Chapter 21
Po was across the table, breathing deeply while Jasmine dressed the wound on his shoulder. "Agh!" One particular wipe stung really bad, and Jasmine reeled her hand away apologetically. "Why does it sting so much?!"
Tai Lung on the other hand, welcomed the cup of tea that sat in his paws happily, counting his lucky stars he had already endured it beforehand.
"Sorry, sorry..." Jasmine said calmly, smiling to match her tone. Tai Lung had a high enough pain tolerance, but to watch someone else get treated never sat well with him. "Just a little bit more, annd..." Po almost seemed calm again, but Jasmine- swift like fire, pressed the cloth down hard on the wound again, and Po nearly passed out with the pain.
"AHA-"
"Done! I'm done! I promise." Jasmine found some enlightenment and laughed at him. "I'm so sorry darling." Po fell forwards and his head smacked against the table, wheezing; Shang heard his cries, but strolled casually into the room to see the panda slowly hoist himself up with one arm- the one with an undamaged shoulder.
"He'll be fine." He spoke confidently. "Its safe to say that I'm pretty sure you've dealt with worse."
Po chuckled stiffly. "Yeah, try get a canon shot at you-" he paused. "Wait- no no... I take that back. Bad choice of words." He wouldn't wish on it on his worst enemy, let alone his brother-in-law.
Shang just shook his head with a smile, before turning to Tai Lung. "What about you? How are you feeling?"
"Better." The cup touched down on the table steadily. "I managed to eat something, at least." He wasn't going to admit it, but the food didn't agree with his stomach. Maybe it was a bad batch, or he was just unwell overall. Po said that the food tasted amazing, which seemed impossible when the leopard took it upon himself to eat. It was like swallowing stones; each gulp laid in what felt like punches to the stomach, and with every mouthful he just felt more and more nauseous, until he pushed it away from him. Of course Po didn't like seeing food going to waste, so he took it upon himself to see it being finished.
When he couldn't take it being stuck inside anymore, Po and Tai Lung decided to challenge themselves to get up and go for a walk earlier on that day, even though Jasmine said they shouldn't. They weren't sure why she said so- they had enough rest, and the both of them were starting to get cabin fever, and went against her wishes- and she didn't try stop them any further.
On their outing they met some of the villagers, who offered to organize them a boat to get home as soon as possible. Of course their jumped onto the opportunity immediately, the sooner they were home the better; they were worried sick about Tigress and the others. They were both constantly reminded that everyone thought they were dead, and probably missed their own funeral.
"It's only because of you two washing up along the bank I didn't leave to attend myself." Shang explained. "I sent a letter to let them know what was going on, but I don't know if they reached it beforehand..."
That prompted the next segment of conversation. "Any word from home?"
"No, surprisingly." Shang shook his head at the panda's question. "It doesn't take this long for a message to reach the Valley. They must of received it by now." With a bit of luck, someone was on their way now. Someone- anyone. "It's not like Tigress to leave that long between letters..."
Po almost didn't want to think about Tigress; everything that had gone on, and quite possibly the final image she had replaying in her head was them going down with the rocks would be too much for anyone to handle. Maybe she was blaming herself; or the kids were a good distraction for her. But then again she could be lying awake at night thinking about it. There was no better time for the brain to obsess over things, then the time where you should be resting, which would in turn keep you awake. "Is there anyway we can get home soon?"
"Of course. I just need to make sure your wounds have healed enough..." That could easily take a few more days, maybe weeks.
"They'll be okay." Tai Lung's paw sat gently on his shoulder, as to neither scare him or hurt the wound Jasmine was getting the bandages ready for. "This is Tigress we're talking about..."
Po nodded quietly, but it didn't shake any weight off of his worry. "I can't imagine how Sapphire is right now..."
Tai Lung hadn't stopped thinking about her, of course. He knew she was tough, and it would take a lot to knock her down. "She has Tigress, Shifu and the others... they wouldn't leave her to suffer alone." There was no other way to assure him without it sounding so blunt.
"And her mommies."
Tai Lung's ears picked up, his face falling into a look a puzzlement. Po gave an audible 'wha..?' as they turned to see Zao in the doorway. Shang and Jasmine did too; they weren't sure how long he was standing there for, but they were all equally as confused as the next.
"What do you mean Zao?" Jasmine asked inquisitively.
"Didn't you hear?" The cub replied with a tilt of his head. "Sapphire found her mommy in the city. AJ told me in her letter."
