignore each other, and turned away when Tigress glanced at them. Po signed heavily, and began to speak, as she knew he would.

"When I was a cub," he began, "I had a friend named Ling. We used to play together after school. One day, when we were playing, I grabbed his arm to lead him through the game, just like he had done for me. But when I did, he stopped laughing and started crying. He didn't come to school the next day and nobody would tell me what had happened to him. I didn't understand that…me being bigger than everybody else meant I was stronger, and that that meant I could hurt somebody without realizing it." Po turned the action figure around in his hand. "I had broken a lot of bowls and cups before, but never a person. My dad later explained that I had been too rough with Ling. I broke his arm. I was four."

Po sighed and gently put the figure on the ground.

"So nobody really played with me after that. And then I started growing, and then kept growing, and when I thought I had grown out of growing, I grew a bit more. Most everybody forgot that I had once broken a kid's arm, but I was still the big fat panda in the valley of geese and bunnies. So everybody knew me, but I didn't really have any friends."

For the first time, the panda looked at her. His face was tight, but he smiled.

"But then I saw you fighting that boar. And you were awesome! And the kung fu was the coolest thing I had ever seen, and there were five more people in the Valley who weren't geese or bunnies either. I collected and read everything I could about kung fu and the masters, but the Furious Five were in my home, and you!" Po said, gesturing to Tigress.

"You were the only person in the Valley as big-" he looked down at his stomach as Tigress raised a brow. "-Well, as tall as I was, and I saw you a few times when you came down to the village. Once you picked up a sack of mortar dust that would have given me trouble. What was that for, by the way?"

"A corner of the palace had been damaged by a storm the night before. Normally Palace servants would have retrieved supplies but Oogway wanted me to get out of the Palace now and again," said Tigress.

"I cannot see how this would have been remarkable," she said.

"Well," said Po. "You were the first person I saw doing kung fu, and that really inspired me."

Po brushed an invisible piece of dust from the figurine's shoulder, and then gently handed it to Tigress. "And you were bigger than everyone else, and super strong, but when a baby bunny jumped up on your arm, you put her down without even bending a whisker. You…were kind of my pretend best friend. Somebody I could go on awesome adventures with, and I wouldn't worry about breaking."

Tigress looked down at the figurine in her hands. It was very detailed, she noticed suddenly; all the patterns in her fur and on her vest were painted with care and exactness. The joints moved smoothly and the limbs were evenly balanced, able to stand at an angle on one leg without falling over. Time and the hands of years had worn the edges but it was clear that Po had taken considerable care over the thing. The limbs and torso were correctly proportioned, unlike some posters and fan artwork that tended to make her more muscular or lither. It was more a piece of artwork than a toy.

"So you chose this as your favorite because you empathized with my need to control my strength?"

Po nodded, quietly choosing not to also mention how striking she'd looked when beating up that boar, or how he thought she was the epitome of what a kung fu master should be, or the huge crush he'd had on her since he was seventeen, or how in most of his daydreams they had been fighting as partners.

She looked back down at the figurine, then carefully handed it back to him.

"I am honored," she said. Po smiled at her and tucked the figurine into his pack, wrapping it with cloth. Tigress handed him the others to pack away as well, but then something caught her eye. She stopped his hand, and gestured to the flash of black and white. Po peered into the bag, and hesitated. Tigress let him go.

"Apologies. I didn't mean to pry…"

But Po shook his head, and pulled out a tiny panda doll. Tigress took it with extreme care, sensible of the eyes of both Po and the rest of the Five watching her. The doll was cloth, grungy and faded, stuffed with something that felt like rice and was faintly fragrant of rain and moldering wood and dirt. Its face was crudely sewn, and it was missing a few toes. It did not look at all like Po's work.

"Where did you get this? Did you bring it with you?" Tigress asked, looking up. Po's face surprised her. He had been hesitating, but reasonably open when telling her about her figurine, but now he was almost bristling with tension, the fur on his shoulders standing up and his face tight. His eyes flickered between her and the doll, and almost seemed to be holding…fear? Sadness?

She looked at it again, then delicately offered it back. He cradled it in one big paw, holding it carefully against his stomach.

"Po?"
"I…." He sighed, and gently settled it back into his pack.

"Can I…tell you about it later? I don't really want to talk about it right now."
She nodded, and he smiled after a moment. With nothing left to say, they sat in silence, listening to the rain and the sound of the others trying to have a conversation loud enough to pretend they weren't listening but not too loud as to be unable to eavesdrop. Outside the cave, the sky darkened, and the rain pounded on.

Chapter Text

"Hello, Mr. Ping."
Ping looked up from wiping up the kitchen to see Master Tigress threading her way through the tables of his shop, nodding at the few customers that lingered in the early evening. He immediately stopped his cleaning and began to shuffle up some dinnerware.

"Oh! Master Tigress! Come in, sit down, have something to eat, free ginger rice balls tonight-"
"I'm actually just here to talk, Mr. Ping," said Tigress.
"-With purchases. And nonsense, I'll get you a bowl of soup."

Tigress didn't argue. She and the other Five always came to Po's father's shop armed and ready with an empty stomach and exact change, since Mr. Ping refused to accept anything less than tea and a light lunch. Even Shifu didn't try to argue out of a meal, and if somebody didn't eat what the goose thrust at them they'd find it packed up and delivered to the Palace an hour later. It was just easier to eat it. And nobody tried to refuse both the meal and the payment. Mr. Ping got really cutting when someone didn't pay their tab, even when he had thrust the tab on them.

Tigress laid a few coins on the table, and accepted the sweet-and-sour udon noodles the goose set in front of her. Mr. Ping sat on the chair across from her and, upon seeing her face up closer, did not insist on selling her tea as well.

"Po has been off lately," she began without prelude. The thing about Ping's annoying insistence on feeding everybody was that he really did make very good food. She chewed thoughtfully, not looking at Ping, savoring the warm broth.

"Ever since we returned from our mission in Gongmen City he has been unusually quiet and withdrawn. Forgive me, we normally can't get him to shut up, to be honest, but…" Tigress fished around in her bowl for a lump of mushroom. Mr. Ping quietly sat back a few inches, finding her tone a little too calm and her manner of nonchalantly ignoring his physical presence unnerving. She spoke as if merely talking to empty space, and it made him not want her to begin talking to him.

"…Something has been bothering him, greatly. I don't expect you to tell me what it is, of course."
Finally, she looked right at Ping. He had forgotten her eyes glowed in low light; he felt like ducking under the table.

"You don't?" he asked, wondering when exactly he had lost control of the conversation - in his own shop!

"I don't wish to invade his privacy," Tigress continued. "Normally he will talk to me when something bothers him. But he will not open about this, even to me, and I came here to ask how I may help him. You spent thirty years knowing him; surely you've dealt with a mood like this?"

Ping risked setting a wing on the table, and leaned on it.

"Hmm. Is he going off alone a lot?"
Tigress nodded, sipping the last of the broth from the bowl. She set it down to the side and turned her eyes on him again. Ping briefly wished the bowl was back between them. In the approaching night, her eyes looked like glowing lanterns.

"He used to find one of us to train or meditate with, but is spending more time by himself now."

Mr. Ping nodded, rubbing his beak with a feather.

"When Po was much younger he would retreat to his room a lot, or even go to the edge of the Valley sometimes, just to be alone. He does that when he's upset. I find-"

Ping began to collect her dinnerware, wishing to retreat back behind his counter.

"-That it's best to leave him alone. When he's ready to talk, he'll come find you. Po does not keep things bottled in for long-"

Tigress's paw descended on Ping's wing before he could remove her spoon from the table, and pinned him gently to the spot.

"It's been three weeks. He's not coming forward, and whatever has upset him is distracting him from his training. He has lost the peace he found in Gongmen. He is only closing himself up further. I am not asking how to give him space – he has found plenty. I am asking how to confront him."

She released him, feathers not even ruffled. Ping sighed, and sat back down, bowl still held in his wings.

"When he was distancing himself, when he was younger, what did you do?" Tigress asked.

After a few moments of thinking, Ping looked at the paw that had grabbed him. She hadn't even bent a feather, but Ping had felt the power within that arm, much like his son's.

"Let me tell you a story, Master Tigress," he said.
She settled into her seat, and nodded.

"When Po was very young, only three or four, he didn't realize that he was much bigger than everybody else. He was nearly twice as tall as the children in his school, but it just wasn't something he noticed. He used to squeeze the breath out of me with his hugs! I admit that I did not think anything of it. But one day, Po broke a young piglet's arm. They had been playing, and Po had gotten too rough. I doubt he even noticed how hard he held until the boy started crying."

Ping noticed then that Tigress had stiffened. He felt a bit guilty, upon seeing her face, but there was a point to be made.

"He didn't understand back then how easily he could hurt someone," Ping continued. "He got so scared of hurting me; it took him nearly a year and a half before he would even let me give him a hug! Always worried about 'breaking' me, pah! But his fears were shared by the rest of the village, and for many years the other children avoided him. They began to pick on him, for his height, or his weight, or whatever they could find. They stopped as they got older, but he still didn't find many friends in the Valley. People just didn't understand him. Even less when he went all kung fu crazy!"
Tigress smirked a little at that, more relaxed in her seat. Ping smiled back at her.

"What I am trying to say," he said, "Is…Po has always been different. He's never fit into the Valley very well, and though it doesn't bother him anymore, he can never forget about it. Perhaps that journey he took has just reminded him of his differences."
"I understand what he has gone through, Mr. Ping; he's told me much of this himself. But how does this help me help Po?"
Ping gathered up the bowl and the spoon, without resistance this time, and calmly waddled back into his kitchen.

"You understand, yes?" he said, glancing back. Tigress nodded softly. "Then go be different with him. My son will talk when he's ready, and he'll be ready sooner if he's reminded that his friend will understand."
Ping stood behind his counter, secretly glad that he had gotten control of the conversation again.

"Throw some kung fu at him or something, he'll like that," he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.

"Yes, he may," he heard her reply. She bade him a quiet thanks and goodnight, and left his emptied shop. Ping washed up the dishes and finished cleaning the kitchen, reminiscing on the memory of a crying, confused toddler knocking him to the ground with a hug as he asked why his friend had been taken away.

Tigress found the panda haunting the Sacred Peach Tree again, trying to catch petals as they fell. He swirled his foot behind him, swimming his arms through the air in a move that Tigress recognized as the Inner Peace sequence. As a peach petal floated along his arm, he jerked slightly, and the petal slid over his wrist and gently sank to the ground. Po made a frustrated growl, shook himself, and slid his foot behind him again. The furrow in the ground along the line his foot travelled indicated that he had been attempting this move for quite a while. Tigress noticed several peach pits along the ground, both new and old; he was returning to his habit of eating when upset.

"You need to work on situational awareness, Po," said Tigress softly. Po jerked around to look at her and twisted onto one knee, startled. She grabbed his arm and hauled him back up.

"Er…" he began. Tigress grimaced at him.

"That really wasn't your best work, was it?"

Po shrugged her off, and moved to try again.

"Hey, give a guy credit for trying, right? I mean, I know I make it look easy but…"

He tried to catch another petal as it fell; it slid through his fingers, and softly landed on his left eye.

"Ow."

Po caught her eye for a moment.

"'S not like it's raining or anything," he muttered, brushing the petal away. Tigress moved beside him, and imitated his stance. She watched him perform the movements, sans petal, and followed him.

"Perhaps if you tell me what's been distracting you for two weeks," she said, sliding her foot behind her as he had.

"Tigress, I-"
"Po," she interrupted, catching the arm that glided past her. He didn't look at her, and she revisited his father's words of advice.

Then go be different with him, Ping had said. Po's distractions had begun the day they fought the wolves in the Musician's Village, and worsened each time he confronted Shen. He had been occupied the entire mission with discovering where he had come from…

Tigress let go of his arm and moved in front of him, beginning a form in her own style. She motioned to Po with one paw, looking at him expectantly as he stood watching. Po sighed but began copying her.

"You found out what happened to your family in Gongmen, didn't you?"

Po nodded sullenly, punching just a second after she did. She noted his posture and nudged his arm into a better position.

"Are you…how are you? It was not good news," Tigress stated. Po clenched his lips and sent a twisting kick as she did, sighing heavily. She watched him for a few moves further, and when it was evident that he would not speak, began a story herself.

"When I was a child I would wonder why I had been left alone in the orphanage. There are very few tigers in this part of China, I know. I have only ever seen two others my entire life, and none of my clan. What were tigers doing in the Valley of Peace, I wondered; why did they leave me at Bao Gu amongst all other orphanages and temples…would things have been different if I had been left at the doors Jade Palace, as Tai Lung was."
Po faltered, dropping his arm. Tigress slapped it back up and twisted to the side, kicking into the air. She stood there until Po got the hint, and copied her again. Their toes touched the rising moon.

"I used to dream that someone would return for me, another tiger who would not be afraid. Maybe there would be a brother or a sister, a child I could play with without fear of harming them. I stopped these daydreams when Shifu took me in, believing I had found a place to be safe and grow. It…"
She paused, one arm out, palm forward, claws out. Beside her, Po stopped at well, watching her face. She glanced at him, and then moved to the next stance, annoyed that she had lost herself in memory and forgotten to keep an eye on his form.

"For the short while that I knew Tai Lung I found him both intimidating and exciting. A big cat, as myself, with claws and teeth and strength like mine. I found a sort of kinship in him, though it ended a week later, when he destroyed the village and was sent away. I learned what my strength could do, if I so chose, and swiftly reined it in. I have never had a companion of similar size and power since."

Tigress finished her form and watched Po come out of his. He had done well, jabs powerful, kicks long; it was a form made for a fighter who didn't have to step forward to get their opponent into their reach, and he performed it well.

"Until you," she finished. Po smiled, and looked down at the ground.

"Do you think we could have been friends, growing up," he asked, picking a peach from beneath the tree and biting into it. "If we had known each other?"

Tigress paused, considering the idea. Po took her silence as an opportunity to daydream.

"We could have been totally awesome, I can see it; we could play at my dad's shop and fight evil-doers at night, like smallish heroes, striking from the shadows-"
"As children," said Tigress with a raised brow. Po nodded vigorously.

"Definitely. You wouldn't worry about hitting me too hard, I wouldn't worry about, like, hugging you too tight, and we could both learn kung fu and become a seriously bodacious team by the time we're ten years old." He pointed another peach at her. "Betcha we could totally take Tai Lung before he wrecks the village."
Tigress smiled at his playful musings.

"The panda and tiger team," she said. Po grinned at her.

"The Terrible Two! The Terrific Two? Oh! The Tenacious Two!"

He grabbed her arm and pulled her down the path, catching a peach petal as it fell in front of him. Tigress fell in behind him but did not take back her arm.

"Po?"
"I'm starved. I've got some fresh udons pulled and ready for cookin' and I feel like sesame dumplings with peanut paste, how about you?"
Tigress frowned at Po's sudden change of subject, but agreed that dinner sounded good, despite having eaten an hour before.

Po stared at the peach petal as he walked, then pocketed it and continued down the path, a shadow crossing his face.

"Po?"
"I'll talk," he said quietly, still leading her by the hand. "I'm tired of feeling frustrated and alone, and I want to tell you what happened, but I want the others to know too."

His grip tightened on her paw, and they walked in silence the rest of the way.

The Five gathered in the kitchen one-by-one, drawn by the smell of food despite the late hour. Po smiled at them but kept his conversation to a minimum as he cooked, Tigress prompting him now and again. Shifu entered the kitchen within the half-hour but promptly excused himself after inquiring after the night's meal; sweet-and-sour udons still brought up bile and bad memories. Mantis smirked at his retreating back, pantomiming an acupuncture procedure, which had Monkey roaring with laughter.

As the Five talked among themselves and the soup simmered, Po excused himself, returning a few minutes later with something in his hands. The soft conversation died as Po gently set a weathered panda doll in front of Tigress before he returned to his soup. Mantis hopped off of Monkey's shoulder and walked to the doll, examining it closely.

"I don't think I've seen this one before. It's not a new one, is it?"
"Of course it's not new, look at the fabric," Viper said, taking a closer look herself.
"Looks like it's been sitting outside for ten years," muttered Crane. "Where did you…?"

"Thirty, actually," said Po quietly. He slid six bowls from his arms to the table before sitting at the head. Tigress watched him turn the spoon around in the bowl, not eating.

"It was mine when I was a cub," he said, looking into his bowl as if it contained a hundred ways to excuse himself from the conversation. "Before, y'know, my dad found me."
"Where did you find it? In Gongmen?"
The panda shook his head.

"I…"

He sighed, then pushed away his bowl (to the shock of the Five) and pulled the doll in front of him, idly moving its arms and legs. He glanced up at Tigress and found her eyes on his. They stared at each other for a long moment, and Po nodded.

"Downriver from Gongmen there was a panda village. I washed up there after being shot out of the factory," said Po. "That was the village I was born in."
"Wait, so there's a whole village of pandas only a few hours out of Gongmen? Why didn't we stop there? That would have been cool," said Mantis. Crane nodded.
"I've never actually seen another panda," he said.

"Did you find your family?" asked Monkey. Po shook his head and took a bite of his lukewarm soup.

"The village isn't there anymore," he said. "It's just ruins now. Shen and his wolves destroyed it thirty years ago. There's nobody there."

Po sank a little lower in his chair as the Five looked at him in surprise. He silently began gathering up their empty bowls.

"That's why I was having those crazy nightmares. I remembered that day. Shen heard a prophesy saying that he would be defeated by a panda, so he…attacked the village. There's nobody else left."

"You mean-?"
Po nodded at Tigress's voice, his back turned to the Five as he stacked the bowls on the counter.

"If anybody else survived, I haven't heard of it. I asked around the towns we traveled through. Nobody's seen another panda for thirty years."

Turning back to the Five, he leaned against the counter and looked at the ratty little doll on the table.

"My dad told my mom to take me and run. He held back the wolves…"

Po swallowed and looked up into the faces of the Five, all of whom looked horrified. He picked up the doll and tucked it into his pocket, shaking his head at Viper as she came around the table to hug him.

"I'm going to bed. Goodnight, guys."

Five pairs of silent eyes followed him out the door. After a stunned silence, Viper looked over at Tigress.

"Did he-?"
"He didn't tell me," said Tigress, staring at the spot Po had disappeared. "I suspected what he found in Gongmen wouldn't be pleasant, but I did not know it would be that…"
"Awful?"

Tigress remembered his reluctance in sharing his thoughts, the trepidation he showed when handling the doll. She nodded, then stood up and pushed in her chair. The others solemnly answered to her quiet 'goodnight' and watched her leave in pursuit of the panda.

Po stopped before he got to his room, hearing Tigress softly walking behind him.

"Can we not talk about this?" he asked. "I really just want to go to bed."
He waited for reply, but she gave none. Po started to turn, and felt strong arms wrap around him, fur soft against his, steady and strong. His mind blanked for a moment – Tigress is hugging me – before his nose began to burn and he buried his face into the side of her neck, grabbing her tight around the torso, clinging to his friend as if she could make the nightmares disappear. He felt the tiny panda doll like a weight in his pocket.

"Shen was chasing us," he rasped, just on the edge of hearing.

"My mom…she hid me and then she…and then she…"

His body shook, and tears began to soak her fur.

"She led the…"

Tigress pulled her closer to him, so close he could feel her heartbeat against his chest. She hugged him so tightly that her arms shivered and he almost felt his bones scrape, and he held her back tighter, nothing further to say in the hallway of the empty barracks.

Chapter Text

'Comfort'

She awoke abruptly, all sleep banished from her mind as she lay still, listening to the night. A sound had woken her, but she did not sense a threat, and though her body tensed as it prepared for an unknown fight, she did not get up. A high, quiet creak echoed outside, and she looked toward the wall: a massive outline was silhouetted against the pale paper door.

The panda.

The shape shifted slightly, making another creak. She relaxed against her bed, and closed her eyes. Po. This was definitely not the first time the panda had snuck out of the barracks for a late-night snack – and if there was any time for an unhappy binge, it was now.

But the panda didn't move. Very quietly the door to her room opened, and she heard the soft sound of Po's fur as it scraped against the door frame. Without a word the giant panda closed the door and lowered himself onto the floor beside her bed. She turned her head and looked down at him; he stared at the ceiling, jade eyes a conglomeration of fear, confusion, and worry. He looked trapped, deep inside his own mind, staring at whatever unhappy thoughts ran across his spirit, completely miserable. It was disconcerting to see someone so normally cheerful look so intensely depressed. Concerned, she turned and laid back again. Even from on the bed she could sense his intense body heat, yet the sound of him shivering made her look over again.

She softly slid down and sat at his side – and still he stared unceasingly at the ceiling, the only indication that he had noted her movement a further tensing in his muscles.

Then, without warning, he reached over and grabbed her into a tight bear hug, pulling her across his belly, holding her close without indication of releasing her. Slightly shocked, she tried to find a way to pull free without hurting him, but his arms pinned hers and he buried his face into the back of her neck, his breath warm on her fur. Held half across him, she was very uncomfortable, one leg crouched beneath her and the other twisted unfavorably. With difficulty, she moved a bit, but he gripped her tighter and held her closer when she pulled a paw loose. She twisted her neck to look into his face; lines of worry dug deep into his skin, and the reflections of muted moonlight though paper walls shivered slightly in his eyes. She pushed against him, softer this time.

"I'm not going anywhere," she murmured. When she moved against him more he loosened his grip around her arms and middle; instead of escaping she lay back down and pushed her head under his face, her chest across his and Po's arms still surrounding her. She rested one arm across his chest and used his shoulder as a pillow. He tucked his chin over her forehead and gently she nuzzled his neck, until he finally softened his hold on her, laying one arm to relax beneath her, hand resting on her waist, the other on her shoulder. Folded against him, she lay comfortably, until sleep came over her once more. But his eyes remained open for hours, until exhaustion finally claimed him, and he fell into a restless sleep.

Chapter Text

There was a breeze up at the top of the hill; he felt it ruffle his fur pleasantly, warm, calm - with kung fu on his mind, noodles in his hand, and Tigress by his side he was the happiest panda in the world. The-

-no. Don't think about that. Don't think about that yet.

Tigress noticed him tense a bit. She looked over at him in her peripheral vision, chopsticks halfway to her mouth.

"What's wrong?" She asked, turning closer. Po raised his eyebrows.

