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Chapter Text

Kung Fu Panda : A Whole New World.

Geiranger fjord, Norway - June 12th

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Three hours ago.

The forest and its inhabitants were nervous, as if an undefined terror was rapidly approaching. A doom of nature, a hurricane, an earthquake, a tsunami like such natural forces of destruction are always in the minds of such creatures, whose instincts still warn them with a dreading sense of foreboding.

Still, no such thing came that day. The high rock, a small mountain on its own located on the high side of the massive cliffs of the great fjord in Norway –The Geiranger Fjord- bathed in the nice warm sun which shone brightly in June. For nature, it was full summer already. The full event that happened there was so rare no animal sense so keen, or human technology so precise, could have anticipated what would happen on that ancient high stone.

Summer holidays had not yet begun, so it was a lone figure of a backpacker who walked down the trail in the late morning, heavily loaded. He halted near the rock, put his heavy gear down for a small break and sat down, looking wistfully at the high rock while quenching his thirst with some water. After some contemplation he apparently decided to deviate from his planned path and moved up for a climb to the top.

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Thirty minutes ago.

It wasn't necessarily a very high top. It couldn't even be described as a mountain, really. It was as the name said : a very high rock, overgrown in time with grass and trees. The side of the fjord was a steep cliff that towered easily five hundred feet higher above the walls of the fjord itself.

The backpacker took things easy, not in a hurry at all, but instead taking his time and pausing here and there, as if he tried to memorize it and compare it to earlier memories, when he'd been here in a younger age. Finally, he reached to top and with some last heavy steps after the climb he let out a whistle of admiration to the magnificent viewpoint he stood on.

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Three minutes ago.

Sitting content with his rest and meal for the midday, the man was clearly enjoying his bit of rest in the pleasant summer sun, away from all thoughts of stress and usual problems. What could go wrong? He was alone, the sun was shining, he had a beautiful view, the birds were whi- they weren't. Where were the birds and why were they silent? That wasn't normal. He thought for a moment but then shrugged his shoulders, deciding it wasn't worth a concern and thus disruption of his rather excellent midday rest. Nothing would disrupt his current relaxedness, Murphy's law be damned. Absolutely fucking nothing could.

Until an earsplitting crack resounded over the land.

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Thirty seconds ago.

A foraging squirrel dropped the piece of tree bark he was inspecting suddenly when his black eyes opened wide in fear, his little ears twitching to decide where the source of the sudden thunderous roars before he sped off. So great was his speed in his fright that a bystander could have sworn it was flying over the ground and through the air, between the trees. The rusty-brown squirrel wasn't alone when all manner of birds, beetles, deer, lynxes and even the worms on the ground tried to join it in its flight to safer grounds.

If one of them had against their instincts in turned around to look, they would have seen that The High Rock was about to be a lot less high. The entire stone structure was about to come down because it was no longer in balance.

A huge section on the side and front in the middle of the rock was gone.

The shrieking of the stone was heard as a thunderstorm of earthquake inducing cracking when the massive topside was slowly tilting over and on the verge of thundering down. The figure on it stood still, not daring to make the slightest shift of weight when the whole thing was perfectly still for a moment in balance.

Then a small rock slipped out from underneath and with its last piece of support gone the plateau tilted further to a dangerous degree before it finally gave up its struggle and fell downwards.

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Three seconds ago.

The small mountain was tumbling down now, taking huge slabs or rock along for the fall with every shattering contact while the entirety of came crashing down.

He was floating. Falling. Hurting.

He was screaming his lungs out, knowing a small hit with every piece of stone during the fall would kill him, and at the end of the fall he would be crushed like a grape beneath thousands of tons of rock.

No chance of survival what's-o-ever. A stray thought of great annoyance caught him, wishing that it had been a normal fall. Then he'd already be at the bottom and his certain death wasn't dragged on by the damn plateau hitting every bloody obstacle it could find.

Adrenaline was rushing through his veins and he was terrified as he continued screaming until something hard hit the back of his head. Dizzy, he felt himself turn in the air while he fell freely now. His groggy mind had nothing better to do than finding it somewhat strange that a freefall between an avalanche of rocks felt like being sucked through a really tight tube.

And that blackness could never be so dark and so bright at the same time.

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Zero. Point.

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And with that, Alexander James Jenssen was gone from the world.

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Now.

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Kung Fu Panda : A Whole New World.

Chapter 1 : Arrival.

He opened his eyes. Blue sky littered with a stray couple of clouds in it greeted him and he saw a pleasant, green lush forest around him while he sat in the middle of strange clearing that must have been a pretty meadow once but was now littered with humongous rocks in strange positions and shapes as if they had fallen from the sky or some higher being in the sky had played darts with them.

Rocks, meadows and green forests sounded good enough like southern Norway, but an annoying in the back of his head had to notice immediately that the vegetation was quite different. Now that he got up decently, he saw a couple of the trees were acacia's and others were linden trees and was that… bamboo? Others, he didn't recognize. Where on earth was he exactly? This certainly wasn't anywhere near the Geiranger… no signs of any fjord landscape that would allow it. He saw no signs of life around him.

He tried to sit up and get a slow walk around which resulted in muttering a turbulent stream of coloured curses while trying to go over what the fuck had happened. 'What the bloody poppycock-fuck' was indeed one of the few reactions that he thought proper in a weird situation such as waking up on a seemingly different continent then the one you seemed to think you'd be on.

This situation, whatever that was going on was bad, very bad. Fairly certain he wasn't hallucinating either. No recognition, nothing in his memories that gave any indication to where he was. He didn't even see his backpack! No gear, no supplies, no maps, no nothing, this was turning out to be a disast-
-There !-

His backpack! Ignoring his strangely stiff feeling muscles he jumped clumsily between more rocks to see his big trusty and quite shapeless comrade. He let out a shaky nervous laugh and uttered some grateful blessings between his lengthy string of curses. Not all was lost!
A quick check revealed a few scratches and dents in the amazingly strong Kevlar backing, both otherwise everything had survived the stone avalanche at first glance…

His head still felt somewhat dazed and fuzzy while he tried to sort his memories. There had been some sort of landslide, a rock formation that he was climbing had started moving and cracking. On the Geiranger rock. It was that sudden crack that caused the whole thing tumbling down. He fell… yes that was it. He remembered falling in the fissure that seemed to have opened beneath him during the whole scene, probably due to the quick way the entire cliff had been reshaped.
But he couldn't have fallen in, right? Because then he would have been dead, without a doubt. Afterwards everything had been black, probably just a rock that hit his head. How his head was not open and bloody was a mystery to him. He must have fallen at least a hundred feet, if not two hundred. By all common sense, he should be a bloody paste, crushed between some rocks right now.

But he was not. He was sitting, with all his gear and even his loose climbing ropes around him in an undeniably different location. There was only one logical explanation, despite it seemingly impossible. He had, somehow, been transported to another place. Like through a portal or a wormhole, even though it sounded too ridiculous to consider.
That, or he had been unconscious for a long while, and someone had brought and dropped him in an entirely different place, with all his gear and left him there. Not bloody likely. No one would do such a useless effort and action. The fact that a small scratch on his arm from yesterday was still the same only confirmed that not much time could have passed. Not for him, at least.

Then, he started sorting his priorities. Even if he started to theorize about wormholes and conspiracy stuff, it wouldn't help him a single sod if he didn't start taking care of a the more practical thingies first. He quickly checked his phone and to his relief it seemed to work alright. There was no connection to speak of though. He selected an option that would warn him with a sound should he get a connection somewhere, put on all his gear once more and took off.

"Okay Alex, you've got this", he thought, "There is gear enough to last a while, so the first thing is look for either shelter or people. Find a high vantage point, and go from there."

He started walking somewhat to the south since that slope went more and more upwards. What first seemed like a big hill revealed to evolve into a smaller mountain. Since he saw no signs of a trail and the parts became rockier with each passing minute he scanned to coming parts and always quickly formed an effective path that took him higher and higher.

He couldn't help but notice how different everything seemed. Difference in air, smells and vegetation and temperature... It was extremely unsettling, to put it mildly.
He watched very closely for the sorts of fauna and flora that could give him more information. He had already encountered 4 kinds of bamboo and saw jasmine too, which gave a decent indication that he might be somewhere in the eastern regions. China? Vietnam? Thailand? It didn't look tropical enough to be Indonesia or anything in those parts, nor was the air humid enough. It was warm, but not unbearably so. So still the northern hemisphere, though he was in a mountainous area – which might explain the temperature by height above sea-level.

The rocky parts took him higher and became misty. Now, the parts became very difficult and risky and it was on times like that a stray thought occurred that I'd have been handy if humans would have evolved from mountain goats. A lot of the time he was actively climbing now between the hazardous rocks. Doable for now, but he feared that those rocks could quickly become solid vertical walls. He began climbing more sideways, trying to advance without having to go to much higher. He guessed he was roughly above five thousand feet now by the slight lack of oxygen in the air and the mist was annoying.

He checked his phone and a separate gps for the tenth time, but no gear with satellite based coordinates did anything useful. Either he was very far away from any point in civilization or they might be malfunctioning due to whatever warped him here. It made sense that a lot of seismic power could mess up his electronic equipment. More sense than not being able to connect with a satellite when he never really had a problem with that before, or so he hoped. It was fortunate indeed he still had his trusty compass with him to keep track of the right direction, given that the sun was completely blocked by the mist.

After another half hour of climbing he arrived at a small plateau, from where a relatively easy passage could lead downwards again. The mist was far less dense here and simply crept through the rocks as miniature clouds and he let out a sighed "wow" at the sight before him.

Right there, at the feet of the round mountain-line lay a big, green valley that was, in a lot of senses, beautiful. For a couple of minutes, he simply looked in appreciation, letting it all sink in. It really was a perfect postcard set-up. "It probably wouldn't even need photoshop afterwards" he mused while taking a quick picture with his smartphone. Good thing he had a miniature battery charger/generator based on solar energy he would be able to charge it again when necessary.

Then he started to observe the valley more carefully with his binoculars. His eyes were keen, but he couldn't exactly see details from a couple of miles away. He did not possess elven eyes, nor could he see any hobbits being taken. What he did see though, were traces of various villages sprayed across the green fields and hills. Several long rice paddies were visible too on one of the opposite mountain flanks, to be repeated on other places. A lot of the ground however seemed to be partly controlled free nature with various hills or bigger rocky outcrops, most of the time covered in forest, both dense and lush.

Something caught his eye as he moved his gaze upwards and he saw parts of a palace of sorts, and small parts of the stairs leading up to it. Alex assumed it was a temple of sorts, but since he had not seen any signs of modern civilization he began to worry and doubt. Maybe he was not just transported to another place on earth. Maybe he was… no longer in his time too? After all, he saw no signs of pollution, modern roads, electricity poles or anything at all! He now really focused his sight on several of the villages, and the houses seemed to be very traditional. No cars, no poles, no roads fit for cars… It diminished the chance that this was just a very poor village lying near a temple for tourists. A place that kept traditional because it was simply more cut-off from the rest of the world perhaps? It was possible, but it would also mean there was no notable city around for at least hundreds of miles, nor anything worth to modern society nearby… A terrifying thought indeed, yet he held hope it was the last option.

He looked around for a moment and then realized that is was relatively quiet. No birds were singing. They hadn't been singing on the Geiranger either, but that was only that day – Here, it felt more unsettling for some strange reason. Come to think of it, he hadn't heard a single normal bird since he was here. No sounds of hundreds of avians or insects that desperately tried to get laid or fed, as if to emphasis he was well and truly lost and alone.
Only the easy and soft sounds of the winds through the grass and the trees. And the sound of water. Water! Always a good direction. Since he could not sense a human or any similar large creature nearby that could tell him more up here, high upon the mountain plateau, he decided to continue and walk or climb down. In the villages he could certainly get some answers, couldn't he?

He descended hesitantly into the valley for another couple of miles until he froze his tracks at what he saw. A road. Not a modern one, rather a broad path. Alexander stepped forward on the side of the road and bent his knees to study some tracks. What he saw confused him.

Several animal prints were through each other, but he recognized paw-prints from both felines and dog-likes. Also, several kinds of hooves, things that looked like pigs, sheep or even antilopes. Gooses were also here, apparently. Most of them were not very surprising, except maybe the paw prints. However, he saw nothing that resembled a human foot. There were shoeprints, but those forms and sizes had nothing to do with humans. Was this a path for cattle? But it didn't look like that, then the path wouldn't have such a variation of tracks… He didn't knew what to make of it all.

There he sat, pondering and thinking, until something suddenly caught his attention : loud, noisy talking and a cart being pulled. He couldn't hear what they were talking about, but he thought he had recognized English.

Praying that he was at least not wrong about the language he stepped backwards, set his backpack behind a thick bush of bamboo, looked around for a moment, and then quickly jumped against tree, upwards, and pushed himself away with his foot to gain more height and turned around in the air to grab a branch from the tree next to it. Pulling himself up, and climbing another three meters higher he positioned himself into a good hiding place while maintaining a good view on the road. Those people could be here any second.

The voices were apparently talking about some trade taxes on export of various clothes and materials that had recently changed. There was also talk of certain 'dragon warrior and the furious five'. "Doesn't sound much like a modern title" he thought. "But many Asian cultures have dragons in them, it makes sense with my earlier suspicions though I don't understand why anyone would have such a title. What is some action hero of sorts?"

Now the figures came up and Alexander looked very curiously. He cautiously peered through the thick leaves. He was lucky he had chosen a very broad and stable spot in the tree, because he almost fell out of it when he saw the scene unfolding and could realize what actually was going on. It was simply ridiculous, dumbfounding, and a whole lot of other things that cannot be accurately described.

He couldn't see any of the humans he had expected to see. Rather, he could see four pigs and two goats. There were three small carts being pulled. Those parts were okay.

The fact that they walked on their hind legs, holding a casual business conversation as if it was completely normal, was most definitely NOT.

They walked on their hind legs. Their hind legs. ON TWO LEGS. They were simply walking like bipedal creatures as if it was nothing, like it was completely normal. The fuck was going on? Was he hallucinating? Was he dreaming? Was he on drugs? How could he see such a ridiculous fairy tale scene right there?

No, he was fairly certain he wasn't any of those things. It was just – how? Was he in a part of the world that was completely unknown and where this thing existed, the origin of so many fantasy concepts? Or was he in a –he gulped- an entirely new world? His following realization made him feel even more dreadful. The pigs and goats had been the ones talking. They were the humans, the people, the intelligent life in this world.

He waited with fearful breath until the most highly unnatural herbivores were gone and climbed down from his tree, picking up his backpack and moving roughly towards the village he had seen, but keeping a good distance with the road. He really didn't want to be seen for now. Who knew what consequences it could have? "Humans", as he thought sullen, "must have a very different role here. Either they are non-existent here, or they are in the role of animals. A bit like 'planet of the apes'. Whatever the case, I can better avoid drawing to much attention until I know more".

Then suddenly it hit him. It reminded him of an animation film he had seen a couple of years ago when he was babysitting some kids. The movie Kung Fu Panda. Animals that talk and are bipedal. Ancient China. Dragon Warrior. Furious Five. Shit.

Shit.

SHIT!

He was in this 'Valley of Peace', in the world of an animation movie. He hadn't really watched a lot back then, he had been busy trying to keep those two kids from destroying the house in their battle with toy dinosaurs. This was bad. Really, really bad. Depressingly bad. Atrocious. This was now a bitter reality. He knew very little of how such a world would even function, but he really doubted it would turn out well for him. Who knows what differences here were, but at least it gave him a rough idea for now. No humans. Great.

Alex stepped quickly without really looking where he went straight into the thicker bushes, distracted by many fearful thoughts and doubts. If anyone saw him the consequences could be severe, to say the least. They'd freak out seeing him, being a weird human after all. Better not to take any chances and stay in wilderness for now, unknown, unfounded, unbothered.

After walking at a fast pace for almost an hour he halted, forcing himself to observe more around him and decide his next movements rather than march and stomp around aimlessly. He could use a rest. He had not had one since he 'arrived' and was still tired and bruised from the whole thing. He looked around not seeing anything except wilderness. He appeared to be in a part of the valley where no one lived or came regularly, since the ground was covered with obstacles a lot, trees were closely to each other with wild rocks placed between them.

Then, suddenly, his eyes fell upon a straighter rock wall from the mountain, because at its bottom, almost hidden by the bushes and other rocks, there was a small waterfall with a rather large opening behind it.

"A cave?" he murmured, wondering. "That's interesting. I need to find some shelter and water".

He slumped towards the spot. A stream that must have had a spring somewhere higher upon the mountainside had waterfall coming from higher in the rock, landing in a broad and calm pool. The pool seemed to be the size of a decent enough swimming pool, before going down in a smaller stream that seemed to run down wild and happy. The water was very clear, showing a few underwater plants. He estimated it would just be a little too deep for him to keep standing in the middle.

The rocks around hid most of the pool from direct sight. The main waterfall came from about twenty five feet higher, and several small streams from the rock joined it. The stone was interesting, looking very dark at some points. He couldn't identify the kind of it. Not that the density of a rock really mattered at this point, anyway. After refilling a sack, his attention was caught by the cave's entrance. Being roughly ten feet broad and seven high, it was a perfect opening.

Inside it was not as dark as he had expected. It was way larger than the opening had made it seem. It was probably slightly larger than the pool outside. With some rays of light that wriggled themselves playfully through the cracks it almost seemed like a hall of sorts. There did not appear to be any deeper opening after this, save for one on the side that lead upwards. Good thing too, he didn't fancy staying in a dark creepy lair of something. Who knew what kind of craziness existed in this world?

He putted down his backpack and sat down on a rock, his back resting against the wall. Sleeping and being away from the world for a bit would be so nice right now…

With a groan he pulled himself up again to at least make a grand check of his gear and make the cave somewhat more habitable. He suspected he might just be stuck here for several days or longer…

Lights, tent, sleeping bag, clothes section, special thermo clothes section for winter, climbing gear, pocket knife, eating utensils, knife, big knife, repair kits of all kinds, electronic stuff, food, drinks, extensive medical supplies, his precious few books and manuals, diary, maps, all manner of emergency gear… everything seemed to be there and in working order.

He placed the sack with freshly taken water over a filter to be certain and slowly watched it drip and trickle down into the large bottle while just sitting in his tent and his sleeping bag. He wouldn't move for today anymore.

And like that, completely drained and exhausted from everything, his eyes rolled back and his eyelids closed. Everything just washed over him. The near-death experience during the rocky avalanche, the fall, the waking up in a different world, the realization that no human was near and that he was completely and utterly alone. Yeah. He was utterly and royally screwed, he thought in bitter frustration.

He had handled the realizations and everything relatively cool and logical today, using his head rather than run around in sheer bloody panic, but no one could keep that up forever. What was he to do now? What had happened to him? Why had it happened? How would he go home? His sister probably didn't even know it yet, that her brother, one of her only remaining close family members had vanished from the earth. Perhaps forever.

He took a piece of chalk and drew a clear vertical line on the dark, unforgiving rock that would be his shelter for the coming time.

He muttered two words before he fell in the sweet embrace op Morpheus.

"Day One…"

Chapter Text

Kung Fu Panda : A Whole New World.

Chapter 2 : Caves and fires.

Next morning, he woke up by light shining in his face. He had fallen asleep on the entrance of a cave, and sunrays where merciless towards his desire for sleep. Then he noticed that he didn't know how he got in a cave. He had to stand up and take a few minutes to realize where he was. Then it all came flooding back. In order to create some structure and logic in the chaos that ravaged his mind at the moment, he tried to sum it all up.

"Okay, so I was hiking in Norway, on my way to see my sister. While I was climbing a mountain, a rock slide happened and I fell into a deep fissure that opened in the process. Somehow, I woke up in ancient China, and in a different world or dimension where humanity has a different role or more likely, doesn't exist at all but is filled instead with anthropomorphic animals. And to top it all off, the world has uncanny similarities to a fictional movie" he said out loud, to no one in particular but solely to hear it himself.

He quickly noted this down in his smartphone, grateful for the invention of touchscreens. He loved them. Made typing so much easier on a larger model and it spared him the weight and place of a tablet or laptop. He felt a bit easier now that he had his situation in a small text. At least it gave his logical side something to work with, and it would make sure his feelings of panic and helplessness were reduced. Not until he knew everything and had some answers.

"Alright, now ask the basic questions. What, when, where, how, why." He grumbled when he couldn't really make a good plan on his smartphone, and proceeded by a pen and paper on a writing pad of his.

"I've just noted down what happened, where can be answered by China, probably central China by the looks of the vegetation as in opposition to my last known location, 110 miles north of Oslo, Norway."

When? It was June when he was hiking, and it seemed to be somewhat summer like around here, so for the sake of convenience he momentarily assumed it was roughly the same time of the year. Which year that was, was a totally different question however. He hadn't seen modernity. Now he understood chances were high it was not a lack of contact with the modern cities, but more likely that this world was a couple of centuries behind in terms of technology. Would make sense, since it is "ancient" China, no?

How created a bigger question, mainly because there was absolutely nothing present to give him something to work with. He'd have to let that question slide for now. Wormhole, portal, energy lapse, inter-dimensional gateway, or for fuck's sake, magic? No time for those theories now, he'd work on them when he had time and securities. Why was a mystery as well, since 'falling from a rock' wasn't an answer that could satisfy him. It was probably linked with the how anyway.

Now that he at least had worked out some things, he felt comfortable enough for breakfast and making other plans without freaking out. While boiling some filtered water to clean it from bacteria (he couldn't be too careful) he thought for logical steps to continue.

Obviously, he needed to find some way back. If it worked one way, chances are it worked backwards too. However, he had spent enough time yesterday to know that such a gateway was not where he had landed. He had stumbled around too much not to encounter it. So that left an immediate return cut off, at least with his knowledge. So he would have to make contact, and hope he might find someone, a scholar or something that might know more about this matter, maybe point him in the right direction.

He'd only find a sign of those in the village, so with nothing else to do, he hid most of his gear in the cave. He decided to put on some more natural woven clothes in neutral color, no sense in not being precautious or give them reason to make him stand out. With a small backpack with some emergency gear in, and a hunting knife hidden on the inside of his belt he took off towards the village, talking himself some courage in that they would be friendly. It was an animation universe right? The hero was a noodle-cooking panda, it was friendly. It would be all right.

Three hours later he arrived at his cave again, panting, cut and bruised. He thought things would be alright. He had been grievously mistaken. He cursed his foolishness for simply assuming things would be nice and easy and momentarily forgetting his history lessons. He was in a twisted version of the past goddammit, how could he not have anticipated that the villagers that saw him would scream in fright and call the guards and start throwing stones at him?

People would always fear what was different and could be a potential threat. So honestly, how could he have expected some two feet tall geese or three feet tall pigs to happily greet him without question when a six feet tall, pale, hairless stranger with long limbs and weird clothes and gear suddenly pops up and moves towards them? Honestly, he was lucky his logic decided to at least not completely desert him when he had to make a run from those guards that appeared, weapons ready. Rhino guards, and other that often were as big as him, if not bigger. He had led them on a false trail and then taken off in a different direction, not allowing himself too stop until he was back at his cave.

No, no trips to any village for Alexander Jenssen in the nearby future. Besides, he just realized with dread, if someone found out he possessed futuristic knowledge, he would no doubt be captured and exploited, forced to teach them what he knew, and it could potentially lead in a new era of destruction, weapons, tactics and god knows what else. He knew how to make a bomb, basics of guns and cannons and so much more… This had suddenly become much bigger than him. Or at least, the depressing possibilities had.

For now he would thus stick to his cave. He could find out information by eavesdropping people at roads, getting to know his surroundings, mapping out parts of the valley, searching for food, setting up his tent in the cave, creating emergency stuff, checking and using his gear and supplies and lots more. He smiled just a little. Yes, for the days and time being he could keep himself busy enough so he wouldn't go mad. Travelling around in his current situation wouldn't do him any good.

If anything, he would just have to place his trust in his unnatural sixth sense. That was one thing, at least that would be safe here.

Oslo, Norway.

Sarah Jenssen, a young blonde woman in her twenties sat behind her desk in her late parent's house, working on a thesis for her master. But she was distracted. Her younger brother, who had taken tot travelling and isolation for the last two years had disappeared once more. He had done it before. The thing that bothered her, was that he had not disappeared as usual. As usual as disappearing can be. He had several times just travelled towards an uncommon destination, usually a poor land or a country in turmoil to volunteer in helping victims in camps, favelas and other uncommon places.

She smiled at the thought of him. No matter what, she would always see her little brother, who had done amazingly stupid things just to cheer someone up, or told a principal to sod off, when he was helping someone. He was intelligent, unpredictable and empathic. Where she had all the prizes, glory and fame someone her age could get through hard work, he was never really interested in all that.

Their parents had always thought them from young age that they should do something useful with their lives, that made theirs and others better. That they could be proud of their results and of the person they had become. She had responded by becoming one of the youngest master-scientists in the world, following the footsteps of her parents, who had spent their lives on researching medicine. While still being an expert in economy and politics. No wonder the faculty loved her.

He on the other hand, was more practical and wanted to do something. He couldn't stand aside if help was needed. It brought him in trouble more times than she could count, but it was just his nature. Perhaps the only predictable thing about him. And she was proud of him for it. He was not even allowed to drink in the U.S.A., and he had already saved or improved more lives than 98% of the population. How could she not be proud of someone like that?

But he had disappeared. He was on his way here, to Oslo, to see her. After all, he had promised her, and he wasn't someone to lightly break such a promise of being together as siblings for a time again. They may have been vastly different, but she was very sure that they could understand each other near perfectly.

She thought of the options. A big rockslide had been reported around the place he should have been, but he was an experienced hiker, unlike herself. The chance for him to get stuck in something like that was very small. And they would have found him already by now anyway. The other option was a lot more fearful. Mom and dad had been working on a medicine that could've revolutionized a lot of things. And an awful amount of money had been involved. And she was one of the only two persons on earth that knew how exactly her brother had been changed by an accident with an incomplete test-version of it.

He had gained a sixth sense. He could, very much like sharks in water, sense life around him. Big life-forms gave of small amounts of electricity by their heartbeats, movements and the like. Everything actually existed under a very low current field. While not exactly the same, the effect were similar to her brother. In areas around, he could 'sense' were other persons were. He could sense other creatures like hunting game as well. How it had happened was still a complete mystery for her.

But it was soon evident that it was not completely secret. And many organizations, corporations and even the bloody CIA had all but demanded of him he gave exclusively them his blood for 'examination of further uses'. Translation : they wanted money, power, and more variations of that.

Her little brother being the unpredictable, calculating goofball that he was responded by taking the first flight to Afghanistan with the message that they were welcome to come and search for him. Oh, and she might have redirected those parties off his back a bit by sending them the South America by falsifying flight tickets in the database and erasing the original. They couldn't do anything, since their actions were anything but legal anyway. But it had forced him to become an unknown, constantly travelling out of fear of being taken and exploited by the authorities. His last two years had been a combination of volunteering work, hiking through the wilderness ad studying on his own accord. And she couldn't even work on a cure to get rid of it for him, because her lab was under surveillance!

She became more convinced with each passing minute that something bad had happened. That he might be, somehow, lost to her. Indeed, she had a feeling as if he was further away from her than ever before…

A single tear escaped her eye when she looked at the picture on her desk of a handsome young guy during a family reunion, celebrating his eighteenth birthday. His dark blonde hair, his baby-blue eyes, that stupid lovable grin that refused to go down while she looked stern, reserved and almost cold next to him.

"Please, Alexander, be alright. Please. I miss my little brother…" her voice cracked a bit while whispering the photograph.

She gave a quick kiss on it and placed it back on her desk, next to that Balinese mask he had sent her once. She quickly saved her progress and shoved the rest of her thesis aside. She was not some weak girl that would spend her time praying. She would take action and find out who or what had taken her brother from her, for she was now utterly convinced he was not merely delayed. She would find out, no matter the cost. And there would be hell to pay.

A Month Later. –

When Alexander woke up, he noticed it was utterly dark. Bit creepy, if you wake up in cave without being able to see even the slightest thing. His watch, softly glowing in the dark, told him it was 4 o'clock in the morning. It wouldn't be light for another hour or two. He slowly sat straight and stood up. He grimaced, noticing how stiff his body was.

"I shouldn't have gone to sleep without a blanket or anything, I'm such an idiot" He muttered.

He touched the walls, finding his backpack in its familiar place. Taking out a small bit of food for breakfast, a flashlight and some small candles that were waterproof he closed his bag in again checking the usual stuff. He looked around, satisfied that apparently nothing had entered the cave or seen him. His small boobytrap, made of a few threads, attached to a small object was still in place. If someone triggered it, the smallest movement could outbalance the entire thing and a loud noise would follow. Simple, but effective.

Taking his food, he forced himself up and stepped outside. Once outside, he took a few deep breaths, letting the smell of the surrounding forest fill him. It felt refreshing. He sat down on a somewhat comfortable rock and began to eat. Chewing on some energy bars he saw the sky beginning to get a faintly less dark color on one side of the mountain-range. Finishing his breakfast, he quickly did some push-ups and jumping jacks to warm his muscles and loosen them up. When he went to the pool to refresh himself a bit, something caught his eye.

An orange flicker. He also thought to hear something, like a small explosion far away. Unable to see anything clear through the trees he ran inside his cave and climbed up, through the side-hole, up to a small plateau with a good sight on a large part of the valley. And there, not even very far away from him, maybe 2 miles, was something clearly bright orange. There was no discussion what it was. It was evident that it was fire.

The question was what it was that was burning. He estimated it was just outside one of the villages, and he couldn't really confirm since it was too dark to use his binoculars. It could be a pire for some reason. It could be a feast. It could be a house burning. It could be an attack. Or an accident. He went down again, trying to convince himself it was better to stay away from it. Alexander took out a small backpack, putted on a sturdy hooded cloak and damned his curiosity to the seven pits of hell.

Up in the jade palace, high above the rest of the valley, Grandmaster Shifu was already awake. Slightly earlier than usual too. He always had trouble sleeping when his students were away. They were on missions. Monkey, Mantis and Po were in Gongmeng city to help masters Croc and Storming Ox to help regulate things, keep watch over stuff and train with some of the students that were in the local academy for two weeks.

Po hadn't had that much experience outside the valley. He needed to learn more about his place and duties as a master and Dragon Warrior. He thought back for a few moments to the day Po fought Tai Lung and the moment in which everything seemed to be lost. And that panda somehow managed to save them all using a hold he learned by himself through imitation, on the first attempt, after a couple of days of basic training, were Tai Lung did not after all those years and even he, the great master Shifu had needed years to learn it. Typical.

Viper and Crane were helping outer villages that had been raided far too often lately. He knew they had a relationship. Honestly, he was surprised to managed to keep it a secret from him for several months. But then again, Viper was subtle, and crane was very private person. It didn't bother him anymore. They were masters, adults, and good souls. It didn't interrupt with their training either. So he simply mentioned that it was no longer important to keep it a secret from him, as long as it didn't complicate things. And he trusted them completely on their mission. The fact that they happened to be in love wouldn't interrupt , they were the two more responsible among his six students. Not like the other three guys. At least those would not get into too much trouble with their immaturity in the city with other masters present.

And then there was Tigress. His prime student. No, he reminded himself, his daughter. She was still here in the palace. Sometimes, in mornings like these, he wondered what he would have done different as a father towards her if he could raise her again. If he had been more loving, caring, or affectionate would she be happier now? If he hadn't always pushed her so hard, never saying a kind word beyond "not bad" or "correct", would she be so hard and apparently cold right now?

Sure, she had mastered Fung Fu like no one else. Not even him. He was pretty sure if it ever came to life or death he would not be able to defeat Tigress. The only one who could have was his other child. The one that had caused so much destruction and violence.

But not his daughter. She was hard and sharp, like a diamond. Slightly violent or temperamental, yes. Not unlike himself sometimes. Oh, he was proud of her. At least as proud as he had been about Tai Lung once. But how could he possibly tell her? She didn't care anymore for those things, the words would not mean anything. He had failed her too, in a way.

Kung Fu was effectively her life. He never thought he would have thought it, but he was saddened by the thought that she had so little besides that in her life. She liked to draw or paint, yes. But where she once enjoyed it as a child, over the years it only became more practical to draw out enemies, fighting stances, plans, records, and anatomy about where to hurt the opponent the most. And he was pretty sure she was still very fond of her flute that Oogway had given her once, just like he had once given him his flute. Teaching her how to play it was perhaps the only other thing besides Kung Fu he had ever really thought or showed her.

"No", Shifu thought a bit bitter, "trying to change that now would not solve anything, it could only lead her to hate me. It wouldn't make a difference. It would be meaningless and it wouldn't help her in anyway."

But next sunday, or at least when the five and Po were back and they had their day off he would try to encourage her to go with them, he decided. Maybe she can have some fun with them. Afterwards, she can decide for herself if she would spend her Sundays training alone, or maybe become a bit more social. After all, since Po was here, she and the others had opened up more, not to say anything about himself…

He kept pondering as he walked up towards his favorite spot next to the peach tree of heavenly wisdom. He noticed the darkness of the night was beginning to lessen. Daybreak was not far away. Beneath him stretched the entire valley which in such moment, in the earliest of times in the morning, often showed the perfect peace he so desired. Nothing stirred in the dark contours of the villages, the forests, the rice paddies and irrigation systems, the river… All was dark if not for the soft light shades the big, silver moon produced above them.

What he enjoyed the most in moments like these was the silence. Nothing but a few rustling leaves, the soft tones of the wind, playing with the surroundings. During the day, he could even hear the village from this spot. Only the Hall of Warriors or his Cave granted him a silence that was good enough for his meditation. Sure, having such perfect hearing with his sort of massive ears had its perks, but it could give him quite a headache as well. But now, there was only…

"KABOOM!"

Shifu jumped up, his muscles instantly tensed in a defensive stance. No, it was not from here. Where did that explosion-like sound come from? After a quick check around him, he looked over the palace and the valley once more. He did not have to look for long. After all, a burning house does stand out in a dark night. Before he was thinking he was already sprinting towards the barracks. He ran in, slammed Tigress' door open and saw the tiger jump up in a stance just like him. She was a light sleeper, and could even from the depths of sleep simply jump up in a stance and defend herself.

"Tigress! There is a house, or maybe several burning! We are needed!"

Tigress' eyes widened while she dropped her stance, and quickly followed her master out. Outside she was still behind her master, who had the advantage of his lightning-quick speed and jumps through the courtyard and towards the gate. Once through the gate however, she did not need to go down the steps and ask if there might be a building on fire. It was a bright, big spot a bit outside the main village.

Dropping on all fours, she began to race towards it, leaving her master behind her. She arrived very quickly and saw that a lot of people where already outside the building. Her eyes searched the crowd and she spotted the mayor, the elephant.

She jumped towards him and asked him "Are there still people inside?"

The elephant answered slightly panicked "No. I've been told everyone got out in time."

"Good", answered Tigress.

"Then we need to focus on bringing water and lowering the fires soon. Right now no one can enter anyway. The fire is far too big and wild inside" ordered Shifu beside her.

How he always managed to suddenly appear was something she'd probably never understand, even if she knew the technique behind it.

The elephant would not go against Shifu's orders, even if he had dared it. No one initially even noticed the stranger that had entered the scene. Tigress backed away from the inferno that took place before her. The intense heat drove everybody back. Really, there wasn't much anyone could do right now except making sure the fire didn't spread. The house could not possible be saved, and no one was inside anymore.

Tigress turned around and saw a stranger, of which she was certain she had never seen before, stand a few meters away from here, slightly apart from the crowd. He had his eyes closed and a concentrated look on his face. Who was this? Or rather, what was this? Then he gasped and his face turned to a look of horror.

When he saw Tigress, who had begun moving towards him in case he knew something, he walked over to her and yelled "There are still people inside!".

The tiger instantly became suspicious and answered coolly "no, everyone already got out."

The stranger seemed confused for a moment and had the same, concentrated look on his face once more.

"No, there are two persons still inside! One on the first floor, another one on the second!"

"Even if that was true, there is nothing we can do about that right now. Anyone who enters would die from the fire and smoke before he or she could hope to reach the first floor, let alone return! Also, I have some questions for you, stranger" in a tone that allowed no room for arguments while her eyes blazed a little.

Or it could just have been the inferno on the background.

Alexander couldn't believe his ears. Was it really so difficult to help people and try to do a good thing? Well, despite what this female tiger, who happened to be an angry unreasonable bitch in his opinion, may think, he wasn't about to have the knowledge of people who were about to be burned alive and sit around.

Tigress couldn't believe this stranger in front of her. While most persons already shat their pants when they met her glare, he took off his backpack, gave her an incredulous look, and muttered something like "bloody unreasonable idiot" under his breath. With that, he pulled up the hood of a white, stiff cape and ran in the burning house before she could do anything to stop him besides yelling "NO!".

The thick fire and the black smoke instantly consumed him. Tigress didn't jump after him, instead standing there a little bit shocked. How could any sane person just run into such a wild fire? Maybe the people inside were like him and hiding? Tigress wanted to turn around when a white shape jumped over a burning pole. The stranger had returned and walked quickly over to her. He seemed dirty and the white cloak had some darker spots on it now. In his arms he held a small sheep.

"Bring her to a doctor immediately. She needs water and a look at the burns on her back. She has most likely trouble breathing due to the smoke so check that too." Tigress understood that the child's health was more urgent than her own questions. They could wait. The stranger took off his shirt, put it in a bucket with water and bound it for his mouth.

"Master Shifu, over here!" she shouted towards her master, who wasn't far off. Shifu ran over and saw his daughter having a small sheep in her arms. The sheep's wool was singed and filthy. Had this child still been in the fire?

"Tigress, what happened? Was this child still inside? Did you get it out?"

"No master, she was still in the building but it was this stranger who…", she gestured to the figure besides her, only to realize he was already running into the flames once more.

"Who is that Tigress? Why did he just jump into an inferno?"

"I don't know master, he simply showed up, said that there were still two persons inside. When I told him what the mayor told us, he put on a white cloak and ran in before I could stop him. He came out twenty seconds later with this sheep" she said quickly while handing the sheep to a nearby healer.

Shifu bit back a curse. "That blasted elephant. Why didn't he check better?" he said angry.

Tigress wanted to agree, but her words were cut off when the part around the door collapsed. Whoever that strange figure was, he was now trapped in a building that was on fire and that could completely collapse any moment. The two masters didn't need to voice their thoughts out loud when they looked with grim faces for any signs. They both knew he was doomed.

Meanwhile, Alexander cursed himself and his inability to keep to his own business once more profoundly. His improvised cloak, made from fireproof sheet, had allowed him to move through the flames without much danger. The ashes that rained down on him could not harm him. But he had almost wished that tiger had stopped him. It was a burning hot hell inside of flames and smoke.

"I have to move quickly or I have no chance at all, this thing can come down any second. And even if I'm not crushed or burned alive, the smoke will do the job. Second floor, now!" he thought.

