Title: The Life and Times of Lord Shen
Summary: A collection of stories on the albino peacock of Gongmen City. 6. fragmented and disjointed: Young Shen recovers (again).
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Kung Fu Panda or its sequel(s) and spin-offs, that's all DreamWorks' honor.
Spoilers: Both Kung Fu Panda movies.
A/N: Thanks again everyone for all the reviews! I always love hearing what people have to say about the fic and knowing they liked it, and what they specifically liked too.
Always, with this fic I want to mix on-screen canon with off-screen materials found online, i.e. "Although they still cared for him, Shen's parents were ashamed of his albino coloring and poor health, so they left him in the care of their advisor, the Soothsayer who raised him like her own. Traces of this can be seen as Shen is never outright cruel to the Soothsayer, such as how he releases her before the launch of his armada, meaning that he still respects her for showing him love" from character page for Kung Fu Panda. So I do want to make this mix of on-screen and off-screen materials as canon-compliant as possible.
I'm gonna try to individually reply to all your kind reviews with 's handy PM feature (except for users not signed in, since that feature's not available with them—those responses are at the bottom here).
Also, I started a new Shen-centric KFP fic, "Change the Fate's Design," if anyone wants to check it out and leave a review. It should be in continuity with this fic (up to a point).
fragmented and disjointed
The Soothsayer made him eat lots and lots of bowls of rice. And soup. Noodles, vegetables. Shen felt like he was being fattened up for something.
The boy was made to consume so many medicines and herbs, and incense was constantly burning now, he wondered if he'd been poisoned.
(He later overheard the physician thank the gods the blade hadn't been poisoned.)
Shen also overheard the nurses, his eyes again shut and trying to rest, but feigning sleep all the same.
"…it was one of the noble peacock families that hired them?"
"Yes, one of the merchants, I think, and Lord Baojia and Lady Fen had them executed along with the assassins and that treacherous-"
"What of their children-?"
"Some of them are full-grown, you know. They've taken the younger ones in."
The prince kept his eyes shut, though they squeezed tighter, and a wing fisted into his pillow.
"Is this a warning?"
"What do you think, dum dum?"
"W-what will they do when illness finally takes him-?"
"What are you-never mind, you silly twit-"
"But-"
"Nothing, nothing will happen-at any rate, the prince won't be dropping dead today."
"But the physician says he'll eventually-"
"Enough, it's time we cleaned his bandages-"
Shen made sure to sound sufficiently sleepy, mumbling his words and acting grumpy, as if he hadn't enough rest when they changed his bandages. Anything to hide the sudden ache in his stomach and head.
###
Lord Baojia and Lady Fen, when they spied their son in the hospital bed, sinking into his pillows and blankets and the white bandages a rough contrast with his sickeningly white feathers, thought him still too young.
But they sat with Shen, and explained that they had dangerous enemies, who would harm him, especially to stop him from taking the throne when he was older. At the moment, they couldn't figure out how to explain to their five-year-old that others in power (but second to them), who'd expected him to die shortly after hatching once they heard his poor prognosis, had in little and large ways failed to hide their disappointment when he held on.
They did tell him that the culprits were taken care of and he was safe now.
Baojia and Fen also couldn't figure out how they should specify that by 'taken care of,' they meant permanently. Or how they should make explicit that this may not be the last attempt on his life.
The older blue peacocks weren't sure of what to make of their son's silence. He didn't ask any questions, just absorbed the information. The boy would shoot them a few odd glances, but nothing came of it.
###
Shen learned that one of the servants had called for the Soothsayer, asking for her help that night, told her it was an emergency but couldn't explain further. He just needed her right away, he had to show her.
She'd gone, the servant had seemed so worried, so insistent, and she thought it wouldn't take long. But when one of the wolf guards had passed and the servant looked beyond anxious, the old goat had gone back, seized by a sudden gut feeling, either a spark of her sometimes still unpredictable seer ability or something else entirely. The Soothsayer had hailed the passing guard, who'd called on his comrades and had a few of them take the suspicious servant into custody while they followed the surprisingly swift goat back to the apartment.
After the Soothsayer fled with Shen and had the boy treated, the wolves had interrogated the servant, who proved to be hired by the assassins to provide a distraction. He too was executed.
