The first stop for Yuè's team was, unsurprisingly enough, a local tavern. Inside the establishment Yuè picked a small table in the far left corner to sit at. He gazed across the room searching for an informant he'd contacted before going to the tavern. "What's with you and taverns? Couldn't we go somewhere nicer, like a tea house or something?" Mantis asked. "Taverns are a great place to find people with information. Plus my informant insisted on meeting me here." Yuè said as his eyes locked on to someone sitting at the bar. Under the table he was holding a special bomb with a wooden casing he'd fished from the small satchel on his hip. Suspecting something to go wrong, he made sure to have the explosive ready. "Doesn't that sound a little strange to you? Why would he want you to come here specifically?" Po asked. Yuè shook his head, his eyes still locked on the person, "I don't know. What I do know is that we should be ready for anything." he said as he leaned back in his chair, his feet placed on the table and his arms relaxed behind his head.
A few minutes later the person Yuè was watching had moved from the bar and began walking toward the table he was sitting at. Beside the figure were two large boars walking with him. Yuè took his feet off the table and sat upright in the chair as the figure grabbed a seat across from the wolf and his comrades, the boars standing to either side of him. Po cocked an eyebrow in confusion. Across from him sat a small rabbit with tan brown fur, wearing a navy blue robe. "This is your contact?" Po asked quizzically. "You got a problem with that, tubby?" the rabbit asked in an irritated tone, his voice smooth and dripping with arrogance. "I deal with grazers too. Lao is an acquaintance of mine from a ways back." Yuè said to Po before turning to the rabbit, "Now, on to business. You have what I asked for?" the wolf asked, cocking an eyebrow under his hood. The rabbit named Lao snapped his fingers and one of the boars gave him a small scroll. "This is the name of someone who'll be able to help you out." he said handing the scroll to Yuè. Just before he could grab the piece of parchment, Lao pulled his hand back, "Before I give you this, who is it you're looking for exactly? If you don't mind my asking that is." he asked with a sly grin. Yuè growled lowly, "Don't play games with me Lao. Give me the scroll." he demanded, scowling at the rabbit. Lao waved a finger at the wolf teasingly, "I will. It's just, this is really delicate information and I just want to insure my client's safety. So, who are you after?" he asked again, grinning. Yuè stared daggers at the rabbit, "I'm looking for a little girl." he said with a snarled. Lao chuckled lightly, "A little girl? Why?" he asked. "My reasons aren't important. Don't screw with me Lao. Hand over the scroll. We had a deal." Yuè growled quietly as to not draw attention to himself.
Lao reluctantly handed the scroll to Yuè, who quickly snatched it from the rabbit's hand before he could pull it away again. The lupine opened the scroll and nodded before standing up, "Pleasure doin' business with you." he said before moving to walk away from the table, Po and Mantis following along. Before the warriors could leave they were blocked by the two boars. "Lao, could you call off your pigs? I have somewhere I need to go." Yuè asked, the boar in front of him snarled at the comment. "Sure. Right after you pay me. Fifty yuan." Lao said in a more serious tone. Yuè scoffed, "Fifty yuan? What're you talking about? This was a favor you owed from back in Xi Xiao province. If it wasn't for me you'd be rotting in Chor-Ghom." he said pointing a finger at the rodent. "True, but whose fault was it that I was caught? I feel that it'd be better if you compensated me for landing me in that predicament, than I pay you back for a 'favor'." Lao said with more agitated look on his face. Yuè looked around the tavern. The room was silent as the patrons began to observe the exchange between the wolf and the rabbit. Yuè subtly squeezed the bomb and cracked its casing slightly, "Alright, I'll pay you." he said grinning. He quickly threw the bomb to the floor, shattering the casing and causing a thick cloud of smoke to fill the room, disorienting everyone inside and causing them to cough and wheeze heavily. Yuè held his breath as to not breathe in the smoke, but Po and Mantis began coughing roughly as they breathed in the substance. He quickly grabbed Mantis, placing him in his pocket, and took Po by the wrist and rushed them out of the bar. Yuè burst through the door of the tavern and quickly rushed into an alley across from them.