Racing up the stairs, he was halfway when a loud series of cracking and crushing noises told him everything was coming down. Instinctively he hold his arms above his head and ducked to prevent getting ripped apart by flying debris. Honestly, this stiff piece of sail-like cloth held it largely. Without it, he would not even have reached that sheep.

Jumping on the small pieces of the larger wooden ribs he managed, by using whatever he could find to get a grip on, to slowly get himself upwards. It was at least 3 meters of pure climbing where he would have little opportunity for getting both a solid piece beneath his feet and his hands.

Panic began to slip inside him. And it only increased when the remaining pieces of the stairs behind him caved in. There was no way back, he was shut off. Behind him and front and right there was only fire and darkness, produced by the black smoke that was now so thick it began to have more of a solid volume than a gas now.

The wet shirt bound on his face prevented him from getting smoke in, but it didn't change the fact that there was very little oxygen left. And it made breathing difficult. He breathed a few times, deep in and out while holding his mouth close to a gap in the wall for air, noting to himself that he sounded a bit like Darth Vader. He concentrated once more, and upon feeling the presence of a heart, beating frantically, but alive, he took his decision.

He stood up and began to scale the wall to his left in the only remaining way : Up. Step for step, little by little, he made his way upwards. Until finally, he managed to crawl and pull himself up the top floor. Where was the child? The room was dark, flames were already dancing in it too. There was no escape. He looked behind and under the bed, containers and the like.

Outside Shifu's and Tigress' expressions had gone more and more grim. Especially since two scared wolf parents ran towards them, desperate for news. Their daughter, Xia, had been in the house for a sleep-over with her friends and was still missing. Shifu tried to explain the situation quickly, that a stranger was inside the house, convinced there was still someone else inside, but that apart from this they knew not much more. With this, the mother sank to her knees crying, while the father instantly rushed towards the house only to be stopped by Tigress.

"There is nothing you can do now. You are only going to get yourself killed. The building is going to come down any moment now." She said firmly. The wolf still struggled. She knew him. He was Feng, and a very liked fellow. He lived a bit apart in the valley, but was a talented smith and wood-carver. He had helped her out with analyzing weapons and the like in the rare case she needed help.

"Feng, your wife needs you. You would be consumed by the flames once you entered. All the lower parts have come down."

Feng stopped struggling, and embraced his wife with tears rolling down his face. She looked aside, feeling out of place and went back to her place aside her master. Tigress did not dare to have hope that whoever it was inside that hell could bring Xia out when another front part of the building came down, showing that everything inside was practically blown apart.

"WHERE ARE YOU? I'M HERE TO GET YOU OUT!" Alexander shouted in a desperate attempt to sound louder than the consuming fires.

He was about to give in when he heard a stumble against wood. He turned towards the sound and understood it. The closet. The only place that would still seem safe towards a child, to lock itself in. Everything to flee from the sight of the nearing danger. Out of sight, out of mind. He slowly walked over, put his hand on the handle, hesitated and opened it. Inside, he found a wolf cub crying, barely noticing him. When he moved to pick her up she screamed in fear. He quickly pulled his hand back and lowered himself, taking off his hood partly.

"Shhhh, calm down child. I'm here to help you. I'm here to get you out. I know you're afraid, but there is little time. The building is burning and we have to try to get out as soon as possible."

The cub looked shocked, with her eyes wide open, red and swollen.

"What are you? I've never seen someone like you before. Are you a monster? I want my mama and baba!"

Alexander sighed. He had somewhat expected this. He moved up his hands and showed them to the cub, palms open in an attempt to show he was unarmed.
"you do not have to fear me, kid. I know I look different than most here, but I simply come from a place far away from here. That's why you have never seen me before. But I swear I mean you no harm. Like I said, I'm here to help you. I sensed you in this burning building, and I could not leave you to your fate. I promise I will get you out of here, back to your mom and dad. But I cannot do that without your help. You have to trust me, only for a few moments, then it will be over."

The wolf cub was obviously still doubting. Alexander was beginning to panic inside. This was taking too long. He desperately tried something else.

"Listen, my name is Alexander, but you can call me Alex. Most of my friends do. What's your name?"
This seemed to have changed something inside the cub.

"Xia" was the quiet answer.

"Well, Xia, it is nice to meet you, I wish it could be in a nicer moment. Do you want to get out of here, Xia? Do you want to go back to your parents?"

"Yes!"

"Good", Alex said relieved. At least that part seemed a bit over. He didn't have this problem with the small sheep. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the sheep had been unconscious.

"Then take my hand, Xia, and let's get out of here", moving his open hand slowly towards here, but not in a grabbing motion. The cub had to trust him, or they would never get out of here.
Luckily, Xia began to understand that the stranger in front of her was her only chance of getting back to her parents. She had no choice. Alone, she would die in here. With him, the long stranger, she had a chance. So she laid her paw in his hand and he pulled her up.

"Now listen closely Xia, it is going to be difficult to get out because the stairs are already gone. I will have to climb on the roof and get low enough somehow to jump. But I need my both hands for that. You will have to hold on to my back. Whatever happens, you must NOT let go. Use your claws if you have to. Whatever works. Got it?"

The little wolf nodded, her brown eyes wide. Alexander lifted her up and let her grab herself around his neck and back in a somewhat comfortable pose.

"And stay beneath the white cloak. It will protect you from fire and ashes and splinters. Stay under it, and you'll be safe. Okay?"

That seemed to comfort the girl. To have confirmation that something that she could hide beneath would protect her.

"Okay, Alex".

With that Alexander began to look around in fear. Around him, there was only fire. He had ignored his surroundings too long while calming Xia down and it would most likely cost him his only chance at an escape now. He looked around frantically, not seeing any way out. Except maybe…

he picked up the small chair, and threw it as hard as he could against a burning point in the ceiling. The parts around it came crumbling down. Moving the table beneath the new opening he used it to climb through and pull himself up. Now that he was on the roof, he had a chance. He had lowered his shirt from his face while talking with the girl so he quickly moved it in place.

Not that it mattered that much anymore. The fire was everywhere. He needed to get off now, but he would not be able to roll trough to ease his landing with Xia on his back. Suddenly, he felt his balance leaving him. The building was truly coming down. More than that, it was falling. They were falling. He gave a pull on his cape, took Xia firmly in his arms in front of him and jumped with a scream as far forward as he could. At the very same moment, the foundations gave up and went down in a massive ball of flames.

Dirty cliffhanger to end with, I know. But I couldn't resist. Also, quite a long chapter, but it did make things quite a bit more interesting.

Next chapter is halfway done.
Again, thank you for reading, and please leave a review.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3 : Mysteries and escapades.

Tigress was the first one to spot it. The building in front of them was truly coming down but something vaguely white had appeared on the roof. The figure hesitated for a few moments, unsure what to do. "Too long", she thought. Then, when he began to lose his balance he took something from his back and held it in front of him, covered by his cloak and his arms. Feng had seen it too, as had Shifu. The moment he jumped, everything seemed to explode. When they looked again, only a pile of rubble with some small flames remained.

Then something in the bushes in front of it moved. Something crawled it. A young wolf cub, wrapped loosely in a large, stiff, filthy, white cloak.

"XIA!" Feng shouted, running towards his little girl and almost crushing her when he hold her in his arms again. Tears rolled once more, from relief and happiness this time.

"Baba?" came a weak response.

"Yes, yes, Baba is here". Fengs wife had arrived too and barely got to hug them when a healer arrived to check on Xia. Against all odds, she seemed to be fine. She had a couple of bruises on her sides and her breathing would be difficult for some time due to the smoke, but apart from that she appeared to be unharmed.

"This truly is a miracle" the healer, a goat said amazed. "I don't understand how she possibly came out alive, let alone unharmed!"

"Alex saved me. He promised he would help me and get us out, and that I would see mama and baba again. He told me to not go from under his cape. That the cape would protect me from the fire and ashes and splinters." The small voice led everyone surprised.

"Alex? Is that what the stranger is called who saved you? The one who was wearing this white cloak?" Shifu asked quickly.

"I think so. He said I could call him Alex, because his friends call him that too."

"Where is he? I need to thank him! He saved my daughter's life!" Feng said turning towards the rubble with the others.

Tigress had already been busy searching for this stranger. There were many things at work here. Strange things. She hated not knowing, to be in the dark and having to guess when things when not in control. Who was he? What was he? Why was he here? And how did a complete stranger manage not only know that there were two children inside, where they were, and got them out unharmed too? Especially knowing very well that she could not have done that. Maybe the sheep if she had known. But she would never have survived the fire and heat before she got Xia.

She kept turning rubble over when, when she turned over a large wooden floor-part, she froze for a moment. She picked up a white, wet piece of cloth she had seen him put before his mouth. To help against the smoke, she reasoned. She turned around and gave it to her master.

Shifu first looked surprised and stern, like he wanted to demand why she stopped searching, but his expression turned sad, and his ears lowered. He spread the cloth so that Feng and Tigress could see it too. It used to be white, with some sort of abstract drawing or decoration in blue on it. A lot of it was grey or even black from the fire, and it was very damaged. However, there was another color, a dark red, present in something that, unlike the blue was not a pattern. There was a lot of red. Feng lowered his head. There was no question what the red was. If the only thing they could find of him was a bloody piece of cloth…

Tigress didn't just let it with that, she moved back to the rubble site, and searched further, but she couldn't find another trace. It was not she first time she saw someone die in an awful way. But most of the times those were bandits, criminals and the like. To see someone die like this, a complete stranger who without much hesitation gave his life to save children from a burning hell, that was something different. Those people are very rare. She wondered why he did it. Did he know them? No, that clearly wasn't the case.

So why? Was he a criminal who had had enough of that life, and desperately wanted redemption? Was he a hero? An gentle soul like Po who rushed in without thinking and did the right thing without having the panda's luck? A phantom of sorts? Or was he still something else entirely? After all, she didn't even know what he was. He walked straight up and when he pulled off his shirt she had seen that he had no fur, or very little except on top of his head. His hood had prevented a good look.

"Tigress?" came the voice of Master Shifu.

She turned around and asked, "yes, master?".

"There is nothing we can do here now, I'm afraid. Let's head back to the palace. I need to meditate on this, and I will visit Feng and Xia later to get more answers."

"Yes, master."

They turned away, noticing that most people had already left the place. The day was beginning, and it would be a busy day. What a way to begin a day. But then Tigress stopped.

"Master, stop!"

"What is it, Tigress?"

"His bag! He was wearing a grey backpack and threw it on the ground before he went inside. It will give is some answers."

"Where?" Shifu asked, his tone curious and a bit hopeful. Tigress walked a bit back over the grass.

"It is right he…". Shifu was over there fast. Tigress stood before a small rock, her brow furrowed.

"I don't understand master, it was right here."

"Are you saying that someone took it?"

"It must have. But I don't understand why!"

"There is more happening here."

"But what master? Was it a set-up? Do you believe the stranger had anything to do with the fire?"

"I don't know. But search around, maybe we'll find a clue to who took the bag".

They both began to search around, searching for tracks or anything, but the grass did not show much tracks. Nothing clear anyway. But Tigress wasn't just a peasant. She was extremely cunning Kung Fu master, and a tiger too. Her senses were perfected. She could still smell the unfamiliar scent of the grey bag on the rock, and there had been movement in the grass. She was certain of that. And in the loose, wet dirt she found what she was looking for. Tracks. Fresh ones.

"Master, over here!" She yelled. She didn't recognize those tracks. They didn't look anything like sandals, and where not in any shape she was used too. Shifu studied them for a moment and then seemed to realize something.

"Tigress, did you by any accident notice what kind of shoes this stranger was wearing?"

"Some sort of strange boots Master, why?

"I looked a bit ahead of you and found something else." With this, Shifu showed his hand. In it, he held a few green leaves that had a bit of red on them. Blood.

"Master, are you saying that the stranger is still alive? That's impossible!"

"Nothing is impossible" said Shifu, quoting his old master.

"But.."

"Tigress, it should also have been impossible for this Xia to survive. And it should certainly have been impossible for someone to get both children out of that hell, unharmed. Not to mention that his cloak seems to be unable to burn and protect from heat, if I understand it correctly. If he has such a strange bag, and a cloak of such a strange material, would it truly be impossible for him to survive?"

"I understand master. I assumed he couldn't have survived because he got separated from this protective cloak."

"So did I. But what was he actually Tigress?"

"I… don't know master. He was an animal I have never seen before, from the little I could see."

"I see. I want you to follow him, to find him, and try to convince him to come to the Jade Palace Tigress. He is wounded, so offering your help with that should ease it. I do not want you to use any force. Who- or whatever he is, he did save the lives of two children today. I would like answers, but he has his rights to privacy and we are in no position to disrespect those."

Meanwhile Alex was running, all the while thinking he was a lucky bastard. He had managed to not only survive this whole thing, he had saved two children. During his jump with Xia he had thrown the girl forward, into a bush that would soften the landing. She would most likely not leave without a broken bone here and there or some cuts and bruises but it was better than dying together. Then he had quickly grabbed the table that had thrown out when he jumped. Keeping that table behind him had saved him from the flames during the explosion behind him. He had landed a bit hard on his feet but managed to roll through, lessening the impact. Something he could not have done with a small wolf on his back. The table had rebounded on the ground and placed itself perfectly on top of him. That small and extremely durable table managed to save him from almost all the rubble that would've hurt him. He did wound his arm and it bled quite a bit. His shirt had been used to stop the bleeding. When Xia came out, everyone immediately stormed towards her. No one noticed him taking his backpack and leaving. Although it had been close with that Tiger. Seriously, paranoia itself might become jealous in comparison.

Only then he suddenly realized that he had just crossed the famous Master Tigress.

"It must've been her. She was commanding with authority, and she is the only permanent tiger in the valley. And her temper and suspicion are almost legendary…". Wow. WOW. He had just shown the famous Master Tigress, who was practically revered by fans in the valley (and the rest of China from what he overheard), wrong. He had done her job for her, sort of.

The second feeling that came over him was a feeling of dread and fear. He doubted that humiliating this Tigress in such a way was a good thing. Calling her a bloody idiot probably wouldn't help either…
He kept running at a steady speed. No doubt they would have questions about him and as soon as the little girl started talking they would know his name, and more.

Soon he arrived at a river he crossed earlier. Unlike then, he took a different approach this time. Instead of just crossing the river, he started wading through the river. On the other side it was very shallow and didn't slow him down much. Even when going against the stream, uphill. After going about 200 meters through the water he got out and jogged further towards his cave, slower this time. The small trick would hopefully work and buy him a lot of time. In the water he could not have left tracks or smell. And the rushing sound of the water had hushed the sounds of his splashing. Whoever was tracking him would have a bit of a problem unless they possessed senses far better than earth's animals.

Ten minutes later he was proven right, although he didn't knew it at that time. Tigress had been able to follow his tracks and scent easily enough. She was slowed down because of the unknown factor of the scent, but no one could mask the smell of blood. She hoped he wasn't too wounded.

"Probably not, otherwise he would have collapsed by now, or he would have treated his wounds" she thought. The tracks, certainly later on were not difficult either. He did not seemed to bother to hide them anymore. His shoes or boots seemed to have a strange sort of grip on the underside, she noted. "Smart idea, actually. It must give him a lot more security and balance in muddy underground or difficult terrain than mere sandals."

She soon arrived at a small river. The tracks led straight towards it, seemed to hesitate a moment and then went into the shallow path through it. Tigress smiled a bit inwards. She was closing in, she knew it. These tracks were very fresh. She would get her answers soon.

When she crossed the small river however, her inward smile disappeared. She wanted to follow the tracks. The only problem was, there weren't any to follow. She looked around, in the mud, sand and grass. This was ground in which hiding tracks was difficult, but there truly seemed nothing to follow! Desperately she smelled the air, inhaling it almost – no, not a single hint of the smell around.

"How is this possible! He is bleeding, he can't just disappear into thin air! He is a creature of flesh and blood, not a ghost!" she grumbled frustrated. She began to search the river banks for a while and then the path backwards for anything she might have missed, somehow already feeling it would be hopeless. Hours later, she went back to the palace.

At the Jade Palace, Shifu stood for his own mysteries as well. This cloak seemed, after a few tests, indeed unable to burn. Holding it straight against a flame from the cooking panel barely left a trace. Whatever fire had left those burn marks must have been like hell. What material was this thing made from? He began to wonder even more when it seemed to hold water perfectly. Not even a bit of moisture on the other side. It seems to be coated in a protective layer, probably adding to its stiffness. Yet it wasn't really much heavier than others sturdy clothes or anything. But how?
He also noticed some fold marks, and after a few attempts at getting the pattern, it was remarkably small. Easy to transport.

And the other cloth that was almost drenched in filth, sweat, and blood was strange as well. The material was woven in a way he was unfamiliar with. Especially because it was so thin and fine.
Shifu kept pondering on this strange thing. After a while, he could only think of a few options, all relatively unlikely. He should wait until Tigress was back.

His eyes shot open. Or he could maybe already visit Feng. Both Shifu and Tigress knew him well enough, surely his daughter, Xia, could provide some more answers?
With that he put the cloak somewhere in his room, in a cabinet and left the palace to pay the wolf a visit.

"So you really have no idea, at all, who it was that saved you?" Feng asked his daughter.

"No baba, I told everything I know. He looked a bit like a hairless monkey, I think. But taller and no tail, baba."

Shifu sighed. He didn't have much more answers. He wished he could ask his master for counsel. But Oogway had never answered something straight to the point anyway. And Feng was less of a help then he'd hoped. The wolf still stood there with a goofy smile plastered on his face, just happy that his daughter came out unharmed. Suddenly it dropped a bit.

"No matter how happy I am my Xia is still alive, I do feel a bit guilty about this 'Alex's'' fate. I owe him practically a lifedebt." He lowered his head a bit. "And now I'll never be able to do something in return…" he murmured.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

He looked up. "What do you mean, Shifu?"

"He might not be."

"Not what?"

"Dead."

"I'm afraid I don't follow Grandmaster Shifu. We both saw the blooded cloth. And you confirmed that it was the cloak Xia wore that must have protected him so far."

Shifu sighed again. "My student and I found a track that lead away from the scene. He left some bloodmarks on this track, that smelled the same as the blood on the cloth. Also, the one who created that track took his bag with him, that he had dropped before he entered the flames."

"So he's alive !" Feng said loudly, his grin reaching even further than before.

"It looks like it. Master Tigress is looking for him, because he is still wounded."

"Well, when you find him, please tell me. I must thank him and repay this debt somehow!"

"I thought wolves didn't have the concept of a life-debt?" shifu asked, curious.

Feng scowled a bit. "That's because wolves normally stick to a pack and the entire pack is one family. And we do not owe such debts to family. But to an outsider, the whole pack would be in debt. Since I am not part of a pack I think I do owe him such a thing" he explained like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"I see. I must return to the palace, Tigress will no doubt already be back with him, or news. It's been several hours." He gave a nod, and left.

Both Master and student found each other in the hall. And Shifu was surprised, to say the least.

"What do you mean, he vanished?" Shifu asked, his tone slightly louder.

"His trail did Master. I could follow it very clearly until he crossed a stream. On the other side, there was not a hint of tracks or smell. The banks downwards were completely clear of any signs. I followed the tracks several times back and forth but there was nowhere even a hint of another direction. And the stream was too shallow too swim or have a boat waiting."

Shifu was truly a bit clueless. This 'Alex' was something that they didn't know, he had a mysterious cloak that was utterly resistant to many elements, he had saved a child from a burning building, and evaded and escaped the master of the Tiger style. Not his usual mystery to solve.

"Then maybe it is best if we just leave this matter alone for now, Tigress. After all we are a bit in the dark here. This 'Alex' did a good thing and saved an two innocent lives that would otherwise have been lost. If he puts so much effort in staying anonymous, then maybe we should just let him be for now."

"But master! He is a creature we have no experience with and he's roaming free in the valley! Who knows what he could do! People who hide themselves from us rarely have good intentions. It could be a plot to make us trust him in which he shall attempt to harm us unexpectedly and I shall…

"TIGRESS!" Shifu shouted, anger clear in his voice. Tigress was taken a bit back by this ostentative display of anger.

"Most criminals don't risk their lives to save children from burning buildings. Especially not if they had something to do with it. And if it was an attempt to gain trust so he could take us out unexpected, he would have stayed around for thanks, trust, or trying to get a return favor. He didn't."

Tigress' form had slumped a bit down, gazing to the ground, somewhat ashamed. Shifu's voice had returned to something softer, calming.

"I understand your concern, Tigress, and I don't like prying in the dark either. But we mustn't let ourselves be controlled by paranoia simply because we don't know something. Otherwise we should interrogate every single villager. Let's for now focus on training again and leave the matter alone. If you encounter him again, you can try to bring him here."

Tigress nodded, bowed and went to the training hall.

"Maybe master Shifu is right", she thought. "After all, he did risk his life to save children. And he might prefer to be alone because his differences. There is still more to him than he displayed, but then again, he's something we've never seen. Maybe I'm jumping to quick to conclusions because I couldn't find him."

With that, she tried to put the matter out of her mind and resumed her training.

Alexander had reached his cave without any further fuss. He didn't bother hiding tracks anymore or tried to take strange routes. If that Tigress got past the trick he pulled earlier nothing else would help anyway. Besides, he was way too tired. The pain in his arm had increased too and by now he felt like his arm was on fire. He plumped his bum on the ground and got his first aid kit. Disinfecting the cut that, thank his lucky stars, wasn't very deep. Putting some cooling cream on it, and wrapping some bandages around it filled him with relief. After checking and treating other small burns on his body he went outside to sit down with a very light meal and made a small fire to cook some water and make tea.

Once again, he blessed his luck within his unlucky situation. He might have stranded in a completely strange world, at least he didn't get here without camping and trekking supplies to last weeks. But he had to face it none-the-less : his supplies were diminishing. He still had food for a week, maybe more if he rationed it very carefully and found more plants to add. Outside of Gingko leaves he hadn't found much edible plants or berries. And hunting wasn't an option. Fishing was, but there weren't that many places to catch fish nearby. Yes, the river nearby held fish and there was a larger lake on the border where he went swimming sometimes, but still…

There was only one solution. He had to find friendly contact and try to trade or work for something. He did not want to resort to stealing his food, not in the least because it would bring more attention to him. So far, he hadn't actually done anything wrong, and he desired to keep it that way.

His other option was trying to go to the jade palace.

The villagers saw him as a freak, threat, monster and whatnot. He knew that by now. They'd never seen something like him, and he was taller than most creatures he had encountered. Wolves, leopards, cats and the likes were comparable in height, but rarely taller. Rhino's where the only ones that were definitely bigger. However, the majority existed out of geese, sheep, pigs, antelope and the likes. And those he had already encountered had shit their more-often-than-not lacking pants. He had tried several times again by now, in the month that he was here. The last time he tried to approach a caravan the pigs had thrown stones at him. Not exactly the warmest invitation, he mused wryly.

Frankly, he had survived so far because he had had a couple of encounters with bandits. Crocodile bandits with the collective IQ of a rock, that is. Who knew that you could so easily scare people with a flashlight beneath your face, and some intimidation? Fortunate as it was, it scared the living hell out of those on guard duty, and he had simply taken some of their spare stuff. By the time the rest woke up, he was already long gone. And he had won himself gear, a sword, food and some useful trinkets. Was stealing from thieves illegal here? He didn't bother worrying himself, that was pointless.

The other option, the jade palace was not easy either. Maybe the five would not see him as a threat and use their brains to at least give him more information on what to do in his unique situation. If they did not use their heads, it could result in him being killed.
He might have a couple of years of kickboxing and fencing under the belt, be in a strong condition by spending two years in harsh climates and have a sixth sense that could warn him about a great deal of situations but he wasn't an idiot. He had spent his last two weeks observing and learning from a distance with his binoculars. The five and even the panda where completely out of his league. Sure, he had had his conflicts with bandits by now, but there was a world of difference. Besides, he was only used to fighting humans.

The analytic approach told him that Shifu, Mantis, Viper and to a certain extent Monkey where at a huge advantage due to their smaller size. And the last one had his tail as a fifth limb. Crane could fly. The Panda was too… well, massive for standard tactics, but he could at least outrun him. Tigress was frankly the only one in similar posture, the only one that he would have an idea on how to handle if it came to a fight. And she happened to be the most skilled, paranoid, intelligent, ferocious and aggressive out of all those fighters. Wonderful.

Po would not instantly attack him. He was too gentle and open for that. However, speaking with him alone was practically impossible. Besides, he would instantly run with Alexander to the palace, and they might not be so accepting.

Then it hit him. He needed a wolf. Not just any wolf. He needed to find the family of the cub that he had saved. Their child, Xia could recognize him and thus trust him. Which would maybe make the parents help me. After all, most monsters or enemies don't save cubs from burning buildings, do they?
It was time to put a use to the social training he had gone through by accompanying his parents from young age to dinners, meetings and the likes. Time for some convincing that he wasn't dangerous or hostile at all and create some form of trust, while not giving to much information away. He couldn't plunge in by exclaiming he came from a different world or dimension! Half-truths was probably the best way to go in this one. Animals would with their refined senses no doubt be able to pick up his unconscious body language better. Not lying, but simply leaving out parts would solve that. He'd just have to be careful with what information he gave away.

Satisfied that he had a possible solution for now, he allowed himself some rest after rearming his traps.

Chapter Text

Feng stood before the pile of rubble that used to be a house thinking about the strange events. Was his daughter's savior really alive and well? Did he not need to feel guilty? Or was it false hope and was he really lying underneath all those remnants, digested by the fire? He stood there for an hour, while the evening fell. Under a nice breeze in the pleasant summer's night he walked home. He did not notice a strange figure following him carefully.

Feng saw his house, standing alone, surrounded by his large workshop and the forest on the other side. A small trail lead towards it. Inside was a warm, inviting light. He couldn't help but smile knowing his daughter and his wife were in there, waiting for him. However, before he could get closer, he was hit by a small stone against his shoulder. He turned to his right, towards the darkness of the forest.

"Psst." A voice said.

"Who are you?" Feng said, trying to mask the fact that he was a bit nervous. He couldn't see anything in the dark bushes before him. His hand slid towards the knife on his belt.

"Relax, I just want to talk with you, in private. I mean you no harm." It was not a dangerous or threatening voice, just carefully kept neutral. Feng relaxed only a little.

"Well, why don't you come out of those bushes then?" he asked, slightly growling.

"I may look… different. Please don't shout or attack me because of it, okay?" The voice sounded a bit hesitant.

"I won't attack anyone unless you give me reason to. Now come out if you want to continue this, I want to see who I'm talking with!"

The bushes rustled and a tall figure stepped out of it. At least as tall as Feng, if not taller.
"Are you the father of Xia?" the figure asked. He stood a bit away and more than his cloaked posture was difficult to see.

"Yes. Why?" Feng asked with a surprised voice. Could this figure be…

"My name is Alexander or Alex. She may have mentioned me to you." With this 'Alex' stepped forward into the light and revealed his face.

Feng gasped. "You're the one that saved my daughter!" he exclaimed loudly. He looked at the face before him. This Alex was indeed unlike anyone he had ever seen. Tall and straight posture but leaner than most, bipedal, hands like a monkey, little or no fur, a bit of a flat face with a long straight nose. His dark clothes were unfamiliar to him, with tight, long pants, a shirt, some vest over it and a hood to hide his head.

"Yes, I am. And it was very close for both my and her life. How is she?"

"She is fine. Has some bruises and her fur is a little singed here and there, but she'll be up and running around in no time."

"That's good to hear." Alex sighed, seemingly relieved.

"And it's good to see you alright as well! For most of the day, I and others feared you had lost your life by selflessly saving others!" Feng said happily. "But here you are, and not even a scratch on you! You truly are a lucky guy, whatever you are to get out of that inferno without any damage!"

"Not completely unharmed. My left arm bled quite a bit…" Alex muttered.

"Of course, the blood, I had forgotten! Please follow me inside, then you can sit down and we can talk further comfortably. It's the very least I should do!" and before Alex could sputter something Feng lead him further and inside.

It was a rather nice home, Alexander remarked himself. Sturdy, warm, mostly made out of wood. With a nice, spacy common room and kitchen, a fireplace with cozy chairs and small table next to it. Some bedrooms on the first floor. A place that simple breathed 'home'.

"Feng?" a woman's voice sounded from the kitchen.

"Kara, come here and say hello!" Feng said, finally letting go of Alex who winced a bit with his arm.

Kara, a female wolf and about 8 inches shorter than Feng appeared and froze, looking at her grinning husband first and then at the strange man that stood next to him, a bit awkwardly.

"Kara, this is Alex. He is the one who saved our Xia."

She looked dumbstruck for a moment, and then broadly smiled.
"Well then, I suppose we owe you our thanks and gratitude. Please make yourself at home, would you like something to drink?"

"Maybe later, for now I'm fine, thank you". Kara nodded but looked a bit strange suddenly when she smelled something.

"Might I ask why it is that you're bleeding?"

"It's nothing major, just a cut I received earlier this morning that must have reopened when I was dragged inside" Alex answered. Feng did drag him inside on his painful arm after all.

"FENG! YOU DID WHAT!" Kara glared at her husband.

"I forgot he was bleeding, honestly, I'm sorry!" Feng responded quickly with his hands apologetic in front of him, diminishing beneath his wife's glare.

"Oh use your nose and brain a bit decent next time!" "Now please sit down dear, I'll look after it in a moment."
Alex wanted to say it wasn't necessary but a quick pleading look from Feng made him shut up.

After Kara changed the bandages and everything, everyone sat down at the table and talked a bit until they both looked at Alex for answers.

"Well, to put it simply, I'm stranded here, in this valley or place and I do not really know where I am, nor how I got here. I come from a very different place and I do not know where it lies compared to here. I've been here for almost a month now and I'm still not much closer to finding a solution to my problem of getting home. So far I've lived alone, and fortunately, I did not land here without supplies. However, my supplies are running out, mainly food will be a problem soon."

Alex sighed. "I would like your advice on what to do, because I'm a bit lost here. I don't really know what course of action to take, as I'm not familiar with your laws, culture and everything else. I don't know how long I will be stuck in this place. And so far, every time I tried to get into contact with the village it ended negatively".

Both wolves just tried to take it in for the next minutes.

"Well, I don't really know how we can help you. Food won't be a problem, we'd happily help with that. Besides, we owe you that and much more."

"I've told you that you don't owe me anything, since my people do not have the concept of a life-debt. I went in there of my own choice. I'd be grateful for any help or advice you are willing to give, but I do not want to burden you, nor become too dependent on you." Alex returned.

"Well, about your mysteries, I'd say you best go to the jade palace and try to speak with Grandmaster Shifu. He certainly wants to see you and to find answers about 'Xia's savior' as well."

"I feared you would say that. However, won't they see me as a threat, simply because I look different? And I can defend myself from ignorant villagers or the average bandits who think so, but not against trained Kung Fu masters! And now that we're on the subject, who was the tiger that was present early this morning?"

"That was Master Tigress."

"As I feared…"

"What did you do?" Feng asked with a grin slowly forming.

"I may or may not have insulted her when she was slowing me down. Her glare of death indicated that she did look forward to rip me to shreds. Which was one of the reasons I fled the scene when I did."

"Ha! Can't blame you for fleeing from that." Feng laughed his barking laugh.

"How about this : in return for food or an option to supplies I'll work for you? I have a bit of experience with both metal and wood. And I could learn in the meantime and decide what to do further." Alex asked.

"Oh no Alex, you really don't have to work in return for food, really, we'd gladly help you!" Kara said with a laugh.

"I know, but I'd feel bad if I wouldn't do anything in return. Besides, I could learn more, it would give me something to do and I'd have company instead of sitting alone, without having to confront other mistrusting people."

"Well, one of my assistants left a few months ago so I could use a bit help. How about two or three days a week for half pay then?" Feng asked. "I could also help you train with several weapons if you'd like", his eyes directing towards the small sword Alex had carried. "I'm no Kung Fu Master, but even the five agree I'm pretty good at using what I make."

"That would be great, yes. I'm familiar with some martial arts and with swordplay too, but more practice can never hurt. Especially not seeing as I've come into contact with far more bandits than I would've liked last month."

Alex stood up, a small smile on his lips, glad things had worked out for the best for once. He guessed all the animals here truly did resemble humans, including the bad sides. After all, if a large talking unknown being entered his world, would most not simply try to get away from it too? People always mistrust or fear that which they don't know or understand. But there was the occasional kind soul. That soul was, in this case, called Feng or Kara.

"Wait, are you leaving already?" Kara asked when he made movements to stand up.

"I think it is better I go back to my place and retire yes, it is becoming quite late. I'll visit tomorrow or the day after again."

"But…, where DID you live so far? You've been here for weeks know but you obviously did not stay in the village. Where did you sleep so far?"

"Caves can be remarkably comfortable." He said, with a lopsided grin.

Both Feng's and Cara's mouth hit the table as their eyes went wide.
"You seriously live in a cave? Please, you don't have to anymore, we have a spare bedroom, it would be no trouble for you to sleep there!" Kara said quickly while Feng just nodded. Alex smiled. These people were generous as they were kind.

"While I appreciate the offer, it is truly unnecessary for now. I've made some basic furniture already and it isn't too cold or anything. Besides, I like the privacy and rest there." Alex assured them.

"I might come back on your offer if it turns autumn and it becomes too cold out there though." He added as an afterthought. He somehow doubted the cave would be as comfortable if it was covered in ice. With that, he shook their paws, thanked them again and left back to his cave.

Inside the house, Feng and Kara discussed further what just happened.

"I can't believe that HE is the strange monster some of the villagers spoke about." Kara said, affronted. "He was polite, humble and saved Xia… We owe him a life-debt and he seemed troubled to really ask anything in return. He even insisted on working on return! Why?"

"The working part is not so difficult to grasp, darlin'. He has a sense of pride that he wants to keep intact. He doesn't want us take pity on him. He obviously hates the feeling of owing someone something. He wants to stand on his own, and not be dependent on others. Especially not people that he doesn't know or trust. Remember how I was when I arrived in the valley?"

Kara smiled at the memory of a goofy wolf almost breaking his neck by trying to climb in her window when they were dating instead of coming through the front door because he thought the window was more 'romantic'. Feng had always been so stubborn. Unlike her, he didn't hail from the valley and he came here relatively alone. It had worn off a bit the last year with the birth of their children.

"I understand Feng, but still… it was strange. It's really difficult to place him. He did not yet seem to really trust us either, but that's understandable given what horrible things have been said to him by the villagers. He seemed so young and old at the same time."

"He has seen or experienced things that have changed him. Bad things. I.. I could see it, in his eyes. I've seen that look before. He hides it well, but there's a weariness in them. He has seen death. He has suffered."

This was not something that she had expected to hear from her normally cheery husband. And she knew him well enough to know he was utterly serious about this when she saw his grim look.

"Feng, do… do you believe he has lost much? Or do you believe that he has done wrongs? That he can be d-.. dangerous?"

"Kara, he was wearing a sword. And I'm pretty sure that he had more things hidden on him and that he can use that sword. Never mind the fact he can survive inferno's and bandits. But no, I believe him when he says he means no harm. And his past is none of our business."

The last sentence came out a little harder and sharper. He detested the meddlesome judging part of some of the villagers. If they knew about his past, no doubt they would start to generalize him and make him a social outcast, no matter if those same people now liked him. Sometimes, people deserve second chances. He had sunken in his own thoughts and was only pulled out when he felt his wife's arms around him.

"Hey, don't let it drag you down. All that stuff is long ago and doesn't matter now. I just can't help but worry about him for some reason."

Feng couldn't keep from laughing his barking laugh.
"Leave it to you to care and worry about a completely unknown guy who occasionally jumps into fiery buildings, meddles with bandits and can perfectly take care of himself." He shouted snickering.

"Oh you idiot" she exclaimed while giving him a playful slap on his head. "It's a mother thing. You wouldn't understand."

"I hope not, this really isn't the right moment in my life to start doubting my gender." he replied.

"Men…" she muttered. Then she remember something she wanted to ask him. "Feng, dear, are you going to tell Masters Tigress or Shifu?" she asked, a bit unsure.

"I'm not going to lie to them, but I'm not about to tell them myself either. Alex seems to prefer his privacy and deems it safer. Can't really blame him for that, nor break that bit of trust. So unless they ask me directly, they won't hear it from me. You?"

"The same I guess." They stood there enjoying the warmth of the fireplace together for a while longer. "How about we call it a day and go to bed sweetheart?"

"I was hoping you'd say that." Feng blew out the candles and lowered the fire and then followed his wife upstairs.

Alexander returned without much trouble to his cave again. He wasn't a person for heat and frankly, he found the days to be too hot. He had adapted his sleeping schedule in a couple of shorter rests, rather than just sleeping through the entire night or day. He took extended siestas and other rests when it suited him, sometimes in the sun to gain a bit of vitamin D. In the night and early mornings, the valley was pretty much deserted! He could go for walks and even carefully map out the villages if he was a bit careful. Or take a relaxing stroll along the small paths that lead through the rice paddies without having to constantly watch his back. It was an amount of rest he never realized until the possibility for it was so limited.

Even now, instead of keeping to the thick forest he could keep a low profile with his cloak on and he wouldn't have to worry. It all came down to psychology really. Or rather, how you displayed yourself. He walked in a straight, confident pose. Walking at a steady pace but keeping it relaxed. It was a trick he learned long ago. Walk somewhere as if you know what you're doing and no one will bat an eye. He casually nodded to a couple of pigs sitting on a bench at the roadside, who were talking a bit about their days on the fields, and returned their evening greet. He couldn't fight of a smirk. He could only imagine their reactions if they knew the 'flat-faced demon' had just wished them a pleasant evening.

An hour or two later in his cave, he felt more relaxed than he had for the past month. Things weren't alright, not by a long shot. But he had solved his problem of food, had two kind adults who saw him as a somewhat normal person that he could finally talk to, had something to do and had a possibility of learning more or retrieving information.

Not a small part of him saw the fact that he had now someone to speak to as his greatest achievement of the day. He had been alone for over a month now. Utterly alone, without a single human of even being for that matter that saw him as a somewhat decent creature. Never mind the burden of the knowledge he still held no fucking clue to what had exactly happened to him, or how to return. It had been driving him up the walls. Only now he realized how much he had craved even for a bit of social contact. Yup, this was definitely good for his sanity.

Really, he wasn't in a mood for sleeping now that he was a positive mood for a change! And he wouldn't waste that mood on doing some bring stuff that needed doing. No, he wanted to do something that would not be very doable during his usual brooding times. He began searching for his books. He might have been an experienced hiker and traveler that perfectly knew what he should and shouldn't take with him, he always had been stubborn on certain departments. If he was honest with himself he knew it balanced between a streak of vanity and guilty pleasure to take certain -unnecessary- things with him, extra weight and space be damned. One of those things were a few backs. Heaven knows they had saved his sanity multiple times over by now. As a great Tolkien fan he never went anywhere without his paperback (hardcover was too heavy and large) copies of 'the Hobbit', 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'the Silmarillion'. Still the same ones he had received for his eight birthday. It had been a gift from Sarah.

Sarah.