"Yes..." Shang said slowly. "Her mother Nuwa came to see her-"
"No silly." Zao was laughing now. "AJ said her first mommy lives in the city. Her name isn't Nuwa- it's Luna."
Back home...
When Luna opened the door, she discovered the others loitering the Hall of Heroes. Viper was the first to notice her presence, and then the others followed suit. They all smiled at her, and she smiled back quickly. "I'm looking for Master Tigress," she said.
"She's just in a meeting with Ox and Croc at the moment." the snake replied sweetly. "I'd say she will be out soon. Is everything alright?"
"Yes. Just need to discuss something with her... privately." Viper nodded understandably, before a rustling of wings disrupted their eye contact.
Master Tigress had materialized into the hall, with a heavily irked avian not far behind her. Everyone quickly closed in on them, all talking over each other worriedly. Tigress raised a paw, which quickly silenced them, before she handed Monkey a scroll that had previously sat in her paws. Luna watched from a distance, as the primate unraveled the parchment, and read the contents, before looking at the other anticipating Masters.
Tigress just glared at the floor. "They want a freakin ceremony?" Monkey was furious to say the least. He crumpled the page in his hands before tossing it away, without thinking whether or not she needed to keep hold of it. "Just to make it 'official'?"
Mantis was ready to boil over with rage. "Why? It's so dumb- there's no need-"
"I don't know." Tigress replied smoothly, folding her arms. "The sooner it's over, the better."
Mei Mei listened to the other mutually agree the situation was ludicrous, before she placed a paw on Tigress' shoulder. "Did they ask if you're ready for this?"
Crane scoffed. "Barely. They just told us what was being done, and they just expect her to just go with it, like some machine! There was no consideration whatsoever. It's a load of-"
"That's enough Crane." Tigress cut him off sharply. He shut up immediately, and she looked at the others. "This situation isn't ideal. I understand that," they all turned to one another, almost piteously. "But an order has been made."
"But Tigress-"
"There's no arguing." Her eyes flared with annoyance. "This was inevitable. If anything was to ever happen to Po... I must take his place, whether we like it or not..." she sighed heavily. "Even if it means I have to sit through a stupid ceremony."
The others were struck silent. "But... surely its not necessary? I mean, it's too soon... right?" Mei Mei looked at the others for someone to agree. "Right?"
Tigress tried to smile at Mei Mei's considerations, but the most she could muster up was the corners of her mouth ticking upwards. Noticing Luna's presence, she briefly looked at them all. "I appreciate everything you all have done for me and the kids all this time. Po... Po would've appreciated it too."
"That's just what family does hon." Mei Mei took the step to draw the tiger into a hug, which was returned. "We would never leave you guys aside. Ever." As she spoke, the others joined in on the hug, while Luna just twisted her paws together against her lap, glancing off to the side, waiting. Once the hug was broken up, Viper ushered to others to give them some space, before exiting herself.
Once the air fell quiet, Tigress cleared her throat, and smiled at Luna. "Is everything okay?"
Luna hesitated. "I needed to ask you something... it just seems so silly now. You have enough on your plate-"
Tigress shook her head. "It's fine. Something's on your mind. Let me at least try to help."
They sat down by the reflection pool, and watched the water for a moment, before Luna finally spoke. "Sapph and I were in Tai Lung's room. I was helping her with boxes and such. In one of the boxes we found a letter."
Tigress tilted her head as she remained poised in the lotus position. "To you?"
"No... the exact opposite. To Nuwa." Tigress raised a brow.
"Okay?"
"It was a love letter."
...
"Oh."
Tigress didn't look shocked at all. "Did you know about this?"
"Not at all. Tai Lung was..." Tigress turned to look at the pool again, as if to collect the words that swam inside her head. "He was private about those kind of things. He never seemed to express interest in dating. He never talked about it with me anyway."
Luna nodded slowly. "At all?"
"At all." The stripy confirmed. "There was speculation a long time ago, about those two." Her paws collected into the space between her legs. "But they had denied the rumors. Not that it would've mattered."
Luna narrowed her eyes slightly. "What do you mean?"
"Even if the rumors were true, there was nothing to confront or address. Tai Lung and Nuwa got along well, but for some time their only point of contact was Sapphire. Tai Lung wanted her to know that Sapphire wanted him in her life, but was making sure Nuwa was aware of it all. By doing that, it seemed it only brought some unwanted attention."
"Oh..." Luna looked away. "I see. So you have no idea how she feels about him?"