"Uh...nothing. I was just...thinking," he said. Avoiding her stare he quietly slurped his noodles. The mountain became peaceful once more. Glowing inside all over again, he rested gently on the side of the Sacred Peach Tree, and smiled at Tigress, enjoying the fact that she liked his cooking. He was quite liking Tigress being friendly, and friendlier since Gongmen City. With unprecedented subtlety he managed to watch her face without her noticing (as far as he could tell), seeing the wind softly brush against her, watching as she twitched an ear to catch the sound of a falling leaf. She was watching the mountain around them as she ate, enjoying the tranquility as he was after so much chaos.

When she put down her bowl, he motioned to the hand.

"So, you really feel nothing?" He asked.

He did not expect her reaction. Her back tensed but her shoulders fell, and her ears laid back on her head. Po didn't know what he did wrong.

"I mean - I just...you can't feel anything in your hands at all?"
Breeze ruffled again as she turned to look at him. Watching his face, she raised a paw, clenching and unclenching it. Her body relaxed a bit and she smiled a bit to herself.

"No," she said, "The nerve endings are too damaged for me to register touch."

Reaching behind her, she ran her hand over the bark of the peach tree.

"I can see I'm touching it, I can hear it and I can feel the movement in my wrist, but the hand? Nothing."

She turned and drained the last of the noodle broth. Po shuffled a little bit closer, watching her curl her fingers.

"Sooo...can you feel this?" he asked, and he poked her on her palm.

"Nope."

"Sooo...can you feel this?" he asked, picking up his discarded chopsticks and lightly tapping her fingers.

"No," she replied. Holding up her hand for Po to gently play with, she watched both him and the mountain around. She felt rather than saw his eyes on her again, as they had been minutes before, and wondered what had made him tense up for that brief moment.

They sat together, finished with their meal but enjoying the peace, for quite a while, watching the mist clear and re-form into new shapes along the rims of the off-distant mountains, watching the sudden activity of a small blossom breaking away in the wind, the excitement of movement when a leaf fluttered to the ground. After several minutes she heard Po move, as if getting more comfortable.

He moved again, still looking away. She leaned back and sat agains the trunk of the tree, palms on the roots at her sides, relaxing her board-straight posture for once.

Po looked down at the corner of his eye and sloooowly inched his hand over across the ground. He felt a brief glimmer of excitement at the potentiality of kung-fu Super Stealth Mode, crawling his fingers like a spider. He paused, then ever-so-awesomely inched his palm over the top of Tigress's hand.

The corners of her mouth twisted and she fought against a smile.

"Po..."

She said, still not looking at him.

"Oh, um, yeah, Tigress?" he said, sounding way too nonchalant. Silent, she looked over at him. His head sank a little between his shoulders.

"Sooo...you can feel that?" he asked, voice still relatively calm. Tigress nodded. He removed his hand, straightening up a little and twiddling his fingers. After another minute went by she heard him move; he leaned ver and softly kissed her on the cheek.

The mountain was still.

"Sooo...can you feel that?" he asked softly, a smile tipping his tongue.

Damned if she wasn't so sure, she replied; her cheek felt slightly numb. Within the minute he grabbed her hand again, smiling to himself. Her fingertips tingled, almost.

Chapter Text

It was a dark and dreary night…

…Seriously. Though the cloud cover had retained a few degrees of heat, it was not nearly enough to make the evening at all pleasant. Were they finally returning from a mission? Yes. Did they totally save China and kick butt all along the way? Absolutely! Did they make it back to the Valley?

Ehhh….not quite yet.

Did they get caught in the mouth of a snowstorm?

Definitely.

They had taken shelter as darkness fell; even Master Tigress would be unable to see in the pitch-black of a new moon. Their journey to the cave's entrance had not been an easy one; fighting their way through deep drifts of snow, being forced to cut around buried boulders, and being battered by the ferocious wind, the mountain had fought them all the way. Even Crane didn't dare to take to the air.

Even worse, halfway to the cave they discovered that one member of their band had fallen behind. Though everybody suffered in the cold, Master Viper did not have the luxury of simply ignoring the frigid weather. Though her training could teach her to disregard hot, cold, and even pain, it could not stop her from being a reptile, and as the storm grew steadily worse Viper fell to the back, visibly slowed by the cold. As the others stopped and turned back she looked thoroughly miserable and more than a bit ashamed at appearing weak because of, as she said, 'a bit of wind'.

"Okay, come on, Viper," Po said, battling through a wide drift to reach her.

"I've got all this fur, and even I'm freezing," he said, the wind tearing away his scarf. In response Viper's mouth hardened and she refused to stop or hear the others' offers of help, even when Mantis pointed out that he needed to take shelter in the fur of Monkey's shoulders. The group slowed to stay with her, which made her face fall further.

Po turned a bit until he could see the others in his peripheral vision, then paused until Viper had slithered right beside him. He pursed his lips not-at-all suspiciously, walked along all too nonchalantly, then, (completely on accident, of course), grabbed the snake and flung her over his shoulder. Viper gave an indignant cry, but it quickly burned down into a moan of relief as she sank into his fur, winding herself tightly around his neck. Po's eye twitched as she curled tighter and buried herself into the dense underlayer of fur, completely protected from the stinging snow and wind. He decided to swallow his protests and waded through the snow past the rather incredulous others, trying to look as innocent as he could.

The cave was little more than a small hollow in the side of the mountain. Gusts of wind made it past the mouth and nipped at everyone's fortitude, and made the small fire they built splutter and waver close to the edge of blowing out completely. Po poked at Viper when the small warmth began to reach him, and asked her to loosen up a bit.

"We've got a fire now, y'know," he said, wedging a finger between his neck and her body, trying to pry her loose. Viper closed her eyes.

"I know," she replied, and Po's face fell, much to Monkey and Mantis's amusement.

"You asked for it, buddy!" Monkey patted Po on the shoulder as he and Mantis laughed. At the entrance of the cave, Master Tigress turned away from the blasting wind at the sound, a rather sour look on her face. When Po looked at her questioningly she shook her head.

"There's not battling this storm. I don't know if it's going to quit by morning or not, but we will certainly be stuck here until it does."

She sat down by the fire, frowning at it as another gust threatened to blow it out. Po leaned over and nudged her arm. He refused to shiver in front of Tigress.

"Oh, come on, it's not so baaa…" His voice died away at the serious look on her face before he shrugged, at which time he noticed that Monkey's had was still on his shoulder.

"Uh…Monkey? Everything okay," he asked, brow raised.

"Hmm?"

Po gestured to the hand still buried in his fur.

"Oh, uh…" Monkey removed his hand and, feeling a little silly, tucked it under his arm to keep it warm.

"Sorry, Po."
"You're just very warm," Viper murmured contentedly. Po sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Oh. Must be my internal awesomeness, I guess," he said. Mantis jumped from Monkey's shoulder to Po's forehead.

"Nah, I think it's all that, uh-"

"Fat?" Po finished archly.

"Come on, man, how many times to I have to tell you I was going to say 'fur'?" Mantis cried, slapping the panda on the forehead before crawling down his nose and jumping back onto Monkey.

"Sure you were."

"I don't care what it is, I'm staying," Viper sighed. Po grimaced as she tightened again.

The group decided to sleep not long after night fell. Tigress stayed up as the first watch; nobody argued with her, not wanting to have to leave the fireside to stand by the freezing entrance. The other five huddled close to their small fire, but slowly, as the night wore on, the wind blew colder and harsher, rattling everybody's nerves, and they each gravitated toward the panda. Sometime past midnight Tigress turned from her post and looked toward the sleeping group. The mountain had howled its winds to tear at her face, had thrown snow at her for hours. Out of all the Five, she bore it best, but as an unmerciful gust blew straight at her, permeating through her thick fur, she could not admit that she wasn't damn cold. Looking at the rest of the group, which had become a coiled mass of fur and feathers around the panda's warm bulk, she felt a bit chillier.

Tigress walked from the mouth of the cave, deciding that her shift was officially over. She hesitated to wake one of the others; they had all inclined toward the panda, curled or coiled against him, and looked too comfortable to disturb. Crane awoke at her approach, however, and – always a pillar of responsibility – took over the next shift and settled at the entrance with a look of thoroughly begrudged fortitude.

Po awoke from steady slumber to movement by his side. A large, lithe form lay down beside him and nudged its head between his arm and his chest, pushing its body close to his. Without opening his eyes, he smiled widely as he fell asleep again, surrounded by friends.

The storm ended very shortly before dawn arrive. The mouth of the cave had nearly been blocked completely by drifts of new snow. Crane shivered at his post, one leg drawn underneath his body, his neck tucked down and hat over his eyes, the top of it sprinkled with fine white powder. He stiffly looked up at the sound of somebody struggling in the snow and cautiously poked his head out of what was left uncovered of the entrance. Master Shifu, Po's lost scarf wrapped firmly around his wrist, noticed him and gladly dropped into the cave. Crane bowed rather jerkily, stiff from the cold.

"I am glad that you were able to find shelter…" Shifu began, before he noticed the huddled in the back of the cave, a mass of fur that breathed as many.

Mantis was still tucked into the fur of Monkey's shoulder, while Master Monkey himself had pushed up against Po's right arm, the panda's large belly sheltering him from the wind. Viper was no more than a flash of scale winking out from under Po's chin.

Po himself was awake and, waving at Master Shifu, he pointed excitedly to the iron lady herself: Tigress, curled in a circle atop his stomach like a gigantic cat. Po waved his arm in fanboyish delight, making a fist-pump in the air and grinning like a damn fool.

Chapter Text

Stupid, plushy bear. Oh, this was too easy.

The villain of the week turned away from the giant panda, held on both sides by chains and two of his, the mighty Shen Lang's, guards.

"You're caught, panda. And you will watch as my victory spreads over the world!"

Shen Lang was ruthless, tyrannical, and far too smart for this idiot they called the Dragon Warrior. Why, he couldn't even-

-There was an incredibly loud clink of chain, and when he looked back, the panda was standing there, innocently, and both his guards were on the floor.

Po followed Lang's eyes to the bodies below him. He jumped slightly, putting a hand to his chest in surprise.

"OH!"

He said, and inched away slightly. He then bent down for a closer examination.

"Oh, wow, uh...are you guys alright?"
Shen Lang looked on in amazement.

"You sick or something? I mean, it's not contagious, is it...?"

Snarling, Lang gave the panda a Look, broke his sight away, and ordered three new guards.

"As I was saying: The victory over this new world shall be taken by-"
The chains chinked again and when he turned back, the three guards were on the ground just the same. Po fidgeted nervously.

"Um, if you're going to have me guarded and stuff, could you at least get me guards that DON'T have, like, food poisoning or whatever this is goin' on here..."

Surely he couldn't best four guards, while in chains. Lang knew it was idiotic to turn around again, but some morbid curiosity caught hold of him, and he turned his back on the panda.

When he turned around again, all that was left moving was the shield of the fourth guard, which rounded itself slowly down to the ground.

Shen Lang was now having fun.

Five guards this time. Turn around and try not to laugh.

There was a clinking of chain. Po looked up as Lang swirled back around, his hand halfway to his face. The panda blinked in surprise.

"..I was SCRATCHING...my NOSE. Sheesh," he muttered, slightly exasperated. His eyes blinked back and forth. Lang narrowed his stance, frowning heavily. Po then grabbed his chains.

"And now I'm kicking butt."

Oh, shi-

Chapter Text

Po didn't let himself worry until night had fallen earlier than it should have, the storm clouds blocking the mountain from gaining any light. That's when he remembered that they were on the darker side of the mountain, that it was still snowing, and that they had not yet found a safe place to camp.

Tigress, of course, had kept all of this in mind, but unlike Po was able to keep herself from panicking. They had been looking for somewhere to shelter ever since the snow had begun to fall, and that was hours ago.

The snow was what had slowed them down. Their first trip up the mountain had taken less than a day, and they spent the night in the monastery before heading back down to the village they had stayed in the previous day. The monks who lived on the mountain had wanted to move a relic from the village temple to the monastery near the top of the peak, but since it was a dangerous road and a valuable relic, they had called on the Masters of the Jade Palace to escort them. Po, having never been to the mountains in the north, had volunteered immediately, followed by a much less exuberant Tigress. The mission did not call for more than two warriors, and so Shifu had sent them along immediately, escorted by the monastery's messenger, a solemn hawk named Qin. Po packed a huge bag for himself and Tigress, knowing that she wouldn't bring anything more than a few knives and a small bag of money. Tigress didn't protest his luggage, because she knew that he would end up losing, using up, or giving away everything he brought before they trip was half over. Po was actually a very light traveler; he just didn't believe he was.

The mountains turned out to be bleaker and much less exciting than Po had thought. It took the team six days to reach the village where the relic was housed, a very small town with mountains surrounding it on all sides, hidden away from everyone but those who knew where it was. Qin showed them paths through winding hills and towering cliffs, and when they retrieved the relic he led them along the only path up the mountain, the Serpent's Tooth Pass, and he rewarded them for their help with a good meal and a warm place to sleep. They left early the next morning when the senior monks hurried them out of bed, signs of a blizzard showing in the sky. If they stayed they might be holed up in the monastery for several days, but if they left and did not make it to the village before the storm hit, they would be trapped on the mountain without food or fire.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Po opted to race the storm. Tigress was of a much more pragmatic mind, but given that it had taken less than half a day to climb from the village to the monastery and the storm wasn't predicted to reach them until well into the night, she agreed with Po, and they left with the blessings and thanks of the monks, along with two stout capes to guard against the cold.

They didn't begin to worry until it started to snow.

Going up the Pass had been relatively clear-cut, but once snow began to obscure the landscape it was difficult to tell one boulder from another, and the duo didn't realize they were off course until they came to a dead end. Tigress, looking graver than Po had seen her in a long time, turned them around and they quickly backtracked and headed around the blockage as best they could. The air grew heavier and heavier as snow continued to fall, and they eventually lost their own tracks.

"Forget the path," Tigress said, concern lacing her voice. "Find a cave. We have to get under cover before the blizzard hits. We'll find the path afterward."

The Pass rang with a deep, waiting silence as they searched for a place to hide, trying to keep going downhill. More than once the Masters found themselves blocked by a cliffside or a pileup of snow, and had to turn around, and by the time the cloud cover had brought on an early night they were completely lost. They finally found a deep cave under an outcrop of rock just as the wind picked up, by the monk's blessing or the Universe's will or Po's Dragon Warrior mojo or whatever, and they quickly ducked inside, both having to crouch and crawl through the low entrance.

The cave wasn't tall enough for either to do more than sit up in, and even then they had to lean a bit, but it was deep and, thankfully, didn't contain more than rocks and a few stubborn patches of lichen; this also meant that there was no firewood, and the temperature was steadily dropping to below either Master's tolerance. Po, who fared better in the cold than anybody else in the Valley, was feeling the effects in his joints and extremities, and Tigress was actually shivering. They shuffled as best as they could against the back of the cave and watched as the tiny entrance quickly filled with snow. They didn't worry about running out of air – the outcrop of rock above the entrance protected it from being blocked completely – but they still tempered their breaths to waste as little air as possible. They sat against the back of the cave until Tigress suggested they might as well sleep, but sleep came for neither of them, the cold too piercing, even under their fur, cloaks, and shared body heat.

With Po against the wall of the cave and Tigress with her back to the front, they faced each other for a time, neither speaking nor falling asleep. Outside, the wind howled and the mountain groaned, but the rock and snow muffled it until it sounded distant and soft. They lay almost nose-to-nose for a long while, paws buried under the backs of the other's cloak, eyes heavy with cold and exhaustion, breath tickling fur, until the wind changed direction and whistled through the entrance, pushing snow a few feet into the cave. Neither later remembered when or how, but Po ended up with his back to the outside, both his and Tigress's cape protecting him from the bitter wind. Tigress buried her nose into the fur of his neck, her arms slung over his shoulders as his closed around her torso, bodies pulled closer than any intimate embrace. Her back and feet were cold, as was his head and arm, but they stayed locked against the storm, insensate to time and the world outside each other.

Monk Qin and the others found them two days later, after the storm had passed enough for the winged monks and villagers to search the Serpent's Tooth Pass safely. The cave was half-filled with snow, the Masters so closely entwined they had left dents in the other's fur, their high tolerances and shared body heat the only reasons they had survived. The two Masters were awake and aware, but too cold and exhausted to do more than walk; Po stumbled only a few feet outside the cave, and Tigress stopped before she did as well. The various birds flew them down to the village, where they recovered over the next day with warmed beds and piping-hot soup. Po was the first to speak after they warmed up, both of them perched on Tigress's bed in the public house's common room.

"I love the snow, don't get me wrong," he said quietly, voice a little hoarse from disuse. "But let's not do that again."
"Agreed," Tigress murmured. Outside, snow had begun to fall again, a silent flurry of cold and quiet. After two days of utter stillness, doing nothing more than holding each other and breathing, the bustling of concerned villagers and the crackle of fire was oddly jarring. They finished their meals and fell asleep together that night, holding each other not for warmth, but for want.

Chapter Text

His training as a kung fu warrior had not stopped Po from being a dead sleeper. Po could sleep on any surface, in any environment, in any conditions, at any time, and in any position, and would remain asleep until someone called him or something in the back of his mind told him that he if he didn't move he would be getting a bucket of water to the face.

Thanks for that, Shifu.

Working as hard as he was, Po often rose sometime in the middle of the night to get something to eat. This had been accepted by the Furious Five and Shifu, all of whom were used enough to Po's nighttime ramblings that they barely woke up when he traversed the corridor of the students' barracks, which he still could not do quietly. It was a conspiracy, he swore. But even as he cringed at the creaks and squeaks, he liked to hear the others move about. The paper walls did not hide a single sound, and if he stopped in the corridor and stood still a moment, he could swear he heard their heartbeats. Soft breaths often sounded when his footsteps half-awakened them, and although he felt guilty for disturbing his friends' sleep, the sound of their movements assured him.

Tigress was the one who awakened the easiest, and no matter how quietly Po opened or closed his door he could always hear her turn in her sleep.

…Which was exactly how he knew when she wasn't in bed.

As far as Po had heard, Tigress's habit of training during the night had been a forever thing; the rest of the Five didn't remember a time when she didn't do it. If she couldn't sleep or, as had been the recent occurrence, had a nightmare, she would retreat to the Training Hall or the scroll room; it was rare that she walked to the ironwood grove or the village, though it had happened on particularly bad nights. Po, as often as he could, caught her and dragged her back to bed, though they usually ended up having a snack and a cup of tea in the kitchen first. He'd had to bring her back less and less over the years, but in the aftermath of their mission in Gongmen she'd been rising in the middle of the night more often than ever. Po understood completely; he'd been kept up many a night by nightmares and a busy mind. Tigress usually allowed him to sleep on her floor when he had a bad dream, which helped.

So when Po closed his bedroom door, listened, and didn't hear the sound of Tigress turning toward the hall, he knew with decent certainty where she was. He creaked his way down the hallway as quickly as he could and headed for the training grounds, a cold, grey feeling in his gut. This was the fourth night in a row that Tigress had been up, and even with her intense training Po knew she must be feeling pretty haggard. He climbed through the quiet night, navigating the stairs by moonlight and memory, until he reached the Training Hall. To his surprise, he found Tigress in the courtyard, practicing tai chi instead of destroying wooden warriors. Her eyes were closed, but she still acknowledged his appearance.

"I'm just tired, Po," she said. "No nightmares tonight."

Po sat down a few feet in front of her, watching her do her form. The waxing moon turned her usually vivid fur a cool blue, the light soft but shadows intense. She was so solidly built that she looked like she could cut furrows in the stone with a glance of her paw (and probably could), but she stepped so lightly that the panda could barely hear a sound, only the rustle of her tunic and breeches. As her arms moved through the air the light that glowed off of them lingered in his eyes, until it looked like she was slowly weaving the moonlight itself. When she finished the form she sat down in front of Po, and allowed the tiredness to show. After three days of training and nearly four nights of little to no sleep, exhaustion crept into every line of her body; for a very rare moment, she slouched. Po scootched forward until their knees were almost touching, and laid a paw on her shoulder.

"Anything on your mind," he whispered. Tigress's face was as carefully composed as always, but tiredness glazed her eyes. She sighed deeply and grabbed his paw, squeezing it a moment before pushing it off and standing.

"Much, but nothing I want to talk about now. Come on."
She pulled Po to his feet and he followed her out of the courtyard. They slowly made their way up and down the mountain paths, back toward the barracks. Po's worry increased when Tigress, usually so sure on her feet, actually tripped over the edge of a stair. She straightened herself immediately, looking a little more awake and wary, but Po had seen it nonetheless. He walked up beside her and put a hand on her arm.

"Okay," he said quietly. Tigress's ears twitched and she looked at him with curiosity. "This calls for extreme measures."

As a rule (guideline, really) the Masters did not indulge in alcohol except for special training. Po had laughed at first at the idea of getting drunk and trying to spar, but learning how to fight and defend oneself even when inebriated, nauseous, or otherwise mentally or physically impaired had actually come in handy a few times. The others didn't practice it often and Po dearly wished that he had been present to see everyone try it; the mental image of Drunk Crane made him laugh out loud every time he imagined it. Unless it was being used for a visitor, special occasion, or practice, the alcohol that the Jade Palace possessed was kept locked in a cupboard in the kitchen.

Tigress was too tired to even give Po a glare when he broke the lock and pulled out two small bottles of rice wine. He had a pot of water boiling for tea and had pulled out some leftover congee to reheat, so he placed the bottles beside the stove to warm up before turning back to Tigress, who was seated at the farthest chair, her back to the door.

"My dad always made me this when I couldn't sleep," said Po, taking the seat opposite her. "The congee, not the rice wine." Tigress leaned her face on one paw and listened to him chatter quietly.

"When I was a kid, I used to be really afraid of thunderstorms. I know right," he said when Tigress raised a brow. "I love 'em now, but when I was little the noise scared me. My dad would go downstairs and fix me some tea and congee and I remember clinging to him the whole time, which probably was really annoying 'cause I was bigger than him by then."
Tigress hmmed in amusement, softly crossing her arms across the table. Po got up for a moment to stir the congee, and took the boiled water and wine to the table, grabbing a few leaves for the tea.

"I used to sneak into his room whenever I had a nightmare, but I stopped after the third time that I broke the bed trying to snuggle." He snorted at the memory. "Scared him to death every time; him sleeping peacefully, and then suddenly falling down, with a crying five-year-old who was a lot bigger than him trying to hug him. I gotta give my dad kudos for raising me, because I know it must have been really hard sometimes."

