A Chapter for those who have waited so patiently...and conveniently posted right as the sequel came out! So...new material, new info that throws my mini-verse out of whack, but I'll roll with it. (Yes, I did see the movie; BF and I just got back from date night, and for a sequel, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Lord Shen made a wickedly cool villain! ...and I suppose coming from the woman who brought you such personalities as Jiao Shen, Rong Lang and Asmodei Koshchei, that might say something. Gary Oldman FTW; great casting choice!) But enough of my rambling, on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda, it belongs to DreamWorks Animation Studios. All Original Characters belong to me, so please don't use them without my permission.

Chapter 17: Cloud Cover

Sung was not having a very good day. Well, to be fair, he rarely had good days. He rarely had decent days anymore. Since his inn had unofficially become the Thieves' Inn, and since his clientele had gone from respectable traveler to scary beyond all reason, the rabbit didn't have good days anymore. So it said something that this day was, in particular, a bad day.

The bandits, thieves, and assassins arrived early, and en masse. The first ones came down from the mountains, a flood of them, each one hardier-looking than the last, led by a massive wolf that nightmares were made of. Ominously, rather than enter, they camped on the shores of Compass Lake, and Sung and his family watched them very, very carefully. They didn't make much money in the hospitality business, so it was unlikely that they would be robbed. And if these outlaws intended to kill them, they would have already done so. No, the worst was yet to come.

By mid-day, another group arrived. Twenty-thousand, easily. Twenty Thousand outlaws. It was making Sung's long-eared head spin. By nightfall, another group had arrived, led by none other than the Wu Sisters themselves. He feared a battle but it didn't come. In fact, the leaders of each army greeted each other civilly, if not with a little more emotion than most. They seemed to be waiting for something...

By dawn the next day, Sung the rabbit innkeeper got his answer when he was rudely awoken by a pounding on his door. Heartrate accelerated, thinking not for the first time that this would be the day he finally joined his ancestors, the rabbit quickly dressed and hopped to the door, opening it a crack so he didn't betray how terrified he actually was. He was surprised by what he saw.

It was a wolf, gray like the majority of them, but he was shorter, leaner, and there was something about his air and the way he held himself that made him less of a threat than his brethren, of which there now had to be forty thousand at least camped on the shore.

The young wolf – gods, he was scarcely out of adolescence! - smiled at the rabbit and apologized, "Yeah, sorry about the crowd, we're just passing through. Bad famine up north, you know, so we're heading to Guangdong. I'm Lang. Do you mind if we come in?"

Sung did mind, and quite a bit! But as disarming as this lupine youth may have been, he wasn't stupid enough to open his door more than necessary. But this Lang kid didn't give him much of a choice, as the wolf pleaded, "Sir, please, I've been traveling with my master, and he's been sick these last few days. Please, do you have a spare room? Any space, any bed at all."

Sung was well aware of the hierarchy in wolf packs – a good number of packs passed through his doors on a regular basis – and as rough as wolves could be, the rabbit was perpetually impressed by just how loyal they could be to their leaders and how much they – dare he think it – loved them. And this kid did look like he had been through hell and back from whatever place he had come from – bloodied, hastily bandaged, bruised and scratched gods only knew how many times – and thus his master had to be in worse shape. So seeing the sincere worry on Lang's youthful, puppy-like face made Sung relent. The rabbit opened his door and waved the youth in. "Quickly, come in. Will your master need medicine?"

"Yes, please, and bandages if you can manage it."

Sung would have questioned further until he saw just who his "master" was. Leaning heavily against another wolf was perhaps the scariest creature Sung had ever seen. And he had seen quite a few scary souls walk through his door. Though he looked old, and was clearly wounded, the golden-furred leopard was a born fighter, and an even better killer; this he could tell just by looking at him. His clothes were foreign, as was the language he was undoubtedly cursing in...

"Chort voz-mi! Suka...Padla...!" he swore, holding his free paw over his bloodied shoulder, from which an arrow shaft still stood from. His other arm was draped across the other wolf's shoulders as he stumbled into the inn.

"Yeah, yeah," the other wolf said as he helped the Amur Leopard over the threshold, "Sukas and Padlas for everybody, watch yer step, boss man."

Asmodei Koshchei stubbed his toe on the threshold and let out another string of Russian curses, which Lang declined to translate for the rabbit. It was safe to say that Lang's instruction in Russian had also been improving, and though his Proper Russian still required a bit of work, thanks to Asmodei's injury, the youth had gotten a pretty quick crash-course in the coarser Street Russian.

Sung led them to the closest free room that he had. It was the off-season, now that winter was quickly approaching, so the rabbit had quite a few rooms available. But the state of the leopard's injuries (and colorful language) told the rabbit to get him to a comfortable bed as soon as possible.

Lan Duo carefully eased Koshchei into the bed and helped him lay back. Lang reached for his bag and produced a few gold coins. "Will this cover a room and board for a week?"

"T-this will cover a m-m-month!" the rabbit stammered. The stutter was a learned habit, not one he was born with. The more he stuttered, he found, the less likely his patrons considered him a threat, and usually left him alone.

"A month? Great! Listen, would you also get some food for him? Asmodei, anything you want in particular?"

At the time Lang posed this question, Lan Duo had peeled away the square of blood-stained cloth pressed against Koshchei's wound, taking fur and dried blood away as well. The leopard let out another string of Russian words. Lang smiled and nodded to the rabbit, "He'll have your Number Four special with white rice. My friend and I will have the Number..."

"Three," Duo spoke up. "Fried rice for me."

"Ditto for me," Lang said, digging into the money bag again.

"Yeba-tsa SRA-tsa!" Koshchei said, cringing again as Duo tried to dig out the arrow.

"Um..." Sung began to say.

"How about you throw in some bean buns for the master," Lang covered, "and you not ask me to translate?"

"Bean buns on the house tonight."

"Good man. Oh, and any wolves asking where I am, just send them up here, 'kay? Thanks."

Lang waited until the rabbit had quit the room before locking the door behind him. "How bad is it?"

"Looks pretty bad," Duo said, "But won't know for sure until we get the arrowhead out. What's he saying?"

"You don't want to know what he's saying, trust me." Lang knelt next to Koshchei, which was a very daring move considering the state the feline was in. Then, without flinching, the young wolf reached in with his small claws and extracted the arrowhead, using his claws like tweezers. The leopard's claws dug into the bed, shredding the coverlet and he hissed in pain as Lang pulled the arrowhead out. The offending article now out of his shoulder, Koshchei finally lay back, the pained look starting to leave his face, his black claws retracting. With a heavy sigh of relief, Koshchei said whilst patting Lang's hand, "Bolshoe spasibo, malchik..."

"You're welcome, starik." He earned a warm smile in return.

Duo ran his hands over his face and blew out a breath through pursed lips. "Well, screwed the pooch on that one..."

"We didn't know how many were there," Lang said shortly. "You said it yourself, that was a small guard outpost Tan Lan went to!"

"Boys, boys..." Koshchei said, holding up a bloodied claw to silence them. "Has been too long vitout silence...is not time to fight."

The door slammed open, allowing an enraged Bao Nu to barge in. "Where the fuck is Zi Hao?"

Koshchei's palm hit his forehead and he muttered under his breath. Duo stood between Bao Nu and the bed. "Bao, relax, he hasn't arrived yet."

"Damn idiot better be dead after that screw-up!" the wolf roared, his big voice booming throughout the inn. "We've been chased like dogs all over those damn mountains and only just got those imperial assholes off our tails!"

"It's not Hao's fault," Lang said. "It's mine. This was poor planning. I didn't account for there being so many."

"None of us knew there would be that many," Duo pointed out, coming to Lang's defense before Bao Nu could pounce on him.

"Ve underestimate enemy," Koshchei spoke up, wincing from the pain in his shoulder. "And enemy surprise us. Ve forget ourselves, and ve get hurt. Is important not to underestimate enemy in Valley of Peace."

"What's to underestimate?" Bao Nu asked. "They're farmers and merchants. It'll be easy to take them!"

"The farmers and villagers maybe," Lang pointed out, "But you're forgetting about the two different kung fu schools there, too. Asmodei's right, we can't move forward unless we know exactly what we're getting into."

"Lang is right, also," Koshchei said. "Ve haff been chased like fox into hole. Is time to bide, sit, vait, and vatch...vhen Vu Sister get here, send them into Valley, send group to spy, get eh, vhat is vord..."

"Reconnaissance?" Duo offered.

"Da, that."

Lang noticed the pale, painful look on the leopard's face and turned to Duo and Bao Nu, "Can one of you get some first aid stuff? We need to get this patched up."

"Yeah, we'll go," Duo said, grabbing Bao's arm. "We need to find Wang and Jiu anyway. You need anything, Lang?"

"No, I'm good, thanks."

Duo led the larger wolf out of the room and closed the door behind them. He led him down the hall in complete silence until they were well out of earshot before the bandit turned to the wrathful animal. "Okay, Bao, from here on out, do not piss off the kid."

"What?" the taller wolf stared and laughed. "You're kidding. The runt?"

"I'm serious, man, he's cracked. Koshchei's gotten to him."

"You're insane."

"No, Lang's insane, or he's just about there! Do you know what he did to Lan's body?"

Bao Nu noticed how pale Duo had gotten, and how insistent the wolf had become lately. Bao, who had always known his packmate to be the most careless and apathetic creature he'd ever met, now saw that something had spooked him, and whatever it was, he had better listen.

"What'd he do?" he asked, scarcely above a whisper, as if he feared the answer.

Duo struggled a few times to start, but when he finally blurted it out: "He eviscerated him", Bao's answer was, "So? We've done that plenty of times in battle."