Tigress shook her head. "Did you ask her? Wasn't she in the room with you when you found it?" Luna froze, but before she could say anything, Tigress had already took in a steady breath. "I see."
"We didn't mean to." Luna pleaded. "We were going to wait, and next thing I knew Sapphire had it open and-"
"Okay," Tigress rose a paw. "I can talk to her later-"
"There's no need!" Luna said quickly, which surprised the feline. "Nuwa handled it... safe to say she's a little embarrassed by the whole thing..." her eyes darkened. "I guess she had no idea, and by the way you talk about him, then she was just as clueless. I think its best we keep this between us." Tigress didn't seem sure, but before she could say anything, Luna's upper body slumped forward a little, holding her head in her paws. "There's enough damage done."
Tigress' ears flattened against her ears. "You still love him."
"Yes... and Sapphire had persuaded me to meet him when he got out... I guess I was still lovestruck. After all this time..." Luna smiled weakly as her head rose out of her paws. "Something as strong as this doesn't go away that easy, does it?" Both females laughed quietly, before they looked back down at the reflection pool. "I guess I had some confabulation that he still loved me." She knew Tigress was stuck for words, and just kept going. "You were so lucky to have Po. He clearly worshipped the ground you walked on, and nothing lead your love astray. I should've came looking for her; for them. I should've fought harder."
Tigress planted a paw on her shoulder. "Don't let the guilt eat you alive. The important thing is you have your daughter back."
"Even so... she doesn't want me."
"How so?"
"She doesn't call me 'mom'."
Tigress chuckled. "It can take some time, but she'll come around. I promise."
Luna felt the sincerity in her words, and clasped her paw over the one on her shoulder. "Thank you."
A door burst open behind them, and Shifu came scuttling inside. Both women turned around, and watched in confusion as they drew closer. "Master?"
"Where's Sapphire?" He asked hastily.
"She's in Tai Lung's dorm-"
"Perfect. I need you two to come with me." Luna didn't like his tone.
"Where's AJ?"
"She's with Viper." He turned on his heel, and made his way back to the door. "Quickly now."
By the time they reached the dorms, Nuwa had excused herself, along with Jun and Lok. Luna glared at her as they moved past, but the female didn't meet her gaze. Sapphire had remained in the room this whole time, but her paws were now empty. Nuwa must of taken the letter with her, but now wasn't the time to address it. The younger snow leopard wasn't meeting Luna's eye, and she wasn't sure how to take it.
But that could be confronted later. "What's wrong Master Shifu?" Luna asked as she closed the door. Before doing so, she made sure no one else was about.
"It's about something Amber-Jade told me." Sapphire was genuinely curious, Luna couldn't see the reason why she or Sapphire needed to be there if it seemingly had nothing to do with them. Tigress... looked annoyed.
"Is this about that dream?" She said with a sigh.
"Dream?" Sapphire and Luna said in unison.
"Yes." The panda replied.
"Master, I don't think it's something to dwell on. AJ is just missing her father, and she-"
"That's the thing- her father never showed up in the dream." Shifu put all his weight down on his staff as he rocked forward on his heels. "Her grandmother had told her that neither he nor Tai Lung had come to see her."
Tigress shook her head. "Of all people... Master, there's nothing to-"
"Maybe... and maybe not. Tigress, I want to send out another search party- if they can't venture into the river in the prison, then they can check out the surrounding villages by the mountains." He saw her ears droop against her ears, and Sapphire's paws sat atop of one another against her chest, looking out the window. Luna just stayed by the door, head turned to the side. "The last few days haven't been easy, but that river has to lead somewhere... even if it means that we find them... and bring them back home, where they belong. This could mean something... anything."
"He has a point."
Luna inwardly gasped at Sapphire speaking up. "I want my father home. I don't want to think of them just... lying somewhere, lost."
"We can write to Shang." Luna's eyes widened at Shifu's next suggestion, her paw slowly reaching into her sleeve, and caressing the scroll she had hidden all this time. "He can start the search in the town he and his family are at right now."
Tigress seemed conflicted; her eyes scanned the room and the remnants that remained of Tai Lung; she noticed the pile of photos on the floor, and swooped them up. They were photos of Tai Lung and her children, the ones she had asked Sapphire to keep separate for her. It was easy to see she was doubtful, but Shifu closed in and held her paw reassuringly. Sapphire sighed with some hope dwelling in her heart, but Luna's eyes narrowed slightly at all of this.
"Okay," she said tiredly.
Finally got around to finishing this chapter! Hope you guys liked it!
Next chapter coming soon!