Chapter 15 : Long Story

Tigress scrutinized herself from head to toe as she turned slowly on the spot in front of the mirror. She had exchanged her usual training clothes for a beautiful white silk robe and was admiring the effect it produced. She looked like a different person altogether, more like a princess than a kung fu master.

"Master Tigress?" Someone called from outside the room.

She stopped revolving and turned to the door.

"Come in."

The maid opened the door. "I apologize for interrupting, but the Emperor and the others are waiting for you."

"Okay. Thanks Yong." Tigress acknowledged before following the maid out of the room.

Dining Room

When Tigress arrived at the dining room, she saw that the Emperor and his family weren't the only ones waiting for her. General Luo was there too.

Everyone stood up from their seats with a look of awe on their faces, momentarily mesmerized by her graceful new look. Even Prince Yuan Sheng admitted ; she was beautiful.

Tigress was slightly unnerved by their reactions, but was pleased as well. She had never been appreciated like this before in the Valley of Peace.

"Glad you could join us Tigress," The Emperor said when he finally snapped himself out of whatever daze he was in. "Please take a seat." He continued as he and the others sat down again.

Tigress took a seat beside General Luo and looked around. No one said anything yet, but she had an idea of what was going on. She knew that this wasn't just a simple lunch, but a well disguised attempt by the Emperor to persuade her to join his armies. No matter how nicely he was going to put it across, she had decided that she was going to refuse him.

The servants started serving food and dishes on the large ornate dining table. In between the clinking of plates and utensils, the Emperor decided to break the silence.

"So," he said as he put a spoonful of soup into his snout. "Tell us about your story, Tigress. My son tells me that you're a great Kung Fu Master."

"I don't think I'm great, but he's right in saying that I'm a Kung Fu Master." She answered.

"I see." The Emperor paused for a moment to swallow his food. "How did you become a Master?"

"Well, as you have known, my parents abandoned me in an orphanage when I was young. I spent my first five years in there until a Kung Fu Master named Shifu adopted me."

"Did you like your time in the orphanage, dear?" The Empress asked as she slurped the soup.

"Not really," she replied moodily. "I didn't have any friends as everyone was too afraid of me to really come near me. They called me a monster."

"Oh. That's bad."

"The caretaker called Master Shifu," Tigress continued. "he trained me to control my temper and strength. When the training was over, he took me to The Jade Palace."

"That's a happy ending."

It would have been a happy ending if only her part of the legend didn't come true.

"Seems like you owe your happiness to him." General Luo opined. "Surely he loves you."

"I thought so too." replied Tigress. "Until he tried to banish me."

"Why?"

Tigress snorted as she played with the spoon on her plate. She knew these people already had the answer. Everyone knows how people would react when they find out that a potential tyrant was among them.

"He can't accept me for who I really am."

"That's weird," The Emperor muttered. "If he can't accept you for who you really are, why did he adopt you in the first place?"

"Didn't your son tell you about it?" Tigress asked, glancing at The Prince who was currently concentrating on his food, acting as if he wasn't interested with the conversation at all.

"I didn't ask him anything. I want to hear it from you."

"Okay. Very well then." Tigress put down her spoon and took a deep breath. She hated talking about this part. "He knows about my real destiny and told the rest. My friends changed after that. Now they look at me like as if I'm the villain who needs watching. The worse was what happened after that. He told me that he would never change, telling me that everything would soon be back to normal, and I believed him.

At this point, her emotions surfaced and her tone became one of misery. "It was until I realized that he had lied to me. On top of that, he tried to get rid of me from his life. I don't know why he did it, but he was the one who told the villagers all about me, making everyone hate me.

Prince Yuan Sheng coughed as heard that part.

"I'm so sorry to hear that, my dear." The Empress said in sympathy.

"They're not your family. That's why they're afraid and suspicious of you," the Emperor said. "What did you do when you found out about your master's plan?"

"I—"

"She ran away," Prince Yuan Sheng interrupted. "Luckily I found her that night and managed to convince her to come back with me."

The Emperor raised an eyebrow. "How did you do that?"

Tigress glared at the prince, knowing that what he said was the truth, but a highly distorted version of it.

"By taking along five wolves." Tigress answered sarcastically.

"Oh. You did?" The Emperor asked, still staring at his son. "Why did you take wolves with you?"

"To help me. I couldn't have done it by myself."

The Emperor nodded, pretending that he had understood. He didn't know what the wolves did to her, but wasn't interested in finding out. "Did you say something, Tigress?"

Tigress almost told the truth, but she knew that if she did that, it would make Prince Yuan Sheng look bad in his parents' eyes. It would also ruin the harmony of the family. No. She didn't want to do it. She loved the warmth of the family. Just for today, it wouldn't harm to let The Emperor think otherwise.

There was an awkward pause.

Tigress was waiting for the moment where The Emperor would talk about his ruling, the war or something related to it. But to her surprise, he hadn't mentioned anything so far.

'Come on. Come on' Tigress thought. 'Talk about it'.

