A/N: Dragon Children Chapter 3: Patience is the Night.
How long had it been?
A day? A month? A year?
As a child, Tai Lung had been taught to read the moon as it hung in the sky. To tell the time of night by reading it in the stars. His old masters used to playfully squabble with one another one what the exact second had been. The snow leopard cub would simply watch in astonishment, somehow believing that one COULD measure an exact second by reading it in a light.
Now, with the same moon and the same stars, he found that they no longer allowed him the time of day or night. Without a sense of what day it had been or what season they were in, time has become useless to him.
The nights were just a long stretch of dark and waiting. Waiting for the dawn to eventually arrive and pull him one day closer to slaying the Dragon Warrior-
"You should sleep one of these nights."
In an instance, the dark was replaced by a warm candles glow, and the silence was filled with the distant sound of yet another one of Mr. Ping's Mahjong nights in full swing just below them. Suddenly Tai Lung was uncomfortably aware of how little time he felt had truly passed.
"I've slept long enough while imprison-" He began, but stopped and turned his full attention to Tati. "Pray tell, would you happen to know the time?"
"A bit passed midnight, I'd assume." She replied, setting the newly lit candle besides him.
"I thought you'd have fallen asleep by now." He said, looking back out the window and into the sky, searching and scanning for familiar stars that would prove Tati correct.
Time or none, he knew it was much too early for Tati to have awakened naturally.
"I was, but now I'm not." Tati said, joining him and the candle at the window. "I watched you staring at the sky for a bit, but then you began to bore me. What were you doing?"
"Excuse me, dragon child, for boring you with something that was none of your buisness." He replied gruffly.
"My apologizes, I guess." Tati sighed, "Perhaps look to the stars a little quieter."
"Perhaps you should consider lighting your candles more quietly." Whatever that meant, he didn't quite know, but something about the way the conversation was currently flowing just felt, well, fun to him. For once, it felt nice to talk about something that didn't include his many misdoings.
"I needed the candle. I had planned to go out for a bit." Tati said, her tone lowering.
"Oh dear. Would your grandfather approve?" Tai Lung sneered, turning a quizzical eyebrow upward.
"Its nearly the solstice. I'll be 24 then. Surely he'd be alright with it." Tati replied, lifting the candle from its spot on the floor. "Will you stay at watch the cubs? They shouldn't wake until morning."
Tai Lung felt a cruel smirk tug at the corner of his lips out of habit, as he watched Tati casually go about slipping on her shoes. The air shd carried about her gave no indication that she was sharing a space and about to leave two defenseless cubs alone with China's #1 threat.
All to venture outside alone in the middle of the night.
"Are you sure that is wise?" Tai Lung frowned.
"Worst case scenario is that you kill them. But you haven't made good on that threat yet, and it has already been a full night with you here." Tati said.
"I meant venturing out on your own." He frown only seemed to grow, as he pushed himself off of the floor. "I will accompany you."
"If you insist, but I may be compelled to leave you in the wilderness on your own should you cross me."
"My dear, I've traveled the outside world long before you existed-"
"Good. Then you'll be the one to lead us."
With that, Tati took off towards the stairs, leaving a completely bewildered Tai Lung pondering over how dimwitted the dragon cub truly could be.
The nighttime air was cool, but comfortable. There was no breeze that night, just a bright moon that illuminated the tree tops in a gentle white glow. Tai Lung had seen many nights much like this one. However, this particular night felt different than all the rest. What had changed? The stars, trees, and the moon were all the same. Perhaps he was the one who had changed? That years of solitude, another lifetime of isolation had changed his eyes in such a way that his old worldview had been skewed?
"Its beautiful out tonight." Or perhaps it was his traveling companion.
"Quite. Do you often travel alone at night?" Tai Lung asked, watching as Tati walked a straight line along the trunk of a fallen tree. "Seems like a strange time to go for a walk."
"No. I've already told you the solstice is coming... Days before, I gather flowers and coloured stones from nearby riverbeds and I decorate my siblings rooms while they sleep the night of." Tati explained, gracefully leaping off of the trunk. "Especially now that we're away from home. I haven't the time to hide these things during the day, what with helping at the restaurant and watching the cubs."
"Seems like quite a bit of work for one day." Tai Lung scoffed, "Why do you bother?"
"Because children grow up to be good if you allow them to keep their sense of wonded."
Somewhere in those words, the snow leopard felt a sting of malice. A sense of truth as well, but mostly the latter. Whether she had intended to mock his short comings or not, he felt it. Felt in deep in the darkest parts of his soul, where a young man was left wondering why HE hadn't been destined for greatness.
All his life he had trained to be the greatest warrior that had ever lived. Yet here he was now, escorting a young woman whose good family name should have been his. Walking with her as she collected plants to ensure that her siblings did not turn out hardened as he had...
What an absolute crock. This girl with no former training from the great masters as he had, running around in the dark as if it would do any good for anyone. Running a fools errand to make two children happy, all while completely ignoring the threat that was currently still looming over her!?
It was bizarre, it was insulting to Tai Lung and everything he and the title of Dragon Warrior once stood for. Her mere words alone had already awoken a decades old fire within him so readily that here, in these woods on this night, he decided he was going to do away with her once and for all!
"If you're planning something-" Tati spoke suddenly, her back still to him. "You'd best do it now."
"You, little girl, have a tendency to say so much wrong in so few words." Tai Lung growled, balling a fist. "It truly is infuriating."
With that he wound back his dominant arm and bared his claws, swinging it down at lightning speed towards Tati's still head- and to his surprise, he caught nothing. There was no sickening scrape of claw against skull, no screams of dying pain from the Dragon Child. Just open night air and his heavy breathing. Bloodshot eyes scanned the area before him, and he found Tati standing just a short distance away, this time facing him.
Her expression was relaxed, but he could hear her heart hammering in her chest.
"You're just as foolish as your father." Tai Lung growled, once again preparing his claws to strike the girl. "You who speak so openly to the enemy. You trust so blindly- You know who I am and yet-"
Another strike was attempted, and yet this time Tati remained still. This time a heavy paw met the fabric of her top, with no force behind it to do anymore damage than to unpick a thread or two. Despite the rage Tai Lung knew he felt, the same as the day he had been denied his destiny, he found that he could no land a single blow against her.
It all made him want to cry out into the night. Anything to break the silence.
"... Why...?" He finally spoke, keeping a firm hold on the fabric in his paws. "You know of my story. My intentions, and yet you remain unphased... In a week's time, I will most likely have you killed."
Silence answered him. Tati's gaze was now focused souly on his paw. She was either planning her words, or waiting for him to let go of her. He did not know which would come first. Part of him hoped she would choose to speak first.
"You had the option to kill me and my village the moment you arrived, but you chose to stay in hiding." Tati finally spoke. "I could ask you the same question of "why", but instead, I will let you keep your wondering for a little while longer."
"Why-" He echoed, grip finally loosening on the girl just enough that she could slip away and wander deeper into the forest.
"Come help me gather stones. The sun will be up soon." She called, disappearing into a nearby thicket, and once again leaving the snow leopard to ponder his thoughts.
Sore eyes watched her for a moment, before drifting off to the moon as it hung in the sky. Only an hour since midnight had passed... That girl was a liar. Perhaps he should teach her to keep time properly. Perhaps he could remember himself as soon as his head cleared.
And perhaps he would allow himself to wonder "Why?".
Perhaps..
.."