Chapter Twenty-Three: A Final Surprise

Tigress watched the wilted little plant on her window sill as the sky behind it turned redder and darker. She was clearly unhappy. Vixey couldn't help but notice this, but said nothing. Nothing she could say would be able to change anything.

Someone knocked on the door and Vixey stood to open it.

"Oh, hey, Po," she said. "Something up?"

At the sound of these greetings, Tigress turned to see the panda standing at the door. Po looked happier upon seeing that she was sitting up now.

"No, nothing's up," he said. "Just wanted to stop by and see how everyone's doing."

Vixey turned and offered a small smile to Tigress, who offered one back, but then turned to look at her little plant again. Vixey turned back to Po.

"I really wish she could come, and she wishes it, too," she whispered to him, "but she just can't. She's barely able to sit up as is."

Po felt something catch in his throat.

"I wish I could do something," he whispered back. "I'd even carry her if I could."

"You know what Tian said," Vixey told him. "We can't risk overexerting her. She might relapse."

Tigress didn't show them that she could hear everything. A tear slipped down her cheek, but she wasn't going to let them see it.

"Right, well, I gotta go," Po said, his voice up to a normal level again. "See you later, Tigress."

Tigress nodded, still refusing to show her face.

Vixey looked at her worriedly and then turned to look into the hallway, but Po had already left. She closed the door quietly.

"This totally sucks," Mantis muttered.

"You can say that again," Monkey agreed.

"The one time Tigress wants to come to a festival and she can't," Crane complained. "Did you offer carrying her, Po?"

"Of course, I did," Po answered. "But you know how much she hates being carried."

He kicked out at nothing as they descended the long staircase. In the sun's setting light, they could see several buildings in the Valley that were being rebuilt. It had only been a month since the fight, and half the village had buildings that needed to be demolished and rebuilt. Mr. Ping had taken this to his advantage and planned to have a kitchen with a higher ceiling. That was the only thing that could bring a smile to his son lately, but that spark faded.

As they approached the village square, they saw an extremely large crowd had gathered - much larger than usual due to an abnormal amount of visitors. They stood just outside the crowd and bowed with everyone as Shifu took the stand.

"Welcome, everyone," the old Master started. "It has been a long month since Ruili's tyranny has ended. We lost a great many good people in the battles to defeat her. This festival is dedicated to their honorable sacrifices. Please enjoy yourselves tonight."

Many people separated themselves from the crowd to look around the half-rebuilt village and to buy from the merchants present.

Po looked around at everything that was happening.

"I can't believe we have to do this festival without Tigress," he muttered. Crane, Monkey, and Mantis gloomily nodded in agreement.

"You said that a little too soon, Po."

The voice sounded almost angelic.

All four boys turned towards the speaker of those words so quickly that Crane's hat almost fell off. Tigress was there, standing, although Vixey was supporting her. They carefully walked to a nearby table and Viper slithered over to pull a chair out for Tigress. There were obvious signs that Tigress was in pain, but they were being smothered by how happy she was to be there.

"Wha-?! Tigress?!" Po started. "But I thought you weren't coming!"

"So did I, until about an hour ago," Tigress said wearily. "That must have been the longest I've ever taken getting down those stairs."

Po couldn't help but laugh. They began chatting like the friends they were for a long time. Soon, they heard people start talking about a tribute.

"What tribute?" Po started.

"The tribute for everyone who passed during Ruili's attack," Tigress said.

She looked a little down. Po suddenly stood up.

"I'll be right back," he said, and then raced off.

Soon, he was back with a smallish box of candles and a wooden bowl that looked big enough to hold a lot of items while still being able to float.

"Thought you might want to do this," he said, handing them to her.

Tigress smiled.

"Thanks, Po," she told him. "I only need one. For Xinli. No one from Miao Zhen will be here, so someone has to do it for her."

She reverently put the tribute together and lit the candle. Next to the candle, she put a single piece of parchment with Xinli's name on it.

"Now it's ready," she said. "Could you put it in the water for me?"

"'Course," Po told her.

He gently picked the bowl up and walked carefully to the water, where the last few people were sending off their tributes. As he sent off Xinli's, he looked up to see hundreds of candles in little wooden boats floating away. It was mesmerizing in the faltering natural light.

When Po finally came to his senses, he walked back to the table his friends were at. He saw that they were joined by a group of village children, taking turns with Tigress to place dominos. As he reached the table, a little bunny girl carefully placed a domino, but despite her delicate placing, it fell over and knocked down the line of eight or nine standing with it.

"Aw," she said, almost in tears.

"Don't worry little one," Tigress told her, handing her another one. "These are meant to stand up after falling. Try again."

She brushed away the other fallen dominos to give the rabbit girl a place to put her domino. The little paw let go of the little wood piece and froze. The piece just stood there.

"I did it!" the bunny cried, taking her paw away.

A pig boy looked quite bored.

"Why are we playing with dominos?" he moaned.

"Because dominos are what I started Kung Fu with," Tigress answered, carefully placing a tile next to the bunny's. "I needed to learn to have a steady hand and a firm mind."

A young goose placed a tile next to hers and the pig placed his.

"But don't you already have both?" the bunny asked.

"I did," Tigress said as the bunny placed hers, "but the injury I took a month ago stripped me of both. Pain can distract you from your task. It can also make for a very shaky hand."

As she said that, her tile toppled the others in the line.

"Ohh!" the bunny cried. "Almost!"

"Master Shifu taught me that the key is to never give up," Tigress continued, placing her tile. "You're always prone to falling down, no matter how good you are."

After each of the children placed another tile each, she began to place another. But then she stopped.

"Look," she said, pointing to a little wilted plant on the center of the table. "It's time."

Po didn't even notice the plant was there. He looked at it, then at the rising moon, and then back at the plant. The children gasped as the transformation began. The stem and leaves grew full. The flower pointed at the moon and opened, showing its seven circular, milky white petals.

"How does it do that?" the goose asked.

"This is a Moon Blossom," Tigress told the children. "It does this whenever the full moon rises."

"I want to make a necklace out of those petals," the bunny said dreamily.

"You could, but it wouldn't last," Tigress told her. "Once the moon sets, the petals will wither again and brand new ones will grow between now and the next full moon."

The Masters, children, and anyone who happened to notice it gazed at it in peaceful awe.

"What does it mean, though, Master Tigress?" the bunny asked. "My mama always told me everything has a meaning."

"It means..." Tigress started. "It means it's time for a new beginning."