Chapter Six: The Finest Tea in the Province

Oblivious to the violence that had just taken place outside, the tiger and panda masters headed ever further into the Xiangyang palace. It was near-silent as they walked, despite the quickening pace of the rain outside. They had been proceeding through the halls for some time now, and Tigress couldn't help but suspect the palace servant - a pig of some kind - was taking the long route to the lord's throne room.

Just as she was about to say something, the three of them rounded a final corner, bringing a set of heavy carved bronze doors into view; they swung open just as the two masters passed through the frame. Po could no longer feel the presence of the servant with them, and turned around to find the strange individual had departed.

Odd.

They started walking forward, finding that the surrounding room was rather large, with a high ceiling to match. Impressively, it took only a few torches to adequately light the space, certainly a testament to the skill of its architect. Along the main promenade of the throne room stood many pedestals and displays, immediately reminding the masters of the Jade Palace; it was apparent this lord was something of a collector. As Po openly ogled these lavish decorations and relics, Tigress had her gaze fixated on the ibex that was standing near the base of the elevated throne and flanked by several female attendants.

He stood there patiently, arms folded behind him. Though the lord's bearing surrendered nothing, the tiger looked at him with unease; gradually she assumed it was just her naturally over-cautious disposition making her weary.

"Greetings." he said at last. "It's been ages since I've had the honor of hosting masters of Kung Fu."

The panda and tiger bowed to the noble as courtesy demanded. Rising from the gesture, they took note of the ibex's thin physique, and how the tufts of his chin fur had been elegantly styled into a beard.

"Tell me, what brings you to my city?"

"I believe you already know." Tigress postured, holding up the piece of fabric she'd won off the Qi-dan king.

Further asserting her intentions, the tiger dropped the satchel of payment at the lord's feet; the weighty sound it made hitting the floor was proof enough of the considerable value in coinage it contained. While Po thought she may have acted a bit bluntly, he showed support for this forwardness, arms crossed; it had been a long journey, after all. The ibex glanced at them with a hint of disappointment, realizing any further stalling would be for naught.

"Ah, yes - the dagger..."

Po nodded.

"So be it, I will go fetch it at once. But for now, please indulge in my hospitality - this is the finest tea in the province."

He motioned to his attendants, who presented the two with cups of tea. Once their offering was accepted, the female servants bowed and returned to their places near the throne, the lord having since paced out of the room with a regal stride.

While the feline eyed the drink quizzically, the panda gave it an eager sip, his eyes dilating as soon as the cup met his lips.

"Wow… that's amazing - and I don't even drink tea!" Po said as he started ambitiously downing the rest of the liquid.

Tigress usually only drank what she prepared herself, but she was unwilling to dishonor a lord of China by denying his hospitality. With a last disapproving glance at Po's lack of finesse and etiquette, she gave the drink the very smallest of sips.

Wow… Po wasn't lying. This is the best tea I've ever tasted.

Minutes passed, and they stood there drinking all the while. As the length of time drew on and the teacups were long-since emptied, the lord had suspiciously still not returned. But time, unfortunately, was a notion that was increasingly beyond their consciousness. The two masters had begun to feel something - a twinge of a feeling - creeping up, gradually overtaking their senses.

The two didn't even notice as the servants exited silently out of the room with the payment. Before long, Po had propped himself against a nearby column, feeling even more elated and carefree than usual. To him, it was a great feeling… nothing really mattered anymore. Any thought of the mission had completely left his mind, and he was glad to see it gone. For several minutes, he was entirely content to just sit there with a big stupid grin on his face; anyone and anything else be damned.

That was going greatly until a porcelain tea cup shattered against the column above his head - it jolted him violently from his dream-like state. He looked over, wide-eyed, to see Tigress gazing back at him. Po could tell immediately that she was not herself. The usually-tense form of the tiger was now quite relaxed, and she wasn't holding herself up straight as she was typically wont to do. Instead, her arms dangled forward slightly and her whole body slumped downwards. Po found it unsettling to see her list side to side, struggling mightily to keep her balance.

Tigress had felt the unusual feeling come over her after finishing the drink, but she hadn't been truly concerned until she had closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the scene around her had appeared vastly different, as if she had blacked out for several minutes. She had instantly looked down to the teacup in her paw with an understanding rage, and chucked it aimlessly; and had missed Po by mere inches.

Po got up to walk over to her but only managed about two steps before face-planting into the floor, finding himself to be in a similarly incapacitated state. He did his best to right himself, and succeeded after an extended effort.

"That was some crazy tea, huh?"

"Po, we've clearly been drugged." she deadpanned, opposing the digits of her paw and watching her reaction time slow to a useless degree.

"Yeah, I know… but it feels kind of good though."

Strangely enough, the tiger master smiled at this. Like Po, Tigress was finding that with each passing second, she was caring less and less about anything.

So sleepy... must have been some kind of sedative; I'm such a fool for drinking that shit...

The tiger stumbled slightly, accidentally bumping into the panda momentarily. His form seemed blurry to her vision, stretched and distorted impossibly as if time seemed to slow.

