Ailurophile
Author note: Yes, I live! Incredible isn't it... It's been over a year. I could waffle on about life's distractions, but you've heard it all before. There's validity don't get me wrong, but aside from family issues, university in my final year and such... this was just hard to write. I spend most my time these writing academically, so I think it's fair to suggest I might get just a little bit sick of tension headaches, and writing in general. I do this because I enjoy it. Otherwise, what's the point? I'm sorry it takes so long.
Thank you for your review: Silent reader, JadeDoeAlways, DOGROCKER12, Tigergirl713, Remedy's Melody 109, BlueTigress120, NEON, Tigerlover, TrashXpf93, thegirl59, pureblood123, Neon Tronn, A Foreign Forerunner, Shadow Phoenix-Dragon, 19, Natzie, Chocolate Sparte, Griffon the Wind Guardian, ilsamayra282, alpha wolfstar, emily, guests, TheSilverCookieMonster, mayvicbot, Loomiechu, kamaleen, Fangirl128, TigressTai Lung, A person, loldemort, Xerxes King of Kings, CatBugg, Kitty Purry, Creepy-Cute-Cherry, TheGeek, ValidinOpress, NightmareXblue, Reader, , GaelicGirl.
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Far from the distaste expressed earlier, Raja had been gracious with them. He welcomed Shifu and his students with no aversion whatsoever... yet he wouldn't allow a single Rhino to leave their ship, not even Vachir who led them. The former warden had likely ruined the possibility after his behaviour towards the cobra had been less than respectful. When they had settled in, Raja initiated the conversation. Making the inaugural small talk, he spoke candidly about his speech on the state of the city. It might have been interesting if they were no sense of urgency distracting them... "Of course, I have only just begun talking about it, and there is still so much planning to do. But I feel that the majority of the people will embrace my ideas. They are desperate for more security." Raja paused, to leave an opening for a response, only there wasn't one. He caught on to the vibe and noticed the lacking reactions. "You are all very quiet. Can't think of anything to say?"
The red panda huffed. "I'm taken aback at what you've made of yourself. I never took you as the type to be tied down by responsibility. I can see just by looking at you... that, at least, as far as combat is concerned, you've gotten lazy."
The cobra snorted. "Can't think of anything else? Well... yes; I've had no time for such things."
Shifu had heard every excuse. "There's always time."
"There are compromises we all must make, you should know this well, being a seasoned teacher." Raja didn't repress how sharply he was regarding the old master. "The difference between you and me is our precedence. I have spent these last years single-handedly raising a daughter along with running this hold. You understand this, don't you? You must have been... a protective father, Shifu."
Was Raja a father now too? Shifu hid that this surprised him, more caught up on the subtle feeling that he was being goaded. Unable to back down from the perceived jab, he replied with a casual question. "So you are a father then too. You didn't find time to teach her to defend herself...?" This muted the cobra momentarily. His pupils sat in silence until that moment. Someone... Po could be heard distinctly whispering his sympathy, then the sound of hushes silenced him.
Raja chuckled uncertainly. "That's not- I'll admit... I'm not perfect, but, at least, my child is in not jail."
Now that was much less subtle... Shifu frowned. "Your tongue is still sharp as ever, but your skill in combat has most definitely blunted. Were you not as diminished by idleness I might have risen to that, Wéixiào." When the name registered, gasps filled the room. His students were dumbfounded, especially Po being the diehard kung fu fan that he was. "As you are now, you are far too out of shape. It would be embarrassing. It's funny to contemplate, as I'm the old one."
This clearly earned the snake's irritation, which satisfied Shifu. Then a sudden look bewilderment crossed his features, as though he'd not heard right. "What did you just say?" Raja shook his head, almost in doubt. "Nobody calls me that anymore."
Shifu behaved ignorantly. "Nobody calls you by your name?"
