The new moon camouflaged its dark fur against the dark of deepest night as it effortlessly climbed the wall of the main fortress. The pure white stone was cold and smooth, but nothing it couldn't ascend. It kept to the shadows, pausing every time its keen hearing detected the sound of a sentry guard passing below, even thought it was now roughly two hundred feet up and still climbing. It should reach the guest rooms soon. Each time it looked up, the small balconies came closer and closer.
It knew it shouldn't be here right now. Determining the threat of the newcomers was less important than dealing with the 'shortcut', but it had to know more about these people, especially the black and white male it knew next to nothing about. The fact that it would soon face a creature it didn't know how to fight unnerved it a little, so the sooner it found out more, the better.
It reached the guest rooms. It stopped beneath the first balcony along the line. If its instincts were proven correct then they would arrive very soon.
Sure enough it heard a dull click of a door opening.
"This is your room." Colonel Sao (it recognized his voice) opened the door of the guest room.
"Thanks a lot!" A new voice let out a loud yawn as it heard two of the newcomers step inside. It heard the lumbering footsteps of a large creature and the tapping of talons on the floorboards. It must be the black and white creature and the avian which had very recently lost its hat to a boulder.
"Wow, neat room." The person who had yawned said.
"Di Tan, are you coming?" A second voice asked. It was a strange nasally voice. A third series of footsteps followed the two into the room, evidently made by webbed feet. The elderly goose, of course.
"Goodnight, students." A rough, deeper voice said. It sounded like it belonged to an old man. The red panda, perhaps. "I expect you both to be up at the crack of dawn to continue investigations."
"Goodnight, Master Shifu." There was another click as the door was closed.
"Right, you heard Master Shifu. Let's get some sleep." It heard the sound of something being dragged across the floor. There was a series of soft sounds and creaks as the three climbed into their beds.
"Oooooooh mama, are these beds comfy." The first voice moaned. "Goodnight, guys."
"Goodnight, Po." Said the second nasally voice. There was a soft rushing sound, like someone blowing out a candle.
"Goodnight, Dragon Warrior." A third voice, the goose said. And all was silent.
Minutes passed. The darkened guest room was silent save for the deep breathing of three figures sleeping soundly.
Carefully, slowly, it poked its head over the balcony.
The avian was standing in a typical bird's sleeping position on a thick mat in the middle of the floor. The black and white creature was lying on its back on the right hand bed, the goose in the left. All three were unaware of being watched as they slept.
For a moment, a brief moment, it considered killing them. It considered stepping into the room and killing all three in three seconds. The crane and the goose had hollow bones, it wouldn't take one swipe to end the threat they posed. The panda's neck it would snap like a toothpick, no matter how thick the muscle and fat surrounding his spinal column was.
No. It was too risky.
But then again…
The panda sat up in bed as the avian lifted his head. It stifled a snarl of surprise as it ducked beneath the balcony again.
"Right, it's about time we talked about the elephant in the room." The voice it now understood belonged to the crane said. "And no, I don't mean the large decorative figurine on the bedside table."
"You're right, let's go into the bathroom." The first voice said.
It figured they didn't want to disturb the still sleeping goose.
There was a noise, albeit a careful quiet one, as the monochromatic round creature and the crane stepped into the adjacent bathroom and shut the door closed.
Curses. It couldn't hear what they were saying now, and it didn't dare risk entering the room.
With a soft growl of disappointment, it shimmied its way along the fortress wall and stopped beneath the second balcony. It heard nothing but deep breathing. A quick peek over the balcony showed the female tiger and the green tree viper. It would learn nothing here, so it moved on to the third balcony. Here it found nothing but sleeping figures, this time the monkey and the praying mantis.
Again, it felt a flicker of recognition as it gazed upon the monkey. It knew it had seen him somewhere before, but where? It hated to admit it, but its memory was not what it had used to be.
There was nothing to learn here either, so it moved on to balcony number four. This time, when it looked inside, it found the small child sleeping quietly, a tiny lump in the middle of the one large bed in the room. One small paw was clutching a golden circular object. The object was half hidden beneath the bed, so it couldn't see much detail. Sitting in a lotus position on the floorboards among a couple of small candles was the red panda, his eyes closed and his breathing rhythmic. A long staff lay by his side.
"Inner Peace…" The red panda murmured, but not so loud as to disturb the child. He evidently wasn't sleeping. Staying here any longer wouldn't be a good idea.
It had learned nothing useful about the newcomers. Coming here had been a waste of time. It was time to leave the fortress and focus on the top priority.
If the black and white creature was indeed a significant threat, it would have to find out first hand.
Mildly annoyed by its lack of success, it began its descent down the fortress wall.
Su woke up with a slight gasp and turned her head towards the window.
Shifu's ears pricked as he sensed her movement and turned to look at her.
"Are you alright, Su?" He asked.
"Did you hear something, Master Shifu?" The child asked nervously. "It came from the balcony."
Shifu shook his head.
"I'm sure you were just dreaming, Su." He said soothingly.
"I wasn't." Su said firmly. "I was just falling asleep when I heard something coming from the balcony."
Shifu hadn't heard anything strange, but all the same, he asked;
"What sort of noise was it?"
"At first I thought it was the wind changing." Su explained. She showed no signs of making up as she went along. "But then I realized that this sound wasn't consistent with wind. It sounded a lot like breathing."
"Couldn't it have been me you heard?" Shifu asked, remembering his meditative breathing.
"I already told you, it came from the balcony. You were sitting at the foot of my bed, so it couldn't have been you." When Shifu raised an eyebrow, she started to get annoyed. "I'm not making this up!"
"I never said you were, Su. If you want, I will take a look."
Su nodded, still looking slightly peeved.
Shifu turned and walked towards the balcony, deciding to do a thorough search just in case Su had indeed heard 'breathing', or so she had called it.
There was nothing on the small balcony. He leapt onto the stone fence and peered over the edge. Nothing there.
He made to leap back onto the floor when he saw something caught in a crack in the stone by his left foot. He leaned down and pulled it free.
It was a small chunk of dark fur.
It was still warm.