:4 hours later:
Here Hunter finally stood. The entrance to the Valley of Peace. The Thread of Hope was stretched out before him, waiting for him to cross it as he had quite a few times previously. The journey across was one he had, as mentioned, taken many a time before. It was almost always to visit The Jade Palace and receive a Collection Contract from Master Oogway himself to find and retrieve a Kung Fu artefact. The contracts from him were hardly ever dull, that was for sure, and it was always worth it. Casting his eyes to the sky, Hunter saw there were no scouts overhead this time. In fact, from what Hunter knew, he had been granted the privilege to seamlessly come and go from the Valley by Oogway, with the Chih Kuan Crane Clan who guard the Thread allowing him passage without question, even when they were scouting overhead, even if they weren't currently. Although the last time he'd crossed it into the Valley, he'd left with something that wasn't his to take. It was time to rectify that mistake.
Or, well... not quite time yet at the least. Despite being so close to the Valley, Hunter didn't feel like attempting the rather taxing journey across the rope bridges and rocky islands that made up the Thread of Hope today, so instead he set up camp near the bridge's entrance, poised to set off on the journey across right away when he woke up. Besides which, Hunter was sure that the servant had stopped off somewhere for the night himself since he'd lost track of him a few miles back, so there was no great rush to get there. With this timetable in mind, Hunter set about making camp and within half an hour he'd made a roaring fire to keep himself warm from the rapidly approaching winter season, having clearly done this kind of thing many a time before, and not 10 minutes after that he also had a tent set up for himself too.
Crouching next to the firepit, he rubbed his hands/paws/talons together and held them up to the warm flames as the wind chill swept over him and a tiny shiver ran down his body. He was used to the bitter cold, even sleeping in it without a tent or decently warm clothes wasn't a strange occurrence to him. In fact, it was something he was all too familiar with. Taking a moment to appreciate the shelter that his tent provides as well as the comfortable bedding and warm fire he had, Hunter then sat down next to said fire to stay warm, huddling up to himself as he looked into the bright orange flames dancing and crackling in front of him. Truthfully, Hunter had always felt more at home right here, in the wild among the feral animals and dense woodland, where it was easy to disappear and be free from everything. He felt like he belonged here, away from everyone else, from all the others. It wasn't like he was ever welcomed among them anyway, so it made little difference to him.
Pfft, home. What a novel concept that was to Hunter. He had no home. Nowhere he considered home, anyway. Not anymore at the very least. While he might have felt something close to it once or maybe twice, it wasn't a feeling he was truly familiar with. It was a word that held very little meaning to Hunter. Sure he may have somewhat settled in Taidao, but it never felt like 'home' to him. Unless it did and he just misunderstood the concept of what makes something feel like home... He wasn't really sure either way.
Shaking his head and focusing on his current situation, Hunter began to wonder what would happen tomorrow when he visited The Jade Palace once again. He hoped Oogway would allow him the chance to atone for his misdeeds at the very least, although he would also understand if he just immediately threw him in prison instead. But really he truly wanted to retrieve the Sword of Heroes for the Masters before that happened. And what would she think of him...? Knowing he'd stolen from her home? Looking down in shame for his actions, he was about to go to his tent and call it a night, but before he could, he heard something move in the woods nearby, grabbing his full attention.
Hunter took no chances. Standing up in a ready position and now on extreme alert, he scanned his eyes around the edge of his campsite... Then he saw them, moving shadows, shifting around him in the darkness... He was prepared to fight... Not yet drawing his sword if he didn't have to. He was always prepared to fight... It was then that a Crane of the Chih Kuan Crane Clan stumbled into Hunter's firelight, the Crane's wing looking broken and the man himself looking beaten to hell and back... As Hunter cast his eyes around, he noticed he was surrounded by a further three wounded warriors... "May... May we share your fire?" one of them asked, shivering in the cold of the night. Even their feathers were no match for the chilling breeze around the Thread of Hope without shelter and with their injuries.
Hunter was a bit sceptical about the whole situation, but nodded in consent for them to join him since they were the guardians of The Thread, and some of them were injured. In fact, all of them were injured, each with a broken wing by the looks of it... As well as countless bruises, cuts and scrapes. They'd clearly been in some kind of desperate fight. "What happened?" he asked them, taking out the medical supplies he'd brought with him for the journey. He wasn't exactly a medical professional, but he'd worked on himself enough times and was familiar enough with various animal anatomy to at least put their wings back in place and then bandage them up to let them heal. He'd have to do it now if they wanted their wings to heal properly. If they don't get their wings tended to soon, they may lose their ability to fly with it altogether. "Here, let me help." he held his hand out, and with some slight hesitation, the Crane closest to him gingerly placed his broken wing in Hunter's firm grasp, grimacing from the pain of both moving his wing and having it handled by someone.
Although, upon hearing the question, none of them met The Hunter's eyes when he asked what had transpired to actually injure them. Each of the warriors looked away in shame. "They... They took us by surprise." The one he was currently tending to spoke sheepishly. He squawked loudly in sudden and extreme pain as Hunter reset his wing into place and began to bandage it up in a sling. "It was an infamous bandit gang, The Qīngtóng Baihé. They forced us down from the sky during our patrol using nets and made sure to quickly break our wings. We couldn't fly away to alert the others, or cut the bridge to prevent them crossing. We managed to fight them off, but they still made it across the bridge into the Valley. The next patrol isn't due for at least a few days from now..." The Crane slightly panted from the exertion of being tended to as Hunter moved on to the next injured warrior in the group.
