I know, I know, it's been a while. I wasn't yet proud enough of this to put it up. I've got Chapter 16 on the way, so hopefully I can knock out this fic and finish it by the time the sequel premiers in May. Wish me luck!

Disclaimer: Kung Fu Panda belongs to Dreamworks Animation. All original characters belong to me, please don't use them without my permission. Thank you.

Chapter 15: Full Circle

A month before the winter solstice, Lang's training had been progressing just as Koshchei had hoped. He had grown stronger, lean muscles now clearly covering his formerly string-bean frame, and his posture suggested a confidence he had never before exhibited. After Lan Duo had changed tactics, the lupine youth had responded well to the different kinds of training offered to him. Lan Duo, particularly, was impressed at Lang's speed and agility (likely honed through years of avoiding bullies at all costs), and utilized it whenever they practiced their pole arms exercises. In the two weeks after Lang had started learning to fight from a lone wolf's perspective, he had received untold number of tips and demonstrations in the various forms the Half Dozen were versed in.

Yu Wang and Tan Lan were both assassins, and each favored their own respective weapons: the knives, and throwing stars (with rope dart as back-up). Both wolves were 'scrawny' compared to the others, especially Bao Nu, but like Lang, they made up for it with speed and dexterity. Yu Wang, the thinner and taller of the two, taught him fool-proof ways to hide weapons on his person so that they wouldn't be detected until it was too late for the opponent to make a move. Tan Lan introduced mathematics to his lessons, though Lang had no idea how math would help his training...until after Tan Lan accurately calculated how much force was necessary to take down someone like Bao Nu. From Bao Nu, he learned more effective ways to build muscle, including altering his diet to include more protein than his little body could tolerate (at first); Lang spent the first couple days vomiting from ingesting too much, but Bao Nu continued to force feed him until his 'smallish-type' body could tolerate the added calories and, thus, became 'not-so-smallish type'. On the subject of diets, Xu Jiu - the fattest of the six, and of medium height - taught Lang his favored method of fighting, which resembled a simplistic style of kung fu known for its low stance, limited leg work, sweeping arm movements, and using the force of the opponent against them. Xu Jiu was the only wolf who actually bothered to joke with the youth and actually offer pointers without insult or provocation.

"It's...weird," Lang admitted to Koshchei later. "If I didn't know better, I'd say they actually wanted to help me."

"But they do not," Koshchei pointed out.

"Well, yeah, duh, that's why I said 'if I did not know better'," he quipped, and Koshchei chuckled.

"This is being true," the leopard admitted. "I have vorry, that you learn too much."

Lang warily stared at him; he may have trusted Koshchei, but even the wolf knew that comment could have carried many meanings. "How so?"

"Eh, is eh...vhat is saying? Too many crooks in kitchen?"

"Cooks. The saying is 'Too many cooks in the kitchen'."

"Vhateva...but that make more sense. Point I am trying to make, I am thinking you haff too many teacher."

"You're not worried that they're doing this to get back at me for something I did...whatever it was?"

The leopard shrugged off the concern. "Is not motivation, not so much. Volfs like that only after gold and treasure from Valley of Peace. Vhy they haff reason for revenge against smallish type, who do nothing to them? Only problem is..."

Lang finished after he had trailed off: "...The blyadski mudak, otherwise known as Zi Hao."

Koshchei gave him an impish grin that looked rather grotesque on his withered face. "Da." After a pause, he asked, "You neva tell me vhat you are planning to do vit him."

"Nothing."

The leopard was surprised. "Nothing? After vay he treat you, you not get back at him?"

Lang shrugged. "Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it? All I wanted was for him to stop picking on me, and, well, that's already happened, so what more do I want?"

"For him to suffer as you suffer," Koshchei pointed out.

Lang squirmed uncomfortably. "That's the problem, though. I suffered a lot, and I don't want anyone to suffer like that..."

"But Lang, think of vhat he put you through! You are not angry vit him?"

"Well, sure I am."

"So vhy do nothing?"

Lang fell silent. He had not yet told Koshchei about Duo's plan to completely humiliate and destroy Zi Hao's name, mostly because he wasn't sure what the old cat would think, but also mindful that the old cat didn't completely trust Duo, either. Lang wasn't sure he trusted Duo himself, but he felt that of all the wolves - still - Lan Duo was the least likely to stab him in the back. That had to count for something, right? And lately, Lang had gotten the feeling that Duo started to - if not outright care - at least tolerate him enough not to hit him.

"The time's not right," he finally said. "Every bully I've ever known has lured me into a false sense of security, got me to trust them, before they turned on me."

Koshchei had fallen noticeably silent, but Lang assumed it was because he was listening to him, like so few people had done before.

"I want to get Zi Hao to trust me before I get him. And I mean I really want to destroy him, here. He's done nothing but hurt me and, you're right, he needs to pay for it. He's not going to understand words, he only understands violence and beat downs and curses...but think how much worse it would be if he thought he could trust me, then I turned on him. Like my parents-" and here he stopped abruptly, swallowing hard and biting his lip. Koshchei now watched him very closely and waited for Lang to continue. "You're supposed to trust your parents, aren't you?" the youth asked. "If they abuse you, people who are supposed to love you...then who can you trust? Who would love you if your own family won't?"

"Oh, Malchik," Koshchei said softly, paternally placing his large hand on the youth's toned shoulder and pulling him into a one-armed hug, "I am no expert on family, but still I say, you forget them. They do nothing for you, so vhat do you owe them? Nothing. Life is too short to hold on to problem like this. And who need love? I do just fine vit-out it. Once you haff power, people vill love you. This I am sure."

Lang was not so convinced. Later that evening, after dinner, he worked on his flexibility with the Wu Sisters, who had volunteered (through Koshchei, of course) to help the youth learn proper stretching exercises. Jiang and Zhu had chopped down a young tree and set it up between two stumps, where they were stretching their legs and backs. Tian had Lang sitting on the ground with her, doing toe stretches, straddle exercises, and sit-ups. Currently, she held his feet down and counted off each sit-up. "...Seventy-three, seventy-four, seventy-five...c'mon sweetie, you're so close..."

"It hurts to breathe," he gasped, hands clasped behind his head.

"Twenty-five more, honey, then we can stretch hamstrings and give you a break, okay? I know you can do it."

Spurred by this small encouragement, Lang grit his teeth and pushed himself through ten fast sit-ups, then started to slow down by the fifteenth. Now even Zhu and Jiang were cheering him on from the parallel bar they had set up. Taking deep breaths, he eased himself through the last ten, and when he finally reached the one hundredth sit-up, it took all his strength to listen to Tian: "One hundred! Now, ease yourself back down. Don't flop to the ground like a fish; lower yourself slowly..."

When he was finally laying down, his stomach burning from agonized overused muscles, the sisters smiled and congratulated him.

"Way to go, kid!" Jiang said.

Zhu knelt down and hugged him, "We're so proud of you, sweetie!"

Tian's smile faded when she saw the look cross his face, and tears start glistening in his eyes. She didn't speak up until she heard him sniff. "Lang, honey, are you all right?"

He pushed Zhu away and roughly wiped his eyes with his arm. "Yeah...yeah, I'm fine."

"Hon, if I pushed you too hard tonight, just tell me - I don't want you getting hurt."

"It's not that," he whispered.

"Then what is it?" she asked, her garnet eyes sparkling in the fading light. Lang looked back at her, then over at Jiang and Zhu, before he lowered his gaze and flattened his ears against his skull.

"That's the first time anyone ever told me they were proud of me."

Now Tian felt her own eyes tearing up. "Oh, sweetie..." She took a deep breath and blinked the tears away. "We know how that feels."

Lang glanced at her. "You do? How?"

"Mama was hard to please, too," Zhu explained.

"We never knew our old man," Jiang said with arms crossed over her thin chest. "He died when we were really little. It was just us and Mom."

"Nothing we did was ever good enough for Mother," Tian bitterly said, with a tone Lang knew all too well. "Did you know, before we became assassins, we were actually going into the arts and sciences? Zhu is an amazing acupuncturist-"

"License might've expired," Zhu cheerily said, "But I still got it!"

"And Jiang was a gifted healer; she got into the highest medical academy in the empire - the first woman ever to do so."

Jiang shrugged, inspecting her claws. "No regrets for not going - most of those other doctors were misogynistic pricks, anyway."

"What about you?" Lang asked Tian.

Tian wistfully smiled. "The opera. I've got a hell of a voice, or so I've been told. I was also told by others that I could sing and dance in the Imperial Opera for the Emperor himself." She stopped and sighed, then bitterly snapped, "But that wasn't good enough for her. What more did I have to do? I practiced singing until I lost my voice, played the zither until my fingers bled, and danced until I had broken every toe at least twice! I mean, would it have killed her to at least say she loved us, and that nothing would ever change that, instead of just criticizing everything we did?"

Zhu quickly stepped in before her sister's rant could get worse. "There aren't a lot of options open for women, you know. We had to become assassins out of necessity. You think anyone would accept a female doctor or acupuncturist? And if you don't know the right people, you're not getting into the Imperial opera."

"We were starving and, hell, we gotta eat, don't we?" Jiang asked. "Just because we're assassins doesn't make us heartless. We really try to kill only those who really deserve it. Our number one rule..."

"No children," Tian said. "We will never harm a child."

"Did you ever think your mom didn't love you?" Lang asked after a pregnant pause.

"Many times," Tian admitted. "In some way, I guess she was bitter she only ever had daughters." She paused. "You don't think that about your parents, do you?"

"Why shouldn't I?" he suddenly snapped. "These were people who were supposed to love me, and they hit me and ignored me as much as White Wolf did. If your own family doesn't love you, who will?"

"Someone will," Zhu said with a hopeful smile. "No one goes through life completely unloved."

Lang sighed and pulled his knees up to his chest. He didn't say it, but each sister knew what he really wanted to say. Jiang spoke first, "No matter how bad they treated you, don't lower yourself to their level. The best revenge is living well."

"That doesn't seem good enough," he said.

"Then lets pump you up so you can live really well, and really stick it to them," Jiang smirked. She offered him her hand to help him up. When he accepted with a small smile, she yanked him up to his feet. "You're already on the right track, kid."

"I still need to prove myself," he said as he began the hamstring exercises, led by Zhu. "And I can't do that until we take the Valley."

"Eh, say what you want," Tian said with a shrug, arching back into a graceful back bend to stretch her spine. "I think you've proven yourself."

"Not yet, I haven't. I gotta prove myself to Duo, and to Asmodei. Duo said he wants me to kill a kung fu master, any kung fu master, and that'll be my final exam." He grunted as he eased himself up from a deep lunge. "Still have to figure out which one, though."

"You could do us a huge favor and take out Master Tigress," Zhu said cheekily.

"No, she's off limits," Tian growled. "I want that bitch's blood. We've got a history, she and I."

"So I'd better not ask?" Lang questioned.

"You're better off not asking," Zhu agreed.

"I'm gonna go fill up our canteens," Jiang suddenly announced. "You guys need anything?"

"Painkillers for pulled muscles would be good."

Jiang scowled at Lang. "Nuh-uh, I might be an assassin but I was a physician first: that's enough painkillers for you, young man."

"Suck it up, babe," Zhu grinned. "No pain, no gain."