Raja's face hardened, and now he found that he no longer cared for maintaining niceties. "Since we're not pretending that we get along now, I think you ought to tell me the full story of this kidnapping now. Don't think for a moment that I don't know your hiding something, old man." He knew everything already, of course, but none the pursuant masters under his roof were aware of that. Tai Lung should have made a decent head start by now... if his messenger had been successful in warning off the snow Leopard.
Though the old master didn't outright deny it, Shifu seemed dismissive of the idea. "To tell you everything would take some time... and it hardly makes things easier to add detail to detail."
"You are on shaky ground as it is... and you did mention reparations. Perhaps we can look into that, eh?" The cobra shock off his hostility. "After everything, that's happened recently, and the disrespect of your underling, it would be wise to demonstrate cooperation, Shifu. I have promised to aid you, but I need to trust you first, and honestly... I don't."
Shifu shook his head irritably. "What exactly could I tell you?"
The snake rattled his head mockingly. "For starters, a description of your daughter... and what do the captors look like? Their appearances. You must have a decent description."
Shifu felt cramped by the sudden pressure. He hadn't had the chance to tell his students that Weixiao, now apparently Raja, knew Tai Lung as a friend before the snow Leopard's incarceration. There may still be some loyalty there... He couldn't be sure. There was no way of knowing how the serpent would react, and if his reaction would be a negative one. It was clear that the obstinate ruler of this city was antagonised by him. Vachir most definitely was a reason for that, but perhaps his bond with Tai Lung had something to do with it too... It made him tilt on whether hiding the truth was the best idea, given how he seemed to pick up on his attempt to avoid saying certain things. If that was the case, though, it would still be a calculated risk... If honesty was the wrong choice then he and his student could simply leave, regardless the potentially unpleasant backlash. "As you wish."
He described Tigress first, envisioning her in his mind's eye. Raja, before allowing Shifu to begin, ordered a servant to make a rough depiction. He listened intently. He almost appeared agog, but Shifu didn't put too much into that... After her relative height, build, and distinguished attire, he spoke of her face... and the red panda felt something heavy well up in him. As he did this, he realised that he was putting perhaps too much detail into her description, and cut himself off.
He looked up and noticed the sympathy he'd gained from his students... and surprisingly from Raja.
Raja turned to his servant with a questioning look. The goose made a few finishing strokes, then nodded at him, showing the picture. "Hrm... Is this her?"
Shifu's breath caught in his throat. The kung fu masters regarded the drawing in profound silence. It was a good sketch, almost too good... Before it became any more gloomy, Shifu nodded. Raja was quick to move on. "And what about her captor?"
Shifu was quiet. He hesitated, not able to speak up straight away. After a few seconds of working himself up, he opened his mouth, and someone else spoke.
"There were five of them. They're criminal mercenaries that usually work separately, and we were surprised when we'd gotten wind of them collaborating. We figured they had to be working on something big so we went to find out what it was, and ultimately, stop them. The first one is Hong, a gorilla, then there's an ox, Dun, and the other three are the Wu sisters... I guessed you might have heard of them." Shifu turned his suppressed gaze on to Crane, who had surprisingly decided to speak up.
Viper shook off her own surprise and added to that. "Yes! We actually have their wanted poster on our ship, so... that makes things easier."
Raja was blank faced... His forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air, and tasting them... A credulous suggestion would be that he was searching for deceit. While the taste part was true, that as snake's tongue could actually taste a lie was obviously not true. Viper, as a serpent too, understood that this was a subtle tactic that was used to unnerve non-serpents, which made her wonder why he'd even try using it while she was around... The big upright snake indulged in his flicking his tongue out again before he replied... "Do you really?"
They all nodded.
Nisa hummed a tune to herself as she moved throughout the residence in search of her father.
She knew he'd had a busy day with his schemes... but oddly enough, he hadn't attempted to hide them from her, in fact, he seemed almost excited by whatever it was. She would have asked him, but she still wasn't talking to him right now... In the end, she'd gone to one of her retainers, fully knowing that it wasn't usually the way to go to find out what her father was up to. This time, however, she wasn't talked down to, and the servant had told her that her father had plans for the city. Apparently a restoration project.