After turning down several winding roads and alleys, Yuè stopped behind a carpenter's workshop, letting go of Po's arm and taking Mantis out of his pocket and setting him on the ground. "What was that all about?!" Mantis yelled as he coughed lightly. Yuè chuckled lightly, "Choke dust. Learned how to make it from this quartermaster in Thieve's Landing. Sorry for not telling you before I used it." he apologized. "Well next time, a heads up would be great. I hope the scroll was worth us almost getting suffocated." Po said as he caught his breath. Yuè unrolled the scroll, "Madam Weibao? This really wasn't worth it." he said disappointedly as he started walking out of the alley, Po following along. Mantis cocked his head to the side quizzically and jumped onto Po's shoulder, "Who's Madam Weibao?" he asked. "She's a fortune teller from the city Rem Hai." the wolf explained as they moved through the crowded streets. Yuè cautiously observed his surroundings to make sure Lao and his guards weren't following the group of warriors. "Maybe she could help." Po said optimistically, "I once went to a fortune teller that told me great fortune would come my way. After I left her shop I found ten yuan in my pocket." he said recounting his experience. Yuè scoffed, "Did you already money with you when you saw her?" he asked skeptically. Po scratched his chin in thought, "Come to think of it, I think I did. But I'm sure it wasn't ten yuan." he said. "Maybe seeing her wouldn't be so bad. Some fortune tellers are actually helpful." Mantis chimed in. Yuè sighed, "Fine. I'll see her, but I'm telling you, she's a huge fake. All fortune tellers are." he groaned.
After several minutes of walking Yuè, Po and Mantis had reached a small shop with colorful beads draped the entrance to the building. A sign above the entrance read, 'Madam Weibao: Fortune Teller'. Yuè stepped toward the door and took one last look back at Po and Mantis, "This is such a huge waste of time." he groaned before reluctantly stepping inside the shop, leaving Po and Mantis outside. Upon entering Yuè's super sensitive nose was assaulted by various scents, ranging from incense to scented candles. A round wooden table sat in the center of the room with two wicker chairs sitting on opposite ends. The table was covered with a shiny fabric and a crystal ball in the middle. 'This is so cliché.' Yuè thought as he turned his attention to other parts of the room. The wall closest to the entrance held an assortment of bottles and jars filled with mysterious liquids and powders.
Just as Yuè picked one up someone from behind spoke, "Madam Weibao at your service." she said, her voice thick with a noticeably fake foreign accent that practically required her to roll her r's. Yuè sat the bottle down and turned to face the fortune teller. She was a snow leopard that stood about a head shorter than Yuè, just a bit taller than Fan. She wore a dark paisley dress with a burgundy colored shawl over her arms. On her head she wore a red scarf and large gold hoop earrings. "I sense you need assistance, no?" Madam Weibao asked as she took a seat at the table. Yuè decided to take a seat across from her, "Doesn't everyone that comes in here?" he asked sarcastically. "Some ask for help while others ask for guidance. You are one for guidance, yes?" the snow leopard asked. "Sure. Guidance sounds nice, I guess." Yuè said crossing his arms, humoring the psychic. "Excellent! I shall look into my crystal ball to find what you seek." Madam Weibao said as she began waving her hands mystically around the orb. Yuè rolled his eyes, 'She can't be serious.' he thought disbelievingly.
As the fortune teller waved her hands, she closed her eyes and muttered strange 'incantations' under her breath. "I see...a quest. Yes, an arduous journey. And...you're searching for something...or someone perhaps. There is danger all around you. Be cautious." Madam Weibao said opening her eyes. Yuè grinned, "Is that so? Well, it just so happens that I'm currently on a 'quest'." he said matter-of-factly. "You are?" she asked, her accent slightly slipping, before clearing her throat and regaining her composure, "I mean, of course you are. I must've, uh, used the wrong spell. That's it. Perhaps, your hand could tell your fate." she said holding her hand out. Yuè decided to comply and placed his hand, palm facing up, in hers. Madam Weibao once again muttered something under her breath before opening her eyes. The snow leopard slowly felt the lines on the pads of Yuè's hands, some being natural but others being small scars from the wolf's claws.
