7. Travel start with obstacles

"... and for this reason, I will travel to Mendong City," Shen finished.

Now that everyone knew that he had received a letter, he had no choice but to inform the others of the message as well.

Now they were all standing in the lobby on the first floor of the palace and were deeply dismayed at the news.

"Has something happened to mom?" Jian asked worriedly.

Shen was silent. He had no knowledge about what was going on. How exactly could he answer a four-year-old child?

"Nah, don't worry," Po said and put a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "He just wants to see if everything is okay. I'm sure she's fine."

"If she is fine, why does he have to go to her?"

"Is mom ill?" Shenmi began, too, which Shen needed least of all now.

"Now listen!" He shouted. "It's no use in guessing."

He clapped his hands loudly. And it wasn't long before a gazelle appeared.

"Guard, you go to the harbor and reserve the best ship for me. The travel goes to Mendong City in northern China."

The guard nodded and left. Perhaps one of the others would have said something else, but Shen thwarted any further attempt at conversation.

"I'm going to pack my things now. And you, while I'm gone, you will wait here that long. I will send you a message later."

Po was about to open his mouth, but Shen turned away quickly and disappeared to the top floors.

The panda lowered his shoulders in disappointment.

Shen needed just a few minutes to pack his travel bag. Normally he had to think along for seven more people when he went on a trip, but since he was alone, collecting the important things went much, much faster.

"Shouldn't someone be with you?"

The white lord winced when the goat's voice suddenly appeared behind him. But he recovered again. It wasn't lost on him how much she emphasized the word "someone".

"No, I go alone."

With that, he grabbed another robe from the closet, stuffed it into the travel sack, and tied it up.

"Shen, you seem a little tired lately," the goat continued.

Shen let out an annoyed growl. "What are you trying to say?"

"I've known such weaknesses from you. As a child, you had..."

"Stop talking! There is nothing! I am fine!"

"That may be true, but if the worst comes to the worst, I think you should have someone with you..."

"I don't need anyone to take care of me!"

"But you should take him with you."

"Who?"

"You know who I mean."

"Absolutely out of the question!"

"That wouldn't be your first travel together..."

"The last time was the last time!"

"And what if something happens on the way?"

Shen glared at the old goat. "I've been on my own for over 20 years! In case you forgot. And I managed to put together my own army. Inclusive of countless weapons..."

"And in the end, you failed with everything. Even more could have happened if someone hadn't stood by your side."

"For the last time, he won't come with me on the journey!"

The soothsayer turned away with her head bowed. "Then I won't close an eye. Every night. Then I'm overtired and can't take good care of the children anymore." She covered her face with a hoof. "I just hope that you can sleep well with the thought of not being around your children."

She was about to leave the room. Shen had become thoughtful. Of course, he didn't like the idea of leaving his offspring unattended. But Yin-Yu was not unimportant to him either. He quickly grabbed the goat by the dress.

"Then I'll put together an army!" He said resolutely.

"My friends and I could take care of them, too."

The peacock looked up in surprise. Po was standing in the doorway of the room and tapped his fingertips when the lord looked at him so indignantly.

"Uh, I mean, they're good baby... uh... child sitters, when it comes to the point. Maybe they could teach them some Kung Fu tricks, too. For example, the kicks of the tiger, the agility of the snake, the speed of the monkey... And together with the two great masters, they will be safer than anywhere else in the world."

"The masters?"

Shen had almost forgotten them and the conflict with Master Ox flared up again in him. The thought of that this horned master continuing to put nonsense in his daughter's head made his stomach turn.

"Shen?" The goat's voice pulled him out of his gloomy brooding. "No matter what happens here, but your wife is more important right now. I'll take care that he doesn't talk to her a lot."

She smiled at him, but this could calm Shen just half way. On the other hand, until now she had always kept a promise.

"Alright," he said finally. "If you promise me that..."

With that, he grabbed his travel bag and pulled it.

But the goat's throat cleaning prevented him from leaving the room. With a deep sigh, he had to stop and took a long breath before he raised his wing and pointed at the panda.

"Panda."

Po looked up. "What is it?"

"You will..." He struggled with himself to speak out the next words. "... will accompany me."

Po stood there for a moment like paralyzed. But then he seemed to get it. He jerked his hands up and jumped up and down. "WOOOHO! I have a mission! I have a mission!"

In a flash he rushed past the dejected lord to convey the good news to his friends. Shen let out a deep sigh. He could only hope the day wouldn't get any worse.