As she went by one of the guards, she stopped to address him. "You! ...umm?" Nisa paused when it occurred to her that she had addressed him rudely. She was contrite that she didn't even know his name.
The lion's reply was lukewarm. "Singa, ma'am."
She took him in, committing his looks to memory. "Singa, do you know where my father is?"
He looked squinted thoughtfully. "I recall the other guards mentioned that he has returned from his outing with a company. If he has come back, he may be in the solar attending guests."
She thought that Tai Lung would stay on his ship now that he was prepped to leave, he had said as much himself. She sniffed. "Just how many guests are we talking here?"
Singa didn't let on if he put off her interrogation. "Several people were mentioned, I think, but I'm afraid I am unable to enlighten you on the details. My knowledge does not go beyond what I've told you, ma'am."
It was due to her recent enlightenment on just how dishonest her father was that she had trouble not being suspicion of his activities all of a sudden. It wasn't like she was unfounded in her distrust, but now that she had learned of the depths to his secrets, especially about her... she couldn't help that she wanted to get to the bottom this. There was nothing that Singa had told her which pointed to anything queer, it sounded average. Nisa may have been paranoid, perhaps she was, but she blamed him for that. She was going to be keeping her eyes on him from now on... and he could say nothing about it!
"If you'd like I could take you there, ma'am."
She smiled at the barbary lion. "No thank you, Singa. I can make my own way."
You wouldn't happen to be lying to me, would you, panda?" Raja kept a stern regard for the dragon warrior.
Po began to sweat under snake's attention. He knew that he was being grilled because the guy was underestimating him, which was often one of his best weapons, but he couldn't help that the huge snake being able to get so tall was more than a little scary. He blinked rapidly, flicking his eyes to his peers who were a little reluctant to step between them. "Er. N-no! Honest!"
The cobra maintained eye-to-eye height with Po. "So there's nothing else you could tell me about your little rescue mission?"
"Uh-uh," Po replied, shaking his head.
Po heard a heavy sigh, which turned out to be Shifu, who was obvious getting more irritated by the second. "If you're satisfied, can we please get on with why we're here?" The senior master understood that this tactic was a way to isolate the one among them who was more likely to crack under pressure. He could also feel that the snake was looking for something specific, whatever it was. Of course, the underlining anxiety was that Po would, indeed, crack and that he would reveal Tai Lung, still alive, as the culprit... Shifu chastened himself. Po was better than that, and he wasn't too upset that his students had taken the initiative in deciding to maintain the secret, though he wasn't sure how it would play out. Still, this mission was their too, and he approved of them making their own choices.
He could tell that his students were decomposed by this underhanded move. They were more use to dealing with situations that called upon practicality rather than subterfuge. "If you have any questions from now on, you may ask them of me."
The snake tilted in concession. "You're right. Let's move on... I'm going to call for the civil force to report here, and we'll see if they know of anything helpful. If anybody would have word of a stolen tiger, it would be them." As much as it made sense, he doubted anything would come of it. Then Raja continued. "After that, they shall, at the very least, know who to look for and if anything is brought forward when you are gone, I'll send word."
That was somewhat satisfying to hear, and he would admit, sounded kind.
Shifu nodded in agreement. "Then at your invitation, we'll stay until morning."
Raja spoke with one of his servants, then motioned them to follow him.
One of the doors behind him clicked, and as it slid open Shifu saw smaller snake enter. "Who are these people?" The sharp words made Raja flinch. This young one must have been his daughter.
Raja was hoping this wouldn't happen. This was the worst thing that could happen. He turned to his child, unable to withhold his unease. He almost choked, mindful of the several masters... and their swelling interest. Their undivided attention immobilized him, and he found himself unable to push out any words until she spoke again.
Nisa narrowed her eyes in an oddly atypical expression. "Well? I'm waiting for an answer."
