And now for something a little different... I thought I'd try my hand at a few drabbles for the more minor characters in KFP 2.
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1. Po's father (150 words)
For Bai, there doesn't seem to be a trace of mercy anywhere. In the wake of Prince Shen's massacre on the panda clan, Bai has lost everything: his wife, their child, and his home.
In despair, Bai turns himself over to a monastery because if peace and mercy can be found, surely he will find them here? But sanctuary proves as elusive as gold.
The head monk gently touches his shoulder, telling Bai to think of peace and not dwell on revenge. Bai bows his head in respect to his master, but he can give no further reply because bitterness and anger are often on his mind.
It's a hollow sort of life, those early years of hiding in the mountains. Bai fills up his days with farming and cleaning the monastery—always having something to focus on helps. Time heals nothing, but it does dull the pain a little.
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2. Shen's mother (175 words)
His expression would be etched into her mind's eye forever. Shen's words were horrifying enough all on their own, and his mother Queen Nuo had shuddered to hear such brutal things spoken in her own child's voice. But it was his face that truly cut her to the quick—that sickly glow of pride and unabashed triumph in those ruby eyes. How could the poor queen react with anything but utter horror when her son committed these atrocities and expect to be praised for them?
Nuo was Shen's mother in name only it seemed. Had she ever even known him at all? Who was this person that he could say such things with that look on his face? Like old paper, Shen's words would fade a bit around the edges as the next several years wore on, but his expression would remain as clear and sharp as carved marble.
That look on her son's face would haunt Queen Nuo till the day she died.
...which, as fate would have it, was not especially far off.
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3. the Soothsayer (200 words)
The Soothsayer, Lan, was privately relieved that she had not had to watch Shen's banishment.
Being "just" a court advisor, Lan had gotten a pass from having to endure even more of what she knows was one of the worst days of her life. For once, being the nanny yielded in her favor while Shen's parents were forced to witness this disaster unfold from front-and-center seats. There seemed to be some poetic justice to that, to Shen's parents having to handle the heavy work instead of swooping in and sweeping the Soothsayer aside when it was convenient for them. The old goat had felt some degree of resentment towards the King and Queen who wanted an heir but were content to shunt aside the hard parts of parenting to someone else. Most days, Lan thinks of Shen as more her child then theirs. But then what does that say about her when he had turned out like this?
Even though Lan knows Shen's choices are his own, guilt still eats at her anyway. What good were all her scrying powers when she could glimpse the future but not notice a white blur eavesdropping from the outskirts of the throne room?
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4. Shen's father (225 words)
King Jiang felt failure bear down on him like a weight. He had failed not only as a father but as a ruler too. With Shen banished, Gongmen City had no heir, and no other peafowl aristocrat seemed willing to step up to the task.
The others were all too afraid of Shen. Even behind closed and locked doors, no member of the peafowl elite would make an overture for Gongmen's throne. The only ones to try had been the Chang branch of the peafowl clan, but on their way to the city they had met an awful fate: their caravan attacked by wolves and the royal family-to-be killed. The news chilled King Jiang to the core. It couldn't be the work of...and yet his intuition screamed that it was. The wolf sightings hadn't mentioned a white peacock, but that didn't prove anything.
Jiang had deteriorated quickly after that, as if the realization that there was no moving forward was just too much for him.
His last act as king was to turn his share of rulership over to his ailing wife. It was the best he could do.
However, Queen Nuo—now alone—shortly followed her husband to a sickbed, and within less than a year's time, the two peafowl had passed on, and the Masters' Council was put in charge of Gongmen City.