"Master! Master!"
Tigress was shouting as she ran up the stars to the palace, disturbing the meditation of all of the other people there. Master Shifu rolled his eyes, knowing that there would be complaints that he would have to try to deal with. The young lings always brought them to his plate.
"Yes Tigress?" he asked, bringing his inner peace to use.
"I finally found my strong suit! I could show you if you would like..." she said while looking down at the ground, her foot rubbing circles on the ground.
Shifu gestured to the area in front of him, a circle piece of stone set in the ground. It had many symbols carved into the edges, meant to bring peace whilst doing the routines. Tigress stepped into the middle of the stone then balanced herself on one leg, then let out a deep breath.
Laying Crow. Sleeping Dog. Flying Snake. She completed the moves all perfectly. Shifu was impressed; no first year had been able to complete this many exercises in a row, so flawless, without messing up at least one. As she finished, the rested her elbow on her knee, catching her breath as she waited for his approval. As she looked up, Shifu nodded his head, signaling for her leave and his approval on the matter. She got up and left, thinking about what she needed to do next time. There was still something that never allowed Shifu to give her the true approval that she desperately craved, needed. She sighed as she walked back into the training rooms, heading for the sections designed for pupils way beyond her suspected skill, not that she had any trouble with them anyway. All of the other pupils were jealous that she was able to do what she did; their opinions didn't matter to her, even though they truly wanted to do better than her, just to show Master Shifu that she wasn't everything that she has already proved she was.
As she set up the fire pipes for a go, the bells rang for mediation. She sighed, looking at the routine warming up. She abandoned the practice to go to the student temple to mediate. Since not many people in China had the 'feel' for Kung Fu, the very little amount of students had their own personal 'meditation booths', allowing them to think in peace and ponder the questions of the universe. She walked into her booth, her calligraphy on the wall, filling her with accomplishment.
After her time of meditation, she went to see Master Uguay to see about her furthering herself in the order, he had very little to say.
"Just wait, and see. There is something coming that will change the storm, clear the clouds."
As always when Tigress came to talk to him, she was filled with confusion and worry. Before she went to bed that night, she heard some awful rumors that there were going to be recruits, that, like Tigress, were far beyond their expected levels. She rolled over, sleep eluding her while her thoughts wandered about the new recruits.