His sister. He was instantly brought into the harsh reality of his desolate situation once more, separated from his family. He opened 'the Hobbit' with a shaking hand to read a few lines that were written in it on a blank page in a neat script :

"To my little brother,
who happens to celebrate the day he came intruding upon the serenity and sanity of my life to destroy it mercilessly ever since.

I recommend you start with this thin one. Even for a hyperactive dunderhead as you, this should be manageable to complete. Maybe these will even raise your non-existent sense for culture up to a socially acceptable level, though I highly doubt it. Or you might take up reading, but that might send your brain into heat-danger from too much activity.

Happy Birthday, Alexander!

Love,
Sarah Jenssen, your big sister that can't get rid of you."

Up in his cave on the mountainside, the receiver of the gift smiled at the memory. Twelve years and he could still remember his giddiness when he learned some new insults. His sister had always managed to treat sarcasm and insults as if they were an art and he was no exception to her rule of including it in her every-day conversations.
His interpretation of raising the cultural bar ultimately ended up in him imitating a goblin for over a month. Honestly, what had she expected otherwise of eight-year-old him? As a compromise, he had taken up reading since.

Then, his eyes sprung open : he knew what he had to do. He fervently went searching between a few books, notepads, a sketchbook and a small box with a collection of postcards (proof of where he'd been) until -finally!- he found what he was looking for in the form of his diary.

Why had he forgotten it? How was it possible that with all the recent events he hadn't written in his journal for over a month? The reason he was reminded of it was that the vast majority of his entries were directed at the very person he'd been thinking about. He couldn't call her, and mailing wasn't much of an option either. So for the last two years, he had written down what he wanted to tell her in letters in the little book. It was another of her gifts. One that he intended to return to her one day, filled.

He opened it and reread some of his latest entries. Then he took his pen, and began to write on the creamy paper.

"Dear Sarah,

Sorry for not writing you for almost a month. But if I claim weird stuff has happened to me lately, it would the understatement of the millennium. Weirder than usual, anyway.

I was actually on my way to see you, down in Oslo. However, I was climbing to check a view a bit north of the smaller Geiranger fjord -you'd remember the place, we went there for holidays in the summer of 2004- when something happened. That 'something' happened to be a massive rock slide. It brought forth a fissure in the earth and I, being the idiot that I am, fell of course in said fissure. Yes, you can lecture me for it later. I'll blame it on the utter lack of good fortune in my life.

Anyhow, I evidently didn't die, even if I should have by all means. I woke up in a green field close to a picturesque valley, relatively unharmed. The catch is that the valley is in China, and most likely it isn't even our China. From what I've been able to gather, I am stranded in a different world of dimension, in a version of ancient China filled with anthropomorphic animals and a complete lack of anything human. There are also uncanny resemblances to the animation movie Kung Fu Panda.

Unfortunately, the world isn't as kind and dreamy as the movie suggests. Hatred, bigotry and fear based on the unknown aren't characteristics to be solely attributed to humanity anymore. Almost all my attempts at contact have ended in me being chased out as a monster, or a wild animal. Interesting change of perspective, but making life for me difficult as hell. However, I've been able to finally meet two wolves who do not seem to treat me as inferior or dangerous. I hope it stays that way. A month without any social contact and looking over your back is insane, even if it seems so comparable to what I've done for the last two years now. Them treating me normal undoubtedly is caused solely because I saved their cub, Xia from a burning building. And yes, it was dangerous to do so, keep it as a subject for lecturing round two.

Anyway, I will finish this entry with a bit of good news. While I do not have the faintest idea yet on how to reverse this process, or what has happened on your side, I seem to have a form of stability and a life-debt if I need it (though contemplating the offer makes me feel foul) for now.

Keep acing those master tests and your thesis. Oh, and give Marcus a punch in the face if he harasses or asks you out again. Somehow, I know he will. He's the dense lumbering type that won't take "no" for a comprehensible answer. Or just kick him in the balls, prevents a little Marcus for future generations. You'd probably be getting a shiny medal for it from the faculty. How that dork managed to end up in your class is something I'll never understand.

I'll write soon to keep you updated, even if you can't read it. Writing it down here for you eases my fears lulls my conscience though, so i'll keep doing it.

Love,
Alexander Jenssen.

Chapter Text

- Oslo, Norway - July 14th

It was exactly twenty past seven in the morning when a tall blonde woman pressed on the button of her coffee maker for an Espresso Ristretto – a small black coffee that was very intense, given a ten out of twelve on the scale of intenseness. It was an essential part of her morning routine and she dreaded the mere possibility of ever being without the Italian coffee and having to reduce herself to energy drinks or sodas. To be sure she had exactly thirty-seven spare boxes of ten capsules in each box to last an entire year, plus five slip-ups. One could never be too sure when it came to her precious coffee. The small white cup was filled under loud noise with the one weakness she allowed herself to divulge in, and she enjoyed it as intensely as her coffee.

Ten minutes later, at seven-thirty the backdoor opened and the young woman appeared on the terrace, out of her veranda, with a tray containing the rest of her breakfast to eat in the nice summer-weather. But she found herself to occupied with thoughts, theories and worries to simply enjoy it.

Sarah Jenssen sighed. She had accepted by now that her brother was definitely not simply sidetracked or delayed. He had truly gone missing. For a bit more than an estimated month now. And the reports that she had been able to gather, sometimes by making her contacts hack in servers, otherwise by pulling some strings, were contradicting, confusing and empty. Either some organizations purposefully made false records for their own reports and databases, or they were just as empty-handed and useless as she was feeling now.

Frustrated, she gathered her tray and put it in the kitchen. She'd clean it up later. She sat herself at the dark wooden table once more and took a pen and some blank paper. Her structured mind and punctuality didn't deal very well with the mystery she was presented with. She needed a base to work from and to deduct, to research. Large databases, libraries and archives were her homes.

"Okay, let's try to solve this puzzle once more…" she muttered as if the old house of her grandparents had ears.

"I know that he was checked in in a hotel in Alesund, which is roughly 500 kilometers or three hundred miles northeast of Oslo.
Going north doesn't make much sense, since it would be going close to the northern pole.
West is straight into the Norwegian sea.
Straight south along the coastline towards Bergen or even Stavanger is possible but doesn't match his phone signals, nor has there been any sign of him there.
Going south-east, towards me via Geiranger and then inland like what was planned is the logical option, and there were no operations, presences or activities that could have given him emergency reason to go a complete different direction.
He has not taken a plane or big train under any of his aliases, he has more than enough experience with wild animals to avoid encounters correctly and wouldn't take stupid risks for the heck of it close to his destination since he wants to lay low, there have been no recent criminal victims…
Alexander James Jenssen, you dum blodig tosk, what the hell are you doing to be so untraceable? Jeg savner deg…"

His phone had stopped sending any form of signal whatsoever. It had last been recorded near a high point east of the Geiranger fjord, where they had been as children in the summer of 2004… Sarah was relatively sure that the cause or trace would be found there, but so far there was absolutely nothing. A rock slide had found place. Had he really been crushed by tons and tons of falling granite, deep in some opened crack in the earth? The quick visual image of her brothers blood, darkly dripping from rocks, his hand visible while the rest of his body had been crushed beyond recognition almost caused her to throw up on the very moment.

"Calm down girl, calm the fuck down. He isn't dead like that, he can't be. He's not. He's NOT. Not until there is absolute proof and the local search team haven't found any trace of real victims. If he is wounded he would already have signaled long ago. He isn't dead, he is a survivor. He has just… disappeared." She mumbled.

She would keep searching until there was a sign. People don't just disappear from the face of the earth. Mysteries can always be resolved. It wasn't like a black hole had just swallowed him. She would find him.

She would find him, no matter what.

And then she would slap him in his face for making her wasting her time away from her thesis. Some free slaps in his face were the least he owed her.

- Valley of Peace

*CLANG. CLANG. BANG. CLANG. DING. BANG. BAM. CLING. CLANG. BONG. CLECK. BANG. BAM.*

It was a bright morning with a spotless sky that witnessed these rhythmic loud sounds coming from Feng's workshop, where he was fervently beating the metal with a hammer. After ten more hits the metal went back into the furnace. Panting, he stood a little bit back.

A week had passed since he had met that strange human. Alex had last week been helping him with wood-working, this week they would mainly spent by the furnace, smithing. He was curious how he would do. He planned to first run through the basics, and just tell him to watch the furnace and help with the rough builds for today. After that, they'd see in what part he could be the most useful.

He considered himself a very lucky craftsman/wolf. He had an assistant now for much cheaper than he would normally have to pay. An assistant that was eager to work even, or just liked to do something useful. That assistant also being damn useful. `

Agreed, Alex was by no means a master craftsman and would probably never be. He would need a lot of lessons, but he learned quickly and his long fingers were much more useful for finer work than his bigger paws. A small tool was better for detailing work than his claws or anything he could properly hold. No complaints or nagging. A frustrated huff and scowl was the only negative reaction so far. That alone made him better than three-quarters of the possible assistants. Gods, the last one complained two sodding weeks about some splinters in his paw.

But what amazed Feng far more was his knowledge. Or rather, lack there-of. He simply appeared to know so much things, mysteries and theories even that he mentioned very casually, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, while other very obvious things were completely unknown to him and required explanations.

Every once in a while he made comparisons or seemed to make a reference to something Feng didn't comprehend at all. Like why in the valley's name had he begun snickering at the mentioning number sixty-nine and his wife in one sentence?

That young man was a living mystery. He was intelligent, frighteningly so. But wherever he came from, it was a very weird place. Had to be, really.

His first real completed project was a small table for a rabbit family. The work went slow as expected, but the table was sturdy and smooth. That wasn't what had surprised him. Making a table wasn't exactly difficult. The ordered decorations was surprising. Some sort of weird layered pattern of flows weaving crisscross through each other.

Alex described most of the decorations as a 'classic Celtic style with some added waves' and described it as a style similarly used back in his country, long ago. Kara had listened fascinated about another Nordic culture that evening while Feng couldn't really give a shit about where it was or who invented it, it was damn beautiful and that mattered to him. What did all that 'Niflheim, Midgard and Asgard' bunch matter when he had a nice table? Besides, which godly realm named itself 'ass guard'? Really? Perhaps it was a necessary piece of armour or equipment over there. Or perhaps it was a job. He shuddered at the implications as to why someone had to guard his ass so heavily.

A prime example of the weird knowledge of his was a lesson he'd received. Feng was smart enough to realize the lesson he got on the so called 'golden ratio' was far more worth than ten tables. He was impressed by how 'right' and 'good' the table felt, and according to Alex the golden ratio was a mathematical number and relation designers and architects constantly used. He proceeded by explaining how it came back everywhere in nature. Feng had immediately started to measure everything, getting madly frustrated that the amused human was correct. But now he had knowledge no craftsman in China had. Wasn't he a lucky wolf?

What satisfied him even more was to see that Alex and Xia quickly became friends. The little girl simply adored him. She had wanted to tell all her friends her savior and hero was now her friend but a quick talk made her understand that was not a good idea. Alex acted very much at ease around her, he seemed less guarded and tense. He seemed like a much bigger mature brother if anything.

He was snapped out of his musings when a voice sounded from behind him.

"Good morning, Feng."

"What the- Alex! How long have you been standing behind me?"

"For the past sixteen minutes. You didn't notice me when stepping in you workshop. I was already waiting for you" the human said with a smirk.

"Why the blasted tits are you so early?"

One eyebrow raised towards the creative curse. He hadn't heard that one yet last week.
"I was up early, figured we'd start early" he responded with shrug of his shoulders.

"Riiiight… weird ass humans, getting up before they have to-" grumbled the wolf. Alex was already past caring. Past week had made a couple a things clear :

The wolf loved his job almost as much as his family. If he could get away with using the forge and its hellish noise in the night, he would do it. Unfortunately, that would mean waking up Kara which led to lesson number two :
never ever wake her up for something like that. Instant deathwish. As in, you wish were dead to escape her wrath. Feng did it at least twice a month, which brought up the arguable point of his sanity.
Past that she was a doting motherfigure, so he, the utterly alone poor lad, was 'suffering' from her attention. Much to Feng's continuous hilarity.
Xia was the cutest ball of talking fluff he'd ever seen.
And Feng saw insults as an art on par with his crafting.

"So, I figured t'day will be filled with glory at the forge! You're gonna learn to 'preciate seering heath, molten rock, loud hammering near your skull and white-burning coals!"

The human took a small step back, seemingly to think whether it wasn't better to take a knife and just make a table again.

"Ah, com'on. It isn't so bad! You simply have to learn. It's hard work for sure, but the results are marvels on its own. You have to feel it, the metal rebounding your hammer, releasing sizzling bright sparks when you guide its form into some new life under the music of the tinkering of the hammers, or the gliding of your polishing until it shines and sparkles like a mirror, happy to see the light! Oh, you will learn the wonders that or created in the forge, lad.

For a moment, golden twinkles filled the wolf's grey eyes like fireworks. Alex had to admit : the guy could give a motivation speech. Or it was the truly awesome swords behind his back he was gesturing at. The child in him, small as it was felt gleeful in the sight of such a fantasy, were those iconic weapons of knights were made. The seventy eight percent realistic side of him desperately wanted an apron, a pair of thick gloves and a welding mask big enough for body.

"anyway, we'll go over the sorts of metal t'day, the basis of hard and soft iron and steel, melting, forging, tempering and all that. Don't you worry too much yet, I'll give you clear and simple instructions. I'll even give you a safety crash course!" He pronounced the last part as if it was an enormously grand gesture of good will, rather than just making sure his brand new worker wouldn't lose his limbs.

An hour later, Alex was hammering rawer metal down to shake loose filth and impurities before moving it through the searing heat. His job today was simple enough to comprehend. Raw chunks of metal had to go through the first rough purify phase to get rid of rock, dirt and everything save the pure metal. The second round was Feng's for getting it fully pure.

Oh, and the safety crash course consisted full of useful tips as "don't touch the hot forge with your bare hands, it's kinda warm." For all he had scoffed at flight safety courses before the take-off of a plane, he really wished he had one right now. Or a "Forging one-o'-one". Or "Forging for Dummies".

The day passed on without much incidents and for all of the torture that the forge gave, he had to admit it. The hard work in the intense heat felt extremely satisfactory, like battling hell itself. The trip to his cave, while the cool breeze kissed him soundly felt like walking on clouds. The swim in the pool before his cave felt like heaven alright. You know that feeling of a cold shower after a very intense workout in the blistering summer-heath? Quadruple that satisfaction.

And he hadn't slept so well afterwards since he arrived here. He was just too tired. Strange how such ungrateful work (who thanks the one he purifies the ore outside the smith?) could grant such satisfaction.

The morning after, Feng was already waiting for him in the smithy. But most of the metal works seemed to have been moved a bit to the side. Bringing the large workbench more central in the workplace, with some other tools he did not recognize. Although, judging from the amounts of branches and wood on the side, they weren't going to be using the forge today.

"So Alex, what do you know of archery and bows?"

"A bit. I know a bit of the evolution that various bows have gone through, and some of the techniques, but not that much. Theory, mostly, I've never made one. I've shot a few times, but merely for recreation. I never took it up seriously. Why?"

Feng grinned. "I most likely need your help. I've no problem with crafting anything, but I'm not satisfied with my bows. They're either too heavy and crude to be effective, even if they are balanced fine. Or too small and twig-like to accomplish anything. You see, most folks here don't have the good build or physique for an archer. Pigs, geese and all those are too short. I rarely get to build on bows and I wanna experiment. You're a tall and straight fellow, you could try out a lot of bows easily."

"You're not much shorter then I am, Feng" Alex replied with a small frown.

"Aye, but we wolves don't got the straight build. We're all hunched over, for when we want to run on all fours. I can't stand as straight as you and possibly draw the string back as far as you, my spine won't allow that."

Alex nodded. He had observed inhabitants of the valley more than enough already last month and noticed differences with the biology he had learned of animals. Most were apparently partly or largely evolved like humans, while not losing the things that clearly defined them as a certain animal.
Most of those differences were probably in the shift towards anthropomorphic lives.

To walk upright, like a bipedal required an entirely different posture than most animals had. Felines and canines shouldn't be able to do it effectively. Sketches for the anatomy showed him that there had to be some middle way. It allowed animals that walked on all fours to have a different point of gravity to walk steadily on two legs, while not really shortening the spine or lengthening the hind legs.
He wryly thought back to a Jurassic Park quote : "Life always finds a way". Good thing it didn't apply to freaking giant reptiles in this case…

"Alright, you caught my interest. Bows it is then. What do you want of me?"

Feng looked like Christmas had come early.

"Great! Well, I noticed you've more talent as a designer and have a bunch of weird knowledge in general. If you could provide me with some designs of various bows we could discuss what would be most suited for you, experiment a bit with new toys. Afterwards, you can test 'em and see which one is the best to use and keep. Sound good?"

"Wait, you said you wanted to specifically design a bow for me? Not just the access to new designs? Why?" Alex asked, a bit confused.
He had already learned that Feng simply loved crafting and experimenting around, but to specifically craft for someone was done on orders for high-placed military or important people. Sometimes wealthy upper-class, who wanted something fancy.

"Kid, it is not that hard. You already helped me a lot out here. I want to do something in return. Even not considering that life-debt I owe you", he quickly added when he saw a protest forming.
"I love creating new stuff and weapons, and having you as a recipient is a new challenge that bursts of possibilities. And you know types of weapons that I simply have been itchin' for to make, but for which I hadn't founded a proper excuse yet. Get it?"

Alex nodded. Feng was going to make a bow, and perhaps other things, suited specifically for his needs and size. He could still be for god knows how long be stuck in this place. And he had regular encounters with bandits not too far from his cave, they seemed to prefer to approach villagers from the wilder forest part of the valley. The one in which he lived know.

And he could steal their weapons, sure, but they were completely unusable for him. The swords some pigs had carried could just as well have been broad curved letter-openers. Scratch that, at least most letter-openers could be used as a hidden stabbing knife, or used as a throwing knife. Those that the crocks used were blunt and far too heavy.

He had to face the ugly head of truth. He was going to be in fights, he was going to be in danger, and most animals in the valley would kill or harm or imprison him out of fear or prejudice. And a matching set of weapons, made for him? This was an opportunity to good to pass up.

"You're so reluctant. Is it that difficult to just accept some weapons that you'll be able to properly wield?" Feng asked, curious.

"I don't like fighting. I never imagined having to learn how to properly wield and fight with swords and bows. To be honest, I'm better at healing than fighting. At least I have experience with that" Alex answered with a bit of a laugh. Honestly, running around with a sword and bow constantly? It sounded as if he had landed in some role-playing game.

"You, a trained healer? Seriously?" Feng asked incredulously.

"What is so had about that to believe?"

"You don't strike me as the type. You seemed much more a capable fighter to me."

"Sorry to disappoint."

"Doesn't change my opinion of you, don't worry. I just didn't expect it, kid" he said grinning.

"And you're right. By standards and all that, I'm not a master or apprentice when it come to the arts of healing. My parents were thick with the healing sector and taught me a bit. Count to that two years of field work of voluntary aid in refugee camps or poor regions, and I'd say that gives me some credit. But I'm not familiar with many local situations or variables. Or its various sorts of citizens for that matter…

"Ah, don't worry about it kid. I shall turn you into an ass-whoopin' human who can hug an' heal his attackers later on!"

"Feng."

"What?"

"Don't call me 'kid'. You're not much older than I am." Alex grumbled. Honestly, he was twenty, creeping towards twenty-one. Young adult, perhaps, but no one was going to call him a kid.

"Whatever you wish, lad. Now, shall we get started on that bow and those designs or are we going to stand here until we're both mature adults?" the wolf asked cheekily with mirth in his eyes.

Alex groaned horrified. He'd just have to find a way to get him back. And 'mature adult' didn't sound very satisfactory either. As if he was some dry boring bureaucrat. But he did move himself behind a desk with scraps of paper, pencil and charcoal to begin his drawing session.

Twenty minutes later he was in deep discussion with a way too excited wolf. Christ, he looked like an overgrown monstrous puppy who had found his first stick.

"Aaaaalleeeeeeex!"

"What, wolf?" he answered, trying not to snap back.

"Are you even listening?"

"Yes I am! I'm simply not wetting myself over the prospect of seeing a bow with different curves!"

"Then why don't you explain why I cannot make that tall English longbow with a double recurve?" Feng complained.

"Because it would take ridiculously much strength to properly draw, not to mention my arms should be twice as long. Yes, it would send an long arrow on an accurate record distance, but the drawback would be far too heavy to be effective and functional. And I've seen those longbows, they are simply too long. They are not wieldable. Good for a defendable position perhaps, but I want to keep agile. I recommend making the bow a lot smaller but at least a recurve one. A reflex (double) recurve takes an awful lot of strength."

"Well this type here, that's a reflex recurve and it's small. But you complain that one is too small."

"Yes, that is mounted rider's bow. A Mongolian type, I think. Or at least used by the wild tribes of the eastern plains. West, for you. And this one is from the Hungarians of eastern Europe."

"So what do you want then? An average flatbow? That just won't do, you know." Feng said with a pout.

"No, I agree on that part. I do prefer a recurve, or even a reflex recurve bow, but then the limbs of the bow need to be made flatter, thinner to reduce the power needed to draw it and the curves cant' be ridiculously strong."

"Which will limit the speed of the arrow's flight. I'd leave it flat on the inside, but rounder on the outside – the front of the bow. That will reduce the drawback strength a bit, but will mainly leave the bow in general stronger. Don't worry, there'll be a middle way, kid."

"Feng, no 'kid', remember?"

"Whatever you say lad."

Alex gave an exasperated sigh and muttered a couple of words in a different language. He instantly vowed from now on, to switch his curses to another language. French or Norse should do. Feng was obviously more of a commoner's attitude and was not as close minded as the rest. But he had to remind himself that the rest wasn't, or did not appear to be so.

This was a medieval world, if not earlier. Insulting someone could have drastic consequences, especially if that someone had a higher status than him. Seeing as he had none, except being a free man, he had to watch what he said. A liberal slip of the tongue was a rather stupid cause to end up executed. If he cursed, which he would undoubtedly do, better to do so in another language. He could always invent some fake translation on the spot.

And it would annoy Feng incredibly if he didn't know what he was being insulted for. The wolf simply collected insults. Yup, definitely a good idea.

Meanwhile, Feng some the scowl on his assistants' face evolve into a pondering though and then into a gleeful smile that promised trouble. He returned to business-mode.

"What of a composite bow? Multiple materials?"

"Multiple materials? Of course there will be multiple materials in, kid! The handle and the ends have strengtheners on it."

"Yes, that is obvious, chiot petite, but I was talking about a layered one. You know, layers of laminated wood with various characteristics."

"Laminated layers of various materials? I sense some genius explanation coming that will give me years of inspiration!" Feng hadn't even registered the French words and was as enthusiastic as before. 'Chiot petite' was now an accurate description indeed.

"In short, recurve bows at home that are not used for hunting, but merely for recreational practice shooting at boards often consist of a heavy thick handle that is shaped especially for one hand position, with two slots for limbs to be shoved in. Those limbs consist out of laminated layers of wood, metal or other materials like fiberglass or carbon, although I have no idea how to make those last two. Therefore, the bow is small to transport at roughly a third of its full length and the limbs can potentially be replaced by others with various lengths, materials or strengths. Look, here is a basic sketch with the three separate parts."

At seeing the concept art and listening to the explanation, Feng stared with open mouth. A bow that could be taken apart for transportation, and be modified in parts to fit a situation's requirements? And a technique of thin flat wood layers, pressed together to take advantage of a material's advantage but rid it entirely of its weakness? It would take a lot of work to make one but the potential… this was groundbreaking. This could change the entire way bows were build. And all of it, potentially centuries of improvement came down to three casually explained sentences from this human next to him.

Said human was torn between a bit of amusement and worry at seeing the wolf stand there so stunned. 'I wish I could've impressed my teachers so easily' he thought. After a minute and some gentle pokes against his shoulder, Feng did not give the faintest sign of changing his expression any time soon.

'Oh dear, did I broke him?' he pondered. He really didn't want to explain this to Kara.

So Alex did the only thing he could do : he took a chair, sat down and began to wait and think.

It didn't really make sense. The bows. Composite bows, even in full layers had been around in the east from before the Gregorian calendar begun. So far, from what he had seen on technology he had assumed he was somewhere in the Ming dynasty, which spanned from the 14th till the mid-17th century. The chronological next one, the Qing dynasty, did not seem to fit; so Ming it was.

No western influence whatsoever, no technologies like the 15th century movable printing press by Gutenberg. Hell, the first printing presses were made by the Chinese as early as the year 1041 by the Han Chinese printer called Bi Sheng, or during the Goryeo dynasty in Korea. Some facts from his history courses that he remembered that were now rendered utterly useless except for drawing comparisons or having the ambition of providing Ancient Animal China ('AAC for short perhaps?') with a handwritten copy of Wikipedia articles concerning general history that had yet to happen. But if this wasn't around he had been wrong in his previous assessment and was much earlier in time, perhaps even before the roman empire.

No, that didn't make sense. The styles of building for common houses was way too high a standard for such an early period in time. Overall, quality of life didn't seem bad at all. That didn't follow such early history. Another conclusion formed itself. How can technologies that should be long known and standard during a certain period in time be missing, while other proof -the high quality of nearly everything- excluded that it could be long before said period of time? The conclusion was simple and frightening, since it rendered all his historical lessens nearly useless.

He was in a completely different timeline altogether.

Everything was different here, which meant that the order of technological (r)evolutions was not necessarily the same. The steam engine might be invented next week, while the guns would decide not to appear this century. Or millennium, given that the speed of technological improvement could no longer be a given fact too. Perhaps this world would, in ten thousand years still be stuck in its AAC phase. Wonderful. Just wonderful.

Perhaps writing a detailed timeline was not such a bad idea. If only so he didn't forget his own timeline.

Why had he even be searching for comparable points in time? He was in freaking animal land. AAC. A Dreamworks world. A fictive world. One invented for children, that could not escape the harshness that a reality brought with itself. He could almost hear the narrator say 'long ago, when animals still spoke…' what, was he in a point before recorded time? Every time he thought he had figured it out, he come upon contradicting proof. And it didn't even matter, for it would change nothing.

He breathed in and out for a couple of times to slow down his racing thoughts. No good in panicking here, in a forge next to the only creature in the whole valley that did see him as a sane creature, over mere theories. Let's just add them tonight to the rest. It could fit very nicely right behind Plato's allegory of the cave and before his theories about insanity or his mindscape somehow having warped what passed for reality now, which was another insanity theory, but with him having superpowers. You'd never know.

One hundred and sixty-seven seconds later, a certain canine gave signs of life. Huh, so he wasn't broken. 'Note to self : to stun a local, tell them something they don't know.'

"That's, that's… that's just AMAZING! Bows that can be taken apart on a whim! Bows that can be adapted to take down small bastards far off or big bastards nearby in a jiffy! Not to mention spare parts! Repairing would get so much easier! It'll be a challenge and take time, but for specialized models… ah Alex, bless your brain and your mouth for they have just committed more to geniality than all the other crafters last century!"

"It's alright Feng. But I would prefer it if you wouldn't spread all these things around to quickly, and not mention me overly much. I am willing to help you with your crafters' lust, not your blood lust."

"Ah, I see. Well, no fear from that! I want to experiment first before others get their hands on these ideas and create more beauties. Primarily, your beauty first. What kinda bow, then?"

"I don't really know outside what I'm describing you F-"

"Stop right there. Ah! I'm such a fool! You gotta feel it first. Feel the models before you decide the direction. For all I know, a recurve doesn't suit you at all. I've got a bow or twenty hanging on that sidewall over there. Hold 'em, stretch 'em, nock an arrow, feel 'em, you know the drill".

For the next twenty minutes, he observed the human holding his bows correcting his poses and loudly giving his pointers and opinions. One bow wasn't even allowed in his hands. It was a monstrosity, according to its creator. He sounded just like a French fashion-dresser, except his concerns were weapons rather than clothes. Or he could be Q from the AAC secret service.

"From what I've felt so far, this Kaiyuan bow feels very good. I like the model. The reflex curve isn't overdone, for strength, I think. Although I would prefer if these parts here, were more fluid. The actual recurve parts are too sharp here. Also, could they be moved more to the end of each limb? That way, there would be more maneuverability for position, and it is less likely to hit my face."

"Ah, yes, that would certainly be possible. This one was made for a tall fellow, a leopard once. I made it with a friend Gao Xiang. A fervent shooter, but he's in the imperial army now. Let's see… horn, bamboo and sinew composite around the recurve angles. I'm going to change the materials though. While horn is fine for securing ends and perhaps the handle, bamboo isn't going in. Not even as backing. And perhaps some metal swirls around it. I want to make this a work of art! Different angle and different wood, it would make the bow much stronger but it will end up a bit thicker than this one."

"A bit thicker is no problem, this one looks a bit frail. To frail for me at least. But I don't need a work of art Feng, let's focus on making a bow that functions first. Form follows function is an important design rule."

"Nonsense! While you are right that functionality comes first, I'm not going to waste this chance. This will be a beauty. Don't get a fit, it will be sparsely decorated. Overdone only weighs it down anyway. But bamboo is too light and too ugly. I'm thinking of a dark, warm wood like black walnut. Backing or not, I'll still decide. And then horn for the tips. I'll still have to think about the handgrip. Don't wanna make it too small like most of ours. Decoration can be limited to painted leaves or vines going around the wood a couple of times. Yes, that sounds excellent!"

"Feng, not to break your spirit, but isn't that too much? You sound as if you're going to make some invincible weapon for me. I'm not trained, remember? Why waste so much effort on someone like me?" Alex asked with confusion.
Suddenly getting a weapon that was the life's work of a master-smith sounded too much like some story 'in which a mysterious boy ends up saving everyone' for his liking. He was pretty sure he wasn't that boy. Nor did he want to be.

"You have a very low self-image, don't you?"

"No, I do not."

At this Feng raised an eyebrow. "Alex, you have apparently saved many people from sickness or wounds that would have taken them otherwise, without expecting a reward. You saved my little girl, the one thing in this world, save perhaps my wife, I would do everything for. You faced near-certain death to save someone not even of your own species. And you ask nothing in return except for what we would have tried to help with anyway. Say what you want, that's a hero."

"Feng, I'm not some fairytale hero with shining armor. I do not run in to save the day. I do not have the faintest desire to be a hero. Heroes are people of fictional stories, or end up dead. There is no real hero with a happy ending to his life.
I merely try do become a decent man of which my parents could be proud of. I do not seek for opportunities to help – I try to avoid them generally. But if I cannot do that, then I try to make myself useful if I can. It is simply what I do. What anyone would and should do. Do you think I'm some glorious monster-slayer and defender of pure virgins? I'd run away, if I didn't wet my undies first if faced with one. I use every advantage that I can get my hands one if it is necessary. Even if it is not decent."

He sighed. "I do not want to be here Feng. I want to be home, relaxing with a book, annoying my sister, perhaps try some new pick-up lines on girls in a bar and get drunk. If I could go home, right now, I would in a heartbeat. Hell, I would probably not even say goodbye to you, or thank you properly. I'm honest enough to admit that." His head went low.

"But I can't. I can't go home. I do not know how. I'm stuck in this place. I refuse to give up hope because I'm a stubborn fool. But until that time is there, I simply try to make best of what I can here. I try to live on. And that includes, given my stupid nature, helping people every once in a while."

"Which one?"

Eyebrows raised. "What?"

Feng looked utterly serious. "You said you'd run away if faced with 'one' and wet your undies. Did you mean the monster or the pure virgin?"

"Of ALL the things you could've picked up from my angst-filled monologue while I was pouring my heart out, you decide to be picky about that?". Alex asked simply astonished.

"What did you honestly expect me to do? Ha!" Feng roared his barking laugh. Then he got close and clasped Alex' shoulder steady in his paw.

"Alex, I did not expect you to be some hero like that. Never did, never will. You're a very honest guy to admit this so freely. You're a normal person-

Alex snorted.

-Well, as normal as anyone in your position can be and you help in what way you can when you can offer it. And you have already gone far beyond that for my daughter. You're a good guy and you try to make this world a better place. No one can ask more."

Alex blinked. 'Monologue 'I'm no hero' : failed.'

"And I can't speak for you parents, but I know that if my son would ever say that to me after doing what you did, I'd be the proudest father there'd be in the whole of sodding Asia."

Alex blinked again. 'Nice compliment though.'

And this bow is won't be my masterpiece. It is an experiment and challenge for me to build a bow with a new technique and design for someone who can utilize it far more than my usual costumers. Someone that I want to be able to defend himself. And don't forget that I'll need a lot of work from you too! It's your bow, so you work. You gave me designs and techniques worth a thousand bows.

Alex blinked once more. 'No heavenly weapon suddenly gifted by a divine messenger, thus less chance of him turning out to be some hero. Just a way to properly defend himself. Monologue didn't really fail then.' He could live with that.

"Now, you, get drawing! I want detailed sketches for at least fifteen designs, in all four positions as discussed! That's sixty correct drawings that I want before lunch! Hup, hup!"

Groan. Definitely work, no divine gift.

"Besides, Alex, what is a chiot petite?"

Laughter filled his ears. "I'll tell your wife this evening during mealtime. She might tell you."

With that, the human went to his desk, sat down, filled his head with inspiration from WETA workshop and went to work.

Chapter Text

- Chapter 6 : Concerning Humans.

Gongmen City, Council Palace, late morning.

"Again, should need arise you, know that you are always welcome here in Gongmen City, young friends and masters" a massive rhino with an engraved horn and a very high, heavy hammer said in a deep, booming voice.

"Thank you, Master Thundering Rhino. It was truly awesome to have trained in your halls with you, the Ferocious Master Croc and Master Storming Ox." Answered a giant panda, who still couldn't wrap his head around the fact he had trained for weeks with his heroes.

Thundering Rhino smiled and let out a softer, deep chuckle. The panda in front of him was not what he had expected of the Dragon Warrior at all. Croc and Ox had downright scoffed. But Po had defeated Tai Lung. Master Oogway had named him, and no one else the Dragon Warrior. And their respect for the ancient turtle had been, and still was, endless.

It was Oogway who had showed him the right path. For all three of them. Croc had been a bandit, Ox a ring-fighter and he a glory-seeking troublemaker. And now they were masters in the Kung Fu Council, heroes, almost revered amongst all of China. Who were they to question the decisions of the one who was the very founder of Kung Fu and showed them these lives of honor and worth?

Besides, he began to understand the wisdom of Master Oogway that he could not see as a brash youngster. Within Po was an enormous potential hidden. One only had to learn how to see that potential. Frankly, he was different.

Perhaps that was why Oogway named him the Dragon Warrior. The major part of him was not a great Dragon Warrior, but a fun-loving enthusiastic kind panda, noodle-making fanboy. And the Dragon Scroll had not changed that. He was ordinary, and in that lied his very strength. He did not seek the scroll, or its power.

"You are quite welcome, young dragon warrior." Thundering Rhino said with a smile. "Now, I believe it is best if you depart with your two friends, or the time gained by the morning will you be lost to you and you might run late."

"Hehe, we never run late!"

"Yea! Well, except big guy here when he spots food."

"Hey! Come one guys, that was one time!" Po complained to the familiar approaching figures of a grinning golden langur and smug-looking praying mantis.

"Like with the noodles those four times on the way here?"

"Or the dumplings? What was it? Seven times?"

"Five!"

"And then there were the cookies, the stew, the soup, the…"

"Ok, ok, we get the idea guys! Master Rhino said we best get going, so let's get going" the unfortunate panda broke Mantis off.

Master Thundering Rhino watched as the three went their way, away from the palace in Gongmen city towards the harbor. He smiled to himself and retreated to his chambers. He had taken the day of, unless an urgent matter required his attention he would not be disturbed.

Lowly humming a bit he hung one of his outer garment robes on the side and went to his desk to shove it open. Inside the desk were his few personal things. Little things that brought important memories with them. There were a few things he had of his father, the legendary master Flying Rhino, his diaries and others.

While rummaging a bit through it he suddenly felt the touch of something unfamiliar. He took it out to see a book unlike any other. Bound in an unknown smooth material, embossed and engraved in ways and details unknown. Rhino's eyes widened a bit in surprising recognition.

"Oh, I had almost forgotten you, my old friend."

It was the diary of the strangest person master Rhino had ever met in his life. A person unlike any other, both in physical terms and ways of thinking. And this strange person was probably his best friend, even though he'd known him only for a few months before he left again, never to be seen again. How long was it ago since they saved each other's lives in that particular encounter when they met? Nineteen, perhaps twenty years?

He opened the cracking book carefully and began to read.

This diary belongs to James Adam Jenssen and may you fall into an endless pit of despair and bitterness if you read this without my express permission. No, scratch that. You can fall into the pit anyway, seeing as I'll never give this book to anyone. Even if I did, I will still piss on your pillow if you read on. You're warned.

The old master chuckled. James had grumbled for days after giving him the diary, but then again, he left to a different place, never to return. Rhino couldn't tell anyone James knew of its contents, and no one here would believe Rhino if he told them about his friend.

Bought in Oslo, Paperwares inc. – printed in 1987. Was printed at the bottom. Rhino vaguely remembered James owning a house in a city called 'Oslo', somewhere in the far north-west.

Entry 1 :

Huh. A diary. Never figured I'd actually write in a thing like this. I don't really know what to write in this, besides perhaps mentioning my second child is on the way? It is a feeling that fills me with joy and pride. Sarah, my daughter of three, is going to get a little sibling to care for. My wife and love of my life, Elizabeth, wants a boy but I don't really care if it is a boy or a girl. I already love it and I couldn't care less about its gender. Since we don't know the gender yet, I've decided to refer to the unborn child as 'it'. Perhaps I'll even continue to call 'it' 'it' after it is born, since it is a very convenient name.

'It' is going to be most likely my final child as well. Both Elizabeth and I are not the best examples of parents because we do not always have continuous time for them, much as we wish we had. But right now I'm still in the healing division of the army, camping in the rain. I'll just have to make it up to them when I'm back for a few months. I just hope I will be back in time to be there when 'it' is born. I think I'll take my leave from the army after this mission as well, to go back on the path of science like my wife. I would be at home for the kid(s) and I could search further for my dream, to find cures and medicines for problematic illnesses.

We have already agreed on the name though. If 'it' is a girl we go for Rosaline after my grandmother. If it's a boy we'll name him after Emma's grandfather, Alexander.

If you read this, and you're not me, beware your pillow.

Thundering Rhino let out his booming laugh. He'd almost forgotten James' unique sense of humor. Calling his child, 'it'. Typical. He pondered for a moment. James was twenty-seven when they met so he had to be forty-seven, perhaps forty-eight now. And his children were no doubt already adults in their early twenties. 'How time flies', he mused. He turned the page and decided to use the whole day to completely revisit his memories of his old, strange, human friend.

Alexander James Jenssen could, despite all his troubles, not help but feel satisfied after two long weeks of experimenting, crafting, chafing, trying, testing, tuning and retrying his bow. But boy, was it ever satisfactory to finally shoot with the finished product.

