From Scratch

by Marie Goos

The Dragon Warrior has finally brought peace to the Valley, and to Shifu- although, with an old flame's return, Tai Lung alive and less than repentant, and the threat of war looming over China, you could have fooled him. Sequel to Blue Plate Special.

34. If You're Looking for a Fly in Your Food

Chapter 34: If You are Looking for a Fly in Your Food, It Means That You are Full

---

Lin cracked her eyes open, her head pounding and her mouth dry, groaning at the bright light streaming in from her windows and directly onto her face. Then she sat up, blinking at her surroundings. Last she'd seen, she'd destroyed everything in her house. Now it looked cleaner than it had been in days. And... Did she smell eggs cooking?

She changed her clothes and shuffled outside to the firepit, raising her eyebrows at the sight of Gia crouched in front of it, frying eggs on a beat up old pan Lin had convinced Ping to let her have. "What're you doing back here?" she asked, her voice still raspy from the early hour.

"I came back to check on you," Gia said evenly. "And I did not want to be at the Jade Palace." She slid the eggs onto a plate before handing them to Lin. "Mangia. You need your strength."

"Yeah, yeah," she accepted with a yawn. "And how're you, after all that shit yesterday?"

"I am... Okay."

"Yeah?"

Gia nodded. "Yes."

"Good." Lin smacked her upside the head, ignoring her whiny shout. "What the hell's wrong withya? You coulda been killed, picking a fight with Tai Lung like that!"

"I was protecting you!" Gia argued.

Lin snorted skeptically. "I don't need protecting. And anyway, I doubt you're stronger 'an me. But... Thanks." She hesitated, wondering if it was even a good idea to get sentimental with the girl, before giving in and grabbing her hand. "It's more important to me that you're safe. Always. Okay?"

Tears started flowing from Gia's eyes as if on cue. "Th-thank you," she blubbered out.

"Jeez," Lin grumbled, dropping her hand to focus on eating breakfast. "Can we not make it a whole dramatic thing?"

"O-okay," Gia accepted tremulously. "But you should know, I will always try to protect you. I simply cannot stop myself."

"And I'll always get pissed about it," Lin replied, then finished off her eggs. She didn't want to think about Tai Lung anymore, not if she could help it. She couldn't handle the intensity of the grief that welled up in her when she did, so she turned away from it. Like always. "I got a day off today. Was gonna spend it drinking, but since you're here, uh... I dunno. We could... Hang out for a little bit? I guess?"

Gia stared at her.

"What?"

"You do not wish to talk about yesterday?" she asked, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "Because that must have been very difficult for you."

"Anyway, I'm gonna go jump in the lake now to avoid this conversation," Lin answered with complete honesty, then ran away.

"Wait!"

She ignored Gia's call and jumped into the lake, as promised. Sadly, Gia was waiting for her on the dock when she resurfaced. Maybe she should try to swim away, but considering Gia could make it across the lake without a problem, that probably wouldn't work out in her favor.

"And what did that accomplish?" Gia asked her in the same tone of voice as an overbearing mother. "All you have done was get yourself wet."

"I needed a bath, anyway." That much was true, at least.

Gia wrinkled her nose. "You bathe in this lake?"

"Yeah, why not? It's here, ain't it?" Lin splashed her, grinning at the way she yelped and jumped back. "You grew up in the Alps! A little cold water ain't gonna hurtya."

"I have come to prefer to stay warm and dry in the winter," she replied stiffly, then held out a hand to help Lin out of the water.

She might as well accept the help, since she wasn't going to escape the kid any time soon. "Fine, fine." She let Gia haul her up onto the dock and lead her back to the campfire, laughing at her embarrassed shout when she stripped to let her clothes dry. "Y'know, I'm still kinda hungry."

Gia shook her head. "There is nothing left to eat. You only had three eggs."

"Yeah, this one lady gives me her eggs as a tip. And I get to keep 'em all 'cause it freaks Ping out to eat 'em."

"...I will not comment."

Lin scoffed at the snotty reply. "You sound just like Shifu right now. It's creepy."

"Ehi! Is this such a bad thing?"

She didn't answer that. She didn't want to talk about it now. Or ever, ideally. "So. You sure you're okay?" She might as well turn the emotional questioning around on Gia.

"Te l'ho detto prima," Gia replied.

"So you're not."

"I did not say that!"

Lin tried that thing Shifu liked to do, just glaring until she got an answer. She was surprised by how quickly it worked.

Gia stared into the fire for a bit before raising one shoulder in a helpless shrug. "I was scared for Tigress. But her father came to check on her and you... You left. And no one remembered me."

She hadn't seen Gia since she'd grabbed her and dragged her back into Ping's kitchen while Tai Lung fought Tigress. She probably should have checked on Gia after that, but... She hadn't exactly had a clear mind. "That's not true. I mean... I suck, that's why I didn't raise you. But I'm sure everyone else remembered to check onya."

"It is alright," Gia said. "I am used to being alone."

"Jeez. That sounds familiar."

"It does?"

"It sounds like me," Lin admitted. "I was always used to being alone. But that doesn't make it any less shitty. I'm sorry."

Gia looked like she might cry, her eyes were so watery, but she managed to keep it together. "Thank you for your apology." She stared into the fire for a bit and they just sat together in comfortable silence. Then she ruined it. "So, when are you going to marry Master Shifu?"

"I'm jumping into the lake again."

"Ehi!" Gia reached out to stop her, and Lin snorted out a laugh at her behavior.

"Fine, fine. But... I don't really feel like talking right now," Lin admitted.

Gia nodded. "That is fair. I will finish cleaning up inside, then."

"It's not done yet?" She narrowed her eyes at Gia. "It looked pretty clean to me."

"I have not yet swept or mopped." Gia stood up and brushed off her skirt before leaving Lin alone to try to mop her floor without a mop.

Lin decided not to investigate that. Instead, she figured she really would jump back into the lake. She hadn't admitted it out loud, but she felt wound up, anxious, and on the verge of tears. The water would calm her. She thought so, anyway.

And when she slid into the icy cold water, she knew she was right. It wasn't quite the ocean, but it still felt like she'd been holding her breath until that moment. She sighed heavily as she floated. If swimming in the sea felt like going home, then this lake, it felt like visiting an old friend. Not quite home. But close. She closed her eyes and let herself sink, down into that dark lake, like a heavy blanket swaddling her. Nothing to bother her, just the darkness of the water and the sound of its rhythm... Until she heard a voice. Voices. Distant, but recognizable. She knew what she would see if she opened her eyes, and it was the last thing she wanted to face right now.

Lin broke the surface of the water, squinting in the sunlight while she groped around for the edge of the dock. A hand landed in hers and pulled her up with surprising ease.

"It's me," Shifu warned her before pushing the wet fur from her eyes.

"I shoulda known." She didn't tease him with a stalking joke like she usually did when he showed up. She just didn't have it in her. "What're you doing here?"

"I wanted to check on you." He placed a dry towel around her shoulders before climbing the steps to the island.

Lin followed after him, joining him at the fire to warm herself. "Wait- where the hell'd you get this towel?"

"Not from the pit, I'm afraid." Despite his cheeky reply, he still seemed somber. Not that she could blame him. "I brought you some from the Jade Palace. I was tired of watching you dry yourself off with dirty laundry."

"You do what?" Gia asked with obvious disgust as she exited the house and joined them.

"It's gotta get washed one way or another," Lin said defensively. "Two birds with one stone, right?"

"That does not clean your clothes," Shifu and Gia told her in perfect unison.

Lin snorted in amusement at their embarrassed frowns. "Okay, okay. I got towels now, problem solved."

Shifu awkwardly cleared his throat. "Gia, I am glad you're here as well. I had wanted to find you and ask how you were after... Everything."

Gia blinked down at him in surprise, then turned away. "I am fine."

Lin knew that wasn't entirely true, but she kept her mouth shut. It was up to Gia to disclose her feelings, and if she didn't want to, then Lin had no right to make her.

"Are you certain?" Shifu, of course, pushed.

Gia picked a stick up off the ground and used it to stoke the fire for a bit. "I am not great. But I will survive."

"She won't leave me alone," Lin added. "Reminds me of you."

"I am glad you two have each other," Shifu said warmly, then patted Gia's hand. "I apologize for not checking in with you sooner, Gia. I admit that I did not have as clear a head as I should have yesterday. You must have been frightened."

Gia finally dropped the poker face and sniffed loudly. "Th-thank you," she said hoarsely, wiping at her eyes.

"Ah, geez," Lin huffed. "Lookit whatya did now."

"What- I did not do anything!" Shifu argued indignantly.

"You got her all emotional, now I'm gonna be mopping up tears all day."

"With what, your dirty laundry?"

Gia cleared her throat to interrupt them. "I am not crying that much."

Shifu tried to cover up his embarrassed blush by coughing into his fist. Not that it helped. "Gia, perhaps Lin and I could have some time alone?"

"Very well," Gia agreed, then shocked and dismayed Lin by pulling her into a tight hug. She was stronger than she looked. "I am going to be at Mr. Ping's if you need me."

"Wait- what?" Lin did not expect that.

Instead of explaining why she was going to the restaurant, Gia just waved at Lin and took the punt across the lake.

"Great, now the punt's gone."

"I will bring it back for you when I leave." Shifu sounded way too calm, considering... Everything.

"I should really build a second punt," Lin said. "For when you're too old to kung fu jump across." She realized only after the words had left her mouth that she'd essentially admitted to wanting Shifu around long-term. Judging by his red face, he'd caught onto it as well. Lin looked away and faked a cough. "Anyway, I guessya wanna bang now." Breezing past that awkward moment was probably her best bet.

"What?" Shifu choked out. "No! I mean-" He paused to take a deep breath.

"Lin, I am worried about you."

"Me?" she asked. "I keep tellingya, he's your son-"

"And I am doing my best to make peace with him," Shifu interrupted sternly. "But you seem focused only on ignoring what has happened. Speaking of which, I still do not know exactly what happened."

