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She came out of the forest. There it stood, majestic and poised. Gleaming in the sun with its jade hue. She carried her walking staff with her as she descended into the village beneath the temple's mountain. She didn't need the staff, but it was useful with the bandits she encountered. The rustling music of busy traffic entered her ears while walking through the village. Familiar alleyways and crossroads were either newly paved or majorly renovated. But the aged faces on the geese, pigs, bunnies, and goats reminded her where she was.

Some things didn't change. Children still ran in the streets without a care in the world. Vendors still shouted out their wears. Sniffing the air, she was surprised to notice the deliciousness hanging in the air.

He was still here? She couldn't believe it. But then again, the savory maker wasn't that old when she left. Ten years changed a lot.

She wore a cloak. She didn't want any unnecessary attention. She hoped the others would be there before her, but as she neared the towering mountain, she felt a secret burden.

Had he changed? Running the palace took a lot of work, even with the servants' help. In her heart, she knew he wouldn't change, but responsibility, time, and tragedy, all change a person. They either make them grow up, or confine them to their pre-grown stage.

Or both.

She walked up the stairs. The distancing noise of the village gave way to the silent mountain air and the slight chill of the high clouds. Yet the pit of her stomach twisted as she ascended. The grimace and frown on her face grew as she closed the gap between the top and herself. Each step was heavier and heavier until she finally reached the bright red doors.

Had he changed? She couldn't imagine how or in what way. She found herself secretly begging the universe not to let him change. Just then, the doors opened. A familiar old black goose stood in front of her with his hands behind his back. He bowed before the cloaked figure.

"It's an honor to have you back, Master Tigress."

The tiger smiled as she removed her hood. "It's good to see you again, Zeng." The goose smiled. Not worriedly like he usually did, but genuinely and calmly. Tigress made a quick scan of the Jade Palace.

Everything looked like it was in order. "Where is he?"

"He's teaching."

Tigress nodded. Walking behind the goose as he led the way, she glanced all around the Jade Palace mountain area. On the left peak, she saw the barracks, brand new and with two floors. The majestic Palace itself still stood tall and proud. It gleamed more stunningly than ever.

After Kai took it down, Tigress was surprised that its reconstruction produced a finer building than the original.

The two made it to the front doors. "Zeng," Tigress suddenly spoke up. "How... is he?"

"Master Po?"

"Yes... is he... different?"

Zeng gave a smile that bordered on the edge of a smirk. "He still has his action figures and he still uses the word 'awesomeness'." A huge wave of relief washed over Tigress as she nodded. Zeng led the tiger through the large doors and into the familiar Hall of Heroes.

Tigress noticed something different. "Where's the-"

"That urn had to be thrown away," Zeng murmured. "There were just... too many cracks."

"And it was broken too many times," Tigress smirked. Zeng sighed. They headed left where they heard a voice talking.

"And when he grabbed the scroll, he opened it! And found... nothing."

"Whoooaaa!"

There were a couple of voices. Tigress and Zeng rounded the corner and saw a large auditorium where Po was teaching students. Tigress's eyes widened.

Po was standing, leaning on the jade Yin-Yang staff that Master Oogway gave him. He started to grow a beard. Strange, his father didn't have a beard. A small patch of head fur stuck out on the top, messily shaking with each sudden movement Po made. And there were a lot of sudden movements Po made. He wore his father's jade vest with a pair of black pants with patches. The panda dismissed the students and the group of little ones left the room. Almost immediately, Po was swarmed by a group of servants with letters, requests, deeds, and other mayhem.

Tigress frowned a bit. She could imagine that this part of his job was mundane. But after signing and looking at each one, Po gave a long sigh and straightened up. Tigress didn't expect him to be tall. At least, not taller than his dad.

Po finally saw the two at the entrance. "Tigress!" A big wide smile stretched across his face as he ran towards her with open arms. For a moment, Tigress tried to withdraw, but Po was too quick and snatched her up in a hug. He twirled around, careful not to squish her, but excited nonetheless. "Oooh I've missed you so much."

"AH! I've missed you too, Po," Tigress cried out, suffering a bit of whiplash. Po gently put her down.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm just glad that you and the others made it."

"Others?"

"Yeah, they're over at the barracks. I'm glad you're here to see the Jade Palace. We redid everything."

"I can tell," Tigress smiled.

"That will be all, Zeng. Thank you for your work," Po said with surprising seriousness. Zeng nodded and left. "So," Po returned to a peppery tone. "How are you? You look great!"