Fifty nine inches of dark wood, just an inch short of five feet tall stood the bow in rest. Or one hundred forty-nine point eighty-six centimeters, depending on what scale you used.
Turned out Ancient China used feet and inches as sizes. The logic of why escaped him though, China had adopted the metric system rather than the imperial one on earth in modern times, it had never used the imperial one. The alternative scale did, curiously enough, match with that of the old china of his earth : the chi, bu and li. With one bu consisting of five chi, and one li of three hundred bu.
He didn't plan on using it though. Far too bothersome and not as practical as the metric or imperial scale.

Alexander recalled with fondness the first time Feng showed him the finished weapon. Well, he had a pretty good idea what it would look like of course, he designed it and put a lot of work in it after all. But when the rough build was finished and the final parts had to be done Alexander wasn't allowed to see it.

"Alex", Feng called, "It's time to be formally introduced to yer new partner." The slightly mad gleam in his eyes could either be very good or very bad.

"AND HERE SHE IS!" he proclaimed dramatically, while casting the protective cloth aside. "Isn't she a beauty?" he stated more than asked, as if agreeing wasn't even necessary.

"Black walnut as a base with a backing of Osage orange. Incredible material, that Osage is. Extremely durable, pliable, lasts forever without need for a single set and amazing compressing strength. It's a pity the wood doesn't come in long enough lengths for a full bow without weak points or knots in it. Besides it's too heavy for yer designs. But as backing for a main body of walnut, it'll do wonders for the reach and form." He sighed with fondness.

Alex stood still, jaw a bit slacked. It was in that moment that Alex finally began to understand to eagerness of the weapons-crafter. He suddenly understood. The moment to see your creation finally finished, to see a new work of art finalized, craving to be held, used, to hear the wood give that satisfying moaning grunt when its string was drawn, ready to send an arrow flying through the air with a high whistling sound.

He understood. He understood the meaning, the satisfaction, the essence of crafting. And Feng knew, Alex understood.

It was in that moment a truly unlikely friendship of a wolf and a man was formed.

"She is." Was all that he could mutter when he gingerly ran his fingers over the sober dark wood.

Right now, he was fervently training. He wanted, needed to master his bow as soon as possible. He couldn't allow himself to wait when he needed to fight for his life to train. By then, he needed to be able to fluently shoot and have enough accuracy to not waste his arrows. So there was only one solution.

Train. Train. Train. Train until his arm felt like it was on fire. And then train some. Besides, it meant he couldn't burn his hands at the forge or descend into a depression when thinking about his home at his cave.

"You draw slightly to high. Yer hand doesn't have to be in the exact middle, what matters is yer arrow is drawn straight. Now, by focusing too much on tha position of the center of your hand, your arrow is aimed a bit upwards. That's why you always hit above your targets, and why you're aiming below them to correct it."

Alex sighed. It was hard, trying to master a bow. Even if it was one made especially for him. The dark bow was perfect. It 'felt' perfectly balanced. Even holding it felt like slipping in a tailored tuxedo. Feng had outdone himself. But it was still only a bow. No bow suddenly grants the wielder skill. Hours and hours had he been practicing the last day and while he did notice a vast increase in skill -faster that he had dared to hope- it was the result of hard and painful work.

His first five miserable attempts didn't even reach the trees he had been aiming for. The next ten did hit a tree, but the wrong one. The sixteenth did hit it (just at the outer border) to have his next one fail by his bow slamming against his nose, making it bleed. Feng had barked laughs about it for the remainder of the day.

"Like this?" he shuffled his hand a mark down, so his arrow entered another guiding groove.

"Don't ask me, kid. Feel it yerself. Give it another try."

The response came by a whizzing sound and a sharp tud when the arrow embedded itself in the second circle, just two inches from the center away.

"Hah! Good one! I told ya' you'd be getting it down. You are progressing fast with all your effort. I doubt you'll have much difficulty skewering your enemies soon!"

"Indeed! It goes easier than I thought it would!" Alex exclaimed, satisfied.

"Oh, it's easy now, is it?" A sly grin formed. "Tell you what : you go back to your cave to practice. When you have five straight shots in the center from at least twenty yards away, you can come by for a good hearty dinner. Before then, I don't want to see yer face."

The rest of the week was filled with practicing on the various aspects near his cave, where he could practice without the risk of anyone spotting him. Aiming, releasing, drawing the string, positioning or drawing the arrows in fluid movements.

Feng was a good help, but could only do so much. He was no accomplished archer himself and his build was completely different from a human one. He knew his bows, but he couldn't do it himself. Alexander needed to find a balance for everything himself.

Straight stance, rolling the shoulders and let elbow and his arrow locked into a good firing position. From then on it was a matter of aiming, and correcting the shot in advance for the needed distance.

It was amazing how much one could progress in several days if you truly wanted to improve and fully put every waking hour in it. He already knew that fact though from personal experience. When he was travelling and helping people, he did not have the chance to study much. Experiencing that you could be robbed of the opportunity of learning and seeing so many who couldn't was a fantastic motivation. So he studied fervently when he could do so at every opportunity.

Position. Turning forty-five degrees with his body and instinctively brought forward one leg while finding a back grip with the other.

Draw. Right hand taking out an arrow and allow the weight of the point to make a three-quarters circle so it landed on the left side of the bow, while fumbling his fingers and nocking the shaft.

Lock. Bow moved upwards while string was drawn in one movement to save time. His bow was held a bit sideways, with the upper part to the right. It gave a perfect resting zone for the arrow.

Aim. Steady the along the shaft, aimed a bit below the upper border of the target.

Fire. Two finger relaxed. The hardened shaft released and flew at two hundred twenty feet per second before it buried itself straight into its target.

A tired smile showed on the face of the archer. His last five shots including this one were all straight on the mark. A week of non-stop practicing from dusk till dawn had its reward. Skill. Finally, he could defend himself properly. He was almost eager to encounter some brutal bandits that deserved shooting off. Almost.
If he wasn't so tired he would be berating himself for being eager to fight or be in danger but right now, he couldn't come to care.

He had a dinner to go to.

"Alex, could you tell me what 'chiot petite' means? My husband has been getting worked up about it for a week now." Kara asked, genuinely curious what it actually meant. Alex hadn't spilled it for two weeks now beyond that it was in a Romanic language called French

"Little puppy" Alex responded, low enough so Feng couldn't hear it. While the "insult" wasn't overly funny in itself, seeing Feng getting completely crazy over something so ridiculously small was. Kara's laugh seemed to agree with him.

"What? What? What does it mean Kara?" Feng asked hopefully that he would get the answer.

"I'll tell you. Eventually. Perhaps next year or something." She said slowly, still chuckling.

"Nooooooooooooo." Feng dropped to his knees in a rather dramatic fashion. Alex was reminded of the famous Darth Vader scene. The similarities were astonishing.

Chuckling, everybody sat down at the table and began to eat or engage in conversation. Alex found himself as most meals with the wolves in the center of the attention.

Feng was happy he had someone he could discuss his crafts, techniques and weapons with and he had another man his age to drink, joke and laugh with.
Kara was pleased Alex seemed to act mature and polite and was always interested in other cultures.
Little Xia was just enthusiastic that she had someone special to play with.

Feng's jokes got louder and more vulgar as the evening progressed. While Alex found them fantastic, he didn't really dare to laugh as much as he wanted to. He had seen Kara's eyes narrow more and more with each minute passing and felt

"Feng, emperor's sake, how can I ever learn our daughter decent lady-like behavior when she has you for a father? You'll probably take her for a drunken brawling session in your forge before she's ten!"

"Woman, I never drunken brawl in my forge! Either I brawl drunken, I drink near my forge, or I brawl near my forge, but NEVER all three at the same time! That would be irresponsible and dangerous!"

"Irresponsible? Pray tell, how could any of those combinations possibly be irresponsible or dangerous?" Alex asked in a face and tone that could pass for innocent curiosity, but he did not succeed in fully hiding his sarcastic tone. A part in the back of his head told him desperately to shut up to avoid the bomb that was growing in Kara's anger to burst, but he was unable to resist. Taking one look at Feng's complete ignorance of his wife's growling was enough to tell him it was too late to escape her rage now.

"Well, you could melt a part of your body or your face on the forge, it's rarely cold and that would leave an enormous angry scar, your fur could be lit on fire, a limb could get stuck or crushed between the moving hammers, the rotating claw-works could get your intestines out of you belly come against a spinning one, the skin and flesh could be filed of in seconds by the grinder to the bone, and there's this very messy-

"FENG!"

"What?"

"YOU'RE SCARING YOUR DAUGHTER!"

"ME? WOMAN, YOUR SHRIEKING IS WHAT GIVES US NIGHTMARES!"

"WHY DID YOU DESCRIBE SUCH GRUELING THINGS NEXT TO HER? SHE'S A CHILD, FENG!"

"BETTER TO BE SCARED THAN THAT SHE STUMBLES INTO THE FORGE AND DOES SOMETHING STUPID! BESIDES, I WAS JUST ANSWERING A QUESTION!"

"WHICH WAS OBVIOUSLY A TASTELESS JOKE, YOU MORONIC HAIRY FLEEBAG!"

At this point Alex tuned out of the conversation, even though it was not evident to do that with the amount of decibels produced by the shouting match next to him. While slightly amusing to watch, it was just plain awkward to sit at the same table with the family that was suddenly having a big row. He saw the little cub next to him looking a bit lost –not really understanding what they were shouting about. She only knew that she didn't like it and that it scared her.

After some internal debating to either jump in and try to stop them, just sit back and not intrude on family business or try to talk to Xia and distract her, he decided he simply had enough. Xia didn't need to see her parents like this, she was too young to understand big stupid arguments simply happened sometimes. And frankly, he had had enough as well. So he simply stood up and made a gesture to catch Xia's attention who turned her big pleading eyes on him. Alex took the little fluffy girl in his arms and walked quickly away from the table, up the stairs and into the child's room. He gently let her down on her bed and closed the door. It didn't shut out the shouting downstairs though, it muffled it at best.

Turning towards to cub again, he saw she was on the verge of crying. Tears already leaked out. So he did the only thing he could think of : he sat down and gently laid his hand on her shoulder, pulling her a little bit closer against him.

"Hey, are you alright, Xia?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"Why are baba and mama so angry Alex? Did- did I do something wrong? What is happening?"

Alex let out a soft curse. He would certainly speak to the young parents after this. Screaming to each other how to raise a daughter regarding grueling details shouldn't be done in front of said daughter.
"No Xia, you did absolutely nothing wrong. Your parents simply have a disagreement that they need to settle." He tried to reassure her.

"But if that's the only thing, than why are they so angry?"

"Sometimes people get a bit carried away Xia. I do not think your parents are truly angry at each other. It simply… escalated a bit. Your father didn't stop when your mother asked and your mother is a bit overreacting now. Everyone gets angry at each other every once in a while. Even the best of friends sometimes get in a row for a stupid reason."

"Then why didn't you stop them?"

"I- I do not think it was my place. Besides, if I had stopped it now, they might do it again later on. I think it is best to let them settle it themselves. Once they've calmed down, I'm sure they'll see how stupid it was to fight like this." Inwards, he found himself slightly uncomfortable at the pathetic excuse. Even though he thought it was true and for the best and that it wasn't his business, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty nonetheless for taking the cowardly way out. Not that he would let them know that.

"So mama and baba will stop fighting soon?"

"Oh yes, don't worry about it. Like I said, everyone fights sometimes. The part of realizing how stupid it is and making up afterwards is what makes good friendships. Do you think my parents never fought? Or my friends? Or the entire wars I used to have with my sister-"

He stopped abruptly. 'No, bad plan. Not going there. Xia doesn't need me to turn into an emotionally unstable wreck right now. Better distract her from all these explanations and just let her have some fun.'

"How about we do something in the meantime until your parents are done shouting? Do you want to play something?"

Her eyes lit up a bit. "Can you tell me a story?"

"A story? Huh, what kind of story?"

"Something about a brave girl who becomes a hero or something!"

Alex chuckled. The girl knew exactly what she wanted. And he had just the right story for her.

"Alright, I think I know one. My people have one story about a brave Chinese girl who supposedly saved all of China."

"Really?" Xia said amazed and ecstatic. She had already forgotten the diminishing shouts downstairs.

"Yes. It's about girl called 'Mulan'.
Mulan was a girl from the Fa family. The Fa family were one of the more prominent families of their village. And Mulan was of an age where she would be able to marry. But Mulan didn't want to marry at all. Mulan was very active, and didn't really care for the activities of a supposed "lady". Which caused her family great distress. They were afraid Mulan would not be considered good enough for a good husband for her. But everything changed on one dark night, when the moon shone bright and on the great wall the beacons were lit. They were lit because the great and threatening enemy had started to invade China. These Huns were led by one very big and very scary man : Shan Yu."

Roughly twenty minutes later Alex looked a bit fondly at the cub that was now deep asleep. So cute and innocent. His head turned sharply when the door opened slowly. Two adult wolves stood a bit hunched over in the doorway.

"Go down, I'll follow" Alex whispered. They understood and after the cub was in her bed, covered by a light blanket he walked out and joined the two adults downstairs.

Said adults looked a bit ashamed, their gazes cast down to the ground. Alex waited for them to say something.

"Alex, I- We- We're sorry. You shouldn't have seen us like that and it was stupid to have such an intense fight over a small thing."

Alex let them wait a while before he responded. "You should be sorry. But don't apologize to me. Apologize to your daughter. First thing tomorrow. " he said a bit toneless. Then he had to give them his thoughts more harshly. He had always had a bit of a weakness for children and had been caring for his neighboors' children often enough.

"What on earth were you thinking, beginning to fight like that in front of your daughter? Did you know that she was starting to think it was her fault somehow? That you both were angry at her? I understand people fight over stupid things sometimes, that it cannot always be avoided. But as parents I expected you somehow to have the sense not to do it in front of your daughter, for god's sake!"

Both wolves were taken a bit aback by his berating. He hadn't shouted and his voice was kept tight, but his tone had a cold sharpness that made them flinch. He had never dropped the polite, respectful approach towards them before, afraid of rejection. But it needed to be said and he wasn't in the mood for soft hushing.

"How- how is she?" Kara asked in a small voice. Feng just looked down.

He resumed his normal, lighter voice. "She'll be fine. I distracted her with a story and she fell asleep shortly after. Just make sure that she knows it was a one-time thing, that it had nothing to do with her and all will be well, I think. "

That seemed to greatly comfort the parents and brought them back to their normal happy self. A bit too quick for Alex' liking, but he decided not to mention it. He was not their elder or advisor, he had no business berating them any longer. Nor would they appreciate it, and the fear of rejection was still present enough to take matters with caution.

With that he said his goodbyes, thanked them for the meal and retreated for some rest in his familiar cave. He ran there quickly, not wanting to be spotted by anyone. He did not want to lead anyone near his cave. Not even the wolf family. It was the one place in the valley that he truly felt safe, and he was not going to give up that small security.

Alex woke up in his cave as usual, the cool deep rock making for a quiet and protective sleeping place. The coolness was perhaps his greatest comfort. It was summer in the valley, and it was hotter than he was used to. While he wasn't about to moan and whine at the hot sun he was very happy his sleeping and living place always had a fresh, cool temperature.

He stepped outside to take a dive in the natural pool in front of the cave. Another thing he was very grateful for. He was very sparingly with his soap. Whilst not as rare as say, during medieval Europe, it could still be considered a more luxurious product. That the pool allowed him to have a decent hygiene was a blessing.

Outside, it was oppressive, heavy weather. The air was heavy, burdensome and moist. Sweat almost instantly began to trickle on his forehead. He understood the signs correctly. Any confirmation he might have wanted came with a deep, booming thunder from the dark clouds.

A storm was approaching, fast. A typical tropical summer storm, most likely. Not too long, but very sudden and harsh. Until know the weather had been kind and calm, with a bit of soft rain sometimes in the night. It caused everything to stay so fresh and green in the valley. This storm however didn't look so pretty.

Hastily he retreated back inside his cave. The storm could be here in less than hour. With the speed the wind was getting it could just as well be half an hour. He constructed his tent properly in the back of the cave, on the highest point and secured it in place with a couple of heavy rocks. Then he put all his stuff and gear in it to keep it dry.

He thought for a moment and cursed. It was too late in the day because he mostly slept through it, and he wouldn't be able to cook something with this weather. Doing that in his tent wasn't a very bright idea either, the whole thing could catch fire and the cave wasn't deep enough for his liking. Water would probably come in and make it all impossible.

Ten minutes later he was running through the thick forest, his familiar grey backpack and emergency gear with him. Feng would probably hit him if he didn't have his bow and arrows with him so those were secured on his back as well. Using the straps on his backpack was much more comfortable than any other position.

Thunder was rumbling increasingly louder. The storm was approaching fast. He increased his rhythm once he crossed the river and the woods became more open. He wanted to be inside before the heavens broke loose and an ocean of water came pouring down. The winds were already hard enough.

Just when the clouds broke loose and the rain came smashing down he reached the familiar smithy. he stayed in the workplace for a moment, catching his breath. Then, out of security, like he did every time he left his cave or arrived at Feng's he used his sixth sense to check if the coast was clear. No one was nearby, beyond the familiar three presences of the wolves. Satisfied, he defied the storm by using a spare round metal shield from the smithy wall to defend himself against the aquatic attacks of the hurricane and dashed towards the front door.

Kara and Feng looked a bit surprised when they heard a couple of knocks coming from the door. Who in their right minds came through such a storm? Quickly opening the door, they saw Alex who was getting soaked.

"Alex, come in! What are you thinking, going outside in such bad weather?" Kara ushered the young man inside with a disapproving tone.

"I wasn't planning on it, but a part of my cave is lower and will most likely flood if it keeps storming. Otherwise the wind will already bring enough of the storm inside…" Alex' argument only brought forth a new wave of motherly worry.

"Your cave can flood? Ancestors, why didn't you tell us? You shouldn't live inside a cold and hard cave anyway, we told you you can use our spare room for as long as you want!"

"Kara, give him some time to breath, will you? Kid ran all the way here, let him catch his breath before you start your motherly tirade, no?" Feng noted with a grin from his seat by the fire, with Xia on his lap.

"Normally I would have no problems with my cave" Alex protested. "But the wind blows straight inside the entrance this time. My gear is packed on the higher spot in the back and while I could lie there too it would be a tight fit. Also, it would be near impossible to cook anything properly, and warm food is a comfort I didn't want to pass up right now. So I was hoping I could spend the duration of the storm here, or in the smithy if necessary…"

"Smithy, my word. Nonsense, you're more than welcome here anytime! Honestly, I'm glad you see some sense and stay here for a night in an actual bed inside an unhealthy cave!"

Alex wanted to continue to defend his trusted home. Honestly, it was clean, safe, packed with camping gear, and had a beautiful view. However, the cup of hot tea that was shoved in his hands was quickly deemed much more important than spending useless arguments.

"Alex, come on with me upstairs. I'll give you a spare set of clothing from Feng. It won't be a perfect fit, but it will do for a few hours, so your clothes can dry a bit and you can warm up. You already know which room is at your disposal. Alex thanked her profusely.

A bit later he found himself in dry, rough clothes. A simple brown short and greyish shirt held together by his own black leather belt. He hung his clothes over a chairs edge and put his bag on the side when he heard a strange, commanding voice downstairs. He used his sixth sense and found himself scared. He began to panic slightly, looking around him whether to jump out of the window and make a run for it, or await the confrontation with the one that had just entered.

He could clearly sense the presence of a tiger downstairs.

Roughly half a mile away, a tiger was cursing. Master Tigress had fought and chased some bandits away from the musicians village, as happened often enough. But the village was on one of the very borders of the valley and while she was returning to the jade palace she had be caught by the storm between two villages. She was getting cold, although she stubbornly refused to admit that to herself. There wasn't anywhere to hide or take shelter here. Her sight was reduced by the strong wind and it blew the rain harsh against her. She had no choice but to run as fast as she could on all fours to the palace and make some herbal tea to prevent sickness, but it was upwards and there were no shortcuts that were available going downwards.

She caught sight of a more solitary smithy and felt a bit of relief. Feng. She could rest there until the storm's intensity lessened. Feng and Tigress had a bit of an unspoken agreement.

Feng often gave Tigress extra information with identifying gear and weapons in search of criminals or missions, or new stuff to try out. The wolf had enough experience with recognizing nearly every type of metal, symbol and weapon in the entire Asian continent, or even the far Europe.

In return, Tigress had not mentioned anything about his few more unsavory years beyond the valley to anyone when it became clear he wanted a fresh start, away from his past.

What resulted was that after a period of tension they proved they could trust each other and treated each other more as equal friends in private rather than how his artisan class should defer to her Kung Fu Master status. That Feng and Kara treated her as a normal friend when not in public was something she secretly cherished. He was, in fact, her only actual friend outside of the five.

In quick strides she dug her claws in the wet earth and sprinted towards the door. She knocked with her heavy paw against the wood, and after some rumbling saw the face of a surprised wolf family.

"Master Tigress, what are you doing outside in the middle of a storm? Come in, come in!"

"I returned to the palace after dealing with a low bandit gang when the storm broke loose, Kara. Your house was nearby. Do you mind if I wait the storm out here?" she asked, while stepping inside, trying not to create a wet pool by the water that was dripping from her fur.

"N-No, no, of course not. Take a seat, and take some tea to warm you up! We've still left from our own pot and it's still hot." Feng responded.

Tigress nodded but already her trained in instincts begun to deduct the situation or irregularities.
Feng had stuttered in his first word. He never did that, unless he was nervous. Like when either Kara or herself threatened him. Most of the times, when he was hiding something, like a bottle or weapon inside.

"You're stuttering, wolf. What are you hiding this time?" she asked with a hint of a smile that went unseen. Catching him hiding things from Kara was something she never could resist.

Feng did tense up considerably. So he was hiding something. But from her side she saw something that she had not expected.

Kara had tensed up as well.

She didn't do that. By now, she should already have started to berate her husband or joined her in pressing Feng a bit to find out what ridiculous thing he did this time. That was all Tigress needed to know to confirm something was going.

"Feng, Kara, what is it that has you both so nervous?"

"It is nothing Master Tigress, don't worry about it." Feng tried to assure her.

"Are you certain it is nothing?" she pressed a bit.

"Just a bit tense with the storm, it's a big one, no? Xia has been a bit scared, if your cub is scared you always tense a bit up. It's a parent thing."

Tigress nodded slowly as if she bought it. All three knew it was a flat out lie and they knew the other one knew it too, but both Kara and Feng knew what it was apparently. If it was truly serious, they would have told her. If they commonly agreed, then it was perhaps just something private and not her business.

"Of course, I did not mean to pry."

"Ah, no harm done. But c'mon, you seriously need to warm up a little bit. Kara, could you get master Tigress here some tea?"

"Certainly, just let me get it of the fire."

Tigress breathed in deeply in an attempt to guess what kind of tea it was and the delicious smell of jasmine tea invaded her nostrils. Unfortunately, that was not the only thing she smelled. As most people knew, wet things smell much clearer. And barely sixteen minutes ago, a drenched Alex walked in the house and was currently changing clothes upstairs.

Immediately she jumped up and scanned her surroundings.

"Feng, he is here, isn't he? The same person that I was tracking and escaped me? This… 'Alex'" It was more a statement than a question. The smell came from upstairs.

She didn't wait for an answer as she jumped up the stairs faster than anyone could follow. She was faintly aware of Feng and Kara calling her to stop. She saw that the door of the spare room was not completely closed. She stepped inside, only to see the window stand open widely, allowing a bit of rain in. He had escaped her again.

She quickly scanned over his wet clothes. Strange pieces, and she was unsure of the material. The scent was strong on them. Neither bad nor good, but definitely strange and the same one she had tried to follow weeks ago

"Master Tigress, don't harm him, he has done no wrong!"

"I can't harm him Kara, seeing as he has already escaped the house before I entered the room." Only then it truly entered her mind. Feng and Kara had known about this mysterious savior for a while and kept it a secret.
"You've known about him for a while now haven't you?" her tone was slightly accusatory. Why hadn't they told her? Feng knew she would want to know about someone who could escape her in a wounded state.

"We didn't hide it from you, per se. We haven't seen ye since he approached us and no one asked us whether we had seen him or not afterwards."

Tigress couldn't resist a snort. The "lazy" excuse wouldn't work.

Feng sighed. "Look, let's go down, have a cup o' tea and I'll explain the situation to ya, alright?"

Tigress nodded and followed the two wolves downstairs.

No one heard the relieved sigh that came from the cupboard next to the window.

"Alright, spill it Feng."

"Alright, when did it start? The evening after Xia was saved from that inferno I was at the wreckage wondering what exactly had happened and wondering if the one I owed my daughter's life to was actually alive, or if he was buried a horrible death beneath all that.
On my way home, it was already dark, someone caught my attention from between the bushes. I'll admit I thought I was about to be robbed and mugged.
But whoever it was, he simply wanted to talk, he said. So I asked him why he didn't show himself. To which he replied 'I may look different'. He asked me just for a chance to let him explain and not attack him for it. When I agreed he stepped out, and introduced himself as Alex."

"So he approached you in a solitary place in the dark to simply introduce himself to you?" she asked incredulously.

"Hang on, hang on, I'll explain in a bit. Just give me some time, will you?"

Tigress nodded and gestured to go on.

"So, he introduced himself and after confirming he was Xia's savior he immediately asked how she had come out of the whole ordeal and he was relieved when I told him she was alright."

"So he did actually care how you daughter was faring? I guess that's a good thing…" Tigress thought out loud.

"It's certainly a good thing. At any rate, he had come out perfectly fine, not a scratch so I took him to our home to meet with Kara because I really wanted to thank him."

"He wasn't completely fine, dear. His arm and shoulder were wounded and bleeding. You failed to notice back then as well." Kara noted.

"You know I'm not the most observant of wolves, love. Now, Alex was invited in and treated and explained his situation to us, if a bit vague. Apparently he is stranded here and very far from home, and has no easy way of returning home. He had been around the valley for a good month but was running out of supplies. He came to ask us for advice."

"Wait, why can't he return home? Is he banished or not allowed?"

"No, don't think so. He rather implied that his home was very far away and he didn't know how to return. He didn't like to talk about it much. But he didn't ask for advice on that very much. He asked if he could work a bit for me or for someone in return for fair pay and supplies. Food and the like."

"He asked for work?" Tigress repeated. Now that, she had not expected.

"Yup. When I told him he could have anything I could offer because I owe him a lifedebt he plainly refused it. What was it he said? Ah yes, he said his people didn't have the concept of a lifedebt and he could in good conscience therefor not really just accept one. That it was his own choice to put himself in danger. That he'd be grateful for any help, but he didn't want to be a burden and he'd rather earn it."

Tigress thought that over. Blatantly refusing a lifedebt was extremely insulting to some. It indicated that the life that was saved wasn't worth saving. If he truly refused to accept the lifedebt out of good conscience because he'd feel like taking advantage then that was a very honorable act.

She was aware of Feng's wording though. 'Alex' had not confirmed the lifedebt was sealed. So he didn't plan on using it but kept it open in case he truly needed it. And by seemingly not planning on using it he had a steady trust and gratefulness from the family. He had it already by saving their daughter, but now he would even have it after the lifedebt was sealed because he was a good person. It was very cleverly and opportunistically played while still acting in a good and honorable way, she had to grudgingly admit. She returned to the matter at hand.

"Why didn't you tell him to go to the Jade Palace then? He would have answered our questions and in return Master Shifu could have helped him in finding his homeland."

"Actually, I did advise him on that."

"What, he flat out refused?"

"Uh, sort of?"

"Speak plainly, Feng. What do you mean?"

Feng sighed. He didn't really want to reveal all this about Alex. "You know I don't really like telling you all this. He didn't ask me to strictly shut up about it, but he did mention he would prefer me not to mention him… It feels as if I'm breaking his trust a bit here."

"If you simply explain in the most basic of terms I can at least understand why. I just need to know for the security of the valley, Feng." She didn't really want to press the wolves like this but she did feel like she needed to know. If he wasn't a criminal, which he didn't appear to be than what was there to be hidden so much?

"Oh, very well. He didn't want to because he didn't trust you all. He's a complete stranger in many ways. Apparently, he already tried to get normal contact in the villages, but he was shunned because he looks different. He didn't want to take the risk that you would think he was an enemy, simply because he's of a different kind of people. Add to that that the only time he met you was in front of an inferno and that you looked ready to interrogate him then and there and you get the idea, no?" Feng wisely did not say that he had insulted her and had fled from her glare of death. No need to remind her she had been insulted for slowing him down if it had slipped her mind.

Again, Tigress was surprised. And it did sort of make sense. If he indeed looked so different, the villagers would be unfamiliar with him and react distrustful and shun him for it. And she was distrustful of him at first too. Had he not done the right thing he was supposed to do? He had warned her that there were still people inside and she had just dismissed the idea because she was too focused on his strange posture and what she could make out of his looks in the dark. Oh, and because the mayor had given them false information too. How he had known that there were still children inside, and on which floors even was still questionable.

Perhaps it was not so unreasonable of him to not come knocking at the jade palace. And if he was such a stranger, perhaps the fame of her and the others as heroes had reached him less? And if he shunned the villages then he would not hear much of these stories either. He would be stuck in his own conclusions.

"Very well, you may have a point about why he didn't approach us. What else can you me about him? What is he exactly? Where does he stay? What sort of work does he then?"

"Let's see, he said his species was called humans. He mentioned staying somewhere on the border of the valley but nothing more specific other than that he lives alone, he values his privacy. He has been my assistant so far in woodworking and the smithy a few days each week. The kid is fantastic! He has so much knowledge, ideas and designs that he has me completely crazy for new stuff. Beyond that, I know that he gets in disagreements with bandits every so often and so far he hasn't been caught by them. He's a smart one, if anything." Feng simply couldn't hold back his glee when it came to the subject of his craft.

"And he's amazingly good with Xia. She loves to play with him and he never refuses her. Always patient, explaining things or telling stories. And he likes to think thinks over before he judges. We simply don't want to bring him in trouble because he is cautious. He doesn't like much attention." Kara added to her husband.

"I see." He didn't sound like a really bad person. He simple had a lot of unexplainable abilities or knowledge and tactics, while still appearing to be a decent and kind person who thought first and then acted accordingly, she analyzed.

How refreshing.

She blinked.

Unexplainable tactics, abilities, knowledge. A different code of honor and views upon everything, including possible morals. Truly unpredictable.

How dangerous.

"Very well. Could you tell him then that we want to speak with him? He is to come to the Jade Palace at the next moment he can after you tell him to."

Feng barked his laugh at her request.

"I will relay your message, but if you honestly think that you or I or anyone can make him go anywhere he doesn't want to be you're dead wrong. He's his own person Master Tigress. I don't think anyone could order him around if he doesn't agree with the order."

Tigress filed that information away, a bit moody. "Very well. The storm has blown over mostly, I have to return to Master Shifu. I'll see you around Feng, Kara."

She closed the door and returned to the palace. She was completely unaware that her entire conversation had been overheard by the very subject of it, who had simply remained in the cupboard. Or that Feng would be stuck laughing at for three hours straight.

"Inner peace. Inner Peace. Inner Peace. Inner Peace…"

An elderly red panda sat in his room repeating the same mantra. He had already mastered his inner peace shortly after the current dragon warrior, the much bigger panda, had defeated his adopted son. His greatest mistake. It finally put his fears to rest of the potential havoc and terror his greatest student could have unleashed upon the valley and China.

Even the Furious Five, arguably the greatest currently active Kung Fu team were swept aside with little difficulty by a Tai Lung who had been in a prison for twenty years without moving a single muscle and had run more than a week nonstop at high speed after defeating an entire rhino army.

Then again, his achievements before his fall had been legendary already. He was the only one who had mastered all thousand scrolls, and only took roughly twenty years for it, childhood included. And fifty scrolls per year, barely a week to master an entire Kung Fu style! In terms of power, talent and skill, the snow leopard could very well have turned out to be the greatest Kung Fu master of all times.

The rumors of the dragon scroll had spoken of unlimited and un-equaled power. How could he not have thought his son to be the future dragon warrior, even if he discarded the thoughts of his natural pride as a father? How could he not have been destined for greatness?

Oh, he had been. He had done great things. He had been a true hero once. But his greatness had only fueled his pride which resulted in arrogance. The arrogance that had destroyed so much. The arrogance that took Shifu's son and caused his fall.

The was the reason why he always said "humbleness is the true sign of a warrior". He had seen what mere arrogance and pride had resulted into.

And now he found himself finding rest in his familiar mantra, that finally gave him the rest he had sought for so long.

"inner Pea…"

" Master Shifu!" someone shouted while slamming his door aside. His sensitive ears could hear the wood crack in protest.

"Tigress, what is so urgent that you see the need to almost smash my door to bits during my meditations?" the slightly annoyed red panda asked.

That set her a bit back. She quickly bowed, a bit ashamed. But not enough to stop whatever was so urgent.

"Master Shifu, I have discovered more about the stranger that saved Feng's daughter from the burning house a couple of weeks ago!"

That peaked his curiosity. He had been as interested for information as Tigress for the mystery of the stranger. He had simply been more convinced that if it truly needed to be explained, it would do so itself in time.

"Really? What have you found out?" he asked, previous annoyance forgotten.

"He is indeed a young man called Alex. He is of a species that is called 'humans'. He has been living somewhere on the border of the valley. Where, I do not know. However, he has come into friendly contact with Feng's family and works occasionally for him as an assistant. For some reason, he is unable to go home."

"That is indeed interesting. Human you say? Hmm, I've never heard of a human before… I'll have to look through the scrolls and archives to see what I can find on them. What was your impression of him?"

"I did not actually met him." She said with a slight scowl. "I found his smell and confirmed that he had been staying at Feng's house. According to Feng he is honorable, has many talents and much strange knowledge but he wasn't really forthcoming."

"Why wasn't he forthcoming? I was under the impression you were friends and Feng regularly gave information on weapons."

"Feng felt he was breaking Alex' trust. For some reason Alex doesn't want to be known and asked Feng not to mention him. I have told him to relay a message that we desire to speak to Alex and that he has to come to the Jade Palace. Feng said he would relay the message but he feels neither he nor anyone else wouldn't be able to order Alex to do anything he wouldn't want to do anyway."

"Interesting. We already knew he had to have different abilities or knowledge and that he was intelligent. Otherwise, he would never have been able to save those younglings from the burning house or lose you while you were tracking him."

Tigress scowled again, slightly. That he managed to make her lose the trail like that, while he was even wounded for ancestors sakes, still hit a sore spot. And that he escaped her now again was no coincidence. It was one of her motivations why she wanted to find this human now, if only to solve the riddle so it didn't happen again.

"He is also the one who is at least partly responsible for lowering the bandit-attacks. I mentioned last week that they were lower than average, which doesn't make sense since it is not difficult to know most of us have not been in the valley. I would have expected them to all try their chances now.

"He has lowered the bandit attacks? How did he do that?" Shifu asked surprised.

"My guess is he doesn't wait until the bandits actually attack and the alarm is signaled but actively causes chaos in amongst their camps and ranks. Probably at night, or when they least expect it so he doesn't have to engage them in open combat. That way he makes them unable to properly function but doesn't put himself in too much danger."

"Interesting, very interesting. It is perhaps a good thing he did, otherwise it might have ran out of control. Very well, I suppose there is not much we can do anyway. If he will come, we will have our answers. Otherwise, they will come eventually. If Feng's words are true he's likely to be encountered again sometime. If anything, he has given me an excuse to organize the elder archives again. It has been far too long since that happened. Thank you, Tigress."

Tigress bowed to her master and made her way to the barracks, but was stopped by Shifu's voice.

"Tigress, go and make yourself some herbal tea. You could use it after such a storm."

Alexander was excited. He was almost on the entirely different border of the valley, on the southeastern side. His cave was in the northwest, near those higher mountain peaks. Those peaks were nearly impassable for anyone with numbers or with carts. There were no roads. It was the sole reason that specific part of the valley was uninhabited and wilder.

The only downsides were the fact he was indeed so alone. He could get no help, and even Feng was a nearly five-mile run further. He could reach it a thirty minute span by know, now that he knew the paths but it still left him exhausted to do it so fast.

But now, now he was in the south. He maneuvered carefully between the lush bamboo forests. There many more roads here. And more people. It was an ideal place to learn more of the valley's typical trade, how the roads functioned and what sort of travelers he could expect or had to watch out for. Most were simple trader folk, with their carts. There were guard patrols every once in a while, and the messengers, either of the empire, or of independent messenger organizations.

And of course there were the vague and shady types. He specifically marked those types down, to learn how to identify them quicker in the future and what their general habits and traits were.

Of course he wasn't so foolish as to come unarmed. This place was simply crawling with bandits. Here was the main trade line with the valley after all.

He hadn't taken his backpack with him. Too large. Rather, a large waist bag with extra side pockets, and a spare small one attached to his back and arrow-quiver. The Reason he was wearing them rather than his backpack was so to stay light on his feet and to avoid to be seen. Carrying his bow was enough of a hassle without worrying of keeping a backpack quiet.

His eyes glued to the road he soon enough found a sigh that greatly interested him when it was getting nearly dark with a red and orange sky and he was preparing to depart for his cave again. A snake and a crane bird walking (or slithering) towards the valley. With his binoculars he observed them carefully. A green tree viper with dark patterns and two small lotus flowers behind her head (he briefly wondered how they stayed in place, and whether she had glued them in place or not) and a black-necked crane with a classical rice hat.

And now he had seen two more members of the Furious Five. It looked like the time were he was safe from discovery was drawing to an end. Until now, it had only been Master Tigress who had been in the Valley, besides Shifu, but that guy rarely got outside the Jade Palace. He would not actively seek for Alex. But Tigress barely had searched for him because of her sole responsibility of keeping the valley secure of bandits and had still gotten frighteningly close. If she had heard his hearth beating like crazy last time with Feng there would have been no telling to how she would have reacted.

It was one of the reasons he actually got in his confrontations with bandits so regularly. He did kind of sought them out. She alone, could not be everywhere at once and could not stop all the bandits. The few guards present were frankly worthless and the people would cower and do nothing. By causing chaos in the bandit camps he gave her a bit of breathing room and there were less bandits in his area to discover his cave. Win-win situation. Well, if you discounted the fact that they sort of wanted to kill you if you attacked them. But most bandits had, with the exception for the leaders still the collective intelligence of a rock and could easily be intimidated by lights, tricks and chaos.

And now the other two most disciplined had returned as well. He had no illusions that the other thee would arrive soon too. Po was unlikely to stay away very long from his adoptive father. A future confrontation, or several, were unavoidable. He dreaded it. What if they would attack like the villagers had? They would probably kill or incapacitate him in a matter of seconds, probably breaking some of his bones in the process. His only chance was that they either were more open-minded and intelligent than all the villagers combined, or that they were so secure in their fighting skills they would not see him as a threat until he actually did something and thus give him a chance to gain their trust.

The only way to really avoid them was to get away from the valley and that was no option until he found a way home. He still needed access to the jade Palace library. If there was such a thing where he could get actual information, it would be there. And here he had Feng, Kara and Xia. Outside he had no one. And the five and Po were heroes, on the good side. Souls of platinum and all that. That had to count for something, no?

