4

Sapphire ran straight into her arms, and they immediately latched onto one another; Po tried to warn her to be gentle, before he was greeted with a manly hug with Jun. To be quite frank, Tigress was just as quick as the eager young snow leopard. Wrapping her arms around Sapphire's upper back, and feel the girl's hanging around her neck, they were embrace, simultaneously moving from side to side, whispering soft messages of joy and happiness. "You're here..." Tigress' voice started cracking up, and her paw slowly touched the back of Sapphire's head. "Safe and sound..."

"Yep..." Sapphire chuckled, but tears were streaming down her cheeks. When they let go of each other, Sapphire brushed her tears away, almost ready to start again as Po came to her for a massive hug, and Jun hugged and received a quick friendly kiss on the cheek from Tigress, while she held both his paws. "It's great to see you two again! Spare me from the labor of waiting! How are you?" She asked, while Jun turned to wave off the crowd that was already beginning to disperse. "Tell us what has been happening!"

"Plenty of crazy, that's for sure," Po laughed, with one arm still around Sapphire. "And you?" Sapphire was about to speak, but Po interrupted again. "Wait! Come eat with us!" He picked up one of Jun's bags, while Sapphire took hold of her own. "We shall catch up then!"

"Where did the three go off to Po?" Mr. Ping asked upon the panda's entry with the boys. "Boys, your food is gonna get cold if you don't get over there and eat it all up!"

"We watched the musicians grandpa! They were awesome! The song was they wrote was so catchy." Tigro said excitedly, hugging the old goose.

"How did the song go then Tigro?"

"It was like; I got faith! In ya baby! I got faith! In you now-"

The cub was interrupted by his twin. "And here they are to eat with us now! Mama and Papa know them." Lotus pointed at the entrance, simultaneous to when Tigress was walking in.

Mr. Ping waited, to find a lion and snow leopard walk in behind his daughter in law. "Po?"

"Dad," Po motioned to the two strangers. "This is Jun and Sapphire." Mr. Ping turned to face Po questioningly. "Two of the.. orphans, we helped a few years ago?"

"Who?" It took the goose a second or two to click, before he gasped excitedly. "Them?! Why hello there! It's about time you showed up around here!" Mr. Ping scolded Jun and Sapphire once they came close, with Tigress standing beside them. The boys raced back to the table to make sure they had their assigned seats, while Po picked up two spare stools to put at their table. "Many welcomes to my restaurant! May I take your order?"

"No, thanks. We just ate-" Jun nearly jumped at the Sapphire's paw abruptly clamping around his muzzle.

"We'll have a bowl of your famous noodles sir," Sapphire interrupted sweetly. "We'll eat it between us."

"Coming right up!" He shook their paws quickly, "and on the house of course, considering you are have a special in my son and my daughter-in-law's hearts." He waddled off back to the kitchen before she could thank him properly, and it was only when he was out of view she unlatched her hold on Jun's mouth. Once freed, he moved his now aching jaw, massaging it slowly until the sound of a small click. Tigro and Lotus cringed slightly, but the relief sank into his face; his eyes close slowly, and his throat let out a soft, but audible 'ah' of relaxation as soon as the crack disappeared. "So... let's start!" She held Tigress' paw as she sat down. "Talk to us!" She said excitedly, giving Tigress' paw an affectionate squeeze. "There must be lots to catch up after seven years!"

"Well, we can start with the number one change..." Po nodded at his sons, who smiled and waved on cue, ready to eat their food. "Hold up you two!" He corrected, raising a finger. It was almost magical to see both cubs pause instantly, and turn their father almost worriedly. "No eating until everyone has food. What happened to manners?"

"But it'll get cold..." Lotus said innocently, looking at the warm little dumpling in his paw with wide eyes.

"And? Dumplings can be nice when cold. Just depends on their filling."

"We have bean paste..."

Po gave an approved look. "You're right... eat away."

They immediately began to dig in, making sure they weren't eating like they were raised with little to no manners. Tigro offered his parents a dumpling; of course Tigress declined, but Po didn't let go of the chance. Sapphire smiled and said 'thanks, but no thanks, I'll just wait for my noodles. You're very thoughtful though', but Lotus insisted Jun to try one, who in turn accepted with a chuckle. "The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree!" He saluted to Tigro. "Aren't you a spitting image of your mighty mother?" Tigro smiled with swelling pride.

"What're your names?" Sapphire asked flashing a smile.

"I'm Tigro."

Jun raised an eyebrow to go with his amused look. "Fitting." He turned to face Lotus, but Tigro piped up;

"Did you draw the picture Mom has in her room?"

"Er... what does it look like?"

"It has our mom, and five kids in it, holding paint brushes, a guitar..."

"Yep!" Jun smiled with pride. "and yourself?"

"I'm Little Lotus."

"Little Lotus huh?" Jun looked at Tigress, taking a small bite out of the dumpling he was offered, "and that came from where?"