"I look older is what you mean."

"What?! No, you look like you haven't aged a bit." The panda wasn't exaggerating. Tigress's form, figure, and poise didn't diminish in the slightest. There were maybe a few lines underneath her eyes from times of exhaustion, but no one could find anything abnormal in her.

If anything, the abnormal thing about her was that her smile seemed to be more easily attached to her face. Not that anyone was complaining, especially not Po.

"Thank you, Po," Tigress replied with a smile. She gently touched the jade vest. "Is your dad-"

"Oh! He's fine. He gave it to me because he didn't want me to freeze up here. I told him I was used to it."

"But you do go bareback a lot."

Po shrugged, "Come on, let's find the others." Tigress nodded, though she walked slower to have more alone time with him.

Po didn't seem to mind. "How's the master thing going for you?" Po asked.

"It's going well. My students seem to learn well. I've had a few struggles, but nothing that is... catastrophic. What about you?"

"Huh, I feel like I only have catastrophe around me," Po muttered. "Seven traitors, two good students turned bad back to good, and two battles."

Tigress frowned, "That... must be a lot for you."

"It is," Po sighed, "But someone has to do it."

"What about Master Shifu?"

"He can help sometimes, but he's not always the best in these situations. And I've just accepted that this is the burden of being the Dragon Warrior. It has its perks... I guess."

"You guess?" Tigress asked.

"Other than teaching, telling people stories, and getting to meet awesome people and places, the Dragon Warrior title is... a lot."

"I can tell."

"You can?"

"After you taught, I saw you multitasking with the duties. For someone who's such a free spirit, I can imagine that's hard for you."

"Oh, actually, that's the easier part," Po replied, smiling. "Yeah I thought it was boring at first, but with the stress of 'oh my gosh, what's the next huge disaster I have to deal with.' it's nice to just sign off on a border dispute. And when other masters are here, I get to take things a little easier." Tigress rested her hand on Po's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Po."

"It's alright," Po sighed, "I can't help but envy you guys a bit. You guys can work closer to your students than I can."

"Even then it comes with its challenges. Master Shifu's mistake with Tai Lung is ever present in our minds."

"Yeah, mine too," Po sighed.

Tigress chewed the inside of her mouth a bit. Truthfully, there was another reason why she was here. "Is there... room for another master here? To help you with the duties?"

Po stopped and narrowed his eyes on her. "Why?"

"I was just... wondering," Tigress tilted her head. "I didn't think you'd be so... against it."

Po sighed, "Sorry, I kind of have to be guarded. With the amount of tricks people have done on me... I guess I've become more...careful."

Tigress gave a slow understanding nod. "Well, I was... considering moving here."

"Pardon?"

"My students have been doing well and can now take over the training."

"Wait, what?! That quickly!?"

"I am a good teacher Po," Tigress smirked, crossing her arms.

"I know, I know, I just... hmph," Po huffed, crossing his arms in a childish pout. "How come I'm not that good of a teacher?"

Tigress smiled, "I'm sure you are, Po."

Zeng was right. He was still the same panda.

"So, is there anything that I should know about you? Other than you're showing me up with the teaching department," Po joked.

"Actually, I'm more concerned about you. How is Mr. Ping?" Tigress asked. Po's face changed. He gave a long sigh. Tigress's eyes widened. That couldn't be. She smelled the noodles in the village.

"He's... okay. I guess. His age is starting to get to him and I'm really worried about it. Li Shan has been helping with the shop, but there's only so much he can do," Po sighed, shivering. Tigress felt the shiver herself. It was unusual for Po to talk like this; even calling his panda dad by name.

"You're scared?"

"Yeah," Po replied. "I know things happen it's just... I didn't think things would get like this so fast."

Tigress tenderly touched the panda's arm. "I'm sorry, Po."

Po gave a brave smile, but the sadness still clung to his mouth. Tigress let Po go ahead of her for a moment. His back was rounded a bit more like his head was heavy on his shoulders and he was bending over in the slightest, much like Shifu would when he had trouble walking.

"Po!" She called rather loudly.

"Uhhh yeah, Tigress? No need to shout I'm right here."

"Sorry, it's just... you never answered my question. About the unoccupied room for other masters."

Po looked back and smiled a bit. "Let's meet up with the others before we talk about stuff like that, m'kay?" Tigress slowly nodded. They made it to the barracks. The smell of food wafted Tigress's nose as a familiar laughter rang in her ear. Some deep-seated annoyance made her growl. "Are you okay?"

