In the Fortress of Báisè de Gāngyì, no-one was sitting idle.
General Tujiu was currently in his study with Colonel Sao and engaging in suspiciously discrete discussion that Shifu strongly suspected concerned Emperor Xian's distrust in him. The Emperor was in his room, and it wasn't until Viper was sent to check up on him and returned with a red face that they learned that he had propped the bed against the wall and was currently doing a series of pull-ups. With his vest off. Viper and Tigress were still in the library looking up any information that may concern the mysterious threat, while Su had been told to take a break and was now in the cookery section with Di Tan, studying a wide variety of recipes both learned and never heard of before. Master Eagle Jr. was currently absent, having been back to the Valley of Peace to inform Mr. Ping that Su was safe and would begin her journey home first thing in the morning.
As for Grandmaster Shifu, the red panda was currently sitting in the outdoors observatory, perched on his staff in the space between the gargantuan astronomical instrument and the balcony edge, deep in meditation.
Or at least that was what he wished.
"After all, it is wonderful that she became such a beautiful, king hearted young woman, considering how she was raised."
Curse that devil goose woman!
Shifu scowled, his eyes still shut.
Not for the first time, he deeply wished that Princess Haoxin hadn't made that comment. If she hadn't then he would have been able to fully focus on his meditation as well as formulate a plan to combat the current menace. He shouldn't be frustrating himself with worried thoughts of Tigress and how in the world he was going to set things right between them. It was incredibly inconvenient.
But the thoughts and worries would not go away.
And no, it wasn't entirely because of a certain goose.
The truth was, while he now had inner peace, he was still not entirely at peace. Tai Lung had not been the only mistake he had made, that was already obvious. Though the snow leopard was gone, another mistake still remained. A mistake that was probably the worst of them all. A mistake that had to be remedied before it was too late.
But how?
"Master Shifu?"
Shifu opened his eyes, glad for the distraction. He turned around on his staff and looked down at Su.
"What is it, Su?" He asked.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you." Su said. "But Mr Di Tan sent me to tell you that he wants us all in General Tujiu's private mess hall because dinner is going to be ready soon. Everyone else is there except for Po and the other guys."
"Well I sent them away for an hour, and there are still twenty minutes left before they are due to return. I will accept their lateness for once."
"Should I ask Mr. Di Tan to set some dinner aside for them?" Su asked.
"Very well."
Shifu allowed the child to lead him through the library, and as they walked, he said;
"Did you or the others find anything significant in the library?"
"No, but the library's so big we haven't looked in all the possible places yet." Su replied. "Do you want us to keep looking after dinner?"
"Tigress and Viper can, but you don't have to." Shifu said. "After dinner, you may do as you wish."
"Can I see the throne room?"
"I don't see why not as long as someone accompanies you. Do you know where to go?"
"Yeah. Through the corridor at the far end of the entrance hall."
Shifu frowned unexpectedly.
"Master Shifu?" Su asked nervously.
"Why would you want to go see the throne room?" He asked. "I thought a child of your age would rather go play or read in the fairy tales section." Indeed, the thought of a child doing something different entirely was very odd.
"Well, I'm going back home tomorrow and I want to see a bit more of the fortress before I go." Su replied. "Why, is that a bad thing?"
Shifu shook his head, regretting that he had made the unintentional implication.
"No, it's not." He said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything."
"It's okay. Some of the kids at my village thought I was a little odd too."
"I never said that."
There was a pause as the two silently decided to change topic.
"I was thinking of looking up mythical creatures in the library." Su said as they exited the library and made their way through one of the many corridors. "Would that be unhelpful?"
"Why would you want to do that?" Shifu asked.
"Well, you know that demons and ghosts such as the Mongolian Fist Demon and the Jian Shi are real." Su replied. "So one of those, or a different magical creature, is kinda plausible if you think about it."
Shifu thought about it.
"You may right." He eventually said. "I don't see the harm in researching mythology if it gives results. The mythical creatures section is on the second floor, if I remember correctly."
"Thank you, Master Shifu. Oh look, we're here!"
Indeed, Su and Shifu had just stepped into the private mess hall, where Tigress, Viper and Xian (vest on) were seated at the single table in the room. Di Tan was in one corner of the room, stirring a large pot that was nearly as big as him.
"Where's the general?" Shifu asked as his students bowed in greeting.
"He said he wasn't hungry." Tigress said. She narrowed her eyes. "Master, is something wrong?"
Shifu realized he was looking at her funny, and quickly put on a casual expression.
"I'm just concerned about current events." He replied as he sat down and gestured for Su to do the same.
"We all are." Xian said. "But the sooner we find out who this killer is, the sooner we can stop them. Once dinner is over, I want you all to resume your search for information, am I clear?"
"Yes."
"Crystal clear."
"We will return to the library the moment dinner is finished."
"Rrrrrrrrggghhh!"
Silence fell in the mess hall.
Shifu, Xian, Su, Tigress and Viper turned to stare at the elderly goose standing by the pot.
"Nrrrrrrrgggghhhhh!"
Di Tan was currently bent double, one wing wrapped around a small bottle, the other pulling at the cork. He paused, and then-
"Rrrrraaaaaaagggghhh!"
"What in god's name are you doing?" Shifu demanded.
Di Tan glanced up at the group sitting at the table.
"The cork of this sauce bottle simply refuses to give up the ghost." Di Tan sighed.
"Do you need any help with that?" Xian asked.
"No, no. I'm fine. Rrraaaaahhhh!"
"Oh for crying out loud… Excuse me." Shifu got up and strode over to the grunting goose. "What are you doing?" He hissed.
"I'm helping you with Tigress." Di Tan whispered, still hunched over the bottle. "Rrrrggghhh!"