###
The Soothsayer stayed by Shen's side.
But even his parents were there.
Eventually.
They'd work long into the night, but would come and stay with him afterward, even if he was already asleep and would only see them in the morning-and even that was occasional, since they'd rise earlier than he to work again. And so when they joined him after he'd fallen asleep and left before he woke up-those were surreal times were the Soothsayer reassured him they slept at his side, even though he completely missed them. He much preferred it when they'd come when he was awake both times or even once to see them. The boy had no doubts about the truth then.
An visited him a lot too. The first time he came, the wolf cub struggled to make his way past the awkwardness and staring at the bandages, to the safer topic of asking how the prince's birthday went. And it was then Shen was reminded to thank An.
"But how come you gave me your boomerang? You said it was your favorite, and one of your older cousins got it for you-"
The older wolf cub had shrugged, looking away and finding the corner of the hospital room very interesting.
"It's your-er, was your birthday, I was supposed to get you somethin'-"
"But that-?"
"Don't you like it?"
Shen nodded.
Before he could say anything else, An pressed forward, "Wait 'til I show you how to use it, Master Thundering Rhino's gonna be impressed-"
Finally the wolf cub reminded the prince to tell him about his birthday and his trip to the city, which Shen finally complied with, eagerly telling him about the rickshaws and their crashes, the bakery, the Kung Fu Academy and the shadow puppet play, the height and number and stacking of the buildings and all the lanterns, all the smells and sights and sounds. (The white peacock didn't talk about everyone staring though, even if An might understand a little-even if he probably already knew.)
"We should go together next time," the prince said, stifling a yawn.
An nodded.
###
Shen's nightmares had gotten worse. When he woke up from another one, groaning at his lost sleep, he found his wings were clasped in the Soothsayer's hooves. Her eyes were red.
"I'm so sorry, my Prince."
Shen's eyes glanced from the hooves around his wings, then back to her face. He blinked, slowly.
"For what, Na-oh. Oh, that's-it's not your fault." Shen insisted, earnest, "You were tricked-"
"Darling, I never should have left you."
The Soothsayer hugged the prince tight before he could protest.
The white peacock shut his eyes, leaning into her touch. The old goat's scent was familiar-earthy, herbal. Home. Safe.
The boy's question came out muffled in her shoulder.
"Hmmm?" And the Soothsayer loosened her grip.
But Shen still spoke into her shoulder, "Are Baba and Mama-um, did father and mother come back?"
"Not yet, dear."
"Can I wait up for them?"
"If you can."
Lord Baojia and Lady Fen found their son, asleep again, their Soothsayer's hand on his forehead.
The old goat glanced at them, and said, "I'll wake him."
"Oh no, we don't want him to-"
"It's not necessary-"
"With all due respect, it is," said the Soothsayer, and she gently coaxed Shen awake.
"'mwhasgoinon?"
"Hello, dear heart," Fen said, sitting before her son and taking his wing.
"How are you feeling, son?" Baojia asked as he sat on the other side of him.
Shen rubbed the gunk out of his eye with his free wing.
"'m better, Baba-Father."
Baojia smiled, gently ruffling the feathers on his son's head.
The Soothsayer watched, and then said, "I'll get some tea." And the old goat left the white peacock with his parents.
###
Out of Shen's hearing, there'd been discussion over the next move regarding his care.
Increase the guard, or move the Soothsayer and he out of her apartment and into the palace along with the increased guard? (More protection was a given either way.) Would it be seen as too much of a sign of weakness to move the boy from his caretaker's apartment? Or foolishness if they let him stay? It had been planned that when Shen was old enough to leave the Soothsayer's immediate care, that he would get his own quarters in the palace; perhaps just ahead of schedule? (And said quarters now slightly altered, to accommodate both the goat and the white peacock still.)
The Soothsayer advised moving the boy into the palace, wryly remarking there'd been a room she'd always had her eye on. Master Thundering Rhino backed her up. Altogether, that clinched it for Lord Baojia and Lady Fen.
Though neither one was certain if the Soothsayer got the room she wanted. The old goat seemed satisfied with the new spacious apartment inside the palace tower all the same. She and her child now had a balcony.