He poured the tea into Tigress's cup and topped it off with a tiny measure of wine. Tigress took it when he handed it to her, but didn't drink. Po prepared himself a similar cup and downed it.

"I'm not saying we should make the rice wine an every-night thing, even when you can't sleep. But it's been four days and you're still tense as a rock, so..."
Po nodded to her cup. Tigress sighed quietly and drank it down, barely tasting the small amount of alcohol. Po dished out the congee into shallow bowls, drowned it in soy sauce, and served it. Tigress ate on automatic.

"So, when I was a kid, I used to be really scared of this pig named Mr. Yun. He had these really weird teeth and one eye that was white and milky and when he spoke he had this really creaky voice, but I guess he was just old or something because he would come in almost every morning for breakfast and he was really nice to me and my dad, even though I used to hide in the kitchen. One morning my dad got tired of me being rude to one of his best customers and he sent me out to give Mr. Yun his cup of tea. I was so scared that my paws were shaking and I spilled the tea all the way to Mr. Yun's table, so when I got there I shoved an empty teacup into his hand and ran back to the kitchen, and he laughed at me the whole way. My dad had to bring him another cup, but he was laughing to, so I didn't get into trouble."
Tigress smiled slightly and leaned forward in her chair, resting her arms across the table again. Po relaxed a bit more in his seat, letting the warm congee settle in his stomach. He prepared two more cups of tea.

"I think my dad liked having me around, but after a while I really kind of got in the way, so he put me into the village school for a few years. He said it was so I could learn my characters and help him with the menus, but I really think he just wanted me out of the kitchen every once in a while. But I was really excited for school, so I had my tablet and my brushes and everything and I probably got there at least an hour earlier than I was supposed to. All of my classmates were geese and rabbits and pigs, so I stuck out, but I was so used to it then that I didn't really notice until a few of the kids kept pestering me about it."
He pushed another cup of tea to Tigress and she slowly sipped at it, setting it and her empty bowl aside. Po gathered up the dishes to soak them in the sink, then sat back down, absently scratching a claw across the wood of the table.

"They would ask me why I was so fat, or why I had patches on my eyes, or why I was so much taller. It wasn't always easy but I made a few friends after a while. I was really good at playing pretend, and me and some of the kids would race around the village, playing pirates on the bridge until Mrs. Hao chased us off with a broom."
At the opposite end of the table, Tigress rested her head across her arms, looking more relaxed than Po had ever seen her. He scratched a little Tigress face into the table, feeling tiredness crawling into his eyes.

"My dad pulled me out of school after a few years to help with the shop, so I didn't really see any of the kids unless their parents brought them in for lunch, but I never had trouble playing by myself. I'd get a little carried away sometimes, playing pretend when I was supposed to be cleaning or doing the dishes. I'd make my mop into a sword or something and terrorize the customers until my dad made me come back into the kitchen and behave."
Po slid his other arm onto the table and laid his head down on it, the other paw still scratching out the little markings on his Tigress carving. A very soft rain had begun to fall while he was speaking, pattering gently on the walls and windows. He told Tigress about his made-up adventures, and how he got into woodcarving, and the different recipes his dad had tried before perfecting his Secret Ingredient Soup, and after nearly a half hour he looked up to find Tigress leaned across the table with her head pillowed on her arms, finally, blessedly, sleeping. He smiled tiredly to himself and gently brushed the wood dust off of his table carving, then got up and quietly blew out the kitchen lanterns. No way in hell was he moving her; if he tried to pick her up and take her to her room, she'd wake up immediately, and after four night of no sleep Po didn't want to risk it, even if she would wake up with a crick in her neck. He sat back down and mimicked her position, then closed his eyes, the sound of soft rain and his best friend's breathing slowly sending him off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Despite his status as the 'comedian', Monkey was better known for his pranks than his jokes. If somebody was missing an item and found it displayed in a humorous place, they knew it was Monkey. If anyone walked into their room to find it replaced with the contents of another's, they knew who to chase around the Palace and yell at. Master Mantis, in fact, was the jokester, in complement to Monkey's prankster status. He often made the whole group roar in laughter during dinner or breakfast, and he kept just about everybody from taking themselves too seriously. Even Tigress would laugh on occasion, though those occasions had been growing more and more frequent as the years went by.

Unfortunately, Mantis was also known for his teasing. Nobody could get away with any misstep or mistake without him calling them out on it, and more often than not he got them to laugh about it.

But he really didn't know when to leave well enough alone.

The fact that Po and Tigress had become such good friends so quickly had largely been ignored. Po was easily likable and instantly became familiar with everybody he met (even some of his enemies), and within a year the Five felt as close to him as they did each other. Tigress, on the other hand, had always remained a bit reserved in her friendship with the others, and before Po arrived she had hardened herself until the Masters barely recognized her as the enthusiastic, amiable young student they had first met.

But Po made her smile. When she took her training too far, Po was the one who brought her back, cooled her down, and stayed with her until she ate and rested; when she was bottling something up, Po was the one who could get her to talk about it, and his efforts eventually made him her closest friend. The Five did not begrudge Po this honor, simply glad that Tigress was opening up and becoming more comfortable, with others and with herself.

But it did give Mantis a lot of teasing material.

He didn't often tease Tigress to her face, knowing she wouldn't tolerate it, so Po usually got the brunt of his jokes, which were more often than not aimed primarily at him anyway. He had managed keep his crush on Tigress a secret for a grand total of one day, and Mantis had thought it was hilarious; even more so when he and Tigress began to be best friends.

"So, how was your special training with Tigress today?"
"Wow, you and Tigress have been spending a lot of time in the ironwood grove lately, huh?"
"That Double-Death Strike of yours is real cool, Po; did you make it up while dancing?"

"Why didn't you come check on me after the cannon blew us away?"
"So why was Tigress's action figure the only one you packed?"
Po took these in good humor, and could often laugh them off or respond with a tease himself. But when one of Mantis's jokes finally hit home, two months after their mission in Gongmen, he was completely caught off guard.

"Must have been cold on the Serpent's Tooth Pass," Mantis had on said the evening of Po and Tigress's return from a mission in the mountains.

"Hope you two cuddled for warmth."

He laughed and looked up, expecting Po to be doing the same, but to his surprise the panda was hunched over slightly, staring fixedly at the eggplant he was slicing for dinner. Mantis looked around at the others and laughed quietly.

"So, Po, did you two cuddle for warmth?"
"Uh, well, I mean…"
"Po!"

Po cringed, his eyes shut tight.

"Well, I mean it was getting dark and then it started snowing and it was getting colder and we found the cave just in time but there wasn't anything we could use for a fire-"
"So, wait, you two actually cuddled for warmth? You actually cuddled with Tigress for warmth!"

Mantis crowed about this for days and teased Po at every opportunity, and his jokes steadily became dirtier and dirtier within the next few years. Every time Po and Tigress attended a mission by themselves, or trained alone, or visited the village together, Mantis would ask Po how he and Tigress were getting along, and if the rest of the Five should expect wedding invitations soon. Shifu, who knew of the jokes and to whom they were aimed, allowed Mantis to continue them as long as Shifu himself was out of earshot.

The teasing became halfway serious when Mantis somehow found out about Po sleeping in Tigress's room whenever he had a nightmare, and many times Po had to ask Mantis to dial his teasing down a little when his jokes became too crude. Mantis was in the middle of a diatribe on what tiger/panda babies would look like when Tigress found out.

Although Tigress had received her fair share of jokes, Mantis, in the sense of self-preservation, had saved the nastier and more intimate ones for the panda. Tigress was extremely unamused to hear the insect Master's jokes and speculations about her private business upon entering the kitchen for lunch, and left almost immediately after she arrived. Po dropped what he was doing, glared at Mantis, and hurried after her.

The Five had watched the two with care and surreptitious eyes when they returned for afternoon training, but neither of them acted differently, even during dinner. Mantis ventured a few jibes at their expense, and they either ignored him or joked back. Everybody let out a silent sigh of relief, and they all thought that would be the end of it…until something awakened Crane in the middle of the night.

The Masters had grown used to Po going to the kitchen for a midnight snack, so at first Crane ignored the quiet opening and closing of the panda's bedroom door - until he heard footsteps and the squeak of a futon.

"What-"
"Shh."
Every muscle in Crane's body stiffened. Tigress was in Po's room. That had never happened before.

"Are you sure you-"
"Yes."
"Here? Now?"
"Just stay quiet."
There was a rustle and Po's futon creaked again.

"Well, what do you-"
"Just…show me what you usually do, and then we can do it together."
Crane's feathers ruffled. Against his better judgement, he silently leaned closer to the paper wall.

"Alright, just let me…"
The futon creaked again, and there was a soft, silky swish of fabric.

"Oh…I didn't know you had that much…equipment."

Crane's beak dropped.

"Yeah, I'm actually quite pleased with it."
"I admit, I've never seen a…chisel…that big before."
"Good thing we've both got big hands, huh?"
Crane nearly choked. He silently scurried over to the opposite wall and tapped lightly with a wing. After a few moments, Monkey opened the door with bleary eyes. Crane slapped his wing over the simian's mouth and urgently nodded his head to the wall he shared with Po; Monkey's eyes widened, and they both crept over and leaned their heads to the paper.
"Wow, you really know how to handle a…chisel," Po whispered. Monkey's jaw dropped and he looked at Crane with disbelief. Crane nodded at him frantically.

"I'm not sure if I'm holding it right…"
"No, you're fine. Just make sure you grasp it firmly…"

Po, grinning widely, reached over to adjust Tigress's grip on the chisel, then handed her a half-carved block of wood.

"Now you move like this, just up and down…"
Tigress, sat beside him on the floor, clenched her teeth, silently laughing. She gently chiseled away flakes of wood from the undefined torso of the new figurine, and then leaned against the panda to use his belly as a backrest.

"Do you mind if I…?"
"Oh, no, go ahead. I'm all yours."

Within ten minutes Monkey and Crane had also summoned Viper and Mantis. Viper had at first tried to admonish the others on their eavesdropping, thinking it unbearably rude, but she stopped when she heard the pair say:

"Is it supposed to be that…pink?"
"Yeah, actually, but it gets more red when it's thicker."

Monkey jumped when she quickly slithered around his feet and pressed her head close to the paper wall.

"Here; just gently grasp the head-"

"-Like this?"

"Yeah, but not too tight or you'll hurt it. Just – yeah, like that – and pull very slowly, twisting a little bit."

Monkey covered his mouth with one hand, eyes wide and shoulders heaving.

I knew it, Mantis mouthed to him. I knew it!

Crane agitatedly waved a wing for them to settle down.

"This is a lot messier than I thought it would be," they heard Tigress mutter.

"Yeah, it is. I'm glad it's easy to clean off of fur, though, or else I would have gotten into a lot of trouble with my dad. I mean, you just can't serve soup when you're covered in…"
Viper gagged. There was a quiet susurrus or fur-on-fur.

"It dries quickly," Tigress whispered.

"Don't worry about it, it washes off well."

Po brushed his paint-splattered hand across his stomach, removing wood shavings from the white fur. He noticed Tigress's arm was covered in shavings and wood dust, and made to brush her off as well.
"Here, I can get that…"
"It's alright, I'll clean up later," she whispered back. He gestured to her face, where she had a smear of wood paint on her cheek.

"Oh, there's…on your face…"

Mantis had to stumble away from the wall, his eyes clenched tight, holding his head in his claw-thingies.

"Now, if you wanna…"
"Oh. Of course."
"Here, move a little closer…I'll give you this, and…"

There were a few quiet rustles, but for a minute or two Mantis and the others didn't hear anything. He looked up at Monkey, who shrugged. Viper mouthed Do you think they're-? and Crane raised his wings in an uncertain gesture, just before the group heard:
"Hmm. That fits into the hole surprisingly well."
"Mm-hmm. The more you go up and down, right here, the easier it slides-"

Viper fainted; Crane caught her with one foot before she could hit the floor, and the snake revived almost instantly, quickly slithering back to her place at the wall, looking both scandalized and delighted.

"Ah, there – does that feel okay?"
Tigress mm-hmmed quietly.

"I admit, it's a lot more fun when you've got somebody to do it with."
"Surely you've had plenty of practice," they heard Tigress whisper.

"Well, sure, but after a while my hand really gets tired…"
Monkey turned around to laugh quietly into his hand, and found himself face-to-face with Master Shifu. He jerked back with a startled twitch, bumping into Crane, who frantically fluttered a wing at him. Monkey grabbed the feathers in front of his face and pulled. Crane turned around, annoyed, and froze.

"What is the meaning of this?" Shifu demanded. Or he would have, if Viper had not slapped the end of her tail across his mouth. Shifu smacked it away with his staff, about to ream her out for her disrespect, but she urgently pointed her tail at the wall, gesturing for quiet. Shifu swallowed his anger, and leaned closer, glaring at the snake. There was nothing for a brief moment, and then:

"I admit, this was never something I was interested in until you came here," Tigress muttered.

"Yeah. I've never shared this with anybody else. It's just kind of private, y'know?"
Shifu's ears twitched. He leaned closer.

"It's not as complicated as I thought it would be," Tigress murmured.

"It'll get easier the more we practice," said Po quietly.

"Will you hand me a bit of that lubricant? I feel something catching."

Po passed her the bottle of woodworking lubricant and she lightly oiled the arm of the figurine, manipulating it up and down to make it move more smoothly. Po handed her the next bit, a forearm, and she delicately slid it into place. She looked up at Po, who smiled in the dull moonlight.

"This is quite satisfying," she whispered. She and Po glanced over at the wall and grinned.

Shifu jerked his head back from the wall, and nearly tripped over Mantis in his rush to get out into the hallway. The Five, surprised at his sudden movement, followed him out of Crane's room.

Shifu ran to the entrance of Po's room and threw open the doors.

"Stop this instant," he yelled, "There will be no - wha-what are you, are you…woodcarving?!"

Mantis and the others peeked over his shoulder into Po's room, where the panda and the tiger were sitting together on the floor, surrounded by wood shavings, paint flecks staining their fingers. Tigress was paused in the middle of fitting a figurine's leg into its torso, a bottle of woodworking lubricant in one paw.

Shifu looked at Po and Tigress. Po and Tigress looked at him. The Five looked at all three of them, and then looked at each other. Po and Tigress looked at the Five, and Shifu saw their grins. He mentally congratulated them on the most elaborate prank done at the Jade Palace yet, almost too amused to be annoyed.

"If you are truly insistent on these…woodworking lessons…I must request that you continue them in your free time instead of in the middle of the night. You and your fellow students need your rest."

Shifu then left, the group behind him immediately parting to clear his path.

"I suggest you all go back to sleep," he said, calmly walking down the hall. He turned the corner, then pressed against the wall, ears turned to the doorway.

"Wait a minute," Crane said agitatedly. "You…that…the entire time you were just carving dolls?"
"Action figures," Po said with a huff. Crane's feathers ruffled. Shifu heard the high criiiiick of Mantis jumping onto something.
"But seriously, you were just woodworking?"
"Of course," said Tigress calmly. Shifu could hear a small smile in her voice, and laughed quietly to himself.

"What did you think we were doing?"

Chapter Text

It wasn't mandatory to master the Thousand Scrolls of Kung Fu, but it was a bit of a contest. Nobody had mastered every one of them since Tai Lung and the achievement had been slightly shunted aside in favor of the goal to become Dragon Warrior, but since that title had been claimed the title of Second the Master the Thousand Scrolls of Kung Fu had become a surreptitious competition amongst the Furious Five. Every week one of the warriors would casually present a new scroll at dinner, or show off a new move during training, and would get a little ahead of everyone else –at least until one of the others came in with two or three scrolls and a smug grin.

Tigress was, very quietly and by mutual silent agreement, not competing. After spending over twenty years training at the Palace she was in the mid eight hundreds, miles further than the others who were still in the fours or fives. Her determination to master all of them had slowed slightly when it turned out that she wasn't going to be the Dragon Warrior, but Dragon Warrior or not, she still aspired to be the best she could be, and was therefore extremely frustrated when she hit a bump at scroll eight hundred and forty-three.

Chi attacks.

Contrary to popular belief, the scrolls were not always learned in order. Mantis, entering the Palace with knowledge of nerve points and unusual meditation techniques, had unknowingly already mastered the scrolls in the early three and late five hundreds, and so could skip those when he got to them. Monkey, with his gift for fighting with improvised weapons, had gotten to scroll two hundred and twelve (gardening equipment) and found that he could skim until two hundred and forty-one (offensive baking).

Tigress hadn't skipped a single scroll, despite already having mastered some of the ones on Tai Chi by the time she had been brought to the Palace. Every scroll was read, read again, memorized, and practiced until it (and often she) was thoroughly exhausted and the technique perfected. There was no skipping, skimming, or 'eh, good enough'; only sweat, blood, and achievement. And so, when Tigress picked up scroll eight hundred and forty-three and began to work on chi techniques, she was appropriately frustrated when a week and a half had passed and she still had not mastered it.

Po found her, after hours of searching, in the ironwood grove that lined a cliff-side high in the mountains behind the Palace, repeatedly slamming her fist into the trunk of the largest tree there. She'd take a breath, look at the scroll on the ground beside her, and hit. The tree shook with the impact with an odd, resonating gong, but otherwise seemed unaffected, unlike Tigress herself, who was damp with sweat and sprinkling rain and alternately panting and snarling. She took another deep breath, squared her shoulders, and thrust her fist into the large paw that was suddenly appeared in front of her.

"The tree is not a worthy oppo-ow ow ow ow ow!"

Po fell to his knees and cradled the hand he'd used to block her hit. Some of the bones felt tingly under the sheer agony. Maybe that hadn't been the brightest idea.

"Po?!"

"Ow, ow, ow, okay, that was a bad idea-"
"What are you doing out here?"
Po looked at her with watery eyes.

"What, no 'good job on the stealth mode-"

"Po."

"You missed dinner, again," he said.
"I'm trying to perfect this technique," Tigress growled, angrily gesturing to the scroll.

"It's been a week and a half," said Po. "Why can't you just put it aside and come back to it next week or something?"
"I won't suddenly be better at chi attacks next week, Po. There's no reason that I should leave aside this assignment, other than simply being unable to do it."

Po looked a moment at her uneven posture, her laid-back ears, the fists half-clenched at her sides. There was a deep dent in the side of the ironwood tree, the result of hours of hitting the same spot with fists as hard as its trunk. A coppery smell was faint in the soft rain. When he looked back at Tigress she cut her eyes to the side, and that's when he realized that beneath the anger and the frustration she was disappointed.

Po bent and picked up the scroll from the ground, where it was beginning to run in the rain.

"Why do you have to master this now," he asked quietly, skimming the paper. An illustration showed a young pig with his arm extended, his fist glowing at it touched a boulder. Further along, a monkey was frozen in a kick, a fallen sapling at the ground by her feet.

Couldn't find a nice little cherry tree or something, no, you just haaaaad to pick the biggest, toughest tree in the woods.

Po looked at the dent in the ironwood tree again. There were specks of blood on the splintered bark, and when he examined his paw a small red smear marked the underside. Po glanced again at the scroll, then rolled it up and handed it to Tigress.

"Stand in front," he said. Tigress raised a brow.

"You're going to instruct me?" she asked.

"Yep. Now put your paw on the tree, and listen to it."

She glared at him.

"What."

Po reached for her paw, but she pulled it away and placed it on the trunk, claws scraping against the hard bark.

"Okay. Now close your eyes and listen to the tree."

Tigress grimaced at him.
"The tree says you sound like an-"
He grumpily shushed her and waved his paw at her face until she closed her eyes.

"You're coming at it too strong. But I can get that; your whole style is based on strength and control, and that's cool, but you can't use that with this one. It's like tai chi, which you're totally awesome at. You gotta feel the tree; feel the sap running through it; feel the rain on the bark and the leaves. Then feel the rain on your fur, and the blood running through you."
"It's about energy," muttered Tigress. "I already know this."
"Yeah, but when you're hitting it you're hitting it with your muscles. And okay, you got a lot of 'em, but that's not the point. You have to hit it with your energy."

Tigress opened her eyes, and Po stepped away as she moved back and began a tai chi sequence. He ignored the rain seeping through his fur and watched her flow through the motions, unerringly graceful and precise in every movement.

"Feel the energy around you," he whispered.

"Listen to the ground. Let the energy of the-"
"I get it, Po," Tigress said, her voice annoyed but her face smiling. "Now be quiet."

Po watched as the tai chi form segued into the sequence for the chi attack. She began to move faster and stronger, her strikes steady but flowing, and then all at once she struck the tree in the center of the trunk, a disc of golden light bursting from her fist. Po stumbled back as it flew across him and watched with amazement as the ironwood tree wavered and then softly slid in two, the upper part of the trunk crashing onto the ground and uprooting several smaller trees behind it. He stared at a very pleased Tigress with an open jaw.

"That. Was. Totally awesome!"

He looked at the clean break in the tree trunk, shuffling around the whole circumference, picking up bits of bark and heartwood, then turned around and grinned at her.

"Knew you could do it. Bet you knew you could do it."

Tigress just smiled, though she did look immensely satisfied.

"That was seriously cool. Buuut I bet you can't do it to that rock over there," said Po casually, gesturing to a large boulder that lay against the cliffside. Tigress gave him a Look.

"You just want to watch me show off."
"Oh please, please, please?"

He didn't have to beg for long, as she seemed eager to practice the move further. Tigress squared herself up with the boulder, took a long breath out, then leapt into the air, gracefully arching in a backflip before she slammed her foot into the top of the rock, another burst of golden light moving from her paw to the rock and breaking it into three pieces. Po threw his arms into the air and hollered.

"You are the chi queen!"

Tigress landed atop the largest segment of boulder, watching him fondly as he crowed her majesty to the trees and mountainside.

"All hail our Empress of Energy! Bow before our Sovereign of Awesome! OH! This calls for Secret Ingredient Soup! I'll make you sesame dumplings and some of that spicy peanut sauce you like on the tofu."

He then took a fighting stance, beckoning his fingers to her.

"But first, try it out on an opponent!"
Tigress immediately shut him down.

"Po, this is a very dangerous move."
"Yeah, I saw the boulder. Which is why practicing on someone who can take your hits will be good! So let's go!"
He shuffled around a bit and held out his paw, palm out, a grin on his face.

"The boulder is not a worthy opponent," he said. She noticed that he was not presenting the hand she had already injured.

"I am ready."
"You are going to get hurt."
"Eh, in the name of kung fu. Just accept my sacrifice and give me whatcha got!"

"Fine."

