The Old Wife

"What was that last one?!" Demi asked.

"My attempt at writing horror. Not really the best at it," I chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, try to put less tragedy and more jump scare next time. Gosh my heart," Demi grumbled.

*****FF*****

Shifu lightly chewed on his finger, holding his master's staff behind him. "Master Shifu, are you okay?" Viper asked.

"No, I'm worried. The new councilman is supposed to be here and Po is nowhere to be seen. Where is that panda?" Shifu grumbled. He paced around in front of the Hall of Heroes, glaring at the stone ground. "Any sign of the procession?" He asked Monkey.

"No," The simian said, looking through a telescope. "But I think I see Po! Wait, no. Oh no."

"What's wrong?" Tigress asked.

"Do you want the bad news or the worse news?"

Shifu and Tigress rose their eyebrows. "Don't play games, Monkey. What is it?"

"Well, the bad news is that the councilman's procession is coming up the mountain."

"What's the worse news?" Shifu asked.

"Po is also coming up the mountain... he's just not using the stairs."

Everyone's eyes dropped out of their sockets. "Please tell me it doesn't involve fireworks," Shifu pleaded.

Monkey smiled uneasily. Shifu groaned and turned to the rest of the Furious Five. "Make sure that the procession doesn't notice anything... 'Po' in nature."

"You want us to cover the entire Jade Palace in a big tarp then?" Mantis said. Shifu groaned.

"We'll meet up with the procession first," Tigress said. "And hopefully deal with Po later."

Shifu nodded as they ran down the steps to the red courtyard gates. Two geese opened the doors and loudly announced their master through declarations. "Presenting, the councilman of the Emperor, Master Zhao and his daughter Lady Chen Ming!" Two gray wolves dressed in royal red walked through the gates with poise and ease. The councilman had a scar on his left cheek while everything but his head was covered in the royal red robe.

His daughter was the same, though she had a purple flowing silk robe with a golden flower pattern. Very stylish and expensive. The Furious Five and Master Shifu bowed. "It is an honor to meet you, Master Zhao," Shifu replied.

The wolf bowed as well. "It is an honor to meet you, Masters of the Jade Palace. We have come to meet you and the Dragon Warrior. We've heard many tales of his adventures and conquests."

Shifu hid his nervous smile, clearing his throat. "Yes, Uh... The Dragon Warrior will be here in a minute."

"Is he away?" Zhao asked in a booming voice.

"He should be coming up the mountain any moment."

"When shall we see him?"

Just then, a loud racket thundered and sparkled up the mountain and something flew over their heads with tremendous speed. It crashed right into the steps leading to the Hall of Heroes and something black and white tumbled down and flopped right into the courtyard with a great squishy thud.

"That's him," Shifu groaned.

"Ooof, sorry I'm late guys," Po murmured. "I had to deal with some bandits at the last minute." The panda dusted himself off and saw the glares resting on him. "Ooh I... came at the wrong time, didn't I?"

"You came up the wrong way!" Shifu hissed.

"Sorry, sorry."

Shifu sighed with a deep pit of regret boiling in his stomach. "Master Zhao, Lady Chen Ming. This is-"

"Po?"

Po and everyone's heads turned up at the female wolf that spoke. Everyone saw the shocked faces of the two wolves. "Uh... Do I know you?" Po asked, tilting his head.

The female wolf narrowed her eyes while her father chuckled. "I would hope you knew me from afar, Sugar dumpling."

Po's eyes shot open. "Bai Lin!" The wolf ran up to Po and jumped into his arms while the panda lifted her up and twirled her around. "Oohh it's soo good to see you." He planted a kiss on her forehead while the female wolf kissed his cheek. Po hugged her again. "It's so good to see you again."

"Ah! Easy Po, my back is frail," Bai Lin laughed.

Po looked up and saw the male wolf. "Mr. Chang! You're the councilman?!"

The big gray male wolf smiled. "It took a long while, but we managed to get here."

"That's awesome!" Po ran over to the wolf and hugged him tightly, not caring he was wrinkling the robe. "Oh my goodness! Your wife. How is your wife?"

"Couldn't make the trip but she's safe and sound. Last of my brother-in-law's influence."

"That's great! Oh man, that's awesome!" Po bounced up and down. "I'm sorry, it's just... I never thought I'd ever see you two!"

"We didn't think you'd be Dragon Warrior," Bai Lin smirked.

Po nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Hehe, a lot has happened since you guys-"

"Excuse me," Viper called over the voices of excitement. "I... really hate to interrupt, but we are completely lost here." The two wolves and Po saw the Furious Five and Shifu all had slackened jaws and wide eyes.

"Oh, right, right," Po chuckled, wrapping his arms around the wolves. "Everyone, this is... wait, you changed your names? Why?"

"They asked if we could change our names when I got the councilman position," Chang shrugged. "So I took it."

"But if your brother-"

"Po," Shifu interrupted. "Could you please explain how you know the councilman and his daughter?"