"Nothing, I'm just... remembering how much Monkey's laugh irritated me."

"Heh, old habits die hardest," Po chuckled. They rounded the corner to a kitchen full of familiar aged faces.

Viper had grown in length and subtle beauty. "Tigress! It's so good to see you." And for some reason, her voice sounded more melodic than normal. Viper slithered into Tigress's arms and hugged her friend while a smiling bird came up next. Crane's head donned a new hat and the bird's nervous awkward side-ways hug still brought a smile to the tiger's face.

Then the annoying duo. Monkey and Mantis. Surprisingly, Monkey had a maroon vest with a white flower pattern with black pants.

"It's good to see you again, Master Tigress," Monkey replied, bowing. The bow took her off-guard. Monkey's tone, attitude, and even vocabulary were different. Tigress cautiously bowed only to shoot back up. She dodged a pie flung at her with the help of a small bug. "Dang it! So close!"

"Monkey, Mantis. Enough with the pranks," Viper said.

"I've never ONCE gotten Tigress. But I'll get her one day," Monkey muttered, sitting back in his seat.

Po sighed, looking at the wall with pie batter splattered all over it. "I'll get Zeng to clean that up."

"It's nice to see that you two haven't changed," Tigress grumbled as she sat down next to Viper. "I would ask how you two are doing, but knowing you, you're still up to your nonsense."

"Oh don't act like you're so high and mighty, Tigress," Mantis grumbled back. "You know we keep you on your toes more than anyone else."

Tigress allowed herself a sideways smirk. As they talked a bit with each other, the tiger glanced at Po sadly stirring the pot for them. "So, how's the teaching for everyone?" Crane asked.

"Great! Although me and Mantis have some people who take us a little too seriously," Monkey replied.

"Isn't that what you're supposed to be doing?" Viper asked.

"Hey, Master Oogway didn't take himself seriously."

"And yet your unpredictability is only second to Po's," Tigress smirked. Monkey huffed and crossed his arms at the laughing table. "What about you, Crane?"

"Not bad really," Crane nervously chuckled. Viper and Tigress glanced at each other and narrowed their eyes on the bird. "W-W-What?"

"You're nervous."

"I'm always nervous."

"No, no, this time you're love nervous," Viper replied.

Crane blinked a couple of times. "Love... nervous?"

"Anytime you're love nervous, you're short with your speech, you try your best not to say anything, and when people put pressure on you, you stutter," Viper rattled off. Tigress nodded in agreement.

"Wait, is that true?" Crane asked Monkey and Mantis.

"Oh yeah, we've known since forever," Monkey chuckled with a smirk. "So who's the lucky lady?"

Crane's eyes darted left and right. The game was up. He groaned, "I didn't want to say anything. Ugh, alright. I've been seeing... Mei Ling."

"That instructor that got you started all those years ago?" Viper asked. Crane nodded. The snake tilted her head. "Isn't she a bit... old for you?"

"Viper!"

"I'm just saying!" Viper defensively replied.

"No, she's the same age as me," Crane muttered.

"That doesn't NOT mean she's old."

"Monkey!"

Monkey and Mantis laughed while Viper and Tigress held their smirk over the groaning and grumbling Crane.

Tigress's eyes caught Po's sad stare again. She walked over to him while the others were talking. "Po?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you call me?"

"No, but... are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Po replied. "I just... wish I could enjoy this whole thing a little more."

"What's preventing you?" Tigress asked.

"Being Dragon Warrior," Po sighed.

"Which brings me back to my previous question." Tigress stopped his hand from stirring the pot. "Is there room for another master to be here?"

"Like Mantis and Monkey? Yeah, sure, but why?"

Tigress smiled, "I've missed the Valley of Peace and everything in it. More importantly, I've missed you and the village. And I want to help you."

"Tigress, I-"

"Please?"

Po pursed his lips and tried his best not to look at Tigress's calm welcoming smile. It was small though it had so much heart and soul that the panda felt his own stubbornness melt under it. "Fine! Fine, ugh. I hate it when you do that?"

"Do what?" Tigress smirked a bit.

"That!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tigress replied. Po shook his head but smiled. He turned and focused back on the conversation.

"Alright, now who's hungry for food?"

"ME!" The whole table exclaimed. Po laughed.

Tigress watched the panda laugh with her own hidden smile. That panda's laugh and smile hadn't really shown its face since she got here. It was nice to see it back.

The End