Shifu was a tad bit tired.

Maybe it was just his old age. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't really slept since their journey. Or maybe because he had been rigorously searching for a single clue, a whisper, a piece of note, anything that could finally shed light on what Master Crane was currently struggling with.

Whichever excuse his stale mind fancied at the moment.

The library was at least a breathtaking sight. From the moment the red panda stepped onto the yellow marble, he knew he was in a place of great importance; the clear, subtly lemon-scented air was a telltale sign of a well-cared for room. His head had been turning all over the place, trying to help his sight reach every wonderful detail of China's main source of historical knowledge. Tall rows after rows of scroll shelves lined up before him, the carpeted space between each wide enough for even an ox or a rhino to move without a hitch. What caught Shifu's eye was the amazing accuracy of the shelves' placement; neither stood closer nor further from its kin. The shelves themselves were made of polished and waxed wood, painted to a vigorous yellow shade, and dozens of beige scrolls filled neatly into their criss-cross patterned holes.

Walking between the imposing structures, Shifu had to admit – he felt nigh illiterate. The library went on and on and on, vast but not never ending. A shelf had to hold at least a thousand scrolls, and it was only a singular one; who knew just how much knowledge lived in this one spacious room alone? And what's best, the people of the past ordered them by the topics of the scrolls they held, which meant that he didn't even need to worry about a 'drop of tea in the river' scenario. Especially after Bao Luo had kindly pointed him a direction to follow.

It was all too perfect, Shifu thought he would find a solution.

He thought wrong.

Even with the occasional help from his fellow Masters, they still couldn't find a single utterance of Elemental Chi or of the Vase. It wasn't in the Martial Arts section, nor the Religious section, and he was already almost finished with the Spiritual section. It's like the ground had swallowed it, never to be seen again. That is, if there really were a scroll like this, or he had just wasted precious days.

He did not want to think about that possibility.

So there he was, the tired elderly red panda standing slouched in front of a shelf from the Spiritual section, reading yet another useless scroll. This was a particularly cruel one, as it had the word 'CHI' painted at the back of it with huge letters. Shifu got his hopes up quickly, yet it turned out to be nothing but the history of its discovery, which he didn't particularly care for at the moment. The only reason he didn't shove it back where it came from was that it had Master Oogway's handwriting, which meant that he held something he hadn't read from the great turtle as of yet.

Already tired mentally, he strolled back towards the exit of the library, fully intent on taking a break for now. He also had recently gotten a notice from his Majesty to meet in the Council Room at noon, so he thought; he might as well be the first one there. Before he could get out of the maze of shelves, however, a voice made his large ears twitch.

"Excuse me? Mister Servant?"

"…Me?"

"Yeah, you, so… have you seen a red panda around, like…" there was a pause, and Shifu closed the scroll with a groan, "…this tall."

"Um…"

"Yeah, he is kind of small, probably a red panda thing. It must be, because I'm a panda too and look at me! I totally tower above him. Or maybe it's just his age. Wait, did I mention that he is really old?"

Shifu rolled his eyes. Po…

"He could still kick my butt anytime, he's Master Shifu in the end."

"Excuse me, but… that's his name?"

"Yeah, his name. I don't know why anyone would want to be called 'Teacher Master' either, but trust me, he does not follow what his name implies. He even became my student, I taught him chi! How cool is that?!"

"It's called a title, Dragon Warrior," Shifu spoke up, walking out from behind the shelves, "And you don't exactly look the draconic type either, do you now?"

His jab fell flat; turns out, the panda had been facing the other direction, his body covering the servant from Shifu's view.

"Yeah, strange, it's like he is right next to me. Did you notice his tone? As I said, kinda rusty."

"Po," Shifu suddenly appeared next to them, effectively scaring both him and the now identified gazelle servant out of their skins. He sharply nodded to the latter who, after a moment of shock, bowed and scrambled away. The red panda then turned back to give the stink-eye to the remaining delinquent.

"Oh! H-hi, I didn't see… you… How long have you been standing here?" Po asked, awkwardly fiddling with his fingers. He had a difficult time making eye contact with Shifu.

"For some time, you could say that," Shifu said, sighing finally and looking away, "Been around these days."

With that, he sidestepped the round warrior, and continued his walk towards the halls outside, Po hot on his hills.

"No success?"

The annoyed thinning of the brows was the panda's only answer.