"Yeah, to kill. But Tan Lan was already dead! Lang cut him open and played with his organs."

"He what?" Had he heard that right?

"Played with them! Like they were bouncing balls...or...or toys, godsdammit! And later, he wouldn't shut up about it! He liked doing it. He liked cutting people open."

Bao tried to shrug it off, but he was still unnerved by this information. He recalled what Tan Lan had always said about "the quiet ones"...

"He's just coming into his own, that's all. It was his first kill. He's getting his feet wet," the massive wolf said.

"Don't you get it? Don't you see?" Duo insisted. "Two months ago, if someone told you that the Omega would rise up and kill one of the finest assassins in our group, and brutally at that, then desecrate his corpse just for shits and giggles, would you've believed it?"

"Well, no..."

"Exactly! I'm telling you, for your own safety, don't do anything to piss him off. You saw what he did to Zi Hao – he had good reason to beat the shit outta him. He had good reason to kill Tan Lan. You're the strongest warrior we've got...don't give him a reason to kill you, too."

Bao Nu snorted. "Don't worry about it. I'm not, and you shouldn't either. You're on his good side."

Duo couldn't help but think to himself as he went to get medical supplies, Yeah, but for how long?

Lang, of course, was also worried about staying on someone's good side. This someone, however, was more likely to kill him if he really screwed up.

"Damn him!" Koschei swore in Russian, "Damn him and all his ancestors!"

"It wasn't Hao's fault," Lang said in near-perfect Russian. He had, after all, been learning well under Koshchei's tutelage. "I'm the one that set it up. I set it up, and I failed."

"No, he failed," the leopard pointed out. "He failed to die like you intended."

Lang sighed through his nose. "So how do I handle this? He's still alive, out there, but I don't know if he'll come back this way or try to become our enemy...damn, I should have killed him while I had the chance."

"You know best. This is your plan."

Lang snarled at him, "This is your plan too! You have something to gain in this as much as I do!"

"Not as much," the old leopard said with a pointed look at the wolf. "Not as much as you have to gain."

Lang got up and started pacing the room. "I can still keep up the act, act like I look up to him, worship him...I really want to make him suffer, but I don't know how."

"You don't know?"

"I haven't thought that far ahead," Lang said sheepishly. "I've plotted how to get him there, but not what I'm actually going to do. Blyad!"

Koshchei thought carefully, staring out into space. "You wanted to make him suffer as you suffered."

"Right."

"How did you suffer the most?"

"I was humiliated."

"How were you humiliated?"

"What does that have to do with it?" When Lang looked over at Koshchei, he saw the great predatory grin creeping across the old cat's black lips.

"Everything, malchik, it haff everything to do vit it."

"Aiya! What the hell happened to you?"

Zi Hao's eventual arrival at Compass Lake was cause for concern. The plan to hold off the Imperial Army had backfired. The fifth of the army that had stayed to fight had been decimated, and the ones that yet lived limped into camp the day after Koshchei and Lang's group had arrived. The ones that were left were badly beaten, bruised and cut, and many further had died along the route. This of course meant that the black wolf was not in the best of moods.

He turned his gaze over to Wu Zhu, and brusquely said, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Lang and Koshchei want to talk to you," Wu Tian said, and Hao didn't like the sound of her tone. He also didn't like the looks everyone was giving him, as if he was to blame for everything that went wrong with this mission. It was Lang's stupid idea! But no manner of complaint would get him out of trouble, and now he was regretting everything he'd ever done or said to Lang, now that he knew what being an Omega felt like.

He limped into the inn and was directed towards Koshchei's room, where he found the fearless leader sitting up in bed and struggling to eat with chopsticks, a skill he had never succesfully mastered. When the leopard spotted the black wolf, he set down his bowl and glared at him.

"Close door," the leopard said.

Zi Hao swallowed hard as he obeyed perhaps the scariest order he'd ever received. It was just the two of them in the room. Hao wondered what had become of Lang; he really needed an ally right now.

"Ve give you simple job," Koshchei began, tone even but with a growl hidden in every word. He was pissed off. "Much simple. Kill army men, many as possible, then join group. Tell me, vhat happen?"

Oh, he was very pissed off.

Zi Hao swallowed again and said, "I followed Lang's plan, but we didn't think there'd be so-"

"You did not follow plan, you come up vit your own!" Koshchei roared. "You come up vit own plan and you fail! Is clear you not think! Is clear you haff no brain! Idiot padla!"

The black wolf got angry and shouted back, "It was a stupid plan to begin with! Lure them into the open? They're too smart to fall for that!"

"Ya te-bye primu kalgan, yesli nye slye-Dishza myet loi!"

He had no idea what he'd said, but while his brain told him to shut the hell up, the synapse to follow through on that command wasn't firing. "You should be mad at him, not me!"

"I should haff kill you long time ago!" Koshchei said, whilst unsheathing his long black claws. "I vill kill you myself..." and just as suddenly as he had lost his temper, his mood shifted to a calmer, more composed feline: "but, malchik like you, so for him, I no kill you."

Hao blinked. "Huh?"

"Lang like you. Vould be most unhappy if I kill you. I like making malchik happy, so, I let you live. For naow," he emphasized.

Someone knocked at the door then Lang poked his head in. "Everything okay in here? I heard you yell—Hao! You made it!"

Zi Hao was astounded. Lang actually looked happy to see him. The smaller wolf dashed into the room and began fussing over him. "What happened? We thought you were right behind us. The Wu Sisters told me we lost a few thousand men."

"Yeah, yeah we did." Hao stepped carefully. He could feel Koshchei's glare on his back. "The army had reinforcements."

Lang's face fell. "Damnit, I should've thought of that..."

"Hey, don't worry about it. None of us knew. I mean, it was a good plan..." What the hell was he doing? Was he actually sucking up to the kid? Or...crap, did he feel sorry for him? Was he really moved by the disappointed look in the kid's eyes? "...just...shit went down."

Koshchei made a contemptuous noise in the back of his throat.

Lang nodded in understanding. "Yeah...and I'm sorry about all that. Listen, let me make it up to you. I'll buy you dinner, get you patched up. I need some time to think about our next step."

Hao allowed the youth to lead him out of the room. When Lang closed the door behind him, he asked, "What did Koshchei say to you?"

"That he'd kill me."

"Well, that's no surprise. He's had it out for you for a while." Then Lang slapped a hand over his mouth. "Shit, I said too much! Man, he's gonna be pissed at me..."

Hao stopped him. "Wait, wait...he's been trying to kill me?"

Lang glanced at the closed door and dropped his voice to a whisper. "He's had a plan brewing for a while, since your battle with the army went south... I've been trying to calm him down, but I don't know how safe you'll be if you stick around here much longer."

"What's he going to do to me?" Zi Hao was, like all bullies, somewhat of a coward, though he would never admit it. As is common knowledge, a bully is only a bully until a bigger bully comes along...and Koshchei certainly fit that bill.

"I don't know," Lang whispered back, "But don't worry, I want to make sure you stick around. Just give me some time to think of a plan, and I'll get back to you." Then he smiled and handed the black wolf a few coins. "Here, go help yourself to something, get a drink, whatever you want. It's not much, but I hope a hot meal helps..."

And just like that, Hao was done in. He really hated to admit it, but he was wrong about the kid. And now he felt really shitty for hurting him as much as he had. "Why are you doing this, after the way I treated you?" he finally asked. "You could've let him kill me, but you're standing here sticking up for me. Why?"

Lang shrugged. "I dunno...I guess I could be petty and give that whole eye for an eye thing...but there's enough bad blood. Yeah, you treated me like dirt, but all I wanted was for you to respect me, and, well, I guess beating the crap outta you is what it took, right?"

"Uh, right."

"Okay!" the small wolf said with a smile. "You go on ahead, I'd better tame the wild beast," he said, thumbing over his shoulder at the Amur leopard's room. Once Hao had left, Lang leaned back against the door, crossed his arms, and allowed himself a smile.

"Smooth. I gotta say, I'm pretty proud of you."

Lang smirked at Duo, who had returned with a meal for them both. He shrugged nonchalantly. "What can I say? I'm learning from the best. Thanks," he said, accepting a breakfast bun from his mentor.

"So what's the plan from here on out? You figured out what you're gonna do with him yet?" the taller wolf said, taking a big bite out of his breakfast pastry.

The lupine youth shrugged. "He'd make a nice throw rug."

"Lang," Duo admonished.

"What? I can use that joke. No one's got ownership on that joke."

"Sure kid." The larger gray wolf took another huge bite out of his own breakfast bun and chewed thoughtfully. "You know where he's going, don't you?"

"Yup," Lang said, swallowing quickly. "I'm sending him into the Valley with the Wu Sisters. They'll keep him alive as long as I ask them to. This way, my revenge is on my terms, not Koshchei's."

"Think the old cat's okay with that plan?"

"He doesn't know you have a stake in it, too."

"Why haven't you told him?"

"Duo, look at what's happened in the last week. When do ya think I've had the time?"

"Point taken. So are you going to tell him?"

"Yeah, soon. Not gonna tell him everything, mind, but I'm gonna give him a breakdown of my ideas."

"Which are?"

"Let him get his ass kicked by the Furious Five, then he comes running back to me to lick his wounds...then I strike."

"And where do I fit in with this revenge plan?"

"You get to be the first to beat him senseless when he fails."

"Why can't I do that now?"

Lang glared at him.

"What?" Duo said defensively. "I've wanted to beat his ass for a while!"

"What is your beef with Hao, anyway? You never told me."