It wasn't long before everyone had gathered at the harbor. The ship, a simple sailing ship, but big enough to hold 100 people, was ready to sail. But not only Shen's children, but also the two masters, the soothsayer, Po and his five friends had come to the pier. First, Po's friends weren't very enthusiastic to hear that their vacation was not only postponed, but that Po was once again going on a mission without them.

"And when are you coming back, Po?" Monkey asked.

His friend shrugged. "We do not know yet. But we will need two days or more until we are in Mendong City."

"Shouldn't you have asked us beforehand if we even want to supervise the children?" Crane said reproachfully.

Mantis agreed. "Yes, it wouldn't be the first time that a child has put on doll clothes for me."

Viper giggled at the thought. "Well, I thought it was cute. Especially with the ribbon on your head."

"Po," Tigress intervened in the conversation. "Are you sure it's a good idea to go with him?"

Po looked at his girlfriend in amazement. "Sure, why not?"

"You don't know what you're dealing with," the female tiger pointed out. "Especially with the lords. Royals have appropriated many powerful enemies over the years. How do you know that you can handle this case on your own?"

"But I'm not alone." Po smiled at her. "He's coming with me." He pointed to Shen. "And together with his martial arts we are an unbeatable team..."

"Ahem!"

A throat clearing from Shen silenced the panda briefly in his speech. The white lord stood in front of the Kung Fu warriors and cleared his throat again.

"Well, since I have entrusted you with the supervision of the children," the lord began in a raised, admonishing voice. "So you are also obliged to follow the relevant rules."

Monkey scratched his head. "Rules?"

Shen nodded. "Exactly. And I've put together a few important points."

With these words, he took a piece of parchment from his sleeve and unrolled it. The friends' eyes widened. The paper almost reached the floor.

"And what are the rules?" Viper wanted to know.

"Just the most important things," Shen explained. "For example, everyone should make sure that Jian doesn't eat peanuts. He's allergic to it. Fantao must not have unlimited access to paints, the armory must always be locked before Zedong, everyone must be in bed before sunset, three times a day one meal, Shenmi's rice must not be too hard, Jian is not allowed to put his musical instrument under the pillow... Just to name a few important basic rules."

He rolled up the paper.

"Goat, you make sure that all the regulations are followed. Word by word."

With these words, he held out the rolled list to her, which she took immediately. Then Shen walked to the end of the line to say goodbye to his children.

The soothsayer pocketed the paper with a sigh. "I wish he would call me by my name," she thought. "I'm still partly like a stranger to him."

Shen had now reached the children who had lined up next to each other. Shen's first look was on Sheng.

"Sheng, you and Xia, you are the oldest ones. Take good care of the little ones."

"Yes, father." Sheng nodded to him.

Zedong stood next to him. As always.

"And take special care of your brother," Shen added. "Don't always train too long."

The piebald peacock nodded. "We will do."

Then the white ruler bent down to his little piebald son. "And do me a favor and don't always kick everyone if they look at you crookedly. If so, then give them the evil eye at least."

Zedong nodded. "Alright, dad."

Next it was Fantao's turn. Shen folded his wings and looked down at him admonishingly. "Fantao, you're not painting all the walls again while I'm away. Walls are not there to be painted. And if so, use washable paint at least."

Fantao grinned. "Okay, no problem." And waved his brush, which he always carried with him.

Next up was Xia and Jian's turn.

"And as for you, Jian, don't overdo it with your music lessons again. Your training always comes first."

His gaze wandered to Xia. "You make sure that he doesn't play too loud. I don't want him to distract the others."

His older daughter nodded. "I will keep an eye on him."

Last was Shenmi's turn. Almost wistfully, Shen looked down at his little white daughter. Finally, he knelt down in front of her, put both wings on her shoulders and looked at her intently. "And you take good care of yourself. Always stick to the others."

He took a deep breath. "And don't neglect your training."

The peacock girl looked down. "Dad, can I come with you?"

Shen's eyes widened in horror. "What?! No, that is out of the question! You stay here!"

"And what if you don't come back?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Master Ox said that it might be someone who wants revenge on you. He says you almost died quite a few times. Maybe it will happen now."

Shen's angry gaze went to the ox. But the big master crossed his arms grimly. "I only made a guess. The conversation was only for him." He pointed to Master Croc. "How should I know that she was nearby?"

Shen let out an angry growl. "Stop it now! I guarantee that nothing will happen to me!"

"Exactly," Po added. "Especially since I'll be with him. Nothing can go wrong with me by his side."

Shen wasn't enthusiastic about it, but he didn't want to cast doubts about the others. Instead, he hastily took Shenmi in his arms. "You can rest assured. I'll be back as soon as possible. Promise."