Tigress suddenly rushed at him, forcing him to block his face with his good hand but leaving his torso wide open; she aimed a kick for there, which he blocked with his bad hand, making him cry out and miss her foot heading for his knee. He fell to the ground but rolled upright, directly into her striking fist, which hit him with a glow and a tremendous impact. He flew backwards and hit a tree before falling to the ground, his stomach numb and his joints jerking painfully, suddenly feeling exhausted and out of balance. Tigress leapt to the ground in front of him and pulled him up.

"Po! Are you alright?"
"That," he wheezed, "was aweso-"

"We're going," she said firmly, and slung his arm over her shoulders. He grinned weakly as she helped him down the mountain path, discussing what they should do in celebration.

They ended up getting take-away from Mr. Ping's, as Po needed to wrap up his hand and was still feeling a bit wobbly. Despite the late hour the others were eager to join them when they heard of Tigress's achievement, and even Master Shifu dropped in after his evening meditation. Congratulations were made and in the midst of Po's teasing about needing to find an even cooler move to get a point ahead of her, someone suggested Tigress getting something to show off the milestone, which she surprisingly agreed with. The next day was spent practicing the first of the series of chi-related scrolls, and when training was over Tigress and Viper ventured into the village to visit Mr. Lang, who did the Palace uniforms and Winter Feast outfits.

Po said the next evening, one-handedly fried some tofu his father had sent him, a little clumsily since his dominant (and lightly cracked) hand was still wrapped up. Monkey assisted him by adding spices when he wasn't looking, much to the amusement of the others, who occasionally called out suggestions.

"I wonder what Tigress got! Gauntlets? What about a mysterious cloak? No, too in-the-way. Oh! What about a set of battle armor?"

"From Mr. Lang?!"

"Make it spicy," whispered Crane to Monkey.

"No, too bulky – no, Monkey, not the chili oil!"

Po tried to wrestle the bottle away from Monkey, who was gleefully taking advantage of Po's unavailable hand to add ginger to the tofu while Po tried to grab the chili oil.

"It's better with the ginger!"
"That's too much! Who's the darn cook around here?"
"I make my almond cookies!"
"That's baking, that's completely different-"

Tigress and Viper entered the kitchen, looking at the two with exasperated expressions. Po tried to wrench the spices from Monkey for another moment before he noticed the silence from the other masters. He turned around mid-grab, Monkey's left foot still pressed against his face.

Po dropped the chili oil.

It was so much cooler than a set of battle armor.

Viper slithered over to her spot at the table, looking quite pleased with herself. Tigress leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms, silk the color of chi sliding over her fur, red leaves mimicking her natural stripes. A white flower bloomed on the left side of her chest, while the stem continued down to her knees.

"I didn't think it was actually possible for you to look cooler," Po said, frozen with his hand still outstretched. "I was so wrong. You look totally bodacious."

Tigress continued to receive complements on the robe during the late dinner, which, frankly, only Po and Monkey were brave enough to eat. When enquired about her choice, she simply replied that she felt it was time for a change. If she glanced in Po's direction as she did so, well, that was her business.

Chapter Text

The first thing the pandas did after Po came back was fall down and go to sleep, generally wherever they landed, be it rock, porch, bridge, or bed. They had stayed awake all through the previous night, panicking and packing until Li and Ping convinced them to stay and fight, and then the whole next day they had been learning how to fight and battling jombies. It was nearing midday, now; the sun was risen, no blade-swinging maniacs were coming after them, and they had a whole group of Masters in the village to keep watch; breakfast could wait until afternoon.

Masters Bear, Croc, Chicken, and the others left very quickly, eager to return to their villages and protectorates. They gave their thanks to the pandas and to Po, and after a quick meal headed off, leaving the Five and Shifu to watch after the village.

The Five, of course, were used to seeing Po sleep any and everywhere, in any position, in every element, and at every opportunity, but witnessing an entire village stop, fall to the ground, and sleep in whatever position they landed in was still a very amusing sight to see. A few of the pandas managed to make it into their houses, but several of the buildings had been damaged in the fight and were deemed too unstable to stay in, so their occupants just collapsed outside. Goodnights were shouted, as well as a few goodmornings, and as the whole village yawned and snored the Five watched with fondness and no small amount of amusement.

Li had lasted long enough to get to his hut. Mr. Ping accompanied him, the two apparently having found an understanding. Po waved them away with assurances that he wasn’t going anywhere, wasn’t going to fight anyone else, and wasn’t going to disappear into petals again; only then did they leave their son and head to bed.

The Five, sans Tigress, were well-rested and uninjured; whatever power that released their chi from Kai’s control had healed their bodies as well. Po himself, despite his fight with Kai and the lack of sleep, was in surprisingly good condition, and as the rest of the pandas settled down he tried to get the community dining table back into shape, rescuing fallen dumplings and pies. Tigress had already sat down with a cup of tea, a few healing herbs mixed into the brew, and she watched with a feeling of cold relief as Po happily ducked under the table again, brushing off some shoots of bamboo and putting them back into a bowl. The fight with the jombies had not done anything favorable to her ribs, and now that things had worn down she was really beginning to feel her injuries. She kept a steady eye on Po as the others sat down with them. They as well, she noticed, were staring at the panda who was obliviously pulling bowls and baskets toward their area of the table. The thin jade staff resting against the table. Shifu kept throwing it suspicious looks.

“So, why aren’t we still green,” Crane asked. “Mantis excluded.”

Po looked up to find all six Masters staring at him. He helped himself to a few dumplings, and then settled down beside Tigress. He put on his story-telling face.

“Okay, so, I trained the villagers in kung fu-“

“You trained the villagers?” Mantis asked. Po nodded enthusiastically.

“Yeah, because I remembered what Shifu said, about teaching me to be me! So I taught them to be them, only with kung fu! And we battled the jombies – sorry about that-“

The others waved him off.

“-And my dad hit jombie Shifu with a pan – sorry about that-“

“-What?!”

“-And then I tried to fight Kai, but when the Wuxi Fingerhold didn’t work I was kinda out of ideas and he kicked me up here, but Kai said the move only works on mortals, so I used it again and it took us to the Spirit Realm-“

“-But why did it work that time,” Monkey interrupted. Viper nodded.

“And why did it take you, too?”

Po shook his head.

“No, that’s the thing! It didn’t work on Kai because he was a spirit warrior, it only works on mortals. So I used it on myself.”

He straightened up, waiting to hear exclamations on his quick thinking, but was met with silence and horrified looks. His face fell and he hunched his shoulders.

“Well, I mean, he was gonna take everybody’s chi and I couldn’t beat him in a fight…”

Tigress set down her tea cup and laid a paw across his. Shifu shook himself out of his shock.

“You. Did. What?”

“Don’t look at me like that, I tried to end things in the regular realm, but it didn’t work like that-“

“So you decided to kill yourself to stop Kai?”

Po looked down at his paws, tightening his fingers around Tigress’s.

“I got better,” he mumbled. Shifu smacked his hand across his face, sighing heavily.

“And somehow, it worked,” he added. “Please continue, panda.”

“So, uh, we ended up in the Spirit Realm…”

He glanced at his friends; they still looked rather distressed, but Monkey nodded at him encouragingly and gave him a thumbs-up. He smiled back and continued.

“Yeah, so, Kai had me all chained up and he was starting to take my chi, and I didn’t think I was gonna get out of that one, honestly, but then I felt a big warm patch on my chest, right here-“

He pointed to the center of his chest, which looked perfectly normal.

“And then another one here, and there, and it was all these pawprints showing up and I heard everybody talking to me ‘cause they were giving me their chi-“

“Wait,” interrupted Mantis again. “What?”

Tigress cleared her throat.

“Li gathered us around the spot where Po and Kai disappeared. We – the pandas, Mr. Ping, and I – all performed the chi technique to lend our energy to Po.”

“So the pandas did know how to give chi?” Po stiffened, then looked down at his paws again.

“Actually, no,” he said quietly. “My dad lied about that to get me away from Kai. So,” he glanced at Tigress, who raised a brow. “How exactly did you guys learn the chi thing?”

“Li started it,” she said. “We focused our thoughts and energies on you, on what you had taught us. You felt it?”

Po nodded. Shifu set his staff against the table with a loud clank and stood on up on the bench.

“Wait a minute, you all mastered chi? If the pandas did not know it, how did they learn it? From the scroll? On the spot?”

Po and Tigress nodded. Shifu sighed heavily and hung his head.

“It must run in the family,” he muttered tiredly. “Continue, please, Po.”

“Oh, yeah, so…all these paw-prints appeared and they all cracked the jade that was jombifying me, so I could move again and I broke the chains and there was this huge thing of light and it kind of whooshed over me and suddenly I had this awesome, like, Dragon Warrior robe on, with a hat and everything, it was so amazing!”

“Okay, so you beat Kai with a magical wardrobe change,” said Mantis sarcastically. Crane casually smacked him with a feather.

“No, I changed into a giant dragon and beat him with chi!” Po said enthusiastically.

Again, he was met with silence and stunned glares, even from Tigress. Po laughed and scrambled out of his seat.

“Seriously, guys, it was the coolest thing ever! First, Kai was like ‘Who are you?’ and I was like ‘I’m the son of a goose, and the son of a panda, and I’m the Dragon Warrior’, and I kind of drew a dragon out of chi, like this-“

He moved his arms and legs in sweeping, graceful motions, and Tigress recognized a few tai chi motions, but the sequence was unfamiliar. As his paws and feet moved through the air, she wondered briefly if she could see little trails of light following them, but with a last flourish the form was finished, the air absent of glowing light. Po looked around him, standing in a calm pose.

“Um, it’s not really doing it, maybe it only works in the Spirit Realm, I’ll show you guys later…but, anyway, I made a dragon out of chi and flew around a bit – it was so totally cool – and Kai kept trying to fight back, and he said he’d take my chi if it took him another five hundred years, so I let him have it, and I think it kind of overloaded him, because all the jombie amulets soft of bust off and disappeared, so I’m guessing that everybody turned back to normal then?”

The others nodded.

“I remember falling, in an odd way,” said Viper, “We landed back here, in a pile, more or less.”

“They came flying out of the petals,” added Tigress, pouring herself another cup of medicinal tea. Po took the pause in the story as an opportunity to grab a few more dumplings.

“Yeah, what was my dad talking about with the whole ‘disappearing in to petals’ thing? There weren’t any petals when I Wuxi’d Tai Lung.”

Tigress moved a paw through the air, tracing a yin and yang symbol.

“There were glowing peach petals floating through the air atop the stop where you disappeared,” she said quietly. “They didn’t really do anything, but they were disturbed before we tried the chi technique – most likely when Kai was taking your chi – and they began to fly when you returned.”

Po grinned into his bowl.

“Coooool…”

Shifu, his hands covering his face, elbows on the table, shook his head slowly.

“You let Kai…have your chi,” he said in quiet despair. Po paused, looking at him.

“Well, I mean, I kinda knew it would be too much for him-“

“You let Kai have your chi. Okay. Alright. So he…overloaded, you said, and then what? How did you return from the Spirit Realm? And when did you talk to Oogway during this whole ordeal?”

Po pointed a bamboo shoot at Shifu.

“Oh! I found Oogway right after I defeated Kai! We were kind of floating around this gold lake and he was looking super shiny and totally bodacious, and he said that he sent my dad that message about me, and I asked him why he chose me as the Dragon Warrior and he said that he saw the past and the future of kung fu and I was, like, both sides of the yin and yang, and his truuhuuu...”

Po trailed off, a sudden guilty look on his face as he glanced to Shifu. The red panda narrowed his eyes at him, and Po ducked down a bit, hiding his face behind his bowl.

“Why did you stop, panda?”

Po shook his head jerkily, trying to hide his eyes.

“Well, there was just a little thing he said, and I don’t think it’s really all that important right now, and wow, have you tried these dumplings with the spicy ginger sauce, I really need to give my dad this recipe because I definitely think this would go good with his bean buns-“
Tigress lightly knocked the back of her fist into his forearm, and Po shiftily looked up to where Shifu was standing on the table, directly in front of him. Po let out a low whine.

“Po,” he sighed. “I know already that this is going to be a ‘thing’. Just tell me.”

“He kind of namedmehistruesuccessor,” Po said nervously. Shifu’s ears twitched as he worked to decipher Po’s mumblings.

“He kind of named you his true successor,” said Shifu slowly. Po nodded, then nervously grinned at him, hunched his shoulders, and scooted a little closer to Tigress, not noticing the wide-eyed look she was giving him.

“I-okay. Um. Kind of. Yes?”

Shifu said nothing, and stared at Po. The panda hunched a little further. The Five were totally silent. In the distance, bird chirps, various panda snores, and one sleepy ‘No, s’mypickledcucumber, gerrof…’ could be heard.

Crane cleared his throat awkwardly, then leaned slightly over the table, pointing a wing at the opposite bench.

“Tigress, is that a, uh, panda cub?” he asked loudly.

Tigress looked down to where a small ball of black, white, and pink was curled on the bench on her other side, one tiny paw clenched around her robe.  Viper slithered under the table to get a closer look.

“Oh, she’s adorable!”

“Her name is Lei Lei,” said Tigress. “And she refuses to leave me alone,” she murmured quietly, not without a hint of fondness. The others chuckled, darting glances between Tigress and the panda cub, and Shifu and Po.

Shifu ignored the interaction in favor of making Po squirm. Finally, the panda opened his mouth to apologize, face set in a grimace.

“I was expecting this,” Shifu said. Po closed his mouth with a clack of his teeth, eyes round.

“Uh…you were?”

Shifu gave him a small smile, and nimbly hopped off of the table.

“You are the Dragon Warrior, Po, chosen by Oogway himself. If anybody was to be his true successor, it would, naturally, be you.”

Po let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Oh, man, and here I thought you were going to throw me off the mountain or something.”

“No,” said Shifu solemnly, shaking his head. He gathered up his staff and jumped across the table to land on the bench at Po’s other side.

To the surprise of the Five and the panda, he bowed.

“This, I believe-“

He twirled the peach-wood staff in his fingers, then rested it on the palms of his hands and presented it to Po.

“-Belongs to you,” said Shifu softly. The Five gasped, but Po remained silent. He looked down at the staff before him, remembering Oogway’s long claws clutching it, a lantern held in the tortoise’s other hand, kindness in his eyes as he spoke beneath a peach tree. He knew the offer was genuine.

After a long moment Po began to answer, but stopped as he considered the old tortoise. He then closed his mouth, a glint in his eye.

“Keep it,” he said to Shifu, and smiled. “I have a bigger one.”

Chapter Text

Li was one of the few pandas who bothered to wake up for any longer than it took to get dinner, and as he greeted and bid goodnight to his sleepy villagers he realized how incredibly lucky they had been. If Po hadn’t defeated Kai, the pandas would have been forced to endure another genocide; if the villagers hadn’t learned how to give chi, Po would have fallen to Kai’s power; if Tigress hadn’t made it to the village, they would never have had warning of Kai’s approach. Li couldn’t help but compare the attack of his current home to the massacre that had occurred at his previous one. Things could have gone much, much worse.

As it was, watching his son kill himself in front of him had been horrific enough. After all the excitement had ended, the emotions had crept in from where he had pushed them to the back of his mind, and he knew that he was going to have nightmares about that for a long, long time. They could keep his nightmares of the panda massacre company.

The village itself had taken the most damage; the Jombie warriors had been ordered to round everybody up, as opposed to hurting or killing them. Frankly, the only person who was truly injured was Po’s tiger friend. Li had liked her back in the Valley, but he felt an immense sense of debt toward her for the sheer effort she took to warn Po and defend the villagers. She fought Kai in the Valley of Peace, then had run, injured, the entire way to Li’s village, beating Kai by half a day. By the time everything was over, she looked like she was running off of spite and adrenalin, and when Li woke from his nap around dusk to grab some dinner he was immensely surprised to see her still up and about, listening as the rest of the Masters from the Jade Palace talked and planned.

Po, placing candles across the table, greeted Li with a tired smile as he joined them.

“Hey Dad! How’s Dad?”

Li poured himself a cup of tea, absently recognizing the scent of medicinal herbs coming off of the brew.

“Ping’s fine, Po. He’s in the storehouse with the triplets’ father, making an inventory. Gotta give him credit for those organizational skills.”

“Comes with running a restaurant,” said Po, passing him a bowl of dumplings. Li noticed him trying to hide a yawn behind his paw. On his son’s other side Tigress was leaning, watching the others argue about how and when to leave for the Valley with heavy eyes. Curled on the bench beside her was the toddler Lei Lei, still clutching that tiger doll. Li’s mouth twitched.  

“Y’know, son, if you want to get some shut-eye I can keep a watch on things here.”

Po jerked up from where his head had been resting on a paw, trying to look alert.  

“I can help. What do you need me to do?”

Li laid a paw on his shoulder, and pushed him away from the table.  

“Sleep,” he said gently. “Nobody’s going to want to start repairs tonight, so it’ll be quiet until tomorrow morning, at the earliest. Go.” He nodded to Tigress. “Take care of your friend. I’ve got some bandages in my hut she can use.”

Po turned to look at Tigress, and the argument that Li had seen on his lips faded.

“Thanks Dad,” he whispered. Li waved a handful of bamboo at him, digging into his dinner. Po tapped Tigress on the arm and whispered something to her. She frowned at him, but nodded after glancing at her paws; Li noticed suddenly that they were bloody and cracked. The two rose and bid goodnight to the others; Tigress paused to bend down and gently slide the sleeping Lei Lei along the bench to Li. The others looked up as Po grabbed his jade staff and he and Tigress began to leave.  

“We need your input on how to proceed with the village repairs, Tigress; Dragon Warrior,” said Shifu testily. Li leaned forward, waving a hand.

“I can help you there. Go on, son.”

Po shot him a thankful look and he and Tigress began to walk to the bridge that led to his hut, fading into the night and starlight. Halfway there, Tigress stumbled on her feet a bit, and automatically pulled her arm around his son’s shoulder, and he wrapped an arm across her back. Li smiled as he scooted along the bench toward Shifu and the other Masters.

They both were in good hands.

Po had honestly not seen Tigress in such bad condition since she had saved him from being cannonballed in Gongmen harbor. Back then, she had suffered broken ribs, fractures to her pelvis, and several nasty burns across her arms and abdomen. This time, she hadn’t been hit with a flaming ball of metal, but frankly, Kai’s hits had come pretty close.

She began to undress the moment they entered Li’s hut, allowing herself to slouch for the first time in the entire day. Personal privacy was a distant concept when on a mission, and a near impossibility when one was injured. Po had had difficulty adjusting to how necessary it was to be physically open when one was a master of kung fu, but after years of missions, injuries, and impairments of himself and the others, he had long ago stopped feeling uncomfortable about pulling an arrow from Crane’s bare leg or allowing Viper to wrap up a cracked shinbone.

Po quickly became Tigress’s proxy when it came to dressing wounds, especially after the events of Gongmen, their similar sizes simply making easier to deal with each other. Tigress may have had nerves of steel, but even steel could bend under pressure, and it had taken many days and many bandages to recover from that mission. Not that Po had been in the best of conditions himself; they had each patched the other up on the trip back home.

Po set aside the jade staff and searched around in the candlelight for where his dad kept the bandages while Tigress sat on the bed and washed her paws in a bowl of water, one of the many that collected snow and ice run-off from the peak on which the hut was built. The pads of her paws and feet had been cracked, scraped, cut, and bruised during her near-continuous journey to the village; Po was suddenly reminded that she had actually climbed up the frozen waterfall in order to reach them. He shuddered, feeling sympathetic aches in his hands. He found the bandages in a low chest in a corner, stacked amongst bottles of herbs and salves. Grabbing the ones he recognized, he turned back to the tiger on the bed, setting a few candles on the floor beside them. Bloody cloth lay by her feet, and Po handed her the bottles and bandages before he took the pink-tinted water away and brought back a clean bowl, which he put aside.

“I’m gonna get your ribs first,” he said quietly, kneeling in front of her. Tigress, looking too exhausted to speak, nodded. Robe already pulled down around her waist, she lifted her arms and Po began to wrap the bandages around her torso.

“We’re definitely going to sleep after this. I dunno about you, but pandas sleep past noon, and I really think we’ve got something going there.”

Tigress smirked.  

“To be honest, sleeping past noon does not sound like a bad plan.”

Po paused in his wrapping to grab a wet rag and dab at a cut on her side.

“We’ll make you an honorary panda next. First lesson is sleeping. Then it’s hacky-sacks and hammocks.”

“You are not launching me up a hill on a hammock,” said Tigress.

“Aww, but it’s so much fun!”

Tigress shook her head, smiling. Po handed her the end of the bandages and picked up a jar of salve.

“This one helps with burns, I think. My dad used it on his back. Wanna try?”

Tigress examined the pale goop, sniffing it lightly.

“Almonds?”

“Yep.”  

She nodded and returned the jar. Popping the lid off, Po ­shifted through the patchy fur of her abdomen, spreading the salve on the old scars below. Shen’s weapons had left as many physical wounds as emotional ones, and Po was eternally thankful that his dad hadn’t noticed the little variations in the fur of his arms and stomach that marked the shiny scars beneath. Both he and Tigress had shared burns from the cannon fire, hidden beneath slowly-regrown fur, and the thought of telling Li, who had burns across his back from the attack on their village, that Shen had hurt him again did not make Po feel good.

Po finished up with the salve and quickly brushed a little bit of honey on the cuts he could see. He finished wrapping her ribs and moved onto her paws.

The tough pads on her palms and fingers were in bad shape; several of her claws had been reduced to bloody stumps.

“I still can’t believe you actually climbed up that waterfall. That was seriously hardcore,” he said, dabbing honey and ­­ointment on the ends of the torn claws, which were the most susceptible to infection.

“Do not underestimate me, Dragon Warrior,” Tigress gently teased. Po’s face darkened as he bound her paws.

“Believe me, I could never do that,” he said quietly. Tigress bent a little to look at him, her eyes illuminated in the candlelight.

“Po?”

He shook his head and dropped her paws, reaching over to wrap his arms around her. She leaned into him and he pulled her as tightly as he dared, feeling her breath rustle against his sternum and her warmth spread into his chest. He had almost lost her today. He had almost gotten her killed today. He’d almost got all of them killed today.

“Po…”

“I’m not sorry,” he muttered into the back of her neck. Two arms snaked around his belly to rest on his back.

“Do not do that again,” she whispered. He shook his head.