Raja shook himself brusquely and found a satisfactory response. "They are here because they need my help, and right now they are being taken to their rooms." He turned to his servant and give sharp motion for him to take them. He bid them a good evening, and the goose was quick to usher them out. They left, but not with a great deal of haste, nor without lingering glances.
Nisa looked at them go with ill-concealed disdain. She wanted to protest, force him to tell her who they were and why they were really here, but she held herself back because she knew it would look petulant.
Once the door was closed her father looked at the ground with a sigh. "Nisa... I told you to knock before coming in here."
She stared him incredulously. "Is that seriously all you can say?"
Whatever he considered answering with to that, he seemed to change his mind, and instead, he replied with something more cautious. "I am dealing with a delicate situation... I did not have time to bring you up to speed."
She hissed at him. "Up to speed on what? You haven't actually told me anything."
He ignored her hostility, and with hesitation, committed to explaining things. "They are here because of Tai Lung... because of something that he did. You see... Master Tigress was, how should put this...? Abducted... by him." The look this earned made him shrink, and he was quick to clarify in order placate the horror his daughter was obviously feeling. "The act was a retaliation you see! They... came to his ship while he had docked in Hong Kong. They sought to do him harm. He defeated them without the need to kill, though, as anyone one would in his place, he wished to spite them for their aggression, and in return for their violence, he took her." He wished he could tell what she was thinking, but it was hard to tell anything.
"So she's really a prisoner?" Nisa spoke with surprising softness, which may or may nor have been a good thing.
"That is the case," he said slowly.
She smiled bitterly... and without looking at him. "And he told you that the day he came back, right?"
He approached and spoke gently. "Nisa, you may have trouble trusting me after all that has happened, and I understand why, but please believe me when I say that I would have told you of this eventually."
It sounded truthful, but then the underlying or did it came to mind. How was she meant to tell the difference now that she knew how dishonest he was? It only made her unhappy to hear him say that because she couldn't tell... She sniffed. "I don't believe you. As far the attacks we've suffered, you were never going to tell if you didn't have to, and it's the same thing all over again with these people. You don't trust me, but you had no choice, that's the only reason."
He watched her empathetically, respecting that she needed space. "Nisa, I know that I was wrong to keep you in the dark for so long. I only did so because I thought it was for your own good. This whole business has been going on for so long, I just never thought it important to say at the time because you were so young. When you reached maturity, I was utterly absorbed with protecting you from it, even the truth."
He saw the tears in her eyes and sought to hold his little one, but she glared when he moved closer. "Please don't think that my deceiving you reflects on my trust in you; I do trust you. This was not the way I wanted things to be. I dealt with matters poorly, a poor decision made with good intentions." He wished to close the distance between them but avoided doing that while he knew she wouldn't be pleased with the action. "I trust you more than anyone, but I also love you and would do anything to keep you safe. "I never realised that my way about it would end up hurting you." He hoped that she understood his mistake stemmed from ignorance, that he was not perfect, and like anyone else, he could act carelessly. He hoped that she saw this.
The look she gave him softened, only slightly. She shook her head. "That hardly makes it all okay."
"No, I know it doesn't, but I want you to understand that I've been a fool, and I'm sorry," he answered, perhaps too hastily.
"I get it," she told him gratingly.
He nodded disarmingly. "Will you... give me the chance to make things right?"
She studied him without emotion making it hard for him guess whether his words had been enough to win her over. When she spoke, his question was answered. "Tell me everything, the whole story, but first I want to know more about these people you've invited into our house."
He knew an olive branch when he saw one. He would tell her most of it, omitting a few details, more because some things were simply not for him share than because she should not have known. "That red panda, the old one. He is Shifu, grand Master of the Jade palace in Hubei, China, and he is Master Oogway's successor." She'd heard of Masters' Shifu and Oogway before, not really knowing much about either, though. "Shifu is Tigress' adoptive father, which makes this much more delicate than an ordinary rescue. He motivated by the peril she is in, that makes him far more dangerous. There is nothing a parent would not do to protect their child. In addition to that, everyone of those people accompanying him is experienced masters of Kung fu too, one of them is, in fact, the Dragon warrior. They are legends where they come from, and all of them are close affiliates of hers. Facing all of that, the odds are against Tai Lung."