"You have lived a hard life." she said as she began to trace a particularly long crease in Yuè's palm. "Does the name, 'Li' mean anything to you?" she asked. The lupine's ears perked up and his eyes widened slightly at the mention of his daughter's name. 'That's just a coincidence. There's a lot of people in China named 'Li'.' Yuè thought to himself. "Let's say it does." he said indifferently. Madam Weibao grinned, "The young one wishes to reach out to you. She is close, here in the city." the fortune teller prophesied. 'She? Young one? Could that really...' Yuè thought to himself. "What species is she?" he asked dubiously. If this fortune teller really knew where Li was, Yuè wanted to get every ounce of information he could from her. Madam Weibao traced another crease in the wolf's hand, "She is...a wolf with snow white fur." she said dramatically. Yuè felt his heart pound furiously in his chest. For five months he'd been searching for Li and to think her location was closer at the start of his journey, Yuè couldn't help but feel like an idiot, a feeling he knows too well. "I've heard enough." he grumbled before starting to get up. Before the wolf could leave he was stopped by a tug on his arm, "Wait, there's more. If you wish to seek the young one, you must know there is great danger traveling with her." Madam Weibao said gravely. Yuè took his seat again, "What danger?" he asked raising an eyebrow. "To find Li, you must seek a black hood. Find the hood and you find Li." the snow leopard said cryptically. Yuè nodded and began to leave again. He stopped at the doorway and tossed a small bag of coins on the table, "Here. Something I found on my way here. Thanks for the information." he said turning back to the door. "Madam Weibao is always happy to help." the fortune teller said with a bow as Yuè left the shop.
"So, how was the fortune teller?" Mantis asked as Yuè left the building. The lupine scoffed, "Like I said, she was an old hack lookin' to make some easy coin." he lied, "Let's head back to the inn. We've wasted enough time here, especially since we're empty handed." he suggested. The group began to move through the crowd back towards the inn. After several minutes of walking, Yuè caught a scent masked by the smells of the crowded street. The smell was both familiar and foreign to the wolf, like meeting an old friend he'd forgotten. He looked around to try to find the source but saw nothing. He sniffed the air once more and found that the scent came from behind. He stopped in the middle of the crowd, Po and Mantis looking at the wolf quizzically, "What's wrong?" Po asked. Yuè only growled quietly, 'Where is that scent?' he thought to himself as the overwhelming scents of people, burning wood, and food from vendors found their way to the wolf's sensitive nose. Without warning he began to move through the crowd swiftly, following the faint smell through the sea of people. "Hey wait up!" Po called out as he wrestled with moving against the tide of bodies. Yuè refused to slow down and kept moving toward the scent. Looking ahead in the crowd he spotted a black hood, just like the one Madam Weibao warned him about. Taking one last sniff of the air, Yuè realized the smell of the scent was slightly stronger and came from the owner of that hood. The hooded figure in the crowd turned slightly and spotted Yuè. The person began to tear through the crowd, sprinting away from Yuè and bumping into people. The lupine sniffed the air and realized that the figure was attempting to mask their scent with the scent of the crowd. 'You're not gettin' away that easy!' the wolf thought to himself. He began to weave through the crowd quickly until he found a break where the concentration of people was thinner.
Yuè took to all fours and began sprinting after the figure that was a few feet ahead of him. As the wolf ran he began to get tunnel vision, focusing on his quarry instead of his surroundings. The figure leaped over a vending cart in their way and instead of jumping over it as well, Yuè barreled through the wooden construct, breaking it in half and sending whatever products being sold from it scattering across the ground. Ignoring the angry yelling and threats from the owner, the persistent lupine pushed forward. He saw the figure turn down an alley and quickly followed them. However, upon reaching the alley he realized it was a dead end and the figure was gone. "Dammit!" Yuè swore loudly. He began to search the alley, looking through piles of discarded trash and furniture. As he searched his anger and frustration began to build and he started recklessly destroying the objects. After several minutes of looking Yuè sniffed the air to see if he could catch the figure's scent and start his hunt again, but found nothing. Yuè sat down against a wall, panting heavily with his tongue out from exerting his body. "There you are!" a voice said coming from the alley's entrance. Yuè quickly drew a knife and looked to see the source of the voice. Po was bent over panting heavily from chasing the lupine. Yuè put his knife away and sighed. "Why'd you run off like that Yu?" Mantis asked. The wolf stood up and began walking to the entrance of the alley, "Just a stupid assumption." he said vaguely. Po put his arm in front of Yuè to stop him from leaving, "What kind of assumption?" he asked dubiously. "I think I found Li." Yuè said earning a gasp of surprise from Po and Mantis.