“Po, do not-“

“I couldn’t watch my family be killed,” he said. He felt Tigress sigh, fists clenching in his fur, then they released each other. Unbidden, he glanced to his right, where candlelight filled the small alcove cut into the rock. Tigress followed his gaze, and he leaned over to take the little paper from the hollow, noticing with a warm flush that the portrait of him and both his dads rested in there as well. He gently grabbed the portrait of him and his mom, then handed it to Tigress when he felt his nose start to sting. She took it with bandaged fingers.

 Po motioned to her feet and she scooted back on the bed, leaning against the wall as he sat in front of her and pulled her legs across his knees.

“This is your mother,” she said quietly. Unwrapping the bindings from her feet, Po nodded. She examined the picture as he washed the blood and debris from her cracked pads and between her toes, splinting one that looked a little crooked. Tigress winced, but didn’t say anything, still staring at the little paper.

Po had told her and the others of what had happened to his village, but it had taken several months before he told Tigress about his mother, with broken words in a quiet corridor. They had talked only rarely on the subject since.

“I don’t…I wish I could remember. More about her, y’know.”

Tigress nodded silently.

“She couldn’t watch her family be killed either,” Po whispered, his throat uncomfortably tight.

“Po…”

Closing his eyes, he leaned his forehead against her shoulder, absently massaging the bottom of one of her feet. The air in the hut suddenly felt cold, and he shivered.

“No promises,” he murmured. Tigress’s arm shifted as she sighed, tracing a bandaged finger over the side of the picture. A smile crept across Po’s lips unbidden. He gently touched a claw to the corner of the portrait, drawing Tigress’s attention to the little bite mark. She chuckled softly.

“You tried to eat the paper?” she asked. Po nodded, pulling himself up to continue tending to her feet, the chill that had washed through him fading.

“Told you my dad had to put down a trail of food just to get me into his shop.”

Tigress shook her head, smiling down at the portrait. Po wrapped up her feet and took back the picture when she offered it, placing it beside its new companion. The candle in the alcove fluttered gently as he touched the paper.

“Goodnight, Mom,” Po whispered.

The medicinal salves and ointments were set back in their box, put beside the bed to use in the morning. The bed creaked a little when Po slid down beside his friend, but it had been built for a panda rather bigger than he, and there was just enough room. He blew out the candles on the floor, the light from the alcove the last illumination. Tigress settled down against him and pulled Li’s blanket over them both, lying across the arm that he offered. He absently rubbed a paw across her bandaged stomach, feeling her heart beat against his skin and her breath against his chest, before he finally closed his eyes and found sleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night, when darkness had sunk into every corner of the room, Po half-awakened, the other side of the bed still warm but empty. A soft, almost silent Thank you echoed on the bare edge of his hearing and he blearily looked around, seeing Tigress silhouetted, the dim light in the alcove glowing on the edges of her fur. She rose from her crouch and lay back down behind him, pulling him into her strong embrace. His closing eyes rested on the glowing portrait of his mom, and within seconds he fell back asleep.

Chapter Text

Cleanup and repair of the panda village took much less time than Tigress would have expected. She had learned, within the past few days, not to underestimate the giant, gentle folk, who looked as though they were more capable of a feast-sized snack and day-long nap than fighting and heavy construction. Even with her years of training with Po, she had still been dubious of his peoples’ capabilities, but by the end of the day many of the buildings damaged by the fight with the jade zombies had been repaired almost to completion. It amused her to see the workers snack on the bamboo scaffolding once they had finished using it.

She and the warriors freed from Kai’s influence helped as much as they could, but the villagers were a bit wary of them; not only because they had been fighting them mere hours before, but out of sheer distrust of strangers. Mr. Ping had gotten along well through his connection to Po and his talent in cooking, but strangers such as Masters Croc and Bear were not as welcomed. Tigress, now that all the commotion was over, was getting a few more fearful looks herself. She quietly worked with Mei Mei and Crane to finish the roof of Mei Mei’s house. Not far away, Po and his fathers were sizing beams for another repair.

“I can fix that for you, if you like.”

Tigress looked up at the panda woman sitting on the scaffold a few feet in front of her. She pointed a mallet at Tigress’s robe.
“I do all of my own clothes, you know. And I sew for several of the villagers. I can fix that robe of yours.”
Tigress looked at the sleeves she had rolled up, taking in the holes, burns, and tears along her ensemble. She honestly hadn’t noticed.

“Thank you, er. I…”

“So…you and Po, huh?”
Tigress looked up from the joints she was connecting.

“I’m sorry?”
“You and Po,” Mei Mei repeated. She accepted the end of a beam from Crane and began to move it into place. “How long have you two been together?”

Tigress scowled as Crane coughed awkwardly and flew out of sight through the hole in the roof. She grabbed a dowel and aligned it carefully, accepting the hammer Mei Mei offered.

“I’m afraid you are mistaken. Po and I are simply friends,” she said. She hammered the wooden pin into its hole as Mei Mei watched with a raised brow. The panda woman took back the mallet when Tigress finished with it and forced her beams together to close in the joint.

“So…why was the Dragon Warrior carrying a figure of you in his pack?”

Tigress pounced on the roof above and accepted the block of wood Crane passed to her, still keeping himself out of sight. She carefully positioned it and struck it into place with an open-palmed hit.

“I’ve learned that it is best not to question the Dragon Warrior’s motivations.”

Mei Mei scoffed and ­­­­­­­hammered a peg in to keep the block in place. Tigress felt an odd need to further clarify.

“Po was a…fan of the Furious Five before he became the Dragon Warrior. He carved those figurines when he was younger. He still takes them whenever we go on a mission.”

“Them?” Mei Mei looked up from the block. “I thought there was only one,” she said.

Tigress paused and raised a brow.

“He has one for every Master he’s met, and several from history and legend. He didn’t bring those?”

The panda shook her head. Tigress peeked out of the hole in the roof, grabbing a few more dowels from Crane, who still wouldn’t look at her. A few houses over Po and Li were putting a doorway back into place as Mr. Ping stood on the roof and motioned where for them to position it. Below her, inside the house and sitting on one of Mei Mei’s numerous pink cushions, the baby Lei Lei played with the figurine of Tigress, happily muttering to herself as she covered it with fabric from Mei Mei’s curtains. The panda woman watched Tigress as she returned to her spot, and handed her the end of another beam. They pushed it into place in silence, broken only by soft whispers of Stripey Baby pretty! and another awkward cough from Crane. When Mei Mei asked her why the Dragon Warrior had a figurine of only Tigress in his pack Tigress did not reply, because she did not know the answer herself. They finished the roof with no more questions or comments besides ‘Will you hand me that mallet?’ and Mei Mei asked the two Masters to have tea and a meal with her, which they declined. Crane seemed to want to get away as fast as he could and flew out the door once he was no longer needed. Tigress stayed to feed Lei Lei a snack before gathering her up, calling a thanks for Mei Mei, who had disappeared, for the food, and leaving. The little panda cub was overjoyed at being carried by her Big Stripey Baby, and even though Tigress felt a blush rising at the sight of the figurine in the cub’s paws, she couldn’t help but smile. Across the way, Po, his fathers, and several others were putting down mallets and posts, for it was getting to be rather late. Tigress let down Lei Lei to run ahead of her to the huge table that was being set with food.

“Tigress!”

The young Master turned back to the house, where Mei Mei was hurrying out of it. She jumped down the steps from the porch and thrust a bunch of blue fabric at Tigress.

“If you’ll leave your robe with me, I can repair it by tomorrow,” she said. Tigress looked at the fabric in her paws. It was rather…nice.

“And this is…”

“Just a dress I was working on. I took it in a bit, of course. You can use it until I fix your robe,” said Mei Mei.

“I-“

“-Helped me fix my house,” Mei Mei interrupted. “It would be my pleasure,” she said, bowing slightly. Tigress held up the dress and sighed.

Although exhausted, Po was having a great time. He’d fought a spirit warrior, multiple jombies, had died and come back, and had barely any time to rest before his dad had begun repairs on the village. His dad had objected, saying that everybody needed to rest and have a good meal, but his dad had disagreed with his dad, telling his dad that repairs needed to be made immediately before it snowed or rained or a damaged building collapsed on someone. His dad and his dad then began to fight again, until his dad had compromised with his dad and they agreed that everybody could eat while construction was ongoing, and have a good meal when it got too late to work.

Po dropped his head onto the table, absently chewing a dumpling. He really needed to figure out this ‘two Dads’ thing. Maybe call them Dad One and Dad Two. But Dad might object to being the second Dad. Big Dad and Little Dad? He was used to his dad being Dad, but he didn’t want to call Li anything other than Dad, and he was beginning to suspect that he’d soon have nightmares about walking into the shop, yelling ‘Dad!’, and having both Dads answer, and then he’d have to say ‘Not you, Dad, I meant Dad…’

His Dad-With-The-Fur nudged him in the arm.

“Your tiger friend’s coming,” he said. Dad-With-The-Feathers greeted her and asked her to sit with them.

“Doesn’t she look nice tonight, Po,” he said.

The cajoling tone of his voice made Po roll his eyes. Po lifted his head with a sore crick to his neck, then shot up in a hurry, nearly falling over the bench before he settled down, one elbow casually on the table, pushing dumplings around in his bowl like nothing had happened. Mei Mei sat down in front of Li-Dad, a smirk on her face. Tigress settled down on the bench across from Po, setting Lei Lei into her lap and gathering up a bowl for her. She ignored the other Masters at the table, who had curiously fallen silent, and began to feed the panda baby. Ping-Dad smiled into his wontons.

“You look very nice tonight, Master Tigress,” he said. Tigress thanked him and accepted a bowl of dumplings from Panda-Dad.

“Yep, uh, very nice. Totally awesome,” Po muttered awkwardly. Across from Goose-Dad, Master Shifu glared mildly at Po until he stopped looking at Tigress. He’d honestly never seen her in a normal dress before. Or ribbons. Or blue. Beside her, Mei Mei delicately chewed on bamboo leaves, and brushed a bit of dust off of Tigress’s billowy sleeve.

“So, Master Tigress,” New Dad said, pointing a chopstick at her and grinning. “That’s a lovely engagement dress. Anyone we know?”

Old Dad dropped a dumpling from his feathers and snorted into his wing. Tigress squeezed her dumpling so hard that the chopsticks sliced through it. Slowly, she turned her head to Mei Mei.

“…Engagement dress?”

Mei Mei smiled into her tea and declined to answer.

Chapter Text

After the mild commotion of Tigress having to wear an engagement dress for a day was over with, life at the panda village began to quiet down, especially since several of the Masters who had been staying there had left within a day. Masters Bear, Chicken, and Croc, along with Masters Lizard, Eagle, and many others who had been captured by Kai, did not stay but a few hours, eager to get back to their villages and provinces to help with the damage Kai and his jombies had left across China. The Five and Shifu stayed to assist with the repairs of the panda village, and after a few days were no longer looked upon as frightful strangers, but as new friends. Po’s cousins Dim and Sum got along famously with Monkey, who took every opportunity to get launched from the hammocks up into the hills. Once Viper had discovered the existence of another ribbon dancer she and Mei Mei had coordinated a series of performances, entertaining the villagers during lunches and dinners. Crane, surprisingly, got along best with the team of hacky-sack kickers; they made a game where the kids would kick the sacks, or dumplings, or even firecrackers into the air and Crane would dodge or redirect the projectiles as they came towards him.

Mantis, to everyone’s amusement, had almost as difficult a time escaping Lei Lei as Tigress, and could only assuage the little girl by, to his intense embarrassment, participating in tea parties with her, Tigress, and Tigress’s figurine. Tactfully, nobody mentioned it, though Monkey kept giggling when he saw his bestie.

Shifu was another favorite among the children, all of whom delighted in how fluffy he was and how poofy he could get when they annoyed him enough, not to mention that he was only a little bit bigger than they were. He visited Grandma Panda often after she had come to him to enquire about arthritis-relieving tai chi forms, and was rather chagrined when he realized that Grandma Panda often babysat the younger ones. It made Po and the others extremely delighted to see Shifu and Grandma slowly moving through a form on the hill outside Grandma’s house, Shifu’s movements severely hampered by the babies that clung to his limbs.

The pandas grew so fond the Masters within their short stay that Shifu’s announcement that it was time for he and his students to return to the Valley was received with great sadness, until many of the villagers decided to go with them. This decision was not made lightly; Li was one of only three of the villagers who ever left the mountain in thirty years, and many of the pandas were hesitant about revealing themselves to the world outside their secret home. But the news of Shen’s defeat had strengthened many hearts, and those with wandering feet and curious minds requested to accompany the Masters back to the Valley of Peace. Those who stayed behind were still saddened to see their new friends leave, especially the children who were deemed too young to travel, but one of those who had the most difficult of goodbyes was Tigress.

Lei Lei could not understand why her Stripey Baby was leaving her. Tigress had left it to the last moment, not wanting to distress the child, but as she and the others began to depart she could hear Lei Lei crying loudly, refusing to be comforted by anyone. Tigress paused multiple times, her face wrenched in guilt every time a distant, broken ‘Stripey Baby!’ came from behind her. The group had barely gotten to the edge of the falls before Tigress stopped again, and this time turned back to look to the village, too obscured by fog and snow to see clearly.

Lei Lei, being only three years old, had been one of the many deemed too young to go along. The Masters had wanted to set a faster pace than the young ones could travel, eager to get back to the Valley and see to repairs. Tigress, Po, Grandma Panda, and even Li and Shifu had tried to explain to the toddler that Tigress would visit her again, and that she could visit Tigress when she got a little older, but Lei Lei wouldn’t listen, needing to be pried away from Tigress’s waist by Grandma and Gang. Tigress was silent for most of their trip down the mountain, only answering questions and comments with short, quiet words. She stayed by Po for the majority of the trip, as she had for every day past, apparently not wanting him out of her sight lest he do something as horrifying as killing himself again. Li and Ping, who also stuck to Po as close as possible, fielded most of the queries asked of the Masters, leaving Po and Tigress to walk together in silence. Shifu, upon realizing that the pandas would not easily go as fast as he wanted, debated with Li about whether he should send some of the Five ahead.

On the morning of the second day, the group was eating a breakfast of tea and cold dumplings when Shifu jerked his head up, ears tilted toward the distant mountain. The Masters warily looked around the area, tensing for an attack, but Shifu silently waved them down, his ears twitching. After a moment, Tigress shot up, surprising several of the panda villagers, then grabbed Po and hurried over to Li, shaking the big panda’s arm to wake him up more.

A very faint, high call echoed across the mountain path, close enough to be noticed by everyone:

“Stripey Baby! Stripey Baby!”

“Li! Are you there?”
Li quickly stumbled to his feet. He, Tigress, Po, and Shifu hurried back down the way they had come, and within five minutes came across a small group of pandas, led by Dim and Sum. Grandma Panda was with them, as well as the triplets and their parents; Gang, who carried a sleeping Bao; and, struggling to get out of Dim’s arms, Lei Lei.

“Grandma Panda! ­­­­Gang! Bao, what-? What are you all doing here,” Li asked, hurrying forward to check on them. Tigress immediately followed, taking Lei Lei from Dim’s arms; the little girl grabbed onto her fiercely, burying her face into the Tigress’s neck, her Tigress figurine clenched hard in one little paw. Dim, now relieved of the baby, rubbed his eye where Lei Lei had kicked him.

“We’ve been following you most of the night,” Dim grumbled tiredly. He gestured to Lei Lei with a tired nod.

“Grandma couldn’t get her to eat,” he said. “She stayed up all night, crying for that tiger, and the evening after you had left Grandma packed up the baby and declared that she was going after you herself. Gang, of course, wouldn’t let Grandma go without him, and when Bao found out Lei Lei was leaving he tried to sneak along, and when the triplets found out that Bao was leaving they started making a fuss about seeing Mr. Ping. So here we all are.”
Li frowned angrily and gestured to the children.

“We agreed not to let the little ones come! We’re travelling too fast for them-“
“And still not fast enough,” interrupted Shifu, avoiding Gang’s attempts to hug him one-handedly. “We certainly won’t make pace now.”

As Li and Shifu began to argue, Dim and Sum occasionally cutting in, Crane landed outside the group and asked Po what was going on. Po began to tell him, but stopped; he looked over to Tigress and Lei Lei, then at Grandma Panda, who looked like she was about to kick Shifu if he told her she was too old to cross the mountains one more time. Po asked Crane to hold on a minute, and went over to the arguing group.

“Uh, guys, do mind if I just say something?”
Grandma paused with her foot half-raised; Shifu quickly moved away from her and jumped atop his staff, waving a hand at Li and Sum, who quieted down.

“Shifu, why don’t we send Crane and Mantis ahead? Weren’t you already thinking about that?”
“Yes, but we agreed that all the Masters would stay with the pandas until we reached the Valley. Were you not concerned, Master Panda, about the safety of your group?”
Li nodded heavily. Although Po and the Five had told him of their defeat of Shen and his wolves, after thirty years of hiding he and the others were wary about revealing their survival to the world. Many of the pandas who were accompanying them only decided to go when the Five promised to keep an eye on them during the journey. The idea of Crane and Mantis leaving, or any of the Masters leaving to travel ahead, had not been met positively.

Po held up a paw.

“Okay, but what about Masters Bear, Croc, and Chicken? Their village isn’t even a day out of our way; we can send Crane and Mantis ahead and ask Master Croc and the others to take their place. And then we don’t have to worry about hurrying too fast for…uh…”
Grandma Panda narrowed her eyes at him. Po shuffled out of kicking range.

“…Hurrying too fast for the kids to come. Would that work?”
Shifu ran a hand down his beard, still balanced on the staff. He looked over to Li, and Li, after a moment, nodded.

“The Dragon Warrior is right. Crane!”

Crane stepped forward, bowing his head.

“Take Mantis and go ahead of us to the Valley. Inform the villagers that they may come back to their homes. See to it that repairs to the Palace and any buildings damaged in the village begin, and try to organize a place for our panda guests to stay.”
“Uh, is this still because I can fl-?”
“Yes. Now go!” Crane took to the air, Mantis clinging to the brim of his hat. Shifu turned back to the others.

“We might as well inform our group of our new members, and the detour we will need to take to fetch the other Masters. Grandma Panda, if you will?”
The newest members of the group gathered up what packs they had and followed Shifu and Grandma back down the path. Po began to follow but paused when he noticed Tigress, who was seated on a low rock, her arms around the baby who had still not let go of her. The triplet’s mother, Hui Feng, stopped as she passed them, a sleeping Meng Meng in her arms.

“She cried all night for her ‘Stripey Baby’,” Hui Feng said gently, pointing a finger at Lei Lei. Tigress’s ears dropped.

“It’s not your fault,” the panda woman said. “Children will get like that; they find something they like and latch onto it and don’t let go. Just let her know that you’re there for her.”
“Of course,” said Tigress quietly. Lei Lei tightened her tiny arms. Hui Feng hitched Meng Meng into a better position, and followed after the group, nodding to Po as she passed. Tigress stood, looked at Po, and returned his smile.

“I missed her, too,” she whispered as they began back together.

The news that they could slow down was met with grateful approval, the detour less so. The pandas had not anticipated visiting a town before reaching the Valley of Peace, and after so long in isolation the announcement caused fearful whispers to ripple through the group. The newcomers, on the other hand, were enthusiastically welcomed, and the addition of Bao and the triplets caused much laughter to sweeten the air as they walked. Mr. Ping had a good time telling the triplets about his shop and the food he cooked within, delighting in his eager audience.

Shifu, Po could tell, was unhappy about having to take such a slow pace, but Grandma Panda kept him talking. He had an intense interest in the village and its history, especially where it concerned Oogway, and Grandma indulged him with every tale she knew.

Lei Lei refused to be parted from Tigress for any length of time. When the group stopped for lunch she sat in the Master’s lap and ate, a feat that made Grandma Panda fondly pat Tigress on the shoulder. Po helped entertain the little girl as they traveled; his encyclopedic knowledge of Tigress’s battles and achievements, as well as his fanboyish delight at everything she had ever done, made Lei Lei lighten up enough to eventually be willing to allow Po to carry her for short periods, though she kept a grip on Tigress’s paw and took her afternoon nap draped over her shoulder.

Bao, as they began to walk again, invited Po for a hacky-sack competition, which Po called a rain-check on; Shifu had never seen Grandma Panda get hit on the head with a flying projectile, and Po wasn’t going to take any chances, especially with the red panda getting so defensive over the old woman. Instead Po began to teach the young panda how to safely jump and land, showing Bao how to jump off of the boulders that littered their path and not get hurt, though Bao’s natural durability helped greatly. By the time that shadows lengthened and night began to fall, everybody was happily tired out, either from talking or laughing, and after a simple dinner the group was eager to get to sleep. The pandas slept more or less wherever they fell, in whatever positions, and never failed to amuse Shifu and the Five to see that Po’s ability to sleep in any situation was not unique to him.

Tigress, as she had since Kai’s defeat and Po’s return, curled up a few feet from Po, tonight with Lei Lei nestled against her stomach. Po nodded to the sleeping baby, leaning up on his arm.

“What are you going to do about her,” he whispered. Behind him, Li and Monkey settled against a tree, taking the first watch.
Tigress didn’t ask what Po meant. She had considered the same question most of the day; what would she do about the baby once they reached the Valley? Presumably Lei Lei would stay with Grandma - as she had been doing for most of her life - down in the village, but with the little girl’s continuing attachment to Tigress it seemed like an increasingly unlikely situation.

“I mean to ask Shifu tomorrow if Grandma Panda and Lei Lei can stay in the barracks. Several of the pandas will probably have to, if there are not enough empty rooms in the village for all of them.”
Po raised a brow at her, and she raised one back.

“It’s the easiest option,” she said quietly. “I will be needed for repairs - we all will –and I’ll be close enough for Lei Lei to be satisfied. Probably.”
She and Po looked at the sleeping baby, who was curled in a ball around her Tigress figurine.

“I still can’t believe you gave her that,” Tigress murmured. Po chuckled quietly.

“Well, it’s not like I could just take it away from her. She nearly started crying before I said that she could keep it. How could I say no to those eyes?”
Tigress smiled at that, and pulled an arm around the little panda, pillowing her head on one arm and closing her eyes.

“The mighty Dragon Warrior, Master of Chi, defeated by a little girl,” she muttered. Po huffed in mock indignation, and Tigress grinned. Po looked at the two for a moment longer, then settled back down, shifting in the loose dirt until he drifted off to sleep.

