It was believed by everyone who knew that Shifu had been suspicious of Su ever since the incident at the fortress of White Fortitude. The truth was that his suspicions had been aroused long before that, not very long after Su came to the Jade Palace.
Though she wasn't a prodigy like Tigress, Po or Tai Lung, she couldn't have been a better student. Smart, obedient, dedicated to excellence of self. And yet, Shifu couldn't deny his feelings. At first he'd dismissed those feelings as paranoia after a lifetime of encountering the most bizarre supernatural entities, but many of Su's aptitudes felt... forced, like they were literally just coming out of nowhere. On the other hand she was just a peasant girl from a rural panda village, so there was no reason to suspect that there was anything abnormal about her. Still, he'd resolved to keep an eye on her from a distance, leaving her training to Po and the Five.
Then the day came when a noble and his fiancé from a neighbouring province came to the Valley of Peace with the intention of being wed in his hometown. Shifu and his students had all been invited, partly to deter would-be kidnappers, and Mr. Ping had been hired as wedding chef on Po's recommendation. As for Crane, he'd jumped at the chance to be wedding planner once more.
The day before the wedding, the palace servants and Crane applied the finishing touches to the wooden stage where the wedding would commence. When the painting was done and the flowers were hung, the workers left the stage for their lunch break, leaving Shifu alone to secretly admire his student's handiwork. Crane had truly outdone himself this time. The only other person was the official, a ram, who would direct the bride and groom during the ceremony, standing in the middle of the stage and mumbling the words on a scroll he was reading. Shifu was standing near the edge of the stage, hands behind his back, humming softly to a tune that Viper had gotten stuck in his head, when Su nervously approached him.
He heard her before her saw her and turned his head, stopping her cold. "Shouldn't you be at the palace?" He asked.
"Um..." Su was tightly holding a small jar with both paws. "Po said Crane needed glue."
Normally Zeng was in charge of deliveries, but he was on a weeklong trip and the moment and wasn't expected to be back until later today.
"Crane is on his lunch break at Mr. Ping's. Once you've delivered it, go straight back to the palace." Su was about to step off the stage when Shifu caught a whiff from the jar that was definitely not glue. "Stop. Let me see that."
Su slowly tilted the jar so Shifu could look inside. He saw a purple translucent sauce. "Is that the stuff Po puts on dumplings to make them sticky?" He scowled as memories of his last encounter with the substance came to the surface.
Su looked into the jar herself. "Is that what it is? Po couldn't find proper glue so he gave me this instead."
"No." Shifu said at once. "No, we are not using that. Go to the carpenter's, he should have some glue we can use."
"Why? What's wrong with it?"
"For one thing, it's not real glue. Did you know he once destroyed the training hall with this stuff?"
Su stared. "Woah. What's in this?"
Shifu quickly remembered. "I think he used honey, sticky plum sauce, and plaster."
"Ewww!" Su stuck out her tongue and held the jar away from her. "I ate that this morning!"
"Just get rid of it and get some glue from the carpenter. He's five buildings down from Mr. Ping's."
Su did a little bow and went to get down from the stage. Neither of them saw the fallen flower until she slipped on it, falling back into Shifu and dropping the jar. It didn't shatter, but sticky dumpling sauce spilled out into a purple puddle while Su and Shifu both fell on their rears. Su pushed away from him, mortified. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! I'm such a loser!"
Even though his bad leg was throbbing from the fall, Shifu kept his voice even. "You are not a loser. Accidents happen, Su."
Su stood up, still looking like she felt terrible. "I thought Master Oogway said that there are no accidents."
"... Just help me up."
Su held out her paws and Shifu took them. She must be very embarrassed for them to be this sweaty, Shifu thought as he got to his feet. "Don't worry about it. It's nothing that a mop and bucket can't fix."
Unable to look him in the face, Su looked down at the wooden floor instead. "I'll clean it when I come back."
"You can let go of my hands now, Su."
Su tugged, but her paws wouldn't come away. "I'm trying."
Shifu tugged himself, with a sinking feeling that it wasn't sweat he had felt.
Darnit, darnit, darnit! He couldn't let the bride and groom see this. It would be a humiliation. If he could get them both apart before the sauce set...
