"I swear, his wounds were closing right before my eyes!" The medic insisted. "They were practically scars by the time I finished removing the shrapnel!"

"Is that why you kept cutting him open?" Eagle Jr. asked as he oversaw Viper and the medic wrapping bandage and bandage around Xian's body. His breathing was almost completely back to normal but he had yet to come round. Plans were being made to move him to the main bedroom right now.

The surgery had lasted nearly three hours. Three hours they spent pressing onto Xian's wounds, desperately trying to keep him alive until the medic finished his work. The medic had diligently dug for every piece of shrapnel lodged in the tiger's body, and had made sure to stitch every large cut. About fifteen minutes into the procedure Crane and Monkey had returned with the news that Sao has been successfully apprehended and is now confined to the fortress prison. Seeing an opportunity to get Su away from the bloody scene, Shifu instructed Monkey to put pressure on Xian's arm in the girl's place. Su had very calmly stood up and didn't open her eyes until she turned around.

Shifu had told Crane to go find another medic to treat his broken wing and other injuries, and to take Su to a bathroom to clean the blood from her arms. Once they were gone the medic stared at Xian's chest for a long time before resuming his work. There was so much blood covering Xian's wounds that at the time Shifu had no idea what he was staring at.

Amazingly Xian had begun to improve long before the surgery was finished. His eyes had actually fluttered for one thing, and it took a while for them to realize that his wounds had stopped bleeding on their own accord.

And now the deed was done, and the medic was busying himself cleaning his tools in a bowl of hot water while continuing to ramble on about the strange things he had witnessed during the surgery.

"It's just so strange!" He said. "For the first twenty minutes or so his wounds looked like they were healing themselves! But then all of a sudden, they just stop! Just like that! In fact, most of those cuts I stitched were already half healed!"

"Dun…" Eagle Jr. said calmly. "The emperor has a lot of old wounds. Perhaps in all the blood you may have gotten some of them mixed up with…"

"With all due respect, I know what I saw." The medic said gruffly.

"Thank you so much." Di Tan said. Up until now he had been gently patting Xian's head and urging him to pull through. "The emperor definitely owes you his life."

The goose's words seemed to lighten the medic's mood, and he finished cleaning his tools and stood up.

"It is an honor." He replied. "Is there anyone else you wish me to treat before I return to my comrades?"

"Actually, Master Shifu's shoulder got cut pretty bad." Monkey spoke.

Shifu protested that he was alright, but the medic was already at his shoulder, gently pulling apart the tear so he could examine the injury.

"Hmmm… are you sure you received this only today?" The medic asked.

Shifu rolled his eyes. Leave it to the doctor to ask silly questions.

"Yes, I am sure." He said.

"Well this injury looks like it's about two weeks old. Nearly fully healed."

"No, he got cut only a few hours ago, now I know you're going senile!" Eagle Jr. retorted.

"No, this definitely looks two weeks old." The medic said, ignoring the disgruntled eagle. "There's no signs of infection. There's nothing for me to do here."

He released Shifu and packed his tools into his bag.

"Excuse me, there are other patients to attend to. A group should arrive soon to return the emperor to his quarters." He saluted the masters respectfully and departed.

They waited until a group of four soldiers arrived with a makeshift stretcher and carefully carried Xian away. Eagle Jr. and Viper went with them, and once they were gone, Shifu turned to Di Tan and Monkey.

Monkey looked away, looking deeply ashamed of himself.

"Monkey, I hope you learned something from your experiences." Shifu said sternly.

Monkey nodded.

"It is okay to mourn for the people you lost, and it's okay to try to find justice for them. But if it endangers the people you have, then it's not worth it." He said, repeating a statement Shifu had made after his earlier tirade. "I'm sorry, Master."

Shifu sighed. The blood on his clothes would take forever to get off.

"What's done is done." He said softly. "Now return to your quarters. I think you need a rest."

Monkey saluted him and left.

"Poor boy." Di Ta sighed. "I hope you weren't too harsh with him, Master Shifu."

"He'll be alright." Shifu said. "And I think he has Po to thank for that."

"He's a good boy, isn't he?" Di Tan smiled gently. "That Po."

