The shock wore off, and the pain grew.
And grew.
She screamed into Tai Lung's chest. He could not hear her, the storm was so loud she could barely hear herself. Eventually she couldn't scream anymore. Exhausted she went limp and sank into the sling. This felt dangerous somehow, as though by relaxing she would subtly encourage death. But she no longer had the energy to protest.
Tai Lung felt the sudden loss of tension in Tigress's body and stopped in alarm. He pulled back the bit of sling protecting her face, eyes wide with concern.
She gave him a flimsy thumbs-up, weeping. He nodded and covered her up again.
After what felt like ages Tai Lung stopped and bent over to drag his hands through the snow, looking for the pack, which he had dropped in order to fight. There was a rustling, then he pushed the sling out of her face. He leaned close to her, shouting.
"Tigress!" he said. "Tigress, I found it!"
She opened her eyes. They were behind something large that blocked most of the wind. The stink hit her – it was the Mongols' wagon full of heads, quickly turning into a white monolith of accumulated snow and rotting flesh.
She gasped and cried out. Her shoulder was being torn apart by a thousand hot fishhooks; her entire leg below the knee was surely twisted in a knot. She tried to breathe steadily. Tai Lung held something close to her face, small and cylindrical and shiny.
"Medicine," he said. "Yanhusuo. I knew I had a bottle in the pack."
"Give it to me," Tigress urged.
Tai Lung uncorked the vial and put it to her lips. It was a familiar reek of vinegar – Shifu had administered Yanhusuo several times to Tigress when she had dislocated her knee or broken her tail. She'd never liked the sour scent of it but at the moment it smelled like heaven. Tai Lung gingerly tipped some into her mouth. Not enough. She tried to tip the bottle further but he gently knocked her hand away and drew the vial back.
"No," he said. "We must ration it for as long as we can."
"But that won't do anything," she said, her voice curling with desperation.
"It will take the edge off."
"Tai Lung, please - " she cried, writhing.
"Tigress!" Tai Lung barked. "You are a Master! Remember yourself!"
A net of shame descended upon her. It was Shifu's tactic, and it was effective – Shifu always taught that a Master should retain her decorum and dignity even in pain. Not that anything could have possibly prepared her for this level of pain. This was no mere twisted ankle.
She growled.
He smiled. Put his great paw on her forehead. The pads felt frozen solid.
"I know you're in pain, little savage, but you must be still," he said. "If you become emotional and panic you'll only hurt yourself further. All right?"
She nodded.
Squinting against the snow, she saw a smear of blood on his chin. She reached up and touched it, showing him the red on her finger.
He straightened. Made a determined face.
"You should have some Yanhusuo too," she said.
"Absolutely not. It is for you."
He gave a rumbling, wet cough. Held his fist to his mouth.
"Tai Lung - "
"I won't hear of it!"
He bent down and lifted something over his shoulders. The pack, she realized. He coughed again. If he was coughing blood he had some kind of internal injury -not surprising, considering how hard the bird had kicked him in the chest. How long, exactly, did he think he could keep going?
He'll keep going till he drops, Tigress knew. A warrior never gives up. Especially not this one.
She had less faith, saw their situation for what it was. But to take this sense of purpose from him seemed cruel.
His freezing cold paw closed over her hand and squeezed. He'd slid his arm into the sling with her. She took his hand between both of hers to warm it. He glanced down at her once last time, unsuccessfully trying to hide the pain in his eyes.
"Ready?' he asked.
She nodded, then shut her eyes and rested against him. He dropped the sling back over her face and strode forward against a wall of white.
o
The Yanhusuo did not do much, but it did indeed take the edge off. It was as though the pain moved behind a frosted plane of glass. It was still there, and still massive, but it was diffuse and aching instead of clear and stabbing. Or perhaps it was her mind it diffused while the pain remained in place, she could never quite tell. She tried to dissolve herself into it as much as possible, letting the steady rhythm of Tai Lung's stride soothe her.
It was, she supposed, time to make her peace. To take stock of her life and prepare herself for the Spirit Realm. To say goodbye in her heart to her Master, and her team, to her home and training and the Valley. To music and dancing.
Firelight.
Summer.
A bright ache of regret washed over her. There was so much she still wanted to do, she suddenly realized. This came as quite a shock to her. Tigress was not in the habit of noting her desires, much less indulging them. She'd grown up prepared for death, or so she thought. But now she'd have liked to win more kung-fu tournaments, to make Shifu shine with pride. To see his face when she finally mastered her thousandth kung-fu scroll, so two of his students would have completed them. To become the Dragon Warrior and make all his sacrifice and pain worth it in the end.
