A Great Escape

Chapter 12: A story

"Before I was born, my parents were so excited about having an heir that they couldn't wait to know if I was a boy or a girl," Shen began, settling in as he started what was sure to be a long story. "They asked their court soothsayer to tell them what gender I would be. But when she looked into her bowl, she saw an entirely different version of the future, and had a vision of 'white, and fire, and darkness.' My parents were outraged and refused to believe it…but then I hatched prematurely, and they could see that I had white feathers. From then on, I was always a bad color, bad omen.

"The soothsayer was the one who really raised me. She became my nanny, practically my mother. She was the one who fed and bathed and took care of me; I lived in her quarters, and I loved her more than anyone. As I grew up there were a few other people who ended up being a part of my life, like Xun – he's a wolf cub I befriended when I was five, you'd probably know him better as the wolf boss – and a healer who tended to me when I was sick, named Lady Biming. I was very sickly, you see, probably because of my prematurity. Still, I hated Lady Biming until I was about nineteen." He wasn't sure whether to smile or grimace at these old memories.

"As I grew up, my parents rarely interacted with me. Oh, I'd see them sometimes, of course, but they just…fell into a stride of ignoring me, I suppose. I strove for their attention, first by trying to excel at kung fu, and then by attempting to prove that I was competent at the family business of making fireworks." He winced. "The fireworks became an obsession. You probably know how that turned out. Before anyone knew what was happening, I was literally beginning to go insane, throwing aside the people who had cared for me and refusing to show any emotion besides anger. I think that the real downfall of my sanity began when I was nineteen, on a day that my parents brought me to the panda village to see Lady Biming – "

"Lady Biming was a panda?" interrupted Lanying.

"Yes, she is. Why?"

"Well…" The peahen's head feathers lowered awkwardly. "I never pictured you as interacting with any pandas…"

Shen cleared his throat meaningfully. "We'll get to that. As I was saying, my parents brought me to the panda village so that they could visit with Lady Biming. Even though I hadn't seen her in years, I didn't like her, because all I remembered about her was that she was always sticking me with needles and making me drink disgusting medicines. Anyway, she and her husband took my parents out to show them crops or something, and my parents volunteered me to watch her son. He was an annoying little brat who tried to eat me more than once." Shen rolled his eyes. "If only I knew that he'd turn out to be the Dragon Warrior…

"I didn't exactly succeed in watching him. He ended up dragging me into the water hole, which is where Biming found us. And then…something strange happened. I'm not sure what came over me, but I almost…well, I almost broke down in front of her, telling her about my parents' neglect and how even my nanny was beginning to go against me. And the funny thing was, she understood. She empathized with me and tried to comfort me. I wouldn't let her, of course, but she wasn't done with me yet. Because a few days later I tried to run away from home, and Nana – I mean, the soothsayer – followed me. And it was cold and raining, and she got sick, and then Lady Biming came and even though I tried to run away again, she told me that I had to stay or else Nana would die. And I asked her why on earth Nana would hold on for me, and she said, '…because you're her son.' And…after that I didn't hate Lady Biming so much anymore."

Shen's voice broke off abruptly, and Lanying's eyes roved around as she searched for something to say. She had heard as his words became a rush of emotion as he'd hurriedly described his nanny's illness. Finally she asked, "And what does that have to do with…the rest of your story?"

"I'm getting to that." Shen took a deep breath. "Just a few weeks later, I overheard the soothsayer making the prediction that changed my life forever – telling my parents that I would be defeated by a 'warrior of black and white.' And I snapped. When I look back on it now, I have no idea what came over me. I just rounded up as many wolf guards as I could, set out for the panda village, and slaughtered everyone in sight. Well…almost everyone. Because I had the opportunity to kill Lady Biming, and I didn't. Or should I say, I couldn't."

Lanying gripped her chest. "You spared her? You mean, you left her there to cope with the deaths of everyone in her village?"

"Patience, Lanying, I'm not done yet. You probably know what happened after the massacre. My parents were forced to banish me, and I spent thirty years in exile, until I returned and…"

"…tried to take over China, but were defeated by the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five," finished Lanying. "I know that much. I was there, remember?"

"Of course you were." Shen cleared his throat. "To be honest, I probably couldn't give you a better account of that then what you've already heard. To me, everything that happened after my exile is sort of…hazy." He shivered slightly. "And dark. But what no one probably ever told you is that I didn't die when that cannon fell on top of me. It broke through the ship, so I fell into the water before it could crush me. I was knocked out, of course, and severely injured, but I survived. And from then on, things began to get very strange.