He tugged harder, stepping back to get more force into it. Helpless before the older, stronger red panda, Su could only follow as she too tried to extricate her sauce covered paws. No matter how much they both struggled, the sauce had already done its work. In his increasing frustration Shifu dragged Su all the way to the centre of the stage, where the official finally noticed them and stepped up to try and separate them... right as Zeng dropped down before them. He smoothed his feathers, saw the two of them on the wedding stage holding each other's hands with the speechless official standing before them, and dropped the scroll he was holding.
"Master, what on earth are you doing?!"
"Zeng..."
"With all due respect, she's too young and you're too-"
"Shut your beak and get some hot water! Now!"
After a very undignified walk down the street, enduring the stifled sniggers of passing villagers, they had reached Mr. Ping's shop to find two stools and a pot of warm water waiting for them. Crane was there too, somehow managing to keep a straight face as he watched them sit down and dunk their joined hands in the pot. All the while Shifu still bore that same death glare on his reddened face. As for Su, she looked like she had no idea what to think of her predicament. At least there was a silver lining at the end of it. Once they were separated and returned to the Jade Palace, they'd found that Crane had already informed his fellow students of what had happened. All through dinner Po, Monkey and Mantis in particular were snickering behind their noodles as they made joke after joke after joke. Ultimately Shifu couldn't find it in his heart to stop them, for by then he too had seen the funny side of the incident.
It had also reminded him of why he'd offered to have Su train to improve her clumsiness in the first place, to deal with the clumsiness and self-loathing she had so clearly displayed on the stage. Certainly not because he was suspicious of her. Behind his smile and laughter, he cursed himself for forgetting. He would never do so again.
Shifu couldn't help but be reminded of that particular event when the water he and Su waded through went so deep they were up to their chests. It was much colder than the pot of hot water that had freed them, but at least this time he and Su weren't holding hands because they were stuck together.
It hadn't taken them long to find a sloped tunnel that hopefully would lead them to the bottom of that cavern where the pheasant had fallen. Unfortunately said tunnel happened to be flooded, and only got deeper as they descended. Thank heavens for the torch they'd found in another tunnel, next to a discarded tiny dagger. Shifu had quickly determined that the blade had been dipped in a powerful paralytic toxin that acted in seconds, just like the pheasant had said. It must have been how Viper and the others had been captured. At least it confirmed that it certainly wasn't monsters they were dealing with.
The water got deeper, and the ceiling got lower. By the time the tunnel floor stopped sloping and became level, they were up to their necks and the ceiling was an inch over their heads. Shifu stopped and backed out into shallower water with Su. "You should probably stay here until I return. I think it'll be safer."
Right at that moment they heard unfamiliar voices coming from up the tunnel where they had came from.
Soldiers. So they've found the entrance. Where have they been?
Su raised an eyebrow. "Safer? Master, you are out of your red and white mind."
Shifu groaned. He supposed he should have seen this coming. As a consequence of gaining the confidence and courage she needed, Su was no longer afraid to speak her mind. "Stay quiet and do not let go of my hand. I should warn you it will be very claustrophobic in there."
"Just to be clear, claustrophobic is the one where you're scared of claws, right?"
"Enclosed spaces." Shifu with a chuckle, and they continued on, keeping the torch above the water as best as they could. Su, meanwhile was holding onto Oogway's staff, since Shifu didn't have a third hand.
Shifu couldn't deny a growing anxiety as they waded through the enclosed space, with only ten inches between the surface and the ceiling. He was starting to shiver as well, now that his body from the neck down was entirely submerged. The only warmth he had was the heat from the torch and Su's paw in his. When he looked back he noticed that she looked just as miserable as he did. Farther back he saw nothing but darkness. Whoever they had heard did not appear to be following them.
Just when he was thinking that they would have to go under completely, the ceiling went higher and the tunnel starting sloping upwards. With a sigh of relief he climbed out of the water onto damp land and pulled Su up with him. "We should rest." He said at once. He was shivering very lightly, and neither he nor Su had anything to change into. He set the torch in a crack in the ground, making up a very odd looking campfire, and they sat down to let the heat dry them. As he rubbed his arms, he noticed something peculiar. "How are you not shivering from that water?" He asked.