After this, the ruler managed to detach himself from his children and to step onto the ship.

Po stopped briefly on the bridge and waved to his friends. "Goodbye, guys! And don't worry, we'll be careful."

"PO!" Monkey yelled. "You forgot your bag!"

"Oh yes, of course."

Po quickly turned and ran to his huge travel bag, which was pulled by Viper and Crane.

"Oh my!" Viper gasped. "What's in it?"

"Well, my emergency provisions," Po said, shouldering the travel bag over his shoulders. "Goodbye!"

He hurried over the bridge to the ship. At last, the sailors were able to pull in the bridge, pull in the anchor, loosen the ropes and set the sails.

Those who stayed behind on the jetty waved to them.

"I hope nothing bad happens," Xia secretly hoped.

"How exactly does our route look like?" Po asked after a while.

Shen had spread a map on a sea chest to study it again.

"We'll sail north along the coast first," Shen explained, pointing a feather finger across the blue field. "From here we turn into the river inland. It will take us directly to Mendong City."

"Isn't that the river we used back then?"

"Yes, it is."

"Oh, that brings back memories, doesn't it?" Po grinned broadly. He had not forgotten the adventure in the land of the Huns to this day. Especially since it was a very special day for Shen, too. But Shen didn't go into any further detail and put the nautical chart away.

"Alright," Po said. "This sea air makes someone really sleepy. I'll take a nap."

With that the panda went to a quiet corner and fell asleep immediately, which was fine with the lord. The less he talked, the better.

Several hours passed before Po was woken up by his grumbling belly.

"Oh man, such a boat trip makes you really hungry."

He got up, went to his food bag and opened it. "Mm, yummy. Peaches."

He picked it up happily. But then he stopped. There was something white under the fruits. Po frowned. He couldn't remember packing anything like dumplings or rice. Reluctantly, he touched it. It was soft and fluffy.

Suddenly it moved and a face appeared.

The panda opened his eyes wide. "What are you doing here?"

"Psst!" The peacock girl held a warning finger in front of her beak.

In the next moment, Shen's voice came from behind.

"Panda, what are you doing there?"

Startled, Po closed the sack again and turned to Shen.

"I... I'm not doing anything!" the panda stuttered.

"I heard something," Shen hissed, looking around. "What kind of noise was that?"

"A seagull," Po said quickly.

Shen looked at him skeptically. "A seagull?"

"Uh, yes... it flew around here... somewhere... over our heads. I mean, where else should seagulls be?"

Po wasn't a lying or cheating champion. The white lord noticed this immediately. And when Po put on a big grin, it only reinforced his suspicions.

Suddenly Shen cut into the provisions bag a few times with his feather knives and a small snowball rolled over the wooden floor.

"Shenmi!" Shen looked indignantly at his little daughter. "How do you get here? I had forbidden you to come with me."

"Sorry daddy," she apologized. "But I was afraid that you..."

"That's enough!" Shen cut her off and took her hand. "You will return to Gongmen City immediately!"

"But how, Shen?" Po objected. "We are already too far away. If we go back now, we will lose half a day. And how do you know whether with every further minute the chances of Yin-Yu remaining unharmed don't dwindle..."

Po stopped when he saw Shenmi's shocked face.

"I mean," Po tried to correct himself. "She's probably worried because we're unnecessarily worried about her. I'm sure, she is already waiting for us in Mendong City. We don't want to keep her waiting unnecessarily any longer, do we? Well, then she has to come with us."

Shen turned pale under the feathers. "But, we can't do that..."

"Please, daddy!" Shenmi begged. "I will be a good..."

"It could be dangerous for you," her father warned. "No, we will sail back! And if it even cost me two days!"

"But daddy! What if something happens to mom?"

"Then it's your fault..." He bit his underlip. As angry as he was at her, he couldn't blame her. He looked around helplessly. But there wasn't even a big bird on board that could bring her back.

"Please daddy! Please let me come with you!" Shen made the big mistake of looking into her big eyes.

"But, but... that's impossible..."

"Please!"

"Yes, please!" Po begged now, too and looked at Shen with large pupils.

Shen got a stomachache when he nodded after an internal fight.

"Yippee!" Po cheered. He picked up Shenmi and spun her around a few times.

"Are you going to play the waterslide with me again?" Shenmi asked.

"Waterslide?" Po took a deep breath. "Alright. Let's go."

And then he was running around the deck with her, swinging her up and down.

"Waterslide! Waterslide!"

Shen watched them and, dejectedly, hid his face with his wing. All he could do now was to pray that the disappearance of Yin-Yu has been just a misunderstanding.