And then she might have had time to swim in the ocean. To spend a day on sand with salt in her fur. She hadn't eaten enough peaches or sweet bean buns. Not enough Winter Feasts, not enough laughter, too many pushed away hugs or avoided touches. She regretted them sharply now, regretting the most that moment in battle mere hours ago where she'd wanted with everything in her to kiss Tai Lung, but she did not. So now she would march off into death untouched by love, if what Tai Lung felt for her was indeed love.
Her muzzle was cold. She turned to bury it in his fur. He smelled wonderful, even now. She could not remember a time where he hadn't smelled incredible, though for the life of her she could not pinpoint what particular note it was that had this effect. There was a dreamy sort of musk to him. Feline. Male. Breathing him in eased her pain, made her feel safe.
She glanced up at him. His eyes were locked forward, face determined and encrusted with snow.
She squeezed his hand. He squeezed back, then removed his hand only to slide the other one in to be warmed. She took it between hers and massaged it gently till it was soft and warm and pliable, then pressed it to her chest and fell asleep.
o
"Tigress," Tai Lung urged softly.
Her eyes opened. Right away the fishooks were back, fishooks and scimitars, peeling knives flaying her skin. She gave a pathetic little wail.
"Here, here, here," Tai Lung said, touching the Yanhusuo bottle to her lips. "For you. There." He took it away far sooner than she would have liked but there was no use getting greedy.
"Where are we?" she asked, realizing the wind was at a mere dull roar.
"Behind a rock outcropping."
"We staying here?"
He shook his head. "Just resting for a moment. We'll get going again soon." He slid his warmed hand from her chest to cup her face. She leaned into the contact unashamedly. He smiled at this. "How are you doing?"
She shook her head.
He nodded. "The Yanhusuo will kick in shortly."
He blinked slowly and stroked her cheek with such tenderness that hot tears pricked at her eyes. She gave a ragged gasp, embarrassed, but the pain and the enormity of impending death overwhelmed her and she began to weep. Everything all at once, she'd never know more of this sweet touch, she'd never smell peach blossoms again, she'd never see Shifu again. He might never know what had happened to her. It was horribly unfair. It would be too much for Shifu. He would remain forever in pieces.
Tai Lung, seeing her tears, leaned over her and pressed his cold muzzle to her forehead, rocking her like a child.
"Tai Lung," she said. "You must – you must make me a promise."
"Anything."
"You must return to the Jade Palace. You have to make it back."
"I plan on it," he said. "And you will be at my side."
"Tai Lung," she said again, tilting his chin down so his eyes met hers. She gently cupped his face in her hand, shaking her head. "Listen to me. When you return to the Valley of Peace -"
"When we ret-"
She pressed her finger to his lips. "When you return to the Valley of Peace for your scroll - take the scroll if you must. No one will be able to stop you. But you must promise me – you must promise me – that you won't kill Shifu."
His face darkened. "It's not my goal to kill Shifu. But if he starts a fight, Tigress, he'll get a fight."
"If you refuse to fight he will not fight you," she said. "He still loves you. He never loved anyone the way he loved you. You broke him – you – you broke him – and you – you are the reason I wanted to be the Dragon Warrior, Tai Lung."
"What? What do you mean?"
"I didn't care about limitless power for myself. I wanted it for him. With limitless power I could make him whole again. Limitless power is what it would take to put him back together. It's all I've ever wanted, and if you take that from me - I - I will spit at you and curse your name from beyond the grave. I will summon every manner of bad luck to find you. Every demon I can enlist. Even if I am dead I will never give you a moment's peace."
"If you die I will never have a moment's peace anyway," he said. "So do your worst, spirit girl."
The Yanhusuo began to creep in, making everything fuzzy around the edges.
"Tai Lung," she said softly. "Please. Just don't kill him." Her voice lowered to a whisper and she shut her eyes tight. "It would break my heart."
His face fell. "Tigress..."
"Please. Please just promise me. Promise me so I can die in peace."
"Then I promise nothing," he declared. "You'd better stay alive, Tigress. You have to stay alive, or who knows what might happen to Shifu. Understand? It's his head." He squeezed her hand. "So stay with me."
Her eyes widened in outrage.
