Of Good Report

"I can't believe he did it," Gong-Go growled underneath his breath. "That evil conniving son of a-."

"Careful General Gong-Go or that could be you next," said the Empress. A younger Gong-Go sat in the Empress room while the sister of the Emperor cried her tears out.

"Why?" Gong-Go said. "That's all I want to know. Why? Why did he do it? And without me. That way I could have at least prevented it."

"You were in another village at the time. He didn't think you would make it back. He got impatient and sent out others to finish the job. We're just lucky that he gave us some alone time for her to grieve." The Empress said. "There there, Gala. You'll get through this. We'll even help you."

"Why?" Gala sobbed. "Why did my brother do this to me? I'm pregnant and he killed my husband. Why?"

"I don't know why." The Empress said comfortingly. Actually, she did. There had been false reports of Gala's husband sneaking off in the middle of the night to lead a rebellion. When the real news came that he was only doing a charity, it was too late.

"Better to be wrong and kill someone as an example of the actual crime, than to be wrong and people doubt me," the emperor had said. Pride is something else. Because of his tyrannical nature, Gala wisely held her tears until she was alone with the others.

"I'm sorry this happened. I should have been there," Gong-Go said with a guilty face.

"You couldn't have done anything," The Empress said. Gong-Go still held his head in shame.

"What am I going to do?" Gala sobbed, "I have a baby on the way, Zander's only three years old, and I have a murderous emperor as a brother!"

"Shhhh! Calm down, Gala," The Empress said, bringing her back to the bed. The room was quiet for a while. "Have they done the report?"

"Yes, it's titled under 'Bei-Lang report of 983'. I've made several copies of it and I'm planning to send it to the Master's Council so they can give us some help."

"What can they do?" Gala asked Gong-Go. Gong-Go gave an understanding smile.

"I promise you that things will get better," Gong-Go said hugging Gala. "And I will help raise your children like they are my own."

"I couldn't ask you to do that," Gala said shaking her head.

"No, I insist," Gong-Go replied. Gala nodded.

Po woke up. There weren't any people in his room this time, except Tigress. "So that's why. Why didn't I think of that," Po said absentmindedly.

"That's why what?" Tigress asked. Po turned to Tigress and told her. Her eyes widened.

"Don't tell anyone yet. He deserves the privacy," Po said. Tigress nodded. "It's so sad. What's happened to Maz, Lillia, and you." Tigress sighed.

"Sometimes the tragedies in our lives are the things that make us. But then there are times when we make ourselves through the tragedies. If it weren't for that tragedy, I wouldn't be doing the best thing I can do, which is Kung Fu. Just the same way if your mother didn't put you in that basket, you wouldn't be the Dragon Warrior," Tigress said. Po smiled.

"Thanks, Tigress," Po said.

It was two weeks after that that Maz and Lillia started entering some... tension. "Why do you always have to terrify me?" Maz asked. He had finally had it with Lillia's fear tactics. Lillia looked at the lion with a smirk.

"You honestly think that I'm purposefully scaring you?"

"Yes, why?"

"I'm not doing anything," Lillia said with an innocent smile. Maz groaned as he placed his head in his hands.

"Look, I don't want to get in your way, nor do I want to cause you any grief, but I don't want to live in fear," Maz said.

"But what if I want you to live in fear," Lillia asked.

"That's not fair," Maz replied.

"Life isn't fair!" Lillia shouted at him. She extracted a dagger from her armor and held it to his neck. Maz whimpered a bit but returned to his determined face. "Listen, I don't appreciate your tone with me."

"I don't mean to belittle you or cross any boundaries, but-"

"I think you already have," Lillia said. "I told you once before that I don't like lions. And I also don't like lions that can pose a threat to me."

"I wouldn't hurt you," Maz replied. "Not that I can," He said timidly, watching where she was going with the knife.

"Oh, but you misunderstand. I make sure that any potential threats don't come near me. So I either scare them as a warning," Lillia said getting close to Maz's ear. She had to stand on her toes to do so. "Or I kill them." She smiled when she heard Maz's gulp but looked at his determined face.

"I'm not afraid of you," He stated courageously. Lillia looked at him for a while with the dagger still at his neck and then put the dagger away.

"You've got guts, I'll admit that. But those are usually the first things to spill out when someone's cut," Lillia said.

"I'm not afraid of you Gong-Go Warrior," Maz repeated, but he still wanted to be proper.

"We'll see," She said going away. "Oh, and the name's Lillia. So stop calling me by the title." She disappeared after that. Maz gave a sigh of relief.

"I'm starting to think Zander was right when he said I had to be crazy for doing this," Maz panted.

"I would agree with that," said a voice from behind him.

"AHH!" He jumped around just to see Tigress. "Oh, Master Tigress," He bowed respectfully. "Wait, what did you see and hear?"

"I just came from the Hall of Heroes to see Lillia walking away from you. I'm guessing she was being... aggressive again?"

"Yeah," Maz simply said. "Why is she like this?" Tigress sighed.

"It's a long story that I think it would be better if she told you."

"So... I'm never going to find out?"

"Probably not," Tigress smirked. Maz's shoulders sagged. "But there is some good news from this. You've gotten closer to her."

"What do you mean?"

"She said you can call her Lillia. That's a step forward," Tigress offered. Maz huffed a laugh.

"Yeah, a baby step forward," Maz muttered.

"Anyways, let's get started with your training," Tigress said.

Continued...