Duo swallowed hard, choking a little on his food. When he regained composure, he looked down at the shorter wolf and feigned, "Eh, you don't wanna know."

"C'mon, it can't be any worse than what he did to me."

Duo stared at him a moment longer, then turned his attention to his half-eaten pastry. After a long pause, he asked, "Remember when I told you to know when to keep your trap shut?"

Lang nodded.

"Well...that came from personal experience. Hao told me something in confidence, and I accidentally blabbed to someone about it, and word got around... He told me all was forgiven, until I told Hao something I shouldn't have...and he used it against me."

Lang waited until Duo had fallen completely silent before he asked, softly, "What happened?"

Duo sighed through his nose. "I told him I was claustrophobic...still am, I hate small spaces. My parents died when I was really young, so my uncle raised me, but he loved his own kids more than me—happy, well-adjusted up-bringing, right? He used to lock me in the broom closet when I acted out, he'd leave me in there for days, sometimes. I hated it. Dark, damp, spiders and bugs crawling all over me..." he violently shuddered just from the memory of it, almost dropping what was left of his meal in the process. However, he quickly collected himself, and apologized, "Sorry, thought I was over it...

"Anyway, one day, Hao decided to teach me a lesson for spilling the beans on him. He showed me this trunk he'd pillaged from a raid, and like in one of those horror stories, he threw me in there, slammed down the lid and left me there."

By now, Lang was even more horrified than before. He knew Hao was sadistic, but he didn't expect this! "What happened?" he asked again.

"He played on my next biggest fear: being buried alive. He dragged the trunk outside, tossed me in a hole and started throwing dirt on me...he didn't let me out until I begged like a dog." He took in another deep breath and let it out shakily. "I snapped. I haven't been the same since. You think I'm cynical, couldn't care less about other people, yeah, no one's ever given a flying fuck about me, so why should I? I keep my distance now, don't let anyone in...cause, shit, look what happened the last time I did."

"Why would he do something so awful? What was his big bad secret that he..."

And suddenly, Duo grinned maliciously. "You really wanna know?"

Lang leaned in to hear what his mentor had to say. He swore his heart stopped when Duo whispered back: "He is—literally—a bastard son of a bitch. His father was a wolf, but his mother was an unmarried dog. Zi Hao's a half-breed."

"Hot diggity damn! I got it!"

Koshchei gave up trying to get a handle on the chopsticks and just decided to start spooning food from his bowl into his mouth with his claws. "Got vhat?"

Lang answered in Russian: "I know how to get Hao! Duo just told me...Hao's a half-breed!"

The leopard lowered his bowl. "What?"

"Yes, a real hybrid!"

"Ah, one of those self-hating types..."

"Exactly! See, here's my plan...I send him into the valley with the Wu Sisters—"

"Which is a fine idea, by the by."

"-Thank you, and so, when they get there, you know he's going to do something stupid, he gets his ass beaten, then he comes crawling back to us for help like he just did with the army...so then we humiliate him."

"And this Lan Duo has a stake, too, eh?"

Lang stopped, swallowing hard. "You heard all that?"

"I may be old, but I'm not deaf. That poor man..." Koshchei said, shaking his spotted head. "Horrible, the things he suffered."

"Yeah, no wonder Duo's so closed-off. So...if it's good with you, could he get the first shot?"

"You don't want it?"

"Not anymore. Not after what he went through. He's the one who got the idea of this in my head, and you nurtured it. He's wanted this revenge longer than I have...he should get the first hit."

"If that's how you feel," the old leopard said with a shrug. "We need a back-up plan this time."

"Don't worry about it. I've got one..." he sat down at the edge of the bed and began speaking in Chinese again. "I got a plan for how to get our spies into the Valley without arousing suspicion."

"Haow?" Koshchei asked.

"They'll need money for the trip."

"Da, they vill..."

"So, kill one of the outlaws, collect a bounty, and there you go, plenty to go around."

Koshchei narrowed his eyes at his protege, and was surprised when Lang laughed. "Oh gods, not you! C'mon, I can't lose you! No, it'll be someone useless...someone we can afford to miss..."

"Or someone who is too dangerous to keep around."

Lang narrowed his eyes at the leopard. "Who did you have in mind?"

"Hey Bao?"

"Yeah?" Bao Nu had been settling into the room he shared with Yu Wang, Xu Jiu, and now Zi Hao. It felt nice to sleep in a real bed again, though he could have done without Xu Jiu's snoring, or Yu Wang's tossing and turning all night. Bao Nu kept all his possessions in one bag, which he was packing up to make sure that everything was there; sharing a room with known criminals made one wary of what was left sitting around. He hated roommates. Lang, however, he didn't mind so much. The kid was still scrawny, so not much of a threat, and, he admitted, it felt kind of nice to have someone hero-worship him as much as the youth did.

Lang poked his head into the room, then sneaked in and closed the door behind him. He kept his hands behind his back, lowered his head and ears in a show of meekness; even around the larger wolf, Lang still regressed into his Omega habits. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"How personal?"

"Do you have a bounty on your head?"

As far as personal questions went, that wasn't so bad. In fact, the bounty on his head was something the huge wrathful wolf was proud of. Bao Nu smirked triumphantly. "Sure do."

Interested, Lang perked up. "Yeah? What'd you do to get it?"

"What do you think? Ever hear of the Massacre of Wei?"

Lang's eyes widened. "No way!"

Bao buffed his claws on his tunic. "Yeah, Wei. That was me. Fifty dead in ten minutes, not my best time, but not too shabby anyway."

"No kidding. How much did you get for that?"

"What, the bounty? Used to be five thousand on my head, but after the massacre, a cool twenty."

Lang let out a low, appreciative whistle. "Twenty thousand! Wow, no wonder White Wolf wanted you to work for him. I don't think the bounty on his head was that big."

"Damn right it wasn't. Why do you ask?"

Lang opened his mouth to reply, paused, then sheepishly shook his head. "Nah, it's stupid..."

"You've said stupider things, kid. Out with it."

Lang hesitated, then wondered aloud, "Well, I figure if anyone knows the answer to this, it would be you... What would I have to do to get that notorious?"

Bao shrugged. "Easiest way to get notorious is to kill somebody who's already notorious. That's what the Jiao did; cleared out a rival clan to get the upper hand."

"Yeah," Lang said, nodding. He looked at the massive wolf and asked, "Do you think I have a chance at ever being as notorious as you?"

Bao Nu laughed at this, then settled into a low chuckle, "As me? Shit, not by a long shot."

"Really? Killing Tan Lan like I did..."

"Yeah, I saw..."

"Did you?"

Bao stared at him. "Kid, I was there. I saw what..."

Lang grinned. "So Duo didn't tell you?"

"Didn't tell me what?" Now Bao Nu couldn't shake the feeling that he had walked into something...something he didn't like. Duo had warned him about the disection, but Bao had thought he was kidding around. Now he wished he was. The grin on Lang's puppy-like face greatly disturbed him, but not as much as what the youth said next:

"I cut him open."

For some reason, this made him shiver. "What, he was still alive after you stabbed him?"

"No, he was dead," he said matter-of-factly. "But I cut him open. I always wondered what people looked like on the inside...makes me curious if all wolves look the same on the inside. That's what the village wise man used to say: 'though our appearances are different, inside we are all the same'."

The bigger wolf made a face. "I don't think that's what he meant."

Lang shrugged. "Oh well, I've got time to test that theory. Maybe I'll kill that rabbit to see if his innards look any different...aside from smaller."

"You've been spending too much time with that leopard," Bao Nu huffed. Then he turned his back on the young wolf, slouching down to pick up a knife that had cluttered to the floor from his bag.

"You know Bao, you're right," Lang said. "I have been spending a lot of time with Asmodei."

When Bao Nu straightened up, he didn't think about Lang's statement. Because the axe had already severed his head from his neck.

Lang held the axe in both hands, staring as Bao Nu's head fell to the floor with a loud thunk and rolled a little ways before coming to a stop by the wall. The body crumbled to the floor a second later. Blood gushed from the severed stump of a neck, getting all over Lang's clothes, but the young wolf kept his eyes trained on the head in the corner. The look on the dead wolf's face was more curious than horrified. He hadn't even had time to know what was happening to him.

"Damn," Lang cursed, dropping the axe. Then he took off his shirt, wiping still-hot blood from his face and hands before throwing the sullied article in the fire. He picked up the burlap sack that held Bao's personal effects and dumped it onto the floor. A few scattered weapons, mostly knives, which were always handy. Lang thrust them, sheathes and all, into his belt. Then there were little things, worthless, really, but perhaps they had meant something to Bao Nu: A carved comb with a peony blossom, a couple of the teeth missing, likely an hierloom; a red ribbon, tied in a neat bow around a rag doll's neck. Artifacts of Bao's former life, or whatever had been left of it. In an earlier time, Lang might have wondered about the stories these items carried, but now he didn't care. He threw these items into the fire as well.

The sack completely empty, he trotted over and grabbed Bao's head by the fur and thrust it into the bag, closing it tightly. He then stripped Bao's bed of the sheets and wrapped them around the corpse. Using a few stones and an iron, he weighed down the shroud, then struggled to toss it out the window. Bao Nu's remains sank to the bottom of the lake with only the slightest splash and disappeared to the bottom, the last time anyone would ever see it.

Lang quickly changed into a clean shirt, then he opened the door and stepped out into the hall, locking the door behind him and taking the only key. He couldn't risk Yu Wang and Xu Jiu to find the evidence before he had cleaned up; cleaning up the blood would have to wait. It was a good thing he gave them duties to attend to with their shares of the army; it would keep them busy until he got back. He would be gone a while. The next guard post was at least two miles away.