"You're a jerk," she said. She hit him. It was not much, just a light smack on the chest, but it was what she could do. "You're a jerk," she said again, kicking nothing with her good leg. "You're a jerk, you're a jerk, you're a jerk!"
"Yes. I'm the worst. Horrible. A murderous villain only you can save him from, Master Tigress. So you must be strong for him." He moved to lift the sling over her face again but paused, pressing his hand to her cheek. "Be strong," he urged. He covered her face once more and headed back out into the storm.
o
"Hey sweetie," Viper said.
It was bright outside, and hot. The moon pool was the ideal place to cool down on a day like this. Somewhere far off it occurred to Tigress that taking a dip in the moon pool was usually frowned upon, but she still felt confident in the idea. Viper was wound over her neck and shoulder and they were both baking alive in this heat. Surely a little swim wouldn't hurt.
She floated up the steps to the Hall of Warriors. Viper giggled in her ear. She was slithered around Tigress so tight that every time the snake moved it hurt her shoulder terribly.
"Stop that," Tigress scolded her.
"It's fine!" Viper said, smiling in a way that felt dishonest. "You'll be fine. Get in the water."
Suddenly they were at the moon pool. Tigress put one foot in, then the other. The water felt so wonderfully cool and inviting that it was easy to slide all the way in. She briefly ducked her head under, pushed the water out of her eyes, and sat near the rim of the pool, though she didn't remember there being any seats in the moon pool before.
"When did they put these in?" she asked Viper.
"When they drained it to clean it," Viper said with a giggle. "There's all kinds of horrors inside."
There was that sharp pain in her shoulder again! She gave a little yelp.
"It's fine!" Viper said. "Everything's going to be fine."
"Tigress!" Shifu shouted.
Tigress froze. He was angry at her for swimming in the moon pool. She suddenly realized the full gravity of what she had done - she'd polluted something holy with her body. Her guts froze. She tried to tun to face her Master, to grovel with apologies, but found she could not. Viper was blocking her face somehow.
"Tigress, what do you think you're doing!?" Shifu screamed. "You've brought dishonor on the Jade Palace! You've brought dishonor on your home!"
The water began to churn. Viper's grip on her tightened. Tigress managed to turn her head only to see Shifu looming over her, standing at least ten feet tall, his eyes glowing with rage. Tigress gasped and shrunk into herself.
"I'm so sorry, Master!" she cried, her voice young and girlish. "I'm so sorry!"
He leaned over the lip of the pool, peering at her like a thief. "And what do you think that is?' he asked, jerking his chin towards her shoulder.
She looked down, and to her horror she saw that that Viper was not in fact curled around her, but was instead inside her, threaded right through her shoulder like a string through a bead. Tigress screamed. The water began to churn harder, tearing her away from the lip of the pool.
"It's fine!" Viper said, sounding chipper. "You have to be strong. It's his head," she said, gesturing towards the raging, irrationally large spectre of Shifu.
"What do you think you're DOING?" Shifu shouted again as the current in the pool sped up. Viper giggled as Tigress was engulfed in a whirling tornado of water that drew her down deep, and deeper, down to the bottom of the pool where she would surely drown. She flailed and tried desperately to swim back up to the surface, but her feet were planted firmly on the floor of the pool, stuck in place so she could not move them.
This is death, Tigress knew. This is not survivable.
"Tigress!" Shifu cried. "Tigress, don't you dare go in there - "
The floor under her slid open and she fell a thousand feet into darkness, into a quiet hollow. The water did not follow her and surface under her was soft. She rolled on her back, suddenly warm and dry. Above her rose stone walls hundreds of feet tall. She was safe inside a mountain, she realized. She was in Chorch-Gom. She supposed that was not good, but anything was better than that terrible whirlpool and Shifu's rage.
"It's better now," said a melodious voice.
She sat up and turned to see Tai Lung. He lounged on a pile red silk pillows upon a huge round red silk bed, beneath a crystal chandelier. Silk scarves painted with suggestive scenes hung from from the rafters. He grinned at her, his eyes narrow and pleased. His wrists were chained - he was a prisoner. There was a deliciously inviting scent in the air. He lifted his finger and beckoned her closer, purring softly.
She crawled near to him, to his beckoning finger. He put it beneath her chin and lifted her face to his, the chain on his wrist clinking pleasingly.
"I'll have you know I intend to woo you," he whispered, stroking her face.