When Shifu came to relieve Li and Monkey, he found Grandma Panda sitting up with them, yawning but alert. He didn’t need to ask what she was doing up; as the years went by, he found himself waking at odd hours more and more frequently, an uninterrupted night of sleep becoming a rare occurrence. Monkey settled down on the tree limb he had been keeping watch from but Li stayed up to finish his conversation with Grandma, on the same subject Shifu had overheard Po and Tigress quietly discussing. Shifu went over to the panda sleeping behind the watch tree but, as he looked upon what he found, could not bring it upon himself to wake him.

Tigress had silently refused, in the days following Po’s journey into the Spirit Realm, to go anywhere without keeping Po in her sight. Nobody commented on this – nobody dared – and seeing Tigress accompany Po wherever he went had become a common sight. While still at the village she had set herself up a pallet in the hut Po had stayed in but, since Crane was also staying with Po, Shifu had thought nothing of it. The previous night Tigress had settled down beside the panda without a moment of hesitation, but again, Shifu had not thought on it, since most members of the group were piled upon each other for warmth, hidden away in a tiny cave that gave shelter from the snowy landscape.

But here…Li and Grandma stopped beside him, taking in the sight. Almost nose-to-nose, Po and Tigress curled toward each other in sleep, with the baby Lei Lei huddled under two pairs of woven arms.

Grandma poked Shifu with her walking stick.

“I’ll stay for the watch,” she whispered firmly. “Don’t wake him.”

“But wake me up before they rise,” said Li, and grinned at his son and his friend. “’Cause I wanna see what happens.”

Chapter Text

The presence of Grandma Panda and the young children made the group’s journey to the Valley of Peace slow down considerably. Po and Li’s initial journey to the panda village had taken a little over a week; by the time the group reached Masters Croc, Bear, and Chicken’s village they had been travelling almost the same amount of time, and were still only halfway to the Valley.

Special consideration had to be taken in regards to terrain and weather, to allow for the safety of the young ones and anybody who had trouble with a particular part of the road. The triplets’mother, Hui Feng, had to be escorted inch-by-inch across the tiny bridge that lay between two sheer walls of rock, the dark, deep drop in the six-feet-wide gap having turned her stomach and made her shiver. Po and Li fought side-by-side through waist-high drifts of snow to carve a path for the others, but it was very slow going, even with Monkey and Shifu running along the drifts to direct Po and Li away from hidden boulders. Lei Lei was convinced to temporarily board in Po’s arms while Tigress and Li escorted everybody one at a time along the foot-wide little path that was carved into a curving cliff-side (Hui Feng had to shuffle along with her eyes closed). The road offered slim pickings to such a large party, and they were all relieved when the mountains and hills turned aside to give them a first glimpse of Master Croc and the others’ home, a portside town situated in a little gorge that opened to a large lake.

The group had had a lengthy debate the day before on how they were going to approach the village. Most of the pandas were, after so long in hiding, wary about entering an entire town of strangers, but they also were reluctant to split the group up. Finally, it was decided that Li and Shifu would go, with Po and the rest of the Masters staying to protect the pandas.

The two left swiftly after breakfast. Li had a difficult time departing; he had been one of the most vocal on not separating anyone from the group, intensely concerned about the group being attacked without him to help. It was Grandma Panda of all people who convinced him to go; after all, the pandas were protected by the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five, not to mention those in the group who were learning kung fu. Li had another concern:

“Uh, this may be a little late, but are you sure the Masters will come with us?” Li whispered to Po. Po nodded his head.

“Oh, definitely. Any Master who receives a summons to help out somewhere goes; it’s an honor thing. And, y’know,” he said with a faint smile. “They kind of owe me a favor.”

It was the favor that actually did it, in the end. The Masters of the port town of Fu Hai had returned to their home to find it awash with criminals, all of whom had heard of the Masters’ disappearance and took advantage of the lack of protection, overbearing the village’s guard force.  Apparently quite a few of the villages across China had the same problem in the aftermath of Kai's attacks, and were only now recovering. Thinking that the Masters were gone for good, outlaws, bandits, and thieves had ransacked the town, and by the time Li and Shifu showed up the Masters had only just gotten order back with the assistance of Master Eagle, who, having no village under his protection, was offering his help to every province he could fly to. Even after regaining order Croc, Chicken, and Bear were reluctant to leave their village for the week and a half it would take to escort the pandas to the Valley and get back, until Li reminded them of the massive debt they owed to his son. After a lengthy argument, several whispered conversations, a brief break for lunch, and one last heavily-worded debate, the three Masters agreed to leave the village in the supervision of Master Eagle, who would protect it until they returned. They decided to rendezvous later in the afternoon, giving Li and Shifu a chance to shop for more supplies and the Masters time to settle their affairs and quell remaining areas of trouble.

Li and Shifu walked from the Masters’ guardhouse to the market by early afternoon. Li was eager to get out of the town; although his experiences with the people in the Valley of Peace had been enjoyable, nowhere else had seen a panda in over three decades, and the looks and stares he was getting were becoming uncomfortable. There was nothing he could do about it, however, and he walked along as calmly as he could, though Shifu could tell he was very tense.

“I know that this may all be very difficult for you, Li,” he said quietly as they reached the marketplace. “After living so long in such an insular community, anyone would find it uncomfortable.”
Li nodded, examining a box of strange, hairy fruit.

“It’s not like I’ve been completely isolated…I was one of the few who went out of the village if there were any medicines or supplies we needed that we couldn’t make for ourselves…but most of the people I dealt with I always visited in private.”
He moved on from the unfamiliar fruit and began putting peaches into a bag, handing a few coins to the staring vendor.

“I thought the Valley of Peace would be a lot worse than it was. I guess your people were all so used to Po that another panda wasn’t as much of a big deal, huh?”
Shifu glanced at him from behind a large barrel of cherries.

“Po has indeed made himself a common figure in the lives of many of the villagers. His deeds and experiences as Dragon Warrior have made him quite popular.”

Li chuckled. “Yep, that’s my son,” he said fondly. Shifu smiled with him and they went back to their shopping, quietly discussing housing arrangements and work opportunities available for the pandas in the Valley of Peace.

As Shifu moved over to a stall selling buns and breads, his ears picked up a commotion down the far end of a quieter side street, and he picked his way through the market crowd to take a look. By the sound of things, a cart vendor, late to the market, was getting assaulted.

He slid between two pastry stalls and looked at the entrance of the street, and something cold and heavy settled into the pit of his stomach.

A large wolf, grizzled and rangy, was shaking a pig with one hand, the other riffling through his wares. Across his snout were ragged scars, and his left eye was missing.

Shifu looked briefly looked behind him, where Li was examining vegetables, unaware of the trouble. The Master jumped across a stall’s back wares and ran into the alley to help the pig, hoping that he could take down the wolf and send word to the village’s guards without Li noticing. Po had told him of the panda massacre; he had no idea how Li would react to seeing a wolf, and he didn’t want to have the opportunity to find out.

 The wolf staggered as Shifu kicked him in the side. He dropped the pig and fell against the cart, scattering its wares across the earthen street. Shifu helped the vendor to his feet and smacked the end of his staff into the wolf’s shins, taking him down when he began to stand again.

“It would be better for you if you surrendered quietly,” said Shifu firmly. The wolf laughed at him.

“Not on your life, shortstop,” he growled, and threw the cart at Shifu and the vendor, forcing the red panda to pick up the pig and dodge to the side, the cart breaking against the spot where they had been standing. Shifu landed to see the wolf running down the alley towards the market, and swiftly pursued him, cursing under his breath.

The two of them came out into the market square and Shifu abruptly found himself dodging goats and sheep, turtles and alligators as the wolf threw them and their wares into his path. He caught as many flying bystanders as he could, but suddenly was pinned down by a sheep and several bolts of fabric, the wolf triumphantly running ahead of him. He untangled his staff from a length of silk and looked up to see Li looking over at the commotion, directly in the wolf’s path. Shifu shouted out a warning, but it was too late; the wolf, still looking back at Shifu, hit his shoulder against Li’s arm and spun to the side, crashing onto one knee. Li stumbled back, dropping his bags, and the two stared at each other. The wolf’s ears fell backward and he began to snarl, but it was Li’s reaction that made Shifu stop in his tracks. The panda had caught sight of the wolf with fearful eyes, falling back few steps, but suddenly his fur bristled, a growl rumbling in his throat, and the panda launched himself at the wolf with no further warning. The wolf, instead of fighting, tried to run back the other way, but Li caught him on the arm, swinging a huge paw at his face. The hit sent the wolf flying into the air and Shifu immediately smelled blood, his eyes catching red on Li’s claws. The panda threw himself toward the wolf with a hoarse, broken cry, hitting at the him with a ferocity Shifu had only rarely seen, and would certainly never had expected the panda capable of. The wolf stopped trying to get away and began to fight back with everything he had but Li tore at him with tooth and claw, bloodying every fist and elbow that came at him. Shifu shook himself out of his daze as Li raked his claws down the wolf’s face, nearly taking out his remaining eye, and launched himself at the two, ducking between them and forcing them apart.

“Enough!” he yelled, balancing atop his staff, arms outstretched, but he suddenly found himself flying through the air. He had expected them to stop fighting, or at least to have to watch for retaliation by the wolf, and so was completely caught off guard when it was Li’s fist that smacked him out of the way. He flew sideways into a vegetable stall and fell, surprised and winded.

Shifu had been told that he had fought against Li and Mr. Ping as a Jade Zombie, but he didn’t remember it, and though he had seen Po fight, somehow Shifu had not considered that the other pandas could be just as capable. He tried to stand but fell against his staff, a searing pain cutting across his midsection; the strength of Li’s slap had bruised his ribs.

Shifu felt an unwelcome sliver of fear awake inside him, but pulled himself together and, pushing the pain to the back of his mind, re-entered the fray. Li, with his greater strength and size, had brought the wolf down. He smacked the wolf in the face until he lost consciousness, and raised his arm again, but Shifu caught it with his staff, pinning it to the ground. Li turned to him but Shifu sent the staff flying across his face with enough force to knock him down. He prepared himself for a difficult fight, but Li stayed down, leaning on trembling arms. Tears were running down his face, the panda’s whole body shaking with sobs and adrenalin. Silently cursing the fear that flashed across his mind, Shifu drew closer, and he began to understand some of the sobs.
“He…he…”
Shifu forced himself to walk forward until he was within touching distance, and softly placed a hand on Li’s shoulder. The panda flinched away and curled into a crouching ball, face buried in his bloodied paws, crying hard, faint whispers of ‘Lotus’ and a name Shifu didn’t recognize ­­unearthing between the sobs. He shifted around Li’s large bulk to examine the wolf, feeling guilty but relieved that he was still wheezily breathing.

The market crowd had backed away from the fight, most of them looking at the wolf and panda with horror. Two guards were within the crowd, staring at Li, and Shifu cleared his throat and motioned to them to come and collect the wolf. He briefly explained about the pig in the side street, trying to gloss over the pandas’ history with the wolves without going too deeply, and after several minutes he convinced the guards to arrest and treat the wolf and let Li go, though the guards bid him to take their wares, leave, and do not come back.

Quietly apologizing to the stall keepers for the ­­disturbance, Shifu gathered up the bags Li had dropped, and when he turned back the panda had sat up. His face was contorted in a mixture of fear, anger, and an intense sadness, but when Shifu tried to talk to him, he stood up and silently stormed away. The crowd fearfully parted for him as he headed back in the direction of their group, and all Shifu could do was collect their things and follow after him.

Li did not speak until they were out of the town.

“I thought you’d gotten rid of those wolves,” he said hoarsely.  Shifu, shifting the bags that hung from his staff, practically had to jog to keep with the panda’s pace.

“Those…you mean, that was one of the wolves who attacked your village?”
Li’s nose wrinkled as he bared his teeth.

“That was their leader. I could never forget his face. He tried to….”
Li’s eyes brimmed with angry tears and he swallowed heavily.

“He tried to kill my son. My little Lotus…Po; he was sitting outside our home when the attack…”
Shifu struggled to keep with Li’s side, his ribs paining him; Li noticed and grabbed the bags from Shifu’s staff, wiping his eyes with the back of his paw. His pace began to slow a little as they climbed a rocky hill.

“I got him in the face, but he and Shen and the others got past me…”
Shifu began to notice the sounds of the group, and Viper slithered around the edge of a boulder. She began to greet them until she noticed Li, and her smile dropped. Li gruffly walked past her, his grip tightening on the bags. As they rounded the boulder, their group rang out a welcome that petered out into horrified gasps.

“Dad!”
Po scooted around Tigress and Lei Lei, a flower chain around his ears. He grabbed at Li’s shoulders and the panda violently jerked back, dropping the bags. Po froze, and slowly raised his paws, speaking soft and low, Li answering brokenly, and for the first time Shifu really noticed the state the panda was in. His fingers and snout were streaked with blood, splotches of reddish pink smeared across the fur of his arms and torso, and a few scratches and bite marks were sluggishly congealing. Dirt and dust stuck to the bloody spots, matting the fur and making it stick up strangely. Shifu had not noticed him limping, but as he sat on a low rock he held one foot strangely. His eyes were cast far away as he looked beyond Po, and after a moment he roughly grabbed his son and pulled him tight.

“Lotus…”
“I’m here, Dad,” Po murmured, wrapping his arms around his father’s bloodied, heaving shoulders.
“It’s okay, it’s okay…”
Grandma Panda walked up beside Shifu, and Li looked up at the rustling of her dress. She patted him on the shoulder, offering her silent comfort. Shifu shifted to allow her room, and Li caught the pained grimace on his face.

“Did I hurt you,” he whispered. Shifu nodded after a moment.

“I’m sorry,” said Li quietly. He pulled Po tighter and buried his face against his son’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry.”

The group remained quiet and tense even after Li had cleaned up and the Masters had joined them. Nobody got much sleep that night.

Chapter Text

Shifu had watched Po and Tigress’s growing attachment with wariness at first, but as the years passed he grew to understand the massive importance the panda held in Tigress’s heart.

He had observed her smiling for the first time in years. The process, though slow, was steady, and Shifu found himself cataloguing each smile, each open compliment, each laugh – a sound he was painfully unfamiliar with. By the time Li showed up, Shifu recognized Tigress almost as little as he recognized himself. Po had a gift for drawing people out of themselves, and after twenty years Shifu caught glimpses of the hopeful, amiable child he had adopted from Bao Gu.

He knew, of course, of Po’s crush on her – he had known from the first day. Though Po was rarely ever truly awkward around anybody, his constant glances at Tigress and subdued conversation to her had clued the red panda in, and Shifu watched the new Dragon Warrior with care, waiting for him to slip up and make her uncomfortable.

Surprisingly, he never did. He didn’t let his crush affect how he interacted with her, and his ability to get on with just about anybody worked on Tigress as well; within the first few months of Po becoming Dragon Warrior he and Tigress were interacting like friends of old. Shifu would never have considered that Tigress would let anybody past the shields she had erected around her heart until he saw the panda make her laugh for the first time in a decade. So when their relationship began to grown into the realms of close friendship, Shifu did not worry; he knew that neither would be hurt at the hands of the other. It was when those hands started getting…well, handsy, that he felt a little glimmer of watchfulness stir.

Tigress was not a touchy person. She did not pat anyone on the back, as the others did, or lay a hand on anyone’s shoulder, as the rest were wont to do; she touched no one, and no one touched her. Nobody dared.

But Po was not known for his self-preservation.

So he elbowed Tigress when he made a joke; he grabbed her arm when he wanted to show her something; when she did something for him to fan about he screeched and clapped her on the back…and – very slowly – Shifu noticed her returning the gestures, in her own way. She’d help him up when he got knocked down; when he lost balance, she was there to steady him; if he completed a particularly difficult move, her paw would pat his arm.

Shifu had watched Po grab her into a hug in the harbor of Gongmen, and she didn’t push him away. She tensed and startled, but she allowed him to hold her. That had been a huge surprise.

The story that the others told him later, as they made their way back to the Valley of Peace, had shocked him even more; he’d had a difficult time believing that Tigress actually had ever hugged Po until he witnessed it himself, deep in the middle of the night when crying had broken the silence and Tigress had comforted the panda until he fell back asleep.

And then there was that prank the two had played, tricking the others into thinking that they were…that they had been….

Shifu had resolved to keep a closer eye on the pair after that. Nothing that happened had suggested that the two shared anything but a deep, intimate friendship.

But as he watched them settle down beside each other for the third, fourth, fifth time on the road, he wondered if he had not been quite as observant as he’d thought.

The Masters of the Jade Palace were not above using each other for warmth. Many missions took them across the mountains and plains, and there were rarely enough public houses or villages that they could stay in for every night of their journey. Admittedly, they had not often curled up against one another before Po came and offered his tremendously warm bulk, but in the name of pragmatism none of them had hesitated to huddle in cold evenings on the road.

But as the other four of the Five watched Po and Tigress sleep against each other every night for three weeks, openly, without it even being cold, they wondered if there was something they had missed.

They knew, of course, that Po would venture into Tigress’s room whenever he had a nightmare, and none of them judged the panda for seeking comfort on those difficult nights. However, none of them had considered that maybe Tigress had not only put up with his presence, but welcomed it.

She certainly wasn’t hesitant about spooning him, for sure. The Masters, including Shifu, observed from the corners of their eyes and silent marveled as Po pulled Tigress into his arms, as Tigress pulled Po into hers, as they both – and the word just didn’t seem plausible, but there it was – cuddled­.

The panda baby between them was a nice touch, too.

Li had known the tiger was a special one ever since she had arrived at his village, marked with blood and dirt and grabbing onto his son like he was the last light she could see. Po had held her carefully but close, and the look in his eyes told his father that the tiger was very precious to him.

The villagers had been wary of her presence, ill at ease at another stranger in their home, especially a tiger. They began to trust her after watching her with Lei Lei, who had attached herself to Tigress the moment she arrived in the village. Tigress had attempted several times to give the baby the slip, to little avail, and eventually allowed Lei Lei to follow her as closely as she herself tailed Po. Trusting one of the village’s children to a stranger and warrior had not been easy, but the villagers watched Tigress treat the adorable little annoyance with care, and it became obvious within a few hours that she would rather cut off her own tail than allow the little girl to come to harm. Lei Lei, of course, was completely ecstatic at meeting the real-life Stripey Baby, and absolutely no one was willing to tell the toddler that she couldn’t keep her. Tigress treated the child with an affection and warmth that bordered on parental, and there wasn’t a single villager ready to separate them.

As the unofficial leader of the village, Li’s good opinion of Tigress helped tremendously. He saw how closely she stuck to Po and how considerately she treated Lei Lei, and his like for her grew each passing day.

The fact that she wouldn’t let Po leave her sight and that Po seemed to have absolutely no problem with this only heightened his like, and Li didn’t think twice on it when they slept beside each other every night on the road. Both had bedded down in his son’s cabin without a single word. The only thing that seemed odd was the reaction Po’s friends were having.

On the fourth morning in on their journey to the Valley of Peace Po and Tigress awoke to the disbelieving eyes of every one of their friends. They had fallen asleep side-by-side, with Lei Lei curled up under Tigress’s arm, but in the morning found themselves with noses nearly touching, each with an arm wrapped around the young child, who was looking incredibly comfortable in her black-and-gold nest. With the stares of five Masters upon them, they rose quietly and quickly, acting like nothing had happened. Ping, of all people, stopped them from gawking every morning, and the sight of Tigress and Po cuddled up eventually became, if not commonplace, then at least studiously ignored. Neither of them gave any indication of wishing to sleep anywhere but beside the other, and Li woke up early one morning to a little gem of a conversation.

It wasn’t quite dawn; the sun had yet to rise above the hills, and a fine mist stirred on the outskirts of their camp, making the chilly air curiously humid. Li, unaccustomed to waking so early, immediately closed his eyes and relaxed, until a whisper caught his ear.

“Your sleep schedule is off.”
“Lesson number one: Pandas sleep past noon.”
“Panda training can be put on hold. You are the Dragon Warrior, first and foremost, and that means early mornings.”
Li cracked one eye open, tilting his head just a bit to get the pair in his sight. Po was turned away from him, his head resting on Tigress’s arm. Lei Lei was barely a peek of pink behind his bulk, nestled as usual between the two. Tigress’s eyes were closed, but she was smiling.

“I like sleeping in,” Po protested quietly.

“You usually rise earlier than anyone.” Tigress curled inward a little, one arm tightening around Lei Lei.

“That’s when we’re doing kung fu. We’re not going kung fu today, we’re just walking – so, I don’t need to get up early.”

“You are already wide awake,” Tigress murmured. Po shifted a little, positioning his head more comfortably on her outstretched arm.

“Don’t want to get up,” he slurred. “I’m super comfy. You get up.”
Tigress snorted, but did not reply. She looked pretty comfortable as well, Li noticed. They stayed in silence for so long that Li thought they had gone back to sleep, until Po pulled himself a little tighter to Tigress and rubbed his forehead against hers.

“I could get used to this forever,” he said contentedly.

“Could you?” Tigress murmured. The words seemed curiously heavy. Po was quiet for a few moments, then he pressed his face against her head, drawing her closer against him.

“...Yeah. I could.”

Tigress hmm’d quietly, her left arm tightening around his torso as her outstretched right curled around his shoulder. Li turned his face away and closed his eyes, burning with both embarrassment and glee.

No wonder Mei Mei’s dance didn’t capture his son, Li thought happily. He’d already been caught.

Though the mountains didn’t often offer fantastic camping stops, Li had been up and down enough to know where someone could shelter for a night or two. The problem wasn’t the environment, exactly, but the size of the group, which not only included the seven Masters but a large number of pandas, few of whom were small in size or stature. Most of the caves and hollows Li used to sleep in on his trips were rendered useless, only big enough for a few people. Whenever they stopped, it was silently agreed that Grandma Panda and the children would stay in these spots, with the others finding the softest bit of rock they could or huddling against the others. They had been fortunate enough to have escaped rain so far, but snow and heavy winds had torn at those exposed at night, and even the pandas, who could sleep anywhere, any way, and through just about anything, were getting a little sleep-deprived.

The Masters handled it best. Accustomed as they were to early hours and difficult days on the road, the antagonistic elements and lack of cover didn’t bother them as much as it did the pandas, who were used to sleeping in comfortable, sheltered homes.

Tigress, out of the entire group, got the best sleep. Lei Lei refused to go anywhere without her (or let Tigress go anywhere without her), so Tigress appeased the cub by sleeping by her in whatever sheltered spots were given to Grandma Panda and the cubs. And wherever Tigress went, Po went also, so when they settled down to sleep Po would be right next to her, bidding goodnight to his dads and everybody else in the group, before finally settling down and going to sleep.