"My dad." Po piped up, ruffling his son's hair fur. Sapphire pointed towards the kitchen questioningly. "No- my biological father came to the village in search of me a few months after we left you guys and Bao Gu, and my original name was meant to be Little Lotus when I was born."

"So in honor, we decided to call him Lotus... once we found out it was twins."

Sapphire laughed. "That's amazing! Imagine to his surprise when he found out you were already married with a baby on the way! And with a tiger, as a matter of fact." Sapphire winked at Tigress. "Who knew that could ever happen?"

"No one knows, but for one thing; it's seen as a blessing by almost the entire Valley; and because of that..." Tigress pointed at a poster behind her on the wall. Sapphire and Jun asked if they could read it, and once granted, they moved towards it, focusing trying to draw their attention away from the art, and more on the words;

Blessings come in few,
And many take them for granted... But not in the Valley of Peace!

To celebrate young Tigro and Little Lotus Ping's completion of basic Panda and Tiger style,
Educated by their Father Po the Dragon Warrior, and Mother Master Tigress,
along with fellow teammate Chang, son of Master Monkey (completing basic Monkey style)
we shall celebrate their progress in the upcoming festival;

'The Ever Growing Tree of the Youth'

Come join us for music, food, dance, comedy, and a speech from Master Shifu, Grand Master of the Jade Palace.

Musician's are welcome to preform free of charge during the dinner.

See you in two days' time!

"Well lucky us!" Sapphire declared, tapping at the parchment with her finger heavily. "Hopefully, Yuki and Yumi and Lok will be here to be here for the festival..."

"Brilliant! How are they?" Po asked eagerly.

"They're doing good. Lok is now a scholar, and the twins are seamstresses." Jun explain, once parked on the seat again. "And what about Chang? It's hard to believe that little Monkey is now seven years old, after giving you guys a bit of a scare back in Bao Gu." Po smiled softly, but felt Tigress tense a little beside him.

"He's doing great. Progressing everyday, as you can tell by the poster." Po continued once the two sat down. He placed a gentle paw on top of Tigress'. "Now, the second big thing to catch up on is, of course, is..." Tigress placed a paw on her stomach on cue. Sapphire and Jun gasped, almost dramatically.

"Baby number three!" Three sudden voices declared. Sapphire and Jun jumped in surprise out of their seats, the twins nearly fell off their chairs. Po and Tigress looked up, and to their shock, those voices were owned by three familiar faces.

"You guys!" Sapphire and Jun ran for them, and the five collided into one big hug, with practically the entire restaurant looking onto the scene. Mr. Ping was just coming out with Sapphire and Jun's bowls of noodle soup, before taking one look at the three new faces, immediately smiling, before retreating back into the kitchen. Yuki and Yumi were practically in tears as the hug broke, before running to Po and Tigress, whom were standing up to greet them. "Master Tigress! Master Po!" Yuki wrapped her arms around Tigress as tight as she could get, while Po got a near full-on strangulation as she secured her arms around his neck.

"You three made it safely," Jun pulled Lok into a manly hug. "How was the trip?"

"It was fine... seeing I took it solo up until I met up with those two. Mind my mentality is slowly dying with their mindless chatter." He motioned to the twins, who were currently hugging Sapphire, while Tigro and Lotus watched their father try to try and get air back in his lung through the puzzled fixed on their faces. "I met them at the entrance you see, and they filled me in on everything that has happened, before I interrupted, and told them I saw you and Sapphire in here... their voices aren't out of my head just yet..."

"Well! You're not out of the woods yet boy! Come sit down!" He brought Lok towards the table, with Sapphire and the twins not far behind. "Look at you now! Built up nice and strong, like moi... but we ran into you only 3 months ago... what's the secret?"

"No secret; the usual exercise and eat healthily. Nothing major Jun," after Lok hugged Tigress and Po, he sat down, ready for Jun to start balancing himself by propping his paws atop of the cheetah's head. "At long last we reunite where we wanna be. Good to see you again Masters!" He bowed the best his could to Tigro and Lotus. "And pleasure to meet you too, little warriors. Your Mother and Father has told me much about you, as well as the news of your baby brother or sister. I'm Lok, and this is Yuki and Yumi-"

"Well aren't you two just the sweetest little charmers I've ever seen!" Yuki scooped up Lotus, holding him up high. With his legs casually swaying in the still, warm air. "You look just like your mommy and daddy don't you!"

"It's called genetics miss..." Lotus asked in confusion, before Yuki sat him back down and patted his head affectionately. "But I'm meant to look like my brother... we're twins, see."

"On the equal levels of cuteness!" Yumi ruffled the top of Tigro's head, only stopping when his planted his paws on top of hers to stop her, while laughing. "Congrats on the babe number three by the way."

"Thank you," Po laughed, before seeing his father coming out with a tray of four more bowls of noodle soup. "Get another spare table and move it here! Come and sit! There's so much we need to catch up on..."