Tucked inside away from the winter cold, the wolf Lin was holed up in the barracks training hall working late again.

He sat in a corner between the sword rack and a stack of shields. In front of the young wolf, sheets of paper and sketches were spread out across the flagstone floor as he tried to piece together a suitable set-up. Lin was nervous but excited as he prepared a training routine of his own design. It was a test of sorts, not one of his regular duties. However, the leader of their pack Captain Lena felt it was necessary that Lin learned such things, and the sooner the better. It was no secret that she was grooming Lin to be her successor—and not just as leader of their pack but also someday captain of Gongmen City's wolf guard contingent.

And what a successor Lin would be! He was already the strongest and the fastest of the up-and-coming soldiers, and he also displayed a resolute discipline, an especially remarkable thing considering he was not much older than a youth.

Just this autumn he had been promoted to lieutenant's rank—quite the accomplishment for someone at the tender age of nineteen—and even the most cynical members of the pack had grudgingly acknowledged that he'd secured the position on entirely his own merit. It didn't matter that Captain Lena was Lin's mother. If anything, she was actually harder on him than she was on the other junior soldiers. In a way, Lin even appreciated that. He preferred to earn what he wanted rather than to curry favors.

And speaking of his mother...

"Lin? Are you in there?"

Lin looked up as an older wolf stepped onto the threshold of the training hall. She had a handsome if somewhat aged face and stood with an officer's easy confidence. But presently she was out of uniform and looking ready to leave.

"Yes, mother?" Lin asked, addressing her informally. If she was off-duty, there was no need for them to greet with ranks.

She took in the sight of all his papers and drawings and laughed warmly, lantern light reflected in her golden eyes. Lin got his maroon eyes from his father. "Working late are you?" she inquired, leaning her wiry frame against the doorjamb. "Don't skip dinner."

"I ate early!" Lin protested, ever her son. Lin noticed how she lingered at the entrance. This wasn't about making small talk. "Did you need me for something, mother?"

The laughter slowly left her face. "Not for me, but probably for Prince Shen."

"He summoned me?" Lin sighed, looking down at his training plans. He was so close to getting a workable draft. Perhaps he could quickly wrap things up here first and then go find Shen... "If there's a messenger waiting, they can tell Shen that I'll meet him soon."

"The Prince came himself actually, and I instructed him to wait in my office for you."

Lin stood slowly, papers forgotten. "Is he alright?"

Lena smirked. "He said he was though I'm sure that's an utter lie. At least he doesn't appear to be injured. Nonetheless, I think you should go now, Lin. It seemed serious, and Prince Shen is not the sort for pranks."

"Yes, ma'am."

When Lin got to the door, his mother paused him and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "I'm going straight home for the night so you'll know where to find me if you need me."

"Thank you." Lin smiled his goodnights before plucking his cloak off a peg by the door. Turning down the hall, he walked quickly toward his mother's office.

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When Lin saw Shen, he immediately understood the reason for his mother's uneasiness. The peacock looked bereft, utterly wretched even.

"Shen..." There was something frighteningly desperate and manic in the peacock's eyes that made Lin want to take a step back.

"Lin, my truest friend, you're here." The peacock's voice had a strange lilt to it. Shen rushed over to the wolf, and Lin reached out to grasp hold of the other's wingtip, trying to offer comfort which Shen clearly appeared to be in need of. "I knew you'd be here; I knew I could depend on you..." Shen glanced hesitantly toward the doorway. "Where is the Captain? Did she go?"

"Yes, she just left. Shen, what are—"

"There's no time!" the peacock interrupted. "This is a matter of life and death, and I want every soldier loyal to you ready to move now! Now!"

"What? Wait, will you just—"

Shen snatched his wing from Lin's paws. "I gave you an order, and I want it followed! All the wolves that you trust must be armed and ready to march immediately!"

"Not until you tell me what's going on!"

"There's no time!"