"I'm beginning to question the validity of that saying."

"You're questioning it now, after a month of Duo's tutelage?"

"Shut up," he sullenly retorted.

Jiang rolled her eyes and stalked back towards the camp. The fires were low to prevent them from drawing too much attention from the locals. She was getting nervous; they were no longer in Gansu, and were closer to Hunan and the more populated cities and towns than she was comfortable with. When it was just her and her sisters, she didn't mind the large populations, as it was easier to hide in a massive crowd. But as they traveled south, word of Koshchei's return to China and the promise of plunder lured many nefarious evil-doers to their cause. Their horde now numbered at least fifty thousand, and more were joining every day. Jiang had never seen an army this size outside of the Imperial guards. Yet strangely, she'd probably feel safer if she'd been amongst the guards than amongst the multitude of baddies she found herself surrounded with.

As she passed by one ancient pine, she slowed in her step. "I hope you caught all that."

"Yeah, unfortunately."

Jiang glanced down at Lan Duo who, as Lang's personal coach, obsessively kept mental logs of the youth's progress. The grey wolf had crouched behind the tree trunk, his footfalls cushioned by dead needles and his shape veiled by the low-hanging branches. He stood and wrapped his cloak closer around his body. "So...the first time anyone said they were proud of him, huh?"

"Sounds like it."

"Shit. I knew I had my work cut out for me, but I never thought it would be this bad."

Jiang waited until he fell in step next to her. They conversed in low tones as they walked back to the camp. "Does this hurt your plan at all?"

"Bruises it, but its not a deal-breaker." Duo sighed through his nose. "He's definitely gotten better. I can tell he takes to the pudao and spear as a bird to the sky. He's a lot more talented than I thought."

"He picked up the throwing knives pretty well."

"Yeah, that surprised me, too." He fell silent as they reached the camp. The Half dozen still more or less stuck together, evidenced by the four other wolves sitting around a small fire. Zi Hao sat off to the side, alone, per lupine traditions. Yu Wang was sharpening his throwing knives on a whetting stone while Xu Jiu and Bao Nu shared some congee from the boiling pot over the fire. "Where's Tan Lan?" Duo asked.

Yu Wang looked over his shoulder then shrugged. "No clue. He said he had some business to take care of."

"Business?" Duo asked, not bothering to hide his suspicion.

Yu Wang sent him a glare. "Give him some slack - he's our accountant, alright?"

"How long has he been gone?" Jiang asked.

Yu Wang stared at her, then slowly said as it dawned on him, "At least an hour before you took Lang for training..."

The other wolves snapped their heads up, ears erect. Duo shared the same look with Wang, who pocketed his knives. Years spent as assassins, thieves, cutthroats and outlaws had honed their instincts towards such acute paranoia that anything - including prolonged absence by one considered an ally - was suspicious. "Something's wrong."

"He's been gone too long," Duo agreed. "Did he go alone?"

"I offered to come with him," Bao Nu said. "He said this was something he needed to do alone."

"We're not far from an army station," Jiang pointed out, chilling their blood even further. "Maybe an hour's walk..."

Zi Hao finally said what everyone was thinking: "The son of a bitch is selling us out."

"But he wouldn't do that," Xu Jiu said. "...Would he?"

Duo answered the fat wolf's question for all of them. He grabbed Jiang's arm and told her, "Get Koshchei and tell him what's going on. I'm going back for Lang and your sisters. Go!"

"Uh, too late," Xu Jiu said, pointing behind Duo. When the gray wolf turned, he came face-to-face with Tan Lan, who was - surprisingly - scrambling to get away from Lang. Duo saw why: even without the firelight, Lang's eyes were burning with hellish fury. The youth had something in his hand, and he threw it to the ground. The leather bag opened as it landed, spilling gold coins into the dirt.

"You sold us out for fifty gold pieces?" Lang snarled. "Is that all we're worth to you?"

Tan Lan knew he was in trouble. He didn't yet fear Lang, but he knew his brethren would turn on him with the damning evidence right by his claw. And not even the Wu Sisters, who came in behind Lang, could do anything - or would do anything - to help him. So the short tan wolf smirked and picked himself up. "Its all in the numbers, kid. Koshchei promised us payment, and he has yet to deliver. Meanwhile, the ransom on his head is more than enough for me to retire comfortably."

"And what about our heads?" Lang snapped. He pointed at the wolves standing by the fire. "Are we only worth fifty pieces of gold, together?"

"Compared to Koshchei, you're all small-time. Relax, your neck won't feel the noose."

Bao Nu looked absolutely furious, and ready to give in to his baser urge to wipe Tan Lan from the face of the earth, while Yu Wang had a white-knuckled grip on his knives. Zi Hao was too furious even to growl. Duo stared in dismay at the greedy tan wolf, his jaw moving, but his voice refusing to work. Lang, very unlike his character, spoke for all of them:

"You know what Koshchei's going to do to you when he finds out."

Tan Lan visibly paled, but whatever bravado he had left allowed him to snort contemptuously. "By now, his head's on a soldier's lance. I got fifty up front, but I get the rest of the reward after he's dead."

Lang slowly smirked. "You willing to bet your life on that?"

The tan wolf called his bluff. "Yeah, I am."

"Okay. Hey, Asmodei, how's it going?"

Tan Lan sucked in his last breath and turned to face his doom. That breath was knocked out of him when he felt the blade piercing his back. He staggered and would have fallen had Lang not wrapped his arm around the other wolf's chest to hold him up. As his vision grew increasingly darker, he felt something hot and wet pouring down his back, and heard Lang hissing in his ear:

"The punishment fits the crime, Lan. See you in hell."

With a parting curse, Lang shoved against Tan Lan's back, the tan wolf dead before he hit the ground. Tian and Zhu gasped in horror as the other wolves stared in shock. Lang had moved too fast for Duo to see, and too quickly for Yu Wang to realize the youth had snatched a knife right from his own hand. Lang stared down at Tan Lan's body, panting heavily from the adrenaline rush, the knife in his hand still dripping hot blood. It almost didn't register right away. He felt the knife in his hand, the surge of energy, and was aware that Tan Lan was lying prone on the ground with a huge and growing dark red spot on his back. So it wasn't until Jiang returned with Koshchei in tow that Lang suddenly realized what he'd done.

"Malchik," Koshchei said, so softly that it shocked everyone present by its tenderness. "Vhat happen?"

Lang's eyes flicked up to the leopard's, then down at the dead wolf, before he gave his answer. "I think it's pretty obvious what happened."

Koshchei surveyed the scene, missing nothing, especially the bag of money. "How much?"

"Fifty gold pieces," Lang answered, with an authoritative tone he had never used, sounding for foreign to his ears, and yet...it sounded right. "The army should be mobilizing and on their way to apprehend or kill us. We need to leave, now."

"Nyet," Koshchei said. "Ve stay and fight."

"Are you insane?" Wu Tian exclaimed.

"Ve haff superior number," he argued.

"Yes, a number of rag-tag undisciplined miscreants," she countered. "This is the Imperial Army we're talking about!"

Lang knew - he just knew - that staying put would end their plans before they had begun. He wasn't prepared to die in battle, be executed, or waste away in prison. He had too much to accomplish, too much to do before the first day of winter. So he thought. He thought quickly, running scenarios over in his head. He was not the most literate, and perhaps lacked some semblance of common sense, but his time around Koshchei - one more animal than man - had kicked Lang's animal instincts into high gear.

"Damnit, Asmodei, I said NO!" he suddenly snapped, shocking the Amur leopard and the female assassin out of their argument. He continued, holding the bloody knife with a white-knuckled grip, "We may have superior numbers but we are not a unified force! We don't have the training, we don't have the resources...if we stay, we're dead. We need to leave, now! If we stay and fight, the army will tip off the Jade Palace and our plan is fucked. I don't care what fucking experience you have or how much you want to kill somebody; it's not happening tonight. Save it for Jiao Dalang."

"I hate to agree," Lan Duo spoke up, "But Koshchei may have a point. Lang, this is a huge force – fifty thousand is nothing to sneeze at - and even if we decided to run with our tails tucked, it would take too long to mobilize."

"Then we abandon anything unnecessary," Lang said. "The tents, we can do without. Extra pots and pans. Only what we can carry, the bare minimum. Anyone who doesn't like that can stay here. Once we get to the Valley, there'll be shelter and food and other supplies."

Duo pleaded for sanity, "Lang, listen to me: we are not ready for an invasion! And the Thread of Hope can't handle an army this size crossing it! Either way, we'll have to fight sometime..."

Lang suddenly smiled, then his lips curled back into an appropriately wolfish grin. "I know. But not at the same time."

Duo, the other wolves, the Wu Sisters, and even Koshchei, stared in confusion at him. Lang sighed theatrically and swept his arm out to indicate the horde. "Okay guys, really? None of you have figured it out? We break the horde into smaller groups and flee, scatter in different directions so the army doesn't know who to follow. Yu Wang," he said, pointed at the thin assassin, "You can take one group of ten thousand, lead them in a roundabout to the Thread of Hope, through Guanxu. Bao Nu, Xu Jiu, Zi Hao, the Wu sisters, each of you can captain your own sections of the horde while Koshchei leads the main force. Take your groups and get the fuck out. If Koshchei and his team want to stay and risk their asses, let them. But I'm not going to risk the Big Plan for a stupid plan like that!"

Stunned, the group just stared back at him. A few of them then frowned, individually wondering why they hadn't thought of that first. Then Koshchei poked Duo's shoulder and asked, "Vhen you teach strategy?"

Duo glanced between Lang, the leopard, then back again before answering honestly, "I didn't."

Lang, by now very irritated that they were running on limited time, snapped, "Well? What the fuck are you all staring at me for? Get going!"

"Who should take what?" Xu Jiu asked.

"Aiya! Do I have to think of everything?" Lang snarled. He pointed at Xu Jiu, "You, take the ten thousand camped along the water, move through western edge of the pine forest, then turn around and head south once you reach the border to the next province. Bao Nu, you take another ten thousand, ones used to high elevations, and stick to the mountains; that's where your strength lies, so use it. Go east then come back down south through the mountains; the army won't be likely to follow you through there. Zi Hao-"

Zi Hao, now the omega of the pack, was both shocked and suspicious when Lang turned to him, but was further surprised when Lang said, "I can trust you to mobilize anyone I put you in control of, I don't care what methods you use. I'm giving you a choice: you can either be the ten thousand that stay behind and fight off the Imperial army, or you can be the primary offensive scouting expedition. You will be the first to the Valley of Peace and can get intelligence for the rest of the invasion."

The black wolf stared the smaller one down, as if trying to guess his intentions, then replied, "I'll stay."

"Good. Take the northerners; their fighting styles aren't what the Chinese are used to, you'll have the advantage of surprise. Duo," he turned to his teacher, "I'm putting you in charge of-"

"The fuck you are," Duo snapped. "I'm stickin' close to you, your training's not done yet, pup."

Lang sighed. "Fine. Tian, Jiang, and Zhu, you three head off the last ten thousand. Scout ahead and get intelligence on the Valley and its villages. Learn what you can about the Thread of Hope. We'll meet someplace close to the Thread of Hope, but far enough away to keep the army from noticing-"

"The Xiao-Tou Inn," Zhu quickly piped up. "It sits in the middle of this lake..."