One thing Yu Wang was known for, aside from being a notorious assassin, was being an equally notorious womanizer. He had zeroed in on the Wu Sisters almost as soon as laid eyes on them. They had plenty going for them, of course: hot, well-built, flexibile...all the things that really mattered in a woman, naturally. The problem seemed that he had too much competition. He never liked being surrounded by so many men; it made, ahem, "conquests" that much harder. Women usually flocked to the more muscular Bao Nu, but slight-built males like Yu Wang were often passed over in favor of males who were clearly biologicially superior. Things like personality and intelligence had little to do with mating, when it got right down to it.

Which was what he intended to do, before Lang got the chance to send the sisters into the Valley. He was agonizingly close to their shared room in the inn before he tripped and fell flat on the floor. It was night, it was dark in the hallway, so naturally, it was expected to trip on something.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Or someone.

Yu Wang stifled a curse. "Duo? What the hell, man?"

"Answer the damn question: where were you going?"

Yu Wang picked himself up and brushed off his tunic. "Going for a walk."

"A walk."

"Yes."

"A walk that just so happens to be in the direction of the Wu Sisters' room?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Gakk!" Wang found himself slammed up against the wall, Duo's hand around his throat.

"I'm only saying this once," Duo gritted out, "You stay the hell away from them."

"Which...one?" Wang managed to gasp out.

"All three of them!"

"Why Lan Duo, you greedy bastard...don't feel like sharing?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Yu Wang pointed down the hall to the room in question. "Why didn't you tell me you were banging all three of them?"

This caught Duo off-guard, and he stammered, "I—it—what? What the—where did—"

"Oh c'mon, everyone's talking about it. You can tell me—is it good?"

Duo finally gave in and punched him. While Wang was recovering, the door to the Sisters' room opened and Zhu poked her head out. "Hey, can you guys keep it down? We're trying to sleep!"

"Sorry, Zhu," Duo said. "We won't be long. Will we, Wang?"

Zhu frowned and huffed. "Whatever. Either of you wake us up again, we're ripping out your spleens." Then she forced a sunny smile, "Night!" and slammed the door, throwing the deadbolt with a loud thunk.

"You hear that? Is losing your spleen really worth it?"

Yu Wang stood and glared at the other wolf in the darkness. He hissed, "One of them—just one of them..."

"And you think that if you just throw yourself at them, they're going to say 'take me I'm yours'? Please tell me you're not that delusional."

"Just tell me—are you sleeping with them?"

"No!"

"Okay...so which one are you sleeping with?"

"Wha—"

"C'mon, man, don't hold out. I don't want sloppy seconds."

"You sick, son of a—"

"What's going on?"

Duo and Wang looked down the hallway at Lang, who held a single candle to combat the darkness. The young wolf looked between them, noticed Yu Wang's bloodied lip and Duo's murderous glances towards the light-gray pervert. "So...someone wanna tell me what's up?"

Duo looked at Wang, then back at Lang. "Nope, I'm not gonna bother explaining this, aside from Wang here can't keep his in his pants."

"Ooh, funny, like no one's used that one before!"

"Dude," Lang said, shaking his head at the light-gray wolf. "Really?"

"Give me a break," the slender assassin said. "I haven't had anything since we left White Wolf's compound."

"Oh, poor baby," Duo said scathingly.

"Shut up."

"You're gonna have to wait a little longer," Lang said seriously. "I'm sending the sisters into the Valley tomorrow morning."

Desperate, Wang said, "Send me with them."

"If you're sending him," Duo cut in, "Then you're sure as hell sending me."

"No one but the Wu Sisters and Zi Hao are going in," Lang growled. "The sisters have been to the Valley before, they know the terrain, and they know how to blend in. I need you both here to plan the invasion. Wang, go back to bed."

"But—"

"And if it's that big a problem—"

"Or little," Duo snickered.

"-then take matters in hand, got it?" Lang thumbed over his shoulder. "Go on, get outta here."

Yu Wang may not have obeyed him before, but with Duo standing there, and the kid in Koshchei's good graces, he wasn't willing to take chances...no matter how much he felt he needed it.

After the light gray wolf slunk off, Lang turned to his teacher. "He was trying to sneak in?"

"Apparently."

"Is he aware they probably would have killed him?"

"I think he's too horny to worry about that."

"What about you?"

Duo stared at him strangely. "What about me?"

"You know...are you...with either of them?"

"Wai—aw hell, not you, too!"

Lang shrugged. "I only ask because Koshchei's curious."

"Why does everyone think—"

Lang ticked it off on his fingers. "Let's see...you spend all your free time with them, you're frequently alone with at least one of them, and there's enough sexual tension between you and Jiang that everyone expects you two to start humping like rabbits any day now."

Duo now stood speechless, trying very hard to see how his pupil suddenly was accusing him of fraternization...within ranks. Granted, it would have been female ranks, but still... "There is nothing going on between Jiang and me."

"You're sure?"

Duo arched a brow. "Lang, I think I'd know if there was anything going on. Even the densest guy would know."

"I dunno," Lang teased, "you're a pretty heavy sleeper. You might not even know if..."

"As awesome at that would be, I doubt Jiang even sees me that way."

Lang looked like he wanted to say something, but changed his mind, and the subject. He pointed at their door. "So are they still threatening kidneys?"

"Nah, they moved up to spleens."

"Damn, they must be really tired."

"Can it wait until morning?"

"No, I gotta give them something."

When Lang pulled out the bag of money—the big bag of money—Duo's eyes bulged. "Holy hell," Duo gasped. "Where'd you get the money?"

"Don't worry about it," Lang said shortly, opening the bag and handing Duo a smaller bag. "Just give an equal share to each of your people, and send them in small groups into the valley. Tell them to bide their time, spend some money, but not draw attention to themselves. With the Winter Solstice coming up, the Valley will be expecting an influx of visitors, so the inns will be prepared for large numbers of people."

"I'm...actually really impressed."

"Thank you," Lang said with a grin. "But I'm not done yet."

"So did you steal it?"

"Nope. And I told you not to worry about it. Just go get some sleep, I'll wake you in the morning so you can say goodbye if you want. Also, could you show me that one move with the spear I keep messing up?"

Duo nodded, pocketing the bag of coins. "Yeah, no problem. Have a good night, kid."

Lang returned to the room he shared with Koshchei about a half hour later. The leopard was, unsurprisingly, still awake late into the night, sitting in front of the fire and smoking his pipe as his blue-green eyes stared into the flames. Lang briefly wondered if he ever slept at all.

"Vhere did you get money?" Koshchei asked.

The sudden question surprised him, but he quickly answered, "I collected a bounty."

Koshchei paused, taking his eyes off the fire. "Who?"

Lang set the bag of money down by his sleeping pallet next to the fireplace, within reach of the leopard, and draped a blanket around his shoulders. "Who do you think? Bao Nu. He thought he had twenty thousand on his head...he was off by a couple hundred, but who am I to split hairs? He was a lot easier to take down than I thought..." Lang looked at Koshchei. "Now I know why you don't like it easy. It's very...disappointing. I expected more."

"I haff trained you vell," Koshchei said with admiration. "You are ready for invasion, yes?"

"Hardly an invasion, isn't it? Not going in en masse, a few at a time like this...more like an infiltration."

"Is not vhat I expect from volf."

"I thought you liked that, though?"

"I do! Am very impressed...but am vondering vhat next move vill be?"

Lang smirked at his teacher, "Uh-uh, you taught me better than that."

Koshchei returned the grin, patting the boy on the shoulder. "So did I. Da, da I teach very vell."

He left Lang to plan his next move. He was very impressed with the wolf's progress...extremely impressed, actually. Lang had taken to the protege role much better than any of Koshchei's previous attempts. It was actually rather disturbing...and very little disturbed Koshchei anymore. But that's how he knew he'd succeeded.

His original plan was to kill Lang after he'd gotten what he wanted, but now the old leopard saw a chance that had never been offered to him. A chance for his name to live on in infamy, through Lang. Lang was his ticket to immortality. Most men who died notorious lost their notoriety to the sands of time, but those that were truly monsters – made, not born – they were the ones people remembered. Those monsters were the ones that became the boogeymen, the nightmares that haunted the heads of little children at night. The monsters that make people truly afraid of the darkness...because it is too easy for people to fall into that kind of darkness. It reminded them just how easy it was to get corrupted.

Lang was wondering the same things, more or less. He had learned a lot. He had trained, he had grown stronger, more agile, less naïve. It felt great, having this newfound power. Before long, word would spread that Bao Nu was missing, and no one would suspect little Lang of killing the huge wrathful wolf and dumping his headless body in the lake. But if killing Bao Nu was so easy...how easy would it be to kill Koshchei? Unlike others with a more personal stake, Lang didn't see Koshchei as a monster that needed to be destroyed...he saw him as a rival. Lang didn't want to share the glory of taking the Valley of Peace, but as long as Koshchei was around, that's exactly what would happen.

He couldn't outright kill him, though. A man his age, in the business as long as he had been...the old cat definitely suspected someone would try to kill him. Perhaps he expected Lang would kill him one day. So why bother? The old leopard was near eighty anyway, and would probably die of natural causes soon enough. And even then...old people didn't have the same reflexes that they used to...and if an old man were to take a fall, well, no one would suspect anything more than bad knees or a bad hip. Especially if that fall happened while said old man was crossing a dangerous rope bridge.

Chengdu was more than what the warriors expected. This was the first time Po had been to Sichuan, Tai Lung's second time, and Altai's...well, he had lost count. They came upon a bustling metropolis, alive and loud as most cities are. It was a crossroads for many trade routes, the Southern Silk and Tea Road, canals and rivers that crisscrossed the empire. Po could easily see how the Yu family could make a living here, with so many different peoples converging in one place...Yu Na had to have made a killing.