"Woah..." she mumbled.

Sedatives don't do that...

Then it happened again. She blinked, but when opening her eyes, found time to have passed without her cognizance once more. Even more alarming, words were now coming out of her mouth that she couldn't remember processing beforehand.

"I still can't believe I broke two of that guy's limbs at the same time earlier... it felt so good! Do you know how long I've wanted to use that move?" she blurted out, looking at her own paws excitedly.

"I wish I could have fought him. It would have been an honor to have my butt kicked by a legend like Temutai." Po responded as he was busy trying to scratch his back against a nearby armor display.

"Oh, you think you would lose? Please!" she huffed.

"What?"

"It's you we're talking about, Po. You'd just absorb all his hits like they were nothing, and defeat him with whatever crazy idea you happen to pull out of your ass."

Po laughed uncontrollably; he'd never heard Tigress swear out loud before.

At that moment, Tigress blacked out for a third time, and found that Po was asking her a question when she returned to reality. The panda stumbled about oddly; she would've assumed he'd been drinking since dawn had she not known better.

"Tigress, do you remember the battle where we first used the Double-Death Strike?"

Again, she started to speak without really thinking.

"You mean that time we were outnumbered twenty-to-one by those bandits from Xuchang? That was insane!"

Po was so shocked by her outburst that it almost made him snap back to reality.

Wow… Tigress sounds a lot like me when she's been drugged out of her mind.

"Fools never knew what hit them!"

In her delusional euphoria, Tigress excitedly punched Po with her completely unrestricted strength and sent him flying backwards. He launched right into a nearby column and bounced off it, ricocheting right back into the tiger, causing them to both fall to the ground. They each found themselves unable to get up, so they remained on the floor, experiencing temporary bouts of paralysis. Po was upset by his body's unresponsiveness, but Tigress was just smiling at the ceiling obliviously.

"You know what, panda? You're a great friend." she declared randomly, placing a paw on his shoulder. "I've never had any friends my entire life… though it's probably what I deserve. I understand principles, not people."

"Bah, that's not true." Po was starting to slur his speech a little. "What about that stuff you said back in Gongmen… 'The hardcore do understand' and all that?"

"No, that's just it, Po. That's only you." She shook her head to stay awake, her eyelids perpetually half-closed. "You're the only person I've ever confided in like that."

"Why me, then?" Po questioned, also looking ready to sleep, but somehow still managing to produce coherent speech.

"Because-"

Her body was temporarily gripped by a flinching seizure, interrupting the stride of her speaking. Her grimace seemed to signify it hadn't felt particularly good, but she began speaking again as if nothing had transpired.

"I realized how much we have in common. I would've thought you'd be the last person I would relate to... seeing as how you dropped face-first into a title I spent twenty years of my life trying to achieve."

Po looked away guiltily, as even in this state he couldn't bear to face her with the thought of this. It was something he had tried to suppress long ago. He knew from the first moment what it had meant to her when Oogway had selected him to be the Dragon Warrior; it was soul-crushing. That very night he wanted to try to talk the crazy old tortoise into making things right by giving the title to someone who'd undoubtedly been worthy of it.

His eyes shifted to the tiger at his side who now looked drowsy, but also a little sad. Oogway had convinced him to remain resolute, to never give up; for in a way, the life of an esteemed Kung Fu warrior was his dream just as much as it was hers. But how could he ever be truly happy living his dream when he knew the cost was crushing someone else's? He couldn't hope to ever truly reconcile that fact.

The pleasant feeling from before was now gone. The air Po breathed grew stale, his stomach turned, the room seemed to spin. Just moving his head slightly ignited a fire within his skull, a potent toxin coursing through his veins.

"Tigress, you think we're going to die from this?"

The feline laughed garishly as he posed the question, but grew quiet just as quickly.

"Maybe."

Her paradox tone of casual seriousness was fitting, their predicament meandering toward calamity.

The tiger rolled to her side away from the panda, taking in the palace throne room from the low sideways angle of her vision. The present moment and Tigress' thoughts started to meld together. Her whole body ached. A deafening fatigue continued to creep over her muscles, her breathing slowing.

Is this what death feels like?

Behind her, Po was now out cold, his body being jolted by intermittent convulsions as if in a particularly active dream. Tigress would have been afraid, but her mind was too far gone... pain manifested itself as a dulled inconvenience.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could make out blurred shapes - outlines of people coming closer. She tried to move her neck to see who it might be, but her muscles refused to comply. There was just a sound - the tapping of sharp claws against a hard stone floor; and for a brief instant she distinctly made out the thick spotted tail of a snow leopard before her.

Something constricted around the tiger's ankle, and she knew her exanimate body was being dragged someplace. But where she was being taken would remain a mystery, as twilight closed in around her vision, and all became darkness.


Author's Notes:

- So now things start to get chaotic... :3

- The title will look familiar to you probably because of Shen's "This is the finest silk in the province!" line in the second movie (love that whole scene)

- Thanks for reading! Until next time!