He was snapped out his thoughts when he felt his sixth sense tingling. There were more creatures present than just the two masters and him. Alex let out a hushed sigh and knew what was coming. Those bandits would be in an awfully large number, even for two masters. He could start shooting them from his hiding place in the backs. He reckoned he take out five, six before they'd find him.

And then they would most likely kill him. And even if they didn't, he could be branded murderer and executed for it. Not a good plan.

The other option was the walk away now and let them deal with it. A very attractive option, come to think of it.

No, those two were completely unaware. They had no warning, nothing. They carried no riches. Those bandit's weren't just bandits. They were either here to kill them and severely upset the complete security of the entire province, or they would try to capture them ransom or to make sure they couldn't interfere somewhere else. Kill wasn't very likely. He could sense -and smell- the boars and crocodiles from here. Neither boars nor crocodiles were elite assassins. Capture or delay, thus. So they were most likely simply overambitious or working for someone else. Probably both.

He suddenly had an idea. An amazingly stupid idea that would almost certainly get him in the thick of the fight and result in his death. But if it worked there would be no fight at all, and he could present himself very good to the two masters. That was an amazing potentially good result. He would just have use the approaching dark and to act very brave and very sure or stupid the next minutes.

And he really hoped that those bandits were stupider than his plan.

Crane and Viper had had a very successful couple of weeks behind them. They went to help in an outer series of villages and had completely stopped the raids and all the smugglers that were behind it. A perfect mission. To top it off, they had the entire way back for themselves, undisturbed. They could freely enjoy their relationship since master Shifu had let them -oh so subtly- know that he was aware of their relation and that as long as it didn't interfere with their training and responsibilities they could do as they pleased.

That was until almost thirty bandits jumped on them. They hadn't attacked yet but they knew out of experience they were in deep trouble. The bandits didn't seem so talented, but were making up for it with sheer numbers. And they were in a serious disadvantage by not sensing the ambush at all. To make matters worse, they had nets. Crane couldn't just fly away.

Just when they were about to just fight a number of bandits, and both Crane and Viper simply stood still in surprise, their jaws a bit slacked. The source of this was a single cloaked figure who came, armed with a bow and an arrow pointing at the leader walking almost in an overconfident nonchalant manner towards them and shouted loudly "If you all would kindly sod off I would be very appreciative!".

Both Crane and Viper, and several of the bandits did not comprehend how one person, armed or not, could be so stupid.

Thirty bandits, all armed. The two masters in severe disadvantage. And the guy stood there utterly alone without a care, arrow still pointed towards them and continued as if he had an army behind him.

"Are all boars and crocodiles utterly deaf? I told you to sod off. Both 'sod' and 'off' are only three letters, even your types should be able to comprehend that number."

"Just who do you think you are, to dare to command me on your own?" the crocodile leader sputtered. ''Fung', Crane thought. Never figured he would work together with someone, let alone boars. Then again, he has a point, that guy is utterly crazy and is going to get himself killed.' The next answer however, surprised him a bit.

"Who I think I am? I'm the captain of a force whose thirty-five bowmen are, at this very moment trained towards you. If you take an offensive action now, you will all be dead before you can take two steps. So I'm giving you a chance to live, by sodding of now."

"Wait, there are thirty-five bowmen 'ere?" "Where?" "They are hiding between the trees in the dark!" "We stand no chance against thirty-five!" and many more mutterings began to sound.

"EVERYBODY, SHUT UP!" Fung shouted. "He's obviously lying."

"Lying? How stupid are you? Do you really think I would just have walked up to you and your twenty-eight other scoundrels on my own if I did not have the men to back me up? Just who do you take me for? I'm a captain you idiot!" the figure responded in an incredulous tone, as if he could not believe Fung really came to such a conclusion.

"Damn, he's right!" "No one is tha' stupid." "I knew this job was a bad one from tha start." "If we run know, do ye think they would still shoot us?" "He's right, no one would walk up alone against us all!" the muttering became half-shouts.

"How do I know you're still not lying?" Fung asked again, still suspicious, while the boar-leader was desperately trying to get the men back under control..

"Very well, if you're truly that stupid I'll prove it to you. You see on your right side are two groups of seven and eight men, each led by their corporals. We have bright lights to communicate with us. Corporals four and five, could you give this idiot here a signal that you both actually exist so they will not squander their lives because their inability to flee for their lives?"

It was utterly quiet for a moment and exactly seven seconds later two small but incredible bright white lights began to shine.

"Oh shit, they are really 'ere!" "And tha' first three are still 'ere somew'ere too!" "I don't wanna get shot." "That's it, I'm out of 'ere!" "Save yerselves!" "Run fo' yer lives!"

Ten seconds later the lights ceased giving light but only Fung was still standing on the road.

"Oh dang, now it's three versus me, isn't it?"

"Thirty-eight versus you. Did you already forgot my thirty-five men, just because they ceased their light signal?"

That was more than enough to make the leader flee as fast as his little legs could carry him as well.

Viper and Crane couldn't really do anything but just be astonished. One moment they were completely surrounded and the next a captain of a hidden force scurries them all away by saying a couple of intimidating phrases.

"I don't know who you are stranger but you and your men have our most sincere thanks for your timely rescue." Viper exclaimed happily. Crane just hoped these weren't even worse. He hated arrows with a passion.

But both were stunned again when the tall stranger just fell to the floor with shaking knees and began to laugh hysterically –albeit with a nervous edge.

"P- Please d- don't tell me you are as stupid as those bandits!" he got out between some breaths when he tried to regain his posture and failed by just continuing to laugh.

"What do you mean, you did rescue us right? Or is this just a more professional murder party?" Crane asked a bit aggravated.

"You- you- mean to tell m-me, you really bought that as well? You really think I have an entire force here under my command?" Their shocked expressions brought forth a new wave of hilarity.

"You mean to tell us, the entire thing was nothing but a trick? A lie? That you are just here alone, and no one else is between those trees?"

"Indeed! One of the best bluffs I have ever played in my life!" the stranger sighed happily, still having trouble to stifle his laughter.

"But what about those lights? How did you do that?" Viper couldn't help but ask.

"Merely a timed light-trick. I attached a piece of rope to a small strip of magnesium and placed in the branches before I lit to ends of the ropes on fire. It took roughly two minutes for the flame to reach the magnesium, which gave a chemical reaction into the bright white light that you've seen. I used those two minutes to get in place and already intimidate them into the possibility while timing it off. Twenty seconds before the mark I called out to the supposed 'teams' to give a light while still talking."

Crane had never been so stunned since he had seen Po bounce around after master Shifu threw him around the training hall while Mantis and Monkey were taking bets. It had been a sight to behold. This guy had just, with nothing more than pure luck and a bit of talking, executed the stupidest plan he had ever heard of into one of pure brilliance.

"That was the stupidest idea I have ever heard of." He slowly said. It seemed to amuse the 'captain' to no end.

"Exactly! It was far too stupid for anyone to actually do, which is why it worked. By calling the mere possibility that I was standing there alone and that I was bluffing incredibly stupid they believed it. No one calls their own plan stupid in front of their enemies. I counted on that. The whole success came by nothing more than my false over-confidence. Even if I was there alone, no one would have gone so confidently and arrogantly with it as I did because it would be so stupid."

"Although I have to add that I was reckoning on the fact that those bandits were incredible stupid. If they had wanted to be captured as proof it would have blown up in my face." He added.

"Strange as your plan was, it still worked and you spared as a difficult fight that caught us unaware. We're still grateful."

"You're very welcome, Master Viper."

"Tell me, from where are you? I'm not familiar your accent. Actually I'm not familiar with anything about you. Just who are you?" Crane asked, now truly curious.

"I come from lands very far away, Master Crane. As for who I am, people call me Alex most of the times. I suppose that will do. If you want more information on what and how then you'd better find Master Tigress, she has recently uncovered a lot about my identity. Now, I apologize for cutting this short, but I truly need to return to my temporary home. I wish you both a fine evening."

With that Alex disappeared between the trees leaving behind two stunned Kung Fu Masters.

"Well, whatever type of welcome I had expected, it wasn't that." Crane dryly remarked.

"Tigress, come in. I have found something interesting concerning this human."

"What is it master?"

"Take a look yourself" he said while gesturing to an old tome.

Tigress observed it. It was thick, dusty and old. The title read 'Lost Wonders : Volume Two.' The description below offered more information. 'Creatures and Beings of legends, Myths and Folklore.'

"Turn to page eighty-seven."

Tigress did as asked and soon found the right page. It took her a bit of difficulty to read it, since it was an older form of mandarin script that was rarely used these days. The book had to be centuries old perhaps. When she successfully began to read however, her eyes opened wide and she was stunned.

Concerning Humans :

'Humans are a very strange animal species who seem closest towards the family of the primates, but even then vastly differ from them. They walk very straight, and their bodies have evolved in such a way for a completely bipedal posture. They stand between five and six foot tall. (Supposedly, the term 'foot' as a measurement came from the length of their feet, which are flat to give them more balance.) They have often little to no fur at all, except on their heads.
Humans seem physically not much of a threat because they lack decent claws or teeth, but should not be underestimated once they get an advantage.

Humans are a very contradictory and almost impossible to predict as a species. Where almost any species in general has some specific personality traits, like the temperamental tiger, or the serene turtle this is not the case with humans. If you put six humans in a room, and present them with a situation, you would most likely get six entirely different opinions and reactions.

Their main strength comes undoubtedly from their intelligence. The very first form of civilization was in fact created by humans, and many of the everyday things we use today, are of their creations and concepts. Candles, baskets, carts, mechanisms, clothes, terms, even trade and some laws seem to have been based on what they created before any other. Our lore says the dragons gave us the means and knowledge to do it, but how this is in relation to human crafts that date before our time is unknown. Some of their works should still exist in a few remnants of ruins scattered in the wilderness. Because of this some people call them, the ones who came before. For a while, they were even depicted as the manifestations or messengers of the gods or the dragons.

The best proof of their early advancements and existence is actually the base of a city on which Shanghai has been built. The area of the emperor has barely changed over time because its foundations are set upon the very center of one of their cities. A few unexplainable chambers have been found once below current Gongmen City as well, but they have been destroyed to make place for new basements.

Around the time animals began to truly live in a society and civilization like today's, something happened which caused all but a few humans to disappear, along with their ruling society. Those few who remained lessened in the next generations, until they were hunted down and made extinct by emperor Hun Siotamo, almost 1700 years ago. No human has been sighted with proof since then in Asia or any known other place in the world. While their existence has officially been called a myth there is too much proof to just ignore. Theories vary greatly between an exodus to an unknown part of the world, war, a disease that only affected their kind, the wrath of the gods and dragons they turned away from or that they ascended towards another place or world.'

- Historian and researcher Sun Tze

Tigress sat there, a bit baffled at the information load she just received. Thousands of questions began to whirl through her mind. She was only snapped back to the present by her master's voice.

"I think that this human has just become a bit more interesting."

Chapter Text

The gong sounded over the valley, reflecting the warming golden rays of the giant flaming ball somewhere in space to announce the dawn. Barely seconds after, five figures came quickly through their doors, bowed strictly and said all together "Good morning, Master!" to the small red panda who gave no reaction in return but merely waited.

Thirty-seven seconds later they observed a figure, whom could best be described as a giant black and white blob of cuddly fluff, came crawling through the opening. His groan sounded as if he'd just been raised from the dead.

"You are thirty seven seconds late panda. Also, try to stand up properly and cease imitating a dying snail, if you will. It is degenerative to your species as a whole." The red panda said dryly, with only a hint of sternness behind it. He could have used the same tone to casually observe the weather. For all his newfound motivation for Po, insulting him every now and then was still a given fact. A remainder of the snarky sadistic side of his.

The grandmaster then returned the greeting to his students and walked with them to the kitchens for breakfast, surprising his students a bit. Master Shifu didn't join them very often for breakfast, or meals in general. He usually ate alone. After collective eating, he began to speak once more.

"Mantis, how was the situation there, concerning the council? Have they dealt with the recent uprising of those extremists?"

"All went well, we think. The situation had largely been disbanded when we arrived, and we provided necessary presence the guards could not spare. The extremist demanded that the city was to be ruled by someone that had claim to the throne, rather than the council. They mentioned the exiled Lord Sheng as a candidate but it was clear that he, wherever he is, had nothing to do with this. The emperor's seal for the council made them shut up."

"The masters Rhino, Croc and Ox were the actual masters there as a constant presence from the council. The others were more temporary in their stay, like master Hao. There were roughly twenty students, ready to do their master tests in between two and four years from now, in terms of technique mastery." Mantis reported. He had the most experience with the council from the three and if you discounted his more-often-than-not vulgar language was the best fit from them to deal with such matters.

"Good. Gongmen is one of the major ports. Violent unrest is not something it needs for the trade. Monkey. How was your training with the other masters in Gongmen City and its academy?"

"All went fluid. We mainly spent are time giving them correct basics of our styles, and sparring on minor points with masters Ox and Croc. Two versus two, or single combat. Master Rhino also joined us a few times for three versus three. We all improved in weapon trainings."

"Good. Have you anything to add, Po?"

"No master, except that it surprised me how different their styles were."

"Which is one of the main reasons I sent you with Mantis and Monkey. You now know more of the inner workings of the council, its representations and you could train against different styles on different levels." Shifu explained to his eager student. Po was a natural talent, but he needed experience. Having the chance to observe the more delicate parts of a mission from higher authority, he now knew who, how and why concerning these authority figures. The training experience in different styles was just a bonus.

"Viper, Crane. How was your mission concerning the outer villages?"

"We had little trouble. The bandits have been dispatched, on the organization behind them they planned everything is broken. The two leaders have been sent to Chorchom prison, while others are more in local, lighter prisons. The light members who did very little are working in community service."

"However, something weird did happen on our return, just in the southern border of the valley. We were ambushed by Fung and nearly thirty bandits, all in superior positioning. But with a trick, all of them were scurried away by a very weird stranger…"

He stopped when he saw Shifu's hand. Apparently his master had caught the gist of it.

"There is a reason I joined you here for breakfast today beyond the ordinary, because there is something more general I wanted to discuss with you than your mission reports. Tigress already knows of what I speak, for it began to appear while you five where away for you training or other responsibilities."

"Very well, what is the problem in the valley?" asked Crane, voicing their question.

"What indeed. Although that question can now more easily be replaced with who."

"Is there a new bandit leader then?" wondered monkey, going for the obvious.

"Not really. Tigress, would you explain?" Tigress nodded and started the tale.

"Roughly a month ago a fire raged on of the outer village buildings. The people were out when we arrived, to our information from the mayor. However, a tall, strangely clad person appeared, claiming there were still two inside. When I pressed for more information, he simply ran into the house. He emerged soon with a young lamb, confirming what he said and went back in to save the second. During his rescue attempt the building collapsed and he seemed to have gone down with it. However, the wolf cub that he did save had some interesting, if limited, knowledge :
We know that according to her descriptions he was a creature unlike any we had heard of in these parts, and that he was certainly not of the valley. She called him 'Alex'."

Everyone was enraptured in the story they had missed. Crane and Viper gave a sign of recognition at the name 'Alex'.

"This is his cloak we found at the burning remains that he used inside the building as a protection. It is made in a material and process that I know not of, but it is very strong. Somehow it cannot burn and flames barely hurt or darken it and it is just as functional as a water-bag. Water and air can't leak through at all." Shifu explained while showing them the folded stiff white piece. "Mantis, you are more of a technical expert. What would you say of this?"

After some curious prodding, Mantis seemed to assess himself. "It seems to me it is a multi-layered cloth, woven very densely. More interesting is the clear layer over it, on both sides. I don't know what sort of layer that is, but I would place my bet that it is some sort of hardened chemical concoction, what makes it so stiff and heavy. What or how to produce such a thing though? No clue here."

Tigress continued her report. "Soon, after his bag disappeared we found his tracks and blood, we knew he was still alive. When I followed his trail, he managed to completely disrupt it and vanished, despite being wounded and bleeding." A small scowl she could not hold back over this, that her tracker skills, her natural hunter side had been humiliated like that.

"Wait, just so we're clear. He made you lose the trail while wounded and bleeding, and not even originating from the valley?" Mantis simply couldn't resist. Tigress' glare in response was positively murderous. Both Monkey and Mantis silently decided the poor guy had better done some crimes in the meantime to at least deserve whatever wrath Tigress was going to inflict upon him.

"For a long while we heard nothing of him, except the occasional rumour of a dangerous strange figure, but outside of a few more disruptions in the bandit raids and camps we found nothing of a trace of him. Interrogations were not always useful, since whoever did it acted through stealth. Many were convinced it was a ghost or spirit bent on revenge on the living, some thought it was a dark mage or even a being of a heathen god. Others insisted it was the captain and guardian of a force of many trained wardens. An assassin is also another rumour, but we've had few casualties to speak of and no real results to support that theory. All mentioned theories, save perhaps the captain were too outlandish to take seriously."

"But recently, when I visited Feng the blacksmith for dry shelter during a storm his smell was all over the house. He was gone before I spotted him, out of the window, but Feng explained some mysteries to me. Apparently, 'Alex' is a human, and has been working as his assistant since the fire where the wolf cub he saved was Feng's daughter. He has not sought contact with the rest of the valley. But I do know that he hails from far away, and somehow is unable to go home. He holds himself to different knowledge, customs and possibly even laws and morals than us. He doesn't appear to be a criminal, but he holds no known allegiance except his own."

"When I asked Feng why he hasn't come to us yet, regarding his problem, he stated Alex doesn't trust anyone. I told Feng to relay a message for him to come here as soon as possible, but I don't expect this human will come on his own. This is the information we have found in the archives though, regarding humans. It sheds a whole new light on the matter." She finished, opening the book.

After the five readers had finished, they were at least as equally stunned as Tigress was at the time.

"Soooo… To put it simple : a guy of a super intelligent species, which invented nearly everything we know today and once ruled the world who went poof and were made extinct, shows up in the valley after nobody saw 'em for centuries, saves a cub, loses a following Tigress twice and disrupts banditry?" Mantis asked.

"Assuming this is correct, yes. It does explain things like his cloak." Viper said.

"THAT'S SO AWESOME!" Po shouted while everyone winced for a moment at the sudden shout. "I bet he knows like super-secret stuff that would make us even stronger and make us even more awesome then we already are! Oooh, I can't wait until he tell all his secrets and techniques and…" at this point, Po fainted and fell back. Viper, being the mother hen of the group wanted to check on him but was stopped by Monkey.

"Don't mind him, he'll be back to normal soon enough" Monkey put in, not worried about Po's fainting at all.

"Or whatever's normal for that guy.." Mantis muttered.

"And this does explain what happened to us on the road." Crane said, to go back on topic again.

"What happened?" Shifu inquired.

"We met Alex. Like we said, we were surrounded by Fung and his men, a small thirty in total when this 'Alex' just walks towards them and tells them to run away. When they laughed, he completely bluffed his way through with an intimidation tactic that I still do not understand how it worked."

Crane took over from Viper. "We didn't understand it because it was too stupid to actually expect to work. He simply shouted confidently without a care that he was the captain of three dozen warriors who had their bows trained on Fung's party. With a faked light signal towards one of his supposed squads, which was just an alchemical trick attached to a tree, he somehow made thirty bandits believe all that and they ran away, leaving Fung all alone who followed soon after. All because of one guy with a bow, a little light-trick and sheer arrogance."

Mantis and Monkey found it a fantastical story and simply laid themselves laughing and cackling on the table. This woke Po up, who somehow had followed it all and he joined in.
Shifu, once over his surprise allowed himself a chuckle over such an unconventional tactic, and in slight relief that his students came out alright. If it was true, he'd have to thank the human. And perhaps inquire about the general stupidity of his plans, too.
The laughing was infective and Viper found herself giggling again while Crane was trying to hide an amused snort. It was quite a fantastical memory after all.
Tigress face was a disbelieving. She put it down as an incredible foolish and stupid plan that worked through sheer dumb luck, but allowed to give the human a tiny bit of slack for the fact that he did help her friends in a dangerous spot and as stupid as it was, it did work.

"I think it's clear that while this human is an enigma, he does not seem to be an enemy of the jade palace or the valley. Otherwise, he would never have helped out Crane and Viper so openly. However, he does remain a mystery and this scroll speaks of disturbing things concerning his kind. I do not want you to hunt him down or needlessly harm him. But I do want you, if you find traces of him to convince him to at least come and talk to me. It can clear up these large mysteries and allow us to focus on our training and routines, I can thank him and possibly help him sort out the problem he seems to have."
"Also, there's no need to go and stand guard at Feng's house in the hopes of catching him." he mentioned, while that same idea had already formed in Tigress' head. "If he is as evasive as he seems to be I have no doubt it will be pointless waste of time, and we would lose the only one in the valley who is on known friendly terms with him. This way we still have one mutual contact if it is necessary. Clear?"

A chorus of "yes, master" followed and with that, the red panda moved on and began to discuss their training and duties again.

"Alex! Have I told you t'day that ye're my favourite human?" Feng exclaimed grinning during an explanation Alex gave him on new technical solutions behind large bridge mechanisms, how gravity worked in on them and how to calculate its physics.

Said human scoffed. "I am the only human you have ever met or will ever meet, wolf. And I'm not your human."

"Still my favourite assistant then."

"Not very hard, considering no other potential assistant knows even ten percent of the stuff I've already taught you, works decent, and babysits Xia. And certainly not for an average pay." The scoff had been replaced by an amused expression by now.

"Ye're not good at accepting compliments, are ye?"

"Finally caught on, have you? What a smart dog you are, Feng. Kara must be so proud!" He started to use that horrifying baby-tone that most people use on their cute pet.

"Alright, ye can quit now."

"Laughs aside, what is you want from me?"

"Why do ye think I want something from ye?"

"You have used that phrase several times already in the last weeks, and it is always followed by some request or question. You are a genius at your crafts Feng, but you're slightly predictable sometimes."

"…"

"…"

"Ye know, have I ever told ye that ye're so clever it's scary? Brilliant, but scary?"

"Yes you did. Two times now, this one not included, the previous one after you said I was your favourite human two days ago." Alex' grin widened.

"Alright, now ye're starting t' scare me. Really."

"Good. Now get to the point Feng, what is it you wanted to ask?"

"Ancestors, ye're a better interrogator then me wife." Feng muttered. "But to get down to it : there's a festival soon, in a few days. The Midsummer's Feast. Kara and I thought it would be good fer ye to come with us and forget all yer stiffness and tenseness for a bit. Ye know, relax some, have a drink, talk and sit back, be amongst the people! Have some fun! Ye'll feel loads better if ye unwind every once on a while."

Now there was an extremely attractive idea. To just have an evening of fun with two friends in the middle of a feasting, happy town, drink and laugh and meet some new faces… He used to be really social. Always going for activities, parties, meet new friends before he started travelling. 'The town and valley will be lovely' he thought. Everywhere would be colourful lights and games and laughing… If only.

He knew his lack of social contact was really beginning to bother him. He had no problem with being alone most of the time, but he did it by choice. Being rejected by an entire valley hurt. Which was weird, seeing as Alex generally didn't care much about what others thought of him. They weren't even human. Why did he care? The annoying analysing part of him told him it was because he wasn't disliked by persons, or even organizations, but by an entire society. Everyone hated him, feared him. For no reason at all but prejudice and acting out of fear for the unknown. Oh, and it blocked him in a way from learning how to get home.

He knew he couldn't go. But damn, he wished he could.

"I don't think that's a very wise idea, Feng." Alex said lightly, hiding his actual desire.

"Aw come on! Ye need to relax Alex. Yer going on all tense and cautious and alone for what, two months now? Without reprieve?

At this Alex tensed. Feng wasn't as ignorant as he seemed to be.
"I am fine Feng. I can't go risk my safety and everything else for a little party." He said, his voice tighter this time.

"No yer not! Yer not fine. I can see it, don't think I don't. Ye're someone who is cut off from his home without any friendly or known face. Of course ye feel alone. But ye can't fight that by putting on a mask or acting all light! Ye can't fight that battle alone."

"And what of the potential danger Feng? The entire valley, even if they barely know what I look like is out for my blood! They could kill or imprison me before I could possibly escape, and watching from the shadows is almost as dangerous as it is useless!" Alex heated up. He would not allow that simple wolf to point him his fears and desires out like this, as if he was a child!

"Then what? Alex, it's a masked ball! You don't have to show yerself! People will be all dressed up in weird story characters the whole evening! Ye could perfectly hide yerself and none would notice."

Damn. He could dress up, completely covered and none would be surprised by it. His arguments against it were rapidly failing. He had sat a month in a cave, and nothing came from it outside loneliness and back pain from the hard ground. Things only changed when he took a stupid risk to save Xia.
Now he had been more than a month in Feng's presence, and while it was already a lot better to know Feng, Kara and Xia and things had definitely improved, he was no step closer to getting home.
And wasn't the risk here a lot smaller than his previous escapades? Running into a burning building twice and jumping from the same building, engaging thirty bandits with nothing but a bluff… or going to a general open festival in a disguise when no one would look beyond it because he was expected to be unrecognizable? There was only one outcome now…

"Alright, alright, I will go! But I will go disguised, and not under my name, understand? You do not call me human or Alex, you do not hint you know what a human is, nothing. I am just an acquaintance."

"That's okay with us. Then what should we call you in company or public?"

"Mulan!" shouted an enthusiastic wolf cub. Mulan had quickly become her new favourite story, and Alex had been hard-pressed to invent a sequel. Unfortunately, he had never seen the Disney sequel. Or to his greater regrets, Kung Fu Panda 2. Now that would have helped him…

"Xia, Mulan is a girl's name." Alex responded deadpan.

"How about Chang?" Kara asked.

"No, not going to happen. In fact, Chinese names, or most Asian names won't work." Alex answered with a small scowl.

"Why not?" Feng asked, his brow raised.

"While a Chinese name might help me blend in initially, I don't feel any recognition towards it. I probably wouldn't react when necessary like a normal person if you called me that and it would be seen."

"Bah, ye're too smart to make mistakes like tha'." Feng interrupted, but Alex went on.

"The second reason is that I don't know enough to keep up a good façade like that. I know barely anything about Chinese culture, and what I know seems to be partially wrong here. If someone would ask or search through and through, I would have to lie a lot, or guess. They will immediately hear my different accent, even if I keep it neutral." Which reminded him, that the language barrier was still a mystery to him. Feng seemed certain he was speaking Chinese, while Alex was certain he was speaking English. Oh, well, didn't matter now.
"I will tell a blunder unknowingly, hassle up names, make strange references, misplace a province in the geography… Or they could see through the fact that I would be lying a lot."

"The best façade is one that is not false so I don't have to lie. I wouldn't have to worry about bluffing my way through the entire evening. So I have to have my origins from far outside the valley, best outside China. I can give good enough descriptions of my home without telling any names. I've travelled enough to describe things like that. It can explain my accent, my lack of knowledge of your culture or even local customs and a few other things."

"I guess he's got some points there, luv" Feng admitted.

"Besides, I don't look like a 'Chang' at all! He complained.

Feng only grinned in return to his small bit of vanity showing up. Alex had a vain side, albeit a small one, about his appearance and everything related to it and the wolf had teased him mercilessly about it.

Alex thoughts continued. His first instinct was to go for something that he could still acknowledge as 'his' name but would be unknown here, like his father's name. Perhaps his uncle's or best friend?
"How about James? Or Kristoff or William?" he asked.

"Those names sound just as weird as yers, Alex." Feng pointed out. "T'is just going to catch attention, tha."

"Antonio? Giovanni? Ezio? Alain? Pascal? Lucas? George? Victor? Kasper? Stein? Ivan?" Alex just went of names from different origins.

"Those names stand out Alex. Then you might as well go as Alex, most of the valley doesn't know your name anyway." Kara said.

"No, 'Alex' is out of question. The five know, and Shifu knows. While a different name won't hide me, it won't alert others if they decide to ask around."

"Then ye'd best have some sort of codename, seeing as ye apparently have such a dislike for Chinese names."

"Codename?" Alex repeated, holding back a snort. In his head he was already thinking of Feng calling him something like agent 007.

"Yea, ye' know, not something ridiculous, but just something that could be a word but is used a name in some cases. It happens often enough with wolves. Although those tend to be slightly violent. They believe the scarier the name, the better. It would supposedly keep yer enemies at bay. Besides, it's a wolfish tradition! Ye call yer best friends by their 'codename'. It's a second name that is usually given and used by friends as to not give away their actual names. Our birth-names are only something for close direct family. And it's practical."

"Then where does 'Feng' come from? A twisted form of fang? Did you have extraordinary large fangs as a cub or did you bite someone?"

"Heh, rather the opposite actually. As a cub, I had the smallest fangs imaginable. My father had a sense of ironic humour and dislocated jaw so he couldn't properly speak. Thus, I became Feng. He named my younger, over energetic brother 'Lazy' so perhaps he wasn't the best in naming children."

"Soooo…. Bonecrusher and skullspliter and the likes are out of question?"

"Weeellll, if ye rreeeaaallllyyyyy want to go like that from now on…"

"No thanks." He quickly rectified.

"How about 'Longlegs' or something?"

"Longlegs?" Alex asked incredulous. "Longlegs? Really? C'mon Feng, a bit more creativity than describing the length of my limbs?"

"What? Ye have those long legs and ye step abnormally fast. I always have to run to keep up with ye. And ye can't run on all fours so it's true and neutral. 'Stepper' is good too."

"Oh my, Feng! Why in goodness have you been looking so much at my legs, I wonder?" Alex asked in a horrible parody of a seductive voice, including batted eyelashes. "I didn't know you liked my legs that much, Feng."

Feng seemed to lose all colour now that the prank had been turned on him in such a manner, while Kara howled with laughter. Xia didn't understand what was going on, but laughed anyway.

"I'm gonna get ye back fer that, kid!" he grumbled while sulking a bit around, suddenly very interested in inspecting the floor.

"I'll be certain to guard my legs from your undoubtedly long and hard campaign of getting me back, Feng." Alex asked, unable to smother his grin.

"Alex, there are so many things wrong with that sentence I'm not even going to start pointing them out." Kara said, torn between giggling or sigh by the present lack of maturity while Feng was just sputtering somewhere in the back. The giggles won.

A codename. Something neutral. 'Stepper' wasn't that bad, come to think of it. It still held some merit after all, with all his traveling that he had done in the last years. And 'Wanderer' just sounded awfully cliché, not to mention it didn't sound like a name at all. 'Stepper' was also 'Stapper' in Dutch as a legitimate word. This brought forth a new idea. 'Stapper' actually was the dutch version of 'Strider' in Tolkien's books. Not to mention 'strider' was the actual English synonym for 'stepper' that he'd been looking for.

"How about 'Strider'? It is a synonym of sorts for stepper and an actual word, and it is also the travelling name of a character from a famous book and play." He had decided to refer to movies as plays, because he really didn't want to explain the concept of electrical technology, or even steam technology to Feng or anyone. Feng would die from excitement, and others might overturn all balance in this world attempting to create such technology. No good.

"If ye really don't want Stepper, I s'ppose 'Strider' is a decent alternative. And people won't look up to much for tha'. I mean, it's a masked ball, ancestor's tits…"

"FENG, Language!" Kara scolded. "What my husband means to say is, given that it is a masked ball, people won't look strangely at you using something that is clearly a pseudo-name or a nickname. And it doesn't sound suspicious, bad, or overly exotic because it doesn't seem to be an actual name."

"Very well, 'Strider' it is then, from now on." The discussion seemed at an end and Alex wanted to take his leave when Xia popped the question that had been confusing her for a bit, now.

"Alex, why would baba want your legs?"

She found no answer from the human who cackled on the floor in hilarity, her mother that giggled madly or her father who sputtered mortified.

A few days later, Master Tigress walked in the hall of warriors, across the shining green floor and between the priceless artefacts of Kung Fu's rich history. And right at the end was the pool of the sacred tears, beneath the golden dragon, whose mouth once held the dragon scroll. On the steps of the poolside sat a small robed figure. Her master.

With a perfect deep and straight bow she stopped and announced her presence.

"You called to see me, Master?"

"Ah, Tigress, yes I did." He answered, with no hint of a surprise in his voice. He had heard her coming from the moment she opened the door. Courtesy of his incredible hearing.

"Is something wrong, Master?"

"No, no, nothing is wrong. I did not call you here for a mission or a pressing matter. I just wanted to ask you something."

"What do you wish to know, Master?" Tigress asked, inwardly a bit relieved that there was no problem or that there wasn't anything she had done wrong.

"I wanted to know whether you would join the others this evening for the Midsumme's Feast or not."

"I… don't think so, Master."

"Why not?"

"I am going to train some extra hours this evening, Master." She responded, as if it was the only logical answer.

The answer made Shifu both proud and sad. Proud, for his student to show a dedication and discipline even greater than his own, certainly at that age. And sad because his fear seemed to have more merit now. Tigress had little else beyond Kung Fu, and did not see the importance that there was more than Kung Fu in life.

Honestly he had no idea how to approach this, but he wanted her to at least try to get some more in life. Po had done a fantastical effort so far, but Tigress had not changed that much. She was more tolerant of Po, certainly, and accepting of things in general, like the pastimes of the others. But she herself? She hadn't really changed. And he didn't know for certain if she was truly past the fact that she would never be the dragon warrior.
But he was not planning on losing another child or student to themselves. He had no idea how to properly help her, given that she had adopted much of his characteristics in the first place, like his lack of social contact and temper. But he would at least try. He owed her that much.

"You have trained vigorously for the past month Tigress, you must be careful not to overextend yourself. An evening off could be good for you, no?"

"I intended to use the opportunity of an empty training hall for myself, Master. It doesn't happen very often I can train alone, and it allows some freedom in broader switching of techniques."

"Tigress, you have been able to use the training hall all by yourself for nearly a month. I don't think those extra hours will make a difference for that."

Tigress didn't really know how to respond to that, because her master was right. She had the training hall all for herself for an entire month. Before her thoughts could come up with another reason they were interrupted by her master's voice once more.

"I won't force you to go if you don't want, Tigress, nor am I assigning you to watch over Mantis, Monkey and Po so they don't ridicule themselves. I just think it could be good for you."

"I will think about it, Master." She didn't really want to go to such parties. She was aware of her lack of social skill, which made her frankly very uncomfortable at such things. But if Master Shifu encouraged it like this, she couldn't just say that to him, could she?

"Good." Master Shifu was apparently satisfied with that answer.

"Master, is there a particular reason you want me to attend the festival?"

"Several, Tigress. For example, I think it would be good for you. But you are correct in guessing there is another reason."

That peaked her curiosity. "Master?"

"I have the feeling your presence will be important there. Not to prevent banditry or something like that. Rather, I think you will find answers to something. Or perhaps someone."

"What kind of answers? Should I meditate on this?"

"You could do that, but I don't think meditating now will grant you a clearer sight on these things, Tigress. Remember that foresight is not just about receiving a vision or scripture that can be viewed and read to your heart's content."

"So, what do you think it means then?

"I don't know what this means, if it even means anything, Tigress. After all, it is only a feeling." He chuckled. Then he gave a better explanation.

"Perhaps the answer you get is not one you were searching for in the first place, or it can be so meaningless or obvious to you that you don't even know you received an answer.
Meditation is not about telling the future, but about freedom of the mind and with it finding a balance and harmony within yourself and your chi. And during meditation and eventually on any moment one can feel the flow of the universe outside of himself. That is what true, ultimate inner peace achieves. To understand the flow within yourself and around you in such a way that you don't need mediation anymore to feel and harness it. Only Master Oogway ever reached that level."

Tigress looked pensive. "So, answers to something. Or someo- The human!"

"What?"

"The human, Alex! He could show up for such a festival, could he not? And he is the big mystery, with so little confirmed answers. And both the question of who and what fits it, since we still know little of either of them."

Now Shifu looked thoughtful. "I admit that sounds like a logical explanation. Still, I do keep by my previous stance concerning him. If you are meant to meet him, it will happen when it needs to happen. And it could be a completely different matter also, because it is a feast and this human has kept to himself very much so, since he has barely shown himself to anyone save Feng. Keep that in mind Tigress. It does not do to focus on one assumption and allow yourself to become blind to any other possibilities. Rather, allow the possibility to be there by not disregarding it."

"Yes Master. Then I shall join the others this evening and allow what situation comes to happen."

"Ah, good. Then I believe you can go back to training."

With another bow and a 'Master' she took her leave. Before she could leave the hall however, Shifu's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Remember that it is a masked festival, Tigress. You are expected to wear something that does not give away your identity too easily."

"Then what am I supposed to wear, if it may not be training gear or anything similar?" she asked, actually a bit nervous. She only had training outfits, or variations of the typical Kung Fu outfits for formal occasions.

"Don't fear. I already sent Viper to get you an outfit and I sent Po with her to carry it."

"Master, how did you know that I would agree to go?" she reacted dumbfounded.

At this, he gave a small smile.

"I didn't. I merely had a feeling."

Sarah Jenssen was angry. No, angry did not begin to describe her current state. Livid and furious was closer to it. Two months. TWO BLOODY MONTHS. She was angry at everything and everyone. At whatever group or organisation that might have been the cause, at the stupid research teams for their sheer incompetence when they turned up empty-handed, even at her brother for not being more careful or whatever mistake he had made.

She had tried every crevice, every nick, all the possibilities that she knew of. And she had found nothing.

It was in these moments that she became desperate. And it made her afraid. She was extremely disciplined and organised by nature. She was used to have things under control. But now, she couldn't control even the faintest thing. And without true clues, her hands were tied.

Just then, the doorbell rang. When she opened it, it revealed one of the scientists who was a good friend of her late father.

"Miss Jenssen, might I come in? I have new information concerning what happened at Geiranger's Point – the rockslide."

"You do? Come in then, Mr Johnson! Please, tell me what you have found! Is there any hope for Alexander?"

"We haven't found your brother if that is what you're asking. However, we have discovered new information about this rockslide that might help us pinpoint your brother's fate." He said, while coming in the living room.

"What have you got?" she asked in a no-nonsense tone.

"Well, during the examinations of the sudden fissure and rockslide we were, as you know, forced to observe it and take detailed reports for the government. However, we didn't found anything extraordinary at first, which is to say : we found no reason why this rockslide had happened at all. There were no earthquakes, there certainly were no explosives or anything that could have caused such a reaction and we found no other sources. That was when we looked further back, to more basic fact. And one of these facts is very strange indeed."

He could tell she was already impatient, not caring for anything else than her brother's direct news. However, she was intelligent and controlled enough to let him speak if background was needed. He decided to speed a bit up, to have her attention.

"You see, while we reported to amount rock that had moved, and what would have to be cleared, our calculations showed substantially less mass and volume than there should have been. Even in the most rough of readings there is a significant amount. In short, a lot of the rock that should have been there, has gone missing. Another strange fact is that we came upon a couple of fallen trees that are definitely not native around these parts.