She leaned into his touch. "When?" she asked breathlessly.
"When you're ripe," he repeated, brushing his lips along her neck with a purr.
"Oh," she sighed. "When is that?"
He moved up to her ear. "When I watch you eat a peach," he whispered.
"When?" Tigress asked once more, but she was no longer asking it in the cozy interior of Chorch-Gom, she was asking it out loud, into cold air and sun, her breath a white puff floating up into Tai Lung's face.
"When what?" he asked. He looked haggard. He coughed wetly, pressing his fist to his lips. Red stripes were dyed into the fur at the corners of his lips, flowing down over his chin.
"When are you going to woo me?" she asked, not quite aware that she was now awake and had been dreaming.
Tai Lung stopped in his tracks and gave her an incredulous look. "When do you want me to woo you?"
Tigress's eyes widened as she fully realized she was awake. She quickly looked away. "I – I don't want you to woo me."
He chuckled. "Right," he said. "In any case, you're hardly fit to be wooed at the moment." He reached behind him for the canteen secured on the side of the pack. "You've been asleep a long time, you must drink some water."
Tigress winced. Now that she was awake the pain began to wake too. But she tilted her head questioningly at Tai Lung anyway.
"Why?" she asked.
He unscrewed the cap of the canteen and held it to her lips so she could drink.
"Why what?"
She swallowed. The water felt wonderfully cool. She was awfully hot, she realized. Feverish.
"Why do you want to woo me?"
He seemed taken aback by her frankness. "I - I mean - I'd have to be a fool not to. I cant believe some idiot hasn't swept you off your feet and married you already. Who lets a fish that big just swim by? Not me."
Tigress considered this. "You want to woo because I'm a fish?"
He smiled. "Oh yes." he coughed. Cleared his throat. "You, madam, are a very big fish."
"And what happens when you've caught me? String me up, take me back to Shifu as a prize?" she chuckled ruefully. "What a spectacular catch I'd make. You not only broke out of the prison he sent you to, but you 'wooed' his best student on your way home." She paused, wincing. "His second best student, anyway."
A look of guilt crossed Tai Lung's face. He didn't reply for a long time. Tigress's heart sank, and sank deeper. Had she caught him out?
He took a deep breath. "I – uh - " he began, and suddenly started to hack. "I - " he started again, but then endured another bout of hacking. He turned and spit blood into the snow.
"Tai Lung," Tigress said, concerned.
"It was that at first," he said quickly, wiping his mouth. "I - I will admit to that. I figured if you were anything like me – if you were anything like a lot of kung-fu students I knew over the years – you had a thin veneer of propriety over a desperate … need. I thought, at first, you'd be easy to … to convince. I'd have my fun and find some solution to you afterward. But you're not like me. You're not like anyone I've ever met. Your loyalty and beauty and strength go clear to the bone. You're not just some… some good time girl."
Tigress gave a rueful little chuckle. "No," she said. "I'm pretty much the opposite of a good time girl." She winced in pain. "I am a bad time girl."
"You're a little savage," Tai Lung said, laughing sotfly. "And perfect kung-fu princess. If I've stopped thinking of you for all of forty five seconds in the past few weeks it's news to me. I wake up, Tigress, I go to sleep, Tigress. Really, it's not good." he said. "Not tactical at all."
She squinted up at him. "But...but why?"
He made an exasperated sound. Coughed. "I don't know, Tigress. Why does the sun rise? Why does the rain fall? It just does. And god knows you can't fight the weather." He took a deep breath and shook his head. "The weather just … does what it wants."
Tigress accepted this, at least for the moment. The pain was quickly throbbing up into agony and would soon be all she could focus on. She sucked in air through her teeth and writhed.
"You need more medicine," Tai Lung said. "Here, I have it here."
He held the vinegar-scented vial up to her lips and poured. She got a mouthful, but after that nothing, even though it stayed tipped in the air. Tai Lung shook the bottle.
She swallowed. "Was – was that the last of it?"
Tai Lung grimaced. "Yes," he said. He straightened up. Hacked. Began walking faster.
"You should have had some," she said.
"No I should not have. I will be fine. It's not as bad as it looks," he said. "Rest. You need your strength. We'll be back to the road soon, where there will be a doctor who can cure you. Lots and lots of doctors, and a fire and a comfortable bed, and all the food you can eat when you're feeling better."
She closed her eyes and smiled grimly. "We have a luxury yurt waiting for us."