"The soothsayer was the one who healed me. She got me out of the harbor and managed to get me into Dao-ming Temple, outside of Gongmen City. I was bedridden for quite a while, but once I was able to get on my feet again, I immediately set out to seek my revenge. I went to the Jade Palace, but I didn't have an army anymore and I wasn't sure of what I would do. Then I saw a little kitten wandering the grounds unattended, and it was easy for me to kidnap her without anyone else knowing." He smiled. "Her name was Kurisu, and she and I were about to become very well-acquainted.

"Before you say anything, I'm sure you're probably wondering what she was doing at the Jade Palace if you've never heard of her. Well, she's from a village in Japan that was destroyed, and someone from the Valley of Peace named Mr. Ping adopted her. Mr. Ping also happens to be the Dragon Warrior's adoptive father, so Kurisu is the Dragon Warrior's younger sister, and she was just beginning to learn kung fu at that time. Anyway, I brought her back to Dao-ming Temple with me and asked the soothsayer what I would get from the ransom I was asking for her. And once again, Nana made a completely different prediction than anyone expected. She told me that I would never be able to find happiness unless I learned to care about someone as much as myself…to care about someone more than myself. Apparently, Kurisu was meant to be my path to redemption. Well, of course I refused to believe it, but circumstances changed again. I had an argument with the soothsayer and wound up breaking down, and crying for the first time since I was twelve. And after that, I was persuaded into showing a bit more kindness towards Kurisu. She grew very attached to me, and eventually vice versa.

"For a little while, I was incredibly satisfied with my life at Dao-ming, but our state of happiness couldn't last. The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior came storming into Gongmen to reclaim Kurisu, which caused some of the citizens here to realize that I was alive. They formed a mob, burned down Dao-ming, and tried to kill the three of us. I got Nana and Kurisu to safety and was nearly killed trying to get the mob away from them…which got the attention of the warriors, who had to consider that maybe I'd changed. Kurisu insisted on me and Nana coming back to the Jade Palace, and we were permitted to. I think the arrangement was supposed to be temporary, but I never left, and I've been living there ever since."

Lanying leaned forward, her brow furrowed. "But what about – "

"Calm down, I'm not finished yet. A few months after all that, I encountered Xun again. You may or may not know that I tried to kill him during my attempted takeover. Needless to say, I felt guilty about that now, and I regretted not having treated him like a friend in so long even though he showed nothing but loyalty towards me. Well, he showed up in the Valley of Peace, starving and hurt and half-crazy, and I took him up to the Jade Palace and got him food and medical attention. We ended up reconciling, and since then we've been best friends again." His face faltered a bit when he remembered that Xun was currently angry at him for...some stupid reason.

Shaking his head to clear it, he continued, "There's really only one more notable thing that's happened to me since then, and that was that I recognized Po – er, the Dragon Warrior – as the cub that I'd babysat so long ago. So I told him that I'd never killed his mother, and he rushed off to find her. Kurisu, Nana, Xun, and I ended up following him, and sure enough, we found Lady Biming. I wasn't planning on getting her to forgive me, but, well…it's sort of complicated, but to make a long story short, I got sick and she started taking care of me without me even asking her too. She said that she didn't think I was a monster, and after that she wasn't afraid of me anymore. So we took her back to the Jade Palace with us, and ever since then, all of us have been one big, weird family."

Shen leaned back, his mouth dry and chapped from talking so much, somehow exhausted from going through all of those memories again. "There. You now know essentially everything there is to know about my history. Do with that what you will."

Lanying didn't seem able to prevent herself from staring at him, with her eyes wide and her beak slightly parted. At last she managed, "Well…that explains a lot."

"And what exactly does it explain?"

"The fact that I was always told that you were evil, but then when I met you, there was nothing to suggest that you were cruel or even particularly egotistical." She cleared her throat. "Not to mention, the emotional baggage with your parents."

Shen looked away. "My parents may have made mistakes, but they weren't trying to hurt me. For better or for worse, they're still my parents."

"It seems we have more in common than I thought," remarked Lanying softly. "After all, my parents…"

But she never got a chance to finish the statement about her parents, because just then, Yue swished into the courtyard. "Lanying? Come on, it's been long enough! We'd better get going!"

Lanying sighed roughly and stood up, giving Shen a slight nod. "Goodbye, Master Shen. Will I be seeing you again soon?"

"Yes, I should think so," he answered, even though this contradicted with his original plans. "I've been fairly busy lately, so perhaps I'll come see you at your home next time."

"All right." Smiling shakenly a bit, Lanying hitched up the hem of her dress robe and hurried over to her mother's side.

Shen watched her go with mixed feelings. He had told her everything she needed to know, and he'd give her the opportunity to chew over that massive amount of information. He just wondered what she'd think of him the next time they met.