Some ten years after the royal family had been blessed with a new heir, life in Gongmen City remained the same as it ever had, with the exception of one feature: the peacock family took it upon themselves to tour the city more frequently, at the request of their son. Shen delighted in seeing the city streets, in meeting the townspeople that he knew would someday become his subjects, but the young bird had one simple conflict with his parents, which brought them no end of grief. The young peacock loved to get lost.
Lord Shen was more partial to explore the city streets for himself instead of with a group. During those days, it was a party consisting of Lord Kongque, Lady Shui Lian and Lord Shen accompanied by their palanquin staff of gazelles and the Kung Fu Council themselves, who, since the surrounding territories were deemed long since safe, had taken it upon themselves to accompany the royal family on their strolls, not only to stand guard over them, but to keep any eye on the goings-on of Gongmen itself, and to take the odd day off from their duties. In those days, Master Thundering Rhino, then a much younger rhino, had been the young Shen's preferred master, and viewed Shen less as a superior and more as a favorite nephew, albeit a wayward nephew. Stoic and staunch though Thundering Rhino was, he was never above cracking the odd smile at Shen's antics or being there to comfort the young lord.
One instance that still warranted a chuckle from Thundering Rhino was when Shen had been six: his parents had purchased a large bouncing toy stylized to resemble a panda. The toy was set in the tower nursery and had been an object that terrified young Shen always, but for what reason no one could say for certain.
"Shen", said Thundering Rhino soothingly, "it's just a toy, nothing more. It can't possibly hurt you; look, it's even got cubby ears, like a panda!"
"B-but it moved at me! It-I think it wants to hurt me!" squealed the young bird as he clutched onto Thundering Rhino's side tightly.
"Nonsense, it's only a toy, little one. It's no more dangerous to you than I am"
This served to comfort the child, so that from that point on, Shen always looked to Thundering Rhino for comfort and support. Masters Storming Ox and Croc were also always ready to help out with Shen, entertaining him with stories of their past exploits from time to time, but in Shen's eyes, Master Thundering Rhino was the bravest of them all.
Lord Kongque was, in particular, very close to his son in that, despite ruling a city, he was always happy to spend time with him, teaching him the history of his ancestors and how they had unified Gongmen City: long ago, when settlers reached the coastal area of what would someday be Gongmen, no one had the gumption to step up as a just and fair ruler, save for the peacocks, who were already revered as being pious creatures that sought fairness for all. With their leadership, over years, Gongmen City was established, the Tower of the Sacred Flame being the highest of all buildings as a bastion of fair rule and a beacon of hope that stood tall so that any could see it and go there for help.
Kongque instructed Shen on how the fireworks were invented: some hundred years after Gongmen was built, the nights were dark and the citizens still uneasy of the dangers that were still out there in the wilderness. The ruling peacock of the age then decided to do something, and labored for weeks on a means of projecting light into the skies to instill a feeling of light, warmth and beauty unto all: he called this new light "fireworks" and declared that all peacocks of Gongmen that came thereafter would continue to create the fireworks to bring the people of Gongmen what they needed most.
Along with this, Kongque saw to it that his son was dressed well in the finest silks possible, knowing full well that simplicity was more to Shen's advantage in attire, and so Lord Kongque decided to instruct the silkworms to design white, red and silver robes that would suit Shen well.
The favorite hobby of Lord Kongque that he enjoyed with his son was to play games with Shen at the side of the throne, sometimes lifting the young peacock into it, and always promising that someday the throne would be Shen's.
"It's your responsibility, my son, to assume this throne someday and to lead Gongmen well. But it's also your privilege to be a bringer of light and joy to your future subjects", Lord Kongque would often say to his son. "You have been granted the great gift to become a leader."
Shen, young as he was, knew the sincerity in which his father spoke to him and so folded his wings as if in prayer and spoke. "I will not fail you, Father. I promise"
Summer had come to the city of Gongmen and with that, the peacocks decided to pay a visit to Ah Mah, who had since taken an extended leave to visit the panda village on the outskirts of Gongmen, taking Shen along with them. The ride was extensive, as the royal family was carried once more on a palanquin by their gazelle contingent and accompanied by the Kung Fu Council, who themselves were invited as well to visit the panda village, and made much longer by the young Shen, who would not stop talking the others' ears off about whatever caught his interest, from the history of his illustrious forbearers to the countryside itself, and, getting on the fraying nerves of even his own loving parents, how bored he was of waiting.
But once the palanquin caravan stopped, and the travelers stepped out, Shen rushed out with the speed of a rabbit, jumping out and even using the heads of Masters Thundering Rhino and Croc as stepping stones as he ran. Shen was elated to see what lay outside of Gongmen City and rushed through the tall grass alongside the river toward the outskirts of the village.
Peace and harmony incarnate, the panda village was a welcome sight after so many hours on the roads: with simple huts and shacks surrounded well by bamboo and pandas of all ages busily going about their lives: younger pandas flew kites or chased one another in their games while older ones, laden with buckets of vegetables and fruits, bustled about, and once they spotted the royal family, the pandas, one by one, stopped and greeted the visitors with waves and loud greetings.
Lord Kongque and Lady Shui Lian, gracious as ever and having caught up with young Shen, bowed before the pandas and called up their gazelle servants, who brought gifts from Gongmen, from tools and clothes to sparklers for the panda children.
