"But," Tigress argued "It couldn't possibly be the same Dragon Warrior. Po couldn't have even been born back when all this happened. It's not fair to punish him for who his ancestors were!"

"You are right, of course," Bao-Jia admitted. "But that will matter very little to our people. Even I am not immune from feeling a bit hostile towards him now."

Tigress blinked incredulously. Was he serious? She peered into his face and instantly saw it. The slight tightening of his jaw, the narrowing of his eyes, the creasing of his brow.

This was getting ridiculous. She would just have to refuse to go with him. She would stand her ground, tell him her friends were more important to her than his silly little prejudiced kingdom, and he and her mother could just go-

Her jaw slackened, letting her mouth hang open as she remembered the real reason why this was all so important: Her mother. Her mother was a prisoner. She might die if she wasn't rescued. And, if she let him go away now, her father would join her. Of that, there was no doubt.

She felt numb. What else could she do? Her gaze slowly lowered. "So," she asked the blades of grass by her feet, "should we leave now? I have my pack of supplies for the trip sitting ready by my door." She briefly relived the last few moments she'd shared with Po. She'd felt really, truly happy. And now she'd never repeat that moment. She got to experience it once... that's enough, right? It would be a bittersweet memory she could carry with her forever. "I'll run back and get them, then meet you at the entrance to the forest in five minutes."

When Bao-Jia didn't immediately reply, she looked up to find him staring at her. He regarded her a moment longer, as if weighing his next words.

"Do you love him?" he asked finally.

The question caught Tigress off guard. "W-What?" she stuttered.

"This is important," her father urged her. "The original plan has the highest chance of success. Trying to convince the Snow Leopard Kingdom that an ancestral butcher of our people can be trusted carries substantially more inherent risks; both for his life and our own, for associating with him."

Tigress's heart surged with hope. But she had to carefully consider the risks involved. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes to calm herself. He asked if she... if she loved him. Loved Po. That this was an important point. Why? Did her father's new plan depend on her honoring her marriage vows, if it came to that? Was he saying there could be no sham wedding, that it would have to be real? She didn't understand, but she tried. Her feelings towards Po had certainly grown exponentially over the past week and now bordered on some strong positive emotion she'd never felt before. She couldn't say with certainly, since love, particularly romantic love, was unfamiliar to her. There was only one truth she was willing to bet her life on.

"He is someone..." She opened her eyes and stated with conviction "who treasures me."

Bao-Jia's eyes widened in surprise. Then he brought a closed paw over his mouth to cover the spreading grin. "I see," he spoke with barely concealed amusement. "Then, I suppose we have no choice. We'll have to bring him with us."

Tigress still didn't understand how her answer affected whether or not Ch'eng Huang would accept Po as her fiancee and still help them save her mother. She had pressed him for more answers, but he said he didn't want to overwhelm her, and that everything would be fine as long as Po made a good impression. Given his track record, Tigress could only hope that what passed for good manners among feline royalty was similar to that of Upper Head District Chief Superior Superintendent Chang. She still remembered the horror she and all her friends felt when Po dropped a bean bun during dinner. The superintendent responded by casually calling upon the Five-Second-Rule as he scooped it off the floor and chewed it nosily with his mouth open.

Before they left, Tigress's friends had still tried to argue that they should be allowed to come along to visit the Snow Leopard Kingdom. Bao-Jia explained that it would be hard enough getting one non-feline through the gates, much less five. As they said their good-byes and the trio set out, everyone shouted advice to Po, to which the panda replied with some variant of "Okay!" or "I'll remember that!"

"Always keep a clean handkerchief, Po!"

"Mind your manners and don't eat too much!"

"Pay attention to what Mr. Bao-Jia tells you!"

"Bring me back a souvenir!"

"Remember to chew with your mouth closed!"

Po was walking backwards as he replied, falling behind his traveling companions. Tigress sighed and picked up the pace, hitching her backpack to a more comfortable position. The warm fuzzies she'd felt last night had dissipated with the morning as the burden of the days ahead pushed its way to the forefront of her mind.

Her father easily kept stride. "Are you troubled by what we talked about?"

She shook her head, but made an effort to slow down. "No, of course not. But we shouldn't dawdle."

The truth was that she was worried. Not only about Po being accepted, but about meeting her new allies. Thus far, all her interactions with snow leopards (i.e. Tai Lung and Peng) had been negative. The felines in question had revealed a darkness in their hearts, a lust for power, and a drive for vengeance. Would Ch'eng Huang be any different?

She hardly noticed that Po had caught up with them and was talking to her, until an apple was shoved under her nose. She stopped walking and let her eyes follow the arm attached to the fruit, all the way up to it's owner.

"I asked if you wanted a snack?" Po bobbed the apple back and forth temptingly.

She grabbed it-"Thank you" -but didn't eat it.

"Hey, Tigress, you feeling okay?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," she snapped. "I'm just not hungry right now."