"Oh! Right, right," Po took a deep breath to calm his excitement. "Everyone, this is... what are your names again?"

"Chen Ming," The female wolf said slowly, "And Master Zhao."

"Right, right!" Po smiled, "But I know them as Bai Lin and Mr. Chang."

"And... how do you know them?" Tigress asked.

"Oh, Bai Lin's my wife."

"WHAT?!" The Furious Five and Shifu screamed.

Bai Lin facepalmed. "Po, stop doing that."

"Hehe, sorry. It's fun," Po rubbed the back of his head.

"So... you're not his... wife?" Shifu asked.

"No, I'm his widow," Bai Lin explained.

The confusion on the Furious Five's and Shifu's faces couldn't be described.

"I have more questions than answers," Crane spoke up, squeezing his head to try and make sense of everything.

"Trust me, guys," Po chuckled, "You wouldn't believe this story. You see it-"

"Wait don't tell us!" Viper interrupted.

"Uhh... Viper?" Shifu questioned.

Viper grinned, looking at a certain tiger. "Alright, Tigress? You're going to play the Story Game for us."

"Right now?" Tigress groaned, rubbing her head, "This is going to be hard."

"Story Game?" Po asked.

"Any time you come in with bits or pieces of a story," Viper explained, "It's fun to try and guess what the actual story is. And YOU give PLENTY of opportunities for this. Tigress is the best at it"

Tigress sighed for a moment, thoughtfully pointing at the gray wolves. "I'm... guessing that you know Po because you were indebted to some evil relative in charge of a gang and Po, while in the area for something involving his dad, agreed to marry your daughter because of that. Then he faked his death for you two to get out of that situation and put the evil relative in prison?"

The wolves looked at each other. "That's... pretty much it."

"Aww man!" Monkey grumbled. "I keep losing money." He threw a pouch of yuan to a proudly smirking Tigress.

Bai Lin rose her eyebrow. "How close are you all to Po?"

"Close enough to know the kind of mass chaos that he regularly gets into," Crane smiled, making the panda chuckle bashfully.

Shifu rubbed a stress vein forming on his forehead. "Needless to say, I appreciate you coming to the Jade Palace. Since you know Po, I'll let him do the tour... with Tigress as a supervisor."

"What? Oh, come on! I don't need to be babysat, Master Shifu."

"Yes, you do," Everyone said at the same time.

Po crossed his arms and pouted. Bai Lin smiled and rested a hand on his arm, making him sigh. "Alright, alright. I'll give them the grand tour. Come on guys! You should really see the Hall of Heroes! It's the best place on the whole mountain."

"I'm guessing he thinks everything on the mountain is the best on the whole mountain?" Bai Lin whispered to Tigress.

"Yes, he does," She smirked. The two females chuckled while Po gave a grand tour to Bai Lin's dad. "I must ask, Lady Chen- Uhh I mean-"

"Just Bai Lin will do. Lady Chen Ming is more for the formalities," Bai Lin said.

"What was it like to be married to Po?"

The wolf rose her eyebrow. "Why are you curious about that? He's the same inside as out."

"I just... don't know."

"You live with him," Bai Lin pointed out. "That's not much different from marriage."

"And yet it is."

Bai Lin shrugged. "My mom's brother controlled much of the village we lived in, and he pressured me to marry who he wanted. For profit. Po visited the area for a time, and we turned out to be good friends."

"Just friends?" Tigress asked.

"Yes... just friends... why?" Bai Lin narrowed her eyes.

"Just... trying to understand. Continue."

"Well, my uncle didn't like this and tried to break us up. What he didn't expect was Po's plan to set him up. Since he talked so much about breaking us up, it was natural that everyone thought he 'killed' Po in a kitchen fire."

"Very believable."

"It caused such an outrage that people contacted the Emperor's councilman and my mom's brother was put in prison. Of course, that only put suspicion on the councilman since my uncle's actions had been going on for so long. So the councilman was deposed and... here we are."

"I see," Tigress replied.

"To answer your question," Bai Lin continued. "I don't think it was bad. I took a lot of time to adjust to his mannerism and behavior, but he has a good heart and I like him for that."

The wolf's eyes smiled at Po's charismatic retelling of each artifact of the Hall of Heroes. While the attendees looked bored out of their minds, Mr. Chang smiled and laughed as the panda retold each story with the same energy as before.

"Would you ever seriously marry him? You looked quite... close when you first saw him."

"Oh no, no," Bai Lin giggled. "That was just for old times' sake. I missed him. A lot. At least with my father's new job, I'll be able to see him more often."

"I... I see," Tigress replied.

"Master Tigress? Is everything alright? You seem... troubled," Bai Lin pointed out. Tigress shook her head and gave a small bow.

"Not at all. I'm just... surprised at how different Po's life used to be."

"Po is full of surprises," Bai Lin smiled as she joined her father and heard Po's amazing stories.

Tigress smiled at the panda's large gestures and ecstatic storytelling. "I don't doubt that."

The End