Nisa was troubled. "But if he's kidnapped her, wouldn't it... be best if he just gave her back?"
He smiled at his daughter's simple response, and yet, "things not nearly that simple."
"How so?"
He did not revel in laying out the crux of Shifu and Tai Lung's feud... The snow Leopard was his friend, and what she already did know was much more than he wished, but... he could not keep it quiet while they were on such fragile terms. And so, he did as she asked, telling her the whole story as far back as when... everyone had still been happy. Tai Lung's impactful connection to Shifu first, and then every lamentable part following that.
Doing this reminded him of when Nisa was younger, and he used to tell her stories of light-hearted tales he'd been a part of. He had always been good at telling her stories... He'd enjoyed the flitting emotions of suspense and joy they brought to her face. This was far off from those days.
This story left her in tears.
During the night-time, to ensure that any person with the disposition of a night owl would be able to find their way around, and typical to any large settlement, every ten yards of street was provided with a lantern, to help them see. It was appreciated by the nocturnally inclined citizens... except those whose eyesights were more suited to seeing in the dark in the first place. There was value in having the means to navagate this mesh of pathways that were hard enough to memorise during the day... Vachir acknowledged that. He nearly started to think he'd lost his way until he recognised the indistinguishable form of a person ahead of him loitering suspiciously.
The prowler turned when he heard his footsteps. "You are late."
Vachir snorted down at him. "By whose time? Yours? Hn."
He firmly persisted. "What took you so long?"
The Rhino didn't appreciate the trial... "Encase you haven't noticed, it's not easy to find your way through this city. 'Sides, we've only been here for a few days. I ain't memorised the paths."
The much smaller person growled. "We agreed to meet on the evening of your first-day mooring in! How can we hope to succeed when you are careless to these small details," he sneered.
That was true. They agreed that every time his ship made a stop that they would rendezvous as a soon as possible... but it wasn't his fault that Shifu was watching his every step like a hawk. "I couldn't risk being seen. They already don't trust me, and it wouldn't do any good to sneak off while they were watching." Vachir really didn't rate the upside of this arrangement. He was sure that keeping the old man in the loop would have actually been better... though, this was something not even his men knew about, aside from his most trusted.
Pulling back his hood with a shaking head, the ferret-badger gave Vachir a nasty look. "That's funny, because while you were looking for a supposed opportunity I had been watching you from afar."
Vachir didn't allow his expression to change. "Oh? And what exactly did you see from afar?"
The agent gave him a hard smile. "Let's just say your antics have been noted and reported to your betters."
He felt like smashing the little rat's arrogant face... but of course held his back from doing that. "I'm on a mission for my own reasons... and they ain't my betters, punk!" He had been offered a lot to do this, and he'd accepted, but whatever he'd get in the end was just a bonus that he had no problems throwing aside if it was in conflict with spreading his own misery onto his former lifetime prisoner before he killed him once and for all... He wouldn't say that to anybody, of course, least of all this go-between ratbag.
The smaller mammal looked unimpressed. "I'll be sure to tell them that."
Vachir couldn't have cared less. "Whatever. You better listen close 'cause I'm not going to repeat myself." Then he recited his report. The agent would interject to ask a question, usually mid-sentence. Vachir knew this was to annoy him and he almost didn't bother to answer to affirm that he would not be repeating details, but the guy was persistent... so he simply pretended that it didn't bother him.
"So... I hear you had to discipline one of your men."
The toneless question wasn't supposed to sound accusing, but Vachir was defensive when it came to his men. "Yeah, and I hear that not many chiefs have to do that because their underlings always behave!"
The ferret-badger didn't even blink. "You can't kill you own men."
Vachir gritted his teeth. "I didn't kill him... If you were watching me you should know that."