"So what, you're gonna make me rehash all this shit? Like that'll help?"

His tone turned gentle, and he reached out for her. "No. I just don't want you keeping anything bottled up."

Lin jerked away from his touch and headed toward the house. "Whatever," she grumbled. She didn't need him hovering around her like she was some fragile little damsel in distress. She'd dealt with this kind of violence on her own her whole life, she didn't need his help this time.

Shifu followed her inside. Of course. He always followed her these days. "Is that it?" he interrogated her. "You are just going to shut down and pretend nothing has happened?"

"What's it to you what I do or not? It ain't like we're a couple." Lin didn't have anywhere left to go to avoid him, so she rounded on him instead. "You don't got any right to come at me with this shit!"

"So you can take care of me without a second thought, but the moment I try to check on you I am crossing a line? That makes no sense!"

"You're not checking on me, you're trying to pump me for information- no matter how I feel about it! Nothing's changed!" Lin stopped when she realized she'd started yelling. She shouldn't even care this much that Shifu hadn't changed. It wasn't like she'd believed any of his bullshit. It wasn't like she was getting her hopes up.

Shifu was silent a while, his fists clenched. She expected him to snap at her, but instead he let out a frustrated sigh. "You are right. I should not have pushed you."

"Oh my God," Lin grumbled, rubbing at her forehead. "I cannot with your whole back-tracking, 'I'm a good boy now' routine."

"What?" he snapped, his eye twitching. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah! I can't fucking stand it! What, you want a goddamn trophy for making the slightest effort?"

"That is not what I'm trying to do!" he argued. "I am trying to admit to my mistakes and make things right! I don't want a trophy or even acknowledgment- I just want you to believe me!"

"That's a crock of shit and you know it!"

"No it isn't! Am I even the one you are angry at right now?"

She hated him for asking that. Of course she was lashing out, that much was obvious. It didn't suddenly make him right about everything, though. "One of many," she answered coldly. "I will never stop being angry at you." She didn't want to stop fighting with him. She didn't want to turn away from this conflict only to come face to face with the betrayal she'd been drowning out. If she kept fighting, she wouldn't have time to cry again. And she was still so angry at Shifu- it was easy to focus on him. "When're you gonna get it through your thick skull? I'm never gonna forgive you. I'll never believe you can change. I'll never trust you. How many times do I gotta scream it atya?"

Shifu didn't answer her.

In hindsight, she might have gone too far. Like someone cornered in a cage match, she'd attacked blindly, going for the kill. And now she watched the aftermath.

He stared down at the ground, his shoulders sloping as the fight drained from him. "Oh," he finally said. He sounded as heartbroken as she felt.

Lin didn't know what to say, now, as regret settled in her chest. He had just thrown his son in jail for the second time, and here she was berating him. She'd been trying to hurt him, no matter how much she'd promised herself she wouldn't just one night ago. "Maybe I'm the one who can't change," she realized. "Maybe I'm the real problem. That's it, isn't it? It's always just been me." It had been her every single time. Every relationship that had ended, fallen apart, never gotten off the ground. Even with Al, she'd broken his heart over and over again in the time they'd been together. Why should she have ever blamed Shifu, when the common denominator was her?

"Lin, no-"

"Don't reassure me," she interrupted. "Don't be nice to me. I've already done everything I'm capable of."

Unexpectedly, Shifu looked even angrier than before. "That isn't true!" he shouted. "And I am sick and tired of listening to you berate and underestimate yourself as if it is fact! I don't know when or why you chose to believe that any cruelty you experience is your fault, but it isn't! And all the awful, hurtful, abusive things people have said about you are not true. People who treat you that way are never right about you." He paused, closing his eyes tightly as a pained expression crossed his face. "I was wrong about you. I was one of those people who told you that you are the problem, and I was wrong. Please. I know I have said terrible things to you, but I cannot stand to hear you repeat them as though- as though you believe them."

Lin huffed indignantly at his plea. "You got a lotta nerve acting likeya got so much influence over me. You really think you've ever said a single damn thing I ain't already heard a million times before?"

"I'm sorry," he said hoarsely, like he might cry at any second.

"Jeez." She hated this. Why had she ever agreed to be alone with him? "I might literally gnaw off my own leg to get away from this conversation."

Shifu let out a cough that turned into a weak laugh. "I noticed."

Lin had a feeling she wasn't going to get him to leave her alone any time soon. So she figured she might as well lay in bed while they continued with... Whatever was happening. "I know I'm not perfect, y'know. I know I'm a monumental fuck-up. You don't gotta pretend otherwise."

"I am not pretending," he argued. "People make mistakes. You are not worse than everyone else for being just like them."

"Huh." She wouldn't pretend she'd never heard the "people make mistakes" sentiment before, but that addition was new. "I don't wanna talk about myself anymore."

"You never did to begin with."

"And yet here we are."

Shifu hesitantly took a seat beside her. "I only wanted you to tell me how you're feeling."

"Shitty," she answered. "And I'm sorry. I shouldn'ta gone outta my way to upset you like that."

"Hm. I forgive you." He sidled closer to her, and she gave in to her impulse for comfort and yanked him down to lay beside her. "May I hold you?"

"That's the idea." Lin didn't have the energy to pretend to be reluctant. She barely had the energy to keep herself awake while she pressed her face into his shoulder. She breathed in his scent, woody and fresh for the most part, but always a little bit dusty. Like he'd just been cleaning out a closet, or working with old paper. Sometimes he smelled a bit like candle smoke, too, but not today. "You smell nice."

"Uhm. Thank you?"

"And about Tai Lung."

"Hm," he grunted, his hold on her tightening.

"He wanted me to leave the valley with him." She hated that she had to talk about this. She hated that she even had to think about it. "He thought it was something we needed to do, the both of us. I think, maybe... He'd gotten obsessed with me and I didn't realize." She hated admitting that, too. Just another huge mistake she'd made. Another way she'd let Oogway and Tai Lung down. "When I said no, he tried to, uh... Kidnap me, I guess?"

"Oh my gods." She couldn't see Shifu's face, but he sounded horrified.

"It wasn't that bad." She didn't know why she was making excuses for him.

"Yes, it was," he said, then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I should not have spoken harshly to you."

"Okay, calm down, I'm not that sensitive."

"Certainly," he agreed skeptically. He had a lot of attitude for someone who was trying so hard to suck up to her. "Back to the subject of Tai Lung-" He paused when she winced. "Do you need a moment?"

"I'm fine."

"Is that when Gia and Tigress found you?"

"Yeah. You pretty much know the rest." She was practically croaking, her throat ached so badly from trying to hold in her distress. She expected one of Shifu's long-winded speeches about how he wanted to protect her now, or at least something, but he didn't respond at all.

Eventually, he got up and left. That was unexpected, to say the least, but Lin couldn't say she blamed him. What was there left to say, anyway?

She pulled her blankets over herself and settled in for some moping. That was how she'd been planning to spend her day, so she might as well stick to it.

Shifu returned, suprising her again, and handed her a cup of tea. "Here. It isn't much, but I thought it might help."

"Oh. Thanks." Lin drank deeply, letting the tea warm her before setting it aside. "C'mere, sit with me again."

"If you insist." He moved some pillows aside for himself and wrapped an arm around her. "Anything else?"

"That'll be all for now," she replied with a snort. She didn't like how intently he was watching her- like he was trying to memorize her or something. "What?"

"Nothing."

"Sure." Lin rubbed at her eyes as she thought about everything that had happened between them in the last two days. And everything that had happened with Tai Lung. And just everything in general. It all felt like it was piling on top of her and suffocating her. "So you're making peace with Tai Lung?" She needed to talk in order to distract herself.

"Yes," Shifu said reluctantly. "I know you and Tigress were both terribly hurt by him, but I could not help think that perhaps... Perhaps I am responsible for this rampage as well-"

"You're not responsible," Lin interrupted, maybe more harshly than necessary. "He's an adult who makes his own choices."

"I know." Shifu said, pausing to give her a little squeeze. "I raised him, though. I must take some responsibility for how he has turned out. And part of that was my distance. I want to try to be there for him now. I hope you understand."

She understood. "He's your kid."

"Yes," he said with a nod. "I know this must sound naive to you, but I want to find a way to fix all this. And despite Tai Lung's egregious actions, I still hold out hope for him."

"It does sound naive," Lin agreed. "That's why I like it." She reveled in the small smile she'd elicited from him. "Since when aren't you the cynical one in the room?"

"Only since recently," he said. "But I doubt you will find this the case across the board."

"Good, I think it might break my heart ifya stopped being a sandy little asshole."

His smile widened a bit. "I promise, for you I will remain mostly curmudgeonly with only the occasional departure into inner peace."

"Thanks, that helps."

"Good. I never want to disappoint you again." He paused to kiss her temple, just to be a sap. "I love you."

'I love you, too,' was on the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn't bring herself to believe it enough to say it out loud.

---

Shifu rose from bed and began his day by stretching out and cracking his sore back. Then, as he had been doing for the past two days, he retrieved tea and rice from the kitchen to serve to Tai Lung for breakfast. He sat before his son's cell and waited for... Something. Anything. After two days of silence, he had lowered his expectations accordingly. Though that silence was not necessarily discouraging. They had been meditating... Together? Quite possibly together. He could not yet tell. He had attempted to speak with Tai Lung as well, but had so far received no response.

Still, he continued to serve Tai Lung meals, untouched as far as he could tell, and sit with him. He continued to wait.

And finally, at nightfall, his waiting paid off. Tai Lung spoke.

"Old man."

Shifu didn't even argue with the way he'd been addressed. He was just relieved that his son had finally said something. He took a moment to gather himself, so as not to seem so eager that he became off-putting. "Yes?"

"I have one request," Tai Lung said, his tone even. "There is a scroll in my room. I would like to have it with me."