While we reconstructed the scene before the slide, we came upon a mystery. The rockslide seemed to have been caused by imbalance. There is a large gap on one side, that caused all the above the come crashing down. The mystery is that the day before, there was no such recorded gap, and one so clean and massive is not possible to have been missed before.

It was then that we took other possibilities open. We began to take energy reading and those gave is results that should have been impossible. How familiar are you with thermal astrophysics, or quantum physics?"

"I can't say it's my strong side."

"I'll keep it simple then. What we have here is almost close to a limited and temporary black hole."

"I fail to see how a black hole in space is relevant to my brother. Also, I'm not that stupid. Just because I never graduated in quantum or astrophysics doesn't mean I know nothing on the subject."

"Ah, pardon me then. Well, you know that in theory, if you smash 2 relatively heavy particles together at speeds approaching the speed of light they could temporarily a black hole that would evaporate almost instantly, thus taking what was located in the evaporation radius with it. We think that a localised black hole caused the sudden gap, explaining the sudden imbalance. As a consequence, everything came crashing down the way it did."

"That still makes no sense Johnson, how could such a black hole have been created, on such a random point? Such things are barely able to be controlled and created on micro-size in labs."

"Indeed, that is where the astrophysics come in. However on a side-note, the Hawking radiation, the black body radiation released by black holes due to their quantum effects near the event horizon, is in fact the readings that we have. So we know that a black hole of sorts took a substantial mass of rock away, what caused said rockslide.

But you see, Hawking didn't only support the Hawking radiation. He also strongly supported the quantum planes, or as others might call them, parallel dimensions. Or in short, the multiverse theory. It has long been theorized that black holes don't make matter simply disappear. Instead, that certain kinds of black holes will rather make it appear elsewhere.

You must consider that Max Tegmark would be correct in saying that all those universes often move around in layers, through each other, thus switching their contact with each other. Normally these planes or walled off from each other, but sometimes the wall becomes thins and cracks. A so called 'ripture' might appear if such planes' cracks come into contact with each other. Some would call it an anomaly but that is too broad of a term. If the ripture is sufficient then this type of black hole will appear, thus switching matter in a certain radius of both points that are connected. Or in this case, rock matter has been replaced by these parts of strange trees. Usually these ripture switches are simply too small a radius too be significant or noticeable, this is an extraordinary large case."

Sarah processed it for a few moments. Then she found the missing part.
"That is all good and well, Johnson, but that still doesn't explain why my brother was not found in the rockslide."

"That's because the multiverse always seeks balance. It's comparable to a pendulum. It takes it swing at the beginning of the opening of the ripture, that ripture closes and at a certain point, the pendulum reaches its maximum momentum. It will return and after the same amount of time it will open the ripture once more on exactly the same place, for exactly the same duration.

The second ripture happened very soon after the first, probably within the same minute. And according to our calculations it took place in the middle of the moving rockslide."

The gist of what he was trying to say began to finally dawn upon her and she pushed away the mere possibility of such a horrifying fate. But fate had no mercy one her.

"So, let me get this straight. You're trying to make me believe that my brother- "

" –is possibly part of the matter that has disappeared, and may thus very well not be on earth at all. He could be in a different dimension for all we know. He could be in outer space and his matter would instantly be separated on atomic level. He could have been disintegrated. But most theories do admit that there are infinite universes and certainly infinite dimensions. The fact that we found these trees means he is somewhere else, on a habitable plane, with at least partly earth-like Asian flora and fauna. However, there would be no known way how to locate him at all."

He sighed. He knew this news was hard and hated to be the one breaking it, but she needed to know.
"I am sorry. But I fear your brother is lost to us, most likely forever. He is gone, Sarah."

Sarah's blood turned to ice upon hearing that final verdict.

"I'll let myself out. If we have anymore findings, I'll bring them instantly of course. But if I were you, I wouldn't hope on it."

The scientist let himself out and Sarah slumped in her nearest chair. The world seemed to stand still. Her world had stopped moving.

For a while she just sat there, frozen. She didn't know how long. Such an immaterial thing as time, was no longer something she could come to care for.

Then she began to shake. Little shaky movements of her shoulders at first, barely noticeable.. But each move grew and spread through her body. Soon, there was no part of her body that wasn't tensed and shaking out of her control.

And then Sarah Jenssen did what so many people thought her incapable of.

Sarah Jenssen broke down, and cried.

And she cried like she had never cried before. Nor did she attempt to stop. Her grief had completely overwhelmed her.
She thought she was broken when her grandparents died.
She thought she was broken when someone had attempted and nearly succeeded to rape her.
She thought she was broken when her parents died in that horrible, horrible night.

But all these times she someone to share her pain and grief and rage. All those times she had had a shoulder to cry on, an arm that held her, a sibling who knew her better than she knew herself. A stupid, silly sibling who always managed to pull her through. A sibling that always was ready to protect her, no matter how much she scoffed, demeaned and insulted him.

But now, she had no one. Now, there was no shoulder. Her parents and grandparents, she had managed to understand. They were an older generation. She would have to let them go at some point in her life. But her younger brother, her cute, little, silly brother that she secretly had felt so protective over? Never had such a thought entered her darkest dreams. She was the older one. But now that she should have protected her little brother, she had failed more completely than she thought possibly. There was no one to assure her she was going to be alright. Because she wasn't. She wouldn't ever be alright again. He was gone. Borte. Forsvant. For Alltid.

She was alone. Utterly, completely, alone. And that truth crashed down on her while she simply fell on her bed and blacked out in tears, exhausted from her turmoil of emotions.

Unmeasurably far away, crossed over space and time, a young man woke up in the middle of the night in his cave. Heaving and shaking from a nightmare, he tried to get himself back asleep but could not, no matter how he tried.

He soon gave up and went outside, to sit in the still peace of the night. Under the stars he sat, staring at the brilliant light patterns of the heavens above him, that the sky provided. Soon he took out his diary once more to continue writing the entries his sister would never read. It didn't matter. He wrote to keep his sanity after all.

He bathed in the moonlight, and suddenly found himself staring at a familiar little photograph of a blonde woman. A younger boy was next to her. Both had their arms around each other's shoulders, standing on a cliff over a fjord in the summer during a holiday. The boy looked happy, carefree and enthusiastic. The girl looked more restrained, pulling an annoyed face but unable to hide her small grin of content.

Alexander Jenssen stared at the photograph of him and his sister in happier times, before all this madness.

And for a reason he could not explain, he had never felt so alone before.

Chapter Text

It was in the late afternoon, early evening that Alex found himself lying on the grass near Feng's house, gazing at the deep blue sky. The warmth was less pressing now, more relaxed with a soft breeze noticeable. A summer afternoon as perfect and relaxed as it could possibly be. In the heat of the midday he had been swimming in the clear cool water of the pool near his cave and just lazed around a bit in the sun. He had tanned a bit by now, from his work in the smithy and his own training and exploring through the valley.

Half an hour later he crawled up and went back to the house to get his outfit for the midsummer's feast ready. He really owed Kara a big 'Thank-you' for all the work she had done in his outfit. The only thing she had asked was if she could keep his design. A small price, really. Design your own clothes and have them made for free in return for the drawing that needed to be made anyway? Hell yes. He had insisted on paying for the materials in it. What else was he going to do with the money that he'd earned so far?

His normal clothes were usually exactly that : normal. Not too bright or flashy but neutral and quality gear. However, for a festival where he had to dress up for… his small side of vanity wasn't going to pass up the chance to wear something slightly more outlandish. Besides, with a big and outlandish costume, he was less likely to be discovered by the crowd, wasn't he?

"Alright Alex-.., I mean Strider, let's get this costume on, shall we?" Kara asked. Due to his disguise he had to be covered nearly completely, unlike the others and couldn't just do with a mere cloak and mask.

"Your brown linen pants and light button up shirt are good as everyday underclothes, with this warm weather. But you should replace your trousers with these black ones, otherwise the colour will clash terribly. Now, put this on please" handing him a dark blue long tunic with some woven lines in it that come to his knees.

"Isn't this a bit big? The sleeves are good, but the general length feels more like a dress to me. And the sleeves seem to be mad for a man with arms thrice as thick as mine."

"No, no, it's fine. Because of its length most won't bother with the fact that you have long legs. And while all your… shirts are short indeed, it's not uncommon here, or most parts in the world. Now, you wear this sleeveless vest over it. It's a bit thicker in black with a lot of decorating in gold and silver colours. I put on a bit more decoration than your design, but we can't have you to sober, can we? It's the midsummer feast after all!"

Alex had to grant it to her, the vest held the much larger tunic neatly in place, only his knees and below were visible. The many folds in it hid the slits in the front and back so he wasn't restricted in movement.

The broader sleeves were in fact bound with a couple of ribbons behind his elbows and wrists. Colourful silken gloves hid his hands. As a finisher, a shoulder cape hung over his left side, red on the inside, dark blue on the outside to match his other clothes. The cape would hide most of his torso and simply serve as a filler, so his general figure couldn't be outlined too easily.

With that, he moved on to the final part : the mask. For two days he had worked at the thing, recreating his venetian mask at home. And he was certainly satisfied. After a mould of his face was taken he had a plaster version of his facial features that he thickened on and made them more neutral. A white mask with reliefs of elegant swirls across it. These details were done in a golden tint with black outlines and some coloured ribbons on the side. It had a very slight, mysterious smile. With mask and black hood on, no one was able to recognize him as a human without the knowledge of what he was.

"There you are. I must admit, you look fantastic Strider. Festive and hiding, but elegant and you won't stand out overly much. Just make sure you act the part of someone who chose such a special costume." Kara concluded.

"Yes, I know. No nervous stuttering and all that, just keep my cool and enjoy the feast. Still, if I deem it necessary, I will make a run for it or disappear, alright?"

"Don't ye worry kid, ye look the part, ye can act the part. What can go wrong?" Feng asked in his usual cheeriness. He ignored the muttered 'everything' from his friend.

The two wolves put on their own costumes and Xia's, red for Feng, blue for Kara and green for Xia. Their own masks in place the four went on their way to the village. Their masks were quite a bit different from Alex' one. The classical Asian masks were far more vibrant and wild. The most obvious were the expressions. Asian masks always have these extremely wild expressions, whether they are happy, scared, angry or downwards monstrous. The venetian mask was a polar opposite with its calmness and a neutral expression. Feng on the other hand, who walked next to Alex, wore a mask with huge bug-like eyes, an enormous mouth for his snout with big teeth in all directions and a tongue that was made out of several parts so that it could actually move.

As a result the serene smile looked like it belonged to a very patient person who was accompanied by his mentally unstable, hyperactive dog, whose tongue flailed around his face with every movement his over excited face made. A very small sigh escaped the venetian mask. He really hoped he wouldn't regret this decision…

On the thousand steps, six figures descended on towards the village to join in the activities of the festive night. And two of those couldn't stop wondering why one of them actually joined them.

"Soooo Tigress, remind us again why you are coming with us to a party" Mantis began.

"without any resistance or pulling on Po's part?" Monkey finished without pause.

"In fact, are you coming willingly?" Mantis inquired.

"Hang on, are you even Tigress? It's a bit difficult to see with these masks…" Monkey asked.

"Yea, say something." Said Mantis, suddenly suspicious.

"Yes, Monkey, Mantis, I'm joining you and the others tonight." Tigress responded in a voice that clearly said she was already regretting joining them.

"But… Why?"

"Master Shifu recommended it."

"Sounds like her. If it's an impersonator it can only be an evil twin or something."

"You do realise this a party right, Tigress? And that people at parties usually experience this thing called fun?" Monkey asked none too subtly.

"I am aware of that Monkey, what are you implying?" she asked a bit monotone.

"He's implying you're too hardcore for fun. And frankly, I've never seen you do something other than training for 'fun'. You're not exactly the wild party type, you know" Mantis helpfully added, while Monkey shot him a gaze that they should shut up now.

"Master Shifu said my presence would be needed tonight." In a final tone as if that explained everything. To Viper and Crane who were a bit ahead talking with Po it gave them all the answer they needed and Po was too happy to wonder why someone would not want to go to a party. Unfortunately a certain bug and monkey didn't leave her alone at that.

"Wowwowwow, hang on, he's not making you babysit us, is he? That way, we'll never get drunk! Besides, we've already been planning for weeks to get Po drunk this evening, you can't just mess our plans up like that."

"As if I'm going to bother and waste my time with you two." She said irritated, but to the immense relief of said two.

Viper decided to finally join the discussion. "Tigress, why does Master Shifu wants you there? Is there any trouble we should be careful for?"

"No, he doesn't think so. But he suggested I might find some sort of answers there that could clear something up. Nothing else." She responded in a more normal tone.

She was a bit grateful for Viper's help earlier the evening for the costume. When Shifu had told her Viper was already getting something for her she was dreading some sort of dresses or awful masks. Or worst of all, something she would not be able to fight in. As it was, it wasn't perfect but it was far better than what it could have been.

It was traditional old clothing, consisting out of a few major, long pieces in red and yellow that could just be worn over her training clothes, all held together by a large sash around her waist. Some ornamental shoulder guards and arm protectors served to give the costume a sort of warrior look. The mask and hat-piece were neutral, just having lots of decorations and dragon motives, rather than an actual expression.

She heard a few whispers behind her.

"Five cookies that Po bounces from the stairs again."

"Deal."

As expected, the panda missed a step somewhere and tumbled down the remaining two hundred thirty one stairs. Tigress inwardly mused it was a good thing Po was so big he couldn't really hurt himself.

At the festival Alex decided that after a minute or twenty, he would look out on his own so Feng and Kara had their own time.

"Feng, I'm going a bit around on my own, okay?"

"Ye don't have to if ye don't want Al- Strider. We'd be more than willing to keep ye company for the feast ye know. Ye don't exactly know many here…"

"Oh, shut up Feng" Alex said with mirth in his voice. "I just like to see things on my speed on time. This is my first real time in the village so I just want to wander a bit. I can look after myself, you know. Besides, you better take Kara dancing, wolf. You know she'd like that. If you don't, I'll lit your tail on fire in the smithy."

"Har har. Don't ye worry, I will."

"I'll probably join you again a couple of times the evening. We'll see. Oh, and where is Xia exactly?"

"She's with some other kids over there, joining in some of the activities and games for the young" he reassured, gesturing to a bunch of children with indeed a black wolf cub between them.

With that, the human took and started to wander around.

Two hours later, Alexander was wondering why he had ever even thought of staying in his cave above this. The feast was fantastic to him. Normally, he wouldn't really have been impressed. Many things were downward dirty or decadent or just plain stupid. Especially the valley's inhabitants shone in their collective show of their lack of intelligence. Or that could just have been the pigs.

But Alexander wasn't in the mood for whining and complaining about such things. He was downright giddy. All the laughter, the air of happiness was just affecting him and he had rarely felt so free, so chill and happy since his unfortunate arrival in this world. The lanterns, the firecrackers, the drinks the games… it was all a bit much after a month of complete solitude and more than another one of company of a single family. This was the first time he could really be in the village. Without getting attacked, that is.

Also, they had cups that were specifically designed for drinking without taking your mask off. Ingenious. And the human made great use of them when he entered a small drinking contest with Feng.

"Up you go, Strider!" "C'mon drink up!" "Empty it!" "ye can win Strider!" "Put that pig in his place!" "Jug 'em down!" "Down those tankards!"

That and several other things were shouted to Feng and the one they knew was called Strider by an enthusiastic crowd. A drinking contest was held in teams of two and Feng and Strider were steadily out drinking their opponents.

"You know wolf, you've never told me the rules of this game when you got me into this as your partner!"

"Bah, tis a simple game Strider. Make sure your team drinks more than the others or be the last team standing."

"Anything else?" 'Strider' asked while accepting his next drink.

"No outside help, no passing out and no vomiting! Pauses to piss are at yer own risk so best wait till the end!"

Among the onlookers were Mantis and Monkey. They themselves had not entered the competition. They didn't want to pass out to quickly when they could still have so many pranks this evening. But right now, they weren't regretting not joining in. Especially this Strider and the wolf, most likely Feng were putting up a though competition, one they would most likely not have won. But they provided good entertainment nonetheless. Not to mention an interesting betting pool. Mantis had made a daring bet that the team with Strider would still be standing at the end, win or not. As a complete stranger, the bets were mostly against him and for known like Horzu or the Mayor. But things were looking good for Mantis' money if he continued like this. Feng's dramatic partying was a shrill contrast with Striders' nonchalance and light dramatic behaviour.

"Hehe, our bet is looking good mantis. How much will we make if it proves true?"

"Eight times my bet back! Let's hope he keeps it going like this."

"How in the name of the gods are they not yet completely drunk?"

"Well, both of 'em are big lads, so they can take more than most."

"Take more? Bit of an understatement. That strider fellow doesn't even look drunk at all. I mean, how much has he drunk by know?"

"He's currently second with eleven tankards. Third is the Major with ten, because he's so massive. The wolf is fourth with nine. Horzu 'the drunk' boar is first with fourteen as the local drinking champion but is far more gone. Then there's still that rabbit with six, but he looks ready to pass out. Those are the only two teams remaining in the running. All the other ones have quitted or are too far behind."

Mantis guess was proven correct when during his seventh tankard he simply fell from his chair and passed out.

Indeed, while Strider finished his twelfth in a single steady go, his only reaction was a small burp on the side before continuing his banter with one of Feng's friends.

Horzu was having trouble identifying which of the doubles he saw was real. And why was the ground moving like a ricking ship anyway? That… SsssStrider was a worthy opponent. He'd just have to stay awake to meet him without his mask. He'd make a great drinking buddy. They'd probably manage to empty the tavern together. Yeah, that sounded good…

Alex had found out that compared to even most humans, he was simply a bit less affected by alcohol than most, probably both through his genes and his 'condition'. He was an impossibility for humans anyway with his sixth sense and quicker healing. The quicker healing as a part had an everchanging metabolism. It simply fastened when he had a surplus to eat. When he ate very little, it slowed down. Of course this affected his energy and general performance. A slow metabolism placed greater limits on his body.

But now his metabolism was running at full speed and burning the alcohol rapidly. He was larger than most here and it was merely beer and pints, no strong stuff. With the trick of drinking a tankard of water after every two of alcohol, his body wouldn't dry out and his metabolism took care of everything. He would need to continue drinking like this for another hour or two before it would overcome his burning capacities and he would really start to get drunk.

Feng was more affected however. He was stuck in a laughing fit and only managed to pause it when he was drinking.

The crowd was getting even more enthusiastic when Strider managed to gain on Horzu and they were now equal at sixteen.

Horzu was no longer aware that no one was as drunk as him. He made his point by loudly shouting "It's the boars that go swimming with the little hairy women!" followed by a laugh that sounded lewd on itself.

Another seven minutes later Strider managed to empty his nineteenth when Horzu was splashing his eighteenth partly over his chin and body. Feng was running a bit behind with fourteen, but only one behind the major, who was as drunk as Feng at this point.

To Mantis' disappointment Strider began to stumble a bit looking weirdly at his hand. He couldn't see his actual smile behind the serene mask.

"I feel something." He said as if he couldn't believe it. "I feel a mild tingling, in my hand…

I think it's affecting me" he concluded dismayed. A loud reaction swiftly followed.

"HAH! Wahdideye toldya? Hecand keep 'iss drink togeth-" the onlookers gasped as Horzu stopped in his sentence, his eyes rolled back and he simple fell backwards, passed out on the floor.

Nobody said anything until the same nonchalant voice asked to no one in particular "So…. Game over?"

"PEOPLE, WITH HORZU 'THE DRUNK' BOAR PASSING OUT HIS TEAM IS NO LONGER COMPLETELY STANDING SO OUR NEW WINNING TEAM IS THAT FENG AND STRIDER! OUR INDIVIDUAL DRINKING CHAMPION IS STRIDER AS WELL FOR THE EMPTYING OF TWENTY TANKARDS!"

Loud cheers came in response while Strider took a dramatic bow as a thank you. Feng tried to do it too but fell forwards as he did.

"Huh, looks like we won, Feng".

"Hehehehehe… Aye, wedid a number on 'em, 'ey?"

"Thank you all for the game, but I'll hope you can all excuse me now, since I need to go and relieve myself of twenty tankards of beer and six of water." Laughs came in response. The village liked this Strider fellow. Big drinker, and still not really drunk and cracking light jokes? Yup, Strider was deemed an alright fellow.

After dragging Feng back to Kara, who seemed a bit exasperated at the sight of her husband and at Alex for not keeping him in check (but still happy enough to congratulate him on the win) Alex continued to walk a bit around and kept his drinks to water or fruit juice to sober a bit up. He was clearheaded enough to realise that he still couldn't afford to be discovered and being drunk could easily cause a slip of the tongue.

When he saw Po however, he decided to observe the big guy a bit. He was important in the valley, even if he didn't act like it. For some reason, he was fumbling a bit about, more nervous than he should be. His eyes kept flashing to the side. Alex followed his gaze and to his amusement, he saw a small and slender snow leopard sitting with a friend. He clearly had no idea what to do for some reason.

Ah, he was interested and didn't know how to approach her? Alex couldn't hold back a chuckle. 'Time to help the dragon warrior out.'

Song wasn't stupid. She knew Po was standing next to her. But why didn't he say hello? She knew he would never intentionally ignore her he was way too sweet and kind for that. But he was stumbling around so nervous. Perhaps there was a certain thing he had to watch out for tonight as part of his duties? But everything was so calm…

Just when she decided to just say hello and that she was glad to see her friend again a tall stranger with a white mask came in the view. He simply stepped towards Po, tapped him on his shoulder, led him a few steps towards her and merely said :

"Hi, have you met Po?"

And then he left again. Po clearly had no idea what just happened but greeted her enthusiastically nonetheless. Before they knew it, they were talking already, just like old friends. Song glanced aside and saw the stranger leaving, but noticed his 'thumbs up' signal he sent her.

Meanwhile, Alex had to stifle his giggles. To use that infamous line from a soap called 'How I met your mother' in a different world, on a panda called Po Ping of all persons wasn't what he thought he could write down in his achievement book about matchmaking. But it worked, and that was what mattered, no? 'How I met your Panda'… now that would be an interesting show…

But he was getting tired. The party was wearing him out and so much social activities after two months of near solitude was building a pressure on him. To sit down somewhere for a while sounded like an excellent idea. He noticed an empty table and quickly walked over and sat down with a sigh of the relief that you feel when you've been standing for a very long time and you're finally resting in a good chair.

It was then that his sixth sense told him that he wasn't sitting alone.

Tigress had wandered around for hours, but so far, she had no feeling she had seen the human. She had kept her eye out for any unusual persons, but no luck. She had seen Crane and Viper sitting together, getting some couple time. Mantis and Monkey, she had encountered several times by now, each times progressively drunker than the last one. And Po had apparently found Song for some unexplainable reason.

She was getting rather tired of this and began to doubt the human would show up at all. Had he not been evasive to the extreme so far? Why would he come towards the busiest social events in a few months in the valley then? The crowd and the festive things were making her antsy, she just wanted out for a few moments. After another couple of minutes she found at least one thing that she was looking for. A small table stood a bit on the side as if to give her a reprieve from the pressure and the madness.

Right as she sat down, she noticed that she wasn't alone. Another person had apparently had the exact same idea and sat down on the opposite side. Both stared at each other for a few moments.

Then the other one stood up again with a reluctant sigh to give her the table but Tigress' voice stopped him.

"Don't. We sat down at the same moment so you can sit here as well."

He seemed surprised for a moment but then complied and sat a bit back, saying a muffled 'thank you'.

She saw a tea-set behind him and passed a bit over him to get it. When she was near her movement made her breath in a bit and a scent hit her nose. Faintly, but definitely there. A strange scent, but one that she had encountered at least twice before now.

She put the set on the table and gestured for him to take one of the small cups and serve himself while she took one herself. She looked at his unfamiliar mask and saw clear blue eyes behind the larger eye openings and bit of tan, beige skin. Behind her own mask she allowed a small satisfied smirk.

'Found you.' She thought.

She really wanted some answers after all this time, more than a month since she first lost his tracks. So she decided to go the simple and direct way first.

"Who are you?" she asked trying to keep her voice a bit nonchalant, as if his answer didn't matter that much.

"Who? Who is but the form following the function of what, and what I am, is a man in a mask." He responded after a small moment of hesitation.

"Well, I can see that."

"Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation. I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is."

She knew she walked straight into that response and a part of her even found it a good answer, but she still wanted to slap him for his smartass response. He simply had to be grinning behind that serene mask of his. He didn't allow her though.

"But on this most auspicious of nights, perhaps it could indeed prove to be enjoyable for us both to relax, pull up a chair, share some tea and have a little conversation?"

Hm. Well, at least he wasn't yet running away.

"Still, I don't like sitting with someone and talking, without at least knowing their name."

With a little sigh he seemed to relent. "Very well, you can call me Strider. I suppose that will do."

"Strider?"

"Yes. Strider."

"That's not your real name."

He snorted. "Correct, it isn't. But it's what I'm known as around here, on the party. Names are pretty, but useless on their own. After all, without context they are only what we call each other to personalise each other. My real name wouldn't mean anything more than 'Strider', so Strider is as good as any name for now."

Well. At least she could call him something now. She would just have to confirm that this 'Strider' was indeed the human 'Alex' and draw some other things out.

"Very well, Strider. I have questions that I seek answers to."

"hah, who doesn't? Everyone has questions! If there was not a single question to be asked anymore, if every answer was as readily available to us as many would wish, one could very well say that there would be no point in learning anymore, and therefore, no point in living! After all, isn't our existence, our very conscience and intelligence based on the fact that we can learn and adapt?"

"Don't change the subject. It is annoying."

"What subject? We have not yet approached any subject, outside of your stated desire to have answers for your questions. And answers on itself are a rather broad subject, no? Perhaps you should ask an actual question first, rather than a statement."

Damn. This guy was really getting on her nerves with his excellent evading of questions. He had already spoken a lot by now, and she still knew nothing else beyond the fact that he had a large vocabulary and was intelligent enough to use it. She really had to restrain herself not to simply throw him against that wall and choke him until he was ready to spill what she…

"Look, it is clear that you, for some reason, have a lot of questions for or about me. But this is a very pleasant evening, and I do not want this to turn in some interrogation as if I am some criminal. There is no fun in just answering all of your question on a whim. We are just two persons at a party : why don't we just talk civilized, and we'll see how it turns out?"

Well. Perhaps he could still escape from that punch.

"Then how would you hold this conversation?"

"Ah, it's not so difficult. I've not held an intelligent conversation in a while and to be honest, I've yet to meet someone besides you at this party who can do that. We will simply have to learn from each other. However, neither of us can just openly say who they are or similar things. No pointed yes or no answers and don't spoil the game too soon. After all, this is just a way to find out more about each other without being to blatant in it."

Ah, so 'Strider' wanted to turn this in a game, did he? He didn't seem hostile or her finding out information, he just didn't want to give it to her on a plate. She would simply have to get her answers in a more patient way. Besides, it would give her a chance to figure out more about his character. She would just have to beat him at this game then.

"Very well, I suppose there's no harm in that."

"Ah, I'm very glad you think so."

"But I'm putting in a rule too then. First, no lying. One must keep to the truth."

"Naturally. No lying. Evading answers and the likes however are allowed, because that is more the case of how one steers the conversation."

"And if, after several questions one found a certain answer the other one has to confirm or deny it."

"Hmmm, that is rather interrogative. Very well, I agree, but on the condition that the other one is not forced to elaborate on things that he or she deems too private on such an answer."

She observed his mask once more and its strange, elegant design. More than its design the general shape was interesting to her. If, as she suspected, it followed the shapes and contours of his actual face that this was the first basic outlook on what a human face looked like. She decided that it would be a good, non-harmful way to open the subject.

"Your mask is quite strange, Strider. On what is it based or where does it come from? Does it possess some symbolic meaning, perhaps?"

"Ah, it is based on the venetian masks. Such masks have been worn for centuries during feasts and events throughout Italy with the most notable being the Carnivale in Venice, or Venezia as they would say there. The mask is a symbol of the festival, even though there are many kinds. This one, that covers the whole face is called a 'Volto' which is Italian for 'face' because it depicts facial features. The other kinds or more grotesque or cover only a small part of the face around the eyes."

Tigress could not resist now. She always liked to learn about different cultures, or merely learning things in general. Alas, she didn't have many in the palace to converse with on such subjects. Shifu knew much, but was not one for such long discussions. Crane knew a lot too, but was not a great conversationalist. Frankly, he was probably still scared of her. Viper's interests lay elsewhere and Monkey, Mantis and Po having an interest in culture?

She always went through with her own battle-hardened warrior representation, but now she was having an conversation with an intelligent person who had clearly seen or learned a lot outside China's borders. And she decided to not waste such a chance. Besides, the more he talked, the likelier she would find out whether or not he was indeed the human.

"And you wanted one that would cover your face entirely."

"Naturally. If I wanted only half a mask, I would not waste effort to make a complete mask."

"Is there another reason you wanted to conceal your visage?"

"Hah, this visage, no mere veneer of vanity is a remnant of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished…
I'm sorry, I got reminded of a passage from one of my more favourite plays. But I was informed that as part of this festival, one would have to 'conceal his visage' so as to not give away his identity too easily. So that is what I'm doing. To ask a question in return, why is this even called the Midsummer? It is wrong."

She frowned, even though it was not visible behind her own mask. "What you mean, wrong?"

"Midsummer is normally the day that the sun makes its longest appearance of an entire year. However, that day normally falls around the twenty first of June. Right now it's August already, which means you're nearly two months late."

"I'm unfamiliar with June and August… Do you perhaps have a different calendar?"

"A different calendar? Well, that would solve some other questions. I follow the Gregorian calendar which has three hundred and sixty five days, divided into twelve months and four seasons. June is the sixth month, so the midsummer is the… one hundred seventy second day, I think."

"Well, our calendar works different. I am aware the day with the longest sun stance has already passed, but the feast isn't located on a strict day. It is based on a varying calendar, the moon stance and a couple of other factors. The date lies closer to the actual middle of the summer."

"That explains it then. Midsummer, or summer solstice is an important day in the Scandinavian countries which I hail from, but it was always around that same day."

"How do people celebrate it there? Is it in a similar manner, or completely different?"

"It's a bit different. Of course, it varies per region and country, but very standard are the huge bonfires on the water or the peaks. These are also done in winter, but closer by. Because it's so far north, the sun barely goes down on midsummer, or even not at all. Likewise, in the winter, we have no sun. Then it's always dark, and during the day the sky has this very dark blue hue. For the feasts, well, a traditional activity are mock-weddings for children or young adults, exchanging some gifts and re-enacting some of our myths of the older Norse beliefs.
But to go back to the masks : is this a standard tradition concerning this feast?"

"Yes. It is also called the Duanwu Festival. According to old times and tales, elder demons and ghosts come out on midsummer's night with the turning of the season. The masks were worn to hide your face from certain demons, so they would not know who to choose and get confused. The next day, the change was over and a new season was going on so the demons could not reappear."

"And is this done for every season change?"

"No, such feasts are only held for the midsummer and the winter holidays. What do you think of it?"

"An amusing story, no doubt based on some unexplainable circumstance written off as demonic appearances. In reality? I think the masks were worn exactly for their basic function. To conceal one's identity. That way, one could lavishly feast and gamble, or allow themselves to decadence or promiscuity without anyone being the wiser. The masks and costumes serve as a means to protect their reputation."

As proof of his words, a boar produced a loud belch and passed out on the table next to them with a loud crash.

"It seems your theory certainly has merit. Is that why people wear masks during that Carnivale as well?"

"Originally, yes. The masks were a means to create anonymity in small cities to protect themselves from judging neighbours as in such small towns, everybody knows everybody. And since everybody, men and women, poor and rich did it alike, it was effective too. But it was meanly from the religious or cultural oppression, that classed many pleasurable things as sinful. Eventually, a week early in the year was allowed for such open joy and decadence and that became carnivale, a pageant and street fair that celebrates hedonism. It is a wondrous things to see, really. All the canals are filled with small boats, everywhere is just light, fireworks, dancing and everyone is in these magnificent costumes. A sight to behold, really."

One word in particular raised the alarm bells in her head.

"Hedonism? So you like a party in the name of rape, murder, sadism and plunder? A celebration for those that enjoy inflicting pain upon others?"

"No, no, no, certainly not. Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure, satisfaction, joy and such things are the highest intrinsic good. The feast is held for exactly that, joy and pleasure. Hedonism can be viewed from the train of thought that the greatest reward is pleasure, and thus that for your personal life, to make it worth living, everyone has the right to achieve as much pleasure as possible in his or her life, which clashes with the more traditional sober outlook of culture and religion. But it remains a philosophy, it is certainly no excuse to inflict harm upon others!"

"I see. So it is a view that whatever one does, should be done for immediate pleasure and personal satisfaction, without a higher purpose or to achieve long-term rewards?"

"Yes. In the end, Carnivale is just a very bright festival throughout the entire city that makes for wondrous and beautiful and admittedly, slightly decadent evenings, but nothing more. Do you think most people on a feast are asking themselves for what they feast, or know its history? Just like here and now, it is only done to enjoy yourself and get away from some of the daily struggles on life. I highly doubt the people at the drinking game I took part in earlier care more about the meaning of the feast than the booze."

"I understand for a single party. Still, I do not agree with you line of Hedonism. Without discipline, without having worked to achieve and earn certain rewards, is a certain reward not meaningless in itself? Besides, life is not a pleasurable flow. It is often hard and unforgiving. Without sufficient discipline, you won't have a chance when life turns against you."

"I don't disagree either with that. I do not follow Hedonism as a philosophy, I merely explained the history of the festival as you asked. Besides, a reward you've earned after much work feels much more satisfactory."

"Speaking of work, what do you actually do for a living?"

"Now that's a rather direct question, isn't it? But I'll humour you. I'm mainly a traveller these days. For the last two years I've travelled through many countries. In the meantime I did several studies or helped locals out. Especially those that could not afford a doctor."

"A doctor?"

"Um, a healer then?"

"Ah, so you are a travelling healer then? You sound rather young for that. Most healers are older, until they complete their apprenticeship at least and even then they are with few. Is it your family's trade then? Did you learn it from your parents perhaps?"

"A lot of questions and assumptions in there! Let's see, I mainly travel around because I enjoy learning about new cultures first hand. My parents were indeed in the healing branch, although they spent more time trying to find new cures than applying them themselves. Naturally, they thought me most of the practical sides when they raised me. So when I can help people every once in a while, especially people who cannot afford so otherwise, it makes me feel good. I don't think my conscience would allow me to simple walk away, knowing I could have helped are saved someone."

"That's quite a noble thing. So you mainly heal those who would otherwise not be able too, or do you take on all clients?"

"I'm not someone who goes around, searching for people that need saving, you know. Usually I simply encounter a certain community, and I help them what I can, and in return I stay there for a while and learn from their customs. I don't discriminate someone that needs instant help, but most who can afford other, better doc- eh… healers are not so desperate to seek me out. I tend to keep to myself most of the time. But what about you? What do you do then?"

Hmmm, 'Strider' was puzzling her a bit. Just a traveller… there was more to that. But he would not answer such a direct personal question. And from what she had learned so far, she had to admit that Feng's assessment wasn't wrong. He didn't seem the bad sort. Intelligent and knowledgeable, certainly though. Extremely so even. But ill intents? If he had them, he had to be a class actor, even with the mask. But that didn't solve the mystery of the human. She halted her musings for a moment to answer his question with a rather vague answer.

"I help in the security of the valley."

"Ah, I see. And would I be correct in my assumption that most of your time is spent in the place known as the Jade Palace?"

Time to evade the question with a question then. "Why would you think that? Most of the guards and security facilities are located within the barracks."

"Indeed, but I don't think you're just a guard. You carry yourself different than an average guard, and it rules out any desk job as well. You are used to fighting and interrogating someone, either direct or indirect although you seem to prefer the direct way, which leaves only a few positions open. Either a high ranking guard, like a captain or an officer, or someone who is authorized to stand in for the security, and holds the equivalent of a high rank. Now, what is the answer to my question?"

It seemed she was not the only one who was good in trying to figure out the other one's identity. He was more perceptive than she thought and wasn't sure that was a good thing. How had he even known that? Had she given more away of her identity then she realised? To come to such an assumption… or was it a test perhaps? Either way, she was forced to confirm it after her own rule.

"Correct."

"Hmm. What can you tell me about the Jade Palace? Even I know it is a place of renown"

"The Jade Palace was formed as the home of the legendary master Oogway, long before he actually went to live there. Originally, it housed the Kung Fu Council and its prime masters. It is also the oldest Kung Fu academy in the whole of China and is still considered the premier academy. It has also served as a fortress during oppressions. Now, it houses the furious five and Grandmaster Shifu for training, official event, royal visits and the likes. If you are interested in the greater history, you should probably arrange a meeting with Master Shifu."

"An impressive place with a rich history then."

"You have a great interest in culture and history, Strider. Are you of ambition to become a historian?"

"I have a great interest in history and studied it a lot, and as a consequence in different cultures, but I don't think a historian will be my goal. It's more a greater interest of mine, than something I see myself doing constantly."

"If you don't think you will become a historian, what do you think your destiny is? A healer?"

"My destiny? As in, fate?"

"Yes, your destiny. Already a path has been laid out for you by fate and the gods and ancestors to follow towards your destiny. Everyone has."

"I'm afraid I have to disagree with such an outlook on life."

"How can you not be know your destiny has already been laid out by the ancestors or as it is often called, fate?"

"Very simple. I was not raised with such an ideology, and it feels strange to me. How can you believe that your destiny is already set in stone? Then none of your actions would matter, seeing as your choices have already been decided for you. In that way, you are completely robbed of the freedom of choice. I cannot believe in your view, as you cannot in mine."

"I can see a different upbringing would cause different views or ideas, but I still think it's rubbish. But for such a different upbringing, where were your raised, then?"

"Scandinavia, or more specifically Norway as I already told you. It's in north-west Europe. And I was naturally raised by my parents. They thought me that freedom of thought, choice and speech are everyone's right, even if we don't agree with it, as long as they grant the same courtesy."

Europe? Had humans fled to Europe and re-established themselves there? But I've never heard of any humans there…

"Europe? That is on the other side of the world! Are there many like you there?"

"Almost the other side of the world, but not completely. But what do you mean with ' others like me'?"

"Don't act ignorant Strider. I know you're different than anyone else here in the valley. Were there many like you there?"

"I… was raised by people like me, yes."

"So was it a small, hidden community? Or do you live far from prying eyes?"

"Hidden? Why would we have to hide? I was born in the capital city of Oslo and visited quite a few countries and places in my youth. We had several homes."

Wait, so they weren't hidden at all? But they could not live just between all the animals in Europe, Tigress knew that was not the case.

"Then how did people react to your presence?"

"As normal people, I suppose. Why would they have acted any different towards me?"

A question that left her puzzled. Normally she wouldn't have been able to hear it, but thanks to her sharp hearing she swore she heard him mutter "unlike this place".

"Whys did you decide to come here, Strider? Why are you in the valley of Peace? What brought you here?"

"I was travelling, but something happened and… I guess you could say I lost my way quite a bit. My coming here in the valley was an accident, really. I never intended to come here."