Shen himself was less than convinced.
"Do we have to go, Nana?"
"It won't be so bad, dear. You'll like it, trust me."
Once the prince was well enough to move in, he supposed the old goat was right. Their new quarters became more familiar, at least, once everything was brought over; his toys and scrolls; and all her herbs and odd ends were in their space again, all her incense burning. Still the boy found he had trouble sleeping in his bedding on the floor.
Finally the Soothsayer coaxed him under the blankets with her, and that helped. It'd been a while since this had happened. Before, Shen had declared that he was too big to seek reassurance under the covers with her anymore, refusing her invitation to find sleep with her after a bad dream. But this time was different, the prince found nothing inside himself to protest her guiding hand and the blanket around them both. Listening to her heartbeat and breathing was soothing. (Yet Shen had trouble recently looking at either of her horns; he saw blood there again and again, from where she'd stabbed his attacker, even though that had long since been cleaned.)
###
Shen was happiest to return to training with Master Thundering Rhino out of all his studies, even more than science and math and art.
The boy pushed himself harder, his motivation renewed. He didn't want to be so weak again, to be so caught off guard, to be so filled with terror; he didn't want to upset his nanny and his parents and make everyone else gossip so much.
Thundering Rhino noticed.
One day, he led Shen to another part of the palace grounds.
The prince hazarded a guess, hopeful. "Are you taking me someplace to spar?"
"Still need to master your basics-and I admit, you're still a bit too young," Thundering Rhino answered, his voice gentle. "No, we're going to the court's black smithy."
Shen's eyes widened. "Is that were you got your cloud hammer?"
"The head blacksmith's an old friend."
Thundering Rhino soon introduced the prince to that friend, a dark furred monkey named De, and after all the pleasantries were exchanged, Shen eagerly watched her clever fingers work with the metal as he bombarded her with questions. Her assistants looked on, a little wary of their (white) prince's attention and enthusiasm, but the boy didn't really notice-he was too focused on all the metal work.
Thundering Rhino was amused to learn from De that Shen came to her smithy again and again, observing and always returning with new questions. Finally the monkey had taught him a few simple starter techniques and assigned him little assignments to get him out of her fur and give her workers some peace. She'd just given him little scraps of metals with tools and shown him how to put them together. But De felt a little pleased when the prince turned around to proudly show her what he completed, little metal model toys that were static, or metal toys with wheels to roll around on.
The Soothsayer liked his little creations too, as did the wolf cubs; he gave one of them to An.
His parents were busy, and it was harder to show his work to them. He sort of managed in the throne room, when both his parents were there, and he played at their feet-but their glances were brief, and Shen wasn't really sure they actually looked. Or cared-but what was his toy compared to managing and protecting their whole province? The boy had to remind himself to not be selfish and to be a prince, distant and strong, and to be wise, and know why their attention was always drawn away. He reminded himself they had stayed by his side in the infirmary. (But did he have to almost die to get their attention?)
Once Thundering Rhino told her that Lord Baojia and Lady Fen gave their permission, De slowly let Shen assist in her blacksmithing under the proper tutelage and safety instruction. Though young, the boy was careful, obedient, and still enthusiastic. He took up wearing less fine robes again and again with this sort of mess in work (and in play and in Kung Fu training).
Finally Shen asked, as if he'd been practicing the question, if he may keep a knife he helped craft. Not one for a customer or the armory, but a new one, just for him and not taking away from anyone or anything.
It was then De sent the white peacock back to Thundering Rhino to deal with the matter.
The Kung Fu master seriously considered Shen's request.
"Why?" He asked, wanting to see if the boy could articulate, seizing upon the first available opening that seemed to work. They had not really discussed the assassination attempt, Thundering Rhino at a loss of what to say or how to approach it.
The Kung Fu master had instead focused on increasing his guard and further preparing Shen, capitalizing on the boy's own renewed fervor. Though even that concerned the Kung Fu master; the prince at times bordered on pushing himself far too hard, and his teacher did not want him to be consumed by battle, not at his age. Did not want him terrified-at times Thundering Rhino thought training would lessen his fear; other times he felt it only fed into it, threatened to make him too paranoid.