Shifu nodded. Di Tan's smile faded a little.

"Speaking of pandas, how is the young lady?"

"She's fine. Her migraines have passed."

"Oh…"

Shifu looked at the goose.

"What?"

"Well… in the kitchen before Tujiu and Sao turned up… I thought…" Suddenly Di Tan shook his head. "No, I must have imagined it. I must be going senile too." Shifu was about to ask what he was talking about when the goose spoke again. "Anyway, I think you should go see her."

"Why?"

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I think she handled that surgery well. A little too well, perhaps."

Shifu nodded, turned round and quickly left the throne room.

Di Tan was right. Su had an unusual ability to handle situations which would leave other children gibbering wrecks, but this was going too far. There had been so much blood, and the wound beneath her paws must have been especially ragged… even she should have at least reacted a little. But she didn't.

Either she was just that good… or just like Tigress twenty years ago she was deliberately suppressing her emotions. But why would she do that?

In any case, he had to put a stop to it. He had nothing better to do, anyway.

After a quick query to Crane, Shifu found himself at the door to Su's room. He knocked on the door.

"Su?"

When she didn't answer he opened the door himself, and found the bedroom empty. The bed looked like it had been slept in very recently. Thoughts of Ember were just running through his mind when he saw that the door to the bathroom was slightly open. He walked up to the door, opened it fully and-

"Ah!"

Shifu spun around and shielded his eyes.

Su was sitting on a little chair next to the wash tub, wearing only her pants and her undershirt.

"Master!" Su gasped. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't hear you come in-"

"It's alright." Shifu said quickly. In reality he was mortified, but for Su's sake he kept calm. "Su, where is your shirt?"

"In the tub."

"Ah. Would you mind getting a towel?"

A minute later Su said that it was okay to look. She had wrapped the towel around her torso when he turned around.

"I'm so sorry." He said.

"It's alright." Su said, looking a little pink in the face herself. "Is Emperor Xian okay?"

Shifu nodded, and the cub smiled a little. But then the smile was gone again. He stole a glance at the tub. Inside Su's blue vest was floating in water that had a very slight reddish tint. The ends of the sleeves, which were especially stained, looked heavily creased and ruffled, as if someone had been furiously scrubbing at it.

"I couldn't find the right soap." Su muttered. She looked down at the floor. Shifu noticed that her eyes looked a little puffy. There were little droplets on her cheeks. His ears flattened against his head.

I knew it.

"What's the matter?" He asked anyway.

Su shook her head.

"I-It's nothing."

"You know, Tigress tried suppressing emotional pain when she was your age. It was obvious then, too."

Su bit her lip.

"Crap." She muttered to herself. She sniffed and rubbed her nose.

Shifu grabbed a smaller towel and gently dried Su's face.

"If being there at the surgery was so horrible, then why did you get involved?" He asked.

Su looked away. She stood up from the chair and hugged the larger towel around herself. She stared into the tub at her stained shirt.

"When I said that mommy got sick before getting pregnant… I kinda fibbed. She got sick while I was still inside her."

"Why would you lie about that, and what does that have to do with now?" Shifu asked.

Su paced in the bathroom for a little while, working up the courage to answer. Then she stopped and faced the red panda once more.

"Back in my village, when I heard those women mention my mommy's illness… that wasn't all they said."

Shifu stayed silent and listened.

"They talked about me too. According to them, mommy always had a weak body. They said that her getting pregnant with me made her worse, and she's been sickly ever since. She was lucky I didn't kill her. They said that me not being like other kids was evidence of that." Su's lower lip quivered. "I'm still trying to make it up to her."

Shifu's stomach turned.

"Su!"

"Making mommy sick was the first mistake I made." Su went on. "And then I started tripping over stuff. Then I did that stupid stunt with the food cart and now I keep getting into trouble. And no matter how hard I try to make up for it, it just gets harder and harder and harder."

"Those women have no idea what they were talking about." Shifu said coldly. "Consumption is caused by infection, not pregnancy."