"Then why are you still here?"

"Because I cannot go home" he said softly.

"Why? Are you banished or is it a cultural reason? Or are you still searching for something before you can go home?"

"No, no, none of those things. I cannot go home because I do not know how to reach it. I do not know where and how it lies in relation to this place. No matter how much I wish to go home, there is no point in leaving this valley yet because wandering aimlessly around solves nothing."

"So, you are here without purpose?"

"Yes. If I have been brought here for a purpose, I cannot see it. Perhaps your 'destiny' theory?"

'I have been brought here' she repeated in her head. There was more to that statement. She did not yet know what, but she would have to find out. Was he brought here against his will? It was time to go a more direct path.

"I have a situation I want your thoughts on."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Hypothetical, because this is only a theory. Hypothetically, if a certain… race reappeared that was thought extinct and shaped you society before, how would you react? I one day, a member of such a species that was thought to be of ancient mythological beings suddenly appeared in your community, how would you react?"

Strider put down his glass and seemed to think. The question had been more than that, it had been a test. The only problem was, he had failed it. She had expected some kind of reaction, an attempt to draw him out, that it was known that he belonged to the ones who came before, but there was no sign of recognition in his eyes. None at all.

"I suppose that would depend on what kind of species and whether it would be a being or a creature."

"What do you mean?"

"I am talking about its intelligence, his conscience. Is it conscious of his own self, can it reason and see morals and ethics? Or is it closer to a wild being, trusting only it's instincts?"

"It is an intelligent being, at least of the same intelligence and capable of likewise behaviour as the community it appears in."

"So, hypothetically, it could live as one of them?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

"Then I would say, focus on finding its intentions, see if its morals and ethics are adequate to the community's standards or if it is willing to hold itself to them. If that is the case, I would try to treat him as an equal being. Of course, there would be an unrivalled chance at learning more from this, but it cannot go at the cost of ethical behaviour of one self. I understand treating it as an equal might not be easy because there would undoubtedly be sever differences, but I would focus on laws and basic morals in such a case, and see how things progress over time.

If it is clearly of malicious intent, say, murdering anyone in sight than the community should be protected of course but in such a case, it can most likely not be reasoned with anyway. Intelligence is no guarantee for ethical behaviour, it is simply knowledge. How someone applies that knowledge is more important."

An interesting answer that she could find herself in. He didn't deny a potential danger and advised caution, but no hostile treatment unless there was severe reason. A reasonable outlook. But what had her more puzzled is that he unknowingly had denied being part of such a species. Either he didn't know at all, in which case they wouldn't get much answers, or something entirely else was up to.

Unfortunately, it was also the end of how she knew to continue this conversation in a sensible manner. They could dance around each other's questions for another hour and it would solve nothing more. Time to get answers for once and for all.

"Enough of this, Strider."

"Ah, have you had enough of our game?"

"I know that you are planning something troublesome for the empire. I know someone send you. No one 'just' intervenes in such reckless ways the way you did. I know that have been lying. And I know that you are the human known as 'Alex' by Feng."

Now she could see that for the first time this evening he was actually nervous with widened eyes and a stiffened position.

"Not as good as your reputation, Master Tigress. Only one out of five correct." He replied hushed.

Now she was nervous too. It was clear that he had known her identity for quite a while now too. He went on.

"I'm not planning anything against China, I wasn't send by someone, I did the reckless things I did for no more reason than the obvious attempt to help and I have not told a single lie this evening.

But I will not deny that I am the human known as Alex."

All cards were open and played now. Alex had confessed who he was to the last person in the valley that he should have done it too. Master Tigress. What happened now was entirely on her part. Either she would give him a chance and believe the truth if he told her, or she would react like the rest. In which case he would be imprisoned or killed. He had no chance to escape from his current predicament and she knew it.

However in that moment a ruckus appeared in the crowd.

"You will hand over that money now!"

Both tiger and human looked from their table, keeping half an eye on the other and saw a small group of pigs and jackals threatening some of the other partygoers, some boars and a single wolf.

Tigress was really getting pissed off. She finally had him, she finally had the human, she could ask whatever she wanted here and know of all the possible times had some low life thugs to appear. They looked mostly drunk. She had half a mind to just let it happen and let the drunk fight out their petty squabbles. She could not let the human escape again, so she focused her sight again on him.

He however was not of the same line of thinking.

"That's not going to end well. Should we do something?" Alex asked.

"It's a stupid drunken fight. They'll knock each other out but won't deliver more than bruises and scrapes to each other. Let them squabble it out."

"That's no drunken brawling. That looks more like a group of bandits searching for a fight to me, and some partygoers too drunk to realise the danger."

"Fists don't do that much damage and none of them has big claws."

"Claws perhaps not. But the bandits just brought knives to a fistfight." He said, rising from the table.

Tigress turned around and realised he was right. The bandits, even though they looked like rabble were intoxicated and were using their knives to bring their point home and the other group was realising it save one. A drunken wolf was yelling the most random insults to the bandits and was doing a good job at getting them pissed off.

"Tha way ye hold tha' knife, is that the way ye hold yer little pink shaft? Or don't ye have enything to hold down there? Would explain sum of yer issues!"

Alex groaned. "Of all the bloody things Feng could do while he's drunk, he has to start insulting some aggressive jackals with knives who are craving for a fight…" he muttered out loud.
No way he could sit this fight out now, now that his only local friend was getting in trouble. Kara would kick his ass alter for it, but Alex would have to make sure he'd still be alive at that point. He turned to Tigress.

Tigress knew she couldn't stand back now, or there would be deaths. It would mean that Alex would escape her again and probably for good this time, but lives were more important. It was her duty. But an unexpected sentence brought her out of her thoughts.

"I'll have your back if you have mine?"

She looked to her side where she saw Strider, or rather, 'Alex' putting off his large hat and adjusting his belt a bit while looking at her. It seemed he would not abandon Feng for his stupidity. It was better than nothing, this way she would perhaps not lose his tracks again…

"We will talk afterwards."

He gave a nod in return and while Tigress threw off her costume he made his way over quickly. Just when the jackal brought his knife up, intending to stab Feng Alex grabbed that arm with his left, using his right to quickly give two punches in his stomach and another one the side of his face when he hunched together which made him go down.

The rest held still for a few moments before they simply attacked. Tigress didn't hesitate. These drunks were nothing compared to some of the opponents she usually faced and were dealt with swiftly and hard. Kicking two out of the way and blow the chest later she had already gotten straight into battle. They were slow, unorganised and weak. An unlucky jackal annoyed her by stepping in the way causing her to need to block before she could reach another one and received a hammer-like punch in the face as a response, knocking him with two others into a wall. She glanced aside to see how her temporary ally was doing.

Alex was counting his lucky stars that these fighters were not beyond him. The jackals were still a bit of a head smaller and had a lighter build. Normally they would be too fast but now they were too drunk to use that advantage. The pigs, well, they hardly came to his middle and were drunk as well. Tigress seemed to have no problem dealing with three per second, so he stood with Feng who was one of the taller ones as well and could surprisingly fight very well despite being drunk off his ass. Either he had mastered the way of the drunken fist, or he was a regular bar brawler. Probably the latter.

'C'mon, keep your head with it Alex. Remember the basics and stick to them. Dodge or block and strike right after or not at all.' He overpowered a jackal nearby in a block and tested his forehead against his. Alex' forehead was stronger. The jackal was dazes from it and a serious uppercut at his jaw send him to the floor. A pig tried to punch him in the stomach but a simple kick kept him at a distance. A second one of a hard boot heel against his face did the job.

Tigress had already dealt with half the group by now, but was at a bit of an impasse when she faced five, all armed. While trying to pick her first target she suddenly heard a shout from her ally.

"TIGRESS, DUCK!"

Instinctively she launched herself into a low stance and saw why she had too when a chair came flying aside and a bit over her, crashing into two of her opponents and solving her impasse problem. 'Crude, but it did the job.'

When dealing with those five she sent another four flying and saw that her job was as good as done. Trying to spot the human she saw him being held from behind and while he managed to get free with an elbow jab he couldn't evade being hit in the face with a wine bottle.

His mask shattered and a couple of cuts on his face de decided he had to end this quickly o things would be very bad. He threw off his shouldercape over the pig that had the bottle, blinding him. The one behind him was dealt with by a knee in the stomach and his head being smashed on a table. By the time the pig got the cape off he only saw a fist from a figure twice his size crashing against his face.

Alex looked around him and oriented himself a bit, only to realise that the crowd was all gawking at him. The looks were what startled him the most. He saw expressions of curiosity and happiness because of his help. But he also saw ones of fear, distaste, anger and other looks staring at him. Then the voices began. At first they weren't so bad, only the expected thing.

"Who is that?" "He looks strange, no?" "oh my, I wonder what he is…" "Do you think he's on our side?" "Why has he so little hair on his face?"

But soon again, he heard other things. Things he heard much clearer than the previous ones. Things that he really didn't wish to hear.

"Ew, is that his face?" "What is wrong with him?" "Was he born like that?" "WHAT IS THAT THING?" "That's him! The weird stranger!" "Don't look honey, that's a dangerous freak…" "It's a monster, a monster I tell you! A demon that comes now that Master Oogway is gone!" ""Somebody grab him before he eats our children!" "Yea, somebody get some rope now!"

That and many more things were hurled around towards the human. Tigress was frankly a bit dumbfounded. Strider had helped willingly defend these people and a friend from dangerous drunks, unarmed. Now those very same people instantly turned on him because he looked a bit different. Appalled was a better word. Disgusted.

She couldn't help but be reminded of her days in the Bao Gu orphanage of course. She was called a monster because of her claws, her strength, the fact that she could so easily harm someone accidentally by lack of control. And children are of course often unreasonable. But this human, he didn't even have big teeth or claws or unnatural strength. He was tall, but not taller than the rhino's, the elephant major or several others. She doubted he was taller than Po. He wasn't even very broad or big built. She felt a bit ashamed to see the people that she so tirelessly defended turned so easily on someone who did a good act for such a small reason. She wondered if the only reason she wasn't judged as that was because of her status as a hero.

She observed him more closely now. For all of his act during the conversation that he put up, she saw now what he really was for a moment. A young man who was flinching at the harsh insults that were so carelessly thrown towards him. His behaviour all made a bit more sense now that she could put something in perspective. She was making his way over to stop the crowd getting going too far when she saw something small speed towards him and missing him by a hair.

A rock. Someone had thrown a rock. As hardcore as she was, the meaning behind that one small rock wasn't lost to her. It was a whole step further than just an insult. That was the beginning of an attack. And if she was reading his body language correctly, this wasn't the first time he had had rocks thrown towards him.

He was looking around a bit frantic now. His eyes lingered on the dark wolf –Feng- nearby before stepping backwards and making a run for it.

No! She couldn't lose him now! She immediately went after him and found herself slower than her target. With his tunic looser now she saw his legs moving, and they were longer than she had expected. His steps were simply too large for her to keep up with like this. So as soon as she reached the outskirt of the village and had the room she went on all fours, directly on the fresh track to make up for the distance lost.

She saw soon that she was gaining on him, and fast. This time, he simply couldn't get away. On all fours she had a big advantage in speed while his longer legs didn't allow for such a running position. She was fit and trained. He was in good condition, but tired from the fight and not as trained – not by far. There was little cover and she knew these parts like the back of her paw. There was no rain and no way to hide his tracks, her sight was excellent. While the hunter was not in the mood for the thrill of the chase, she knew that she would get her prey.

Barely two minutes later, it had become a reality. Alex had taken an extended sprint in the hopes of getting into the covered terrain by the time anyone would follow, but his best sprint was no use against a powerful feline in full run. His physique had given him an advantage during the fight, to turn on him now. He knew he had to give up any moment and collapsed by a strong jolt of pain from his thigh. Someone had hit him there, or perhaps it was a cramp… it didn't matter now. He couldn't run. He stood no chance in a fight whatsoever, he would be hilariously outmatched. So he did the only thing he could in this predicament.

He sat down against a tree, as to show a form of basic surrender and waited for the Tiger to arrive.

Master Tigress had seen the human collapse in his run. She slowed down, stood upright again and walked slower and more cautiously towards the man who had seemingly given up and was now sitting against a tree, panting and clutching his leg.

"Running is no use, you know." She said.

"Yea. Against you it isn't. I see that now. I can get away from the villagers but from you… it was inevitable that from the moment we sat down at that table tonight, I would end up being found out and captured." His tone had a bitterness on it. And his tone wasn't fully kept in control. Nerves, desperation. Not much, but it was there.

"I mean you no harm unless you give me reason to." Tigress said, in an attempt to cool the situation down.

"Oh? That's new. The rest of the valley doesn't seem to agree with that statement."

She sighed, this was not going to be easy and this was not her strong suit. But aggression and temper or kung fu would solve nothing here. She would have to be diplomatic and patient to make him talk and convince him.

"I know that their reaction was not very refined, but that were the actions of a few. They were mostly just surprised and nothing else."

"Really? Forgive me for not sharing your optimism Master Tigress. Every time I approached someone, every god forsaken damn time I was called out like this or worse and I had to run for my life, even if I showed up with my hands in a clear universal 'peace' sign, held up where they could see them in the air. Never have I insulted them, never have I given them cause or reason to act like this! Rather the opposite, in fact. I saved two children from a burning building. I nearly died for them, even after I had already been chased off, as if I was a rabid dog. Yet the only response I ever received were rocks to my face."

Tigress was a bit surprised, not she showed it much and did feel a bit bad. She felt a twinge of sympathy for him. And while his small rant wasn't really aimed at her, the message was clear. 'Don't you dare make excuses for this'.

"Why did you never approach the Jade Palace then, instead of only the villages?"

He gave her a very pointed 'how stupid are you' look, but his features deflated soon after again.

"If the villagers welcome a different face with rocks and prejudice, how had I any guarantee or indication that your place would be any different? The villagers or the guards, I could outrun, outsmart and if truly necessary, I could take on some on in fight. But I don't stand a hint of a chance against one of you, let alone six, not even counting your master or any potential others. How should I known that you would not respond in the same kind and would not simply kill me outright or thrown me in some prison?"

She bristled a bit in indignation that someone would think so lowly of them, but had to admit he had a point. It was also a bit strange, really. Being distrusted by someone who was not a criminal. They were close to being revered heroes across all of China. But he was not familiar with them. He was supposed to be protected by them, helped at least. And he thought them to be close to potential murderers and villains for his earlier experience in the valley.

It made her feel strangely… weak. Powerless, to be seen as such and for quite valid reasons. And there was nothing they could or couldn't have done about it. The fact that they protected the valley and its citizens had for once, reflected badly on them even though they had done nothing wrong. Life was indeed unfair and hard, a lesson she had learned long ago.

Alex was meanwhile observing Tigress who stood in front of him with her arms crossed. She did seem at least troubled by his semi-accusations and momentarily sunken in thought. She seemed to shake out of it.
l
"We didn't know that such a thing was happening against you and we would not have stood for it, but I cannot blame you for being cautious after what happened. I meant what I said earlier. I nor anyone else in the Jade Palace mean you harm, unless you do something to deserve it. We had a mystery on our hands with you and wanted to verify how it affected to valley."

"I can understand you wanted some answers and I can't really blame you for it either. I did make some strange appearances after all, and I put a lot of effort in getting away…"

"My master, Grandmaster Shifu desires to speak with you to clear things up but decided that it was your own choice to agree or not. If you truly want to stay alone, we will not fight you on it. All we want is some answers and in return we will see if we can help you. I swear this is the truth on my life and honour as a Kung Fu Master." She claimed, resolute.

"While I have seen people go back on their words very easily at times, I am not a stubborn idiot and I know you would not make such a claim on your honour without some merit in it. I suppose it is the best I can get given the situation." He seemed to have been won over by the oath and the nerves in his voice were gone now.

"So you agree to our terms? You will just answer my questions and meet with Master Shifu, and in return we will see if we can help you?" she verified, satisfied things seemed to be working out after all.

"Yes I do. Now that I have some sort of safety guarantee I see no reason not to. You are my best shot at finding my way after all." He replied with a kind smile.

"Good. So, who are you truly?"

"Perhaps we should simply start over fresh with introductions. All our previous talk was after all under masks or under misconceptions about each other. Hi, I'm a human and my full name is Alexander James Jenssen, but some people simply call me Alex. Who are you, ma'am?" he asked easily while holding his hand out.

Tigress almost smiled at the display but settled for a less sterner look from her eyes ad grasped his hand. He had long, precise fingers and his hand looked smaller and rather thin in her bigger paw.

"Well met Alexander James Jennsen, I'm Master Tigress of the Jade Palace."

"Oh please, just use my first name. James is my father's name and Jenssen my family name so those are quite impersonal."

"Very well, Alexander it is then. Now, can you tell me the circumstances regarding your presence in the valley?"

"What I told you so far was all the truth. Just not the fully elaborated truth. I must warn you though that it might be a tad difficult to believe."

"Just tell me the truth."

"Very well. As you know, I've been a frequent traveller in the last two years. I was actually on my way home to see my sister again after more than two years and a half and I was already in my home country Norway, in Scandinavia. When I was at the large Fjord known as the Geiranger Fjord, I climbed a higher point that I knew from my childhood. However, a rockslide somehow happened, it took me down with it and everything became black. I woke up to the best of my knowledge a mile or ten north of this valley."

"Wait, you mean to say that in some way you were transported more than ten thousand miles across the world by this rockslide?"

"If it was only that…"

"What do you mean?"

"Master Tigress, I did not move across the world. I moved to a different world." He told her with a sigh.

Tigress involuntarily took a small step back while thoughts raced through her head. So this was the answer to the great mystery… And what an answer indeed! It sounded absolutely ludicrous and she was tempted to call it hogwash. But it was the only answer that fit. This was why he couldn't go home. He could travel all he wanted and it wouldn't bring him any closer. He was no part of an ancient people long extinct. He was from another world. She could only begin to guess at the possible consequences of this.

"How is such a thing possible?" she managed to bring out.

"Frankly, I don't know. I have lots theories about it but no definitive answer. My people cannot travel to other worlds, at least not in this sense so we have merely theories to go by. I was hoping to find records in archives of some sort here that could point me in the right direction."

"I don't know if we can help you with that, but if anyone can, it is Master Shifu. He knows more than the rest of us or can at least search the archives."

"Well, I have nothing to lose, I suppose."

"I think it's best if you go with me straight to the Jade Palace. Now."

"I think not."

"Human, do you even have an inkling h-"

"-How dangerous this situation could potentially be for the balance of perhaps your entire world? Probably better than you, Master Tigress. It is one the things I have thought about a lot for the past two months. There's a reason you are the first person who knows this. Not even Feng and Kara know this. I trust you understand discretion is extremely important and that you for now do not tell anyone else than your master."

"If you understand this so well, then why refuse? Running off again in the dark of the night?"

"No master Tigress but you pointed out something. It is past midnight know. I'm exhausted and my leg hurts. It would take two hours to reach the palace from here for me now, and I'm not even reckoning the thousand stairs. I simply need some hours of rest first. I give you my word that tomorrow I will come to the Jade Palace to meet with Master Shifu."

"Fine." She grudgingly admitted.

"Then I guess I will see you tomorrow, Master Tigress. Until then."

"Wait, where do you stay? There is no house nearby."

"That's because I don't live in a house. I've been living in a cave for the past two months now. Kara is quite insistent that I use their spare room though."

A cave? He lived in a cave for two months? "Why?"

"No one could find it, it gave me privacy and enough protection and it had a steady water supply. Only during rainstorms it downright sucks."

"One more question before you go Alexander Jennsen. How did you escape me twice?" She was still miffed up about it.

He gave a smile. "The first time I was really lucky. A table covered my during my fall from the debris of the burning house. I got away while you were all hovering over Xia."

"Yes, but you track simply disappeared. How did you do that?"

"Oh, that? Pretty simply really. I waded a larger part through the river, against the stream in for say, three hundred meters. My scent was undetectable in the water and natural instinct is to check down the stream for the banks. You didn't find any other track there, because there was none to be found."

He waded through the river. So simple yet so effective. "And the other time, in Feng's house?"

"Ah, while I noticed you coming in in time to do something, I never made it out of the building actually. I would never have reached the treeline without you spotting me and you would have caught me then."

"Wait, you never left the building?"

"You didn't check the cupboard."

The cupboard. He hid in the freaking cupboard, right next to the window. Such a stupid way. He could have been caught so easily… but he wasn't.

"But… the window was open."

"Indeed. I purposefully set it wide open, to make it seem like I had already left the building, but I never did. When you think you already have the right answer, you don't looking for other possibilities. It is simple psychology, really, to only look for answers that fit the solutions we think are correct. So because you had already decided I used the window to escape, you crossed out the possibility that I was still on there. The smell of my wet clothes probably hid my own actual smell."

"That… is both smart and incredibly stupid."

"hmmm, but it worked, and that is what matters. Stupid things done on purpose so they work are not stupid. Like the bluff with which I assisted you colleagues, Masters Crane and Viper."

"So you really engaged thirty bandits with nothing but your bow and an obvious bluff, trusting in a light trick?"

"Twenty nine bandits. But, yeah."

"Are you crazy?"

"I'm quite sure some will say so. Either I'm crazy, or I'm the only sane one in a crazy world. I don't know for certain which one is more unsettling, really. Goodnight, Master Tigress, I will see you tomorrow, I guess." And with that he took off.

Tigress shook her head as she made her own way back to the Jade Palace. She didn't know which one was more unsettling either.

Chapter Text

"Are you crazy?"

"I'm quite sure some will say so. Either I'm crazy, or I'm the only sane one in a crazy world. I don't know for certain which one is more unsettling, really. Goodnight, Master Tigress, I will see you tomorrow, I guess." And with that he took off.

Tigress shook her head as she made her own way back to the Jade Palace. She didn't know which one was more unsettling either.

Chapter 9 : An Antidote for Friendship.

It was at the usual hour on the early morrow that master Shifu made his way at the barracks to see his students. Seeing that yesterday was the festival, he decided to be a bit more lenient to them for the day. No doubt that Monkey and Mantis had made it late and if they had succeeded in even a part of their plans concerning Po, he'd be out as well. Viper and Crane were responsible enough and would be there as normal, perhaps a bit more tired than usual.

The one he was curious about was Tigress. His prime student. His daughter, he tried to remind himself. So far, little attempts at closing the gap between them and to encourage her to find more in life than training herself to death hadn't gone as well as he hoped. Not that they had gone bad per se. More like she barely recognised the attempts, surprised even that he seemed to give such advice. But he couldn't expect things to go quickly in this, could he? Twenty years of harsh training and little attention wasn't bridged by encouraging her to join her comrades for a night. She was a grown woman. He'd have to be patient and when she became more open to his newer, more lenient side he could perhaps try a bit more.

The fact that she even joined the party at all surprised him a bit, but he wasn't ignorant of her ways either. By giving her the excuse that it was a bit of a mission or something of importance she was easily persuaded. For mere fun, she would never have gone. Not that he had lied to her, he did have the feeling her going was the right thing for some answers. And if he was wrong, well, hopefully she had had a good evening. He just hoped she didn't spend the entire night tense on the lookout for this mission but that she actually enjoyed herself as well. If not… well, there was always the case of the human that they could work on together.

With the sound of the gong only the feline shot out of her room with a "good morning master" in a perfect bow. As he'd expected, the snake and the avian followed suit in a slower manner. The other three made no appearance as of yet. Tigress moved to drag them out of their room but stopped and followed her master after a gesture of him. Once in the kitchen they were surprised there was already a standard meal ready. Well, except the red panda.

"I anticipated our missing three would not be joining us yet at this hour so I ordered a standard breakfast be made by the servants." He explained. "I heard there was a bit of trouble at a later point during the festival but got no details. Does any of you know what it was?"

"I do, master." Tigress responded. After another gesture of him she began to explain.

"Yesterday, after a longer while during the festival I went to sit on the side to get out of the mass crowd and was joined simultaneously by a traveller who called himself 'Strider'. During a longer discussion I found out he was the elusive human referred to as Alex."

That drew the attention of the others quite abruptly.

"Ah, and did he cause an incident then?" Shifu asked frowning.

"No, or at least not intentionally. He was masked and covered and no one suspected he was so different but when I was trying to draw him out in confirmation for his identity, a fight developed before us and we both intervened. He to help Feng, who seems to have a good friendship with him by now. They weren't too much trouble, but the human's mask got smashed and the crowd reacted… disturbed on it. It scared him away and he made a run for it."

"Did he manage to disappear again?"

"I caught him later on and he explained that he got into this valley by unknown means and thus cannot return home. His full name is Alexander James Jenssen. He seemed to have no malicious intentions and didn't contact us earlier because he was under the impression we might harm him out of prejudice for his difference, like some others have attempted. I convinced him to come here today."

"Interesting. What was your further impression on him?" Shifu asked ever so slightly distracted while pondering this new development.

"He is most certainly intelligent, and not to be underestimated on that account. He can hold his own in a fight but doesn't seem to have had any training beyond the basics and using the advantage of his taller posture. He doesn't strike me as the lying type either, though he melt his words in half-truths often, or left parts out. He mentioned a dislike for fighting and experience in healing, and displayed a great amount of knowledge on different cultures, especially European ones."

"So he is a travelling healer, or something among those lines?" Crane asked for confirmation.

"Partly. It is not his profession and he is still young, but he travelled a lot. On those travels he helps local people sometimes after his family's profession, or so he claims."

"So you think he is trustworthy?" Viper more stated than asked, content that their problem didn't seem to be such a terrible problem after all.

"Of course he is not trustworthy Viper! He is an unknown entity, a creature of origins, powers, knowledge and intents unknown! And we know he can most certainly be dangerous! I have seen no sign of him being a bandit of villain so far, but to trust him on something so limited while no one of us has even seen him only once in daylight, let alone for an extended period of time is plain ludicrous. The chances of him having some scheme or turning against us are far higher." Tigress rattled back decisive, her voice cold. She hadn't trusted him last night and she wasn't about to start know. She ruthlessly pushed away the little part of her that said he was a decent person…thing…human.

She almost wished he had been a simple bandit. Criminals weren't complicated. Then he'd be easy enough to judge as character and she could just beat him, throw him in prison and interrogate him. An incredible intelligent villain was more problematic, because those tended to be leaving destruction in their wake and plans and were somewhat difficult to defeat. But someone so unknown to be honourable and good? That was rare. Too rare for her to take chances. Her mind snapped back to the current conversation at her master's voice.

"Tigress, from everything I've gathered so far he's proven himself at least worthy of a reasonable chance and hasn't broken any laws. He might even be the victim in some perspective. While your level of caution is commendable, you shouldn't assume too much based on a difference." He corrected her, with a slight edge on his voice.

"… Yes Master."

"Now that that is settled you can all go to the training halls. Focus on light repetitive training today, or meditational exercises. No sparring. Better to not overbear you bodies after yesterday's feast. When Mantis, Monkey and Po join you tell them the same. And please drag them out of their nests if they aren't up by noon. Cold water is permitted in such a task." He concluded as an afterthought. Crane and Viper tried to hide a grin at the thought and barely won the battle with their twitching and rising mouth-corners.

"Master Shifu, could I speak with you for a moment?" came the feline's voice when everybody stood up. The red panda, understanding she meant in private or she would just have spoken whatever it was nodded and walked towards the Hall of Heroes, his student following him.

"What do you wish to speak about, Tigress?" he asked calmly, while setting himself in lotus-pose for the unmoving water basin.

"The human. There's another part he revealed, regarding his origins that troubles me."

"Oh? And what would that be?" he asked unconcerned.

"He claims to originate from a different world" she dropped the bomb on him. Shifu froze while his eyebrows went so high they could've ran three quadrants around his head and joined his moustache to make it a double one.

"A different world." he repeated a bit numbly, not knowing how to respond. Tigress was nervous. She'd rarely seen her master as shocked as this. Last time was when Po did something so stupid it defied all belief in him being a form of intelligent life. Meaning, roughly five times a week. He had to have broken a record with it somewhere. Shifu seemed to pull himself together.

"And do you believe it?"

"I… as ludicrous as it may sound, I have not been able to come up with a solution that proves it false outside of the thousands of questions it brought forth. And while I have troubling believing it, it is the best-fitting solution. Or he comes from such a different part of the world that it may very well be practically a different world in all but a technicality."

This answer raised the eyebrows once more who had only just began their journey downwards again.

"I wanted to go towards Feng and escort the human on his way here, both to find out more before he enters the Jade Palace and to make sure he isn't harassed by villagers or guards and would use that as a reason to hide again." She stated carefully.

"Yes… it might be prudent to do that. Ensure him that it is merely a precaution though. He seems suspicious and cautious himself from what you mentioned with how he has been treated. Be careful though, I have an off feeling about today and I cannot figure out why since the weather is so nice."

"Of course Master."

"Then I will wait here for your return." And he went into meditation, muttering his "inner peace" mantra.

Tigress took off immediately towards Feng at full speed, racing on all fours from the steep hills and through the tall grass. If the human wasn't there, he should at least be on the way, and Feng had an idea of where to find him. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to check up on Feng, to see if everything remained calm after she left yesterday night and no further fights broke out, and if he wasn't roughed up too much in his drunken state.

He was still her friend after all, even though she had been disappointed and a tad angry at him for not informing her of the whole human thing. She could have solved this mystery a month ago, then. She shook herself out of these 'what-if's' and knocked only once before entering the house.

"Oh, good morning Master Tigress. I didn't anticipate you coming here on this fine morning. Everything all right, I suspect?" the person sitting on the left end of the wooden table said a bit surprised, but with a polite smile nonetheless.
It was a most curious sight, a human dressed in dark blue jeans and nice white button-up shirt sitting with two big wolves with wild, dark brownish fur drinking jasmine tea out of baby blue and pinkish decorated cups and seemingly talking about the nice weather.

"Human." She returned his greeting with a nod. "You agreed to come to the Jade Palace today, to inform Master Shifu of your situation." She stated.

"Since it wasn't a question, the tone of your voice indicates you thought I was planning on running off, or as if I didn't kept to my word." He said lightly and amused, but Tigress heard the slight barb in his words. She hadn't intended to sound accusing, even if his words agreed with her thoughts perfectly. She had to make him trust her somewhat so everything would go smoothly. Diplomacy was the key here, so she bit back the retort that she didn't trust him any further than Mister Ping could throw Po.

"I came here to escort you to the Jade Palace so the balance in the valley isn't any more disturbed by your presence than it has already has. Master Shifu wishes to find answers to the mysteries that shroud the circumstances of your appearance and solve these matters."

"Translation : you don't like and/or trust me. You could just have said so, you know." He said matter-of-factly before taking another sip of his tea.

"That is greatly simplifying the matter."

"But you don't disagree with the fact that you don't like me and most certainly don't trust me."

"Indeed I do not."

"Mademoiselle, you wound me with thou cruel words." He gasped theatrically while clutching his hand over his heart.

"I suspect ye shall survive it." Feng noted dryly.

"And how would you know that wolf? For all you know, the primal cause of death with us humans could be sheer heartbreak after being maliciously insulted!"

"Ye would' ave exploded by now from even a single one of our conversations, if tha' was the case. We insult more than we talk, and ye know it damn well."

"I might still explode. Perhaps it's scheduled over-time or something. Either way, you're risking your life by merely insulting me."

"I trust ye not to suddenly blow up into tiny squishy parts, leavin' me fur drenched in your stinkin' blood."

"lovely. I hereby promise you shall not see,
me blow into tiny bits in front of thee."

Tigress could not supress a growl of annoyance at the horribly rhyme. He was really pushing her limits on patience. Apparently the wolves thought so as well for once.

"That's a horrible rhyme Alex" Kara sighed, her head shaking.

"Lad, you'd better be silent for the walk back, or an unfortunate tree might lose a lot of bark by being battered with a human, swung by an irate feline Kung Fu Master." Feng advised him, not bothering to keep his voice down. Unfortunately, it hadn't the wished outcome as their friend saw it as an excuse to start some prose.

"I thank thee
for thy advice for me,
but now I see,
I must be off with she.
Yes, off indeed, I must swiftly be.
I must ask though of thee,
Does thou foresee any problems up there for me?"

He instantly improvised in a Shakespearian style with a deep voice, while holding his cup in the palm of his stretched hand as if he was to proclaim, 'Alas, poor Yorick, thou skull hast been transformed into a pink cup through the wicked means of vile sorcery!'

"Alex, stop rhyming. Like, this very instant."

"Why?"

"Wolves hate rhymes. It's our weakness."

He cocked his head to the side. "… That makes absolutely no sense."

"Nev'r claimed it did, it's like a rule."

"Well, that's a bloody stupid rule." He scoffed.

"Do not question the sense or senselessness of our rules, youngling! One day ye'll encount'r the great rhymer. One moment ye're listening to his pleasant rhymes until suddenly… BAM! Ye're insane!" he proclaimed dramatically.

"…Just like that?" he asked suspiciously with narrowed eyes.

"Just like that!" Feng confirmed with a great sigh, as if remembering a tragic event.

"Hmm. Note to self : sudden and instant insanity can be reached by rhyming to wolves. Interesting." Alex mused out loud.

Kara merely smiled and laughed softly at their antics. She'd already grown used to them by now. Frankly, she was glad for the both of them to get along so easily. Feng didn't have too much friends as a wolf and she'd never really been able to play along in his childish jokes.

Tigress also had a sort of smile on her face. The type that's forced and tensed up and says 'I don't want be here, I want to hit something. Or someone'.

"While these games are fun and all, I don't think Master Tigress has the time for them. She's a very busy person. Alex, do you still need something to check on? Enough food or blankets and rain protection and water? And do you perhaps need tea, or-"

"Kara, You already gave me provisions two days ago, I don't need extra blankets seeing as it's summer, the cave is fully dry and I have my own water source. I'll be fine." Alex responded a tad exasperated. She worried so much about him that she could've been his mother.

While annoying at first, he secretly found it nice to know that at least she seemed to care about his wellbeing. She and her husband may be the only ones in the valley but it was still a luxury to have adult people that cared and tried to help you. Even on earth he rarely had that. He might be twenty, close to twenty-one and be independent, it's always nice to have somebody you can rely on. It was one of the few things he could rely on in this strange world.

"Now that we've confirmed I don't need anything extra I assume it's better to join Master Tigress on the way back and end the suffering of her having to wait on me. From what I've seen so far the stairs will take long enough." Tigress acknowledged his decision with a nod.

"Don't ferget yer bow" Feng reminded him while handing him the black walnut bow.

"I don't think I'll need it this time Feng. I entrust its safety to you."

"Nonsense! Absolutely disgraceful! A warrior never goes on a journey without his weapon. Taking off without your bow, the nerve…" he shouted, eyes wild. It took Alex a moment to comprehend he might have insulted Feng a bit. He was a weaponsmith who considered himself an artist after all. You never know with artists, they get worked up over the strangest things.

To avoid any conflict, he simply took his now familiar bow and placed it on his quiver, swung his grey eastpack backpack on and took off after Tigress, who had immediately set off with a quick march.

She wasn't about to sprint back in the warm weather, but she detested slowing down if she could avoid it, one of the things Po did that annoyed her constantly. The human seemed to have no trouble catching up and keeping up the pace alongside her. She hadn't had a decent look at his form last night, but now in the broad daylight it was really evident that he was unlike anyone or anything that she had seen so far. Even though his pose was somewhat related, his proportions were completely different.

His long legs, now no longer hidden by the outfit but in fitted a dark blue material that he called 'jeans' were longer than her own and his larger steps made up for her higher pace. From what she could see humans were developed differently, as if walking and running straight and upright had always been the only decent way for them to move, and their bodies had been formed accordingly.

No tail to keep balance during sharp turns, slightly longer limbs as opposed to a shorter main body which made running on all fours senseless, but neither the reach or movements to easily swing through the trees or reach extreme speeds, which left only an improvement in endurance possible, something a light but tall body type would support best. A sort of smooth beige skin with barely any fur except on his head, which was longer than just fur and coloured a dark blonde. No claws or teeth of any significance that she could see… But still cunning, resilient and resourceful enough to find the skill to escape her twice, almost thrice.

His upright pose could be both an advantage and a disadvantage in a fight, she analysed, her trained warrior mind now rolling down a list of strengths and weaknesses about a possible ally or opponent. He was taller than most, including her and only the largest crocodiles or rhinos and a select few male felines or canines could be higher. His limbs were subsequently quite long too and provided reach most people lacked. It would show most in kicks. He was agile enough to dodge or evade most strong attacks and his size offered protection against smaller ones.

But his lighter, leaner pose was also a weakness: compared to other beings his size, he didn't pack as much muscle or simple mass, volume or weight. In a strength contest to a similar sized opponent, he'd lose. She was relatively sure that even though he was a good three inches taller than her, she'd still be the heavier and broader one. The males were usually even broader than her which bode ill for his relative chances if faced with a male tiger.

His upright stance was another weakness. If he was hit, or without perfect balance it'd be very easy to floor him, and one the floor he would lose. His longer legs brought his center, the center of his mass and volume higher above the ground. He'd lose his balance much easier than someone whose gravital point was closer to the ground.

She filed this information away and continued down her path. While observing him she'd caught some of his subtle looks at her. He probably already suspected she was analysing him and he was no doubt doing the same with her. They continued in silence until she broke it after twenty minutes.

"You are very silent, human."

"Masterful observation, Master Tigress." He deadpanned.

"I anticipated you throwing an annoying childish racket all the way up, so I am surprised at you managing to restraining yourself." She shot back.

"You didn't seem the type to enjoy my quality humour. And joking around you would probably be bad for my health."

"Correct to both." She confirmed dryly.

"Sarcasm aside, what should I expect up there?"
Noting that his tone was more polite and serious than before, she decided to grant him some actual answer.

"I expect Master Shifu to ask a lot of questions, both about your personal situation and your kindred, and to get theories or events possibly linked to you confirmed or denied. Further than that depends on his decisions. And your behaviour."

He nodded and seemed satisfied with the answer for now. They walked on in silence. Tigress was tense. She didn't really understand why. Most likely with such an unknown walking next to her, but it made her feel on guard. Something was off, she just didn't know what. Right when she wanted to ask the blasted human if he was planning something he whispered something.

"Something feels bad."

"Explain." She didn't bother whispering in return.

"I simply have a bad feeling, like something is going to happen. Do you not feel it? I think we're being watched."

"No one is on the path except for us human. I took this path because it's so rarely used and no one should be here, lest they have knowledge and purpose nearby the Jade Palace." She said in an annoyed tone.

"So no one should be nearby?"

"Indeed human, you are safe from the big bad scary villagers. The only ones here are people who come and go to the palace, but don't want to go through the villages to reach the stairs of thousand steps." She enjoyed taunting him just a little bit too much. He showed a flicker of annoyance, but it disappeared with another question.

"Does the Jade Palace have a force of around twenty canines, felines or something in between and should they have reason to be here?" he asked a bit nervous.

"No." she huffed.

"Then I fear we've bad company."

"Human, there is no one nearby with any reason, my senses are far better trained than yours. You're acting off and I will find out why. What little plot is it this time you're trying to construct?" she said while slowing down and glaring at him.