"Compass Lake," Bao Nu said. "I know it. Wang, you've been near there, the Fukien prefecture."

Yu Wang nodded, quickly agreeing, "Yes, I know where that is."

Xu Jiu nodded, "I grew up near there, and I think I know the place you're talking about."

"Last question," Yu Wang asked, "How long do we have?"

Lang bit his lip and looked to Koshchei. The leopard only shrugged his shoulders. "I haff never been so far south."

"We have," Wu Tian said, and quickly gave directions to the suddenly appointed 'captains' to the location. "Each of us can make it there in ten days. If any of you are late..."

Lang finished for her, "If any of you are late, we assume the worst and carry out the plan on schedule, no matter what. Any questions? No? Good, lets go." But before Zi Hao could stalk off to claim his section of the horde, Lang stopped him and whispered in his ear, "Wait a second, I just thought of something. When you get your men together, disappear into the trees, wait for the army to get into the camp and surround them. Douse your fires. Make them think there's fewer than there are."

Hao stopped and took a moment to stare at the younger gray before he said, "Okay, where the hell did you learn all this?"

Lang's answer floored him: "From you. You used tactics like this whenever you bullied me." The youth offered a small, wry smile. "Who knew, that you were a better teacher than you thought?"

When Zi Hao walked away, Lang swore he saw a smile tugging at the dark wolf's lips. And Lang continued smiling, warmly, full of hope. When he turned to face his two teachers, Koshchei and Duo, leopard and wolf just stared at him, floored by what they had just seen.

Koshchei was the first to speak, "My Chinese is, eh, not so good, but, eh...vhat is saying..." he asked, looking to Duo for help.

Duo spoke for both of them: "Where the fuck did that come from?"

Lang looked between the two of them. "Uh...you mean killing Tan Lan?"

Duo and Koshchei shared the same long-suffering look before Duo said, "Yeah, sure, killing Tan Lan."

"He betrayed us. He had to pay. That's what you guys taught me."

"Da, ve did teach, yes?" Koshchei said, finally studying the corpse. "Is not bad for first kill. How you feel?"

Lang took in a deep breath then slowly let it out. "You know...I thought I should feel awful, but...it's not so bad."

"It looked pretty clean," Duo nodded. "But, now you have another lesson to learn. Which is...?"

"...How to dispose of the body?"

"Boom. You want to handle this, or shall I?" Duo asked Koshchei.

The leopard, evidently touched that Duo considered him, freely accepted. "But of course I handle!" He gave Duo some extra instructions for mobilizing the troops before setting down with Lang to discuss the finer points of disposing a body. After listing some of his preferred methods, he recommended, in this case, to leave the traitorous greedy son of a bitch to lie where he was. But, in a move that surprised the leopard, Lang asked, "What do they look like on the inside?"

"Vhat you are meaning?"

"Like, y'know, inside. What does a wolf's body look like on the inside? When you disemboweled White Wolf, I saw a bunch of long...things."

"It vas intestine. Intestine very, very long."

"I thought the stomach was in that area?"

"Nyet, intestine."

"So where is the stomach?"

Koshchei finally saw what Lang was intending to say and cruelly grinned. "Vell naow, Lang, you surprise me! Did not think you haff stomach for it. Very vell. Cut line from each this one's shoulders, reach point in middle of chest, then single line doawn..."

It wouldn't be until much later, as Duo was coming back to see what was taking his illustrious leader and student so long to meet with the group, that he came upon the most gruesome sight he had ever seen. Tan Lan's corpse was serving one last purpose aside from being an example to any who crossed Koshchei and his newest protege. The evidence lay in his viscera, which were strewn out around his stiffening body and...

Duo quickly removed himself from the situation and stench of death, moving as far and as fast as he could before vomiting. This was going too far. Killing was one thing. But now Lang was doubly unclean. It was one thing to kill a man...but Buddhist and Taoist codes forbid the desecration of a corpse. For the rest of the evening, while they fled south, Duo was forced to listen to Lang's excited speeches concerning the things he didn't know about the body that he knew now.

"The stomach is actually higher up than we think, but we can't touch it because the water inside can actually burn you, isn't that weird? And there are all these veins around the heart: big ones, small ones - and I didn't know that hearts and lungs can actually turn black; soot or coal ash can do that if a person spends a lot of time around those things. Did you know that?"

Duo didn't know that. He didn't want to know that. He could end up getting ill twice more that evening, and he couldn't sleep for the images that kept coming back to the forefront of his mind. For the first time—truthfully—he was wondering what he had gotten himself into...and how far deep he was in.

Three days after leaving Tibet, the Dragon Warrior and Phoenix Warrior (and Little Brother) arrived in the village of Xiang Cun. Xiang Cun was, despite the name, a rather prosperous place to live, being right outside Kunming, the largest village – a veritable city – in Yunnan. Po at least had not expected it to be so large, or possess such population density. He was struck by the diaspora of foreign peoples, and the locals looked just as exotic as some of their neighbors from other nations. Quite a few of them, however, had the same look as his feline companion: all the males looked very strong and well-weathered, and the females looked just as stocky; even those slighter individuals had a "don't mess with me" vibe that Po still got off of Tai Lung on his worse days. Tai Lung however looked like he felt out of place here.

The first thing they noticed when the reentered the Chinese empire was that it was Market Season for a good few villages, and they, naturally, travelled to the largest village in the prefecture to sell their wares. The stalls looked like they had existed there for centuries, though they had likely been hastily thrown up that morning at "O-dark ugly" as Po put it.

Little Brother, perched carefully on Tai Lung's shoulder, watched with wide eyes as they entered the village gates, the formerly lonely red panda now swamped by a sea of people. He had obviously been so far removed from high-traffic areas that such large crowds made him uncomfortable...which explained the painful grip he had on Tai Lung's fur.

"Ow," he winced, then tugged on Little Brother's red novice's robes. "Little Brother, you're going to have to ease up there, kiddo. I like having fur there."

The red panda pouted, then tugged on the strap of the snow leopard's rucksack.

"No, you cannot ride in the rucksack."

The red panda pouted further.

"Don't give me that look," Tai Lung scolded. "I may not be your official guardian, young man, but I'm not afraid to use discipline."

"You mean the same discipline you used when he gave you the sad cub eyes a couple days ago?" Po pointed out.

"That was different."

"Sure it was."

Tai Lung scowled.

Po smirked, "Lets face it: we both know Mei Xing's going to be the disciplinarian in your family."

"With my reputation being what it is?"

"Yup."

"Oh, you're so sure?"

"Yup. Your reputation with adults is different from your reputation with kids; kids aren't afraid of you. They know you'd never hurt them."

"Of course I wouldn't!"

"And there ya go," the panda said succinctly. "So, let's go ahead and find some food to eat; we're going to need enough to last two weeks, with three guys."

Tai Lung pointed to the red panda cub on his shoulder. "Po, how much do you think this little guy eats?"

"You'd be surprised how much kids can eat."

Tai Lung sighed, reaching to the money bag that hung around his neck that he had tucked inside his robe. He picked out a few coins, counting the difference in his head. "Alright then, lets find as many non-perishables as possible..."

As it turned out, the Dragon Warrior and Phoenix Warrior ended up getting most of their food for free. At first, they surmised it was because they still resembled monks (and for good measure, Po decided to take their red wool robes from the temple, as extra protection against the cold). The red robes, on top of the grey clothes they had worn from the Valley of Peace, and the wide-brimmed straw hats they still wore, would likely have given them room and board for a few nights, free of charge. But Tai Lung quickly discovered the real reason they were getting free food.

"It's the kid."

"What?" Po asked.

Tai Lung pointed to Little Brother, still perched safely on his broad shoulders. "It's him. The little old women here see him and immediately hand food to him. That's the second bean bun he's gone through, and the sugar cane stick came from that near-blind ox on the corner."

The little red panda was happily sucking on a piece of sugar cane, a broad smile on his round little face. Seeing an opportunity, the two warriors decided to accept whatever "donations" came their way...and having an adorable little "starving child monk" only helped matters (it also helped, of course, that Little Brother was skinnier than most children his age). Women of all ages fawned over the adorable cub, pinching his cheeks and giving him more treats, and, of course, food for his "loyal and observant guardians".

"Wow, people in Yunnan sure are friendly," Po said as they walked away from a stall selling medicinal herbs. "All I had to mention was that he had a stomachache and a cough, and they just handed over some herbs. I feel bad taking advantage of their kindness though..."

Tai Lung nudged him and whispered, "Don't worry, I left a few coins with him, to more than make up the difference."

Po sent him a look, "Have you been secretly paying people as we go?"

Tai Lung feigned an offended look. "Me? Now wherever did you get such an idea?"

They stopped suddenly when a scream cut through the air. Little Brother grabbed hold of Tai Lung's fur to keep from falling when the snow leopard and panda whirled around to find the source of the scream coming from a frantic teenage female snow leopard. She wore a red dress torn at the collar, tripping over the long hem, and tripped right into Po's arms.

"Whoa, hey there, are you okay?" he asked her. She didn't answer, only looking over her shoulder, shaking like a leaf in his arms. "Is someone chasing you?" Po asked her.

She turned back to him, grabbed the front of his red robes and begged, "Please, sir, get me out of here! He kidnapped me, he wants me to be his wife but he's already married my sister and he can't have me! Please, help me!"

Both she and Po were startled to hear the growl ripping from Tai Lung's throat. Quietly, he extracted Little Brother from his shoulders and placed him in the young female's arms. "Would you be a love and hold onto him for a bit? Thanks."

"Tai," Po said with a warning tone. "What are you doing?"

"Something I've wanted to do for the last two years," he hissed.

That was when Po put it all together. Largest village in Yunnan. Terrified young female snow leopard. Kidnap, likely forced marriage, attempted violation and assault, if her torn red dress and traumatized expression were any clue. And the look of hellish fury in Tai Lung's eyes that now burned with a phoenix's fire...

"Oh crap," he whispered, suddenly horrified. "No, wait—Tai, WAIT!"

He was too late. As soon as the Headman of the village pushed his way through the crowd, Tai Lung had sprung on him, wrapping his large paw around the fatter and shorter snow leopard's thick throat and lifting him high off the ground. All semblence of outrage left the Headman's face, which was starting to turn an alarming shade of blue...

"I thought that was you," Tai Lung said evenly. "Your stench preceeds you far more than your reputation." He ignored the Headman frantically clawing at the Phoenix Warrior's arm, his tubby body twitching and sharp, shrill gasps and disturbing gurgling sounds escaping his throat. Po took the opportunity to tap Tai Lung's shoulder:

"Okay, judging by the look of unholy fury in your eyes and the tight grip you got on his throat...this is Mei's ex, isn't it?"

"Yep," was the affirmative answer.

"Y'anno, I might be new to the whole revenge thing, but don't you think it'd be sweeter if he were alive long enough for you to gloat?"

Tai Lung thought about it, then shrugged, "Eh, good point," then he unceremoniously dropped the Headman onto the cobblestones. The shorter snow leopard coughed and sputtered just as his guards showed up behind him. They held back, not sure what to make of the situation. Tai Lung tore the wide-brimmed hat from his head and smirked, "Why hullo there. Remember me?"

As soon as the Headman recovered, he stared up in astonishment, then his face contorted into a grimace of rage as he stood. "YOU!"

