The next day, Shifu was the first one up, just as normal. As he passed through the hallway containing the rooms of the Five, everyone got up and stood just outside the room's entrances. Well, everyone except Tigress. Kajirn was also not present, as he was making breakfast downstairs.
-''Viper, Monkey, Mantis, and Crane and…'' Shifu froze as Tigress' threshold was empty. He walked over to the closed door and carefully knocked on it.
-''Tigress, are you in there?'' When no answer came, Shifu frowned and pushed the door open. There was no one inside the room, her bed was made and all the furniture stood where it was supposed to. Shifu then noticed the note on the bed. He then called for the others to come into the room. Soon afterwards, Kajirn also joined in. They all gathered around Shifu as he read the note. When he was finished, everyone stared in each other in shock.
-''So that's why she changed so much…'' Mantis began.
-''She loves him!'' Viper finished for him. She then glanced over at the open window. She crawled over at it and looked out. The view was really beautiful; you could see the entire Valley of Peace. Viper went back inside.
-''She must be really far away now, I mean if she has travelled the entire night.'' Monkey stated, the others agreeing silently. Kajirn looked out the window as well.
-''Well, if I knew where Po was, I could find several different shortcuts to the location. No offense, but I know this valley better than anyone else.'' This statement got a couple of glances that expressed nothing but annoyance.
-''What? I do!'' He said in a very self-confident tone in his voice. He then went out into the hallway, down into the foyer, and then outside. The other hesitated before following.
Tigress grunted as she leapt over another gap. It was the third gap as of now, and she was starting to get tired. She had travelled the whole night, and it was early morning as of now. The only food she had brought was a small package of Tofu, which was long gone by now. However, she had found plenty of Ginkgo Leafs which she could eat. It wasn't much, but it allowed her to maintain her strength.
After taking a short break, she continued travelling. Her way of travelling was now no longer sprinting, but instead brisk walking. She had checked a lot of places that she known Po had visited, and stayed at, several times, but no one held her friend, and also her love.
Po had said to her that she was very hardcore and also not being able to feel any emotions, but Tigress didn't agree completely on that. She knew fully well how to show emotion, but you couldn't do that in the heat of battle. That is why she had learned to conceal emotions during said fights. But when it came to Po, Tigress felt that she couldn't do that.
At this time, Tigress was at least ten miles away from the sacred Jade Temple. It was not uncommon for Po to make training travelling far away. Sometimes, he was away for several days. But not for two months…
Tigress leaned on a tree. Her heart was beating both out of physical exhaustion as well as mental. If she couldn't find Po soon, she didn't know what she would do. All this mental stress would be two much.
Then something horrifying hit Tigress' mind. What if Po wasn't even alive anymore? If that was the case, Tigress would turn completely insane. A life without Po; that would be like a Yin without a Yang, like heaven without the sun. Tigress fell to the ground and lay down on her side. She then flipped over on her back and looked up into the sky. It carried a bright blue colour, and the sun was standing on the horizon.
-''I need to find him…'' she mumbled to herself, and with that, she resumed running, in a direction of a place that Po could possibly be at.
-''Where could she have gone?'' Mantis asked as Kajirn brought up a detailed map of the valley and all its surroundings. He then mumbled a few sentences to himself and marked different paths with his paw. The others looked on in patient waiting, including Shifu.
-''Alright, since Tigress… hmm…'' Kajirn kept mumbling to himself, and then he shouted in excitement. Monkey was the first to show up beside him, followed closely by the others.
-''Okay, I don't know exactly where Po is, but I do know that he is in a westward direction, because of the marks I found outside the Palace and then the valley. That gives me the conclusion that he has travelled to a place in the Kurijan Mountains. The only path the goes west lead up to those mountains and Tigress has taken one that goes through the Plains of Yinga in the north. That means she will take this path.'' Kajirn explained and marked out different areas and paths on the map.
-''Which way can we use to get o Tigress fast then?'' Monkey asked as he looked at all the roads and stuff like that.''
