"Winter is coming."

Motto of House Stark, Game of Thrones

Kung Fu Panda

The Long Night

Chapter I: Throne of the Dragon

I am walking along the corridor. It relaxes me always. And somehow I feel joyful to do this.

I look to my left. The view is also wonderful. In front of me is the Center of the Universe, the Garden of Heaven. There are seen willows, bushes, trees, rivers, lakes and all of them in the colors of the autumn. Red, Orange, Yellow and Gold. It is a wonderful view.

The Philosophers say that this view is bad, because the Universe is only in the summer in Balance, when everything is in the color of the Evergreen. Fortunately I am not a philosopher.

I turn around and stop walking. In front of me is that what the commons would call the Chamber of the Emperor. I call it after its name: Cathedral of the Dragon.

The fundamental tone of color in the Cathedral is Black. A black shining ground reaching from the Garden behind me till in front of me to the only wall in the Cathedral, which is also black. Black Pillars with Dragons, which circle around them till to the black Roof. And in the middle of this is the Throne of the Dragon. The Throne of the Emperor. The Throne out of pure Gold.

There are pictures carved in the Throne. Signs of Power. The Throne is not big, but it seems to be. It is the only thing, which shines out of this Cathedral. Every person's eye is locked to it immediately, when entering it, if from the Garden behind me or the secret entrances behind it, which are only known to the Imperial Family. Like me.

This difference of Colors was constructed on purpose. The Throne itself should be a symbol. That even in the middle of Darkness the Golden Light of Hope will shine represented by the Throne. I admit that this picture is edifyingly, although I don't believe in it.

For ten years I am walking this path to the Throne and it gets never boring for me. To look at it, motivates me to continue. It teases me, because the only person, who is allowed to sit on it, is the Emperor himself. Maybe this is the reason for me, why I want to be the Emperor once. But my father can be also the reason. Despite his lineage he was born poor, lived poor and died poor. Not an end I wish for myself.

I become anxious. Has it not happened already? How long I need to wait still?

"Don Ya! Don Ya!" I hear my name and look to my right. There he comes running, a goat in a yellow garment. His name is Zhu Li and he is also a relative of the Emperor, although it is almost not to believe. Running in the Cathedral….I shake my head.

"Don Ya, it happened!" he yells to me.

Finally! "I thought already he would never die. He was a stubborn one." I reply.

"Yes, but after so much poison I did into his food and drinks…" he began to talk, but I stop him with a hand. From one of the pillars Mibu appears. A black wolf with white fur which leads from his snout to his stomach. He wears – like always – his white armor, which is built with metal plates, which resemble scales, and his long and crescent moon shaped sword in its sheath. One of his eyes is always closed and the other reminds me of a winter sky.

Zhu Li hides behind me, while he steps closer. Have he heard it?

"You don't need to worry, pig. I don't care for your intrigues….till I have a prove." he says grinning. He steps in front of me now.

I hate that he calls me after my species, but I can't do a thing against him…still.

"What do you want, Mibu?" I ask him not even showing my tension. He should believe I am far superior of him.

"Oh, nothing much important. I only wanted to say you something." he replies still in his arrogant voice.

"And what may this be?"

"Only the last words of the Emperor. He had named an heir."

What! "What!" I yell losing my temper. I glare back at Zhu Li, who shakes his head in a not knowing manner. I look back at Mibu. This can destroy all my plans and he knows it. I may be the third in the succession, but a word of the Emperor and all succession rituals and laws are useless. Who has he chosen?

"Who is it?" I ask showing my anger more than wanted.

Mibu steps closer to me and whispers under my snout. "The Lost Princess."

….Have I heard correctly? This can't be….I begin to chuckle, while he steps back and turns around.

"Are you serious?"

"I and the Empress have heard it. These were his last words: The Lost Princess should succeed me."

I begin to laugh. "Then these words were a waste of breath. No one knows where the Lost Princess is."

"I know….I will search for her. And my men will follow me."

I become serious once again. "You can't be serious? There was a search for her already. It was pointless. And you can't take the Imperial Guard with you…."

Before I can react Mibu turns around fast and his paw dashes forward. He grabs my throat and he begins to lift me into the air. I can't breathe!

"Don't you dare to give me orders, PIG! If one of your ancestors wouldn't be the Emperor Han Tzu, you wouldn't be here!" he glares at Zhu Li and then at me once again, "I still can't believe that people, where the lineage is so thin are allowed to call themselves Imperial Family. Looking at a pig and a goat in this position…it makes me sick!" he throws me on my ass. I begin to rub my throat not caring if my dark blue garment gets dirty. Guessing that this ground is cleaned every hour so that it stays shining, the danger is minimal.

"My men will follow me everywhere. I am their Commander. The Commander of the White Wolves, the strongest Army of the Empire. Even the Anvil of Heaven bowed their head in front of us."