"Me," Tai Lung said smugly. "Sublimely wonderful me."

"I should have killed you while I had the chance, you worthless peasant!" he shouted, then made the absolutely awful mistake of spitting into the Phoenix Warrior's face. To his credit, Tai Lung only cringed and used a corner of his red wool robes to wipe the spittle away.

"You okay?" Po said, gently pushing the female snow leopard behind him to keep her as far from the Headman as possible.

"Smashing. As in, I'm smashing in his face first chance I get."

"I've heard enough," the Headman barked. "GUARDS! Arrest these men, and throw that whore in with-"

"Wow, do you have a complex," Tai Lung said. "So every woman that runs away from you or disagrees with you is a whore? No wonder Mei Xing left you."

Po hissed, but laughed, "Ew, burn..."

The Headman seethed. "That girl is legally bound to me. She was promised to me to bear my children-"

"Wow," Po said. "You've been married twice now and no kids? What's wrong with you?"

"It's those women! They were all sterile."

"Sterile, right..." Po said. He nudged Tai Lung's side. "How long did it take Mei Xing to conceive after you guys got married?"

"Three months? Maybe?" Tai Lung surmised. "I wouldn't know, I lost track..."

Suddenly the female snow leopard gasped, then spoke up: "You're married to my sister?"

The Warriors froze, shared an astonished look, then turned to the female. "Tian Mei Xing is your sister?" Po asked her.

Tai Lung hesitated, then asked, "You wouldn't happen to be Tian Fei, would you? You used to wear the green shawl your sister made you before she married out?" The girl nodded, holding Little Brother close to her chest; the red panda was similarly holding onto her, looking at the Headman and the soldiers very nervously. She looked surprised that he knew so much about her, but how could he not? Mei Xing was incredibly fond of her youngest sister, and spoke about her and her other siblings with a fondness she never used to discuss her parents. So Tai Lung knew quite a bit about Fei - "Crescent Moon" - than he mentioned.

Tai Lung was similarly astounded to have suddenly found extended family. He stared at her, matching her amazed look for another heartbeat. Then he turned to the Headman: "Her sister? Tian Mei Xing's younger sister?" his tone started out soft, then as the words left his mouth, they became laced with malice, then by the last word, with absolute rage: "You beat, rape and starve Mei Xing, and then you dare to do the same to her little sister and my sister-in-law?"

"Yes I do," the Headman said, evidently unfazed by the look in the other snow leopard's eye...he did have an army at his back; unfortunately for him, Tai Lung was a single army in one body. "I have absolute power here," the fat leopard bragged. "I am the richest man in Yunnan, and can do as I please. I need a son, and she-" he said, pointing at the youngest Tian daughter, "-is just what I need."

Tai Lung lashed out too quickly for Po to stop him again, but Tai Lung was not fast enough to stop the spear going right to his throat. It stopped just short of stabbing him, but it did nick his throat enough to draw a pinprick of blood.

For a moment, Tai Lung forgot to breathe. And so did the one wielding the spear at his throat. In that moment, the snow leopard and his rhino attacker froze, feeling chills neither had felt since that terrible, fateful day at Chorh-Gom Prison. It was unmistakable: Tai Lung knew those scars, those eyes; he knew exactly who he was looking at. And so did the rhino.

Tai Lung swallowed hard—not easy with the spear-point so close to his jugular—and choked out with as much aplomb as he could manage, "Hello Captain Altai, its been a while, hasn't it?"

The street was deathly silent, neither of its current inhabitants willing to make a sound, nor breathe. The first one to say anything was the only person who could not have been trusted to know when to keep his mouth shut in the first place.

"What the hell is going on?" the Headman demanded. "I hired you to follow my orders, and I demand you kill that spineless little—" He choked down the rest of his statement when the rhino leveled his glare and his spear at the shorter snow leopard's throat.

"Why don't you shut your hole, pint-size," the rhino rumbled, his voice low and deep like thunder rolling down from the mountains over a level plain. "You don't know who you're talking to."

"You? Please!" the old leopard harshly laughed, not realizing who the rhino was actually referring to. "You're washed up! Dishonorably discharged from the Anvil of Heaven—when I found you, you were so destitute, you were scrounging for food from garbage piles. I own you!"

"Own him? Own him?" Tai Lung gaped, pointing at the rhino. "Are you out of your mind? No one can own him! He's Captain Altai, the Captain Altai, the Hero of the Mongolian Borderlands, himself!"

Po poked Tai Lung in the shoulder. "You know this guy?"

Tai Lung paused for a good moment, wondering how best to answer. Po still didn't know about his abuse…and he intended to keep it that way. "I should—he was one of my guards."

"Guards?" the Headman asked. "What's this about?"

The rhino, Altai, stared incredulously at the fat snow leopard. Then he pointed at Tai Lung, "…Do you mean to tell me you don't know who he is?"

"Are you saying a worthless peasant is someone I should know?" the Headman scoffed.

"Considering he's Tai Lung, yeah," was his matter-of-fact answer.

Still thinking it a joke, the Headman only chuckled. The laugh died in his throat when he looked about the street, at the two Warriors, at his intended bride holding the small red panda child, the townspeople (who had already pieced things together well enough to take a few paces back in an effort to avoid possible blood splatter), and even his own guards, suddenly noting the dead-serious expressions on all their faces. Whatever joviality was left in him evaporated immediately, and the sudden lack of self-confidence was replaced instead with cold-blooded fear, stuttering as he began to quake.

"W-wait…Tai Lung? As in…the greatest kung fu warrior that's ever lived, Tai Lung? The one who razed the Valley of Peace to the ground? The warrior who was so dangerous that they built a prison just to hold him and him alone? The Tai Lung that broke out of that prison and obliterated the entire Anvil of Heaven without breaking a sweat? The same Tai Lung who defeated Jiao Shen? He's THAT Tai Lung?"

"Yup." Captain Altai looked like he was enjoying himself far too much, and indeed far more than Tai Lung would have.

Tai Lung looked around the street, seeing faces pale all around. The young female snow leopard huddled further in behind Po's back, her eyes wide with fear now that she discovered her rescuer was not the saint she first thought he was. The Headman's other guards drew back in alarm, a few even giving up and running for their lives. The Headman visibly quaked…and Tai Lung finally smiled, straightening and stalking closer, like a predator to his prey.

The Headman laughed nervously, beads of cold sweat breaking out on his brow. "Eheh, um…about the 'peasant' comments…"

"Yes, I did want to say something about that," Tai Lung said, ominously cracking his knuckles. "But first, I have a little bit of news for you—Mei Xing is now my wife, which means that girl," he said, pointing at the teenager huddling behind the Dragon Warrior, "is my sister-in-law. She is coming with me, I am taking her back home to her parents, and you are going to stand aside and let us go freely; and there won't be any trouble…" by this point, they were nose-to-nose, and Tai Lung made sure to bare his fangs for the Headman to see. "Right?"

"Of c-c-course not!" the shorter snow leopard stammered.

"Good." He called to the girl, in a tone so gentle it was difficult to believe he had been threatening someone's life less than a minute before. "Fei, come along, love, we're taking you home."

Fei, still visibly shaking, slowly stepped forward, her eyes still fearful, and she shook so much that Little Brother was looking a little queasy. "Y-you're my brother-in-law?" she asked quietly.

"I am; your sister and I married a year ago." He held out his hand to her. "You don't have to come, but I can assure you that you are free, and that I won't hurt you."

"You can trust us," Po said with a sincere smile. "We won't hurt you; we're good guys, see? Well, yeah, Tai's got a reputation, but he's really turned around! And I promise, you have my word as the Dragon Warrior – and I also swear on my dad's noodle shop – that you will get back to your family safely."

Fei still looked a little overwhelmed, but looking into Po's sweet, warm green eyes that smiled with the rest of his round face, she felt her fears slipping away as he took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, much like how a protective older brother would treat her.

"My family," she said, looking quite relieved.

"Oh that's right, that reminds me," Tai Lung said congenially enough, then firmly grabbed the Headman by the throat, effortlessly lifting him two feet off the ground and slamming him against the nearest wall. "I am only going to say this once," he snarled at him. "And only once: if you ever bother my in-laws again, I'll rip you into such tiny shreds that there won't be enough for your descendants to worship. Are we clear?"

The Headman gurgled out a quick affirmative answer and Tai Lung brusquely dropped him.

"Well," Tai Lung said, slapping dust off his palms. "Now that that is taken care of…shall we?"

"Let's," Po replied, gently guiding the girl to the village gate. Both warriors stopped dead when the Headman choked out his final order:

"Altai, aren't you going to do something?"

Tai Lung's eyes immediately flicked to Altai's direction, meeting his gaze. The rhino looked deep in thought, as if he were seriously contemplating it. Suddenly, he made his decision.

"Yeah, I'll do something. Something I should've done a long time ago," he said—almost cheerfully—to the Headman. "This is my two week's notice as of two weeks ago: I quit."

The Headman blustered. "Q-quit? You can't quit!"

Altai turned to glare at the Headman, smirked, then sent him a rather impolite hand gesture. "Watch me."

Tai Lung bit on his lip to hold back a laugh. He could tell from the rhino's expression that that had felt very good. While the Headman stammered and stuttered with shock, the rhino threw down his weapon and marched towards the door.

"You boys don't mind if I walk you to the gates?"

"Not at all," Tai Lung smirked. "Rather like old times, isn't it?"

"That was only one time," the rhino reminded him.

He hesitated, as if questioning the logic of his saying it, then asked, "You know, we're staying at this inn, by the Silk and Tea road, then heading north to the Tian family farm. You're welcome to join us, seeing as you've probably got no where else..."

Altai paused as well, then warily replied, "Thanks, I think I will."

Po and Fei just watched the odd exchange, sharing confused expressions as they walked through the village's gate and into the dusty road outside. Po took off his warm outer robes to drape it over Fei's slight shoulders; she hugged it to her thin frame, offering Little Brother some warmth as well. The child continued to hug her, as if knowing she needed it.

Po and Tai Lung walked a few paces ahead of the rhino, and the panda waited until they were out of earshot. "Why'd you invite him? I thought you hated the Anvil of Heaven?" Po asked.

Tai Lung hushed him, looking over his shoulder at the rhino. He whispered to the panda, "I do…but I owe him a favor."

By the time they got to the inn, Fei had opened up considerably to the warriors who had saved her, Po especially. It wasn't until Po told Fei the whole story—how Tai Lung had met her sister, how they had courted and eventually married—that the young snow leopardess began to trust her newfound brother-in-law. Most of it had to do with how the story went: "Yes, that sounds like my sister. My mother swore she would never get married with that attitude of hers".

"Trust me," her brother-in-law assured her. "The stabbing was the worst of it, but it wasn't the only thing she did to me..." and thus did he tell her about all the slaps, punches, kicks, and even showed off the chipped tooth Mei Xing was responsible for (and though it was a pain at the time, Tai Lung couldn't help but feel proud of her for that).

Tai Lung, for his part, was willing to answer most of her questions regarding her sister and the Valley of Peace, as well as his own past…at least a little bit. Fei, who had, until now, never even left her family's home, was enamored with the stories, and seemed more excited for their adventure than they were. Hours after they had arrived at the inn, a well-fed and freshly bathed snow leopardess and tiny red panda lay asleep in their own room, something that Altai generously paid for from his own pocket.