"Right - Oh yeah! You probably want to know why I'm here."

Shifu shrugged. "The thought did pass me."

"Well… I've been having some troubles with Crane and his personal training. Nothing serious, just -small things, you know."

Stepping into those great corridors that would lead them to their destination, he opened the chi scroll once again, resuming its read-through. Nonchalant as he may have looked, he turned his ears towards his companion. Said Master decided not to be left out, so he closed the distance between them and tilted his head to the side, skimming through the scroll too with pretended investment.

"So you know how I planned all these 'layers' for Crane to go through?"

"Mhmm."

"We may have… bumped into one of these… small… things," the panda's voice took on an apologetic tone here, and Shifu smiled to himself.

"A small one?"

"…Yeah."

Now was the time for Shifu to raise his eye from the scroll, looking right at the panda's face with a lifted eyebrow. Po, obviously aware of this, quickly looked back up, touching the petals of a red flower plant they were passing along the way. He tried to act natural, something more unbothered, but then he accidentally ripped off a petal and upon trying to put it back and failing – the petal kind of stuck to his paw – he gave up. Shifu raised his head to gaze at Po, prompting the panda to break the poor facade. The longer he did that, the more twitchy Po became, until-

"OKAY, okay, it's a big one, all right?! Crane is just too sad to learn, and I have no clue what to do!"

The news was not a surprise to the elder Master. The avian's deteriorating mood had been an ongoing process even before the accident.

"And I tried to encourage him, and I guess those kinda worked – he tries harder after that, maybe makes one of his jokes too, but… I don't know what to do, Shifu. He couldn't even control a little drop of water, and it made him look so down."

Po looked back at him pleadingly, his otherwise joyous pools holding a mocking representation of what it truly had been.

"Which then started moving, because sadness equals water for chi it looks like, but still…" the panda's posture dropped wordlessly, the petal swaying onto the ground, "What do I do, Shifu?"

Ah, so that's the problem.

The elder Master in question closed his scroll, slowly this time. Stopping in his tracks, he clasped his hands behind his back, and looked right into Po's eyes.

"So you think you are failing, Dragon Warrior?"

"I wouldn't call it failing, rather a…" Po tried to pretend for searching for a word, before a sigh escaped lips, "…yeah, failing-"

A 'wack' sound broke the dull silence between the walls of the hall, a stinging pain cutting into Po's left forearm simultaneously.

"OW! Hey! Why did you do that?"

Shifu smirked with the scroll held up in his hand, ready for another smack at the panda's pudgy exterior.

"So you think you, the teacher of the Furious Five, are failing?"

"Yeah, that was kind of the point of my heartfelt confession."

"And you think that's a bad thing, why?"

Po blinked at the smaller Master, confused, still scratching the part of his arm that had been previously hit.

"Because failing is usually a bad thing… no?"

The panda's uncertain pitch made Shifu's smile soften.

"Po, listen to me," and by the soft look the Dragon Warrior was giving him, he was listening, "I will not be 'Oogway Two' as you like to call me, so I'll be direct. There is an old saying, 'Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rising every time we fall.'"

This seemed to impact Po, because for once, he kept quiet. By the downcast, blank look at the random red petal still laying on the ground, with those softly bitten lips, Shifu knew; the true meaning of the saying was manifesting inside the Dragon Warrior.

"When I leave the realm of the Living," Shifu continued under his breath, "You will have to take over all my duties, Po, and that's not something to take lightly. Governing the whole valley, keeping the peace, training and spreading the word of Kung Fu; these will all be responsibilities on your shoulders. That's why I tasked you with both training the Five at first, and now this seemingly impossible task. Learn how to fail, so you could learn how to 'rise' once more."

Po crouched down. He carefully grabbed the lone red petal and walked back to the plant he had accidentally snatched it away from. Finding the bud he had offended, he infused a little Chi in his paws, and made the flower bloom in a yellow light until it re-accepted the petal as its own. His features remained passive, yet thoughtful the whole time.

"You think I'm ready for all that?"

Shifu smiled.

"You are close. Once you realize one fundamental thing about being a teacher, you will be ready."

"What's that?"

Shifu laughed at the Dragon Warrior's sudden curious tone, his smile morphing into a smirk.

"Let's just say, our job description doesn't exactly say we have to accept everyone who asks for knowledge. Sometimes… there are better candidates."