"What?!" Shifu nearly shouted. "How is grunting like a gorilla with a head cold going to help me?"
"I'm making you look good in front of your daughter." Di Tan replied, then grunted again as he tugged at the cork. "It worked all the time with my children when they were younger. To put it simply, by doing something impressive in front of your child, you impress them and therefore make them respect you and eventually love you even more."
"Seriously?" Shifu stared at him. "You really think me popping a cork is going to help me with Tigress?"
"Just give it a try."
"I'm not going to do something so foolish."
"I'll keep grunting like a gorilla with a head cold if you don't try. Naaarrrgghhh!"
"Oh for… give me that bottle before you give yourself a heart attack!" Shifu snatched the bottle with a disdainful expression and pulled on the cork.
He frowned.
He pulled again.
And again.
He drew all his strength into the cork.
It still didn't budge.
"Neeeaaarrrggghhh!" He grunted.
"Do you need any help, Master?" Tigress asked.
Shifu suddenly became aware of everyone staring at him.
"I do not need any help, thank you very much!" Shifu replied, but instead of trying again he slammed the bottle down on the table and turn to Di Tan. "Thank you so much for humiliating me in front of my-"
Pop!
"Here you go, Master Shifu."
Shifu turned around and found Su holding out the sauce bottle… with the cork in her other paw.
"Su?" Di Tan was equally astonished.
Before Shifu could even react… BAM… a panda, a monkey, a crane and a praying mantis suddenly burst through the double doors.
Tigress, Viper and Xian had been so taken by surprise that when they leapt to their feet they actually braced for combat. But then they recognized their comrades and relaxed slightly.
For a few seconds the guys merely stood there, breathing heavily from what must have been a very long run back to the fortress. Other than their gasping, the room was silent. Su had dropped the bottle in fright, the shards and sauce creating a dark red flower on the floor.
Eventually, Shifu asked;
"What happened?"
It was Po who answered.
"We were… attacked…"
"What?!" Tigress took a step forward in alarm.
"Are you serious?" Shifu demanded, his heart skipping one or two beats when he realized what they had said.
"We were taking a rest beneath this big rock…" Crane spoke up, the first of the four to regain his breath to some extent. Shifu realized that his hat was missing. "Boulders started flying at us out of nowhere."
"Who was it?" Xian said furiously. "Who attacked you?"
"No idea." Mantis panted. Out of the four he seemed to be the most freaked out. Monkey, on the other hand, was calm, something Shifu thought odd. "The boulders just came out of nowhere. There was nothing we could do except run for it."
"It was definitely no rockslide." Monkey said. "Those boulders were deliberately thrown at us. Nearly killed Crane twice."
Viper let out a hiss.
"You definitely did not see who attacked you?" Shifu asked.
"No, we didn't." Po replied. "We're sorry, Master Shifu. We would have fought back, but we kinda panicked."
Before Shifu could reply, a humorless laugh filled the room. Everyone turned to face the source of the laughter: General Tujiu had emerged from his study, Colonel Sao at his side. His eyes were filled with mirth.
"What could possibly be funny?" Xian snarled.
"Oh nothing!" Tujiu said. "I just find it ironic that the people sent here to 'help' us were the ones who ran away with their tails between their legs at the first sign of trouble."
"Excuse me?" Tigress growled, her temper flaring up at once.
"Come over here and say that!" Mantis glared at the vulture in contempt.
"Calm down, you two." Shifu said. "General, I think you'd do well to show a little more respect to my students."
"A little difficult considering that they just openly admitted to running away from a fight." Tujiu replied, giving a condescending glance to the four men. "I thought you were supposed to be warriors?"
Shifu knew right then and there that he didn't like the vulture one bit.
"Stop talking, Tujiu!" Xian snapped suddenly, wiping the smirk from the general's face. "The enemy is outside this fortress, not right here in this room!"
"Yes, of course." Tujiu replied almost mockingly. "I apologize."
"And from now on, I want you to treat these warriors with a little more respect, is that clear?"
"Affirmative."
"Good." Xian glared at Tujiu for a little longer before turning to Shifu and his students. "I trust none of you are hurt?"
"Nah, we more or less came out in one piece." Po replied.
"That's a relief." Shifu said, and he meant it. "It's getting late. We should finish our meals and then retire for the night. We can resume investigations in the morning and Su and Di Tan will be returned home."
"Oh, speaking of those two…" Tujiu spoke up. "When we were preparing the guest rooms we were not anticipating two extra guests. It will take a few hours to properly clean and prepare an extra room for those two." As he said this, Su let out a quiet yawn.
"Oh yeah, that's gonna be a problem…" Po rubbed his chin. "General, what are the rooms like?"
"Each room contains two beds."
"I take it me and Tigress are sharing a room." Viper said.
"I'll bunk with Monkey." Mantis said. Monkey nodded in agreement.
"I guess me and Crane are gonna share a room too." Po said. "But what about Su and Di Tan?"
"Di Tan can take my bed." Crane said. "I prefer to sleep on a mat, anyway."
"Thank you, Master Crane." Di Tan said. "But what about Su?" The girl in question wasn't really paying attention to the conversation, instead busying herself cleaning up the remains of the bottle she had dropped.
"There's just Shifu's room left, but that has only one bed." Tujiu looked he couldn't care less.
Shifu shot him a look before speaking.
"Su can take my bed." He said.
"What?" Su overheard and looked up sharply. "But Master Shifu…"
"There's nowhere else for you to go, so no buts." Shifu said, but gently. "Besides, I was planning to spend the night on a mat myself." It was true. Instead of using a bed like he had done in his younger years, Shifu now spent his nights meditating until the sun rose.
"Then everything's settled." Xian said. "Now let's get dinner started before we all pass out from sleep-deprivation. Di Tan, if you may…"