He was still suspicious of him. "You're underlining threat didn't go over my head. I have this job for a reason-"
"Well, you're mistaken! I'm hard on my men, and I punish them when they step out of line, but they are my men. I would never go there with them. Whatever you observed was overstated on my part." The distrust he gave off was way too obvious, but that was not what he cared about. The subject of his men was a sore one for him.
"Very well, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. But now... I'd like you to explain what you think you were doing to that child near the port."
Geez, he really was always watching... Vachir scoffed at the thought. "Nothing happened, and nothing was gonna happen." He saw the coming objection and spoke louder in a hiss. "Before spew out the 'that's not what it looked like' garbage, didn't ever occur to you that's what I want everyone to think? What you and everyone sees isn't always as it seems. I ain't actually done anything, so until I do your grasping at straws." His attitude, in all its harshness, and his antics were entirely what he wanted people to see him as.
There was odd frown on the ferret-badger's face before he replied. "Believe it or not, I can empathise with the stress you are under right now. Not to say that I'm sympathetic. Look... If this has become too much for you then I will notify th-"
Vachir's scowl was enough to silence him. "You'll do nothing! I've been dealing with the likes of Tai Lung for twenty years, what's this when measured up to that amount of time?" Twenty years in vain. Vachir woke up to the fact that Tai Lung should have just been executed ever since then.
"This is Tai Lung, who is now free," was the simple answer.
"Exactly. I have to find him, because of that... He should be dead, so who can really stop him? I have to redeem my failure." To say that this business was getting to him was, yeah, it was... But he'd known that for a while now. Tai Lung's escape and the terrible vengeance he'd unleashed when his restraints had failed had been, to say the least, a massacre for the ages. That day, when everything fell apart, had changed Vachir inside and out. He had become something unpleasant. Since he was disfigured now... he looked nasty. He looked it, and so he acted it. Maybe that was a part of it. Being ruthless or cruel had never been a hard thing for him really, but ever after the ordeal, he was less held back now than he had ever been before. He just knew that Tai Lung had to die no matter the cost, and every action he took was motivated by that.
"You trouble makers, again!?" The officers that Raja been brought in apparently already knew his students... Of the two hounds, the bushy haired one looked particularly engaged by their presence.
The short haired one was... less animated. "Oh, it's you people."
They had been called upon because of their apparent insights, Shifu had been told, few others possessed due from their regular patrols in the city. They would keep everything logged, and perhaps they had something useful to share. That was as least what he had been told. "Gentlemen, my guests here would like to ask some questions. I would be obliged if you could forget any grievances you may have with them, and help their search in any way you can," the snake gently urged.
The calmer dispositioned one answered. "There's no grievance with these guys. It's their horned companions that we have a problem with."
His partner disagreed. "Speak for yourself. They're all cut from the same cloth, I can tell. Just look at that one, clearly a born criminal," he said pointing at Monkey.
Monkey reeled back pointing to himself. "Me?" It was obvious that he didn't expect to be singled out.
"That's right. You got the look a' someone whose got a dark past," Berani said gravely.
Monkey felt confused, and he actually felt compelled to think about it. "Well... I did use to pull the pants off of people for pranks," he admitted with a bit of guilt.
His accuser nodded slowly. "He even admits it."
Dinding slapped his shoulder. "Enough of that, you idiot."
Raja interjected before the pair got distracted. "Master Shifu, here-" He gestured to the master in question. "-is on a desperate mission to track down a kidnapped family member, his daughter specifically. It is important that we help in any way we can. In these set of circumstances, time is of the essence," he intoned, aware of how condescending he was being.
Berani wrinkled his thick bushy brow. "Wait, you mean all of you Kung fu goers are here 'cause this old man's trying to find his daughter?"
The frustrated liege sighed. "That's what I... said. Yes."
Shifu felt further encumbered by this lack progress. "How will I ever find her?"