Snarling with exasperation, Lin reached behind himself to shut the office door before anyone overheard their arguing. "Damn it, Shen, there is nothing so pressing that it can't wait even two minutes for you to explain the situation to me." Lin reached out and gripped Shen's shoulders, giving them a reassuring squeeze. "Now tell me what's going on."

At first the prince looked like he wanted to quarrel further, but eventually he went still, face grim. "Fine."

And then Shen started to explain.

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When at last the prince had finished speaking, Lin sat on the floor with his face in his paws. Discussing the situation aloud seemed to have calmed the peacock somewhat. Lin wished he could say the same for himself. His stomach was already tying itself in knots.

"Are you serious? Are you fucking serious?" It was almost too much to believe.

"I heard it myself from my parents' own beaks," Shen murmured, sounding as if—bravado aside—he might not fully have wrapped his head around this either.

Lin rubbed at his eyes, trying to find his bearings. "Putting down a rebellion is no game, no training exercise. This is real."

"I know." Shen crouched down beside the wolf, and Lin felt the peacock push his paws away so that they could face each other. "Lin, I need you. There's no one else I can trust with this, not even Lan."

"A panda rebellion... A panda warrior who wants to kill you... How could your parents allow such unrest to linger so long that it turned into outright rebellion?"

"You know how my parents are," Shen hissed, voice leaking hurt. "They think everything can be solved with courteous diplomacy. Military matters have never been their priority. They—" However, just as quickly as it had turned resentful, Shen's expression softened. "But they've seen the error of their ways. I think. They want to protect me."

"Then why not let them? Why do you want to—"

"Because I can't let my parents solve my problems forever!" Shen retorted in aggravation. "Always I have been called weak and worthless, but if I defeat this panda threat myself, no one will doubt me ever again! Will you not help me, Lin?"

"Shen, you know I would never abandon you..."

"And think of yourself too and your wolves," Shen continued. "I see the disparaging looks you're given, the suspicion. Even after all the hard work your mother has done to prove your pack's respectability, you and the others are still treated like riffraff.

"Haven't you said to me in the past that you'd do anything to show your pack's worth? What if this is your chance?"

Lin inhaled sharply at the thought. To do this thing in defense of Gongmen City, would that really make a difference in the wolves' social standing—perhaps even wipe the slate clean at last? Shen's words sounded too good to be true...

The covert reminders of the wolf pack's corrupt past were there in the disapproving stares leveled at them. Thieves, predators—that's what Gongmen City's "proper" citizens thought of wolves. And Captain Lena... She'd held so strongly to her principles, that honor meant something, but still far too many of the city folk simply saw her as a criminal always just a step away from going back to her unsavory past.

Like most of his lupine peers, Lin had been born in Gongmen City, but even as a child, he'd watched his family and people still be treated as outsiders. Such mistrust was something Lin had struggled against for as long as he could remember, a glass ceiling that he sometimes couldn't seem to break through.

King Jiang and Queen Nuo seemed to believe the best of their newest citizens and were pleased with the wolves as guardians, but even their favor only helped so much. Oh what would it be like to prove once and for all that the wolf pack belonged here too? Would intervening for Shen now finally accomplish that...?

"We've always been outsiders, haven't we?" Shen's voice was solemn, breaking Lin's concentration, and the wolf looked up to listen to the prince's words. "I know the unfairness you've felt for I have felt it too. Outlaws and bad omens, that's what they think of us."

Shen's eyes blazed with that red fire. "But we can change it. We can change fate and carve out the respect that we deserve, that has been denied us for too long. We can do it if you'll help me."

And Lin felt it, resolve like steel holding steady beneath the butterflies of nervousness, and there was also the desire to protect Shen, the best friend who had for so long been at his side. Really, Lin's decision had been imminent before Shen even asked for it. "I...yes. Yes, alright, I'll do it."

Shen's smile was somewhat unsettling, but then this whole ordeal was far more serious than anything either of them had ever encountered before. "You must hurry and ready your wolves."