Shifu considered refusing, but he couldn't. With a curt nod, he left in search of the scroll in question. It did not take long to find, since there was little else in Tai Lung's room in the barracks. But when Shifu picked up the scroll, held it in his hands and looked at those familiar stains, traced the well-worn edges of the paper, his heart felt heavier than ever. This was Lin's one self-portrait. The ink sketch of her and Tai Lung, as they had been when she'd first arrived at the Jade Palace as a young woman. The one he had cried over when Tai Lung had been imprisoned, yearning for the boy his son had once been. It belonged in the library, but Tai Lung must have taken it at some point. He couldn't begrudge such a theft.

Giving the scroll to Tai Lung earned him a nod of acknowledgment, which was... Something. More than he had expected, at least.

There was something about the flickering light of the sconces that made all this feel a little more surreal, more distant. It gave him the courage to try for more. "Why did you want this scroll?"

Tai Lung glared at him, jaw clenched, refusing to answer.

Shifu sighed and sat down again, prepared to spend the night if he had to. He would not let this tiny crumb of hope go to waste. He wondered what Lin might do to try to get Tai Lung to talk. Perhaps a story would help. "I remember when Lin first came to the Jade Palace. You were enamored with her, glued to her side whenever I gave you a moment. And she would teach you the absolute worst things. I remember the first time I heard you use a curse word was only days after she'd arrived." He'd been livid back then, but now it seemed funny to him. "You were such a cute child. My little boy. I still struggle not to see you that way."

That last statement earned a skeptical snort.

He raised an eyebrow, but tried to keep his voice neutral. "You disagree with something I said?"

Tai Lung's glower wavered so slightly that Shifu almost missed it. "Little boy, you say? That's rich."

"It is how I feel. You are my son," he insisted.

"Oh, am I now? Last I checked, you were only willing to admit that after I kicked your pathetic butt."

Shifu winced, but didn't deny the accusation. "I owe you an apology for that, and for so much more. I molded you into what I thought you should have been, at any cost. And when you did not live up to that image, I turned my back on you. I never should have allowed you to be locked away, alone, for all those years."

"So you would have let me go?" Tai Lung asked with a disbelieving scoff. "Sure."

"No, you had to pay for your crimes. But seeking justice is not the same as torturing a perpetrator in the name of it. Giving you no chance to atone, not even a word from your own family, after raising you... It was wrong." Shifu watched his son's face for any sign at all that he was getting through to him, some twitch of softness.

Tai Lung only grunted noncommitally in return.

He felt his shoulders droop in defeat. "I wonder what our lives would have been like if I had not pushed this fate onto you."

Tai Lung blinked, looked away, then cleared his throat. That comment seemed to have bothered him. "Pushed it onto me?"

"You were a child. All you wanted was to be with me, and to play. To you, kung fu was a game you played with your father. And, selfishly, I pursued your talent so relentlessly that I turned it into the only way you could be with me."

"You think I learned kung fu just to be around you? Lin was right, you truly are full of yourself."

"Small children want to be with their families. It is natural for them. You are our family, Tai Lung, Master Oogway's and mine. And we are yours."

Tai Lung's scoff was loud and drawn out this time. "That spiteful old turtle? He's the one who designed my cage! Who built that prison just for me! And what did you do in all that time, when I was first kept down here awaiting my fate? I'm guessing you gladly helped him with all that, like a good little student."

"No," Shifu denied. It was time to tell someone the truth of that time in his life. Keeping this from Tai Lung, of all people, would not do anyone any good. "For lack of a better description, I stayed in my room and cried."

Tai Lung's eyebrows shot up, but no snarky comment followed.

"I mourned you, my son, as if you were dead. Instead of trying to be with you, or fighting for you, I simply accepted that I would never see you again. I closed off my heart to my love for you, or for anyone else. And when I emerged, I was filled with anger and sorrow, which I held onto with an iron grip."

"Until the panda."

"Until Po," he confirmed with a nod. "Thanks to Po, I was able to open my heart again- to Lin, to Tigress, to you. I would not have had the courage or compassion to give you another chance if it had not been for the lessons I learned from him."

"Right, the panda turned you into the perfect, enlightened, Nirvana-bound monk I see before me."

"I am not saying he fixed me instantaneously. That is work I must do myself. But he began my journey. I have continued to resist this change, and made terrible mistakes, but I will never give up. I will keep trying my hardest to be better. And that is all I or Lin ask of you."

"Don't speak about Lin to me," Tai Lung growled, raising one fist to bang menacingly on his bars. "You don't know what she wants! You don't know anything about her!"

Shifu remained steady, despite the concern he felt at such anger. "Does my relationship with her truly bother you so much?"

"What relationship?" he asked. "You have none to speak of, as far as I know."

"You are correct," Shifu accepted with a nod. "But we have history. And I am working to earn her forgiveness. That seems to be a sore subject for you."

"Because you do not deserve forgiveness," Tai Lung said lowly, bitterly.

Shifu couldn't hide his reaction. He winced, his heart aching at his son's harsh words.

"You aren't even good enough to lick her shoes," Tai Lung continued heatedly. "Someone who's always trying to make other people's lives better, who can manage to smile about at least one thing, even when everything else is going wrong, someone who will accept and support other people, even when they hurt her- do you really think you could ever deserve a person like that?"

"No," he admitted quietly. "No, I don't. But I will try to, anyway."

"Hmph," Tai Lung grunted in return.

Shifu was not so easily chased away. He remained, although Tai Lung had gone back to ignoring him. He would accept that for now. It wasn't as if he had anywhere more pressing to be. Well, except for checking up on his students. He had decided to trust them to retrieve him should they need him for anything, though he still worried about Tigress. Since Tai Lung's attack, she had been acting even more quiet and reserved than usual. He had thought that his apology to her would begin some healing between them, but he seemed to have made things worse. As always, he could only keep trying.

Hours passed in silence between them. Shifu had started to wonder after the passage of time when Zeng arrived with a meal for Tai Lung. He watched the snow leopard eat rice and tofu, stone-faced, thinking back to all the meals he'd shared with his son over the past weeks. They hadn't exactly been on good terms, but Tai Lung had interacted with Po and the five, had occasionally even cracked a joke. It was the time of day when he felt most like there might be some redemption to be had for his son.

"How is it?" He had nothing to lose from trying to make conversation.

Tai Lung surprised him with a noncommital grunt.

"Yes, it is a bland meal," he agreed, carefully watching for any sign of a response. "But this is not exactly a vacation for you."

Tai Lung put his bowl down with a loud clack and tossed his chopsticks into it. "Are you going to ruin my meal by rambling on like this all night?"

Shifu resisted the urge to smile in victory. "If I need to in order to get a response from you."

"A response to what effect?" He reached out and banged on the bars in front of him. "You've got what you want, I'm locked up again. Go gloat elsewhere!"

"I am not gloating!" Shifu paused to breathe and control his tone. Shouting would not do either of them any good. "I do not want you to be locked up. That was never what I wanted."

"Could have fooled me," Tai Lung replied flippantly.

"I am sorry for that. But I promise you, it isn't the truth. I would give anything to have you redeem yourself, to have you back." He paused, still not accustomed to this level of vulnerability. "I know I only have myself to blame. But I want to try."

His son scoffed. "I can tell. You'd give anything? How about giving me a moment of peace?"

"I gave you as much space as you desired, despite the amount you snuck out of the Jade Palace." Shifu was pleased to see Tai Lung raise an eyebrow in surprise. "You thought I never knew? You have never been slealthy enough to evade these." He gestured to his ears, which earned a snort. "I gave you space because... Because Lin trusted you." That last bit hurt to say, given their current circumstances, and it looked to him like it hurt Tai Lung to hear it.

"That's over now," he said curtly, then returned to his meal.

Shifu supposed now was the best opening he would get to extend the offer he'd been holding back. He knew that revealing what he'd learned of Tai Lung's visions with Lin would betray a certain trust, but that tie had been severed already. "I would like to help you," he said simply, waiting.

Tai Lung ignored him, eating tofu as benignly as if he were free on the street.

"Tai Lung." Shifu stood up to stand over him, arms crossed. "There is no such thing as a burden you bear alone."

"...What?"

"No matter your burden, no matter how much you try to bear it alone, there will be others bearing it with you. Those who care for you will worry. They'll want to help. You shouldn't ignore that." He waited for a response, but when Tai Lung remained silent he dropped his arms to his sides in a gesture of surrender. "Lin does the exact same thing," he pointed out. "She tries to bear everything alone, because she thinks that others will hate her for needing help. Hell, she thinks everyone hates her, regardless."

"What are you trying to say?" Tai Lung finally asked.

"I'm saying I know about your visions!" He snapped. "You should have come to me. Lin should have told me sooner. But I suppose that's partly my own fault, too. In any case, I am trying to tell you what I think these visions mean."

"I suppose I have no choice but to listen," Tai Lung grumbled, gesturing to the cell around him.

"Yes, that is correct." Shifu sat down in front of him, folding his arms into his sleeves. "But first, I would like to hear about all these visions from you. Not secondhand from Lin. And I would like details, since I have yet to hear any."

"Oh good," Tai Lung said sarcastically. "Story time."

"If you would be so kind," he replied with a nod, then sat back down.

What he heard next... Disturbed him. No, that would be an understatement. He had not felt so unsettled over anything since Master Oogway's vision of Tai Lung's escape from Chor Ghom. Stories of darkness, of an unfathomable void, ten versions of his son with their back perpetually turned, and strange memories that had belonged to Lin, all overseen by a mysterious creature they could only guess was some sort of ocean spirit. That eye that Lin had drawn for him, always staring. And that vision when Lin has spoken as the spirit- he tried to keep his shock hidden, but it was probably still written all over his face. "I had not heard much of this," he admitted once Tai Lung's tale was done.

"I know," Tai Lung said casually. "I didn't tell Lin."

"Wait- you did not tell Lin?" Shifu paused to rub at his temples. It would seem Lin and Po were not the only ones capable of giving him stress headaches. "That was the entire point of her guiding you!"

Tai Lung caused him further pain by shrugging. "Oh well."