Po turned around and blinked at his old Master.

"Wait, you mean we can refuse students? That sounds… kinda mean."

Shifu shrugged, before reopening the scroll and resuming his stroll towards a pair of stairs, leading upwards.

"It only sounds mean if you say it like that, but I will let you figure out the rest."

Po panicked and run after him. "No! Please, Shifu, I must know! Didn't you say you would be direct? What happened to that?!"

"I have to have some fun too," Shifu thought he had won. He usually did when it came to verbal spars with his ex-students.

"Yeah, well, not much fun looking around for a scroll that has been in Crane's room for days all along, huh?"

And Shifu stopped before he could make the first step up, frozen. His ears must have been playing tricks with him. He must have misheard it. But then he turned to the now smug-faced Po, who definitely just turned the tides against the elder, and he knew; he had misheard nothing.

"The What? Why? Where did he find it?!"

"Oh, he didn't, Bao did. He knew about it after hearing you talk to Crane's dad, so he kinda confronted us and now it's in Crane's room."

Like fool-minded oxes rushing headfirst into one another, the puzzle stitched itself into completion. Shifu facepalmed.

"Of course he did," his hand slid down his face, before he resumed his march, albeit slower than before, "I'm guessing he already knows of Master Crane's 'condition'?"

Po cringed slightly at the mention of that, which was only an insignificant victory amongst the disaster for Shifu. "He has a surprisingly awesome skill at figuring out things from the smallest of clues. Apparently he had suspected it from the moment we met."

"Of course he did. Now come, his Majesty is waiting for us."

The Council room was buzzing with topics, which, in her short stay, was not a weird spectacle. On one side sat the Eunuchs with their signature snow-white robes, laughing in mirth and buddying together like a bunch of chickens on the way to their doom. The figure, lounging in her own fancy chair next to the noble's section, sipped her sweet tea, the refreshing taste easy on her tongue. She crossed her legs in front of her and watched.

She liked them.

Old as they may have been, but they sure knew how to reach their goals. Giving up body parts for political power? That's the spirit! She should definitely hire some of these 'Eunuchs' in her own government. While she did hear that they can be as annoying as a slightly misplaced needle, she did not particularly care; she had the means to make them behave. They may have knew how to gain power and how to use it, but did they know how to keep it?

That she doubted.

She turned lazily in her chair, her eyes looking to the other side of the room, to the nobles. She admittedly liked them less, only because they had done absolutely nothing to get their status. Though - she mused, looking into her cup - being lucky enough to be born into any high ranking family is an admirable feat. Plus, they did know how to keep what luck had given them; just don't get disowned and marry for money, easy as a rice cake. Speaking of rice cakes, she should really ask Qiang to make some.

A total fool he may have been, he made one mean rice cake.

She sipped her tea once again, adjusting her back on the comfy seat meanwhile. Speaking of the almost elder avian, she searched him up with her own set of amber eyes. It didn't take much time to find him in the fancy seat, something Dragon throne something something, and she smiled when the figures huddling around Qiang came into her view.

The 'Furious Five', huh?

They were basically the only reason she didn't die of boredom. Even with their vast political power, the Eunuchs would undoubtedly scatter in fright if she so much as showed her sharp teeth. But this Five; oh, they made her hopeful. Of course she heard about the astounding feats of their team, all those victorious battles against entire hordes, warlords, rogue generals, even the clash against that diva Shen and the 'Maker of Widows' Kai. All those stories of the tiger's brute force, the monkey's schemes, the snake's elegance; it all made her mouth water.

But she couldn't take a better look. Yet. Initially, she thought the whole Jade Palace brigade was present, Furious Five and the fabled Dragon Warrior - she may not have looked the part, but she was shaking inside from excitement at just hearing the title – but it turned out to be untrue. The third, unknown avian was sadly not the Dragon Warrior, but Qiang's own lapdog who seemed to have gotten buddy-buddy with the Five. Thus the reason why she was sitting there, in the shadows, delaying her entrance and waiting for said legendary figure and one Master Shifu, another name that made her sure this entire negotiation and tournament were not a waste of time.

So she waited.

Also, who would have thought? Qiang's son was Master Crane, the Master Crane all along. Now that was a welcome twist in her eyes. A figure, whose prowess in battle became such widespread legend that it was basic knowledge in her province by then. Her generals had even opted to teach Kung Fu's White Crane technique to their avian soldiers, or as much as they could. And where were they now? She had an entire legion of birds, capable of making entire countries kneel before her.

