Unknown Sins are Unknown Mistakes

She now had gone to not even talking to him. Maz just couldn't win with the lamb. At the very least, she stopped threatening him, not that it did much. Maz was still afraid of Lillia. And now that she had gone silent, he couldn't tell where she was, which is why she always made him jump. It made Maz feel guilty.

Tigress wearily pinched her nose. "This is getting a little out of hand," Tigress said. Po shrugged.

"I don't know how to fix it. I could tell them, but I don't know if they'll believe me," Po sighed. Just then, Viper and Monkey came into the kitchen. Po smiled mischievously at Tigress. "Watch this," He whispered to her. Po put his hands underneath the table and snapped something in half. Monkey, almost instantaneously, started sniffing around. "Smell something, Monkey?" Po smirked.

"Yeah, I smell something," Monkey said. He sniffed around Po. "Is that...you?" Po laughed.

"No, it's this," Po said, producing a split banana. "Here." He gave the two halves to Monkey. Monkey went out with the two halves in hand. "Here's another one," Po whispered to Tigress. "Viper, you look a little tense. Why don't I help you relieve some of that stress."

"Oh no, Po, I'm fine," Viper cheerfully said. She wasn't lying. She didn't feel any pain or soreness. Po was determined.

"I insist," Po said. Viper shrugged thinking nothing of it. Po went to the back of Viper. He started rubbing a certain part of her spine and then it happened.

"Ohh," Viper exclaimed. She tensed up a bit then felt like she was melting. Her eyes were half-lidded, her tongue was out as her mouth had dropped, and the tip of her tail rapidly swayed back and forth. Po smiled at her look, but then suddenly stopped realizing something.

"Oh, I forgot," Po whispered to himself.

"Forgot what," Viper asked coming back to reality.

"Never mind, do you feel better," Po asked.

"Better than ever," Viper sighed. With that, she slithered slowly to her room. Tigress just sat there not knowing whether to be creeped out or impressed.

"That was... uncomfortable and interesting," Tigress said.

"Why?"

"It's weird when you see your teammate with that kind of face," Tigress explained. Po chuckled nervously.

"Sorry, I wouldn't have done that if I had remembered she didn't have fangs," Po replied.

"What was that suppose to do?"

"After a while, her fangs were supposed to pop out on their own. It's a little funny to see their shocked faces, but I forgot she doesn't have fangs," Po answered.

"I'm guessing this is stuff you learned from your studies?" Po nodded. "Interesting. Why haven't you done this stuff sooner?"

"I felt like I would be taking advantage of people if I did that all the time," Po explained. Tigress smirked at him mischievously. "What?" Tigress scooted closer to Po.

"So, what did you learn about tigers?" She asked. Po nervously chuckled.

"Well, um... I learned...things," Po replied.

"What things," Tigress asked almost seductively.

"Um...Tigress?"

"Yesss," Tigress replied.

"Are you playing with me?" Po asked.

"Am I?" Tigress teased. Just then, Maz came into the kitchen. Tigress backed off on her playfulness. She still smirked at Po's shocked face. "What's the matter, Maz?" Maz looked at her. "Yeah, I know it's a repetitive question."

"Lillia's just being very... stubborn," Maz replied, frustrated. "I asked her why she wouldn't talk to me and her reply was a throwing star thrown near me."

"You-"

"Have to be patient with her?" Maz finished. "Yeah, that's beginning to become a bit of an issue." Maz sighed. "What am I going to do? I can't get along with her if she doesn't open up."

"She hasn't opened up with us either," Po said, coming into the conversation.

"She's more open with you than me," Maz replied. "Why did she sign up for this thing if she didn't want to do it?"

"Hehe, yeah, good question," Po chuckled nervously. Tigress rolled her eyes as she remembered it being Po who did it. "Don't worry, I'm almost positive that she'll warm up to you."

"Almost?"

"I can not guarantee anything," Po said dramatically. Maz sighed. Just then, Crane came to eat.

"Hey guys," Crane came in. Po wiggled his eyebrows at Tigress. She rolled her eyes.

"No," Tigress said to Po. Po's face made a pout as Crane sat next to Maz. Maz gazed at Crane for quite some time before Tigress or Po noticed.

"Um...Maz? Is there something wrong?" Po asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothing," Maz shook his head. Po shrugged it off.

"So, Crane have you talked with Lillia?"

"Yeah, she's really interesting. A little... blunt, though," Crane said truthfully.

"Yeah, she tends to do that," Tigress replied. Po's mischievous smile came back.