-''Well…'' Kajirn began. ''There is an inaccessible, or, well, almost inaccessible path which goes through the Rujary Mountains, which are just south of the Kurijan Mountains. If we go through the mountain pass up in the highest mountain, we will be one day ahead of Tigress. We can intercept her here, at the Pass of Kurijan, which is another mountain pass which lies a little bit lower than the other pass. If we can get through the first pass before Tigress can reach the second one, we will be able to reach her at the second pass. I don't know where she is right now, and that is why I think we should departure immediately.''
-''Well, then so be it. Everyone, gather anything you need, such as food and supplies, Tigress is a very fast warrior and we will have to move fast to be able to intercept him.'' Shifu spoke up; everyone immediately went for their respective rooms to gather anything they need, ranging from supplies to equipment.
Around fifteen minutes later, the whole gang met in the courtyard of the Jade Palace. Everyone had a backpack with them, save for Mantis, due to his small size. Kajirn went through all the supplies and made sure that it didn't weigh too much. After all, he knew, just as well as Tigress, that the many Ginkgo trees they would find before going into the cold, chilly climate of the mountains, they could save their food for their, and eat Ginkgo leafs until then. Kajirn explained that to them all, and no one seemed to think it was a bad plan. Shifu even credited him for his thinking.
-''Alright.'' Kajirn then spoke up, getting everyone's attention. ''These passes are pretty cold, and any, and I mean ANY, source of food up there is extremely scarce, which is why we will use as food to save our other food that we bring with us. Any questions? The more we delay, the lesser the chance we will succeed in catching up to and intercepting will become.'' When everyone nodded and said nothing was need to be said, Kajirn heaved up his backpack onto his back and started to walk in the direction he had pointed out.
Tigress had slowed down to a brisk walk once again as she was munching on another Gingko leaf. The thin dew of the leaf didn't taste much, nor was it very filling, but because of its quantity, a ten or fifteen leafs or so could replace a full breakfast meal. Tigress then picked some more off of a tree nearby.
Eventually, Tigress came to a small village that was hidden away from most of the world outside. Tigress started stepping down the slope and towards the small village. She couldn't see any one right now, but that wasn't very surprising. Pandas weren't morning folk, and they could easily sleep until noon.
Tigress then threw a glance at the rise fields very close to town. She could see a few pandas down there, but not many, and as far as she could see, no one of them was Po.
-''This is the last place I can imagine him to be at…'' Tigress mumbled to herself. ''If he isn't here, then I don't know what.''
Tigress then proceeded to the bottom of the fairly long slope. The village was around one hundred feet away now, and Tigress knew she wouldn't have much trouble getting there in a few minutes.
And so it was. Before two minutes, she had reached the outskirts of the village. A panda spotted her and bowed respectfully. Tigress firmly but still kindly told him to rise, and so he did and continued to work. Tigress kept on going to a building which was the largest one in the village. She carefully observed all the visible Pandas in the area, but after a quick scan, she was assured that none of them was Po.
She then proceeded into the building, which turned out to be an inn. Only one panda was in the foyer, which also wasn't Po. Tigress approached the desk at which the panda was bent down behind, looking for something in the shelves underneath. When the panda, a fairly old male, found what he was looking for, he looked up and was startled at the sight of the female tiger looking at him. After he recovered, he bowed, but Tigress cut that off.
-''No need to bow, panda. I am here in search of a panda, Po Ping.'' Tigress explained. ''Is he here, in this village?''
-''Who? Po Ping? That name is familiar… Ah yes, Tui Ping's son. Yes, he is in the village temple.''
-''I do not know where that is. Could you please give the way?'' Tigress asked very politely. The panda then opened a window and pointed at a very large majestic building just beside the inn.
-''Yes, it is just next door.''
-''Thank you so much.'' Tigress thanked and bowed to the panda, which did the same back. Tigress exited the building and then took a left and spotted the temple. Hesitantly, she proceeded inside.