This all made Po wonder. All he knew of this new situation was that, one, Altai was once an officer in the Anvil of Heaven; two, he had been dishonorably discharged; three, he had been one of Tai Lung's guards; and four, Tai Lung felt he owed him a favor. But as the panda lay awake that night, his curiosity became too much to bear. His thoughts raced as he tried to figure out how everything was connected.

After a good hour of tossing and turning, the panda finally sighed and got up, figuring a midnight snack might help him sleep. He pulled on his gray robe and made his way to the dining room, walking along the hall but stopped when he came to the stairwell. He heard voices coming from the dimly lit dining room, speaking in hushed tones. Curious, he carefully inched his way down, careful not to make a sound on the creaky steps; his training with Sun Bear helped tremendously. When he reached the foot of the stairs, he bolted, using the bar for cover as he listened in…and found that Tai Lung and Captain Altai were—amiably—catching up.

He heard Altai ask, "So…married now, huh? She hot?"

"Yes…gods yes," Tai Lung said, grinning like an idiot. Then he quickly recovered himself, "I mean… Ahem, yes, she is quite pleasing to the eye."

Altai smirked back. "Glad to hear it."

"You?"

"Widowed."

"Oh. Gods, I'm so sorry."

Altai shrugged. "She's better off in Heaven than she is here with me, where I can't even provide for myself let alone a wife, but enough about old wounds..."

Tai Lung nodded, adding, albeit a little hesitantly, "We're expecting, too."

Altai brightened up and grinned. "Oh! That's great, congratulations! How soon?"

"A month, by my reckoning."

"Jeez, you must be a wreck, being so far away from your…sorry, didn't realize that was a sore subject."

He shook his head, "I'm slowly getting used to it. So…what's this business about scrounging for food?"

Altai sighed, his broad shoulders heaving. "A lot of shit went down after I was discharged."

"But a dishonorable discharge?" the snow leopard asked, sounding genuinely confused. "What did you do that was so detestable?"

"I reported your abuse."

Po's eyes widened. Abuse? Well, he figured that his friend's stay in prison wasn't exactly pleasant, but torture? He listened closer, daring to peek around the corner to watch them.

Tai Lung looked sick. Po didn't know the whole story, but whatever ills had happened to this rhino, the panda saw that Tai Lung felt he had, in a roundabout way, been to blame for the captain's troubles. "…You reported it? But…you're so thorough; I expected something to be done…what happened?"

"Tai Lung, as soon as I found out what was happening, what Vachir was sanctioning as 'rehabilitation', I tried to stop it." Altai looked away, clenching his jaw. "I struggled to bring your abusers to justice for five years before Vachir got rid of me. Did you ever wonder why there was such a long break in between…?"

Tai answered in the affirmative, that he had, but he hadn't thought too much about it; that he was just grateful it wasn't happening. He let the rhino continue:

"When I found out what happened, I detained them, locked them up, and was going to report them. It was only then that I heard they'd been given the clearance to do it. I told him, Vachir, that what he was doing, what he was allowing to happen, was a stain on his reputation, the reputation of the Anvil of Heaven, and a dishonor to the empire, but he wouldn't listen, and told me to 'mind my rank'. So I decided to go over his head, take it up the ladder."

"You left," the snow leopard pointed out, sounding hurt and betrayed. "You left me there, and let them do it again. You have no idea how many times…"

"I know," he apologetically replied, looking forlorn and ashamed. "I had to leave; I had to go lodge a complaint in the capital. Vachir somehow caught wind of what I was doing, so when I got there, before I knew it, I was court marshaled for defying his orders." He shook his head, chuckling mirthlessly. "Court marshaled for doing the right thing, can you believe it?"

Tai Lung looked guilty. "So it's my fault, what happened to you."

Altai snorted. "Bull shit, you know as well as I do that none of this was your fault."

"You said you would try to help me…I remember that you came by, after…" he paused, visibly shuddering, "…after it happened, the first time, you cleaned me up, gave me a hot meal…that was probably the only time I was treated like a person while I was in there. The only thing I truly want to know is why you helped me."

What the rhino said next made Po see why Tai Lung held the old soldier to such a high esteem. Altai finally looked back at his former prisoner and quietly replied, "Why'd I do it? Because it was the right thing to do. If I just let it happen, everything I'd been taught, everything I was trained to do, would have been worthless. Believe what you want about the Anvil of Heaven—we were bred to be men of honor."

Tai Lung snorted contemptuously. "Looks like most of you missed your mark, because I can only name one man of honor from the lot of you, and he's sitting right in front of me."

Altai thinly smiled. "I'm honored you have such a high opinion of me. You seem to be the only one."

Tai Lung sighed, shaking his head, "If only I'd known about what happened to you after you left…I've got connections now, I can get you a better job—"

"I've made my peace," the rhino said, holding up a hand to stop him. "I decided that I didn't want to be a part of something that said one thing and did another. I couldn't live with myself if I worked with people whose ethics were worse than bandits. No matter what happened in the past ten years…or has it been fifteen? Anyway, no matter what happened, I have no regrets."

"I wish I could be so forgiving," the snow leopard said shortly, crossing his arms.

"Victims have a harder time, I think," the rhino said. "Forgiveness never comes easy, and putting it behind you is hard, real hard. But I learned it the hard way: holding a grudge takes more energy than just letting go. It's kinda like carrying a big rock on your shoulders; the longer you carry it, the harder it gets to keep moving. If you just let the rock go…"

"…the journey gets easier," the snow leopard finished.

Altai smiled. "Exactly." After another pause, the rhino exhaled heavily through his nostrils. "Does your friend know?"

Tai Lung shook his head. "It's not easy to talk about it. My wife knows, and so does my father. Not Shifu," he elaborated, "I found out a while ago, after defeating Jiao Shen, that my biological father was still alive. He…he had found Vachir alive after I escaped, and—Dad was an assassin, and, well…he was pretty good at his job. I'm sorry."

Altai shrugged. "Vachir knew he was in a dangerous business; assassinations are about as common to officers as building latrines are for the grunts."

"Just the same…"

"I understand, and you're both forgiven. Go on."

"Alright…But in any case…telling my family was hard enough. Po and I might be as close as brothers, but…I don't think I can tell him. I mean, what would he think of me?"

Po stubbornly thought, Nothing changes, no matter what happened there!

Altai shook his head, "If he's really your friend, he won't judge you. He seems like a pretty bright kid, and pretty understanding."

Damn right! Po smiled with silent agreement.

"It's not that, its just…" the feline sighed. "I don't want his opinion of me to change."

"Mine didn't."

Tai Lung looked back and saw the rhino was perfectly serious. "Tai Lung, my opinion of you didn't change at all. Even after what you did, I still knew you were not a bad person, but you made bad choices. Most people can't see past that. After what happened in Chorh-Gom, my opinion didn't change. It takes a pretty big pair not to completely break down after the treatment you suffered. In fact, I think you're stronger now because of it. You survived it, and if you can survive something like that and still hold your head high...you're unbreakable."

Tai Lung sighed heavily, "I don't believe that. I suppose I just hide it well." When he finally trusted himself to look back at the rhino, he said, "You know, the way you're waxing philosophic here, about forgiveness and everything, I'd think you were training to be a monk."

"Nah, they'd never take me at a temple. I like swearing too much."

They shared a knowing chuckle, as if this was a long-running joke. The pause that came after gave Po a moment to think over what he had heard. So that was how Tai knew this guy! After he'd heard that the Anvil of Heaven had been cruel to him in prison, Po expected any surviving members to be as nasty as the snow leopard had indicated. So naturally, his first impression of Captain Altai was not kind. But if what he'd heard was true, if Altai actually had tried to stop the torture—whatever it was—from happening…that made him more honorable that the panda had originally thought.

Po's ears pricked up when he heard Tai Lung clear his throat and say, "Look, considering you're not employed anymore…why don't you come with us, Po and I?"

Altai arched a thick brow. "…Why?"

"Well, your discharge and most recent unemployment are my fault, and besides that…I owe you a great many favors. Sure, tell me I owe you nothing, but I'd feel better."

"Feel better that you're making up for something?"

"No, I'd feel better having an extra member of our party, for safety."

"Safety?" he asked incredulously. "Just where are you going? Who are you worried about?"

The snow leopard shrugged. "Hell if I know."

They left the next morning, and while the warriors rose bright and early to lay out their plans for the way home, they allowed the two minors to sleep longer. Tian Fei, Mei Xing's littlest sister, had been through a lot; the fact the girl was merely fourteen years old only added to Tai Lung's absolute hatred towards the Headman. It took quite a talking-down from Po – and threats of violent restraint from both Po and Altai – before the snow leopard was calm enough to receive his sister-in-law and Little Brother down in the eating area for breakfast.

Altai paid for her meal – for all their meals that day – despite Tai Lung's insisting he needn't bother. Somewhat as a way to prevent himself from protesting further, Tai Lung got to know his sister-in-law better, and found that the fire that he loved about Mei Xing seemed to be inherent in the female family members. Fei may have been terrorized, but now that she was out of the worst of it, she showed such an anger to the Headman for not only kidnapping her and forcing her into a marriage with him, but for harming her sister, and his first wife, whom she was certain was murdered, despite what the old bastard said. There was such passion and vehemence in the girl's words that the adult males around that table were damn sure that if the Headman had actually done more than torn her dress, Fei would have done the one thing that Mei Xing had never dared to do: she would have put that son of a bitch into the ground.

"I'm quite certain of that," Tai Lung said later as they walked the narrow dirt road towards the Tian family farm. "She would have killed him."

Altai was doubtful, "Even knowing that doing so is an automatic death sentence for her? Besides, she's so little – what hope does she have against the likes of him?"

Tai Lung sent the rhino a look. "All right, now you're obligated: you need to meet my wife. She's proof positive that you shouldn't underestimate small creatures."

"Don't forget Auntie Wu," Po said. "If anyone could prove that small creatures can pack a big punch, she's definitely one of them."

"What about Master Shifu?" Altai asked.

"Well, that goes without saying, doesn't it?" the snow leopard warrior asked.

Altai smirked at Tai Lung. "He still scares the shit outta you, doesn't he?"

"Have you met the man?" the snow leopard pressed.

"He makes a good point," Po said. "He might be little, but he's still plenty intimidating."

"What species is he?" Fei asked; all she knew about kung fu was what she had learned from her in-law.

"He's a red panda," Tai Lung answered, noticing Little Brother perking his ears up in interest. "And quite possibly the scariest master I've ever known."

"He's not that bad," Po said. "I mean, before your reformation, you were a lot scarier."

"Because I learned it all from him," Tai Lung said with great emphasis.

Fei, looking a little nervous, turned to Altai, "I thought you said he was nice?"

"He is," the rhino assured her. "He's a perfectly nice guy. He's made some bad choices, killed a couple people, but then, I have, too. It comes with the territory." After a pause, Altai further assured her, "Tai Lung won't hurt you. If I know anything about him, I know he's a man of his word."

"You only knew me for five years," the Phoenix Warrior pointed out. "How can you be so certain?"

The rhino leveled him with a look. "You looked me right in the eye and told me you would break out of prison, even if it killed you."