"I hate this," Shifu grumbled to himself, then took a few calming breaths. "Why would you not tell Lin?"

"Because I could not be sure she wasn't under the control of that thing," he answered defensively. He did not need to clarify which thing. Shifu understood.

"You truly think she could be?"

"Let me in," Tai Lung quoted, now much more serious. "And she said yes. That doesn't sound promising to me."

Shifu hated to admit it, even to himself, but he agreed. And Lin... Sometimes did not behave normally. "This could explain a few things."

"Like?"

"Like... Lin does not sleep normally. I am sure you must have noticed by now. But she... Speaks in tongues in her sleep. Sometimes she sits straight up, just staring, but she won't respond. Sometimes she-"

"Sleepwalks?" Tai Lung interruped knowingly.

"Yes." He hated to think this might have something to do with that haunting creature.

"I suspect I've begun to exhibit such behavior as well," Tai Lung admitted to him. "Which is why I have limited my sleep as much as possible. And I also needed to use that time to watch over Lin. For obvious reasons."

Shifu could feel the blood rushing to his head as he realized the implications of that. "Wait, did you see-"

"Don't even finish that sentence!" Tai Lung interrupted with a gag. "Of course not! Augh!"

Shifu let out a sigh of relief. At least that was one way in which he would not be scarred tonight. "I see. Thank you for that bit of privacy."

"You think I'd want to see your- ugh - nighttime activities together? Disgusting!"

"Yes, I get it."

"I'd sooner gouge my own eyes out!"

"I get it!" Shifu snapped. "We can stop talking about it!"

Tai Lung shuddered one last time. "Fair enough."

He took a moment to cleanse his mind of that diversion before getting the conversation back on track. "So you believe that you and Lin are somehow connected by this... Ocean spirit?"

"Perhaps," Tai Lung said. "Or perhaps the connection only lies between Lin and the spirit, and I was dragged into it. The whole thing started on a trip about teaching me to meditate in freezing ocean water. The old woman had one of her own visions, I suppose- and she mentioned something about rejecting them. That was when it started for me."

"Lin was having visions?" Shifu asked, shocked at this new information. "On her own? In Shanghai?"

"Good gods, she doesn't tell you a single damn thing, does she?"

"No, she doesn't!" Shifu shouted, unable to control his volume at this revelation. "What kinds of visions?"

"I'm not telling you," Tai Lung snapped. "Go ask Lin!"

He was not about to do that, considering how sensitive Lin was about him asking personal questions. Especially when she was still so fragile from Tai Lung's attack. "I cannot. She is in no condition to answer me."

Tai Lung fell silent, his whole body seeming to droop at the reminder of what he'd done.

"I'm sorry to bring it up."

"No, you should. I understand the damage I have caused." Tai Lung stood and turned his back on Shifu, his shoulders still rounded. "To be clear, I only spoke to you in the slim chance that you could help Lin. I've told you all I know. You can leave now."

Shifu wished he could go to his son, at the very least place a comforting hand on his back. But he could not coddle Tai Lung, not when he had caused his own sorrow. "Very well. Goodnight, Tai Lung." He left the cells, only to walk straight to the scroll library. It was time to take another look through Oogway's wisdom.

---

Shifu woke slowly from his short and fitful sleep to the sound of flapping. "Zeng, must you always fly so loudly?" He stood up to crack his back. Falling asleep at a table in the scroll library had not been ideal, but at least he'd made decent progress on his research. Of course, he still had no idea how he would explain all this to Lin.

"Master Shifu!" Zeng landed in front of him from a hybrid of running and flying he took to when particularly anxious. "You have a visitor!"

"Who is it?"

"I, uhm..." Zeng puckered his beak and gulped. "I forgot to ask."

Shifu patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I know how to make my own introductions by now. Maybe take a break to calm down?"

"Yeah, maybe," the goose agreed, feathers shedding from him as he collapsed into the chair Shifu had just been occupying.

"And see if you can get Gia to organize those scrolls with you," Shifu added as he left, ignoring Zeng's consternated frown.

He was surprised to see a tiger standing at the Moon Pool, wearing a fine green kurta with a sandy yellow trim and pants. Though, as he approached, the man looked a little worse for wear- his fur had clearly not been tended to in days, and the hem of his pants were dirty from walking. He must have traveled quite far, and at a blistering pace.

As he approached, the towering Bengal tiger startled and turned to stare down at him in shock, not that it was anything new. Shifu had become used to people's surprise at his small size after hearing his reputation.

"Yes?" he asked irritably. If this was another suitor for Tigress he was not in the mood.

The man cleared his throat, still eyeing him with great interest. "My apologies, it is just that... You seem familiar. In any case, I can only assume that you are Master Shifu, yes?"

"That would be correct." His patience was wearing thin with the stranger. "And you would be?"

"Call me Rahim," the tiger replied with a proper bow and salute. "I am a diplomat from Bombay, you see. I am here on behalf of the East India Trading Company in order to meet with you. Surely you received my request?"

Shifu felt some of the blood drain from his face. In the midst of all his drama with Lin he had completely forgotten the letter requesting a meeting with him. He was mortified at how rudely he'd treated the man. "Ah, yes, of course," he quickly covered up, though he suspected he wasn't fooling the diplomat. "You have arrived... Earlier than I expected." He and Master Oogway had received a number of requests for diplomatic meetings over the years, and it had become so rote to him that he'd let the event slip his mind entirely. Though now that he thought of it, this fellow seemed a bit earlier than he remembered discussing in their correspondence.

"No worries," Rahim accepted with a level of grace and tact that Shifu had become unaccustomed to. "If it pleases you, Master Shifu, I would very much like to discuss our business privately."

"Certainly," he accepted, relieved that he hadn't angered the man. "Right this way." He decided to lead Rahim to his room, since he could prepare tea for the clearly weary man as they spoke. Luckily, he had a staff on hand to clean up whenever Lin made a mess of his room, so it was pristine when they arrived.

Rahim studied a piece of Lin's artwork, her lettering of the word "determination," while Shifu prepared tea on the brazier. His interest seemed unusual for someone who had traveled all this way to discuss urgent business with him.

"That is an excellent piece, isn't it?" He hoped he could at least use this as an opportunity to break the ice.

"Yes," Rahim agreed. "She is a skilled artist."

Shifu nodded along before realizing what he had just heard. "How did you know the artist was a woman?" He had a sinking feeling about this.

"Because I know her," Rahim said calmly, just as Lin burst through the door while shouting "I'm horny!" at the top of her lungs and simultaneously pulling off her pants.

Rahim nodded toward the teapot, unfazed. "Is that almost ready?"

"Get outta the way, Rahim," Lin snapped, pushing past him to climb over the table and into Shifu's lap.

"Lin," Shifu tried to protest, but she had already turned to look over her shoulder.

"What the hell're you doing here?" she asked the tiger, as if he were the one interrupting her conversation.

With a heavy sigh, Shifu picked her up out of his lap and placed her on the cushion beside him. "Put your pants back on."

"Why?" She picked at her teeth with one of her nails, sitting with her legs spread wide open. "He's seen me naked, he knows what I look like."

Rahim said something to her in a language Shifu could not recognize, and though what Lin said back to him sounded like that same language, he could tell that her statement had contained a long string of curses. He nearly had a heart attack, but rather than get offended, the tiger laughed. "I could say the same about you," he teased.

Shifu didn't know whether to be relieved or wary that they'd switched back to Mandarin. "How do you two know each other?"

"We are old friends," Rahim answered, though that could mean a variety of things.

Lin was never one to mince words, though. "Yeah, and we used to fuck for a while," she added. "Until he pissed me off and I slept with all his female relatives."

"What exactly did I ever do to you, aside from offer you my home and my support?" he asked with an indignant sniff.

"You told your brother not to bang me!"

"Well, I believe that was justified!"

"He was hot! I wanted a go at him!"

"He's my brother!"

Shifu cleared his throat to get their attention. He sorely wished this part of the conversation had also been in a language he could not understand. "I would very much like this to end, now."

"My sincerest apologies, Master Shifu," Rahim said sheepishly, bowing his head.

"Oh, so you're nice to him?" Lin nagged. "I ain't seen or heard fromya in over a year!"

"I sent you a letter, it isn't my fault you refused to read it!"

"Your letters're dumb and boring! Learn to write!"

Shifu interrupted their argument again, this time by taking the teapot off the brazier and slamming it down in the middle of the table. "And you say you are a diplomat?" he asked Rahim.

With a frustrated sigh, he gestured to Lin with an upturned palm. "And how do you suggest I use diplomacy with that?"

"Don't call me 'that,' you underwear streak!"

They devolved into arguing in a foreign language, which Shifu didn't bother to try to stop this time. At least he didn't have to understand what they were saying. Instead, he poured three cups of tea and passed them out while he waited for them to stop yelling insults at each other. And, as he sipped his tea, he watched as Lin started to grin and laugh, and then so too did Rahim. They still sounded like they were insulting each other, but they were clearly enjoying themselves in the process. Then, he watched on in shock and, quite frankly, jealousy as Lin climbed back over the table and into Rahim's waiting arms.

"What is going on?" he finally asked. He did not appreciate the sight of Lin embracing another man while half-naked.

"We ain't seen each other in over a year," Lin whined over her shoulder. "You got a problem with me hugging my friends, now?"

Shifu sipped at his tea and refused to answer. Because this was not quite a comparable circumstance to a friendly hug, but he doubted that argument would go over well with her. So he just watched her cozy up to her ex while pantsless. It was fine. He was fine.

Lin finally climbed out of Rahim's lap to sit inappropriately close to him. Which was also fine. With her legs still wide open.

He cleared his throat and nodded to her. "Lin, perhaps you should at least sit with your legs closed?"

"You don't wanna see my slit, don't look," she replied, then leaned across the table to take his tea from him.

With a sigh, Shifu started drinking from her abandoned cup.

"I am glad you are both here together," Rahim said, as if that exchange had never happened. If he'd known Lin a long time, though, it made sense that she no longer shocked him. "I am here on urgent business, and I had wanted you to hear this, too, Lin."