"Wait, not just yet. We're also going to need some help, more than what I'll be able to muster up on my own, anyway."

Shen narrowed his eyes, not quite following. "I cannot imagine that your mother would help us without first addressing my parents..."

But Lin shook his head. "Not her. I had someone else in mind: my uncle Feng."

The wolf held in an irritated sigh as he watched Shen's beak turn up in a condescending sneer. "That bandit trash?" the peacock questioned scornfully.

"That 'bandit trash', as you put it, has more sway with some of the older members of the pack than I do."

"You mean the older members who refused to give up their thieving ways until they were forcibly subdued," Shen added pointedly. "He's not honorable or trustworthy like the wolves that followed your mother."

"Questionable backgrounds aside, Feng's faction would about double our numbers, and they have been on military campaigns—something you and I have only read about or studied but never done." Lin pressed on, not letting Shen get a word in. When the peacock got this agitated, the only way to talk him back to a sensible place was to throw more logic at him than he could argue with.

"Shen, you know I have your back always—would lay down my life for you even—but what good would we do if we failed to put down a rebellion because we didn't have enough troops? What would your parents say then? Provided you lived long enough to be taken to task."

The peacock's crest flared and flattened, and Lin watched his friend weigh the options. "They'd say I was an arrogant child who should've let them handle the matter," the prince finally snapped, words bitter with frustration. "Alright, go see your uncle," the prince conceded.

"I will at once," Lin replied, hoping that he sounded more confident about this than he felt.

Shen smoothed his crest, aiming for some modicum of composure, but Lin could see that frenzied nervousness that still gleamed in his friend's eyes. "Before you go, give me a timetable. How soon can we be mobilized?"

"One hour for me, probably two for my uncle if he agrees, and I'd say another five in traveling if we move at a steady march. And that's a minimum, Shen," Lin added before the peacock could start grumbling. Privately, the wolf didn't think Shen could sustain more than a steady march anyway. Even with all his training, the peacock was still constrained by his poor health, and it would do no good for him to show up to battle already exhausted. "At that rate, we'll arrive at the White Valley panda settlement a couple of hours before dawn."

"That is a good time to strike," Shen finally admitted thoughtfully. "The dark would provide some stealth to our mission."

"Exactly," Lin agreed. "I'll go find Feng now." Already he was throwing on his cloak to ward off the winter chill. "And there's one other thing, Shen. Feng isn't the charitable type, especially not to a member of the royal family who ordered his defeat. He and his wolves will want some favor I'm certain..."

"Very well," came the peacock's terse reply. "I can arrange that much at least. We haven't the time though to quibble over promises. Tell Feng that if he assists me now, then he may trust to my sincere gratitude when this mess is all sorted out."

Lin managed a wan smile. "Thank you, Shen." Of all the wolves in Gongmen City, Feng and his lot were the worst off. They were the most mistrusted, and it was only thanks to Captain Lena that they were accorded even the most basic civility. Indeed for them, a prince's goodwill would be too enticing an asset to refuse. "Is there anything else...?"

"No." Shen folded his wingtips into his sleeves and stood proudly as Lin had often seen the king and queen do. "Just meet me at the city's south gate in three hours time. I shall be ready, Lieutenant."

Lin gave a formal bow at the doorway. "Very well, Lord Shen."

Drawing his cloak close to keep out the chilly air, Lin bounded off into the darkening twilight and headed toward the city docks.

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tbc...

Author Note: Argh, this chapter was hard! I really tried to balance a lot of things, especially Lin and Shen's determination vs. their inexperience. I also wanted to do my best to make Lin's decision to help Shen seem rational. Lin's still got his honor...for the moment anyway.

Next chapter will be from Feng's point of view, and that will introduce the last of this story's three main players.

Thank you, everyone, for your reviews and favorites, and I hope you continue to enjoy this fic!