Lei Lei had no problem with sleeping between her Stripey Baby and Po, who had been affectionately renamed ‘Cuddles’, something that amused the Masters to no end. Po took the teasing well; it was accurate, after all.

Eight days into the journey Lei Lei changed their evening routine; after watching the triplet’s mother Hui Feng give her children goodnight kisses, the little panda refused to go to sleep without one as well. She hadn’t quite gotten the general principal down at first, demanding a goodnight kiss from everyone within eyesight for the first two nights. This included Gang, the triplets, Grandma Panda, Li, Ping, Po, Tigress, Viper, and even Shifu, who refused at first but caved when Lei Lei began to cry. She settled for just Tigress after a few nights.

Tigress, although taken aback at first, had obliged with little hesitation, gently kissing the cub on her forehead. Lei Lei closed her eyes and smiled as if feeling sunshine for the first time, nuzzling her head into Tigress’s cheek each night. Po always joined them a little late, coming back from checking on the group and getting any updates from Shifu or his dads. One evening he returned from a long discussion on upcoming terrain to find both Tigress and Lei Lei asleep, the talk having gone on for well over an hour. Tigress hmm’d when she woke to Po settling down beside her, and he silently shook his head.

“Tell you tomorrow,” he whispered. In Tigress’s arms Lei Lei squirmed, then sat up, blinking muzzily.

She peeked over Tigress’s torso to look at Po.

“Cuddles!”
Po lifted his head, shifting at bit on the sand.

“Mm?”

Lei Lei pulled herself on top of Tigress’s abdomen, trying to get closer to Po.

“Kiss!”

Po pushed up on his elbows, yawning heavily.

“What, me?”
Lei Lei nodded grimly, holding out her arms. Po raised himself onto his knees and leaned over, wrapping the cub in a big bear hug. Lei Lei gave him as big a squeeze as she could before letting go.

“Night-night, Cuddles,” she murmured. Po balanced her as she slid back onto the ground and into Tigress’s amused embrace, before settling down once again at his friend’s side. He exchanged a smile with Tigress and leaned over her, setting a tiny kiss on the top of the little girl’s head.

“Goodnight, Lei Lei,” he said. She wriggled happily in Tigress’s arms, finding a comfortable position to go back to sleep in. Po then retreated to his own spot, but not before leaning down again.

“Goodnight, Tigress,” he whispered, softly kissing her cheek. Tigress froze, looking at him with wide eyes. He stared back, looking rather surprised at himself, then smiled easily and lay down against as if nothing unusual had happened.

He was just on the edge of sleep when he felt Tigress shift, and a gentle pressure against his shoulder.

“Goodnight, Po,” he heard her murmur, and he drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

The news that the Jade Palace had been destroyed had become household talk for many miles outside the Valley, as had the knowledge that every Master was gone and the village deserted. Mantis and Crane had come back to find the village overrun with bandits who were taking the opportunity to rob a place that was usually quite difficult to cause trouble in. Upon the return of the two Masters the bandits began to retreat, though it was nearly a week before Crane and Mantis deemed the village safe enough to welcome its citizens back. The villagers trickled in from the outermost farms and towns of the Valley and were horrified to see the beloved Jade Palace in ruins.

Crane and Mantis quickly organized a repair team. The Palace had not been completely destroyed; only the southern wing had really been damaged. The roof leaned dangerously and the damage branched out past the Hall of Heroes, but within the week masons and carpenters had shored the roof and the walls, volunteers had removed the surviving scrolls and relics, and repair was underway. It would be a very long process, but already people from other villages, even ones outside the Valley, were coming to help. The Jade Palace was a symbol of honor and justice throughout the whole of China, and people came from places the Masters had never even heard of just to assist in the repairs. Several of China’s kung fu Masters and students came to help as well, and the village was getting crowded.

By the time Po, Shifu, and the others made it to the Valley, Crane and Mantis were already supervising the erection of a temporary home for the various workers and visitors, every spare room in the village having already been taken. The company arrived to find the village buzzing with unusual levels of activity, peoples of species that had rarely or never been seen before in the Valley walking, talking, and trading along the streets.

All of them stopped in their tracks as the group came into view, staring at the two dozen pandas standing within a guard of Masters, the first pandas that anyone from outside the Valley had seen for three decades. Uneasy at all the attention, many of the pandas shifted nervously, most especially the adults who had survived Shen’s attack. Li moved around the group, assuring them that all was well; he was hampered slightly by the following of baby bunnies that quickly accumulated around him, having recognized him from the weeks before.

“Master Shifu!”
Crane and Mantis managed to maneuver through the steadily growing crowd, bowing as they reached the company. Shifu threaded through panda legs until he pushed out of the group, followed by Po and the other Masters.

“What news?”
“Repairs to the Palace are underway, Master,” said Crane. “We’ve actually got more volunteers than hires. Some people have come all the way from India and Myanmar to help.”
“I can see that,” said Shifu, eyeing an immensely huge cobra as he slithered past.

“Where are we housing all these people?”
“The villagers have been boarding them, but we’re actually building a new public house by the river,” said Mantis, jumping off of Crane’s hat. “There’s room for some of the pandas in the barracks, but not everybody. A lot of the guys who travelled here just set up camp iN THE FIELDS! WOAH!”

Mantis leapt onto the shoulder of Master Bear, barely missing the grabby fingers of the toddler Lei Lei.

“Greeny Baby!”
“Stop that! I’m not a toy!”

“How far did the damage extend,” asked Viper, raising her voice over Mantis’s cries and Lei Lei’s laughter.

“Not as far as we’d thought,” said Crane. “The village was pretty much untouched. I think Kai just wanted to destroy the Palace.”

“The gate down here was smashed,” said Mantis, hopping from panda to panda to avoid the little girl, who was climbing up the arms of several people to get at him. “And then there was the, you know, huge Oogway statue in chunks all over the place.”

Shifu’s ears lowered, a dark look passing through his eyes.

“Kai destroyed Oogway’s statue? What about the rest of the Masters,” said Po, grabbing up Lei Lei when she tried to scale his belly.

“The rest are fine. It’s just the south wing and Oogway’s memorial,” said Crane.

Mantis jumped on Po’s forehead, teasing his claw-thingies at the grasping toddler.

“Let’s make the next statue out of jade,” he said as Lei Lei tried to snatch him. “Just to tick Kai off.”

“We will not be making any plans for that until the Palace and grounds are finished,” said Shifu. He gently shook off a panda cub that had been cuddling his tail, and started forward through the village.

“Let us examine the damage. Li, if you and your people would prefer to stay here and get oriented, Viper and Monkey will stay to show you around and find accommodation for everybody.” The two Masters stepped forward and Li nodded to them thankfully.

“I’ll get everyone who’s staying down here situated, and then bring the rest up sometime later tonight.”

“Very well. The rest of you, come. Let us examine the damage.”

Tigress and the other Masters began to follow Shifu, but Li grabbed ahold of Po’s arm.

“You’ll come back tonight?”

Po nodded.

“I’ll come and get you around sunset or so and let you know how many rooms we got in the barracks. I’m already gonna put two on hold for Gang and Grandma Panda. You’ll be okay staying with Dad?”
Li waved a paw at him.

“I’ll be fine, son. Ping said I can have your room upstairs, and if anybody down here needs me I’ll be close by.”
He gave Po a squeeze on the shoulder, and let him catch up with the others. They had discussed several times over the past weeks how exactly to proceed with housing a group of pandas who had never been outside their village or separated from their people before. Those who were especially interested in kung fu would be staying in the available rooms at the Palace barracks, as would Gang and Grandma Panda, with whom Lei Lei and Bao would be rooming. Nobody had discussed Lei Lei staying anywhere else; the little girl was still unwilling to go anywhere without Tigress or Po, and since Grandma Panda took care of her and Bao, a room in the barracks would be made up for all three of them.

Po was incredibly thankful that his dads were getting along so well. Ping had offered Li Po’s old room above his shop, as well as a job at the restaurant, and Li had immediately jumped on the offer.

Masters Croc, Chicken, and Bear would stay for three days at the most, to rest and assist where needed before returning to their own village.

Mantis poked Po on the brow.

“Hey, Po, you got a…”

Po felt someone tug on the leg of his trousers.

“I wanna go with you,” said Bao, holding up his paw.

“No problem, buddy,” said Po. “Grandma!”

Grandma Panda paused in her conversation with Li and looked over at him; he pointed to Bao and Lei Lei to let her know they were with him and she nodded in understanding.

Lei Lei wanted to be put down, so Po set her at Tigress’s side when he and Bao caught up with her and the others, but not before she reached up and snatched Mantis from off of Po’s head, where he had forgotten about the imminent danger lurking below. Po roared in laughter at Mantis’s fervent protests against being used as a doll, and Lei Lei only put him down when Tigress gently pried him from her fingers. Mantis hopped on top of Crane’s hat and hunkered down on the edge, stealing nervous glances now and again to the toddler holding Tigress’s paw. Up ahead, Shifu was inquiring about the scrolls recovered from the wreckage. Out of ­­­eight thousand, over twelve hundred had been completely destroyed, and even more damaged. Not all of the scrolls had been written by Oogway, of course; most had simply been collected by or given to him for use for future students and teachers, but as most were between two and nine centuries old, they were all very valuable and difficult, if not impossible, to replace.

Po, sensing that his input wouldn’t be needed for a few minutes, took the opportunity to tell Bao about the Valley, of which he was intensely curious. Being raised in a village exclusively home to pandas had offered a sense of kinship, but not much one of adventure, and the child was very curious about the different-looking peoples wandering the village.

“What’s that?” he asked.
“An ox.”
“What’s that?”
“That’s a gorilla.”
“What’s that?”
“That’s a…uh…I dunno, actually,” said Po, leaning his head a little to look at the strange mammal with a humped back.

“Well, what’s that?”
“That’s a… biiiinturong-? I’m not sure, I’ve never actually seen one.”
“What’s that?”
“That’s Master Lizard, from the Yellow Mountain region. Hey, Master Lizard!”
Both Po and Bao waved to the brightly-dressed ­­­water dragon as he walked past.

“There’s a lot of people here,” said Bao. Po hmm’d cheerfully, having as much fun spotting the different species as the child.

“Why aren’t there any pandas?”

Tigress turned around at Bao’s question, concerned eyes searching Po’s frozen face. He looked down at the boy.

“It’s…a bit of a long story, so do you mind if I tell you and Lei Lei later tonight?”

Bao shook his head, and they continued forward, drawing even with Tigress and the others as Shifu motioned to them.

“We are in need of your input, Dragon Warrior,” said the red panda, which Po took to mean ‘You’re Oogway’s successor, you make the decision’. Po had the feeling that this was the start of a long and arduous road. He sighed, but stepped forward.

“Whatcha need?”

The scaffolding around the destroyed wing was massive, a work of engineering almost as impressive as the Palace itself. The damage to the Palace was heartbreaking to those who called it home, and Po, as the only one who had not borne witness to its destruction, was especially dismayed at coming back and finding the entire south side empty, debris still being taken away and piled around the grounds. The workers tried to be as respectful as they could, but construction was construction, and the normally silent grounds were filled with the buzz of talk and yells, hammering, sawing, and chiseling.  Scrolls and various objects were still being found around the grounds, hidden behind rocks or within bushes. Most of the scrolls detailing the original construction of the Palace almost nine hundred years before had been stored in the scroll room, and there was a small detail of villagers sorting through the recovered documents, trying to find them. A few of the Masters who came to help brought with them some of the various copies that had been made of the ancient and very fragile scrolls, and the workers used these as references in the current repairs.

The climb up the staircase was more difficult than usual, as many of the stairs had been cracked or destroyed. The workers had cleared the debris to the side, but keeping the roof and remaining walls of the Palace from collapsing had been highest priority, and fixing the Thousand Stairs would have to wait. Oblivious to the adults’ sadness, Lei Lei and Bao had a great time jumping over the cracks and holes, though Lei Lei needed a boost over a few of them. Po carried them over the more difficult parts, a cub dangling off each arm.

“We’ve gotten all of the load-bearing walls and columns up, and now we’re working on raising the roof,”
Crane said. “We’ve also been assessing throughout to see whether the damage to the southern wing affected the rest of the Palace.”
“I would be surprised if it hadn’t. Make sure to check the underground vaults and archives as well; their collapse could be disastrous.”

“We already got that,” said Mantis, still sitting on the far edge of Crane’s hat. “There was a little bit of damage but we got everything stabilized before there was a cave-in.”
Shifu hmmed in approval as a troop of lynxes and boars trotted down past them.

“I see you are not short on workers,” he said.
“We barely had to hire anyone, actually.” Crane gestured to the right, where the northern fields and paddies were. The greens and blues of the crops and irrigation rivers were broken up and dotted with splotches of color; tents of every size and shape were set up in the fields and the roads between them.

“It’s the same to the south and northwest, too. They helped get a lot of the crops in and then set up in the empty fields. Three entire kung fu schools are here, including Wang Fu and Li Dan. We even had a delegation from the Imperial Palace offer their resources.”
“How are we feeding these people,” asked Shifu.

“Well, we got most of the autumn crop in this week,” said Mantis. “So there’s that, but a lot of towns and cities have been sending food and resources. You saw the market going on. Honestly, with all the people buying rooms and food, the village has been raking it in.”
“Have there been any problems with bandits,” asked Tigress. Mantis shook his head.

“There’s been some petty thievery, but really, there’s over twenty Masters here and like, four dozen students. Nobody’s been stupid enough to try, yet. A couple of groups were waylaid on the roads, but we posted a few people on the outskirts of the Valley to keep an eye on things and it hasn’t happened since.”

“We didn’t have any trouble on the way here,” Po said, taking Lei Lei and Bao off of his arms and putting them on his shoulders, since he needed his paws to get over a large gap in the stairs. “I thought we would have had a lot more people trying to talk to us, but everybody we passed on the road just kind of waved and let us by.”
“Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that,” said Crane. Po jumped over the gap and climbed up the stairs to him.

“What do you mean?”
“Well, we’ve been hearing rumors about a panda getting into a fight in Fu Hai. Sounded pretty bad.”
Po grimaced.

“Oh. Yeah, that was my dad. What did you hear?”

Wind rustled his fur as Crane fluttered onto a boulder.

“Well, the story changed a lot. At first it was just a panda fighting a wolf and some guards, but then it was three wolves and some guards, and then seven guards and a mongrel.”

“Wow, that uh…travelled fast.”
“Nobody’s seen the pandas for thirty years, Po,” said Mantis. “The news that one caused a big fight in a major port town is gonna be spread around a lot. I don’t know how many times we’ve had people coming in to help and ‘informing’ us that the pandas are back. You guys are big news.”

Something in Po’s face hardened and he glanced at the cubs on his shoulders.

“I don’t want there to be any trouble about this,” he said quietly. Tigress fell in beside him.

“We’ll keep them safe, Po,” she said. Lei Lei leaned over to her and she allowed the cub to sit on her shoulders. He glanced at her face and took comfort in the determination there.

They spent most of the rest of the day scattered around the Palace grounds, moving scrolls and artifacts, helping with the repairs, organizing donations, talking with various delegations and visitors, and clearing up rooms for the pandas staying in the barracks. Most of the recovered scrolls and artifacts had been stored in the barracks and Training Hall, and as evening approached the Masters found themselves organizing the scrolls as best they could. Everyone’s rooms became a little more crowded as they tried to make as much room for the new students as possible; Po tried to get Master Flying Rhino and Master Dolphin’s suits of armor housed in his room to ‘help make space’, but Tigress found out and put a stop to it. Crane had gone back and forth from the barracks to the village to retrieve extra food stores and order panda-sized futons, as the ones in the barracks were barely large enough for Po, and Po was smaller than most of the pandas in the mountain village. He and Tigress set up Grandma Panda, Lei Lei, and Bao’s room together, at the end of the hall beside the one designated for Gang. There were four spare rooms in the main dormitory, and a further ten along a second hall; the nine upstairs where Shifu resided had been packed to the brim with homeless scrolls and artifacts.

As the sun fell, Po headed back down the stairs to collect the panda villagers who would be staying in the barracks. Most, they knew, would not; though many of the pandas had expressed an interest in kung fu, it was not enough to declare them official students, and the sprawling staircases climbing the grounds would be a huge deterrent. They found Li and the pandas outside of Ping’s shop, the inside so crowded by the dinner rush that there was no room for one panda, let alone twenty. The group had apparently amassed a gathering of curious onlookers, most of whom wanted to know if the strange bears were anything like the Valley’s own Dragon Warrior. Mei Mei was preening under the attention, her ribbons shimmering in the low sunlight as she danced the attention of the villagers onto her and away from the others. By the time Po arrived there was already talk of a fan club, especially when Mei Mei drew out her nunchucks. He liked the name ‘Dancing Warrior Fan Club’ the best.

“Son!”
Po looked over the heads of a crowd of cheering geese to see Li beckoning at him. The crowd parted to let him pass as Li broke away from a discussion with Viper and Monkey, bunny children still climbing over him.

“How’s everything,” he asked. Po grimaced.

“The barracks are okay but the whole south wing of the Palace is destroyed.”
“I’m glad I got to see it before, then,” said Li, lifting a bunny hanging from his waistband onto his shoulder. “So how many rooms can you spare?”
“Twelve, if you don’t count the two for Grandma and Gang,” answered Po. The crowd around them began to break as Mei Mei finished up her dance, promising to her new fans to perform at another time.

“Any room for me?” She asked, sliding her nunchucks into her waistband.

“Yep! Are you sure you want to keep up with kung fu? It’s really really fun, but it can get a little crazy sometimes.”
“Po, please,” said Mei Mei, lightly elbowing him in the side. “I can handle anything you throw at me.”

“Even the Thousand Stairs of Eternal Misery,” Po said, gesturing behind him to the immense staircase. Mei Mei turned to look at them for a moment, then lifted her chin and pouted.

“Bite me, Po,” she said primly.

“Suit yourself,” said Po, grinning. He turned to the rest of the group. “Alright, there are eleven more rooms up at the barracks. Any takers?”
Dim and Sum volunteered immediately, though they were significantly more unhappy about the climb up than Mei Mei. ­­­­Po got the rest of the Jade Palace’s newest, biggest students sorted out just before nightfall, though a brief argument had broken out when the triplets wanted to go but their parents wanted to stay.

Mr. Ping emerged from his crowded shop to bid goodnight to Po while Li tried to calm down the triplets, helped significantly by the baby bunnies who decided to make the young pandas their new friends.

“Po! I hope you weren’t going to leave without saying goodnight to me,” he said, lightly thumping Po across the stomach. Po bent down and pulled the goose into a hug, lifting him off of his feet.

“Goodnight, Dad,” he said cheerfully, squeezing Ping lightly before setting him back down. “Are you sure you and Dad are going to be okay?”
“Son, don’t worry about us,” said Li, patting him on the shoulder.

“We’ll see if your father makes as good a chef as you,” said Ping, looking up at Li with an appraising eye. “I know I could certainly get used to having someone help out again.”
“And if anybody else needs me, I’ll be close by,” said Li, gesturing to the pandas remaining behind. “We’ve got everybody settled, so don’t worry, alright? We’ll see you tomorrow, and if things don’t work out with someone we’ll sort through it then.”
Po looked over at Viper and Monkey.

“You guys ready?”
“Absolutely,” said Viper, and Po suddenly noticed how exhausted she looked.

“Uh…you guys okay?”

Monkey reached up and patted Po on the arm.

“Next time you have twenty pandas you want to show around the village,” he said, “You do it.”
Po looked over to Li, who quickly shooed the remaining pandas across the street.

“It’s late and I’ve got to get everyone settled, goodnight son!”

He disappeared through a doorway before Po could speak up. Po dropped his arm and looked back to his friends.

“Was it really that bad?”
“You try herding twenty people six times your size who are being swamped by curious villagers and want to eat everything in sight,” said Monkey grumpily, swinging onto Po’s left shoulder.

“Ah.”
Po looked over at Mei Mei and the others, who were watching him expectantly.

“Well?” said Mei Mei, resting her paws on her hips and cocking her head to the staircase. Po looked at his twelve new students, and smiled.

“Let’s get going.”

Nearly an hour later, Po reflected that they probably should have started before sundown. Crane, having foreseen this problem, met them at the bottom of the staircase with a small army of Palace geese, each holding a lantern. Going up the staircase this time reminded Po of his first trip to the Palace, when he labored for twenty minutes just to find himself ten feet up the stairs. Grandma Panda actually made it the farthest before having to pause for breath, though Po thought she managed it out of pure spite; she allowed Po to form a saddle with his arms and carry her the rest of the way. Mei Mei was curiously silent the way up, but whenever Po glanced at her she looked unruffled, though he noticed that she would pause for breath every time he looked away. As they travelled, and panted, and groaned, Po saw flashes of movement in the darkness just outside the lantern light, the smallest of sounds indicating the presence of the rest of the Five and Master Shifu. To his right, the amber of Tigress’s eyes flashed before disappearing, and he knew his friends were watching out for them. They came into the light on occasion, offering help on particularly bad patches of stairs. Po noticed that Shifu didn’t reveal himself but silently kept watch on Grandma, who Po knew would smack the red panda if she knew he was keeping an eye on her.

They made it to the top of the stairs without incident or injury, and though it took a few minutes for everyone to recover the group was relatively cheery and they marveled at the beautiful sight of the Valley in the moonlight. The ups and downs of the mountain paths were more familiar to the pandas and they arrived the barracks in good spirits, where they were shown the layout of the place and escorted to their rooms.

Everybody was more than happy to go to sleep within the half hour, thoroughly worn out from the climb up the stairs. Grandma was pleased with her room and was greeted happily by Bao and Lei Lei, who had only been appeased about staying behind by a valiant sacrifice on Mantis’s part, the insect gloomily participating in a tea party with the little girl and her Tigress figurine while Tigress helped watch after the pandas. Tigress gently retrieved Mantis and bid Lei Lei goodnight, before shutting the door and watching Po as he made a last check on the barracks’ new residents.

Po, for his part, was exhausted, and collapsed on the bedroom floor as soon as he entered the room. Tigress ignored him and stepped over his legs, shutting the door behind her.

“Po, this is my room,” she murmured. Po mmm’d into the floorboards, not moving. Tigress snorted softly and pulled the sheet from her bed, before she lay down against the back of Po’s arm and allowed herself a tired exhale.