"You don't get it!" Su said, fresh angry tears brimming in her eyes. "Everyone's talking how smart I am, but everything I did just got you hurt in the end! They think I'm smart, but the truth is, I'm just a stupid weird kid with a weird big brain!"

She plonked herself back down on the chair.

"And to top it all off, a few minutes ago I had that stupid dream again."

Shifu remembered the unmade bed.

"You mean a dream about Ember?"

Su shook her head.

"No. After I heard those women gossiping I started having scary dreams. Now they've started up again and I can't take much more of this!" Su sobbed.

Shifu looked at the blood stained shirt. One of the most recognized symptoms of consumption was coughing up blood… and there had been a lot of blood during the surgery…

He remembered the many times when Tigress, as a child, would wake up in tears after having a nightmare, often involving her ordeal in the Bao Gu Orphanage. Every time Shifu would burst in, half the time expecting an attacker, and find her shaking beneath her bed sheet, whimpering and muttering about the terrible things her imagination had conjured. Every time he would make sure she was alright, remind her that a true warrior would never be afraid, and return to his own quarters.

Except for that one night where Master Oogway had gotten there first. That night, Shifu had stood just outside the door, listening as Oogway soothed the cub's cries, listened as she talked about her dream, and give deep, sincere assurances that would allow Tigress to return to a peaceful, dreamless sleep. At the time, memories of Tai Lung and a reluctance to be close to his students kept him from thinking too much into it. But now Tai Lung was no longer around to haunt him, and the little girl standing in front of him had just opened her heart out for what was probably the first time in her life.

I will not make those mistakes again. Not with this one.

Shifu slowly reached out and took Su's paw.

"Why don't we go into the bedroom and talk about this dream?"

Su looked unsure.

"Uhhh…"

Shifu pulled out the medallion he had retrieved, now with two dents instead of one, and placed it in her paw.

"If you tell me about your dream, I'll tell you about mine."

Su held the coin to her chest.

"Oh. Okay."

I've been such a fool, Tigress… when you return I'm going to make up for this. I promise.

The long trek down the mountain to the fortress was nothing compared to the journey back.

Po gasped for breath, agonized by a stitch in his side. He practically crawled the last hundred yards to the cave entrance.

He fell onto his stomach, relieved that his journey was over. His fingers dug into the grooves of the rough ground and he took deep breaths. Said ground was so cold it hurt to have his face resting on it.

"Mountainside… You… have made… a great enemy… this day…" His mind said over and over.

Speaking of day, morning should arrive in a little while. On the way up, he had actually seen a tinge of red peeking over the distant mountain tops. The beginning of a new day. Hopefully one without any near death experiences or near-invincible monsters.

It took Po a couple of minutes to regain his stamina, and then he lifted his head.

At the far side of the cave, the makeshift curtain obscured Tigress from view. Po slowly got up and made his way over to the curtain, crossing over the currently sealed trapdoor that lead to the lost city. He ignored the massive depression, focused entirely on the smaller depression right beneath it, where he had left her.

Po knelt down, and slowly reached out and took one end of the curtain, Gently, quietly, he pulled it aside.

There she was, lying on her side, very slightly stirring.

Po's heart melted. He had worried for nothing. Not only that, the color had fully returned to her face. She looked radiant.

Po was tempted to check to see if her injury had fully healed yet, but that would mean removing her clothing while she was still unconscious, and his moral compass would never let him do that again. Tigress stirred again, and Po sensed that the effects of the drug were wearing off.

Po was about to lower the curtain when he noticed that her blanket was half off her body, likely moved when she fidgeted in her sleep. Po reached out and pulled the cover back over her waist.

The tip of his middle finger brushed something hard.

Po titled his head and reached under the cover. He felt something very familiar tucked into Tigress's pants. He pulled the object out. He gasped very softly when he recognized the L-shaped hollow stick that had saved their lives in the Temple of Heroes.

He'd thought he lost it while they were escaping the water chamber. Had Tigress really kept it all this time? He knew she had appreciated it when he gave her the stick, but…

Po smiled softly. His cheeks turned rosy. He was so asking her out when she woke up.

He reached out once more, to gently touch her face.

The massive bloodstained hand that swung in front of his face made him leap back with a scream.