Su shrugged. "I don't know. For some reason, water has always liked me."
"I suppose that's one way of putting it." Shifu reached behind for his tail and squeezed out most of the water.
Water. Su. Snow. With that last word, Shifu's heart seemed to stop mid-beat
The day Su accidentally pulled off a perfect split, it had been raining.
In the Himalayas, a land covered in snow, she had displayed a startling level of intelligence even for herself and somehow healed Xian's severed artery.
Today, she felt no repercussions whatsoever from spending several minutes in freezing cold water.
Water. Her mind and body are strengthened by water.
"Master Shifu?" Su had noticed the strange look on his face.
Shifu heard her and stared back at her. It sounded ridiculous, yet at the same time it made sense.
We've had it wrong from the beginning. She's no prodigy. Not a conventional one, anyway. Somehow she has a connection with one of the five elements that strengthens her every time she is near it. But how? Is this something to do with her past life? Is this why the Children of Nuwa want her? Gods, I wish I had all the answers, but I don't.
But maybe that pheasant does.
"We need to move." He said standing up and pulling out the torch.
Su got up without protest, and they resumed their journey up the tunnel. They didn't get far before the tunnel ended and they reached the big cavern with the bridge and pool. They had emerged at the bottom, at the edge of the pool. The pheasant had fallen down here, but it was very unlikely that she had stayed. Shifu searched the ground for traces, and soon found a trail of small puddles leading from the pool to another tunnel.
Mengxiang, the pheasant was called. That was what Su had called her, and Mengxiang had been just as shocked as Shifu had been that Su knew her name.
"Su, I've been putting this off until now, but how did you know that woman's name?"
"It just came to me." Su said. That was all she could say.
Shifu felt a twinge of disappointment, and then another thought struck him. "Have you had any headaches or nightmares recently?"
Su shook her head. "Not for a couple of months. I did have one the other day, but that was because of something else."
"Were you treated well by... the order?"
Nothing. No rage. No hate. The voices are gone. For heavens sake, Shifu, all these questions are just getting in the way! Find Mengxiang and find out what she knows!
"Come on!" He said gruffly, and so they went into the tunnel, keeping their eyes on the trail of puddles. When the tunnel opened up on the other end they stopped in their tracks.
Shifu nearly covered Su's eyes, until he remembered that the dozen soldiers in the cavern were merely paralyzed, not dead. So this was what had happened to the search parties. The soldiers back down the tunnel must have been the lucky ones. "They're just paralyzed, Su." He said quickly, just in case. To his chagrin he didn't see Viper, Qiang, Boar or Su's parents amongst the victims. There were a lot of small boulders though, that had likely fallen away from the walls and ceiling over the centuries.
That was when he spotted Mengxiang, dripping with water as she leaned against a rock on the other side of the cavern. She didn't look at all fazed by her fall, and that puzzled Shifu. A fall from that height should have caused at least a little damage.
"I've been waiting for you." the pheasant said. She glanced at Su before continuing. "I think I may have acted too impulsively on that bridge."
"You think?" Shifu asked. "Just who exactly are you?"
"When I told my people who you were, they suggested that you were less likely to interfere if I told you the truth. I've thought things over and decided that they were right." Mengxiang pushed herself off the rock. "If you come with me, I promise I will tell you everything you need to know about Ember and Hei Nuwang."
Shifu subtly nudged Su behind him, sure that this was a trap.
"Your sisters are identically mad. Why on earth should I believe that you are any different?"
"Because I sent my people back to the village. Right now I am facing you alone." Mengxiang smirked. "But I can still render you unconscious before you could say 'inner peace'. If I still wanted to take you prisoner, I would have done so by now. You can either come with me and be reunited with your friends or go back and face the twenty-two men my people have not yet captured. I know you've faced worse and come out smelling like roses, but you can't say the same for Su."
Shifu's eyes narrowed. "What about them?" He asked, gesturing to the soldiers littering the cavern floor.
"I'll alter their memories and return them to the forest. After that the paralysis will fade after three hours. Will you come with me or not?"
Shifu and Su looked at each other. Su gave a tiny nod. Shifu sighed, his decision made.
"What choice do I have?" He asked.
Mengxiang gave a very bitter smile.