"Top shelf everything. The best prizefighting money can buy."
"Sounds lovely," she said, trying to push away the heat of her fever, and the knowledge that this meant her wound was likely infected and she didn't have long. That, and the last of the Yanhusuo being gone, meant that this was just the beginning of her painful end.
But that was not now. It was not yet.
"Tai Lung," she said. "Give me your hand."
He did as she asked. She took it between hers. It was stiff and frozen, the pads like ice.
"So cold," she whispered.
"Thank you, that's better," Tai Lung said. "You make everything better, Tigress. And everything will be better soon."
"Do you promise?" she asked sleepily. The sun had moved behind Tai Lung's head, casting her in his shadow. With the glare out of her face it would be easier to rest. She closed her eyes.
He put his other hand on top of her head. "I promise."
"I believe you," Tigress lied, closing her eyes. "I believe you."
o
There was a dreamless sleep. When she woke it was dark, and the Yanhusuo had worn off. Tai Lung trudged through the snow, obviously exhausted, but she knew he would only stop when he could no longer move. Her concern for him drifted away as the pain rose- and as there was nothing anymore to take it away, it would only continue to get worse.
Something rose in her. A retching. She tried to push herself away from Tai Lung, to tip her head over the side of the sling.
"You're awake!" he exclaimed. "What – what are you doing?"
She got her head over the edge of the fabric and vomited all over his feet.
"Oh," he said. "Well. Thanks for that."
"Sorry," she gasped.
"It's okay," he said, shuffling his feet in the snow. "My feet didn't have nearly enough puke on them."
"Sorry," she repeated.
"It's just water, Tigress. It's fine."
"It's just water?' she asked deliriously. "Water from the moon pool?"
"Um," Tai Lung replied.
"You can't swim in the moon pool," she said. "Shifu – Shifu will yell at you."
"You swam in the moon pool?" he asked, aghast.
Tigress considered this. She genuinely wasn't sure. "No?"
"I hope not. You're damn right he'd yell at you. He'd throw you down the stairs into the village. And you'd deserve it."
"I deserve it," Tigress said, wincing, the agony growing. "I deserve it."
"What? Tigress - ?"
She writhed in the sling like a worm. "Put me down," she said.
"I can't put you down right now. There's nowhere to put you. We'll find a – a cave or- or something. Somewhere dry. I'll put you down then."
"The Yanhusuo – it's – it's still gone?"
His mouth made a flat line. He nodded.
She groaned.
"Here, um – we'll – we'll sing. Did Shifu ever take you to the puppet show in the village?"
"Puppet - show?"
"Yes, every year around the Winter Feast, there was that funny little puppet show. Some rabbit used to put it on for the village kids. Do you remember? Did Shifu ever take you?"
"No," she said.
"No?" Tai Lung asked. "That's the kid event of the year. Jerk."
"We went … at the school," she said. "They did it at the school."
"Oh!" he said, brightening. "Then – then you remember the song about pickles."
She peered up at him.
"Pickles!" he sang. "Pretty little pickles, pickles in a jar, pickles in the stars! Pickles on your fingers and toooooes – remember?"
"N – noo?" Tigress said, her voice cracking with pain.
"Pickles on your ribbons and bows," he sang. "Pickles in your bed, pickles in your head, pickles all up your nooooose."
"That's – that's not a real song."
She moaned and bent her body around some new stabbing pain in her side. Everything's going to hell, she thought.
"It's a real song! You don't remember?" He took a sudden deep breath and started hacking again. "It's – it's a song. I swear it's a song. It's - " he tried to continue but he started hacking more. The shaking made her agony worse.
"Put me down," she moaned. "Please."
"Can't put you down now, Tigress. Just -pickles. Listen to the pickle song. We'll keep singing the pickle song."
He kept singing the pickle song. He was exhausted, and out of breath, and it sounded terrible. She pressed her ear to his chest, the deep rumble of his voice soothing nonetheless. She closed her eyes tight.
Hours passed, or what felt like hours. The pain grew so pointlessly extreme that after trying not to think about, trying to breathe through it, trying to meditate out of it, trying to negotiate with it, trying to appease it, and giving in to it only to fight it again, Tigress finally became infuriated with it.
Yes, I understand, I am in mortal danger! I know! I'm doing what I can! You can stop telling me now! Stop! Just stop! Just stop! Just STOP! Just STOP STOP STOP STOP -
"We're stopped! We're stopped!" Tai Lung panted. "Tigress, quit screaming!"