As Tigress quickened her step, leaving her party behind again, Bao-Jia took pity on Po and went over to pat him on the shoulder. "Don't take my daughter's mood personally, panda. It's just she has a lot on her mind right now. She's actually very happy you're here."

"She has a funny way of showing it..." Po mumbled. "Hey, wait! How do you know? Did she say something to you about me?"

Bao-Jia bit his lip and turned his face away in a poor attempt to hide his sudden smile. "It's not my place to say..."

"Aweh, come on! Tell me, please?" Po rounded on him, making little claps with his paws imploringly. "Please, please, please, please, pleaaaaase?!"

The former king coughed into his paw as he adopted a serious expression. "Hmm... I also wonder."

"Huh?" Po cocked his head sideways. "Wonder what?"

Bao-Jia maintained a completely straight face. "How soon I can expect grandchildren?"

The question hit him like direct punch to the center of his forehead and Po fell flat on back, "Gr-gr... grandchildren?!"

By now they had fallen so far behind that Tigress had doubled back to check on her comrades. "What's going on?" She knelt by the panda and quickly scanned his body for injuries. "Were you attacked?"

Bao-Jia laughed. "Only by his own imagination."

When they made camp later that night, Po still couldn't look at either feline without blushing. He ate his bean buns silently, glancing up at his comrades out of the corner of his eye every so often. This was fine with Tigress, who had her mind occupied with other things, but Bao-Jia didn't like it. Entertaining as it had been to toy with the panda, it wouldn't do for them to arrive at their destination in low spirits. He decided to break the ice.

"What are you thinking about, Tigress?" he asked his daughter.

"Huh?" She had been staring into their campfire, and the shift in focus from light to dark gave her father a green tinge.

He nodded to the apple she still carried in her hand. It remained uneaten. "We have traveled a long way and your body needs its strength. Something is upsetting your appetite." He motioned Po over to include him in the conversation.

The panda finally met his gaze. "Oh, yeah." He swallowed his mouthful and scooted a bit closer to them. "Sorry about that. I've been thinking too... but you go first."

"I... it's nothing," she replied quickly. "I'm fine, see?" She took a quick bite of the apple and chewed, hoping that was enough to end the interrogation.

No such luck. "I saw a far away look in your eyes," Bao-Jia pressed. "You were looking into the future, and you are right to do so. We should come up with a plan to ensure Po's safety."

"My safety?" the panda in question asked, confused. "I thought I was here to protect you guys!" He sat up straight. "I'm not called the Dragon Warrior for nothing, you know!"

"That's the problem!"

Both males were stunned by Tigress's outburst. She was standing, looking straight at Po, her fists clenched. "Don't go around saying such careless things! Do you want them to kill you on the spot?!"

"Kill me?" Po blinked. "Who?"

Tigress slowly unclenched her paws as it dawned on her that Po was clueless to the circumstances... because she hadn't told him yet. She didn't know how. Now the conversation could no longer be avoided, but she still didn't know how to break it to him. "It... it's because..." She gulped and looked away. "It's because of who you are."

"Oh," his gaze switched between the two felines. "You mean because I'm not a tiger like you guys? They're strict about that stuff?"

"You wouldn't be killed simply for being a non-feline," Bao-Jia scratched his nose. "But she's right that a deadly grudge is held by my people for you specifically."

"But, I haven't done anything!" he protested. "I didn't even know your super secret village and stuff existed before!"

"We know that, Po," Tigress sighed as she sat back down. "But, that won't matter. That's why we have to keep your identity secret for as long as possible. At least until we figure something out."

"I still don't get it." The panda shook his head. "Why do people I've never met before hate me?"

An uncomfortable silence followed.

"Every cub knows the story of the evil Dragon Warrior," Bao-Jia began "who kidnaps naughty children and grinds up their bones. He is a hairy, smelly, and terrifying giant that appears with a huge basket on his back, primed and ready to carry away his catch to his lair."

Po glanced guiltily at the large basket he'd been carrying, though it was only full of cookies, buns, and vegetables.

"Some say his fur is actually a coat made from his victims," the cat continued. "He lurks in the forest, under beds, and just out of the corner of your eye. Children always carry with them a pocket knife, just in case they are caught so they can cut their way out of the basket. Eventually, as the cubs grow up, they learn that the chilling bedtime story is actually based on a historical figure who disappeared long ago. No one knows how, when, or even if he died. So to meet a Dragon Warrior in person is, as you'd expect, quite unsettling and liable to cause people to react in extreme ways."

"Woah..." Po muttered. "That guy does sound scary. If I didn't know any better, I'd be afraid of me too!"

"But, we do know better," Tigress sat up and stared fiercely at him. "Now we need to let Snow Leopard Kingdom know it, too."

(End of Chapter 10)

A/N: All my beta's have either become incredibly busy with real life or fallen off the face of the earth... meaning all my chapters from now on will be un-proofread crap. I apologize in advance, but I promised I wouldn't give up on this story as long as at least one person still commented on it, so please bear with me!