Chapter 1

And here I am, ready to perform in front of all these people. I hope they won't make it more difficult than it already is, and that I will not be disturbed too much... I know all the songs by heart, what could go wrong? Alright, here I go. I had decided to start with a song on which I needed to play the biggest instrument out of all the ones I had. It was a big one with a lot of keys, each one corresponding to a different sound. It had been offered to me when I was younger. It was very heavy, but somehow I managed to carry it throughout my life of travel.

I started by a simple song which basically told a beautiful story about people in general. I had decided to start by this one because the way it was written made me talk to the public, thus catching their attention. While I sang and played it, I proceeded to make eye contact with various people among the public; another useful trick to try and get people concentrated on my performance. There was first this group of ducks and pigs, who I looked at when I started, and on my left there was what seemed to be a group of friends, consisting of five people, who were a monkey, an avian, a snake, a... mantis, probably, and one of my kind: a tiger. I'd say a tigress, but I can't be precise with that distance. All these people seemed to appreciate their time here.

I went back to my song, looking at the public every once in a while. When I ended it, I realized I had managed to lay silence in the public, which isn't always that easy. After a short moment, people started applauding! I guess this evening was starting off quite well... I continued singing, playing other instruments as I switched songs. To say the truth, it was going well! I noticed a few people leaving, and others entering, but I didn't care about the number of people anymore; all I cared about was to give these people a quality show, and if I manage to do so, maybe I will be granted the right to sleep in this place.

I had reached the end of my programme, and people seemed to be happy with it. I packed my instruments and went to search for this place's administrator. I couldn't find him inside the building so I got out and started searching for this guy, but unfortunately, I found a few people who, apparently, were not here to thank me or anything. This ox and the two wolves were most likely drunk and were about to fight with me. The ox spoke:

"This night was pretty bad, don't you agree?" he said speaking to the two wolves. As they nodded, he continued; "Well it's because of this guy and his damn music!"

Then turning to me he said: "You're going down." And he cracked his knuckles. Looks like I'm going to have to defend myself; luckily I have been taught well in my childhood... A sneaky smile made its way on my face. I looked at him in the eye and said: "Are you sure about that?" and on these words I jumped high in the air. I fell down onto the ox and, and thanks to the surprise my jump caused, he was not prepared to such an attack. I started punching his face, dodged his attempts at catching me, thus easily bringing him down. I was ready to take on the two wolves, but apparently someone already took care of them. I looked at the people who had helped me out. It turns out that they were the five people I spoke about a little before. I guess they are good fighters, as they beat the wolves without getting any scratch.

"I guess I should thank you for helping me to deal with those guys." I said. The snake was the first to answer: "Considering the way you fought, perhaps you could have defended yourself easily. But dealing with these people and protecting the ones under attack is quite like our job."

Now this was interesting; I asked: "So you act like the protectors of this place?" They all nodded. The mantis added: "And now, thanks to this little fight, these three men are going to spend their night in jail. Come on we need to get them there!" I watched as the tigress, the mantis and the monkey each took one of them. What the mantis just said reminded me that, as I had not found the administrator of the hotel, I had nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat. The snake got me out of my thoughts as she spoke to me again, in a gentle voice: "Anyway, your performance tonight was very good and we appreciated it. Oh, and by the way my name is Viper. These people here are Crane, Tigress, Monkey and Mantis."

I smiled a little: "Thank you for your compliment, but unfortunately my performance did not earn me the right to eat and sleep tonight. I pretty much have nowhere to go tonight, and I'm afraid it's going to be cold out there soon." Crane looked at me with disbelief: "You mean... you don't have a place where to sleep tonight?" I shook my head. He then turned to his friends: "Do you think we should bring him to the Jade Palace? He has no place to stay." Monkey then said: "Well, I guess Master Shifu would be okay with it just for one night." The others looked like they agreed, except for Tigress who said nothing and her face stayed emotionless. I was wondering who this Master Shifu was, but he probably is these guys' teacher, or something like that. I picked up all my stuff and we headed to this city's prison.

On the way there, Viper asked me: "Isn't this heavy?" talking about all my instruments. I looked back at her and answered: "It certainly is, but I got used to it over the years. I've been travelling from town to town for quite a long time now." She seemed to understand, and then: "I just figured out I forgot to ask for your name." Definitely not a question I wanted to answer, but I gathered my courage and said: "I... don't really have a name. I have been anonymous for years now, so my name doesn't mean much to me anyway." This was only part of the reason. I wasn't ready to tell anyone about the real problem, as it was linked to my... past. Past is something that can be painful and I preferred not to think about it too much. She seemed a bit disappointed, as if she knew that I was not telling the entire truth: "Oh well, it's okay. May we just call you Tiger then?" I nodded: "Fine with me." She smiled a little: "Then that's fine with us."

We handed the three guys to the chief of the local guards, and then headed towards what they called the 'Jade Palace'. I was surprised to see how many steps there were to go to this place. Crane came by and informed me that there were a thousand steps to the Jade Palace. I told him that I would make it to the top anyway, even though it was not my habit. The others seemed satisfied with that answer. We started moving faster, and oddly enough I found myself following their pace, even when they started running. I was impressed myself, as I did not believe I could follow them while carrying all my stuff on my back; yet I did. The others did not seem to mind – for them, it was probably very easy.

Once we got to the top, I asked for some place to put my stuff. They showed me someplace, and then we headed to the kitchen. Viper started to prepare something for us to eat. It smelt great and I was wondering what it could be... After some time, a red panda entered the room. Immediately, the others bowed in front of him with their fist in their other hand. I quickly copied their movements. "Good evening." He said. If I were to take a guess, I'd say this is probably Master Shifu. "Who is this person I have never seen before on Palace grounds?" He asked. Before I could explain my presence, Crane spoke up: "Master Shifu, this is Tiger. We found him in the city as he was under attack by three people. We helped him out, but he fought honourably and took down one of his opponents. He told us that he had nowhere to live, so we wanted to ask you if he could sleep in here... at least for tonight." Master Shifu looked at me and probably asked himself about whether he should accept or not. After a few instants, he answered: "I think we should offer him hospitality for tonight." He then turned to me and continued: "Tomorrow morning, I would like you to wake up when you hear the gong. We will test your abilities and I will decide whether you can stay." I felt relieved, and gratefully said: "Thank you Master Shifu. I will try my best not to disappoint you." "Good. Now get some rest."

After we finished our meal, they led me to the barracks in which they slept, and showed me an empty room, told me I could stay there. These rooms contained the strict minimum: a bed, a little shelf, and a pillow. I took off my vest and lay on the bed, looking back at my day. Surely that was not what I had expected... Hopefully, tomorrow I might be granted the right to stay here. After all, I am growing tired of having to perform to get to eat and sleep. I opened my eyes as I realized that maybe I had a chance to change my life, potentially forever. I smiled at this thought and soon found sleep.