Xanadu
"Xanadu?" Chat smirked as he observed an object in the distance that was so far it looked tiny. Distant memories from private tutoring during the homeschooling days and several stories told by his Chinese tutor rang a bell, he did hear about the place before, maybe.
"Xanadu … " Ladybug trailed off, she had heard of the term before, but she was rather certain it had nothing to do with a city in medieval China. She was certain she never heard of a city under that name, perhaps the name had changed over the years?
"Xanadu is better known as Shangdu." Peagasus corrected as if that made a difference. He narrowed his eyes, rolled his shoulders and then straightened up as he tried to catch a glimpse of the shiny object in the distance that he was told was a palace, but all he saw was a glint of something shiny.
"In a few hundred years, there will be only stone and marble remains of this place and almost nothing left to excavate by the late … twentieth century." Bunnix elaborated and then sighed. "But I guess we are not here for archaeology."
"Exactly." Ladybug grinned. There was another warning sound from the miraculous Peagasus was wearing and they all turned towards him. "I would suggest you to feed your kwami behind those bushes while I think of a strategy."
Peagasus quickly hid behind a bush to detransform. Kaalki looked exhausted and hungry, but a small carrot and a little grass recuperated him quickly. Max observed the tiny horse while he ate, his own stomach growled.
"Why don't you take one carrot too my noble master?" Kaalki offered and pointed towards a small bag of baby carrots that Ladybug provided for Max to feed his kwami, since she only had carrots for both Kaalki and fluff.
"Thank you." Max nibbled on a carrot uncertain that this will in fact provide for a proper breakfast, but at least his stomach should be quieter. "How… How did I know where to go?" The boy finally had an opportunity to ask the question.
"Master Juli directed us, you understood the direction and the distance, didn't you?" The tiny horse looked like a teacher who was reviewing knowledge of his pupil. "You got to the place you wanted to go to."
"Actually, I thought this was rather random, I'm not sure where we are going, I thought you would be able to tell me, to advise me, to give me a hint." Max adjusted his glasses (his miraculous) and looked at his kwami.
"Well, it would help if you told me what are we doing noble young man." Kaalki nibbled on some grass and observed his chosen. "I know many places that my chosen had visited, what is the place you are looking for?" Then the tiny horse nibbled on more grass.
"We are looking for someone named master Shi, given the average human life expectancy in the middle ages and the size of the country, there is less than one percent probability that we got to the right place at the right time." Max sighed.
"And you don't know where this person is?" Kaalki asked quizzically. Max affirmed with one nod.
"We just made a portal to a city called Xanadu." Max explained. "It looks like the place is rather big, there is high probability of finding someone named master Shi here." He motioned with his hands. "How do you know about master Juli anyway?"
"He was the guardian of miraculous long time ago, a fair and noble man, and he was also my wielder, which was very practical at the time as he was able to use teleportation to deliver the other miraculous where needed." Kaalki stated proudly.
"Oh I see." Max pondered. It was starting to make sense, if the man was the guardian of the miraculous and also a wielder of the horse miraculous then it wasn't too far fetched that the two of them somehow understood each other.
"What is taking him so long?" Bunnix tapped her foot on the hardened soil that formed a path between the grass patches. It was a path that was definitely soft and muddy in a rainy period, but they were fortunate that it was rather dry.
"He is feeding his kwami." Chat smirked. "Some kwami need more time than other." He knew that Plagg was going to remember what he said while transformed.
"And more food and ask for it more often and more dramatically." Ladybug teased.
"Not to mention the different smells." Chat made a disgusted face. "My kwami likes disgusting smelly cheese."
"Huh? How do you carry that around?" Bunnix frowned.
"Let's say I adopted to wear a perfume all the time." Chat smirked and looked at Ladybug. He remembered how she recited, well how Marinette recited the commercial for his perfume when they escaped to the cinema.
"So you carry that stinky stuff around and you're using a perfume to disguise a disgusting smell?" It was time for Bunnix to make a disgusted face.
"Isn't that like a tradition? Of the French nobility at least?" Ladybug, well Marinette under the mask, had to defend Adrien, who was currently Chat Noir, it was an impulse, a reflex, she had to do it, it was like second nature to her.
"Yeah … I prefer baguettes to stinky cheese and perfume to hide it." Bunnix muttered.
"What can I say?" Chat smirked and wrapped his arm around Ladybug's shoulders. "I prefer baguettes too." Then he glanced towards Ladybug who blushed profusely, in a way that Bunnix found rather familiar but was just not able to place.