"You know...at the time, I was blowing smoke."

"Don't matter: you said you'd do something, and you did it."

"That's not the best example I would give her."

"Best one I know," the rhino said with a shrug.

Po piped up, "Either way, he's not going to hurt you. You know how I know?"

"How?" Fei asked.

"Because if he was gonna hurt you, he woulda done it by now."

Tai Lung slapped a palm to his forehead and ran it down his face with a frustrated groan. "Oi...Fei, about how much farther is this place?"

The farm was not as far as they had thought, finding that they had made it to the smaller village of farmers by mid-afternoon that day. While the day had started sunny and warm, by the time they got to the fields, the sky had clouded over, and a chilly wind started sweeping across the valley. The steep hills – the only unarable land around – were dotted with precariously-hanging houses that jutted out from the cliffs, supported by flimsy-looking stilts. They continued to walk, with Fei leading the way, until they came upon the very outskirts of this village, far removed from the others, to a house sitting atop a small hill.

There before them stood what could only be described as a hovel, a tiny structure barely big enough to two people that looked ready to topple to the ground with the slightest gust of wind. Tai Lung had to stop and stare at the homestead, surrounded by dry, dusty earth and the rotted remains of failed crops. The barn was only slightly bigger than the family home, and held rusting and rotting plows, garden hoes, and shovels. Everything about this place told the story of a failed farm, and a failed family that had fallen far from grace. For there was evidence, based on the faded paint on the house's exterior walls, and the latticework in the windows, that this had once been an estate…sometime long, long ago. Certainly not within Mei Xing's lifetime.

"This…this is where you live?" he asked Fei.

The girl's face colored and she looked down at the earth in shame. She didn't need to say anything, nor offer an explanation. Suddenly, Mr. Tian selling his daughters made sense—it certainly didn't condone it, and Tai Lung would never, ever forgive the man for what he did—but in the face of such overwhelming poverty, how could anyone not fall prey to such intense desperation?

As they drew closer, none of them spoke. Though he didn't look back at them, he could tell Po and Altai were as stunned as he was. He chanced a look over to the panda, who looked back at him with a gaze of pure, concerned awe. Neither of them had ever seen anything like it, and yet both of them knew that this explained so much…

At the top of the hill, the old weather-beaten door swung open, revealing a short, alarmingly thin woman—unquestionably Mrs. Tian, Mei Xing's mother—whose face betrayed the harshness of her life, making her appear much older than she actually was. A thick yet tattered shawl was tied around her thin shoulders, her torn, ragged clothes her only protection from the chilling winds. The woman's eyes immediately settled on Fei, who cried out and ran the rest of the way into her mother's waiting arms. Mrs. Tian tightly hugged her daughter, grateful tears springing into her eyes.

"Fei-Fei, my little girl," she whispered. "Please tell me he didn't touch you, or so help me—"

"I'm fine, Mama, he never even got close," the girl said. She turned and pointed down the path at the four males waiting patiently. "These men saved me—and that man there is married to Mei Xing!"

The older woman looked between her daughter and new-found son-in-law with astonishment. "Is this true?" she asked Tai Lung. "Are you truly married to my eldest daughter?"

Tai Lung looked between Altai, Little Brother, and Po, the latter giving him an encouraging nod. He turned to his mother-in-law and replied, "I am."

Mrs. Tian narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. "Prove it."

"Well, madam," Tai Lung said honestly, "I certainly recognize that look on your face—Mei Xing uses it whenever she's cross at me."

"Not good enough," the old woman said, crossing her delicate arms. Despite her short stature and her frail, ghoul-like appearance, there was strength in the way she stood, and a look in her amber-gold eyes that Tai Lung remembered from the day he met his wife.

"All right," he said with a resigned sigh. "What proof do you need?"

"If you are really my daughter's husband," she said coolly, "You must know her favorite color, favorite food, favorite flower, favorite pastime, her best subject in school, and above all, the thing she desires most. You have thirty seconds."

He answered in quick succession: "Blue; fried prawn balls with sweet and sour sauce; plum blossoms; beating people at chess; arithmetic; and above all…" he recited and paused for emphasis, "The freedom to be her own person."

Fei and her mother shared a significant look. Then Mrs. Tian said to her, "He's good." She turned to him and nodded once. "All right, you pass. Why don't you and your fellows come inside?" she offered. "We don't have much, but we've never turned anyone away."

"Except your own daughter." Tai Lung bit his tongue, but the damage was already done. Mrs. Tian stared at him, completely stricken, and behind him, Tai Lung heard Altai groan and Po smack his palm to his forehead. Then he inwardly swore at himself; judging by how she was treated, and from what Mei Xing had said about her family, Mrs. Tian probably had little to no say in who her daughters married…those decisions were made by no one else but Mr. Tian, Mei Xing's father. Looking around the failed farm again, Tai Lung swiftly apologized.

"Please, forgive me—that was uncalled for. Madam, believe me, I am more angry at that bastard Mei Xing calls her first husband."

"Sir, you have no idea," the matron said with meaning. "And consider your apology accepted. Now, will you all come inside? My sons and daughters-in-law are out in the fields right now, and it's a bit cramped inside, but it's still better that keeping you out here in the cold."

"Is your husband also tending the fields?" Tai Lung asked, unable to hide the sharpness in his tone.

Mrs. Tian stared at him with an expression he couldn't quite place, but he noticed she had flinched when he mentioned her spouse. That didn't bode well at all. And it answered yet another question he had about his father-in-law. He had theorized that the only kind of man who would sell his daughters to known abusers would also be the kind to terrorize his own family.

"No," she said at last, "He is in the back garden, over on the next hill. Would you like to see him?"

Fei frantically tugged on her mother's arm, "Mama—"

"Hush," she said quickly. "Well?" she asked Tai Lung.

"Gladly," he said, his hackles rising. "I've a few words to exchange with him."

He felt a warm hand on his shoulder, and Po whispered in his ear, "Take it easy, bud. I know you're mad at him, but don't do anything illegal, okay?"

"Define 'illegal'…" he whispered back.

Po listed them: "Killing him, hitting him, threatening him…"

"So in other words, keep my mouth shut."

"Pretty much. Watch your temper, Tai," the panda warned. "We're guests here, remember?"

Tai Lung took a deep breath and followed Mrs. Tian as she led him around the side of the rickety old house. He noticed dead weeds growing along the sides, and hastily-patched holes plastered onto the outside walls that probably did little to actually keep the cold and wind out. He also noticed—to his shock and horror—a tiny wooden box, currently empty, but standing propped up against the exterior wall, waiting for its eternal contents. Mrs. Tian noticed where his gaze fell. "My youngest grandchild has been sick for a long time," she explained. "We're not expecting him to live much longer. It'll be a mercy for him, poor thing."

"What's wrong with him?" he asked as gently as he could.

"We don't know. He's always been weak, has no appetite, and often struggles to breathe. The healers can't do anything, diviners are no help at all, and we can't afford to get a real doctor out here."

"Is this how Mei Xing—"

"How she grew up? Yes…and if things had progressed the way we expected them to, she'd be married to a farmer as poor as we are," and here she paused, studying him with her eyes, as if trying to figure out his occupation from physique alone. The consternation on her expression told him she was completely in the dark…that, in her mind, he was muscular enough to be a farmer or soldier, but certainly not dressed like a peasant, nor did his manners (or lack thereof, in this case) suggest a rough upbringing. Tai Lung knew just from one look that he was, currently, a complete enigma to this poor woman. "He's over there," she pointed out to small shed-like structure that Tai Lung immediately recognized as a family shrine.

"Shall I interrupt him while he's praying to his ancestors?" he asked.

"There is very little that can bother him now."

Curious, and yet wary of what she had said, Tai Lung scaled the rest of the hill in a few short bounds and came to stop just to the side of a small pavilion that served as the family temple. Not surprisingly, it was kept in better condition than the family home.

"Mr. Tian?" he called. "Tian Dai, I need to speak—" But when he turned the corner, the small temple was empty. The only things staring back at him were ancestor tablets, headstones, and…

His jaw dropped in horror. "Oh no…"

At his feet lay a small, rather unobtrusive gravemarker, with the name "Tian Dai" engraved in the stone. Tai Lung stepped back and out of the temple, gaping at the stone. "Gods in Heaven…"

Mrs. Tian stood just off to the side, her arms crossed over her thin body in an effort to shield herself from the late autumn winds. "He's been gone since summer—his heart failed him while he was tending the fields."

"How…gods…" he was absolutely speechless. He had been prepared for anything: yelling, shouting, maybe a knock-down drag-out fight…but he never expected this. "I…I'm so sorry."

Somehow—a trait her daughter had inherited—Mrs. Tian seemed to know exactly what he had planned to do once confronting her late husband. "Judge my husband how you like," she said sharply, "But do not mistake my intentions—I still love my daughter. Should she choose, she is still welcome here; I wasn't at all thrilled with whom my husband chose for her, but the man was rich, and Mei-Mei would never want for anything."

"Except someone who wouldn't beat her," Tai Lung said darkly. "Would it be a consolation for me to tell you I beat the snot out of him?"

She stopped, turned, and glared at him. "And invite his wrath upon us? How could you? He's already taken so much…"

"Trust me, after the 'chat' we had, he won't be bothering you again. If he ever does, let me know—I've no problem going back to prison."

"Prison? Sweet, merciful heaven…my daughter fled a perfectly respectable man and married a convict?"

Tai Lung clenched his fists, but that was as far as his temper got. "I've never hurt her, which is more than I can say for a 'respectable man' like that Headman. I'd rather die than hurt Mei Xing. But…" he looked back at the gravestone and growled. "I can't forgive your husband for doing that to her—he knew what kind of man the Headman was, and when Mei begged him to take her back, he ignored her. That bastard could have killed her, and your husband just sat back and did nothing!" He snarled savagely, making Mrs. Tian jump back in alarm. "I swear on my mother's grave, if I ever have a daughter, I would never let that happen."

"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Tian asked. "Mei Xing never begged to come back home; after she got married, she stopped talking to us."

"Bollocks," he swore. "She sent letters, many of them! Each one telling you exactly what that man did to her! The rapes, the beatings—he starved her, worked her like a slave—"

The elder snow leopardess shook her head, overwhelmed by the allegations. "No…no, you're wrong. You're lying. The Headman may have a reputation, but he would never—"

"Don't you dare call me a liar," Tai Lung growled. "I may be many things, but a liar is not one of them. Mei Xing showed me the scars herself. Those were not self-inflicted, they were not her fault and, if I understand it right, she did nothing to warrant the abuse she got."

"No, you are a liar!" the older woman shouted. "If Mei Xing was being treated this way, my husband would have told me!"

"She sent letters—"

"We never received any!"

"When you say 'we', do you mean you, or your husband?"