What concerned him was the sheer number of pandas here. Farmers, fishermen, woodsmen, even rich men and their wives. It went without saying...Po felt a little inadequate seeing all these rich, single men...and realizing either one of them could have been Su Lin's husband.

That was why he was here, after all. He wanted to do something for Su Lin. After having many days' travel, and relatively quiet nights to think about it...he realized he had not been the boyfriend he could have been. He hadn't been the man he should have been. He wanted to make things right.

"How long will we be here?" Tai Lung asked. "Not to rush you, I just want to be home as soon as possible..."

"No biggie," Po said. "I just came for one thing. No more than two days, I promise. Hopefully I can get it all done today."

"What exactly are you trying to accomplish?"

"Something for Su Lin."

"Ah." The snow leopard left it at that. He wasn't entirely sure Po had forgiven him for how he felt about the female panda. Granted, bringing up "Su Lin" and "me shagging" within the same sentence probably hadn't helped. Still, Po's reaction made Tai Lung nervous. He still had one secret to tell him, and he was fearful how it would go. They still had not created their mental link as Sun Bear had told them to, and that bothered him. But if Po knew what had happened at Chorh-Gom, and completely rejected him for it...they were doomed.

It didn't help that Altai kept nudging him to tell the panda. "If you don't, I will."

"You wouldn't dare," the feline hissed at the rhino. Little Brother paid little attention to the adults—he was busy trying to work the chopsticks in his tiny hands so he could eat noodles without splashing them all over his front. Altai took a moment to show Little Brother the correct way to hold the chopsticks, and the red panda smiled up at him and started eating.

"Tai Lung, he needs to know," he said, as if he knew Sun Bear's instructions. Neither Tai Lung nor Po had told him why they were in Tibet, and in the interim, the snow leopard wanted to keep it that way.

"I told you how he reacted when I told him about my crush..."

"Yes, but that was his girlfriend. There's a big difference between a crush that never went anywhere, and something this serious."

"There has to be another way," Tai Lung said, nursing a cup of tea. There has to be a way to open up that link without him knowing... he thought to himself

"Why are you so concerned about this? I told you already that my opninion of you didn't change. Why should Po's?"

"You don't understand."

"What don't I understand?"

"He was the first person aside from you to treat me as a person. He treated me as a friend. He is the closest thing to a brother I will ever know."

At this, Altai had nothing further to say. Rhino and snow leopard sighed heavily and downed the rest of their tea. After people-watching for a while, Altai finally asked, "So you never did tell me why you went to Tibet?"

Tai Lung paused. "Pilgrimage."

The rhino gave him a look. "A pilgrimage."

"I'm not allowed to have a spiritual journey?"

"It's not that, it's just...so unlike you."

"Unlike me? Let's see, let's go down the list, shall we? My wife is heavily pregnant in a high-risk pregnancy that risks losing both her and the baby, there's somehow still people chasing me and wanting to kill me, and I have an invasion to stop, plus protecting the Valley and being a filial son and doting husband. I think I could use a month meditating on top of a bleeding mountain, don't you?"

Altai stared at him impassively before replying. "Feel better?"

"Mildly. Thanks for letting me vent."

"No problem." Altai drew his attention away from the snow leopard at the incessant tugging on his sleeve. He looked down and saw Little Brother giving him a strained, desperate look and immediately understood. "We'll be right back: I think we need to find the little monk's room. Right?"

Little Brother nodded vigorously.

Tai Lung sighed, muttering under his breath, "I told him not to drink so much juice..."

"Lighten up, he's just a kid."

After Altai and Little Brother left, Tai Lung thought about it. Had he been too rough on Little Brother? He wasn't used to being a guardian to a young child, though he supposed he'd have to get used to it. He was falling into the same trap that Shifu had fallen into...and that was exactly what he did not want to have happen. He wasn't going to make the same mistakes with his children that Shifu made with him. He wasn't going to be too strict, he was going to hug and kiss his children, let them play as long as possible, make sure they went through school, maybe send them to university so they could be doctors (or fine, maybe lawyers). He would let them have all the opportunities that he never did. That included kung fu.

He sighed and held his head in his hands. How was he going to work around that? As the Phoenix Warrior – was it even official? - kung fu would be a part of his life now whether he liked it or not. It made sense to teach his children kung fu so that they could protect themselves should any of his enemies rise up to hurt him and his family (it was also part of the reason he stepped up Mei Xing's training before their marriage; he wanted her to be prepared for the worst-case scenario). But the fact remained that he did not want to teach his children kung fu. He did not want to put them through what he had gone through. He didn't want them getting hurt; case in point, two days ago when Little Brother stumbled and skinned his knee, seeing those big fat tears rolling down those chubby red cheeks broke his heart. Altai had been a true saint and been right there by the cub's side, cleaning away the dirt, patching him up, and offering him a hug to make him feel better. But Tai Lung had frozen. He knew in his heart what he had to do, but when presented with a chance to practice how to be a father...he froze at the mere sound of a child's painful crying.

Oh gods. Oh gods, what was he thinking? How could he be a father? Who the hell was he kidding? He would be an awful father, he would screw those kids up so bad there would be no hope for future generations. The entire family line was screwed...

The wind blew hard enough to nearly bend some nearby bamboo in half – thus slamming one bamboo shoot right down onto Tai Lung's head. Biting back a curse and rubbing his cranium, he decided it was a very coincidental moment to be hit on the head by bamboo, though that didn't mean he truly forgot...

Thanks, he thought, hoping he was listening. I really needed that...but I also really need your help.

Po was having his own troubles. There were dozens of temples in Chengdu, and for a huge city with many winding roads and alleys, it was hard to find the one he was looking for. He was working blindly, of course, having no clue where Su Lin's family may have worshipped, but he could scratch off the first eleven. Number twelve was coming up. Twelve like the animals in the zodiac, he told himself, so that means this has to be lucky, right?

At the entrance to the shrine, Po deposited an offering of a few coins and lit some incense for the ancestors...whoever they were. He didn't know these people, but hey, even strangers in the afterlife needed offerings. He knew he would appreciate it if someone did it for him after he had joined his ancestors.

He came upon a long-tailed monkey sweeping the steps of the sanctuary, one that was old and gray. Still, he looked friendly, so Po decided to try his luck.

"Excuse me, sir?"

The monkey paused his sweeping and smiled at the newcomer. "Yes, young panda, how may I help you?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me about a family that used to live around here, a long time ago," Po said hopefully, imploringly. "The Yu family, the mom was named Yu Na...she was a healer, had three kids..." This was the same introduction he had given at the other shrines and temples, always without luck.

The elderly monkey blinked in surprise, and Po finally realized his luck. "Goodness, that was a long time ago. Nearly fifteen years since..." he cut himself off and shook his head. "Those poor souls. The whole family, gone, just like that. I know it is wrong to speak ill of the dead, but good riddance to the Jiao! But why are you asking about them? Surely you were very young when that happened...are they relatives of yours?"

"No," Po said. "But I know their daughter, Su Lin."

The monkey stared at him. "That is impossible. The whole family died in that fire."

"No they didn't. Su Lin is alive. She's living in the Valley of Peace, carrying on her mother's legacy as a healer." Po swallowed hard. "I know her personally. She doesn't know I'm here. I have two big favors to ask of you, then you can ask anything of me and I'll do it to the best of my ability."

Guardedly, the monkey said, "All right...name them."

Po took a deep breath, then said, "Okay, first, I know this will be hard, because you must've known the family personally..."

"We all did," he corrected him. "Yu Na was a saint in this city, and everyone knew or knew of her. She never turned a client away if they needed her."

"Okay, well...I want to pay my respects."

The monkey seemed to know what he meant. "Most people don't go around there anymore. They claim it's haunted."

"I don't care," the panda said. "Where is it?"

An hour later, Po made his way through an overgrown path that had long ago been reclaimed by the forest surrounding it. Young bamboo had shot up along the path to the old place around the bend, and yellowed grass and dead leaves coated the muddy pathway towards his final destination. When Po finally emerged from the undergrowth, he stopped short to look out at the clearing. What he saw made his heart sink and his stomach turn.

All that remained were the charred remnants of what must have been a cozy house. Built in the traditional way, with a high wall, courtyard, and three main buildings, the Yu family home must have been a warm and welcoming place over ten years ago. Now the wall had crumbled to dusty red bricks and smashed white plaster, terracotta roof tiles littering the grasses around it. The main houses had been completely destroyed, with only rotting charred wood beams and fire-glazed roof tiles to bear testiment that this was once a home. The gate through the walls into the courtyard still stood, shaky though it was. The Yu family name was inscribed in decorative calligraphy on a plaque by the door on what little remained of the doorway. Po stepped through the doorway.

Now standing in Su Lin's childhood home, he looked around and tried to picture how it must have looked. To the center lay the family's main rooms, the eating area, reception rooms, and the place where Su Lin's parents slept. To his left, where Su Lin and her brother and sister likely slept. To his right, unmistakably, was the wing where Yu Na had set up shop. He guessed this because of how thoroughly destroyed it was. His guess was that this building was where the family had been trapped...and the fire had quickly spread to the rest of the house.

There was an air of sadness about this place, a profound sense of loss, and it brought tears to his eyes. He felt their pain here, he felt their fear. Even if they were in Heaven, it did little to lessen their suffering. So Po knelt, in the middle of the courtyard, and bowed deeply to where the family altar must have once been.

