CHAPTER 25
INVESTIGATION PART 2

"Where's you guys going?" Misha asked as Lin got his cloak from his room.

He swung it over him. "We're heading to the village to investigate that room that archer attacked you. He might've left clues that would lead to his identity. Until we're back, you should stay here and wait."

Misha paused for a bit. "OK. Why don't I get masters Shifu and Oogway to check up on me every half hour?" she suggested.

Lin was glad that he had one less thing to worry about. He bade her goodbye before putting his hod up and meeting up with Tigress at the entrance of the palace.

"Misha said she'll have masters Shifu and Oogway check up on her." he told her as they descended down the stairs.

"At least we won't have to worry about her for a while." Tigress replied. "We can focus more on the investigation."

"Speaking of which," Lin pulled out the two arrows from under his cloak. "Do you know where I could find the weapon's district of the village? maybe someone there can identify who made this arrow."

"It's this way." She led him to a part of the village which was filled with the sound of hammers striking hot steel and the scent of hard, stressful work. It was the perfect place to ask around.

They approached a boar who was busy sharpening a few arrowheads. "Excuse me," Lin began. He looked up at him. "Sorry to bother you, but could you identify these two arrows?"

He handed the boar the arrows. He examined them for a while feeling then and tapping the arrowhead. "I know every arrow crafter in the valley and not one of 'em made this." he said.

"So they were made outside the valley...You don't recognize the design at all?" Tigress asked.

The boar shook his head. "Try askin' Mao over there. He's got some friends outta the valley." He pointed at some goat a few houses away. They thanked him and headed for the goat the boar pointed at.

"Are you Mao?" Tigress asked.

"Yes." he answered simply.

"Do you know who made these arrows?" Lin handed them to Mao who examined them.

"No. I'm sorry." Mao replied.

Lin sighed gloomily. "Thank you for your time." he said before leaving.

"I guess we should investigate the restaurant then." Tigress said as they walked. "Maybe we'll be luckier there..." She looked to her left and noticed that Lin was gone. She was tempted to call out his name, but she looked around first.

She found him talking to a young boar who was hammering on a piece of red-hot iron. After striking it a few times, he looked up at Lin who nodded causing the young boy to smile. Lin patted his shoulder before walking off to Tigress.

"Sorry for the wait Tigress." He looked back at the young boar who waved at him. Lin waved back before going on his way.

"What was that about?" Tigress asked.

"That boy was having some difficulty with his work; I gave him some pointers, so he's all right now." Lin answered.

Tigress thought about that for a while. "Your father was a silversmith." she remembered.

He nodded. "I learned a bi from him. I'm no expert, but I can, given the right materials, make a decent sword or something similar. I made my LinkStar myself." He sighed gloomily. "My father was the one who taught me everything..."

He was silent for a while as he thought of his dad. "He must have been a great teacher." Tigress said trying to cheer him up.

Lin was able to smile a bit. "He was. He's serious most of the time but knows when to have fun and enjoy. Actually, I have more of my mother's personality in me...I wish you would've met them Tigress...You would've loved them to..." He ended sadly.

Tigress looked at him worriedly and held his shoulder comfortingly causing him to stop. "I've already met them through you. And all I need to know about them is that they had a wonderful son such as yourself."

Lin smiled at her instantly feeling a lot better. "Thank you Tigress." He gave her a quick hug which she returned. Then they realized that they were in public and hastily parted and went on their way to the restaurant, neither one of them speaking the entire time.

When they arrived, the Jade Blossom was still as full as usual. They approached one of the employees who looked a little tense." Excuse me." Tigress said.

He looked at them and instantly recognized them from the previous night. "Oh it's you two." he said.

"We're here to investigate the room where the waiter was murdered. Is it still intact?" Lin asked.

He gulped nervously which made the students worry. "I'll explain when you see it."

Tigress and Lin looked at each other confused before following him. They were led to the same room in which Misha was attacked, but there were two things that were different. First, the body of the waiter was remove as well as his blood. Second, one of the large clay jars on the right side of the room seemed to have been tipped over. It pieces were scattered across the room.

"What happened?" Lin asked.

The employee began his story. "A few minutes before you two arrived, I sensed that someone was in this room. I knocked and asked who it was, but then I heard the jar fall and break. I immediately opened the door, but the room as empty. I swear that someone was in here."

"Whoever it was must have crept in through the window." Tigress said looking at it. Lin on the other hand bent down and moved the pieces of the broken jar arround.

"Was there anything inside the jar?" he asked.

He shook his head. "No. It's been empty since last night when that archer attacked. And aside from moving the body and the jar, this room's been untouched since then." He shuddered at that memory.

Lin stood up and did some thinking. He looked outside the broken window. "Maybe there's a clue in the trees." He jumped out of it and leaped onto the closest tree.

"Lin?" Tigress watched as he quickly examined the tree before jumping into another one. She followed him outside and watched him move to the tree where the archer was before the arrow was fired.

"Have you found anything?" Tigress asked.

"Yes." Lin pulled away one of the tree branches revealing to her the knife she threw still stuck in the tree. "You have an amazing throw tigress. Other than that, nothing."

Lin jumped down from the tree and Tigress asked: "What now?"

"We should head back to the palace. We can put together what we know there." he answered. They thanked the employee for his story and headed back to the palace.

Later...

As soon as they arrived, the first thing Lin did was go to Misha's room to check if she was fine. To his enormous relief, he found her virtually unscratched. "You're safe...I'm so glad..."

"Yeah well, master Shifu and Oogway did check up on me every half hour.." Misha winced and clutched her left arm. "Plus, my arm's acting up again, so I wasn't able to do much. Anyway, how'd the investigation go?"

"Not so well." Tigress answered with a sigh.

"Here's what we know Misha." Lin began. "We learned that the archer came from outside the Valley of Peace since the arrows weren't made here. We also know that he, for some unknown reason, returned to the Jade Blossom and broke one of the jars."

"Wait, I didn't see him put anything in those jars." Misha asked.

"We know that, but that just makes us wonder why he went through the trouble of returning to the restaurant if it was just to tip over a jar." Tigress answered before turning to Lin. "Maybe he was waiting for you to show up so he can ambush you."

"I doubt it." he answered. "If he knew I was coming, why didn't he attack when I entered the room and on our way back to the palace? He went back to that restaurant not to kill me; he went for some other reason. I just don't know what that is."

"So basically, the trail's cold?" Misha asked.

"I'm afraid so Misha." He sighed. "But I just learned something more disturbing today."

Tigress raised an eyebrow. "What Lin?"

Lin shrugged before speaking. "That archer came from outside the Valley of Peace, and there's only one person outside the valley, in the entire world probably, who'd want me dead."

Tigress instantly knew who he was talking about. "Geng Wu..."

He nodded grimly. "We don't a anything that connects the two of them together, but if he were to tell Geng Wu where I was..."

"He'd attack the valley." Tigress said suddenly alarmed. Misha stared wide-eyed at the both of them. "We can't just stand here; we have to find him!"

"We're out of leads Tigress." Lin reminded. "Our only hope now is that he decide to kill me himself."

"As if I'll let him." Tigress said seriously.

Lin nodded. "We've done all we can today; we should get some rest for tomorrow."

Tigress calmed down a bit and nodded. However, neither of them could sleep well that night. There were just too many unanswered questions about that archer. Both of them knew that as long as they don't figure out the truth, he'll always be there watching Lin, waiting for the right moment to end his life.