That was when she very abruptly stopped, staring at him with a harsh, accusatory glare, but he could see that she had finally realized something that should have been obvious from the beginning. She suddenly shook her head. "No, no he would have shown them to me. He knew I wanted to keep in touch with my daughter, if any letters arrived, he would have…"

Tai Lung stared at the headstone of the Tian patriarch and fought back the growl. That was when it occurred to him…when many things occurred to him. Tian Dai had obviously lived a life of poverty, and had brought up a family—somehow—amidst the ruin of previous generations. The small headstone spoke volumes, now he stopped to think about it. In some way, though he tried to be a filial son (evidenced by how well the family temple, however small, was kept), he still, in some part, blamed his ancestors for the sorry lot life had dealt him. He had been born into a losing hand and died with a losing hand, as had his children…

Tai Lung looked over at Mrs. Tian. She had to be no older than he was…she was perhaps a young teenager when she was married to Mei Xing's father…but she looked almost older than Sonam was. Life had been brutally hard for her, and she likely hadn't spent much time in the fields…so how difficult had life been to Mr. Tian? Looking around at the desolate landscape, the Phoenix Warrior could only imagine the pain and heartache that the old leopard had gone through. How many times had he watched his children go hungry? How many family and friends had he lost over the years to disease, starvation or malnutrition?

The Headman had been a solution. A horrible solution, but for a desperate man, it was better than the alternative. When a daughter was married out, the family lost a worker…but perhaps the material gains from that marriage helped the Tian family in more ways than they had seen in generations. The headstones for the oldest relatives were in fine shape, clearly expensive in their day, but the newer headstones all looked of poorer quality…until Tian Dai's, which looked…well, it wasn't fancy, but it certainly looked better than his father's or grandfather's. Even as Mr. Tian had sent his daughter into the arms of a cruel, sadistic monster, he had made that sacrifice for the rest of his family. And no matter how much Mei Xing wished to go home, to be away from that bastard of a husband…Mr. Tian couldn't allow it. He couldn't go back on his word, couldn't give up the opportunity to save his family's lives…even if it meant losing one of his own.

"He didn't have any choice," Tai Lung finally said. "He didn't want her to marry a poor farmer, to have to worry about where to find food, money, or shelter. He wanted her to be well-off, to never have to worry about money, ever again. He thought marrying her to the richest man in the county would save her. That was why he did it, wasn't it?"

She sullenly nodded, wiping away angry tears with the back of her sooty arm. "Many men beat their wives—I was hit a few times during my marriage," Mrs. Tian said. "If that man had hit her once or twice, well, she still had the money, didn't she? She had the silks, the jewels, the gold, three hot meals every day…what more could she possibly need?"

"Love."

His answer surprised her, and yet he wasn't finished. "She needed love, and in ten years, she never got that. I know a lot of people look down upon a love match, as I'm sure your family would have," he said, softening his voice so that he was sure he got his message across. "But I love Mei Xing. I treasure her. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I couldn't ask for a better woman to call my wife. She is happy, and as long as she's happy, I'm happy."

Mrs. Tian looked back at her husband's grave and sighed, tears brimming in her eyes. "He would have been happy to hear that."

Tai Lung made a scoffing noise in the back of his throat.

"We loved our daughter, sir," she said. "We only wanted what was best for her. We are peasants, and the Headman is our landlord. We are at his mercy, no matter where we are. If we leave, he will hunt us down and have us all thrown in prison. If we stay, he will continue to harass us, and we can't do anything about it."

"The hell you can't," he said. "As long as I'm married to Mei, he'll never come 'round again, if he knows what's good for him."

"And what power do you have over him?" she challenged. "Why should he fear you? Are you richer than he is? Do you have a higher position in the government?"

"No. I am a chef, and semi-retired kung fu warrior."

"Kung fu?" she asked; he saw she was slowly putting things together.

"Yes," he said, hoping to break it to her easily. "I was born in Gansu to warriors, orphaned, and raised in the Jade Palace, in the Valley of Peace, under Grand Master Oogway, and Master Shifu, the greatest kung fu teacher in China."

She drew back a little, but looked uncertain; he could tell she didn't want to believe what she suspected.

"I learned kung fu, strived to be the greatest warrior in history. When that title was denied to me, well…I lost it. I destroyed lives and spent time in prison for my crimes. I escaped, tried to take the title I craved by force, and was defeated. But I…bounced back, so to speak. In three years, I've turned my life around, from having no future at all, to having an untold number of possibilities."

"Sweet Kwan Yin…" she swore, raising her hand to her mouth in horror.

"I'm guessing you figured me out, then?" he said with a slightly wry smile.

"How in the gods' names could she leave one cruel man and marry a—a…"

"Murderer?" he offered. She paled considerably, and he feared she would faint. "Mrs. Tian, let me assure you that I mean no harm. I would not have come here to return your daughter if I were a true knave."

"Why in heaven's name would she marry Tai Lung?" she wondered aloud.

"Had you asked her that about two years ago, she'd be wondering the same thing," he confessed. "We didn't exactly get along at first."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, she stabbed me, once. Slapped me a couple times. Punched me hard enough to chip a tooth—see, it's right there…" he said, tugging at the corner of his mouth to point out the dental wound. "Then she kicked me in the stomach, kneed me in a, ah, rather uncomfortable place—but that last one was an accident. And I must say she has the most colorful language..."

"And after all that, she married you?" she asked in utmost amazement.

"Well, I suppose I was asking for it, training her in kung fu and all…"

"Kung fu?" Mrs. Tian gasped. "My daughter is learning kung fu?"

He smiled proudly. "That she is, though not currently—it's a hobby of hers, but the doctors wouldn't let her—" he hesitated a moment, then asked, "Have you received any word from her, or about her, since she left her ex-husband?"

"No, but I can guess what you're going to tell me," she said, sounding hopeful. "She's pregnant, isn't she?"

"Eight months, by my reckoning."

"Is she healthy?"

He smiled. "So far, so good; I hope to be back before she gives birth."

"Does she think it's a son?"

"We don't know—we hope so." Yes, Tai Lung was well aware that women were just as capable as men in many respects…but he was still a product of his culture. He probably would have been fine with a daughter, but custom and culture dictated he needed a son to carry on his family's name. "But I know if I lost her, I'd lose it…again."

"All I heard was that she had a stillborn, and so many miscarriages…I was certain she would die. When I heard she ran away, I feared for her. When I heard the Headman had gone off to chase her, I knew he would kill her when he found her. Why are you smiling like that?"

Tai Lung, indeed, was smirking. "I'm guessing the word never got out that she beat the hell out of him when he eventually caught up to her?"

"Mei Xing…my daughter…beat up the Headman?"

"Can't say he didn't have it coming, but it was fun to watch."

She was speechless, but managed to sputter out, "C-clearly we have much to talk about."

"Oh, untold number of things."

"What shall I call you?"

He shrugged. "Tai Lung, though I also answer to Tai. My mother called me Tenzin. 'Son-in-law' is always a possibility."

"Will you still stay for dinner?"

"If the offer is still open after my horrid conduct, it would be rude to turn it down."

She nodded. "Of course; come, let's get you fed. Like I said, we don't have much, but we can still provide you something."

Well, whatever that "something" was, it smelled rather good. In fact, he sat down eagerly with his friends and in-laws, the latter of whom were all interested in learning more about their newly found family member. While the women quietly set the table, the men—Mei Xing's two brothers and her elderly uncle—chatted at length with Tai Lung and Po; Altai offered little to say about his former convict's activities during prison, but instead offered war stories of his own bygone days. While his in-laws discovered Tai Lung's past and his most recent activities, he discovered that he was an uncle to at least a dozen children, each one sadly skinnier than the last.

Mrs. Tian set a large pot on the table and called them over for food. Lifting the lid, a thick cloud of steam announced that dinner was most certainly ready. Mrs. Tian's eldest daughter-in-law raised a pair of tongs and began serving plates for her husband and the other men before serving the children. But the thing on Tai Lung's plate made him wonder…it looked like some sort of crustacean, but nothing like any crab he'd ever seen. Looking at his traveling companions, he found he wasn't the only one confused about their fare.

"Erm, Mrs. Tian? Forgive my ignorance, but I don't believe I've seen this dish before."

"It's an old family recipe," one of his brothers-in-law replied. "Pretty simple to make, right Mom?"

"Oh, I could make it in my sleep," she said, pouring tea while she waited for hers to cool. "It's just boiling it with some spices."

"Yes, but…what is it, exactly?"

The entire Tian clan replied: "Mosquitoes."

The four travelers simultaneously pursed their lips and forced smiles. Except Little Brother who, for the first time since leaving the Phoenix Temple, looked like he was preferring the rice and tea right about then. They waited until the family picked up their meals—each insect the length of Tai Lung's forearm—and munched down into the still-crunchy blood-sucking creepy-crawlies.

"Mm," Altai hummed, certainly trying his level best to compliment the hostess, "Ma'am, I…can't say I've ever had mosquito before, but I'm sure it's as good as it smells."

The Dragon Warrior and Phoenix Warrior both quickly nodded in agreement; Mrs. Tian smiled graciously and began eating her meal. Poking at his crispy critter, Po whispered to Tai Lung, "I thought Mei Xing was kidding about the size of mosquitoes here…"

Tai Lung chuckled without mirth as he stared down at his plate. "So was I, Po…so was I…"

Hours later, Po found himself unable to sleep. He knew Tai Lung wasn't in much better shape. He had noticed, all throughout dinner, how the snow leopard had looked upon his youngest nephew with worry, particularly how the baby struggled to breathe, let alone eat. The panda knew what was in his friend's heart, and what he wanted to do. What surprised him was why he hadn't yet done it.

Po sat up when Tai Lung did, and they turned to each other in the darkness of the one-room house. The rest of the Tian family slept huddled together against the cold. Altai was curled up in a corner, with Little Brother nestled in the rhino's burly arms. With a simple unspoken communication, the Dragon Warrior followed the Phoenix Warrior outside so they could talk.

"I know you want to help them," Po said. "I know you want to heal the kid."

"So why bring it up?" Tai Lung asked, hugging himself to fight off the sharp gust of wind that swept across the fields.

"Because I don't know why you haven't healed him yet."

Tai Lung sighed through his nose and looked out across the dying fields, now covered with hard frost. "Because I don't know if I'd be doing him a favor or not. Look at this place, Po. These people are starving, desperate. I could heal him tonight, but what's to stop him from starving to death? I know that what I have is a gift, but I don't know if it's something I should use all the time, or only sparingly. I don't know if there are limits to what I can do."

"So why not test the theory?" Po asked. "I know you want to help them."

"Of course I do. They're family now, aren't they? But even if I healed every last one of them...that won't change their situation. That won't make this farm produce food again. That won't make them prosperous, like they once were. It will only be a quick fix, and that's not what they need."

Po thought about this, then nudged his friend and said, "You can't save everyone, Tai. I know you want to – and I do, too – but we can't do that. We're not immortals, and we're not perfect, hard as we try. We have to accept that there are certain things we can't change. We can change what we can, but anything other than that, we have to leave up to the gods."

"The gods," Tai Lung said scathingly. "A load of tripe. When was the last time the gods did anything to help common man? Only time we've ever had divine intervention is through our departed loved ones, and those don't count as gods, no matter how we worship them. They can only do so much."

Po thought about it, then said, "That's the thing though. If the gods did everything right, how are we to know if they're doing anything at all? Yeah, life is full of suffering. But for all the bad things that happen, sometimes good things happen too. That's how we know. When good things happen in between bad things, thats how we know that there are people looking out for us."

"You'll forgive me if my faith is not as steadfast as yours," the snow leopard said dismally. "I appreciate the effort..."