"What's so urgent?" Lin asked with a snort. "You got another cousin for me to bang?"

"No," he answered witheringly, then paused to clear his throat. "The Valley of Peace is in danger. You, specifically, are in danger."

Lin shrugged. "What else's new?"

"Lin!" Shifu scolded. He could not abide by her flippant attitude when her safety was in question. "Rahim has traveled a long way here to warn us of this! You need to take him seriously." Of course, that only earned him a glare from her.

"I'll thankya not to scold me like a child in fronta my friend. Or ever."

He pinched the bridge of his nose but nodded in agreement. He didn't think this was the time to nitpick such things, but it would move the conversation along more quickly to simply give in.

"I agree with Shifu," Rahim said evenly. "This is not a threat to be taken lightly. It isn't some incompetent drunkard with a grudge we are discussing, here. There is a company of British soldiers on their way here as we speak."

"What's that gotta do with me?" Lin asked.

"They are joined by a chow chow with a deep grudge against you. One Captain Zhengsheng of the Imperial Army."

Lin just stared blankly up at Rahim.

"Captain Zhengsheng," the tiger repeated with emphasis. "Am I saying that right?"

"I dunno," Lin finally said. "Never heard of him."

Shifu resisted the urge to slam his own head into the table. Of course Lin had no recollection of someone who had literally been so maligned by her that he had tracked her down to the Valley of Peace. "Is there anything else we should worry about?"

"Yes," Rahim answered with a calm sip of his tea. "About ninety-nine wolf bandits."

"What?" Shifu gripped his head and squinted his eyes closed, willing himself not to completely lose his mind. "When- how- the only troop of bandits that large would be-"

"Guotin's," Lin answered for him.

Shifu's eyes snapped open and he stared at Lin, his ear twitching. "What?" he asked again.

She ignored him in favor of elbowing Rahim's side. "Well, go on and get the idiot," she ordered.

Rahim muttered something to her in yet another foreign language, which earned him a rude gesture in return, before leaving them in the room alone.

"How do you know Guotin, Bandit King of the North, scourge of the borderlands, and notorious abductor of Lady Lotus Blossom?" Shifu asked as soon as the door shut.

"He saved me one time," Lin answered, avoiding his gaze and instead looking into her teacup. "When I was engaged and my ex tried to- y'know. And the bandits burned the camp? That was Guotin. One of 'em, anyway. That was when we met."

Shifu had approximately five thousand followup questions, but unfortunately no time in which to ask them. Rahim returned with the one-eyed bandit in question- along with a second wolf bandit and all three of the Wu Sisters. "I give up," he sighed as they all crowded around the table, the three snow leopards flanking him, while Rahim and Guotin sat on either side of Lin. The younger wolf bandit, who he did not recognize, chose to stand near the door with a stony expression on his face that made more sense than anything else in the room.

"Hey, sweet cheeks," Guotin greeted Lin, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

"You're gonna need to calm that shit right down," Lin replied, thankfully shrugging his arm off. "And explain exactly what this whole circus act's about."

"Circus act?" Wu Bai repeated indignantly. "This is the thanks we get for trying to do the right thing! And not even a kiss hello from our favorite kung fu master."

"I will not be doing that," Shifu informed her stiffly, shuffling as far away from her as possible without bumping into another Wu Sister. So, not far at all.

"Really?" Lin asked, her eyebrows raised. "I'd watch it."

"Lin!"

"Could we perhaps make even the slightest attempt to stay on track?" the young wolf at the doorway finally spoke. "Or would some of us find that too challenging?"

"I shoulda burned down your tent when I had the chance," Lin muttered.

"Lin!" Shifu scolded again, still red from her previous comment. Then he turned his attention to the stranger. "And who might you be, exactly?"

"Boqin," he answered unhelpfully.

"My second-in-command," Guotin added with an unwarranted amount of pride. Then he paused and scratched his chin. "Huh. I guess he's my only-in-command, now."

"I cannot believe you commanded one hundred men." Shifu knew that wasn't the most productive thing to say, but he couldn't hold it in.

"That's what I said," Boqin agreed. "But stranger things have happened."

"Hey! I'm the one who promotedya!" Guotin whined.

"In any case, we are here because Captain Zhengsheng managed to bribe all of our compatriots into joining him and the East India Trading company."

"Which is here in the first place to attack the Valley of Peace in a show of force," Rahim said. "So they may pressure the Emperor into allowing the international trade of opium."

"And the Captain joined them because it was an easy way to get to this one," Wu Zhin finished flatly, pointing at Lin.

Lin furrowed her brow and looked around the room for a moment. "Really? Me?"

"Yes, you."

They all paused as they waited for some details about why this Captain was so bent on vengeance against Lin, but she shrugged. "Don't know him."

Several groans of frustration filled the room.

"Wait," Shifu said as he remembered a morning that now felt like a lifetime ago. "A captain of the Imperial Army- a chow-chow- Lin, could this be that same Captain whose house you burnt down? The one who attacked us at that inn on the way to Shanghai?"

"Maybe," she said maddeningly. "Dunno. Can't really picture him."

"I might kill her, even without the money," Bai grumbled.

"Wait- money?" Shifu turned to Zhin, the known leader of the Wu Sisters.

She sighed heavily, glaring at Bai before coming clean. "Captain Zhengsheng hired us to assassinate your friend, here. However, he never paid in full, so we canceled the contract."

"He also tried to kill us," Wu Qiang added. "Which I thought was a deal-breaker, whether he paid us or not."

"Huh," Lin said, tapping on the table as she thought. "This guy really hates me. Too bad I never met him."

"You have clearly met him!" Shifu snapped before regaining his composure.

"Don't worry, sweetie," Guotin reassured Lin in a tone of voice that was too flirtatious for Shifu's taste. "I won't let him getya."

Lin rolled her eyes at him. "Okay," she agreed skeptically, then turned to Rahim. "What're we looking at with this invasion force, numbers wise?"

"About two-hundred," the tiger said grimly. "With muskets."

"That complicates things," Shifu admitted. He and his students could easily take on two hundred warriors with swords or spears, even with arrows- but muskets made for a much more dangerous foe. He had been up against guns and cannons before, and sadly many of his comrades had fallen to them. "We should evacuate the village, to be safe."

"They don't got a militia?" Lin asked, her eyebrows shooting up. "With all the attacks you get here?"

"We do not get attacked that often!" he snapped. "And for your information, the whole point of kung fu masters living in this valley is to protect these people! They have never needed a militia!"

"Yeah, I'm sure making an entire population totally dependent on you was for the best," she shot back.

"These are not violent people! They came here in search of peace! That is why it is called The Valley of Peace!"

"Oy, this's gonna be a lotta work," she sighed, as if what he'd said hadn't even registered with her. "I'm gonna need lunch before we get into this."

"We are not getting into anything," Shifu ground out from between clenched teeth. "You are to stay out of this, for your own protection, because you are a known target of this attack!"

"Aww, ain't that cute?" Guotin interrupted their bickering, placing a hand over his heart. "He's worried aboutya, sweetie."

"That's because we're fucking," Lin snapped, which caused an awkward silence that she tore through with her usual abandon. "And I ain't staying outta shit. I've been to war before, and I'll go to war again to help protect this valley. It's my home, too! You don't like it, then lock me up with Tai Lung!"

Shifu found that he could not argue with her passion. He hadn't realized Lin had come to care so deeply for the Valley of Peace, or regard it as her home.

"Wait," Guotin said, ruining the moment. "Seriously? There's no way this old timer's better in bed 'an me."

Shifu nearly choked at that realization, but he managed to keep his composure. Barely.

"Quit digressing," Lin ordered, thankfully remaining on task. "Listen, Shifu, I think we should form a militia. Sure, you could evacuate the village, but then what if we all die? What happens to those evacuees?"

"I..." Shifu hated to think about that scenario, but Lin did have a point. "There are other kung fu masters who could come here to aid them."

Lin looked at him like a stern teacher trying to impart an important lesson on their student. "Oh yeah? So you're telling me you and your students ain't the most powerful warriors in the country?"

He sighed heavily. "We are," he admitted.

"So how would they succeed where you failed?"

"How would a civilian militia succeed where we failed?" he asked in return.

"They'd have a chance at surviving on their own, at least," she replied sternly. "I know peace is supposed to be a way of life for these people, but I also know these people. They don't wanna lose their homes without a fight. They don't wanna feel helpless when you're not around to save 'em. The best thing we can do for everyone who lives here is give them the tools they need to save themselves. 'Cause one day, that might be their only option."

The whole room had quieted and listened as Lin spoke, and even without knowing her past it was clear that she was speaking from experience.

"That was real moving, sweetie," Guotin finally said. He sounded unexpectedly choked up. Boqin rolled his eyes behind his boss's back.

"Alright, we will instate and train a militia with what little time we have," Shifu agreed heavily. He had no reason to argue further with Lin.

"Guotin and Boqin got experience in training civilians to fight, and Rahim's diplomatic experience'll be helpful," Lin reasoned. "The three of 'em and me can take that on while you all prepare for battle."

"That is amenable," Shifu agreed. "And you three-" He turned to look at the Wu Sisters, who now seemed much more serious about their talk. "You will debrief my students on the situation. We can decide a training schedule from there."

"That sounds like as good a plan as any," Zhin agreed on behalf of her comrades.

"How much time do we have?"

Their guests all looked at each other, each one with a depressingly uncertain frown. "About a week," Boqin finally informed them. "Give or take a day or two. We made good time here, but we weren't far ahead of those troops to begin with."

Shifu nodded grimly at the intel. Only a week's time to prepare his students to go up against soldiers with muskets. And he still needed to decide what to do with Tai Lung, who remained imprisoned beneath the Jade Palace. Not to mention Lin insisted on being part of this battle, and given her reckless nature he was already worried for her safety. "I think I need some more tea."

Lin seemed to sense his worry. "I left wine under your bed if you'd rather have that."