“Sleep well, Dragon Warrior,” she said. Po turned onto his side just enough to let Tigress be the big spoon.

“You betcha,” he mumbled.

Chapter Text

Tigress tried to brush off the stone dust and wood chips from her fur before picking up the baby, but she could feel the grime, caught in the sweat that had dried in the cool autumn air. It was getting colder, crisper, with a clean scent of winter around the grounds, but her work restoring the Jade Palace was intensive even on a kung fu master, and by the end of the day she was a mess.

The panda villagers were surprisingly helpful, for all their bulk and tendency to tire easily. They could work atop structures that were too high for the villagers to survive a fall from, and were capable of lifting and holding loads far greater than the pig and geese carpenters. Most of the pandas stayed in the village below, not willing to go up the staircase to get to the Palace (Tigress had heard rumor of the construction of a network of hammocks being underway) but many of them climbed to the Arena at least once a day, for Po’s enormous afternoon kung fu class. The pandas who lived in the barracks helped out with the repairs of the Palace itself, with the exceptions of Grandma, who was simply too old, and Mei Mei, who had worked on the repairs initially but had since been commissioned as a tailor when the villagers had noticed the exquisite clothing she made for herself.

The two children who lived at the Palace were more often than not looked after by Po or Tigress, although they were occasionally dropped off with Grandma Panda if either were working somewhere that would be dangerous for a child to wander around. Lei Lei insisted on being with Tigress as much as she could manage, and seemed to have developed an aversion to being left alone with Grandma unless Tigress was within her sight. This in and of itself was not a problem, but it became one when she wanted to accompany Tigress while she worked repairs in a structurally unstable building. Tigress had asked the toddler about this one day, to which she replied that she was afraid of Tigress ‘leaving her’. The master had not understood until Grandma had taken her aside and explained that Lei Lei’s parents had both died within hours of each other, suddenly leaving the little girl in Grandma’s care. Lei Lei didn’t quite understand death yet, and was worried that Tigress would leave her with Grandma and, like her honored parents, not come back. Tigress let Lei Lei sleep in her room that night, curiously reluctant to be parted from the cub, and had spent the next day assisting with the restoration and archiving of the surviving scrolls so that Lei Lei could accompany her. It had occurred to her how quickly she had been claimed by the cub, but it didn’t bother her; Lei Lei had wormed her way into her heart within a matter of hours, and she was as happy to spend time with her as Lei Lei was to be with her Big Stripey Baby.

She had worried initially about the effects of the changing weather might have on the toddler’s health, but Grandma had assured her that Lei Lei suffered less in winter than she did in summer, something that Tigress had observed in Po. Pandas didn’t shed their fur, and the summer heat of the Valley often made a lethargic and exhausted Dragon Warrior. Inversely, he seemed most at ease in the dead of winter, wearing nothing but a scarf and hat, and those only because his father had insisted upon them. As it was, Lei Lei didn’t seem to notice the falling temperatures, but Tigress kept an eye on her anyway., and made sure that she was well wrapped before taking her to the bathhouse.

Lei Lei buried herself in the change of robes Tigress carried with her, peeking out from underneath them occasionally and sliding her paws along the silk.

“Can I be a stripey baby?”
Tigress looked down at the cub in her arms, her eyes barely visible through the folds of golden fabric.

“We may need some paint,” Tigress murmured, adjusting the toddler a bit more comfortably. The edge of the action figure Lei Lei still cuddled dug into her abdomen.

“Wanna be stripey baby,” she heard, the words muffled a little.

“You’ll have to grow up big and strong first,” said Tigress lightly, to which Lei Lei responded with a soft hmmph. Not yet four, Lei Lei was one of the more carefully watched children, particularly after the passing of her parents. Lei Lei was big for her age, and healthy, but Tigress found herself fretting.

She climbed up the stairs to the bathhouse, years of training telling her that she was being followed, but when she put the baby down and began to change behind a screen, she was surprised to hear the breathy voice of Mei Mei.

“Do be careful, sweetie, that’s my favorite dress,” said the panda to the attending goose, who washed and dried whatever clothing the bathers handed to them. Tigress wrapped Lei Lei in a spare cloth, handed the goose their dirty clothing, and emerged to see Mei Mei sweep past her in an enormous pink and yellow robe, her walk no less flouncy while wearing nothing but a bathrobe than in her finest silk dress. Tigress prepared a warm bath in one of Po’s panda-sized tubs, making the water rather more bubbly than she usually preferred it, before climbing in and settling Lei Lei down atop her knees. Lei Lei, predictably, loved the bubbles, and dived her Tigress figurine in and out of them as Tigress removed the flower from her hair and began to wash off the dust of the past few days. Tigress noticed Mei Mei begin her own ablutions out of the corner of her eye, but kept focus on the baby, making sure that none of the bubbles got too close to her eyes. It was very calm, the evening quiet broken only by Lei Lei’s giggles and sound effects, until Mei Mei reached over the edge of her tub and pushed a small bottle of oil beside Tigress’s.

“Here,” she said, nodding to Lei Lei. “It’s jasmine. She likes that.”

Tigress picked up the little bottle and opened it; Lei Lei looked up when she smelled it and leaned forward, trying to get a good sniff. Tigress rinsed the bubbles off of her and lightly rubbed the oil into her fur, making it shiny and soft. Lei Lei buried her face in her arms, sniffing heavily, then held up her action figure.

“Stripey Baby smell good?”
Tigress smiled and daubed a fingertip of scent on the figurine’s head; Lei Lei pulled it back into her arms and cuddled it, settling down between Tigress’s shins and the side of the tub as Tigress began washing herself.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. Mei Mei smiled.

“We all babysat her for Grandma,” said Mei Mei quietly, watching as the toddler engrossed herself in her action figure’s pretend adventures. “She was always a really good kid. She loved playing dress-up at my house.”

The mental image of Lei Lei racing around the village swallowed by one of Mei Mei’s dresses made Tigress smile to herself. Lei Lei held up her little paws until Tigress picked her up again, then wrapped her arms around Tigress’s head; she thought the baby was just hugging her oddly until Lei Lei wiped her arm down Tigress’s face, leaving behind a trail of flowery scent. Mei Mei, who had stopped washing in favor of watching the two, turned back to her own bath.

“That jasmine oil was her mother’s favorite scent,” she said lightly.

A rush of cold and warm bloomed in Tigress’s chest, and she felt her breath leave her; in front of her, Lei Lei had settled back down on the other end of the tub, and was cheerfully playing with her figurine as if she hadn’t just punched Tigress in the heart with her tiny fist.

“So…apparently there’s something about a Winter Festival coming up?”
Tigress took a deep breath and nodded, hiding the minuscule shakes in her paws as she started washing again.

“The village holds a feast every year,” she said, scrubbing rubble and dust from her fur. “It’s a very…joyous holiday. Mr. Ping’s shop is one of the more popular venues, especially since the Jade Palace began celebrating down there.”
“Hmm. What did you do before?”
Tigress received a vivid image of the finest silk, the most sophisticated of entertainment, and the refined delicacies served, all wrapped up in hyper-formality and an austere coldness that matched the snow outside.

“It was a feast for kung fu masters across China. To be honest, it truly wasn’t much to talk about. It was too formal to really enjoy.”

“Huh. You’d never see something like that in our village,” said Mei Mei, rinsing her arms with ladlefuls of water.  “We pandas always know how to throw a party.”
“I’ve noticed.”

“I’m guessing that Po didn’t do very well with ‘formal’?”
“He actually performed quite admirably,” Tigress said with a small smile. “As Dragon Warrior, the preparations of the dinner were entirely in his hands. Everything ended up exactly as it should have been, but he decided that spending the holiday with his father was more important, even if it meant breaking tradition.”

“Aw…that’s sweet,” Mei Mei cooed. Tigress hauled Lei Lei out of the tub and wrapped her up until nothing but her little ears and eye patches were visible.

“You know Po and I were supposed to be engaged.”

Tigress, in the middle of pulling on her own robe, froze. The sash trailed in the water and she quickly tied it around her waist, picking up the baby as she emptied the tub one-handed.

“I…did not.”

Mei Mei smirked as she rinsed off the last of the soap from her arms.

“My mother and his mother arranged it when we were born; he’s only a couple of months older than me, you know. Anyway, I assumed the engagement was back on when Li said that his son was alive.”

Lei Lei squirmed in Tigress’s arms, giving her somewhere to look as she freed the baby’s arms and received a sweet-smelling hug around the neck.

“Does Po know about this,” Tigress said calmly, though she was feeling a bit colder than the temperature of the bathhouse really should have made her.

“Oh, I don’t think so. And even if he does, I doubt it really matters now.”

Tigress looked to Mei Mei, who was grinning at her.

“I am also the wedding planner for our village, you know,” she said as she stood and pulled her robe around her.

“You do not-“
“Is Stripey Baby gonna marry Cuddles?” asked Lei Lei, looking up at Tigress with delight. She felt her face heat slightly and gently adjusted the little girl.

“We…”
“Anyway,” said Mei Mei, tipping her bath-water onto the latticed floor to drain as she still smiled at Tigress. “I was asking about the Winter Festival here because I want to make you and the others some new outfits. We have got to get this Valley looking a tad more fashionable, and who better to do it than myself? I was thinking matching robes-“
“I am sure the others will be appreciative-“
“ – For you and Po, black and gold with some nice embroidery. We can save the red until later, if you prefer…”

Tigress felt a chuckle rising in her throat, and just looked at Mei Mei and smiled. She nodded toward the exit and the panda followed her out, both of them stopping briefly to reclaim their washed clothing and to dress.

“Also, I was going to ask you to show me a few more moves on the nunchucks,” said Mei Mei lightly, over the edge of her changing screen. “I mean, I don’t want to lose my pandalicious figure, but it might be nice to know how to knock a rhino into the next dynasty.”

Tigress tucked in the edges of her foot-wrappings and adjusted the belt of Lei Lei’s dress, grinning at the mental image. Perhaps having Mei Mei at the Palace would not be quite as much of a difficulty as she had thought.

Chapter Text

The more-than-familiar smell of gunpowder was what set him off. Their villain-of-the-week didn’t have Shen’s cannons, but he did have bombs; small bags of powder and metal scraps that blinded you with light and heat and peppered you with shrapnel, all while making a loud enough noise to disorient you so that you couldn’t grab him when he ran by. Mantis had already fallen; Crane had been knocked out of the sky, sent tumbling in bright confusion. Viper was still up and kicking, but the near misses were wearing on her, and she was bleeding sluggishly from several places. Monkey and Tigress were the most unaffected of the team, using sneak attacks to get close and pick off the warlord Xiang’s guards.

Po and the Five had gotten involved with Xiang when a small border town had sent to the Jade Palace for help; news had it that the warlord was using weapons unlike anything before seen to destroy everything in his path. By the time the Masters arrived three days later, Xiang had already sacked the town and its neighbor, his soldiers terrorizing the citizens, and burning and pillaging what they did not take. They met his army on the outskirts of the village Xiang was next headed for, and after a day and a half of battle, they were exhausted but winning.

Until, at least, Xiang’s personal guard brought out their acclaimed weapons; bags of sulfur and saltpeter and little metal shards, some small enough to throw by hand and others made for catapults, intended to be launched over city walls. The Five were forced to retreat in the initial onslaught, until they pulled together a plan and re-met Xiang over the battlefield.

Po fought like a panda possessed. Xiang’s choice of weaponry had hit a nerve, and the fact that the macaque didn’t care of civilians got hurt in the crossfire made him even angrier. He ran from friend to friend, trying to heal them as fast as he could, but he was tiring from using chi so much for someone who had only just begun to practice with it. His back was pink and white from where he had shielded his downed companions, and as he swiped a glowing paw over Viper’s side he knew that it would take a long healing session to get out the little bits of metal he could feel poking under his skin.

A little whisper in the back of his mind told him to get out of the way, and he twisted and snatched a bomb out of the air, redirecting it to an antelope who was charging at them. As the antelope fell Viper nodded to him, and they both rejoined the fray, taking out the soldiers and dodging bombs and spears. They reached the inner circle of Xiang’s personal guards and Po spotted Tigress across the field; they shared a glance and Tigress fell back. Po grabbed the nearest guard and knocked him out, swinging him by the leg and smacking four of his brethren to the ground.

“Xiang!”
Behind Po, Viper downed two guards trying to hit his back. He redirected another bomb, right at the warlord.

“XIANG!”
The macaque held up his hand, and the battle lessened a bit, several of his guards drawing in from their places in the field to stand around him. He parted their ranks and leaned on his spear, smiling at Po from a hundred feet away.

“Yes, Dragon Warrior? Have you finally decided to surrender?”

“That’s funny,” called Po, “’Cause I was about to ask you the same question.”

“Oh, we both know how this is going to end, Master Panda. You and your warriors have fought well, but you’re outnumbered and outmatched.”
“We’ve beaten you so far,” Po began, but he was interrupted by a bang and a familiar yell. He turned around to see Viper flying across the field, a trail of smoke following her; she landed in a limp coil and did not get up. Po looked back at Xiang but had to dodge another bomb, which exploded three feet behind him, burning a streak of skin from his right ankle to hip. He snatched the spear from an incoming guard and kicked her away, gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain as best he could. Another guard tried to stab him but Po broke his spear and threw him over his head, where he landed ten feet away and did not move.
Po scratched his neck with the stolen spear, forcing himself to look a lot calmer than he felt.

“My point stands,” he said to Xiang. The warlord frowned a bit.

“You’ve caused enough destruction,” Po growled. “It’s time to give up.”
“And why would I do that,” Xiang laughed. Several yards behind him, Tigress was watching from behind the downed body of a rhino, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Po pointed the spear at the field, gesturing to the fallen guards.

“So that I don’t have to kill you to end this battle,” he yelled. “Surrender! NOW!”

Xiang looked contemplative for a moment, his eyes sweeping across his defeated ranks, before he looked back to Po and smiled. Po was about to call out to him again when Xiang drew a bomb from his belt and twisted around, throwing it directly into the approaching Tigress’s face. She blocked at the last second, but though the bomb hit her upraised arm, it was too close to the left side of her head and exploded, making her shout. Po lept forward but he was blocked by a gorilla guard, and as he fought he saw her fall to the ground before he was thrown back at a kick from Xiang. Something clenched inside Po; he grabbed the fist that was coming at his jaw and turned the arm attached to it until the bone dislocated. The gorilla howled in pain but fell quiet when Po’s foot hit his face, sending him to the ground.

“Monkey!”

A bomb exploded on his shoulder but he didn’t feel it; the air turned warm and oddly light as he twisted and swam his arms through the air, moving the energy in his body into his paws and feet until he felt them glowing with chi. A spear dissolved as it came for his head and hit a stream of lingering gold, and the soldiers around him stopped in their tracks and drew back as he ran for Xiang, thrusting his arms out in front of him, a dragon of light and energy streaming from his arms to swallow the warlord whole. Xiang fell as the dragon passed through him and Po jumped over his body, racing towards Tigress. Monkey was crouched at her side, pressing a cloth against her face. He looked over his shoulder at Po’s approach, then shrieked and scrambled back, just barely avoiding the jaws of the golden dragon that flew past him and hovered above his fallen friend. Po skid to a halt beside him and the dragon slowly dissipated; its light fell back into his paws and the glow softly receded from his outline. He reached over, grabbed Monkey by the arm, and pulled him back, thrusting an elbow into the simian’s stomach to stop his shaking.

“Focus, buddy,” Po said tightly.  Monkey nodded and folded his hands, sliding them across his body until they glowed with chi. Po leaned forward and carefully examined the damage; while her arm had blocked some of the explosion, the left side of Tigress’s face was burned raw, tiny pieces of metal glittering within the blood, her ear in pieces, her eye…

“Go help Viper,” Po said hoarsely. “Make sure Mantis and Crane are okay.” Monkey looked up from where he was healing Tigress’s mangled hand and caught Po’s eye. He left without a word, and Po got to work.

Healing with chi was relatively simple if you knew what you wanted to do, but the addition of foreign material made things more difficult. Chi existed only in living things, and it took a lot of concentration to sense and remove something like metal from a wound that already dammed and messed with the flow of energy. Po worked quietly with both hand and chi to remove the shards, healing up the skin and muscle as soon as a patch was clear. The eye was the most difficult part, and he couldn’t take his time; Tigress was still bleeding profusely and her breathing was weak and wheezy, and by the trembling of her body he could tell that she wasn’t fully unconscious. He worked as quickly as he could and as slowly as he dared, and by the time Monkey and the others joined him, looking disheveled but healed, he had stopped the bleeding and healed most of her face and shoulder. With their help, Tigress’s ribs and punctured lung were swiftly repaired. Po faltered in the middle of fixing her ear, and before the others could catch him he swayed and blacked out.

Tigress awoke to the ghosts of pain, her body whole but her mind still remembering the agony of burns and cuts across her flesh. A sharp and acrid scent was heavy on the air, tinted with the metallic smell of blood and the heaviness of smoke. Her ears rang a bit and her eyes felt dry and itchy when she opened them. A wooden ceiling met her eyes, tinted blue with moonlight, before Viper and Monkey entered her vision.
“Tigress!”
“Sweetie, how do you feel?”
A glimmer of concern wormed its way into Tigress’s stomach. There was a blur in her left eye that wasn't blinking away.
“I feel fine; why?”
“No aching, blurry vision…can you breathe well?”
Tigress sat up as proof of her health, ignoring the feeling that she should be in a lot of pain.

“I am fine, Viper. What happened? Where are the others?”
Viper and Monkey exchanged a glance.

“Nobody is dead,” Monkey said, as if to ease some bad news. 

Tigress stood up and bent down into Monkey’s face. He drew back a little, shoulders rising.

“What happened,” she said quietly.
“It’s Po,” Monkey said. “He’s okay, but he hasn’t woken up yet…”
Tigress straightened up, inhaling deeply.
“Was anybody else injured,” she said, looking around the room for the first time. They appeared to be in somebody’s room, judging by the personal items and scrolls on the walls. Mantis appeared in the doorway across from the bed Tigress had been laid upon.

“Oh, you’re up. We, uh, we could use a little help.”

Tigress glanced at the others, catching the worried look they exchanged. Tigress strode across the room and down the hallway where Mantis pointed. She heard a whispered conversation from the room she left.

“How long has she been awake?”
“Just a few minutes.”
“Did you tell her about Po?”
“No, we didn’t…”

Tigress clenched her fists and walked into the only other open door in the hall. Crane looked up at her entrance, a golden glow fading from his wingtips as he backed away from the bed where Po was laying supine. Tigress looked across him but didn’t see any injuries; there were streaks of blood and dirt and smoky gunpowder residue, but he otherwise seemed unharmed.

“You healed him?”
Crane nodded.
“Well, I mean, we all did, but…yeah, he should be okay now, he just won’t wake up.”
Tigress grabbed a chair from beside the door and sat down by the head of the bed, her movements making the candlelight dance.

His breath was steady, but so shallow that she had to concentrate on finding it. A finger to his pulse showed it to be slow as well. He didn’t seem too warm or too cold, just still, and he definitely wasn’t sleeping.

A little worm of worry wondered if he would never wake up at all and Tigress angrily pushed it back. She looked over her shoulder to Crane.

“Will you tell me what happened?”
Crane nodded as the others drew into the doorway, looking both worried and cautious. They settled around the bed, and Viper coiled up one of the posts, resting across Po’s right foot.

“What do you last remember,” she asked.

“I was behind Xiang’s guard while Po distracted him, trying to take him from behind. I…”
She lowered her ears, a memory of pain aching across her face.

“He threw a bomb at me?”

Monkey nodded.

“Got you right in the face,” he said. “Took your eye out, and almost got your ear, too. I ran over to help and Po…”
He looked around at the others. “I don’t really know what happened. You got hit and Po kind of went crazy on the guards. He got this strange glow all over him and out of nowhere there was a golden dragon coming towards me, with Po running right behind it. I think it kind of ate Xiang; it flew through him, and he won’t wake up either. He twitches a lot.”

Tigress froze, one paw over Po’s head.

“A…golden dragon,” she said. Monkey nodded. She looked back at the comatose panda. A memory of the day of Kai’s defeat edged into her mind; Po had described his journey to the Spirit World, claiming that he turned into a golden dragon of chi to defeat Kai. Tigress shared the memory with the rest of the Five.

“That’s exactly what we think it was,” said Crane. “We just don’t know how he did it; I thought it was a Spirit World thing, to be honest.”

“And why won’t he wake up?” chimed Monkey.

“He probably exhausted himself with the whole, you know, chi dragon thing, and then he was healing you, too, so the general theory is that he’s just bushed. It’s just…”

“Has he improved at all?”
Viper nodded. “We’ve all been trying the chi technique to help him. He…we thought he was dead, at first, he was so cold and still. We know the technique is working, it’s just…working very slowly, I guess.”

Viper trailed off, looking at the unnervingly unmoving panda. Tigress nodded. He, but for the barest rise and fall of his chest, looked dead. Tigress could feel her own tiredness kneading against the edges of her mind, and she shifted in the chair until she was facing the head of the bed.

“I’ll take over for a while,” she said quietly. The others nodded, Crane and Monkey leaving, presumably to sleep. Mantis lit another candle, then settled down on the windowsill, eyes closed to meditate. Viper continued to lay across Po’s foot, and she watched as Tigress blinked the exhaustion of two days’ fighting from her eyes and folded her paws together, focusing her attention to the energy in her body. She felt it flow through her limbs and pushed it outward until her paws began to glow with it. Her elbows dented the pillow and mat beneath on either side of Po’s head; she hovered her paws over his face, and prepared for a long night.

It was colder when she woke again, and darker. The phantom aches in her limbs had been replaced with real aches, as she had fallen asleep slumped over the head of the Po’s bed. She slowly straightened up, cracks echoing down her spine as she shook her shoulders out. Beneath her, the faintest whisper of sound told alerted her to Po’s breathing, and when she re-lit one of the burned-down candles she found him sleeping – warm, and alive, and sleeping. A smile of relief crossed her mouth and she set the candle back down on the windowsill, taking care not to wake Mantis, who was still in his meditative pose, though slumped with sleep. A quick glance showed her Viper coiled around the panda’s foot, lightly snoring.

Tigress eased her chair sideways and softly leaned over, laying her head and torso down on the bed. Beneath her palm Po’s heart was strong and steady, his chest rising with the deep breaths of sleep, and she closed her eyes to the night and the lingering smell of blood and gunpowder.