When he sat up, he felt as if something or someone was there. He didn't bother looking. "Hiya," he said.

Wind whistled through the trees above him, casting yellow and orange leaves around him. "So...hi. My name's Po. Po Ping, son of Mr. Ping, from the Valley of Peace. Um...I'm a noodle chef, but uh, also the Dragon Warrior...I dunno if you know what the Dragon Warrior is, but it's kinda a big deal...wow, sorry if that sounded conceited or anything. I'm new to the whole kung fu hero stuff."

There was a pause in the air, a tense hesitation. He continued, "Listen, I'm really sorry about what happened here. I know it's not my fault, but I still feel bad. I want you all to know, if you're listening, that...Su Lin's okay. I mean, she's really okay. Oh, uh, I guess I should explain...she lives in the Valley of Peace now, that's how I met her, and she's such a sweetheart, and wicked smart, right? Like, she can heal anybody and anything, and it's really cool how she does it. Oh, and she's this awesome cook, and makes noodles that sometimes puts my dad's to shame, but, um, don't tell him I said that."

He felt a tender breeze ruffle the fur on his face, and he smiled a little. "You'd be proud of her. Not only is she smart and sweet, like I bet she was when you knew her, but she's grown into a really beautiful woman. And I mean that, um, I'm sure she was a pretty girl when she was littler, but she's beautiful now, I mean really! She's got these big brown eyes that just draw a guy in, and her smile lights up the whole room, and when she laughs, I could be having the worst day in the world, right? And when she laughs, she makes it all better.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that..." he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Wow, I'm screwing this up. Sorry, I won't take up much more of your time from doing...spirit stuff. Anyway...Miss Yu Na, ma'am, if you're listening...I love your daughter Su Lin. I love her, like, a lot. I'm not real good with words, so I don't know how else to say it. I know you all are traditional and everything and want to arrange her marriage and everything...but, if it's okay with you guys...I want to marry her. I can't imagine my life without her, and I know I'm supposed to wait for the whole love thing...but I really do. And I know this is the worst possible way to go about this, and the worst possible place, and not the best time either because of this big battle that's coming up – long story, I'll tell you later – but, if it's okay..." He bowed low again, "...I humbly ask your permission to marry your daughter, Miss Yu Su Lin."

The air was still again. It made him nervous, but not for the reasons he suspected. "So, uh...you need some time to think about it, that's cool, I understand. I know this is completely from out of nowhere, and you don't really know me, and you need some time...but, just think about it. Please?"

"What's there to think about?"

Po jumped up with a startled yelp, whirling around to find Tai Lung standing at the edge of the clearing. "Dude! Not cool!"

The snow leopard winced. "Sorry."

"How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough." Tai Lung's eyes scanned the remains of the house. "So this is it, is it?"

"Yeah. What're you doing here?"

"I saw you going off alone, and I got worried. You took too long in the temple..." he said, carefully stepping over debris, as if disturbing it would commit a grave sacrilige...which in a way, it would.

Po rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the hairs stand on end...and sensing that someone was right behind him, even though they were alone. "Yeah, it took that priest guy a little time to take care of my second favor..."

"Which was?"

"I can't tell you yet. It's a secret...and a surprise."

"The good kind of surprise, I hope?"

"It's for Su Lin."

"Ah." He left it at that. Then he looked around the clearing, cleared his throat, and said, "For what it's worth...you won't find a better match here. I can tell you all, right now, that this panda standing before me will treat your daughter like an empress. He worships the ground she walks on, but more than that, it's pretty clear she's fond of him, too. I may not know Su Lin as well as you all do, but I trust her judgment. Po's a good bloke; I trust him with my life. He's the mightiest warrior I've ever met, the kindest soul, and the best darn chef to boot, so she wouldn't have to cook every night. What his family lacks in wealth they make up for in virtue. When I was still society's outcast, both Po and his father welcomed me as family, treated me as blood. There's always room for one more at Mr. Ping's," he said with a warm smile towards Po. Po grinned back, knowing exactly what his feline friend was doing.

"In my oh-so humble opinion, Mr. and Mrs. Yu, this really is a no-brainer," Tai Lung continued, "But if you're not convinced, feel free to follow us, if you can. Though, erm, if on your side of the universe, you happen to run into a cranky old ursine kung fu master or a largely senile old tortoise with good taste in tea, they can vouch for us, too."

"Thanks, buddy."

"Anytime, Po, anytime. Do you think they heard us?"

Po looked around the courtyard again, listening to the wind rustling through the trees and undergrowth. Then he felt a tender breeze against his face again, and a sensation almost like someone laying a palm against his cheek in a warm and maternal way...similar to the way Su Lin laid her hand against his cheek. He smiled, "I got a pretty good feeling."

"Dalang..."

"Godsdammit, five more minutes..."

"Come on, Bug, get up."

Dalang's eyes flashed open. Bug. Only one person had ever called him that. He sat up and gasped when he saw the specter sitting at the foot of his bed. "Holy...Xiang?"

Jiao Xiang looked nothing like the man who had died on the roof of Aunt Wu's Dim Sum restaurant. The wild look of insanity was gone from his dark eyes, the dark circles under his eyes were also gone, and for the first time since before his addiction, he looked well-kept, fur glossy and smooth, unlike the bedraggled, haggard appearance that had aged him far past his years. Now, he looked no older than Shang had looked before his death. But probably the biggest difference between the addict and the spirit that sat before him...was the smile on his face.

"Hey Bug," he warmly said.

"Holy shit..." Dalang rubbed his eyes. "Is that...that can't be you."

"There's no opium in the afterlife. And I've found people who take decent care of me. They left very generous offerings at Ghost Festival. Why do you think I look so well fed?"

Dalang, still speechless, hazarded a guess: "You're haunting their house."

Xiang shrugged, and attempted a joke, something he was never really good at. "Shake a few chains here, creaky floor boards there, throw in a little mournful wailing...oh don't give me that look. Where else can I go? I never got much further than that restaurant you used to have over there. The landlord rented the apartments out before I could follow you to your new home." The elder tiger looked at the surroundings. "It's very nice here. They are beautiful, your wife and son. You deserve all of this."

"And you don't?"

"You know what I became, Dalang. I'm lucky I'm stuck here, and not where our father is."

"But you weren't always..." Dalang sighed. "What did Koshchei do to you?"

Xiang paused, but answered, though it was clear he was not comfortable doing so. "If you have to ask, you don't want to know."

"Why did he do it? Shang said you'd insulted him..."

"I told him to leave you the fuck alone," Xiang growled. "He doesn't like people telling him what to do, so he made sure I learned my lesson."

Dalang fell silent, allowing Xiang to continue. "I'm only able to talk to you because you're dreaming. You'll need to get up soon, so I'll be brief. As much as it will sicken you, please, please honor us as you honor Mother and Shang. I have it better off than the others, but I can't keep haunting those families to keep from starving."

"Why should I, after everything this family did to me?"

"Think about it, Bug: are all your troubles because of us...or because of him?"

"What's that supposed to mean? Dad tried to kill me!"

Xiang frowned. "Can't you understand why? He had to!"

"Why? Did he think I was that dang-" Dalang froze when he saw the pained look on his brother's face. "...Oh my gods...he thought I would kill him."

Dalang yelped as he hit the floor, sunlight ruthlessly invading his eyes as Sonam tore the curtains away. "Up and at 'em, lad, we're wasting daylight!"

Dalang groaned, re-registering the pulled muscles and aching joints from the day before. The tiger glared up at the snow leopard, who only glared right back. "I sure hope you can kill with a stare, boy, otherwise you're buggered, now let's go!"

Dalang groaned again and picked himself up. He popped his back, and spotted Shifu in the doorway of his room. The tiger got an idea. "Master Shifu? You think you could help me work on my meditation breath? I'm not sure I got it..."

Back at the Jade Palace, Dalang had chosen a place surrounded by bamboo to sit and meditate. His legs crossed, hands resting on his knees, he straightened his back, breathed deeply, just as Shifu instructed. The red panda watched him closely. He knew there was more to Dalang's question than the tiger let on; he had another reason for wanting to perfect his meditation. Most people wouldn't focus so hard unless they were trying to achieve something. The red panda said nothing, allowing the tiger's thoughts to travel...

Dalang became acutely aware that he was in a place much like where he was sitting and meditating. He was in a clearing, though, surrounded by bamboo so thick it was impossible to see through to the outside of the forest. And sure enough, as he had hoped, Shen was waiting.

"Is it true?" Dalang immediately demanded. He left no room for greetings. As soon as he was aware of his dead father's presence, he asked the pivotal question.

Shen's tone was as frigid as ever. "Is what true?"

"The reason you wanted me dead: You thought I would assassinate you. Is that true?"

Shen didn't say anything.

Dalang suddenly roared, "ANSWER ME!"

Shen's shoulders heaved with what would have been a heavy sigh if he were alive. "It is not true."

Dalang stared at him. "Then why?"

"I did it to protect my family."

Dalang narrowed his eyes at him.

Shen turned to him and scowled, "Don't act so clueless."

"Gods-dammit Shen, for once in your miserable...afterlife!...give me a damned straight answer!"

Shen finally rounded on him with the fury of hell in his dark eyes, and he roared, "I did it to save you from yourself! If I hadn't stopped you, you would have turned out just like him! I'd lost one son to that son of a bitch, I wasn't going to lose another!"

Dalang was stunned. When he finally trusted himself to speak, he asked quietly, like a breeze through the bamboo forest behind him, "How bad was I?"

"You don't remember?"

Dalang shook his head. He heard Shen make a frustrated sound. "How could you forget?"

"Maybe I wanted to forget."