"I would love a baguette right now." Peagasus noted as he approached from the bush. "I don't know about you, but I'm hungry." That was a moment when Chat's stomach growled loudly, followed by Ladybug and Bunnix.
"But where will we find the food?" Chat was already looking around.
"And how will we pay for it?" Ladybug looked at Bunnix quizzically.
"Well, any coins made of silver or gold would work almost anywhere in this time period, I doubt any of us have any?" She looked at the other heroes who just shook their heads to confirm.
There was a depressively quiet moment. Everyone looked at everyone else and then at the ground. They were hungry and they wanted to eat, but they also did not want to steal their food and they had no money, nothing to purchase it with.
"Wait!" Ladybug raised her index finger. "We are superheroes, we have powers, we can …."
"Use our powers for selfish needs to feed ourselves?" Chat inquired.
"Can you call your lucky charm and get us some pizza? Or at least a baguette?" Bunnix mentioned offhandedly.
Peagasus just looked hopeful.
"No, I mean yes, but no! I was thinking of helping out, you know, this is thirteenth century, maybe we could help out, you know, do some work, and get paid in food? Wasn't that the way it worked back then?" Ladybug faced Bunnix.
"It should work." Peagasus was the first to try.
"Besides, with powers, we could do anything in no time." Chat winked towards Bunnix who just sighed and looked away as if she was annoyed.
They ran fast in the direction of the palace, they passed the outer and the inner walls, they did stop to help out many peasants who were taking their fruits to the market or drive away some robbers on the way, but they always gave away the reward to a child or an elderly who looked more hungry than them.
They were going through a park that was filled with many diverse animals, especially different kinds of birds when they saw a man in colourful and expensive clothes who was riding a horse and held a large wild cat that was obviously tamed for him.
"Who are you and why do you roam my park?" The man demanded with an authority of a ruler. He stopped and soon there were several armed men around him who were running after him, ready to protect him from any intruder.
"We are Ladybug, Chat Noir, Bunnix and Peagasus, oh noble Khan." Chat bowed with a flourish, he did it for his lady so many times, he smirked and winked at her. Ladybug followed suit, then Peagasus and finally Bunnix who was not that happy about it.
"And why are you here? In the woods of the noble Kublai Khan?" One of the men that stood around the Khan demanded as he raised his weapon and aimed at Chat.
"Ask him if he knows about master Shi." Ladybug mouthed.
"Ask him if he has any food." Peagasus whispered.
"Ask him for work, a job to do, for us?" Bunnix proposed.
"We were looking four you, oh noble Khan, to be at your service." Chat replied loudly for everyone to hear. None of the heroes was certain what was it that Chat asked in the end. They just looked at each other quizzically.
"Are you travellers, like that man who calls himself Marco Polo and claims to be from a distant city of Venice and who says he travelled all that distance?" Another man from the guard asked with a strange undertone in his voice.
"We have indeed travelled a great distance too." Chat acknowledged and looked at the man who posed the question while he quickly repeated what he was taught from history. "But we did not have the honour to meet the man in person."
"They do look interesting, more interesting than that man, and they are not armed. Let them follow us to the palace, we can give them some work for our entertainment." The Khan spoke with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
The four heroes were watched all the way to the palace. It was covered in marble on the outside while the insides were gilded wherever there were no other decorations in forms of painted birds, beasts, trees and flowers, which were plenty and carefully crafted.
"Welcome to my humble summer home." The Khan greeted. "All visitors regard it with delight and astonishment." He looked at the four heroes and awaited their response, so they did their best to appear delighted and astonished.
"But it has a huge flaw, it is immobile." Khan coninued to talk once he was satisified with their reaction, he deflated as if he was sad.
Ladybug raised her eyes towards the Khan, her eyes went wide, Chat quietly muttered the translation to make sure they all understood what was being said, and it was Ladybug who was the first one to connect the dots. 'He wants us to move the palace?' She whispered.
"I am a man who likes to live on the move, but then again, I prefer to keep the comforts of a place that a man in my position can indulge himself in." He motioned with his hands all around. Chat whispered the translation as he also felt where this was heading.
"He has another palace." Bunnix whispered. "It is made of cane, it can be moved easily."
"This palace is admirable and exquisite indeed." Chat began with exaggerated praise. "However, it is build from heavy and immobile materials just as you had so wisely observed." He continued. "We would advise you to have another, more mobile home made of cane."
Khan laughed. The rest of his entourage opened their eyes widely.
"Better describe it as something fancy." Ladybug whispered. "It should look like this place."
"It doesn't have to be modest in any way." Chat announced.