And now she was looking at the person who made it all possible. She resisted the urge to just swipe him away, and torture his mind until he did nothing but sing her county's praises, until he wore armor with her insignia, and fought with her soldiers. But alas, she couldn't do that; she had a deal with papa bird, and she intended to go through with that deal. She wasn't one to break any kind of arrangement.

Betrayal, in the end, was the most blatant form of weakness.

The big doors moved, and two people stepped in; a panda and what looked like an ancient gremlin, both clad in robes and tunics with the same theme of the Five's. Her first thought was a simple 'what the hell', her eyes dumbly blinking at the two newcomers. Then the room quieted into mere whispers, the Furious Five ceasing their chat too. Even Qiang looked up from whatever parchment he had been busy explaining and quickly closed everything up.

She straightened up in her seat. Damn, was she reading the situation right? These two were the Dragon Warrior and the Shifu guy?

The Empire kept on surprising her.

The moment the two arrived in front of Qiang's table, the Five switched places with the gremlin behind them, joining the panda with a causality that erased all doubts from her, and the Emperor finally left his table.

"Sincerest welcomes to all of you. I apologize for the hasty call, but I received an urgent request I couldn't say no to."

"It's quite all right, your Majesty," the gremlin spoke up in that old, patient voice from the side.

"What's up?" the panda asked easily, and her brows went up the sky. She could officially cross 'hearing people make small talk with the Fancy Seat' out of her bucket list. Then she had a thought; she should have been the first one to do that to begin with.

Damn.

"The Lady from the North herself had requested to see all of you, face-to-face. Apparently, yesterday's encounter fueled her already omnipresent desire to meet you."

Sigh. Being an Emperor must be a drag. How do you say so little with so many words? 'The Lady wants to meet you' bam, done. No precious breath or time wasted on fancy words.

Whatever. This was as good of time as any to introduce herself. She gently put her now empty cup on the armrest of her chair and stood up. Stretching her lean, feline body, her golden fur puffing back up, she moved out of the shadows with invisible steps. Her calculating eyes watched the nine people in front of her, anticipating the first one to take notice of her. Unsurprisingly, Master Tigress and Master Shifu were the first two to glance at her, both tensing up the moment they realized just who she was. Surprisingly, Qiang's lapdog was the next one to find her, and the little pissant had the gall to look like he was proud of her. Like he had already known she was around and waited for her to move first. She grinned back at him, showing all her teeth, even the golden ones.

The lapdog grinned back. And that was enough for her to like him.

"Thank you for the lavish announcement, it really is an honor, buuut I have waited more than enough."

Qiang looked up at her. All the warmth has left his stature.

"My apologies," he borderline spat at her, "Please, do enjoy making acquaintance with my side of the deal."

She gave him a sweet smile, one that he returned with a frown. Oh well, at least Qiang wasn't afraid of being passive aggressive with her. Raising her striped paw, she immediately pointed at the panda's direction.

"You, in the black and white, what's your name?"

He pointed at his self, looking a bit startled. She smiled with all her teeth once more, and the panda gulped - yet he stepped forward.

"I'm Po Ping. The Dragon Warrior."

Huh. So she guessed right.

"Truly? That's a powerful title you have here. Do you think you deserve it?" she asked, and the surrounding room blanched, even the Eunuchs, with some of the panda's friends glaring at her now. She perfectly knew what she had just questioned; all this attention flattered her, really.

"Eh," he began, oblivious to the verbal jab, "I like to believe I do my 'Dragon Warrior'-ness justice. Literally! Serving justice is what me and the guys kinda do, and we rock."

"My, someone's bouncy," she said under her breath, "I did not expect you to be a panda though. You must be something else then. I do have a question, if you don't mind?"

"Sure. Lay it on me."

She smirked. "News travel slow up north, and they tend to get altered by the time I hear it. I could never be sure what is false and what is true these days, you understand. So I just have to clarify – are you the teacher of the Furious Five now, or is it just a work of peasant lips?"

"I wasn't always. It was mostly Shifu, but… yeah. I am now."

Hook, line aaand sinker. She was suddenly in Po's face, cheshire grin splitting her face and her deafening purr did nothing but breed the thickening tension in the air. The panda looked bewildered, wider, confused eyes looking back at her head that definitely intruded his personal space.