Hunter nodded in recognition at what they were telling him. "They planned their attack." he stated to the group, all of whom nodded to him, confirming his thoughts on the matter. "Hmm." Hunter mused as he cracked another wing into place, although this one held in the yelp of pain, much to his own discomfort. "There is no shame in exclaiming in pain when something hurts." Hunter said to the Crane matter-of-factly while proceeding to bandage his wing up for him. Said Crane took his advice and sobbed a little from the pain of it.
The apparent leader of the scout group sat up next to Hunter now, apparently feeling much better being by a fire and having his broken wing looked at and treated. "What is your name, kind stranger?" he asked The Hunter.
Hunter stopped for a second, staring off ahead for a good few seconds. He seemed to be debating whether to answer or not. "They call me The Hunter." he stated to the group as he continued tending to the final injured warrior's wing.
They all looked to one another at Hunter revealing who he was. "The Hunter?" The leader asked in slight disbelief, receiving a nod of confirmation from the man in response. "The Man With No Name..." the Crane leader spoke in recognition, blinking a few times to get himself together. The others except the one he was helping all took a slight step back at Hunter revealing who he is before regretting it as a gust of wind swept by and they quickly decided that being closer to him and his warm fire was worth it versus whatever they'd thought might happen prior to the weather making itself known.
The warrior he was still tending to gulped but remained still as he was bandaged up, before seeming thoughtful as if trying to recall something. "How does that song go again...?" the Warrior asked, mainly himself by the looks of it. He hummed a few various tunes that sounded like nursery rhymes before shaking his head. Hunter offered no answer in response to his question as the Crane seemed to give up. "Slipped my mind." He gave a shrug with his single working wing.
The leader of the Cranes then seemed to decide on something and pulled a piece of parchment out from a bag he had placed next to him, taking out some writing equipment. "In that case... You take various types of contracts for payment, yes?" The Crane then lay the parchment on the ground and began writing when Hunter nodded in the affirmative in response. When he was finished, he spoke. "I've drawn up a contract. Assassination. We want the ones who did this to us dead, or at least the leader. They are likely terrorising the Valley by now, and they need to be stopped before they do too much damage or harm any innocent lives. I can only hope that your appearance here is an omen of death to the bandits, and not us." The leader said with a small chuckle and handed the contract to Hunter, who looked it over after casting a slightly scathing look at the Crane from over the parchment, who didn't seem to notice the look shot his way.
Hunter took a minute or two to read over the contract, skimming slightly over parts of it. "Reward of ¥1000... Dadada... For proof of death of Hēi Láng, leader of The Qīngtóng Baihé... Hahablahda... Signed Master Qizhòngjī Hēisè of The Chih Kuan Crane Clan..." he then peered over the parchment at who he assumed was Master Qizhòngjī. "Very well, all seems to be in order. I'll accept the contract." Hunter agreed to it, rolling the parchment up and nodding to the Crane.
Master Qizhòngjī, however, looked rather despondent about something. "I wish there were a way with which we could repay you now for your... unexpected kindness. Allowing us to share your fire and bandaging our broken wings with your own supplies without asking for any compensation..." he said thoughtfully, wondering how they could give back to him.
Hunter cast a look at their undamaged wings then... "Hmm. Actually, there might be a way." he said to Master Qizhòngjī, who turned to him, wondering what they could do for him. "A primary feather from your wing. One of those, and we'll call it even." He requested. Virtually on instinct, Master Qizhòngjī held his wing defensively and stepped back before looking at said wing and nodding in consent.
He seemed rather... Confused by the request, figuring it was a rather small thing to give in return for what very well could have been their lives. "Very well." Master Qizhòngjī said and raised his intact wing, ducking his head under it and plucking one of his large primary feathers out, presenting it to Hunter.
For his part, Hunter took it carefully and opened up his bag, placing the feather in his money box on top of the coins delicately. "Thank you, Master Qizhòngjī." he bowed his head in thanks. He decided to explain what he was going to do with the feather to the one who had gifted him it, especially considering the confusion in his eyes and the eyes of the others. "I make quills out of the primary feathers of various... Avians that I hunt. Although getting one willingly from a Kung Fu Master is a rare honour indeed." he nodded in appreciation to the Crane once more. Master Qizhòngjī was in a way glad that the donated feather would actually be useful to the one who took it, although slightly disconcerted by the fact he referenced hunting various avian animals, presumably including other Cranes with such ease and nonchalance, although if that were the case when hunting them one had to wonder... "We should get some sleep. I'll begin the hunt tomorrow when I enter the Valley."
Master Qizhòngjī nodded to Hunter at that. "We will make our way into the Valley as well. We'll be in The Hēilóng Tavern, or maybe still on The Thread if you are supernaturally quick about your work." he chuckled a little. "Although we won't have the money by that point." Master Qizhòngjī informed Hunter still in a lighter tone, who nodded to the Crane in response.
Hunter then walked over to his bedding, which the Crane thought looked... Strikingly familiar... It was the markings on it that he recognised... Getting a better look when Hunter opened up his tent, the Crane was shocked when he realised it was made from the pelt of a Leopard... Not just any Leopard... It was the Demoness Tàihú Fūrén's fur... He'd recognise those markings anywhere. The Chih Kuan Crane Clan had a few run-ins with her in the past, but none for some time. Had... Had Hunter killed and skinned her? And now he was using the Demoness' own pelt as his bedding?! Master Qizhòngjī couldn't decide whether that was extremely impressive or rather horrifying... He'd of course heard tell of The Hunter's prowess, but to kill a Demoness? And then so brazenly use her pelt as his bedding? That was ballsy.
Not long after, the entire group had fallen asleep around the fire that Hunter had made sure would burn through at least most of the night to keep them warm.
A/N: Thank you for the reviews, kind readers of FanFiction! It means a lot to me. I read all of them, and I'd reply if I could do so outside of PMs.