Khan listened.
"It should have gilded figurines, actually make it gilded all over." Ladybug whispered.
Chat repeated what she suggested.
"Make it tall, make it stay on columns." Peagasus suggested to Chat quietly and Chat repeated to the Khan.
"Make the columns finish with a gilded dragon." Ladybug observed that was probably the favourite decoration for Khan.
"I think it was tied to the ground not to fly away." Bunnix pondered.
"And make sure to fasten it to the soil the way your beautiful tents are done." Chat finished.
Khan made only one swift motion and half of his entourage just disappeared.
"Ask him about master Shi." Ladybug whispered. "He looks satisfied, he might help us."
"There is one small piece of information that we dare to ask." Chat spoke and bowed. "We are looking for a man named master Shi." He announced. One of the guards stared towards them and Ladybug flinched, they were not supposed to ask the Khan for some plain master.
"The whereabouts of any such person are insignificant to the mighty Kublai Khan." One of the guards answered.
The four heroes were offered bowls of thick soup to eat with their guards while the Khan decided to make himself comfortable and ready to be entertained by the new arrivals to his palace. They ate it grateful to be able to fill their stomach with some warm cooked food.
"And now, you are going to the park to help build a palace for me." Khan ordered.
It was lighter and faster than they expected it to be, many parts were there on the spot, and the four heroes erected a light palace made of sticks. Khan observed them and realized they had enhanced powers, he pondered how to keep them to work for him.
Khan issued orders to his men to find craftsmen who will guild and lacquer the cane and the columns as well as varnish the roof while he ceremoniously sought the heroes to stay for more food, beer and wine with an intention to keep such useful help as his servants.
It was getting dark, a number of guards sat with the heroes around a fire and they distributed bowls of dense soup and porridge between them. The guards offered for the heroes to drink something from the same large cup everyone was drinking from, but they politely passed it on.
It was getting really late in the evening, and the heroes still did not find master Shi nor any lead that would lead them to him. They quietly discussed if this was even the right time or place to find him as none of the guards around them ever heard of such a person.
"Bunnix, you will have to detransform and we will talk to Fluff. If your kwami can't help us, I will try with Tikki. We must have missed an important clue somewhere." Ladybug whispered to Bunnix and both of them looked around for a secluded place.
The guards started to doze off, it was getting really late. And the four heroes quietly sneaked away in a directions where they were able to find some privacy.
"I know her identity, Peagasus, please stay on this side of the tree, while Bunnix and me go to the other side to talk to her kwami." Ladybug whispered.
"Don't worry, it is just the identities stuff, we'll be able to participate in the conversation from here, we'll know everything there is to know." Chat patted Peagasus on his shoulder.
Peagasus was rather certain that Chat knew the civilian identity of Bunnix too, but he just slumped down and sat on the ground with his back on the tree trunk and Chat joined him by his side.
Bunnix and Ladybug took the few steps to the other side of a wide and thick tree before Bunnix released her transformation and Fluff appeared. It was dark, but there were fires all around where the other guards had their supper and were either getting ready for the night or already asleep on the grass, the night was warm, it was summer time.
"Fluff, we need your help to find master Shi." Ladybug spoke quickly. "But we can't find him."
"We are in Xanadu and it is probably year 1275." Alix tried to clarify while Fluff nibbled on his carrot.
"A kwami never reveals the identity of his wielder." Fluff continued to nibble.
Alix rolled her eyes, looked away and then took a bite of one carrot dejectedly. Ladybug groaned and clenched her fists.
"This means Tikki will not help us either." She concluded. It was possible to hear Chat as he deflated disappointedly, Peagasus simply slumped down even lower on the trunk of the tree.
"But can you tell us if we are at least at the right place and time?" Alix knew what to ask.
"It is always the right time." Fluff replied and hopped around before he continued to nibble on the carrot.
"It is always the right time." Another Fluff echoed and floated directly into Alix face. The pink haired girl simply offered another carrot and observed the other rabbit as if nothing particular just happened. Then she reached for the other watch in her pocket, the one that wasn't working.
Ladybug's eyes went wide with surprise. There were two Fluffs. That meant there were two time travellers at the same place and time. However that was Alix, and as akuma she accomplished that there were two Ladybugs, two of her so it was possible, probably, well she was looking at it.
"Why do you need me?" Another voice asked from a shadow. Alix and Ladybug turned in the direction of the voice. Peagasus raised his head but did not dare to turn around, Chat was already on his feet, ready to act and his night vision enabled him to see the imposter clearly.