Shen, however, was anything but interested in all this pomp and circumstance, looking on towards the woods, where he was sure he had seen someone there, a hairy, hunched figure with a pair of brightly-glowing eyes. Making to go and see the figure closely, Shen attempted to leave his parents and the others to their greeting the pandas, but was instead kept under close watch by his mother, who warned her son many times never to leave her sight.
"Shen, you are not to wander off; stay here with me and your father, where we can see you", his mother chided.
"But why?", asked Shen, dismayed at this strictness. "I'm not going to do anything-"
"That is not the point. These woods can be dangerous. I heard from Master Croc that the deeper woods are being camped out by a band of monitor bandits. That is why the masters are here with us, to keep us all safe in case the bandits come this way"
"But you know I'm careful, mother, I won't get caught-"
"We can't be sure of that, my son, unless we see what is in there, and as long as we're visiting this land and you're a guest here, that is out of the question."
Without much more ado, young Shen was kept back; his father's words were hardly more comforting as Shen was told that there was danger to be found in those woods. Shen was thus compelled by his parents to accompany them as they greeted more pandas and bestowed more gifts.
Evening came at a snail's pace for young Shen, who grew bored and ran off to find some young panda cubs, who he convinced into joining in a game of tag. Each time, it seemed, Shen had last, due, in part, to his growing train, which stuck out sharply against the wooded grey undergrowth where they all played. Shen was having a good time, and seemed to have forgotten all about going into the woods, when, for the tenth time, to his displeasure, he was found again in their game of tag. With that, Shen decided to step up the game and hide even deeper into the undergrowth, forgetting about his promise to his mother that he would not move into the woods.
"They'll never find me in here", Shen snickered as he hid in a log. And the cubs never did.
A long stretch of time seemed to have passed to Shen and he grew tired of waiting, peering out of the log. That instant, he retracted his head into it as he saw the silhouettes of a number of figures around a campfire. The monitor bandits had taken the log he was hiding in! Shen, though frightened greatly, did his best to keep calm and stay silent, when a pair of rustling footsteps moved towards the log and tore a piece of it off, revealing Shen to the bandits at once.
The monitors were all in uproar as they beheld the prince.
"Well, look who's come to visit us from his golden throne up on high", scorned a monitor bigger than the others. "I see you've decided to join us for supper, my liege!" At that moment, the monitor struck the log with his tail, shattering it to splinters, and dragged Shen out of the remains of the log towards the fire.
"Li! The chains! We've got ourselves a hostage to-night!" shouted the monitor as he held Shen back his wings, forcefully, as another monitor, this one rangy and filthy-looking, moved forward with chains in his claws, when, as quickly as the monitor leader broke the log, a large mass of fur and armor brought the monitor holding the chains down to the ground. With that, several other furred, armored figures came down amongst the monitors, pulling out swords and clubs, and stepping into the fire's light: wolves.
Shen was instantly taken by his own fear: wolves, his mother, had always told him, were no better than the other marauding creatures of the mountains. But these wolves didn't appear interested in taking Shen at all.
"Leave the bird alone!", bellowed out one of the wolves, the wolf that landed on the monitor with chains.
"Find your own hostage, you mangy beasts!", shouted the monitor leader angrily.
With that, the wolves leapt forward and engaged the monitors in battle, Shen hurrying away from both of them, though as he ran, one of the monitors rushed at one wolf with a torch, and the wolf struck it aside, where it fell onto Shen's feet. The young bird squawked in pain, his cries of anguish drowned out by the hisses and growls of the two fighting groups. Shen, with strength beyond that of most others in his given plight, somehow managed to hide in a thicket of brambles, shredding his silk robes as he stumbled forward to hide.
The wolves fought on, bringing down more of the monitors as quickly as though they were weeds, when the remaining lizards, fearing for their lives, ran as fast as they could from the scene, only to be brought down when the wolves ran after them, bringing them down with their rope darts.
Shen watched in shock as the wolves bound all the lizards by the ankles, whether conscious or knocked out, and made not a sound until he saw one wolf pull out a large sword and prepare to end his foe, the leader of the monitors. Shen attempted to quiet his cry of fear much too late as a dark figure approached the brambles slowly.
"Good evening to you, young prince", the wolf's growly voice called out through the brambles.
"G-good evening", said Shen, quite uneasy at the voice, his trembling tone made more so by the pain of his burned feet.
"Where is your family, little one? Do you want some help finding them?"
Back at the camp, fear had gripped the peacocks as they grieved over their son's abrupt disappearance; the gazelles searched the village, led by Ah Mah, as the Masters combed the woods. The search had gone on for two hours, and none could find even a trace of him, short of a few footprints leading into the woods and stopping cold.
"Find my son now", demanded Lord Kongque to his gazelles, angry and beside himself at his son's disappearance, "Find him NOW!"
"We've combed the woods through and we can't seem to find him; all we found were those monitors, bound up around a campfire", reported Master Storming Ox, having just come back from patrolling the woods for the third time.
"Well, find him, please, masters", pleaded Lady Shui Lian tearfully, "who knows where he might-"
"Hello over there!", a familiar voice rang out from the forest.
Both peacocks, the old goat, the three masters, the gazelle retainers and all the pandas stood agog at the bizarre sight before them. Shen indeed did return through the trees, but it was at a much higher stature that the young bird stood: perched atop the shoulders of a fierce-looking wolf, who walked benignly on towards the onlookers, flanked by scores and score of other wolves, none of which appeared to have any intent in harming anyone.
"Hello, mother, father", young Shen nonchalantly chirruped. "These are my friends"