"Well then. Hope your students do well, because if they cannot impress me, I will make sure that all of China knows that the great Dragon Warrior has lost his merit."

She cherished how the poor guy recoiled.

"Hey, w-what?!"

Too late, she had already stepped back and turned to Mini-Qiang.

"And just what do we have here?"

She towered above him; the Masters backtracking to give the two of them space. Unexpectedly, something made the grin melt off her face the moment she stepped close; It was her instinct, tugging at the back of her mind, whispering warnings for some reason.

Hm.

"You have an interesting aura around you, did you know that?"

Crane's eyes widened, and his wings tightened closer to his body. That was all she needed to see to know that not only did the itsy-bitsy birdie very much know it, it was something big. Big and powerful enough to set her warning signs off, a thing that hadn't happened since she had taken over her province.

And she was living for it.

"Oh, I definitely am keeping an eye on you, darling. By the way, I don't know what you did yesterday, but I've never seen Na be this excited about anything in… ever. She just could not stop gushing about how powerful you are. She went as far as telling me that either she goes against you or she quits."

The Lady watched as a heavy gulp went down Crane's long throat. She smiled at him sweetly.

"Do not disappoint me."

A shallow nod was her only answer, and suddenly, he couldn't meet anyone's eyes. If it hadn't been the Master Crane in front of her, who apparently had some tricks up his sleeves that she could not for the life of her figure out, she would have definitely slapped him for acting so weak-minded.

Her eyes went to her left side, where Master Monkey and Viper stood. The snake looked plain pathetic with that broken tail, and the Lady would have pitied her, had it not been because her opponent was just as injured as she was. She actually kind of looked forward to that fight. True willpower only came when your life was in grave danger and you were handicapped, baring you from escape. Still, she couldn't just let it be without a little show.

Her paw went up and behind her, grasping something strapped onto her back. She raised it for all to see, and Monkey's eyes may have just fallen out of their sockets.

It was his Bo staff.

"Li had found this on amongst the crown of the tree. I believe it's yours, no?"

Monkey nodded shakily, but didn't move to take his staff back. She shrugged; if he didn't want it…

SNAP!

All watched awed and horrified as she snapped the staff into two like a chopstick, then discarded carelessly in front of the simian, landing on the cold marble with echoing thuds.

"Trust me, this garbage would have been useless against Li."

Monkey, now on his knees, slowly took hold of the two ruined sides of his ex-weapon – the same one he had left behind without a care. Yet pressure swelled around his eyes, tears gathering under them, because he realized he forgot something essential; this staff made him unique. This staff was the one thing that made him stand out from his friends. This staff made him Master Monkey.

Now it was gone.

The Lady glanced at Viper and her smile widened at how the snake's entire long body shook, watching the broken weapon with the same horror as everyone. She was about to say something, when-

"HEY! What the hell do you - Who do you think you are?!" a shout came from the other side, and suddenly her shoulder felt heavier. She turned her head and – oh, if it weren't the bug.

"I don't think I have to-!"

"Shut your mouth, you wench!" the bug suddenly took her by the vest, and grasped her.

She needed a moment to realize it was not just some bug, but Master Mantis holding her, just blinks away from throwing her through the Council Room. Then, when she lost the safety of ground that she took for oh-so granted, crashing into the double doors so hard, the hinges snapped off and the wooden pieces fell back with her into the corridor outside, she smiled ear-to-ear.

She could faintly hear the gasps and cries of outrage from the room, but the sound of her blood pumping through her veins drowned them out.

"H-ho, ho! M-Mantis, it's okay, it's-"

"NO! She broke your staff, dude, she cannot just walk away!"

"Please Mantis… it's not worth it."

She massaged his shoulder – the part of her body that met the doors – and sat up. Her neck made popping noises as she twisted it.

"Oh, do I ever love people with fire in them!"

All eyes suddenly turned to her now approaching form, wide, confident steps moving her body forward. It's like her resumed presence emitted a new glow, filling all corners of the great room, and this glow snuffed out every sound of outrage and panic.

Her face had never been so sore from smiling so wide. Master Mantis' showcase of strength, Master Crane's radiating aura, Qiang's open defiance, and this lap dog not only not backtracking in fear, but reciprocating her provocative gestures? They sure as hell forgot to mention she would be walking amongst true men of culture! She should feel foolish to have underestimated the Empire, and she did, somewhere deep in her twisted mind. But did she care? No! She was too busy eyeing all these wonderful people who had brought such joy to her, blinking was overrated anyway!