"Hey, Crane? Can you scratch right about here at the back of your neck?" Po asked. And Crane did.

"HONK!" Crane shouted. As he did that, several feathers came off of him.

"Po!" Tigress sternly said to a laughing panda, "I said no."

"Oh come on, you have to admit that was funny," Po said. "Sorry to do that to you, Crane."

"What exactly did you do?" Crane asked, trying to figure out why he just did that.

"Nothing, just something I learned," Po cheekily said. Tigress punched him in the arm. "OW!"

"You were right when you said you would be taking advantage of people," Tigress muttered.

"Hey, I said I was sorry," Po replied. The three saw Maz picking up a feather from Crane. He seemed to examine it closely. "Um, Maz? Why are you looking at Crane's feathers?"

"No reason," Maz said. He stood up and left to go to his room with Crane's feather in hand.

"You found that strange too, right?" Po asked. Tigress and Crane nodded.

About a week afterward, Po was with Maz training him. As usual Tigress and Lillia were standing by the side. "Now, for gorillas, they are a whole different thing. You mainly have to jump into the air and kick them in the face," Po simplified.

"Well, this makes me wonder why I trained all these years for Kung Fu when I could just learn from Po," Tigress whispered to Lillia.

"Now, let's see you jump," Po instructed. Maz jumped about three feet. Po shook his head. "Try again, but higher." Po soon realized that Maz could jump that high but didn't seem to understand why. "Listen, in order for the move to work you have to jump high." Then Po demonstrated by doing a high jumping kick. Maz was astonished.

"Why would I have to jump that high?" Maz finally asked. This confused everyone in the room.

"Maz, have you seen a gorilla? They're huge," Po explained as Lillia and Tigress came up to them.

"Oh," Maz simply said. "I wouldn't know."

"You've... never seen a gorilla?" Tigress asked.

"No, I've been... sheltered most of the time. I don't know what gorillas look like. I mean, I've seen pictures of gorillas but I've never seen them in person," Maz explained.

"Um...Maz. You didn't know what cranes look like until you saw Crane, did you? That's why you were so interested in his feathers," Po asked. Maz nodded.

"I... practically don't know anything outside of the palace," Maz confessed.

"Wait, nothing?" Lillia said finally speaking to him.

"Basically. I mean, I didn't even know that the Gong-Go Warrior was a woman or a lamb. I knew the title was named after Gong-Go, but that's it. Other than lions, ducks, and jackals, I don't know what other species look like."

"Wait a minute," Tigress paused. "That means you don't know Lillia's past, right?" Maz nodded.

"All I know is that the lions did something bad to her. That's it. I don't even know what they did. I've been sheltered from the world and I know almost nothing of it. Before I came here, I never knew what a panda, tiger, crane, monkey, or- whatever Master Shifu is, looked like."

"He's a red panda," Po explained. Maz seemed very confused. How could Po be a panda and Shifu be a red panda and they look completely different? He didn't know they were different species. "Wow, you really don't know anything outside the palace. Why?"

"The people protecting me made sure I didn't have any contact with the outside world. That's why I was so excited to train with you guys because I knew that I would get to see other people and places."

"Why don't you get a head start on your political training? We're done for the day," Po said. Maz went off to the Hall of Heroes.

"He...doesn't even know," Lillia said, questioning herself.

"That's why. He doesn't know what the lions did to you," Po said.

"I thought all the lions knew," Lillia whispered.

"Apparently not him," Tigress said. Just then, Zeng came in to tell the others about bandits stealing the metal shops again. "Come on, Po. Let's go. Are you coming, Lillia?"

"You guys go without me. I need to do something important," Lillia replied. As they went away, Lillia stood there, thinking about what Maz said. "He doesn't even know. But how" She said to herself. "That means, he honestly doesn't know what happened to me. He really is innocent." Lillia shook her head. "He's a lion Lillia. They're all the same. Just because one doesn't know about your past doesn't mean he isn't like the other lions." Lillia paused for a moment. "But I can't accuse him of something he doesn't even know about. It's not right." Lillia groaned and shook her head again. "He's. A. Lion. They are all the same. There's nothing different about him." Then she remembered Gong-Go's principle saying: Nothing is as it seems. Maybe Po was right. Gong-Go was different than the lions that killed her parents. And maybe Maz wasn't like the other lions. Heck, maybe they had some similarities. Lillia shook her head and laughed. "I wouldn't go that far," She muttered to herself. "He and I are nothing alike."

Continued...