He decided not to question her version of comforting him. "I think I will save that for later."

"Break for lunch," Lin said with the forceful voice she used while waitressing. "Reconvene here in the evening."

"That long?" He didn't like the idea of letting known criminals wander about the valley unsupervised for hours at a time.

"Ample time to process and brainstorm," Lin replied, slapping her hand down on the table. "And time for us to talk. Now the rest ofya, get out before I makeya." That did not sound good. At all.

"Aww, we don't get to visit?" Guotin asked, leaning over Lin with a leering smile. Luckily, Boqin yanked him to his feet and ushered him out of the room.

"Please tell your students not to arrest us," Qiang said brightly before she and her sisters left as well.

Rahim glanced between Shifu and Lin, but made no move to give them alone time as Lin had requested. He asked Lin something in that foreign language they spoke together, and she looked thoughtful a moment before shaking her head. With that, he stood and bowed to Shifu. "Master Shifu. It was an interesting experience to meet you." He gave Shifu a long, meaningful glare before leaving. Yet another bad sign.

Shifu awkwardly cleared his throat. "You wanted to talk?"

"'Talk' was code for 'have sex,'" Lin replied with a shrug.

"What- now?"

"Now," she said forcefully before climbing over the table to pin him down. "I need to blow off steam. Don't you?"

He normally liked it when Lin pinned him down and had her way with him, but this was a little too sudden. "I need some time, I think." He sat up, steadying Lin with a hand on her back to avoid knocking her over. "I am frightened for you, Lin. Someone who wants you dead badly enough to join a battalion of enemy soldiers is on their way here as we speak. And you can be..." He paused, wincing as he tried to think of a phrasing that wouldn't cause Lin to scream in his face. "...A tad reckless."

"Tch," Lin replied irritably, but stayed in his lap. "I can handle it."

"Aren't you frightened?" he pushed. "At all?"

With a long sigh, Lin finally nodded. "I mean, duh. But the kindsa people I piss off like this, they're the kind who need someone standing up to 'em. And I'm the one who pisses 'em off, so I'm the one who does the standing up. This time's no different. D'you understand?"

"I do," he admitted reluctantly. "But I still worry about you."

She surprised him by smiling softly at him. "I know."

Shifu hid his blush by pulling Lin into a tight embrace and burying his face in her shoulder, but he had a feeling that wouldn't work on her.

"Oh, Shifu," she said softly, kissing his temple. "I really crapped the bed on this one, huh?"

He snorted into her shoulder at her inelegant wording before leaning back to look her in the eye. "I don't care. I'll do everything I can to help you. And even though you don't want me handling anything for you, I will at least have your back."

"That's perfect," she accepted, then kissed him so sweetly he thought his heart might explode.

"I love you so much," he told her as soon as they parted. "You are the love of my life, and even if you never say it back I am going to tell you every single day."

Lin looked at him with her nose wrinkled ever so slightly in that way she did when she wanted to say something but was holding back. He waited for her, but instead of speaking she ducked her head to look down between them.

"Lin?"

"I'm just wondering when you're gonna get hard," she finally said, though she lacked her usual gusto when saying something crass to him.

"Never," he answered, but she didn't even bother bantering with him. He supposed this serious mood that has overtaken her was as good an opportunity as any to bring up what Tai Lung had told him. "I have something important to speak to you about."

"Jeez, even after all that?" she asked.

"Tai Lung told me about his visions. All of them."

Lin stared at him.

"Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, I heard," she snapped. "I thought I askedya not to bring that up with him."

"What does it matter?" Shifu asked, frustrated that she was focusing on entirely the wrong aspect of this news. "He is already imprisoned!"

Lin recoiled at his harsh words, but he stopped her before she could get up.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, taking her hands in his. "It is a difficult thing for both of us. But I needed to ask him about those visions. And I need to tell you that... That he was not truthful with you."

Her eyes looked watery at that confession. "What?"

Shifu almost backtracked, she sounded so heartbroken. But she needed to know the truth. "Tai Lung hid some of his visions from you."

"I... I thought we didn't have any secrets. Not when it was just us two." She sniffed wetly and looked away.

He felt a little awkward hearing Lin talk about his son this way, but he had known they were close. "Uhm. I don't know what to say. I know you are hurt."

"Whatever," Lin grumbled with another sniff. "It's not like it matters now."

"It does matter. All of it matters!" He wished he could articulate more clearly, because he didn't seem to be getting through to her. "You could not have understood the meaning of those visions if you didn't have the whole story. I do. We could-"

"No," Lin interrupted with a level of finality that surprised him.

"But-"

"I don't wanna hear it," she said.

"This was your whole life up until a few days ago!"

"And now it's not! And if there's anything left to know, I wanna hear from Tai Lung, not from you!"

He grabbed hold of Lin's hands to stop her from yet another attempt to get up an walk away from him. "Are you planning to speak to Tai Lung, then?" After how she'd reacted to his attack on Tigress, he hadn't expected this. As surprised as he was, he couldn't mask the hopefulness in his voice.

Lin paused, avoiding his gaze, then finally nodded. "Eventually. I guess."

Shifu kissed her, well aware how far physical affection went toward comforting her. "I will be here for you when you are ready."

"Jeez," she grumbled, blushing. "Fine. Whatever."

He suppressed a smile at her response. He had noticed that such stilted replies were Lin's default reaction when he did something right.

"I will be happy to discuss those visions with you when you are ready, as well," he added, which earned him an eye roll.

"Calm down," she said, then yanked on his mustache until he kissed her again. "Okay, I'm done talking about this. I'm hungry and I still ain't got laid, so which're we doing? Eating in or eating out?"

"Ew."

Lin laughed in his face at his reaction, and he finally relaxed. He had been worried that she would spiral downwards at the mention of Tai Lung, so this recovery was a good sign. "I believe you mentioned it was time for lunch."

"Man, you're too good at turning me down for sex," she complained. "It's likeya don't wanna or something!"

"Imagine such an outlandish state of being," he replied sarcastically, which earned him another laugh.

"Okay, okay, I get it."

"Perhaps you should spend some time with your... Friend." He winced as he spoke. He and Lin had very different definitions of that word, but he would trust her. Or try to.

Of course, Lin picked up on his hesitance and pounced on it immediately. "What's that about? You don't like Rahim?"

"I have nothing against Rahim," he said evenly. This was an incredibly awkward conversation to have with Lin in his lap pantsless, but now she refused to move. "It is just... Well, he is quite attractive. And you've... Been with him."

"So?"

"So, I know we are not exclusive, but..." He trailed off, blushing. He knew he sounded like an insecure boy, but he had still brought this up. "But I worry, sometimes, that you will choose someone else over me."

Lin scoffed at him, which he should have expected. "Rahim is a fluorescent moron," she replied. "And definitely on my list of shame bangs, never to be repeated. Not that you'd believe me."

"I believe you!" he protested, though he had to admit he sounded strained. "It is just... Really? I find that hard to believe, considering how good-looking he is."

"Then you fuck him, ifya think he's so hot," she snapped.

"I am straight."

"Sure," she said flatly.

"I am!"

"Straight as the Yangtze."

"I am not going to have this argument with you." He rubbed at his temples in an attempt to ward off one of Lin's signature headaches. "I like women. I am not going to sleep with your ex. Even if I did have some distant, purely hypothetical attraction to men-" He paused to glare at Lin for her skeptical snort- "I would never sleep with your ex. That is weird."

"Not even a threesome?" Of course Lin would ask that.

"What happened to 'never to be repeated'?" He asked in return.

Lin had the nerve to shrug. "A threesome's different. I can just pawn him off onto you and watchya get dicked down. Which, by the way, is on my wish list-"

"I'm done," he announced loudly. The last thing he needed to listen to right now was one of her perverted fantasies.

Lin laughed at him so hard that she fell back onto the table, and he didn't bother stopping her. She hadn't been quite so quick to laughter lately, and seeing her like this was a relief. Her laugh filled the whole room, and likely echoed across the mountain.

"I've missed that laugh," Shifu told her, reaching out to take her hand.

"Yeah, well. If I don't laugh, I'll cry. And I'm sick of crying all the time."

He felt that sentiment deep in his bones, especially after Tai Lung's second betrayal. "Do you need to talk?"

"Nah," Lin answered. "I don't wanna talk. Or think. That's why I wanted sex." At least she was being honest.

"I don't support your use of sex to avoid your emotions," he replied. "And so you are not going to get any from me."

"Rahim it is, then."

"Wha-"

"I'm just teasing you!"

With an irritated grunt, Shifu helped her sit back up. "That kind of teasing only works for people who are monogamous with each other," he pointed out.

Lin at least had the good manners to look uncomfortable. "Okay, okay," she grumbled. "I get it. Not that I thinkya got any moral high ground whatsoever."

"And while we are on the subject- Guotin? Really?"

"Hey, he's a sweet guy!"

"Sweet?" he repeated incredulously. "He is a murderous bandit!"

"Yep, and he murdered this pussy. We done yet?"

"Ew! And no!"

Lin let out an annoyed snort. "What else is there to say?"

"Plenty! For instance, when did you even have time to get together with Guotin, of all people?"

"Since when's that any of your business?" she asked scathingly.

He opened his mouth to argue with her, then paused when the realization hit him that she was right.

"B'sides, it's not likeya ever told me about any of your relationships!" she added. "You know way more about me 'an I know about you, so what makesya think you can keep demanding this shit?"

"You are right," he conceded before she could get going into a full-blown rant.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes."

"Okay then," Lin said awkwardly, clearly unprepared for their conversation to not end in a fight.

He knew this offer would probably come back to bite him in the butt, yet he felt like it was the right thing to do if he wanted to earn Lin's trust back. "Would you like me to tell you? About my other relationships, that is." He could barely get the words out, he was so embarrassed simply by asking. He hoped this was not what he had subjected Lin to when he had asked her similar questions.

Lin raised her eyebrows at his offer. "Yeah," she accepted. "But later. I should probably have lunch with Rahim, and I'm guessing this'll be a pretty long conversation."