Nothing could have ruined it.

…

Then Master Tigress stepped forth.

"Excuse the behaviour of Master Mantis, please. He always had problems keeping his temper. I assure you, Lord, that it won't happen again."

The grin froze on her face. She turned her head towards the fellow tiger who stepped forward, bowing before her respectfully, and the Lady finally blinked.

Was that… bootlicking she was hearing?

More so… from Master Tigress?

"Pathetic."

The moment she said this was the moment her fist impacted with the oblivious tiger and sent her upper body flying. The Master righted herself though in time, making her body stop in a backward bending bridge pose. The Lady pounced on her with a savage, feline roar, but Tigress recovered and hastily somersaulted back. The once confident and collected Lady now had her claws ready to kill as they teared into the expensive rug on the floor where Tigress once was. She gazed up, meeting the Master's eyes. Her lost mind felt a surge of amusement at the startlement the fellow feline gave her. Then it all disappeared when the delicious scent of fresh blood reached her nose, and her leg muscles tightened for yet another pounce.

Then she had to stop herself, because suddenly a wall of Masters stood before her, all in perfect stance and harmony. She would have probably tried to get to her prey anyway, but there were one more small, but significant thing that rubbed her the wrong way;

A robed wing. In front of her chest.

"I believe we are done here."

The strict voice of Qiang made her snap out of her blood rush. She straightened out, finally opting a pose that looked more civilized than wild.

"Aw, shucks. You always know how to mess up a lady's fun," She tried giving him a coy, sly smirk, expecting the middle-aged bird to react as per usual.

That did not happen.

"No, I repeat, we are done here," Qiang said, still keeping both the furious glare and his extended wing before her. The smirk disappeared off her face.

"Your crew of misfits has been making an insufferable amount of problems to both me and the people of the Palace. I tolerated it in perspective of your rougher culture, but this is where I draw the line. I will not tolerate outright violence towards anyone, much less to my son or his friends. Once the tournament is over, with no respect to the results, you, and your warriors are to leave this place immediately."

With that, his wing went back to its casual place, holding his other wing under the golden sleeves on his chest.

Both the Lady's brows scaled her forehead hearing the tone, the words, the look. She glanced at the Masters, now only three of them consisting the angry wall (even the panda, the expression looking funny on him). She faintly heard whisperings from the other side, probably the bug and the snake helping their bleeding comrade.

She looked back. "…I don't think you are in any place of making demands, Qiang. This deal only happened because of the goodness of my heart. I thought we both knew that."

"I'm not making demands. I'm merely enforcing the rules of my house. Isn't that one of your culture's main drives? 'Defend your home as much as you'd defend your loved ones'?"

Ah, damn. Sly bird.

If it were anyone else, they would have their skin boiling after such verbal humiliating. And getting your own traditions fed back to you, after you've forced it onto countless of people in the past? That could make even the most modest ones snap. But not her.

The one thing she did was nodding approvingly.

"In that case… Please, accept my sincerest of apologies for my violence. I will make sure that the guys will have their stuff packed and ready for the moment we officially get kicked out. Good day."

She looked sideways and found a pair of icy blue. The lap dog was gazing back at her, the one who showed her more guts than any servant she had the misfortune of meeting combined. But instead of ire making those frost in his eyes pierce through her seven different ways, they just looked bland, sad. Disappointed. She found herself looking away. Waving her fingers to Qiang as a mock goodbye, she skipped out of the Council Room, dozens of pairs of widened eyes following her every move as she jumped over the remains of the once tall door, and left.

Qiang watched the spot where her tail disappeared from view, then sighed. He turned back, and saw as Master Tigress' bleeding ear was being taken care of by Master Mantis, whose shaking forearms made it all the more difficult. Master Viper stroked the back of the tiger soothingly, but by the painful smile on her face, her tail was not a fan of that action. Monkey, Po and Jia – the last three to oppose the Lady – they relaxed. But it was not of relief, far from it; their sour and shallow faces told a different story. He could have said some encouraging words, or even an apology, but there were bigger things to worry about.

Like the fact that after her departure, both sides of the Council Room exploded into deafening arguments.