"I know, this is something you need to find for yourself. I understand." Po sighed and started to head back into the house. "We'd better get some shut-eye. We need to leave bright and early tomorrow."

And so they did. Though the two warriors barely got anymore sleep that night, they were still wide awake come morning. In the gray twilight of dawn, beneath a sky that looked to threaten snow, Mrs. Tian saw them off; they declined any provisions she offered them. However, she left them with one bit of information that astonished them to hear:

"Your coming here must have been a good omen," Mrs. Tian said to her son-in-law. "Why, when my daughter-in-law woke up this morning, we found my youngest grandson stopped wheezing. In fact, he looks healthier than I've ever seen him. You must be blessed by the gods for this miracle to have happened."

Po and Tai Lung shared a look, and the former was surprised to find the latter was as perplexed as he was.

"How did you do it?" Po asked as they walked away.

"I didn't," the snow leopard replied, absolutely perplexed. "I swear I didn't do anything last night that could have helped the boy."

What they didn't know was that Tai Lung had in fact helped him. Sort of. Without his knowledge. This, of course, was accomplished with the help of the only silent member of their group.

Little Brother had noticed how sick the baby was and, like a good little monk-in-training, felt great empathy for the boy. In the night, as he was huddled in the nice rhino's arms, Little Brother noticed that the baby – the nephew of Spotty-kitty (as the red panda novice had come to think of him before he knew his real name) – was very sick. He may have been a child, but Little Brother remembered what he had done the last time he was sick. The last time he felt really sick, all he had to do to feel better was let Tai Lung hug him. So, in his childish logic, he decided that was all the baby needed.

So, in the darkness, after making sure he did not wake Altai, he crept around the sleeping snow leopards, gently removed the baby from his cradle, then crept back to Spotty-kitty and safely put the baby in his arms, under his red robe, just as Tai Lung had done for Little Brother back at the monastery. Almost instantly, the baby had stopped wheezing, color had returned to his otherwise pale face, and most importantly, the baby smiled...carefully protected in Tai Lung's strong, comforting arms.

Feeling triumphant, Little Brother just as carefully returned the baby back to his cradle, the infant sleeping soundly for the first time in his short life. Then Little Brother himself returned to sleep...

...which was what he was still doing, as Altai carried him down the trail and onward to their next destination.

By nightfall that same day, they had made camp halfway up a mountain in central Yunnan. Po had told Altai what they were attempting to do, and as soon as the rhino was told their enemy's name, he jumped at the chance to help him.

"Before I was assigned to guard you," he said to Tai Lung, "I spent time fighting against the likes of him, and he was notorious even then. He's killed too many war buddies of mine. You can count on me."

"I knew I could," the snow leopard told him. "I never doubted that."

Po's next plan of action, however, surprised them.

"Why are we going to Chengdu?" Tai Lung asked him. "That takes us more than a few days out of our way."

"There's something I need to do there," was all Po said.

Altai, however, mentioned that, if in fact the pair were being hunted by not only the outlaws, but the military too, that Chengdu was a good option. "Staying off the beaten path will actually help you. Plus, you'll actually save time. There's a canal that runs from Chengdu right into Hunan. We'd make better time getting back to the Valley of Peace if we take the canal rather than go over land."

"You seem to know quite a bit about this," the snow leopard said, almost suspiciously.

Altai just shrugged. "After the discharge, I tried to avoid the army outposts as much as possible. Where you want to go, it's as far away from the army as you can get."

"Aren't there barracks in Chengdu?"

"Used to be. They closed down about ten years back, moved further west. Chengdu's more of a commercial hub now than a military outpost. We'll be safe there."

When they had made camp and were sitting around the fire eating their evening meal, Po suddenly spoke up. He had been deep in thought all day, and Tai Lung suspected the panda was either preoccupied by the prospect of going up against Koshchei, the issue with Mei Xing's family, and most likely the battles that were to come. Instead, the panda had this to say:

"You know…I've been thinking about something," Po said. He looked at his companions and continued, "What if we're wrong about where babies come from?"

"Hoo boy," Altai muttered. "Here we go…"

"No, hear me out! See, this is what I was thinking…Tai, you said Mei only ever had a stillborn daughter and a bunch of miscarriages while she was married to the Headman, right?"

"Right."

"Okay, and it took them four years from the time they got married to the time she actually got pregnant the first time."

"What's your point?"

"You two were married for less than three months before you found out you were expecting. How do you explain the drastic difference between…?"

Tai Lung snorted. "Her ex treated her horribly, but I make sure she's well taken care of. Her body just wasn't strong enough back then, but it is now. That's how she got pregnant so fast."

"No, Tai, listen…what if it's not the woman at all?"

Tai Lung, Altai, and Little Brother all looked at him now in rapt interest…and confusion. "Come again?" Altai asked.

"Okay, this happened when I was a kid," Po explained. "There was this guy who married a really, really hot lady, right? But after, like, five years and no kids at all, he divorced her and took another wife because he said she was barren. The first wife remarried, and almost a year later, bam, twins. And after that…she ended up having lots of kids, while her first husband only had one kid…"

"Where are you going with this?" the snow leopard asked.

"I'm just saying…" Po said, "Guys blame the girls if a baby is a girl…but what if the woman doesn't have any choice in that? Like, um…" he wracked his brains to think of a good analogy. When it hit him, he wondered why on earth it hadn't occurred to him sooner. "Okay, so you plant a peach pit in the ground, right? What does it grow into?"

"A peach tree," Altai said with strained patience.

"Exactly!" Po said. "You might wish for an apple or an orange, but you get a peach! So kinda like when a guy, uh…" he blushed, hemming and hawing mostly from his own embarrassment about the subject (but also mindful that there was a child present), "'plants' his, um, 'seed' in a girl's, um, 'earth'…she can wish for whatever, uh, 'fruit tree' she wants, but she's only going to get the tree that was planted, not the one she wants. Get it?"

"Alright, one, you are far too obsessed with food," Tai Lung said. "But as we were both largely starved for a month, I don't blame you. And two…let me see if I have this right…" he set his bowl down and rested his hands on his knees. "You think that the woman, who carries and gives life to a baby, does not determine a baby's gender? That the man determines the gender?"

"Not the man specifically, just the man's, uh, 'seed'."

"So what you're saying," Altai said. "Is that…it's not the woman's fault if it's a girl? That it's…the man's fault?"

"Exactly!" Po smiled. "Yeah; the 'farmer'—in this case, the dad-to-be—'plants' the seed in the uh…well, you get it…so he chooses which seed to plant. He might not know what kind of seed he's planting, but he's the one who planted it! I mean, it's not like the earth can grow stuff if the stuff isn't planted, and its not like a girl can get pregnant without a guy's, um, seeds, right?"

"So what you're really saying is…" Tai Lung paused, "That women are just the incubator, not the ultimate creator, and that men who blame women for bearing only daughters are just insecure little sods because in the end its actually their fault not their wives'?"

"Exactly!" Po said, glad that they understood his point.

Rhino, red panda, and snow leopard stared blankly back at him before they—one by one—started laughing. Altai hunched over, clutching his side as he loudly guffawed; Little Brother giggled and rolled on the ground; Tai Lung was almost too breathless to exclaim, "That…that has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard! The man determining a baby's gender! Ha!"

Po pouted and stubbornly crossed his arms. "Say what you want; I know I'm on to something here…"

"Oh no, Dragon Warrior," Altai said, slowly gaining control over his laughter, "No, please, tell us more of your wisdom…like where the sun actually goes after it sets at night."

"It doesn't go anywhere. The earth is actually round like a ball, not flat like a table. It's like a pendulum that rotates around the sun—the sun stays in place while the earth circles around it and rotates on an angled axis at the same time. So really the sun doesn't move at all, it's the earth that moves, and the distance of the earth from the sun and the angle of the earth's axis determines the seasons, and the number of rotations the earth makes on its axis determines the number of days in a year. It's the earth's proximity to the sun that determines all that, not the gods."

The other three males stared, wide-eyed, slack-jawed, and horrified. Had the panda actually just blasphemed?

They soon got their answer…when Po burst out laughing himself. "You guys make it so easy!"

Tai Lung snorted. "It's official: you have been spending far too much time with me."

"Not that that's a bad thing, right?" Po asked.

"You're starting to swear more than I am."

"Damn," Altai winced. "I didn't think that was possible. What?" he asked, both at Tai Lung's humorless expression, and also at Little Brother tugging on his sleeve. The red panda held out his tiny little hand and pouted up at the rhino...who started to feel rather guilty. "Um..."

"Oh," Po said. "You owe him five jiao."

"What?"

"Five jiao," Tai Lung clarified. "Where he's from, every curse word has a price attached to it. They had swear jars. No, I'm not kidding. And he's probably not going to let up until you give him the money."

Altai stared between the snow leopard and the red panda. "A swear jar."

Little Brother nodded.

"Seriously."

He nodded again, raising his hand higher to accept the coins.

The rhino sighed and reached for his money bag. "Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna go broke on this trip?"

"Probably because you will. I know my funds took a serious hit," Tai Lung said. But with a fond smile – one of rememberance, Po believed – the snow leopard said, "But it was worth it."

Altai stared incredulously at his former inmate, then pressed his hand against his forehead. Tai Lung growled, "I am not sick!"

"They you gotta be delirious because I swore those words would never escape your mouth. They didn't feed you a lot where you were, did you? Which reminds me...you never did say where you were exactly."

Tai Lung paused, chopsticks halfway to his mouth. He glanced over at Po, then said, "We were on a pilgrimage. Are on a pilgrimage," he corrected. And once more looking at Po, the snow leopard – though unable to read his friend's mind – felt that what he said next was also the truth: "And Chengdu is the next stop."

Okay, a few ending notes here:

There's a long-standing joke in my Mom's family—originally from Michigan—that the State Bird is the mosquito, and its large enough to have as a Thanksgiving turkey. Since a large part of Yunnan is sub-tropical, I thought it would be fun to poke at an old family gag. Michigan mosquitoes aren't big enough to make meals out of, of course, but they are big suckers. Literally. To my knowledge, there isn't any dish in Yunnan that incorporates mosquitoes, and no offense is intended.

Also, Mei Xing's father's name, "Dai" means "cloudy sky". It goes along with my whole premise that the "Tian (Heaven/Sky)" family have celestial names. Fei, of course, means "Crescent Moon", and Mei Xing means "Beautiful Star".

And it should be obvious by now that I love writing scenes with Little Brother in them. I got the perfect picture of him in my mind, and gawd is he cute. Having babysat two little boys for a family from my old church for a few years, I have plenty of material to work with; while I am no parent, I hope my writing little children comes off believably and successfully.

As for Po's theory...yes, this is my jab at the long-held belief that it was the woman's fault if a child wasn't born a boy. Science and genetics have actually determined that it is the man who "decides" the gender of the offspring, because only the male has the Y chromosome; women have two XX chromosomes, while men have XY. See kids, it pays to pay attention in Biology 101. And Po's heliocentric theory is a jab at the pre-Copernican belief that the Earth was the center of the universe/solar system (Thank you high school Astronomy class!); I'm not sure if the Ancient Chinese shared this geo-centric belief, but I needed something to combat the aforementioned anachronistic scientific theory. So there :P

And as for the dark path Lang is going down...well, all I can say is that it's about to get very interesting.