The shaggy dog frowned wistfully. "Aw, man... Comin' all this way. Now there is a father, lookin' for his little girl," Berani said shakily. Shifu was sure he heard the dog sniffle. His brother-in-arms subtly supported him with caring hushes as the guard muttered something about never knowing his own father.
Raja, attempting to brush off the awkwardness, opened and closed his mouth twice before he spoke again. With a strained laugh, he wrangled the wayward pair into the fully committing to the task. For the following hour, they went over every patrol within the time Tigress had been here, by the Kung entourage's knowledge, and then discussed all the gossip they had heard, which was sadly not much. Dinding, who had been mostly quiet except when Berani's explanations needed improving, seemed to grasp at a vague memory of something he'd been told. "It may not be related to your Master tigress, but I think I heard from someone in the market that their was a tigress shopping for clothes a couple of days back. She was with her kid apparently, a mixed child probably, since he resembled a lion. Oh, and she came by boat."
Crane pointed out the obvious. "Oh well... It couldn't have been Tigress. Clothes shopping...?" And a kid. The others murmured in agreement. "Is that all you heard?" He then asked.
"Well... She was with man supposedly, but I can't recall the alleged species. If he was her husband then that could be deduced based on the looks of the child."
"Or they adopted," Po pointed out, having been an adopted child himself.
Dinding shrugged. "Maybe."
Mantis shook his head. "This all just 'maybes' and 'could bes', and it doesn't sound like Tigress."
"True, but we can't leave a stone unturned," Viper commented.
As they went back and forth, Po's mind digressed. He hadn't really been thinking about anything with an intent to add to the discussion but out of the blue a question occurred... a good one, and he lit up. "Hey! The guy, you wouldn't know if he was a snow leopard would you?" Dinding considered this.
As he did, there was an intense foreboding silence. Po caught on to it pretty quick and glimpsed at everyone. His friends and peers were taken back by the suggestion, but there weren't upset. When he looked to his master, though, he realised that Shifu looked spooked.
Dinding's uncertainty was fairly clear. "I'm not sure. It could have been. What do you think?" He turned to Berani questioningly, who fiddled with his brow hair in contemplation.
Po, more attentive than he gave himself credit for, saw his master wear a look that said he was expecting an attack. Of course, the look he was getting from Shifu was just as intense. He felt like he'd done something wrong... but he didn't have a clue as to what that was.
When Shifu dared to look at Raja what he saw was surprising to him. There was no shock, nor outrage. In fact, the cobra regarded him with far too much apathy. Did the words of his occasional klutz of a student really go over the snake's head? He'd always known Wéixiào- Raja to be a sharp one... so that couldn't have been right. As he continued to look for something tangible from the serpent, and as the old familiar stared back a sinking feeling in his chest alongside a dreaded realisation washed over him.
In a fraction of a second Raja's stare became far more telling. He knew. He knew about Tai Lung, and the snake knew that Shifu knew. The minute changes in his face said that Raja was aware of Shifu's epiphany. He almost expected an earthquake to suddenly occur, and that Tai Lung would emerge from the fracture. But no, this wasn't a trap, he didn't feel the workings of a trap at play. This was a ruse, a distraction to divert attention.
It was time to get out of here...
He addressed his students, cutting off their discussion. "Enough of this. We've wasted too much time for my liking. It's time to move on." His tone left no room for argument.
"You're leaving so soon?" He Raja who was still acting.
He felt a sudden surge of anger at the deception, one which he's so foolishly been taken in by. He would not start a battle, though tempting, only because it would waste even more time. "Yes. Your help is appreciated but it's getting us nowhere. I'm grateful for the hospitality, but this is goodbye." Then it occurred to him that perhaps Raja no a willing party to this, that Tai Lung had threatened him. "If... you are afraid," he trailed off.
"What this?" The snake chuckled. Then went close, and said quietly, "I have nothing to fear. You, though...? Let's just say that by the time you find her, she may not be the same."
He nearly recoiled, but for the sake of leaving this place intact, he smiled coldly and bid him farewell.
I know that some of you have certain expectation, your time will come.