If The Emperor was going to be furious with her answer, she'd leave immediately. It's better than having to deal with something called 'War'.

"How did you feel when you first found out about your destiny?" The Emperor asked again.

Yes. The moment she had been waiting for.

"To be honest, I don't like it. It has caused nothing but problems for me."

"You don't? I thought you would be proud of it."

"Not at all. I've never dreamed of being a murderer."

The Emperor laughed. "I'm sure that no one wants to be a murderer."

"Exactly. Why should I be proud of it?"

"You're going to be a hero, dear." The Empress replied, smiling.

"A hero?"

"Yes, a hero for our people."

"That's right." The Emperor agreed.

"But I will be the enemy to others." Tigress argued.

"We've been treated as the enemy for over a thousand years." General Luo spoke. "Just like you, we're monster to them."

"Really?" Tigress raised an eyebrow.

"You weren't here. You don't know what we've faced since a long time ago."

"What happened to you?"

"Something we hated. If only you weren't lost that time, you would have known how much we've suffered, and how important you are to us."

Silence descended for another moment

"How bad is it?" Tigress asked again.

The Emperor chuckled and shook his head. "Really bad. It even hasn't ended yet. Some of them are still trying to destroy us."

Tigress gasped. "That can't be. Why would they want to do that?"

"The mistakes of the past," The Emperor replied. "they just can't forgive our ancestor's mistakes. What they want is only to depredate all tigers on this world." Tigress was about to say something, but The Emperor went on.

"Since the fight a thousand years ago, we had no place to stay. They treated us like parasites, hunting and terrorizing us all the time. Even until now, we are still suffering from the aftermath of the battle. No one helped us. We had to keep ourselves hidden to prevent ourselves from being killed."

"I saw my parents being murdered when I was four." General Luo added quietly. "These people will never let us live in peace."

"You know, Tigress," The Emperor continued. "Even though we now have our own place, they still won't leave us alone. Just last week, five of our soldiers were found dead, their heads almost severed."

Tigress' jaw dropped in shock.

"Those people did that. We found a note beside their bodies saying that they won't stop till we're extinct."

"That's... that's so cruel." Tigress murmured.

"Indeed. Two months ago, three assassins infiltrated our land. My wife was alone outside the palace. They had daggers and blades. My wife could have been slashed and killed. Fortunately my army saved her."

Tigress stared at The Empress. To her, she was a kind woman who didn't deserve to be killed.

"War is the only way to end our sufferings. We need you."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Your Majesty." Tigress said. "But I apologize. You have an army. I'm sure you can do it without me. If… if you don't agree with my decision, I'll leave."

"If I wanted you to leave, I wouldn't have to send my son to look for you in the first place. No. This is where you belong. I understand what you're trying to tell us. You're a peace lover and war hater."

"Doesn't that disappoint you?"

"It does, but we don't want to lose you again. You know, sometimes, peace can only be achieved through war. It applies to you too. You can find peace the same way."

"But that's not what I've learnt. I mean, I don't understand. Why should I start a war to get peace?"

"Because if you don't, The Dragon Warrior will kill you. Have you ever heard of his greatness? The last time I heard, he defeated Lord Shen and his armada with only with his bare arms. You're no match against him."

"I've heard of it. I was there."

"You were?"

"Yes. Because I'm one of The Furious Five. The Dragon Warrior was my comrade." She said that with a growl.

The Emperor jolted. "What?! How... how?! He's your enemy."

"A perfect coincidence." The Prince commented.

"He is not my enemy and he will not kill me. I know him well."

"We can't predict what will happen in the future," he explained. "We can't do anything when destiny has already decided our fate. The Dragon Warrior's fate is to kill you."

"But... but he will not do that. He is my friend."

"Was. From the time you ran away till now, how can you be sure that he still treats you as his friend? His feelings might have changed. People around him will persuade him to kill you."

"He told me to forget about this problem between us, telling me to pretend that nothing happen."

"He might've said that, but if destiny has decided him to walk a certain path, who is he to say otherwise?"

"He will never change." She argued, unwilling to believe what the he was telling her.

The Tiger Emperor took a deep breath. "I know how you're feeling, but this is the truth. Listen Tigress, it's for your own good. Join our army, and together, we will end our suffering."

"But I...I..."

"You have to make the decision, but I'm sure you don't want families to live in misery right?"

Tigress shook her head. "No. I don't."

"Look, no matter what you chose, I will still respect your decision. Tell you what, if you don't want to join my army, the least you could do is to join our discussion tonight to plan for our journey next week. We will be invading The Great Village. People in there often ambush and kidnap our children. Suggestions from you will be useful. You're one of us now."

Tigress thought about it. This wasn't part of what she had planned for. She'd assume that they would be mad at her for not agreeing, but apparently they were not. They respected her decision even when it wasn't what they wanted. She didn't want to disappoint them further as they had loved and accepted her ever since she stepped on the island, treating her like a part of the family even though she had been around for less than a day.

It's only a discussion. She reasoned with herself. Sighing, she looked at the Emperor and gave her answer.

"Alright, I'm in."