"If that is the case, I can hardly blame you."

Dalang stared at the ground, unable to look the ghoul in the eye. "I really was a monster...or I was going to be."

"I thought you were," Shen said, somewhat mournfully. "I got my hopes up when you were shaken by Asmodei burying that man alive...but you went right back to him the next day."

"What choice did I have?" Dalang angrily asked. "You were scared of him too, we all were, especially Xiang." He paused. "Did you ever find out what he did to him?"

"No. Xiang never told me, and Asmodei never mentioned it. Whatever it was, I was happy that Xiang was finding his own ways to deal with it. He could have been completely broken down..."

Dalang snorted derisively. "I think you should've gotten your eyes checked: he was broken. By the end of his life, there was nothing left of him. The Xiang that lightning struck was not my brother, and he wasn't your son, either. I think we both know that. His death was a mercy, and I think Shang knew that, otherwise he wouldn't've helped." The younger tiger fell silent, knowing Shen's silence meant the departed patriarch at least in some way agreed with him. "How is he?"

"Xiang?" Shen asked. "He...well, his spirit is nothing like the animal that died. It seems in death he is himself again. Yes, death was a mercy to him."

"He came to me in a dream last night."

"So I heard."

"Is it true he's haunting what used to be Aunt Wu's Dim Sum?"

"Yes. He got a better deal, as it were, because many of his atrocities were committed long after his addictions began, long after he was no longer himself."

"And he can't move on to the next life? I mean, yeah, he did some really fucked-up things..."

"But only when he was as high as a Manchurian pine," Shen agreed. "No amount of remorse can change what happened, at least in the gods' eyes. And who among the council of the gods would listen to the likes of me? Had Asmodei never tortured him, I feel Xiang would have turned out more like you did...normal." Shen actually smiled this time, ironic and mirthless. "To think, I wanted each of you to be extraordinary, but you all would have been happier if I'd just let you do what you wanted. Shang could have been a decorated general, Xiang a gifted statesman, the twins could have opened up that shop they talked about, Feng could have married that girl he talked about, and Huang could have been an apothecary. It is all my fault...its no wonder none of us can move on."

"Too much unfinished business," Dalang echoed. He stared into space, listening to his own breathing and the wind in the trees...and made a decision that seemed both blasphemous...and yet right. "I gotta go. I'll let you know how my training goes."

"Where are you going?" Shen asked before Dalang started pulling away.

"I'm going to do something I should've done a long time ago..." and when he came out of his meditation, he couldn't wait to get through this day of training to carry out his filial duties.

In all the rush to plan for the invasion, Tigress had neglected one important duty: praying and giving offerings to her parents and her in-laws. She found some of the best fruits still available, plus some rice she set into bowls for each ancestor. She placed them all on a tray and took them from the kitchen into the main room of the house.

Tigress turned the corner and stopped short. Someone had changed the altar. There were more ancestor tablets there, six of them, brand new, each with three sticks of incense burning in front of them. The air was thick with the smoke, and she almost choked on it, feeling unable to breathe. So it surprised her to see her husband on his knees at the altar, holding his hands together in prayer, and showing no outward signs of reaction to the incense.

She crept a little closer, curiosity overwhelming her, stopped dead and almost dropped her offering in shock.

She read the tablets: Jiao Ang, Jiao Chang, Jiao Feng, Jiao Huang, Jiao Xiang, and Jiao Shen. Her husband was praying to-or for?-his dead family. The tablets were situated right under the portraits of his mother and favorite brother, a heartbreakingly symbolic gesture...for the first time in years, the family was all together again. And instead of cursing them, Dalang was praying, chanting the same sutra over and over again to whatever god would listen.

Tigress was confused. His family hated him, and the feeling was mutual, wasn't it? Why was he honoring them after all the hell they put him through? Especially Shen and Huang-those two, of any of them, were beyond saving.

"I'm almost done," Dalang said suddenly, startling her. Tigress grasped her offering closer, then sighed,

"No, take your time...I'll just..."

He sat back on his knees and looked back at her. "I've been having dreams about them. Shang, my brother, is not with them. Neither is Mom. I take that to mean they're in heaven. Everyone else...they're suffering."

"For good reason."

"No, that's not true."

She set the tray of offerings on the altar. "Are you defending the horrible things they did?"

"No way, not ever." He looked back at the ancestor tablets, inhaling deeply and exhaling heavily. "Shen has been coming to me in my dreams. Xiang haunted my dreams last night. All I know is that they're suffering, but they've been telling me some...pretty surprising things."

"Like what?"

"Like the real reason Dad wanted to kill me was because he wanted to save me from becoming a monster like Koshchei. Koshchei had already turned Xiang into a monster, and... 'I'd already lost one son to him, I wasn't about to lose another'...that's what he said. Thing is, if that's true, I don't know that I can blame him."

He paused, and continued, "The twins didn't do anything that any other soldier wouldn't do...they did things they weren't proud of, but like good soldiers, they followed orders. They didn't know any other way. They need these prayers. Xiang needs prayers because, well, he needs them if he can ever attain peace. And Huang...he's going to need all the prayers he can get."

"And Feng?"

Dalang sighed and looked at Feng's tablet. "I don't know. He and I weren't really close. But if Xiang and Shen have appeared in my dreams already, for some reason I get the feeling the whole damn family's gonna come around...and I'd like 'em to be happy to see me, for once."

"You don't think any of them would try to harm you in your sleep, do you?" Tigress was not by nature a superstitious person, and didn't profess a strong belief in ghosts. But if the danger was truly there...

Dalang shook his head. "I think there's an agreement that I'm the only one who can secure their release from the Pit. I don't know if they'll all be reincarnated, or if a couple will slip through the cracks..."

"You actually think some of your family members have a chance at reincarnation?" she dubiously asked. She smiled when he smirked:

"Don't tell Shen, but I'm also praying to Yanluo Wang to reincarnate him as a little bunny rabbit, just to piss him off."

Tigress grinned. "Sounds like a fair trade. What do you want Huang to come back as?"

"Dunno, come kinda bug, I guess." The chef glanced at Xiang's tablet and smiled fondly. He picked it up and showed it to her, "Shang was like a father to me, but Xiang was definitely the 'big brother'. When I was really little, he had to babysit me, and I guess I really liked to hug people when I was a cub, before I knew better. He started calling me 'Bug' because I was a 'little cuddle bug'."

She smiled. "Aww..."

"Yeah, that's what Mom said. Shen hated it. Shang laughed at it, later said it fit because I scurried around everywhere and bugged the hell outta people. But Xiang was the only one who ever called me 'Bug'." He set the tablet back down and tapped on Huang's tablet. "Huang, I remember, was always a jerk. I don't know why. I don't think he liked any one of us. He tolerated Feng, I think, and I think Feng actually liked us, hell, maybe he loved us, but didn't know how to show it, or even if he should. You remember, he was a hell of an archer, and though I never told him, I was always kinda jealous of that. I mean, you should've seen the things he could do with a bow and arrow, he was a prodigy! And me...I threw knives. Not really impressive."

"It is impressive," she told him. "Sonam wouldn't rave about you if he didn't think you were good at what you do. Even Shifu told me how impressed he was."

"Shifu said that, really?"

"Really," she nodded. She came and knelt by his side and looked up at the altar. After a long pause, he spoke up. "I want to tell you about them, all of them, the good things I remember. I didn't want to say anything before because, yeah, I wanted to forget it, mostly because recalling the good times hurt more because it made me realize how much I lost. And talking about the good times would've made me look like I excused the things they did." He took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "If you're willing to listen, I'm willing to talk."

"Of course," she said, standing up. She nodded at the new ancestor tablets. "But first...I think I need to cook more rice."

Dalang just smiled.

On the far wall of the village's perimeter that same night, the Wu Sisters carefully scanned the walls. They had hurried into the Valley as soon as they could; they left too early for Lan Duo to say goodbye. Zi Hao stayed behind at their base camp with a couple others, waiting for the sisters to return.

The females noted the guards: when they switched shifts, when they were most alert. They noted who came through the gates, and how often. They noted the strengths and weaknesses of the walls themselves. That was how they discovered the eastern gate.

The East Gate was the least defended of the three main gates. The village had no North Gate—the Jade Palace served this purpose, and no opposing force was stupid enough to enter the valley that way. The East Gate was a simple wooden door set into a moon gate. The hinges were old and rusted; it clearly had not been used in ages, and if they attempted to open it, it would have made too much noise and blown their cover. The snow leopardesses improvised.

They waited until they were sure it was late enough for them to not be detected. Once the windows had gone dark, they made their move. Zhu threw the first grapling hook and got a good hold on the first try. She threw the two others for her sisters, and together they scaled the wall. At the top, they slid down the steps and slid away into the alleys. They hugged the shadows, moving like clouds in a storm. Their cloaks and straw hats hid their identities, but anyone paying too close attention could easily discern they were up to no good.

They were following on previous intelligence, a source on the inside. That was their first stop.

At the appointed hour, in the appointed place, they jumped into a cellar and closed the door behind them.

Tian was the first to wrinkle her nose in disgust. Opium. The air was rank and with decay, foul with the stench of nightsoil and other filth. Four males laid about on makeshift beds, smoking away at the pipes. In the corner, seated in the only real chair in the room, was their boss.

Still cloaked, their boss beckoned them forward. They did so, covering their mouths and noses with their cloaks in a desperate attempt to keep the stench out.

"We have a problem," Tian said before their employer could speak.

"What problem?"

"This kid, Lang, is Asmodei Koshchei's protege—"

The cloaked figure bristled under the disguise. "I told you to stay away from him!"

"He didn't give us a choice. You know, you've followed him for years!"