"Yes." He paused to cover his discomfort with a cough. It most definitely did not work.

"I'm not gonna judge," she said, more gently than he would have expected. "Everybody's got a past, y'know?"

"Mine is a bit, um... Questionable." He hated admitting that, but he hoped Lin would understand.

She gave him a skeptical smile. "Okay," she said, as though she thought he was exaggerating. Knowing how much their definitions of "questionable" differed, she probably thought he meant something totally benign. "Then again, you coming after me when we first met was most definitely questionable."

"Yes, yes, I remember."

"Extremely pervy."

"I know."

"Problematic on every level-"

"I get it!" Shifu interrupted.

Lin giggled and kissed him. "I like it whenya get annoyed. Want a quickie?"

"No." Shifu kissed her back, suppressing an amused smile. "Go have lunch."

"Yes, Dad."

"Don't call me that."

"What about Daddy?"

"Get the hell out of here."

Lin kissed him one more time before slinging her pants over her shoulder and running off. He watched her go, pleased to see her mood improving, though the weight of Tai Lung's second betrayal and their upcoming battle hung heavy over him. Right now, though, he found himself preoccupied with whether or not Lin would ever put her pants back on.

---

Lin left Shifu to his angst and set out in search of lunch. Not that she didn't care about his angst. But she couldn't even deal with her own angst right now, let alone someone else's. And her feelings for Shifu had been getting more confusing the more he tried to be nice to her. She was starting to think it would be best to just shut that whole thing down.

She found Rahim talking to Guotin outside of the Jade Palace, and narrowed her eyes at the scene. "I can't believe you two're friends," she said skeptically as she approached.

"I know, right?" Guotin agreed.

"We're not friends," Rahim said at the same time.

"Hey, you used to say the same thing!" Guotin elbowed her and laughed good-naturedly. That was one of the things Lin liked about Guotin- it wasn't that he didn't know when he was being insulted, it was that he didn't care. "So what're we eating for lunch? Sweet potatoes?"

"Wolf meat," Lin answered, then punched him in the stomach.

He doubled over and wheezed out, "Good one."

"How did I anticipate a total lack of change on your part?" Rahim asked flatly, though he didn't seem concerned for Guotin.

"You're just annoyed 'cause you're too wimpy for roughhousing."

"Yeah," Guotin wheezed in agreement.

"Oh?" Rahim asked casually. "Do you roughhouse with Shifu?"

Lin punched him in the stomach, too. "There, nowya match." She wasn't about to let him get away with a comment like that.

"Hate-" Rahim coughed out as he crumpled to the ground, "-you." He topped it off with some melodramatic gagging.

"Wow, that was worse 'an me," Guotin commented as he straightened up and stretched out his back. "You gonna be okay, buddy?"

"Hate you, too," Rahim grumbled.

"What a big, delicate baby you are." Lin gave him a pat on the head, which he only endured because he was too busy clutching his stomach and groaning to swat her away. "Anyway, go have lunch with your lady friends, Guotin. Rahim and I got some private business to discuss."

"You are my lady friend," he argued.

"Not anymore." She poked him in the spot she'd punched as a warning. "I ain't coming back for seconds."

Guotin waggled his eyebrows at her. "You mean thirds."

She poked a little harder. "Watch it. Now get."

Of course, Guotin had always like to push a little further than he should. So it didn't surprised her when he asked, "What's Shifu got that I don't, huh?"

"A less whiny voice." She wasn't about to have a discussion about her love life with him, especially when her stomach was starting to grumble.

"That's harsh," Guotin complained, but finally backed off. "A'right, I'll head out, then. One last kiss for the road?"

"In your dreams, bonehead."

"And what sweet dreams they'll surely be," he flirted, then blew her a kiss before leaving. She couldn't lie, she did always like his sweet-talking.

"That man has a brain condition," Rahim commented from the ground.

"And you're about to ifya don't get up," Lin threatened, hovering her foot over the tiger's head.

"Har har," Rahim said sarcastically, then pushed her foot out of the way to stand up. "Your unpleasant demeanor won't deter me."

"From?"

"Asking how you are."

"Ew."

"I had expected such a response." He straightened out his clothes and fussed with his whiskers, despite the fact that neither would help out his appearance much without a bath and some laundry.

"C'mon, let's get some eats, it's on me." She might as well take advantage of Ping's employee discount (as in, not having to tip as long as she served herself). And as sick as she was of noodles at this point, they were still the best noodles in the world.

"It's on you?" Rahim asked incredulously. "As in, you will pay with your own money? For me?"

"Keep it up ifya wanna get another gut punch."

He flinched at just the mention of a punch, which she couldn't help but laugh at. "Violent abuse, such a hilarious topic for all involved."

"Only when you're the target," she teased, which he took with nothing more than an annoyed grimace.

"Let's perhaps discuss something other than causing me bodily injury," he offered. "Tell me more about the Valley of Peace. What is there to do and see here?"

"Well, we're about to eat at the best restaurant here, where I happen to work."

"Ah, I see, you are only treating me because you get a discount."

"Shut up and listen." She poked him in the side, which caused another massive flinch.

She spent the rest of their trip down to Ping's talking up the Valley to him, pointing out vendors and shops she liked along the way. It was the tail end of the lunch rush by the time they arrived, but they still got lucky with a table.

Lin placed a bowl of noodles in front of Rahim, then sat down with her own lunch at their corner table, aware of the stares the bengal tiger was attracting with his foreign clothes, large stature, and general orange-ness. She did her best to ignore them, just this once, instead of screaming at them to stop being rude to her friend.

"Okay, before we discuss anything else," he rushed out before she could say anything, and she knew exactly what was coming, "I just want to say that I consider myself a very understanding and accepting individual."

"You are," she lied, waiting for the hammer to fall.

"But this is creepy, even for you." And there it was. "The resemblance is uncanny!"

Lin rubbed at her forehead, aware of how it looked. "Al was the one who looked like him, not the other way around," she explained. "Shifu came first. B'sides, it's how I met Al in the first place."

Rahim's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"I mistook him for Shifu," Lin said. "'Cause it was night and it was dark. So I chased him down. That's how we met."

"Why did I not know this part of the story?"

"I didn't want anyone to know, that's why."

"Because it's gross," Rahim concluded with a rounded nod, his head moving side-to-side. "Yes, I see now. You're disgusting."

"Oh, shut the hell up," Lin snapped, then threw a bean bun at his head. She must have gotten used to kung fu masters, because she was a little surprised when he failed to dodge.

Rahim picked up the bean bun from where it had bounced off his forehead and landed on the table, sniffing it. "In all seriousness, once I became accustomed to the resemblance, it was not quite so close. But you most definitely have a type." Instead of returning the bun to her, he ate it in one bite. This was their rule: anything edible she threw at him was forfeit. It was how they had gotten through a fair number of heated arguments. Eventually, Rahim got too full to keep fighting with her, and she got too hungry to keep giving up her meal.

"Yeah, yeah," Lin accepted with a wave of her hand. "I know. I like 'em chubby with big ears, so sue me."

"The personality was a bit jarring," he added. "The man is like a hemorrhoid wrapped in a thorn bush and then set aflame."

"Hey, that's a good analogy," she complimented. "I gotta remember that."

Rahim finally tried a spoonful of his noodle soup, his eyes widening as he tasted it. "Hey, this is delicious!"

"Yeah, yeah, the soup's great," she dismissed. "So what're you doing here, anyway?"

"I came to rescue you from the giant head with legs," he replied without missing a beat. "You know you can always go back to having sex with me, right?"

"I know that's not the real reason you're here," she huffed, crossing her arms. "And I got him trained way better'n you ever were by now."

"Ew," he commented with a wrinkled nose before taking another sip of soup. "Well, I am here for the reasons I stated in our little meeting. You don't believe me?"

"It's not likeya to drop everything and cross a continent just to help someone out," Lin said, watching him carefully for a reaction. "I can't help wondering if there's something else."

Rahim stared down into his soup, refusing to meet her gaze.

"Well?"

"I felt I owed it to you," he finally said, then squared his shoulders. He seemed to shake off whatever melancholy had overtaken him just then, instead speaking to her as casually as usual. "I wanted to do the right thing for once. Because of you, and because of Al."

"Hm," she grunted, unsure how to feel about that. "So, what, you wouldn't bother if it weren't for Al?"

"That isn't it," he argued. "It was a motivation, but I still would have come. For you."

She couldn't help herself. The joke was right there. "It wouldn't be the first time you've come for me- hey!" She ducked out of the way when he splashed some noodle broth at her. "You're just a crepe-skinned snowflake, aren'tya?"

"I am not crepe-skinned," he said with a glare. "I happen to have quite youthful skin, as you well know."

Lin rolled her eyes at him.

Rahim let out an annoyed snort, but busied himself with his soup instead of arguing with her. "So tell me, how serious are things with your old flame?"

"We're not in a real relationship," she replied without hesitation. "He's an asshole and I hate him."

"Oh, I see."

She didn't like the smug note in his voice. "You see what?"

"Nothing," he said lightly. "This is just very like you, that is all."

"Hey!" she snapped, annoyed by his know-it-all attitude. "It's not like I didn't try! He's the one who threw me out for having a kid!"

Rahim chewed on his noodles a bit, regarding her coolly. Then, he swallowed. "You're too old to get pregnant."

"I know that, you rube." She wished she had another bean bun to toss at his head. "I meant, I had a kid years ago and she came looking for me, so Shifu found out about it and had a goddamn tantrum."

"Huh." He set his spoon down. "You have a child?"

"She's grown now," Lin dismissed. "And it's not like I raised her. But yeah, I technically have a child in the sense that I birthed her."

"Huh," he repeated, then picked his spoon back up. "You have a child. An adult child."

"I get it, you're surprised," she grumbled. "Anyway, you'll probably meet Gia at some point soon. She hangs around me a lot."