"...You know why," the child mumbled, toying with the edge of his sleeve.
Thundering Rhino sighed. "That's what I thought." He beckoned the child to sit down.
"Hidden weapons, such as knives, are valuable, especially for those in your family."
Shen looked up at his master. "My parents have them too? I've never seen-um..."
The boy flushed as Thundering Rhino chuckled. Shen grumbled, "Okay, that's the point, but..."
"It is wise of you to think of further methods of self-defense," Thundering Rhino said gently. He was finally able to articulate, if blunt, "Once you saw the intruder, you retreated and shielded yourself with your bedding, correct?"
Yes, deep down Thundering Rhino did not wish to remind Shen, but he wanted the boy to comprehend his accomplishment.
His head ached as the prince nodded, his red eyes far away.
"That was quick thinking, my prince."
From what the Kung Fu master had heard, Shen, though groggy and young and supposedly frail, had still managed to dodge fast enough, and thought quickly enough to use the blankets and pillows as a makeshift barrier. The knife had hit, yes, and the prince had almost died-but the Kung Fu master was certain it would've been worse, death could have been immediate, if not for the boy's actions. Certainly not his own; Thundering Rhino was still ashamed over failing in protecting the child, especially when it would've cost so deeply had he died.
Thundering Rhino's headache lessened as the boy tentatively relaxed.
The next day, the Kung Fu master gave Shen a wooden short sword. The white peacock watched as Thundering Rhino traded his familiar hammer for a sword, and demonstrated a form with it. Shen tried to duplicate him soon afterward.
Later the boy found the Soothsayer and his parents together in the throne room, and once the council left them alone, Shen took his chance and showed all three of them his new practice weapon and what Thundering Rhino taught him.
They were pleased. Father and mother had even taken the time to demonstrate with their own short swords, showing Shen another form that he eagerly copied.
But then they had another meeting, and the Soothsayer took Shen to the gardens for a picnic and to run around, playing and still practicing with his wooden short sword. Eventually the old goat had to carry her child back to the palace, she'd let him tire himself out thoroughly.
"Nana, Baba and Mama were proud, weren't they?" Shen yawned as the Soothsayer tucked him in, his practice weapon stored safely away. "I think they were proud."
"I know they were." And the old goat kissed him good night, and left a candle burning, one she carefully watched.
Shen fell asleep in the fire's glow, and the Soothsayer came in, gently blowing it out and letting the cool calm dark in.
EDIT A/N: Important-Revised the above chapter. I took out the very last part with a hint of India, etc. Originally that was meant to be the transition before the time skip, but another idea occurred to me about Shen's very early childhood (roughly infant to five years old) that I wanted to do before time skip, and which I eventually felt would serve as a better transition than the first version. I have a rough idea of where everything is going with this fic, though not every detail is settled upon-thus this revision issue.
A/N: Important-going on a 2-3 week hiatus while on a trip. Hopefully I'll have a new update ready soon after I'm back, so please be patient for the fic to continue.
And something amazing happened: Mitch-el on deviantart has drawn phenomenal fanart of young Shen inspired by this fic, appropriately called "Pain;" check out the artist's gallery.
It is so good. It's like exactly how I pictured little Shen in my head. Thank you so much again Mitch-el!
Hmmm, I'm not sure how egalitarian KFP's ancient China is, but I think it's pretty good. I mean, there are Kung Fu Masters Tigress and Viper, I like to think that Shen's biological mother had great power and direct responsibility over Gongmen Province/City too, and the Soothsayer seems like she was a pretty high-level advisor overall (even outside of Shen's filial attachment for her, she seemed that way for his parents too). So it goes with the court's lead blacksmith being a woman, and the authority of young Boss Wolf's/An's mother, Fang. De is a black snub-nosed monkey (and her name means 'virtue').
Comrade: Thank you, that's a great compliment. :)
Jazzy Jazz: I'm glad Shen having fun was infectious. And I'm glad you were caught off guard and felt a little of Shen's terror at the end, I was working toward that. Can't wait to see your stories.
And thanks to everyone's kind reviews and comments. Please keep an eye out for the next chapter after the hiatus! :D