"Totally missing the point, boss!" Zhu spoke up. "This kid is trouble with one hell of a capital T! We've seen him kill innocent people."

"Tan Lan counts as innocent?" Jiang asked.

The employer sucked in a breath. "Tan Lan is dead?"

"You knew him?"

"Knew of him—we've been on his tail for years. Who else?"

Zhu listed: "Yu Wang, Bao Nu, Xu Jiu, Zi Hao, and Lan Duo."

Tian noticed her sister Jiang stiffening when the last name was uttered; the eldest female narrowed her eyes at her sister.

"I know them," the employer said. "The last one, not so much, but the others are trouble. It's good Tan Lan's dead though, one last outlaw to worry about. And this Lang kid, who is he?"

"A nobody," Tian said. "He came out of nowhere, but Koshchei likes him. To be honest...the kid scares me more than Koshchei does."

Their boss stiffened. "That bad?"

"I suspect he's also killed Bao Nu."

Zhu and Jiang stared at their sister. Tian continued, "Bao Nu suddenly went missing, and also suddenly, my sisters and I have spending money, given to us by Lang himself. He won't say where he got it."

"How?" Zhu asked. "Lang's shorter than I am! How could he take down Bao Nu?"

"Let's not worry about it," the employer said. "Let Koshchei be my worry. You have a mission to complete."

"Yeah, and that's the problem I was telling you about," Tian glared. "Before I was interrupted."

"My apologies. Please proceed."

"We'll follow your orders, but Lang's also given us orders, straight from Koshchei."

"Which are?"

"Kidnap or kill the son of Master Tigress."

The cloaked figure sucked in a sharp breath. After a long, tense moment of silence, their employer spoke up, rubbing the hidden eyes beneath the cloak's hood. "Going after Zang is one thing; Koshchei's going to know you defied orders. He's uncanny about that."

"Exactly our fear. What do you propose we do?" Tian asked.

Zhu and Jiang were frozen in their apprehension. None of them wanted to give up their principles in an effort to preserve their lives. This was their biggest rule: no children. But that was Lang's idea. Killing Master Tigress's son would make her slip, make her useless in battle...making total takeover that much easier, and easier for them to take down the Iron Lady, as most of the outlaws had come to know her.

"Aside from being killed for disobeying him," their boss said, "what else will Koshchei and this Lang character do?"

"Probably kill the kid anyway," Jiang snorted...mostly to get the stench of mortal filth out of her nostrils.

"Alright, change of plans," the figure sat forward and whispered to the sisters. "Get in there, remove the child, bring him here. My agents can whisk him to safety..."

"I think you have a problem with your brain being missing," Jiang snapped. "Tigress will kill us if we go anywhere near the kid."

"Which would you rather have: Koshchei kill an innocent child, or Tigress kill you?"

"Neither, if we can avoid it," Zhu said.

"I'm trusting you to do your jobs. Get the child out of the line of fire, then get Zang. He's holed up in the Jade Palace."

"Wow. Couldn't have made that any easier for us, could you?" Zhu said with a raised brow.

"I can get you into the Jade Palace. But let's worry about Tigress's child first."

"Why are we caring? Can't she take care of her own family?" Zhu asked.

"You're just going to have to trust me on this. That's an order. Kid first, Zang next."

Tian sighed through her nose. "Dead or alive?"

"I'd like him alive, but he won't go without a fight."

"Understood. One more question."

"Yes?" the employer said with strained tone.

Tian wrinkled her nose beneath the cloak. "Did you have to choose an opium den?"

"Yes. Who would follow you down here?"

Jiang nodded. "Good point. Meet up in an hour?"

"One hour. Get it done. If you're not back here in an hour, I'm sending other agents after Zang. Are we understood?"

"Yes," they all agreed.

"Good, dismissed."

Later, unaware of the plots unfolding under her own nose, Tigress was preparing for bed. She called to her husband not to stay up too late; he was preparing dough for the next morning's dumplings and needed to get it just right before he got to sleep. She stopped by the altar one more time before retiring for the night. This time she lay down some apples, one for each tablet, then lit a stick of incense for each. Bowing in respect, she looked up at the two portraits and sighed. "I know I've been coming to you for a lot lately, Shang, and I'm sorry if I've been a little needy. I just don't know if this will work."

She turned to Ming Hua's portrait. "All I can ask from you, Mother-in-law, is that you grant me strength and patience—being married to Shen for so long, I can only assume you have patience in spades."

She sighed again and held her arms, fighting back the sudden chill in the room. Tigress turned her attention to the other ancestor tablets, her brothers-in-law and father-in-law. "I can't believe I'm asking for this...but I could use your help, too. There's a reason you were all so successful for so long...and Shen, I could definitely use some pointers. Studying your seige tactics and battle strategies is one thing; but I know as well as you surely do that every battle is different. So...I'm not asking too much, I hope, but if you can spare even a tiny little tip, I'd really appreciate it. Why should you care, you're probably asking? Well, if you don't, you run a real risk of your entire family line dying out, so...food for thought."

She pressed her fist into her palm again and bowed. "Have a good night." The room had gotten steadily colder as she prayed, and now as soon as she left, she felt much warmer. She could never understand why that one room, even in the summer, was always so frigid.

She dreamed that night. Or, more accurately, relived a memory. She was back on the battlefield of the Jiao War, toe-to-toe with Jiao Feng again. He was just as savage as she remembered, just as dangerous. She hadn't liked how he looked at her before, but she liked this look even less now. This dream seemed...different, and he looked...different. Scrawnier, more ragged, even his clothes were suddenly in tatters. He dropped his weapon and yelled at her, "Wake up!"

But she was awake, wasn't she? She was here, she was fighting...

Feng suddenly leapt forward, grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her. "Tigress, WAKE UP!"

Her eyes flashed open, and as soon as she aware she was in bed...she saw the dark form in the room reaching into her baby's crib.

In a flash, the tiger was up and fighting. She grabbed the interloper and slammed them into the wall with a snarl. Then she felt two more at her back, pulling her away, one tightening a rope around her neck. She elbowed one hard in the gut, turned around and kicked them clear across the room, and the one with the rope around the tiger's neck received a powerful punch that slammed them into the trunk at the foot of the bed.

Turning back to the first assailant, she only barely dodged a knife aimed right at her throat. Tigress struck up with her arm, deflected the assailant's arm away then grabbed it, twisting hard and turning the enemy around to slam them face-first into the wall.

The commotion alerted the rest of the house. Tigress heard footsteps thundering up the stairs. She had to take these enemies down, and make sure they stayed down.

One was moving towards the crib. Tigress let go of the one in her claws and attacked the other. The third drew a blade and rushed over to the tiger. Tigress swung her leg in a wide kick, knocking the weapon out of the enemy's hand, then swung the other leg, nailing them in the chin. The third enemy went down. The second one had a hand on Shang, who wailed loudly with shrieks of terror. Tigress grabbed the second by the throat and squeezed, quickly turned around and grabbed the first by the throat as well, squeezing even harder.

Then light flooded the room, and Tigress got her first look at the trespassers. In the doorway, Dalang, Shifu and Wu Lien gasped in horror. So did Tigress. She had the Wu Sisters in her hands. Wu Jiang appeared to be unconscious on the floor—the one she had elbowed in the gut and kicked in the chin. Wu Zhu was in her right hand, clawing at the tiger's arm as her grip tightened around the snow leopardess's throat. Wu Tian was in her left hand, glaring at her with hellish rage. She had no right to. Tigress saw nothing but red. Being an assassin was bad enough, but this bitch had the gall to threaten her baby...Tigress didn't care if Shang the whole world was watching. She was going to kill them, all three of them. But one thing stopped her: Wu Lien's voice.

"Girls?"

Tian and Zhu turned their eyes to the small red panda woman in the doorway. There was a look of utter shock on Auntie Wu's face, but nothing could match the looks on the snow leopardess's faces. It was Tian who gasped out the one thing that saved her from Tigress's rage...though it wasn't her rage that worried the assassin:

"Mother!"

In the ensuing silence, the only person to say anything was Shifu. He stared at his wife and repeated, "Mother?"

Maybe it's me, but I always thought making Auntie Wu the trainer of the Wu Sisters was...well, more obvious than I should have made it. I still hope it was a surprise.

A couple notes: "He'd make a nice throw rug" is, yes, a reference to the Lion King, when Zazu makes a suggestion for what to do about Scar. Lang's comment how "I can use that joke!" is my own (lovable) jab at Disney, which, as a company, is well known for holding onto those copyrights... (so please don't sue; parody is perfectly legal!)

The various phrases that Koshchei curses are actual Russian Curses, which I will not translate for impressionable persons (also because I lost the paper I'd written the words and their meanings on). Just assume they're not very nice things. I do remember that "Ya te-bye primu kalgan, yesli nye slye-Dishza myet loi" means something akin to "I'll knock out your teeth if you don't watch your mouth" (or something like that; I lost the sheet I had these notes written down on, so I can't recall for sure.

Yes, I understand Lang may be learning Russian a hell of a lot quicker than I learned Spanish, but methinks I may yet be fluent if all my teachers had been psychotic mass murderers. It might've given me more incentive to master the different verb conjugations for ver y hacer...

Dalang being called "Bug" is another little detail drawn from real life, where certain family members received nicknames in infancy that's stuck with them to adulthood (those poor souls...).

I try to be as respectful to Chinese beliefs in the afterlife, but as it is a subject I am not incredibly knowledgable of, if I make any mistakes or write something even mildly offensive, please inform me and I will fix it; I don't want to offend anyone with my ignorance.

As always, please read and review!