Rahim played with his noodles as if he were only half-listening, but Lin knew him well enough to know that was not the case. "Gia? That's what you named the kid?"

"What, you don't like it?"

"I thought you had a sister named Gia."

"She was the good one," she reminded him. "B'sides, Gia's a name in China, too- I mean, it's spelled differently in roman characters, but who the hell reads roman characters around here? Anyway, I figured it covered the bases in case she wanted to come here."

He furrowed his brow at her. "So you knew she might show up here, yet you're still surprised that she... Showed up here?"

"I wasn't expecting her to show up here! I wasn't even expecting me to show up here until a few years ago!"

"Alright, I surrender," Rahim said, pushing his lunch aside. "No need to yell at me."

Lin crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Don't sulk. It's unbecoming on a woman your age."

"Eat my ass."

"I'll take a rain check." He tried to place a couple of yuan on the table, but Lin waved him off.

"I toldya I work here, I'll just have it taken outta my pay," she said. "I oweya one for dragging your big orange butt all the way here, anyway."

"And now, thanks to your generous gift of noodles, we are even," he said sarcastically.

"Shut up and follow me." If they were going to do this catching up thing properly, then she might as well show him her house.

"Where to?"

"Shut up and I'll showya." Lin led him out of the restaurant and through town, past the pines, through the field of tall grass, to the lake. "Get on the punt."

"This feels suspiciously like an execution," he grumbled, dropping down to all fours to shakily board the punt. "What is that shack out on the lake? Is that where you dump the bodies?"

"Not anymore," Lin said, then pushed them off before Rahim had a chance to second-guess their trip. "I live there."

"You live there," he repeated flatly.

"Yeah! Shut up, you'll see."

"Help!" he shouted across the lake, earning him a jab with her pole. "And, once more, I am a victim of kidnapping."

"You're a victim of stupidity, more like." When they reached the rocky island, Lin dragged him up to her little yard and gestured to everything around them. "Take it in!"

"Never."

"I own this house, Rahim," she said, dropping into her hammock. "I own it! Didya ever think, in a million years, I'd ever get to have my own house? 'Cause I sure never did. I never thought I would."

He watched her, smiling at the pride in her eyes. "I never thought so, either."

She punched him in the arm, then laughed as tears formed in her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she replied nasally, wiping at her face. "It's just, I never thought I'd feel this way about a thing. It's just a pile of wood. I never thought I could love an object so much. I kinda understand, now, why Al fought so hard to keep that dusty old house of his."

"Perhaps it isn't the house itself that you are so enamored of," he suggested, "but what it represents to you. You have achieved a dream, one of independence, which you spent so long striving for. You've reached a goal that you'd thought unattainable. It is only natural to want to cling to it, with all your might."

"Man, you really got a way with words."

"I like to think so, yes."

She couldn't believe she'd gotten so worked up over showing him her house. But she deserved to get excited for it. She deserved to be proud. "Wanna see the inside?"

"Ideally, yes," he replied. "Before the frostbite sets in, at the very least."

"You're such a wimp." She led him inside and lit her brazier so he wouldn't get too chilled.

Rahim paused inside the house, his eyes narrowing. "There's so much hair all over the place," he said, the judgment coming off of him in waves. "Agh, your pillows are covered in it! Don't you ever clean?"

"I make other people do that for me," Lin dismissed.

"Of course." He poked at her crate table with his foot, leaning away from it when the contents inside rattled.

"You're such a delicate little asshole."

"I am not delicate, I simply have normal standards of living." He glanced at her bed and shuddered. "The mural is nice, I will give you that."

"You can stay with me, ifya want," Lin offered. "Sinceya let me stay with you."

"Oh, goodie," Rahim said flatly.

"Fine, sleep in the street."

"I assume I would be welcome at the Jade Palace."

"Ehhhh." Lin waved her hand in the air to indicate there was a possiblity that wouldn't hold true. "Shifu knows we've banged. He's not exactly emotionally stable about that kinda thing."

"Fantastic."

"We can be roomies again!"

"I would have preferred the execution."

Lin punched him in the butt, which elicited a yowl that Rahim would be furious about anyone but her hearing.

"Don't touch me, you troglodite!" he snapped, clutching at his butt like he was about to poop himself. "This is why I can't stand living with you!"

She laughed, happy to see he still reacted to her jabs the same as always. Then, she grabbed a bottle of wine from inside her little crate and waved it in his face. "You sure about that?"

"Never mind, all is forgiven," he replied calmly, snatching the bottle from her hands.

"That's what I thought." Lin laid out a couple of pillows to sit on, snorting when Rahim insisted on brushing his off first. "So I'm guessing you're gonna pry some more. Ifya share that wine, I'll letya."

"Very well." He drank some first, then handed the bottle to her. "Tell me more about this non-relationship with Shifu. You were together, and then you broke up?"

"He abandoned me," she corrected, taking a long swig of wine. "It was all very dramatic. I ended up getting my job at the restaurant and staying with my boss for a while."

"Yikes."

"I agree!" She slammed the bottle down on the table, annoyed at the memory of it all. "And then he acted like nothing ever happened!"

"Double yikes."

"Yeah!" Then she started to feel a little bad, like she didn't want Rahim to hate Shifu. But she did want him on her side. Just not... Against Shifu. She drank some more wine to deal with that internal conflict. "I mean, he eventually figured it out. That he was a shitstain. Now he's trying to be nice and get me back and stuff."

"And it is clearly not working, even a little bit," Rahim said sarcastically.

"Shut up, you! You've been in the Valley for five minutes, you don't know my life."

"Uhuh." He nudged her with his foot. "So, do you really still sleep with him, then?"

Lin let out a long sigh. "Yeah," she admitted. "We make, I dunno... What's the opposite of sweet love?"

"Salty indifference," he answered decisively.

"Yeah, that."

"I've made a lot of salty indifference in my life, and my hookups and I have never once looked at each other the way you two do." Rahim punctuated his smug judgment with a pull from her wine bottle. "I have seen what you're like when you are in love. This is it."

"Fuck you." Lin stole the bottle from his hand and finished it off. "You don't get to decide my feelings!"

"No, I do not. I am only observing."

"I swear to God, ifya pull out your diplomat voice right now I'll slap your balls so hard they fly into the sun and get incinerated."

"That is not physically possible and you know it."

"Wanna find out?" she threatened, but he only shrugged back at her.

"I want to find out what is going on here. With you. There seems to be much you have yet to tell me."

"I have yet to tell you?" she repeated mockingly.

"Stop deflecting and get to the juicy bits," he replied. "And get more wine while you're at it."

"Don't boss me around!" Lin snapped, but she still pulled another bottle out of her table for them. "And I'm only tellingya all this 'cause we're friends, andya came all this way for me, apparently."

"Apparently."

She grunted back at him, started on the new bottle of wine, and dove into the story of the last few months of her life. It was a lot to tell, after all, and their time wasn't exactly unlimited. Rahim nodded blandly and asked the occasional leading question, but for the most part didn't react especially strongly to anything. Not that she told him the whole story- getting into the details of the visions Tai Lung had been seeing was a bit much. But he'd already known about her attempted suicide, and most of her past, so not much was news to him. He still seemed a little weird out by her having had a kid, but she couldn't blame him there. She was still weirded out by it, and she'd already had decades to get over it.

"I see," Rahim said when the tale was done. The sun had begun to set by then, and she knew they would have to return to the Jade Palace soon. But she still waited for his input, which she knew could sometimes come at an excruciatingly slow pace. "You encountered some sort of ocean spirit."

"Yep."

"And you had visions from a deceased kung fu master."

"That's correct."

"And this man you were helping to reform, he betrayed you."

"Yeah, that just happened."

"And you are in love with the large-headed marmoset."

"I dunno," Lin replied, frowning. "I can't figure out how I feel."

"I was not asking. I was telling."

"Sounds to me like you're asking for my fist up your ass."

"You are disgustingly in love with that man, and it is plain as day to everyone around you. Or at least it is to me, and no one else should count anyway." Rahim topped off his offensive statement with a dainty sip of wine, the smug asshole.

Lin crossed her arms and glared at Rahim, but he was too used to her to back down. "Fine," she grumbled. "Fine! Fine! What'm I supposed to do, huh? Just forget all the messed up shit he put me through? Forget about all the shit on my plate? And then what? What about when Al's birthday or our anniversary rolls around, and I fall apart over another man who isn't even here? What then?"

"Lin," Rahim said. "Your grief and your rage are not all that matter in this situation. You must make the effort to look beyond them."

"Rahim."

"Yes?"

"Blow me." She yanked the wine from his hand and stood up. "Now get off your lazy ass, it's time to go back."

"Were we not meant to brainstorm or strategize or some such before reconvening?" he asked with way too much attitude for someone who had repeatedly failed to even bring up the topic, let alone stay on it.

Lin scoffed and gave him a nudge to get him moving. "Yeah, but you're too invested in my love life to do that, so here we are."

"Guilty as charged," he accepted easily before following her.

"You're drunk, aren'tya?" She wasn't used to being the one to make that accusation. Which was probably an indication of a deeper problem in her life, but she wasn't about to address that anytime soon.

"Perhaps a touch," he slurred.

"Lightweight."

"I have been through quite a lot since we have last crossed paths, so I will thank you to shelve the attitude."

"I got so much to say about that phrasing. But first, why dontchya even us out and tell me your story while we walk?" She could use some time to stop focusing so much on her own problems.

---

A/N: I did it! I finished this chapter! OMG! It's been quite a year. My workplace unionized (wooo!) and I helped with organizing, became a shop steward, and am now on the negotiations committee for next year's contract. So yeah, workplace organizing has become my main, most time-consuming hobby hehehe. I still managed to find time to write slowly and painstakingly. Yay! Maybe I should just write shorter chapters.

Anyway, the title for this chapter is a South African proverb. I honestly cannot recall any other references, but if you spot one you will be granted one wish. What's up next? Good stuff! No spoilers! It will almost definitely not get posted until 2023! See you then, thanks for all the views and comments.