She didn't even know she had been. She caught her breath. "Put me down," she croaked, her throat raw.
"What? No, Tigress. You'll just be wet and cold."
She writhed and kicked. "I can't do this anymore. I can't do it. Put me down. Put me down, please." She stopped. Her eyes widened. "Wait." She pointed at Tai Lung. "You."
"Me?"
"Put me to sleep. You – you made me sleepy before. In the forest."
He shook his head. "I would, but you have a tree going right through one of the points I'd have to hit."
"Then – then -total numbness. The – the shell. Do – do what the shell did."
Tai Lung shook his head, bewildered. "That takes a whole shell. I don't have enough fingers to pause your chi."
"Just the one in between the shoulders. The- the dreams. The numb – dreams."
"The one that kills you?"
"No no, just the dreams. Send me into dreams."
He considered it a moment, then shook his head. "It's ... it's too precise. Change the pressure the smallest amount and … and….. did - did you try Shifu's mind exercises?"
"This pain," she growled, "takes Shifu's mind exercises and fucks them in the ass."
Tai Lung's eyes went wide. He blinked rapidly, shocked at her profanity. She didn't care about propriety anymore. Propriety was for the China, for the Jade Palace, and she was in Mongolia. She was burning up, burning alive with fever, red hot fish hooks tearing at her flesh, her leg twisted in a sailor's knot, her insides beginning to gurgle and cramp and scream.
"We'll just – we'll just sing," Tai Lung said weakly. "Pickles – pickles on your - "
"Fuck singing," she spat. "Fuck. Singing. Help me."
"Tigress, I can't – I can't .. help ... this," he said as though the admission were painful to him. But she didn't care. It only enraged her.
"I thought you could do anything," she hissed.
"W -what?"
"I thought you were the Dragon Warrior!" she cried. "What's a pressure point to the Dragon Warrior? The Dragon Warrior can't – can't steady his finger? Hm? Is that a – a Dragon Warrior? Does that sound like limitless power to you?" she raged.
"Tigress - " he said, looking bewildered enough to break her heart had she not been in such agony. It merely made her angrier.
"Don't you hold out on me you – you bastard!" she spit. "You bastard! You rat. Fucking. BASTARD!"
"Tigress," he said again, and the way he said it - with no hint of anger, only sadness – finally broke her.
She moaned and wept.
He put his hand on her head. They were lowering to the ground.
"I'm sorry," she whimpered. "I'm sorry. Tai Lung – I'm – I'm sorry."
He was kneeling now. His hand crept up her back.
"I will try," he said softly. "I will try, but you must be very still. Very still, Tigress. I must - meditate for a moment. Summon everything in me. Everything I have. And you must be still. Can you do that?"
She reached up and touched his face. "Yes. Thank you," she gasped through tears. "Thank you."
He grimaced, then pressed the backs of her fingers to his lips for a long moment, his eyes closed. He laid her hand on her chest and went silent, breathing steadily. Tigress held her breath as his finger pressed into her back – slowly, slowly. She shut her eyes in anticipation of dreams, but found herself quite suddenly launched upwards, straight into the sky like a rocket. She would have screamed but she had no voice, and no way or orienting herself in space. One moment she was lying in the sling and the next she was flying with such a tremendous sense of freedom – and no pain.
He did it! She thought, overjoyed. She steadied in midair. He really did it!
She turned to him – turned over, really, to look down at him. A thin white cord like a ribbon drifted down from her chest to where he knelt in the snow, down to the strange mass in his arms. She looked closer. Something wasn't right. She peeked over his shoulder. The strange mass was her, head back, mouth open, eyes wide.
And Tai Lung was screaming.
"NO!" he wailed. "Tigress!? Tigress, no! Tigress?" he cried, shaking her. "Tigress no – no, no, no, Tigress, no!" he tipped his head back and howled, clutching her to his chest. "No! Oh, Tigress, oh god," he whimpered. "Tigress – no – I'm so sorry," he sobbed, rocking her back and forth. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."
Tai Lung? Tigress asked. I'm right here!
But he did not see her, could not hear her. He kept rocking her hollow body back and forth, wailing his apologies out over the flat Mongolian plane.
Well," came a voice, right in her ear. She turned to see a little white lizard with golden eyes sitting on her shoulder, smoking a tiny pipe and looking smug. "You did say you wanted remorse."
o