"And that is the reason, why you can't take them." I say angered, while I stand up once again, "Their duty is to protect the Imperial Family and not searching for ghosts."

"I will see how you will stop me from taking them with me. If you want to kill me, you need to pass them first. And I will search for her. I swore it. The Emperor hasn't died before I have sworn it."

"The Imperial Family is more important than your honor." I talk further, although I know how this conversation will end.

He moves his lips in a spitting manner, but doesn't spit. He knows where he is, but the gesture is easy to interpret. "With Family like you, I don't care. Farewell Don Ya. I hope we will never see us again." he says and turns around. He walks away without a further word.

It keeps silent first. I sigh.

"Don Ya, are you alright?" Zhu Li, who had hid himself behind the next pillar, says, after Mibu was out of range. I turn around at him. Without a warning I begin to beat him.

"How – could – you – not – stay – to – hear – his – last – words!?", I yell at him.

"I am sorry! I am sorry, Don Ya. Please don't beat me anymore! I have not even seen, that he talked!" he tries to defend himself, while protecting his head with his arms.

"Yeah, because you have stayed out of the hearing range probably, too frightened to come closer to the frightening Mibu. You idiot!" another hit at his head satisfies me. If it wouldn't be so difficult to find an accomplice-in-crime, who is loyal and not ambitious, I would have dropped him like a cherry pit already. Stay patient, Don Ya, the goal is almost reached and then you will have more than enough such assistants and footboys.

I become calmer once again. I close my eyes and mediate a bit, but it gets interrupted fast: "Eh, Don Ya?" he asks me from behind. I open my eyes.

"What is it?" I ask showing him with my voice, that I am still angry.

"Eh…Never mind." he replies frightened.

"Spit it out!"

"Yes, yes….who is the Lost Princess?"

I look at him with a disbelieving face. "You don't know who this is?" he shakes his head, "You are here for five years and three of them as my accomplice and you don't know?" he still shakes his head. I grab my head. I think I get a headache.

"The Lost Princess is the niece of the Emperor." I reply finally.

"Really? I have always thought that the Emperor has no close relatives anymore."

"It is not a close relative, which matters. It is the daughter of the Exiled Prince."

"The Exiled Prince!"

"Have you at least heard from him?" I ask with hope in the voice.

"Yes, of course. The younger brother of the Emperor, who had tried to overthrow his older brother, when their father, the older Emperor, died. He failed and that's for was exiled. But rumors say that he is dead already."

"Never believe rumors, you have not spread yourself. I thought I have taught you this. You are right, he was exiled, but no one knows, where he is. And there lies the point of the story of the Lost Princess. She was born shortly before the punishment was declared. The punishment included also the wife, but not the daughter. The Emperor even ordered that she should stay here, so she could be educated like the princess she was. But the Exiled Prince didn't listen to the order. He took her with him. The Emperor had sent his best men to find him and her and has even declared a bounty so high, that even a beggar would become a wealthy man. But after years of searching not even one clue was found. Ten years ago the search was ended officially. Even before I got here and still I have heard about this more than once. Every member of the Family, most often the old Geezers, could have told you this. But like always you don't listen to my teachings: Hear everything, but stay like a Shadow."

We begin to walk away from the Golden Throne.

"What will we do now?", he asks me after a while of walking.

"That what we do every day: Try to seize the Throne."

"But…the Emperor is dead. What now?"

"Now we will see our future enemies. At least one of them is away on an impossible mission." I say with an amused voice.

He stops in the track and then follows me faster. "You wanted Mibu to go?!" he says. He has deduced it. I am impressed.

"Of course. What have I taught you?"

He thinks and then says: "Never show your true intentions to your enemy. Smile, when you are angry and be angry, when you want to smile. So you have played the angered and shocked one?"

Not completely, but that he doesn't need to know the whole story.

"Exactly. Mibu could have been a threat with his nosing around. But now he will never come back. The Lost Princess is lost and so will he."

"But…what if he finds her?"

I look at him, after short thinking. "For this we will find a solution." I look to him, "Finally you think at least. Don't trust, Control."

"And where are we going now?" he asks, after a short while.

"To the Chamber of a dead Emperor. We need to grieve, have your forgotten already?"

We walk further, when I see something odd: A snow flake lands on one of the colorful leaves.

I look up. It begins to snow.

"Snowing? We have autumn." Zhu Li states the obvious. I look at this odd change of the nature…Winter has come even before all leaves left their trees?….hope that this is not a bad omen.

We continue walking, while the snow continues falling.

The first chapter. Still no one of KFP, but this will come. So be patient.

"Kung Fu Panda" (c) DreamWorks Animation

I own nothing except16 for the written word.
Characters you don't know are from me. The Idea is also from me.