"For bloody fuck's sake, when will you get it Stripes? Previously mentioned force is barely thirty meters away from us to the right and has been following as through the bends for the past ten minutes!" snapping through his impatience.

"You're being idiotic. Deceiving attempts won't help you mount another escape. And I'll be certain Master Shifu knows that." She finished coldly.

"Oh, get past your bloody prejudice of my differences, furball! I can sense them way too clearly for this to be a foolish mistake!" he spat at her.

"I've had enough your insolent words human!" she exclaimed at the brink of rage. In the blink of an eye she grabbed him by his collar and moved to punch him, only for her to gasp softly and for her eyes to widen as she threw herself far to the left side dragging the human with her on the ground in an instinctive action.

Five arrows buried themselves deeply with sharp thuds in the tree before which they had been standing only half a second previously. Had she actually hit him, they both would be dead now or rendered a weak target.

Tigress' instincts switched to a battle mode nearly instantaneous as the result of twenty years of the harshest training possible. She jumped upright and her muscles jumped ready in a stance while with three quick movements she took in her surroundings. And indeed, a group of fifteen strong at least began to vaguely appear on the far right.

Her mind raced as she assessed the situation. If they could lay an ambush as precise and effective as this one had been they had to be skilled, professionals. Possibly assassins. This was beyond mere banditry. They still had a few moments before they would be upon them. Tigress had no doubt or fear for her own abilities, but the human… he was most certainly not on her level.

"We've got twenty-five seconds. Can you fight?" she asked quickly in a professional tone.

"You saw my limits last night." He confessed nervous, while crawling back upright.

"How good is your archery?" Eying his bow, a quick strategy had formed.

"Fairly accurate."

"Move backwards between these four trees higher up. Shoot down who you can, but make sure to pick one far enough from me. Focus on yourself and the stragglers, provide cover for me as I keep them focused. Aim for the largest body mass, no unnecessary risks or misses. Do you have any other weapons?"

"Yes, a large knife. I can- hang on there : you want me to kill them?" he asked both nervous and incredulous.

Tigress gave him a hard look and voiced the situation in a tone that brooked no argument. "There is no choice if you desire life, it will be us or them. Their purpose is clearly to have us dead."

Alex positioned him some ten meters backwards, higher up the hill. It gave him enough space and oversight to pick them out and shoot them.

To kill them.

He had fought for his life before. After all, he had travelled through war-zones. But never like this. Not to purposefully wait on an enemy and waiting for them with a drawn bow to be killing them instead of in a fierce struggle causing a wound that would lead to someone's death. He'd caused death before. Several times. Killed, shot, murdered? Never.

'They aren't people.' He said in an vague attempt to convince himself. 'They aren't really people. They're animals. Just like wild animals with an upright pose who happened to be smart enough to wield equal weapons. Just animals. No people. Wild animals who need to be put down. Except for the orange and black one.' The very opposite of what he had been trying to convince himself of the past two months. But it worked. It would work to get rid of his hesitation and guilt complex for the fight, to ensure his justified survival. He'd worry about guilt and ethics if he was alive at the end of the day.

Tigress watched him struggle with himself for a few moments before he seemed to pull himself together. She wanted to berate him for losing focus and time, but know that even she, the hard-core master Tigress wouldn't do that. He had barely been in a fight before, and now she had ordered him to kill.

No one had it easy with such a moment. She remembered her first time. She was barely fourteen when she saw a bandit attempting to assault a girl and in a rage she broke eight bones before tearing out his throat. She'd spend a week isolated in her room before her master managed to convince her that she was not a vile monster for it.

"Show them no mercy, for they shall grant you none" she reminded him. He seemed to have steeled himself a bit and had his arrow knocked and ready. She also put him up there so she could simply fight without having to worry about him running in the way.

She assessed the situation quickly as she took a defensive stance that primed in countering. The tiger style was on itself one of the more 'aggressive' styles in Kung Fu, which focused on hard and swift offense to take enemies out with powerful blows and kicks. It excelled in staying low to the ground, burst attacks and if one had the endurance, simply keeping up those bursts for a long time. Very few could keep cooping a master of the Tiger style that kept up with such sheer strength and speed of blows.

The drawback was that it wasn't focused as much on the defence. The 'wait and see' approach to counter at the last moment contradicted with the essence of the style, which required to keep up the offense nearly all the times and thus stay in control. By keeping it up, an enemy simply had no time to launch a pose and time a defensive manoeuvre to counter and regain control.

But now she had to wait. To launch forwards would be to lose the advantage of space and height she had here, and the lack of opportunities of being ambushed. With an archer providing cover, she should be able to deal with this.

The first hyena that broke through the shrubs with a large jump forward crashed undignified to the forest floor with a wet gurgle when an arrow buried itself just above his collar bone. The second one, a wolf, got one straight in his sternum.
The third came to quickly afterwards for Alex to have an arrow ready and spotted him in time. The human still managed to shoot but missed because of his haste. That third managed to evade the shot very skilful but had primed his sight now on the furthest target and was oblivious to the angry feline on his left. Until she broke his neck with a single punch, that is.

The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh came out in rap succession and filled the small clearing with growls, howls and roars as a single feline took them on. Alex' arrow missed the sixth and cursed. They were skilled, Tigress noted. While not on her level, four of them at once was still bad odds. After a feint to the left she found an opening and immediately hammered it home, breaking several of her opponents ribs.

One of the three raised his axe to cleave it at her and she was forced to dodge afterwards, lest she come in the range of the other two. She was given a small break when another arrow was launched into the axe-wielder's shoulder. No perfect lethal wound by a long shot, but it robbed him of the use of his grand weapon. Positioning the human up there had been a good move, she thought while jumping her left opponent who was thrown headfirst into a large rock with a sickening crunch.

Alex winced at the sound of a skull being cracked while his ally took out the guy to the left with a rapid barrage of punches and made short work of the now axe-less beast. He knocked another arrow ready to release the hold on the dark bow of walnut and osage with a satisfying creaking sound, to let that shaft fly forward and let its slim and long metal point pierce the target.

The attackers seemed to have understood that sending them one by one wasn't going to succeed. As a result it was quiet for a moment before all the remaining force rushed out screaming with murderous intent to the two who had succeeded in taking out half their team. They had their target, and it was not the prey they had wanted. And for that, they were furious.

Alex' arm was shaking for holding the bow so long under such strength. It took a fair bit of muscle to fully draw the bow and to hold it like this was very heavy and it pained his arm. His muscles shook and make him lose control of the steady aim. The result paid for it when his shot went wide. A pained grunt told him he still had hit something -someone-, but only because they all appeared at the same time. Rather difficult to miss when you've got nearly ten targets next to each other.

Tigress saw the shot go wide and graze the leg of the most outer one. He'd be hindered, but was still in the fight. She hoped her positioning play would still work out. If she could hold the frontline, the human could keep cover and prevent them from surrounding her, lest they be easy targets to be shot or stabbed in the back. And as long as she could hold them off, they'd still be easy pickings for him the thin their ranks, demoralize them and even the odds.

Unfortunately, these proved to be smarter than that. They seemed to have divided themselves into three groups. The largest, consisting of the five biggest stormed to Tigress directly, leaving no imagination to what the brutes were planning to do with their clubs and axes.

Another group formed of three, and to Alex' horror, they went straight for him. Both Tigress and Alex saw the pattern now. Isolate them by keeping the main threat busy with the toughest you have, sent a small kill-team to get rid of the nasty helper and the few who remained could act, plot and move as they wished to influence to battle. If he wasn't busy trying to keep himself from soiling his undies, he might have applauded them for the display of strategy.

And the worst part? It was working too.

Tigress found herself unable to get the upper hand. She could handle one or two with ease, but the five simply provided too much pressure. They were strong, tough, big and brutal. When she could work out an opening or a counter on one of the big beasts she usually had to break it off early because one of its comrades interrupted with yet another brutal swing of their weapons. The few times she landed a strike it was a swift one without the necessary time and strength to really have any impact beyond disorienting them. Without a decent interruption she'd never be able to break them up.

Alex wasn't faring any better, really. Having the big ones on Tigress, the three that engaged him were smaller than him, giving him the advantage in size, perhaps a bit of muscle. The only advantage he still had. The three, jackals or hyena's from their size to judge, had long knives or light swords to plunge in their enemy, something they seemed to eagerly look forward too.

Having pulled out his own knife (and silently thanking Tigress for making sure he had it ready at hand, rather than still having to take it out of his backpack) he was slowly driven backwards. He could hold his own and stall his death for now. He stood higher the hillside, always an advantage. With his better size and reach, he could keep them at arms' length. For now.

He reached out with his sense carefully as to not lose his concentration. There were no extras laying in ambush anymore as far as he could reach. A small mercy, which meant that he could fully focus on those that were visible without having to worry about his back or others appearing.

His attackers often lunged at him but had become more careful in doing so. After several wild attempts one had been sloppy and a simple push had been enough to prevent getting stabbed. As an immediate consequence, Alex had grabbed him by his neck and thrown him back against another attacker, forgetting that he could have stabbed him and have him finished. While said opponent was still dazed and angry, the other two readjusted and assessed him as a threat too now, to be dealt with in a skilled manner. They would not grant easy mistakes by mistaking him for easy prey anymore.

He was slowly being pushed and guided backwards. They were pinning him in a corner, with trees blocking to his left and a large slab of hard rock behind him. A minute later he was cornered in that very spot, his back nearly against the wall and broad trees preventing him from moving side-wards. The only way was out, and there were tree very sharp blades waiting for him to try it.

Alright, so he was trapped. How could he dislodge himself from this trap? There was room enough to fight, but not enough to jump passed them, he couldn't climb these things, he was outnumbered against three. 'Think, think, think Alexander, goddamnit! Think unconventional! Out of the box! Out of the trap! What wouldn't they expect?' What is the illogical?' he furiously thought this and many other things while racing over possibilities in his head.

The jackal was angry. That tall fellow had not proven to be easy prey he was expected to be. And he had hurt his head when he thrown against his buddy! He'd have to teach that thing a lesson! Yeah! He'd simply stab him in the gut! He was trapped and couldn't avoid it, could he?

To make good on his thoughts, he jumped forward with the intention of impaling his prey with his short sword only to find that in his disoriented state he'd miscalculated and plunged his knife simply in the tree next to the flat-face' head.

Alex marvelled at the sheer luck he had before not wasting the chance and grabbing the jackals head an smashed it four times hard against the big rock wall until he heard a loud crack. Broken skull.

He quickly scanned the body for anything of interest while holding it in front of him as a shield and block of sight. A throwing dart? That was interesting. He wasn't bad at darts! He had enough experience with his friends in various pubs. And was that a small sack with… oil? Well, wasn't that interesting? The two remaining jackals found the toothy grin on the weird flatface very unsettling when their comrade dropped dead to the ground.

Tigress continued in her fierce struggle. She only had had one decent opening and used it well by smashing her fists like rocks on the ribs, effectively breaking most of them. One of them probably pierced his lungs. She'd seen the human's inexperience was allowing him to get trapped, and she couldn't help him in this. Blasted! She needed this fight to be done with, or they would both be done with.

She spotted the human throw something small at the jackal. Unsurprising attempt at keeping them at distance.
The jackal started screaming and howling as flames suddenly burst out and set the rest of his fur ablaze. Now that was surprising.

Alex' adrenaline coursed through his veins as his plan had actually worked. The other one was easily stabbed and disposed of. Seeing Tigress was struggling he decided to lend her a hand. Or more accurately, a knife. When he slashed said knife in the hamstrings of one of the big guys, a buffalo he thought he was rewarded with a roar of pain and an enemy who crashed down, clutching his leg. Before the element of confusion was completely gone for the big assaulters he did something crazy by jumping on the back of another big sort of buffalo and stabbed wildly downwards in the area between his neck and shoulder. Always a vital area.

Sadly, it didn't work out smoothly as the big beast began thrashing around, roaring wildly and making the human on his back feel like a ragdoll on a rodeo-show. With a sword in the neck of the mount as a point to hold on. The good part was that it gave Tigress the opening she needed to jump aside in the new free space and focus on a single target, defeating it soundly in very short notice.

The second swung his axe down but did it to slow, which resulted in a torn out throat as the raging feline used her claws. She quickly put down the third with a hard blow to the head and when the human had been thrown off she dealt with the fourth, silencing him with a very short fight. In group, they managed to wear her down, but in single combat, Master Tigress didn't leave them much of a chance.

The battle was over. Alex got up and inspected himself. A few painful areas that would be big bruises, a few cuts and scrapes from the jackals and his rather harsh landing but he counted himself lucky to not have anything major. Luckier than the many dead he saw around him. Bodies with torn out throats, limbs and necks in odd angles, deep bleeding stab wounds or with some familiar arrow shafts sticking out of their chests. Some were still moaning or gurgling and moving bit around, but their fates were sealed. He tried very hard not to think about how it were his hands, his weapons, that ended those lives. A feeling of nausea overtook him. He felt sick, and it hadn't even anything to do with the horrible smell of dead and open corpses around him. He held back the urge to vomit.

Tigress came up next to him. Her fur was now more red than orange and her paws and claws simply drenched with blood. She didn't even look tired while he felt exhausted. And she had a strange look in her eyes. Was that… sympathy? Not that she looked very sympathetic at the moment, now that she looked like she had bathed in the red life-flow of her foes.

"The first time is always hard."

"Wha-What do you mean?"

"Killing. The first time to take a life in full conscience. The saying of the bloodbath afterwards. You are holding up well, considering all." She stated not unkindly. Well, not condescending at least.

"I've seen some bloody scenes before during my travels, or on the operation table but this… so many that died just right now, knowing that I ended their lives like this, it sickens me. How can I just ignore that, knowing I just committed several murders? Knowing I- "

A heavy paw gripped him hard on his shoulder. Right on the newly formed bruise. Aw.

"Stay your breath. You did not commit murder. You fought to defend your life. Would you have done this if there had been another course of action, or if they did not in intend to end us?"

"What? Of course not!"

"Then you are blameless here. Life will give you enough burdens as it is, do not carry the burden of the dead if you only acted in self-defence. Your conscience is clear."

"It's just… did we have to kill them all? Couldn't we just chase them away or knock them out or something?"

"They were too skilled and relentless for that. Normally we do not take lives idly. There was simply no choice here." she said in a final tone. "Do you need to regurgitate? I will not judge. Most do after their first battle."

"No, no, I can keep my vomit in check."

"Good. Talk with masters Crane or Viper later if needed. They are better conversationalists than I am."

"Thank you."

Such simple words. 'thank you'. There was more to it than those two tiny words, but neither needed to elaborate on it to understand it. Master Tigress was hard through and through. Her understanding what he went through in that twisted moment and offering reassurance spoke volumes of her character. There was more to it than just a battle-hardened warrior. It were the first words of true sympathy she had expressed to him. No doubts, no suspicion, no orders.

On Tigress her part, she understood that the thanks were for more than he could express right now. She felt a twinge of guilt on her part as well. The lives, she was already numbed to such things, for she had felled many foes over the recent years. But the human had warned her. She had felt something was off! But she had let her suspicion and prejudice overrule her sense. They had come so close to death because of her blunt refusal to listen. Offering an attempt at kindness, even if she was abysmal at such things, was the least he deserved after being forced to shed such blood.

Battle tells many things about a person. The human had been afraid. Terrified, more like it. He had clearly never really been in such a fight. But he had stood his ground a bit shaken, and fought to the best of his ability instead of running like a coward. He had helped her with danger for his own life, no matter the fact that she hadn't given him much of a chance so far without tricks. Which reminded her…

"Human, how did you manage to break free of your trapped position? How did you set that foe ablaze?"

"Oh that? A lot of luck and improvisation. I was desperate and simply tried something. The guy that missed bought me some time by blocking the path for his own, and he had a small sack of flammable oil, darts and some other things on him. I lit the point of the dart up with my lighter, cut the sack, threw it against one of them and threw the hot dart in it. The heat was enough to light to oil and set the rest of him on fire too. It was a lucky stroke that it worked I suppose."

"And what is a lighter?" she asked puzzled.

"Kind of like the name indicates, a small device to create a flame for lighting things. Think of it as an advanced mechanism for flintstones with an oil container beneath it, but small. Nothing extraordinary. Here, take a look. Just don't burn yourself." He explained while handing her the lighter after demonstrating it.

Tigress couldn't help but be amazed by the small device. A small roll or click with his thumb was enough to create a steady flame. She only partially understood its workings but it served as proof to his words as how different his home was, if they could create such advanced devices and call them ordinary. Maybe they could replicate them here? It would be handy during missions and travels…

A jolt of sharp pain broke her out of her thoughts. An short arrow had embedded itself in her side. She turned around to see the last foe, the supposed captain stand there calmly with a short bow, a malicious grin on his wolfish face. He then turned around to make a run for it.

He never stood a chance.

Alexander felt chills run down his spine after hearing the primal snarl that promised death from the feline warrior. Nausea came back in full force when he saw the wolf being torn apart by a raging Master Tigress, whose pain only added to her fury. With ferocious speed she landed punch after punch and kick after kick. He was sure he heard some very loud cracks. To end it she simply threw him against a tree in a brutal display of sheer strength and threw a picked up sword straight through his chest, effectively pinning him as a morbid bloody decoration to the big tree.

In the fight, the arrow had been torn out and Tigress could not ignore the wound. The pain it brought was no longer increasing but she felt herself rapidly weakening. The human had appeared next to her. She idly noticed he looked quite pale. Curious how his skin could change tint in certain situations. She sat down trying to get past the restricting wound which proved difficult. But she would manage. The blood had already stopped flowing and was already solidifying. She'd be fine.

Alex tried to inspect the wound but was instantly thrown aside by the snarling tiger. He wanted to help, but he didn't fancy becoming dinner for the huge feline either.

"Master Tigress, I'm only trying to help you here!"

"Don't touch me! It's already healing, I don't need you touching it." she hissed back.

"Look, I'm not going to do anything careless. I just want to inspect it for a moment to determine how grave your wound is and what the right actions would be! I have experience as a doctor, remember?"

Tigress considered his words and swallowed her pride for the time and gave a stiff nod as consent.

Alex immediately went to work observe the wound. It wasn't terribly deep. The arrow had been torn out quite unfortunately, nothing major except widening it a bit. But it had seemed to hit an important vein. It should still be bleeding heavily.

"Does your blood always coagulate so fast?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, does it solidify so fast?"

"No, but it's only a small wound."

"The arrow hit an artery, a major vein. It should still be bleeding, and a lot too."

"Then it is probably nothing." She denied.

"How does your side, more specifically around your wound feel? And answer honest please. Acting though won't help me determine it correctly."

"The pain is decreasing. It feels somewhat… numbed." She responded a tad exasperated. "The wound is already closing and I'll be fine. Your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary. We must continue our path."

"Tigress, if my guess is correct, the arrow damaged your right lower intercostal artery, right beneath the rib. Your ribs are also guideline for the nerve lines in your chest. Why do you think breaking a rib hurts so frickin' much? There's no way the pain has already subsided and the fact that you were in pain earlier indicated that your nervous system was fine."

"I am not lying, human! I do feel less painful!"

He gave a sigh before widening his eyes and marching off towards the corpse of the wolf captain who was still skewered to the tree. Desperately trying to ignore the grizzly corpse he took out an arrow of the beast's quiver and inspected the point before turning anxiously towards the wounded feline once more. He handed her the arrow.

"Your sense of smell is much better than mine and I'm unsure here. Tell me, to what does it smell?"

"That request is absolutely ridicu-"

"Just do it, dammit!"

His snapping response somehow got through apparently because she followed his request.

"It smells to iron naturally and… something else. A certain bitter or sour smell. It stings to smell it."

"Then it is as I feared."

"What is?"

"Your strange reaction to the wound. Wound that closes way to fast, blood that clots instantaneous, numbing,… It wasn't just an arrow. You're poisoned."

That left her silent. Poison. She was one of the greatest and most skilled Kung Fu masters that currently lived, nearly unbeatable in single combat, strongest of the five. Yet she was powerless against what was flowing in her own veins. She had no means of fighting it. She was defenceless. And it scared her.

She, the great master Tigress, the unyielding, headstrong and fierce Kung Fu warrior was afraid. The one person who had never seemed afraid, who never seemed to lose her footing. She was afraid, she realised, for the first time in, well, an immense time. She was afraid of the idea of being afraid. Of being utterly defenceless. She didn't notice that while her face gave nothing away, she was shaking. she didn't notice someone was trying to garner her attention until she heard a shout and a small punch against her shoulder.

"Snap out of it!"

"For what? Can you cure me here? You can't. There's nothing we can do against this." She spoke coldly.

"So you've decided to just lay down and die here? You're just giving up? Like hell you are. Your mission of bringing me to the Jade Palace still stands. Besides, you need to explain to your friends that I've got nothing to do with this mess. You aren't dead yet, and until you are I won't simply let you if I have any say about this."

Slightly getting worked up again by the accusation that she was just giving up, she forced herself to continue milling over her options. She wanted to make haste to the Jade Palace, but the realistic part of her knew she wouldn't reach it like this.

She sighed. "Look, I- I-… I cannot reach the Jade Palace anymore in my current state. I appreciate your attempts at encouragement, I really do. And I apologise for my rash judgement and prejudice causing my distrust."

"As much as I like hearing those words, I want you to repeat them later when I'm sure it's you and not the delirious poison effects talking. Listen closely Tigress, there is still a chance but we will have to act quickly. Are we in the neighbourhood of where I first lost you? Are we close to the small river?"

"Yes, we're just north of it. The stream is a bit ahead." She brought out with some difficulty. Breathing had gotten more difficult and her inhales of air felt jagged. She felt tired and fought to keep her eyes open and herself alert. The soft black drowsiness that lured her in was attractive to give in to.

"Good. We obviously can't reach the Jade Palace in time, you simply don't have that long, but my cave is close by. I have some forms of antidotes there, or at the very least some stuff that should slow the effects down and buy you a few hours of time."

He dragged her up and supported her to keep upright, even if she seemed steady.

"Now listen closely, we must make haste, but remain steady. Your hearth may not speed up too fast or too irregular. The faster your heart beats, the faster it pumps your blood through your body and the sooner the poison will reach your vital organs. Understand?"

She nodded and they took off. They made good speed but gradually got slower as Tigress began to lean more and more of her weight on the humans' shoulders who was a bit taller, but lighter. Alexander struggled with the weight and couldn't resist cracking a few jokes over it. Normally he would never have dared it, but while she glared at him it distracted her a bit at the situation and kept her busy.

When they finally arrived after a bit of a climb Tigress was on the verge of blacking out and needed to be dragged in. With one hand he quickly plucked a loose white sheet out that Kara had loaned him and spread it out on a flat, clean part of the stone floor and helped Tigress lie down upon it.

He quickly took his large backpack and nearly tore out the pack with medicinal supplies. He brought a small cup of water with an effervescent tablet in it, resulting in a solution of Morphine.

"Tigress, I need you to drink this. It slows down the poison and will relieve you of some of the pain." He said softly.

Tigress who was now being plagued by sharp jabs of seething white hot pain barely heard him, but still complied. He then quickly disinfected his hands with strong medicinal alcohol and went to work after partly removing her vest now that Tigress was as good as out.

He started by using a small Gillette razor to remove the fur from and around the wound and cutting open the wound once more with two precise small movements. With a small specialised pump he pumped out some of the blood and with it, decent amounts of the venom. It was a standard procedure when someone received a snakebite or a scorpion sting. Whatever venom was already out of the body, didn't need to be conquered by antidotes or other chemicals. He did it three times before deciding he couldn't risk more blood loss. He sequenced by cleaning it again, disinfecting it strongly and putting a strong adhesive plaster on, one with a thick enough padding after he closed the wound with a nylon thread and needle.

Now that he had done the emergency work he could continue with some test as to what medicine would work best. With the arrow he began to take tests, to observe the reactions against the basics. Ten minutes later he had concluded enough to determine it was snake venom, or close to it either way. It showed a lot of comparisons with a certain cobra kind he had encountered in India.

There, a flood had caused all the serpents to flee into the village he resided in, biting no less than fifty-eight people with lethal venom. He had helped all he could, but despite his and the kind local doctor's best efforts they only managed to save thirty-seven people. Twenty one to many who didn't make it, mainly young children or elders… the logging company that had caused the flood by randomly putting up a dam hadn't even cared of course.

In the end he made his decision and prepared two shots. One was an antidote, or something as close to antivenom as he had. But a proper antidote would have been prepared for her blood group, and more specifically her being an anthropomorphic tiger. It could even have completely wrong effects and incapacitate her for life. The same went for all the others things he had. He wasn't a veterinarian dammit!

His first shot he injected in her was in an intercostal artery, the same that was pierced by the accursed arrow, but a bit higher up, closer to the heart. It was an antidote that was the closest he had that could counter the cobra venom, it would have to do in this case. He gave her a slightly smaller and weakened amount. She was a bit smaller in size than him, and an overdose of any drug, healing or no could prove just as lethal as poison. He couldn't run the risk. No matter whether her higher bodyweight should be more than enough, he knew too little of her system.

The second one was delivered five minutes after the first one, straight in her heart this time. It was a small but highly concentrated dose of an antiparalytic agent, neostigmine. A more recent study had proven that several types of venom could potentially be countered by using this. It broke down several lethal elements of the poison and it was relatively neutral in its approach of how it did so with little to manageable side-effects.

Alexander hoped that the second would break enough of the venom down to leave the rest to be countered easily by the antidote. In the best case she would wake up in a couple of hours and be conscious. In the worst case… well, she would be dead in a matter of minutes.

Seeing no immediate changes or reactions he put his stuff back in its place and took place next to her. A chilling breeze made him shiver a bit as a draped his sleeping bag over her as a blanket. Besides keeping her under narcosis, he couldn't do much.

It would be a long night.

Up in the Jade Palace, several of its inhabitants came in, exhausted.

"Master, we've searched all the villages and the near paths, there is no sign of Tigress or the human." Mantis said morose. He was the last one to enter and everyone's heads slumped a bit down.

"It is long dark by now, and searching at this hour is pointless. Take some rest, and we'll have to see what the morning brings." Shifu said, but didn't have much conviction in his voice.

"C'mon guys! This is Master Tigress we're talking about here! I'm sure there was just another reason! She perhaps encountered some extra bandits that needed their asses kicked, or something awesome. She'll be fine! Right guys? … guys?" Po said in an attempt to convince the others. He was, as typical in such situations the only one who kept his spirits high.

No one responded as they silently went back to their rooms, not daring to hope for it.

Tigress woke up and needed a moment to understand where she was. She appeared to be in some sort of cave. She felt a bit nauseous and weak. Disoriented too. What in the name of the gods had happened to her? She didn't know where she was, when she was, nor how she came to be here.

Observing a bit around her in what seemed bright morning light she noticed she was covered by a blanket of sorts, even if it was made from a unidentifiable material. It was soft and cushioning to touch though. Around her were more strange objects. When she moved up she received a jolt of pain that seemed oddly drowsed from her side. It was like a situation where it should have hurt, but it somehow didn't. As if the pain was numbed, yet still there. Very strange. Perhaps the odd bandage on her side was responsible for it?

Then she began to recall what happened in her last conscious state. She was escorting the human back to the Jade Palace, then they were ambushed by assassins which he tried to warn her for. They fought and won, but… ah, the arrow. That had been painful. And it caused her memories afterwards to be blurred somewhat. She assumed she had slowly lost her conscious, but she did remember that it was poisoned and the human was bringing her somewhere to attempt to treat her…

"'Morning, sleepyhead." A voice called out before the speaker sauntered in. He looked a bit tired with bags under his eyes as he sat down, yawning and barely making the effort of hiding it.

"Human? Explain to what happened and what I missed. And what you exactly did to me."

"Only if you say the password."

"Password?"

"You know, the magic word." There was a small glint in his eyes that indicating he was amused.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." She growled.

"Clearly." He drawled.

"Stop speaking in riddles and explain!" Her patience was really wearing thin already.

"As your doctor and/or healer I must advise against becoming agitated or losing your calm. And don't rise up yet, your side won't appreciate it. As for the magic word, I'll give you a strong hint : it's please. You know, that little word that is considered polite."

"Give me a reason why I should be begging for answers. I will not lower my honour to that!" She hissed.

"Well, to start with, you seem to really want them, which is one. Two is that saying 'please' every once in a while is not begging, but merely showing civilised behaviour and basic decency or politeness. The third would be that you kind of owe me for saving your life, which wasn't exactly easy.
The fourth and arguably fifth that I did your job for you when you stood by and let a house burn with two children in it, while I risked my life to save them because your arrogance didn't allow you to think and listen and that I potentially saved two of your friends' lives and that you still owe me an apology anyway… need I go on?" he said in a cold and harsh tone with biting sarcasm lacing his words, while mockingly counting on his fingers.

"Where you had a shred of my respect before, you're losing it in record time Master Tigress. Whatever strange concept you seem to have defined as honour, it is vastly different from mine it seems." He was angry now. Not yet seething but not far off either. His glare said many things, and none of them good. His icy blue eyes stared straight into the fiery orange gaze of the feline, freezing and unyielding this time. For a mere apprentice healer it was very impressive. It nearly screamed of a challenge, of a fight.

She wanted to retort with something, she really did! But she couldn't. For he was right. She had been treating him unfairly. He tried to warn her for the attack -both of them including the firy house-, had never been offensive before, had stood by her side in the attack and helped her win no doubt, had helped Crane and Viper out of foul situation… and now he had saved her life from something she and many others would have perished to. Come to think of it, she didn't know a healer who could effectively counter such poisons without magics, and magic users were as rare as the legendary dragons of old these days. And the few that remained rarely offered their help for free.

And what stung even more was his jab at her failing the people and acting dishonourable. The worst part of it being that he was right. It reminded her eerily of how she mistreated a certain panda before. So she decided there was nothing left but say the dreaded three words se never imagined speaking to anyone but her master.

"I am sorry." She spoke quietly.

That seemed to shatter the arctic glare locked in his eyes. He wasn't sure he had heard correctly. "wait, what?"

"I am sorry. You are right. I have been dishonourable in my behaviour towards you, and treated you unfairly while I should have tried to help you. I owe you my life, and a life-debt for it among several apologies. I- I am in your debt. Can you forgive me and please explain to me what I missed or what I should be aware of?"

It were some of the most difficult words Tigress had ever spoken, but she couldn't help but feel like some weight was lifted from her. He could refuse, as was his right, but at least she had tried now…

"Apology accepted. I can't say I'll forget it soon, but you're forgiven." He muttered somewhat grudgingly, as if he would prefer to say that she could stick her apology somewhere the sun doesn't shine.

"You were out only for the night by the way. The sun has barely risen and the morning gong hasn't even sounded yet, but this cave's entrance is pointed south-east and always gets the first rays of light." He continued in an emotionless voice. "I reopened your wound to take out parts of you blood and the venom that hadn't spread out yet with it, cleaned and disinfected it. After some research I gave you an lowered version of the antidote against cobra venom, that was the closest thing I had in comparable types. I also injected a antiparalytic agent, neostigmine in you. It takes care of several dangerous parts of lots of venoms that target the nervous system. The antidote and a solution of antibiotics took care of the rest. You were lucky they überhaupt worked on your different system. They could have proven just as lethal as the poison."

"Wait, your medicine could have killed me?" she asked incredulous. He only gave her an annoyed pointed look in return.

"Any strong medicine can kill someone of applied wrongly. I trust I don't need to draw a picture of what a cocktail of several agents, each meant to destroy chemicals or even parts of your bio-system could do? It was a calculated risk. If I did nothing, you would have died somewhere in the night anyway when it reached your heart. This was the best shot I had and could administer you given what I knew or found out in the little time span I had."

She didn't understand several terms but the general meaning got to her. She realised how close it had been, and that even with her own comrades, she most likely would not have survived this encounter. In her thoughts, she shuddered at it. It had been very close.

He suddenly sighed. "look, I apologise too for losing my temper like this. I was dead nervous yesterday morning with your presence, the whole Jade Palace thing and being in the neighbourhood of several creatures who could easily kill me in a flinch and while you gave me your word, most of the valley would still prefer me dead, you know this." He went through his dishevelled hair with his hand before he went on.

"The fight next was even worse though. I was terrified. I've been through scrapes and perilous situations or even war-zones before. But never like this. Not fifteen, all intending to kill me in a manner I'm untrained for. I'm not a bloody fighter. And seeing those dead, the dead that I killed, the lives I ended with my own hands… you explained yesterday already how hard it can be."

"And then you got shot and poisoned. I was exhausted physically and mentally and had to push down panicking when I realised how lethal it probably was. I nearly collapsed with you when I managed to drag you here, and then worked on your wound and to research what would be the best solution that could give you a chance to survive. Any mistake or wrong decision with those chemicals could have killed you just as well, and you were only hours removed from death. Afterwards I remained awake to monitor your situation for the rest of the night since it wasn't always stable, which gave me a few panic attacks too… it's just a bit much for me at the moment. I'm not used to this and I've been on edge with little sleep ever since I've gotten here." He finished quietly.

Tigress took it in for a few moments. When she looked at it like that… she was frankly surprised that he was still awake and holding up. Let alone be apologising?

"Don't apologise for it, there is no need. I owe you my life and its debt. I comprehend that it has been a lot for you and that you are inexperienced in combat and all it entails, let alone doing what you did afterwards. You are exhausted on all accounts and need rest now." She spoke, trying to do her utter best to soften her tone a bit down. She wasn't exactly in a position to order him around like a commander. She got a tired smile in return that conveyed its thanks.

"Tigress, I don't do life-debts, like I already told Feng."

"What, was my life not worth saving?"

"No, no goddamnit, no! Why do you insist on making things more difficult than they are? I don't want to offend you, I helped you because I wanted to. End of the story! I simply don't believe you suddenly 'owe' me something for me helping you out of my own motivation! If you insist on formality customs that much, just help me out if I need a favour of you and we'll call it even. Deal?"

"Deal." Well, that solved things. No life-debt. He really was a better person than she'd given him credit for.

"How does your wound feel?" he asked in a more business-like tone.

"It is sensitive, but not very painful. Somewhat numb, but I can still feel that there is a bit of pain. As if only that place is drugged." She responded honestly, grateful for the change of subject for once.

"Because it is. Sort of. I gave you yesterday a solution of morphine to buy you time and relieve you of the pain. While those effects are already over by now, that local bandage has also a milder sort of morphine in it. It would probably hurt a hell of a lot more otherwise." It'll wear very gradually out in the next two or three days, depending on your metabolism."

"What is this 'morphine' exactly?"

"The most common pain reliever for serious issues back home. I believe one part of it is quite similar to opium, which I bet you know. It's a lot more refined that that though. Name is deprived of Morpheus, the Greek god of sleep. I won't give you anything after this though. My stock of it is only meant for emergencies and the stuff is very addicting, like real opium. The longer you're treated with it, the longer it'll take to get past it."

Her eyes widened with that. While opium was not illegal for the higher classes, she wanted nothing to do with such foulness. But she kept her tongue silent this time, he had meant and done well.

"Your wound seems to be doing well enough I suppose then. What are your other effects of the poison?"

"Somewhat disoriented and tired. A bit nauseous too. Other than that, fine."

"Well, that's better than I dared to hope for." He said somewhat relieved. "My guess is you'll be, in combination with your flesh wound be somewhat weak for the time being. I'd advise taking things slow for at least a week or so, just in case the antidotes have aftereffects. After that, it depends on your side what you do for physical activities. Rest a lot and drink a lot of water to get things out of your system. Other than that, we'll see I guess."

"I'm not going to pass training for a week!" she shouted, both horrified and outraged.

"Indeed. I'd advise you to pass at least a month. But it is irrelevant right now, so let's have the argument later with one of your healers and your master present, okay?

"Very well, human."

"Stop that!"

"What?"

"Don't just call me 'human'. I have a name and you know it. What happened to our introduction?"

"I shall refrain myself from doing so then, Alexander James Jenssen."

"Argh! Just call me Alex like the rest, or Strider. We first talked with each other under that name after all."

"Do you not like your full name?"

"I do, actually. But James is just my inherited father's name, it's not used unless in formalities or if someone is really, really angry with me. Jenssen is the family name, also inherited but calling someone by that name is considered rude. And Alexander, well, only my family and some teachers really called me that. Most people simply called me Alex."

She nodded in understanding before he continued.

"Also, your accent completely butchers my name. Your pronounce it wrong on many accounts." He grinned.

Tigress didn't rise to the bait. "If it is well with you, I shall address you as Strider then. Perhaps it is prudent your real name remains out of the public's ear for now."

"That's fine with me. And I hadn't thought of that option, might be for the best. I'd need to inform Feng of it so he doesn't go blabbing around. Now, if it's fine with you I'm going to sleep for a bit to have a bit of a normal presence later on. You can wake me up in three hours, then I've had a single block of actual sleep. Hopefully. And you still need to rest anyway. Afterwards, we can make our way to your Jade Palace and meet up with your master."

"Good. You need some rest, but I don't want to tarry either."

"It'll work out. There's still tea and rice to your right left over from breakfast." He said while laying down and closing his eyes.

Tigress watched as he laid down with a groan of satisfaction and wanted to let him sleep, but there was one thing still on her mind keeping her busy.

"Huma- Strider, you said you sensed the assassins shortly before they came in while I couldn't. Their positioning was near flawless. Care to explain?"

'Well shit. So much for keeping that a secret.' He thought bitter.

Chapter Text

"To fully explain everything about it would need hours of explaining of highly personal things, which I will not do now. I'll give you the basics later if you will respect my privacy of personal memories."

"Do I have your word that those 'personal memories' will not bring us trouble? For in such situation, you will tell us, because we need to know for our duties."

"Considering those memories are part of another world, I highly doubt they'd affect anything here." He retorted a bit snappish.

"Very well then. You will need t-"

"Master Tigress."

"What is it?"

"Kindly shut up. I'm trying to sleep here."

She wanted to retort but considered it futile and wiser to just be silent for now. No reason to force out another confrontation when he was, partly due to her account, exhausted from fighting, possibly haunting experiences, half-carrying her for a quarter mile uphill, healing for several hours to save her life and gone without sleep for the night as a watch. Even she would be tired from that.

No, it was better to let the disrespectful words slide this time. They made amends somewhat and everything would be a lot less complicated without the hostile and paranoid attitudes. He was much more likely to open up and thus allowing them to solve this matter.

His breathing pattern slowed a bit and he looked slightly more relaxed now. He had fallen asleep within a matter of seconds.

She changed her sitting position slightly and observed him again, now trying to distinguish some physical unique aspects that made him him. Not that she really could without reference to the rest of his species of course.
His clothes and other objects or properties were much more interesting. Some were recognisable, merely different in material and design. Others, she couldn't begin to fathom what purpose they possibly served. Like the strange band with the round metal piece on his wrist. It made a very light ticking sound now, in the near silence of the cave. Was it some way to keep track of time perhaps? It would be most ingenious, although she doubted such a small thing could do that. She'd ask him if it actually had a use later, beyond being strange jewellery.

She drifted away from her tumbling thoughts and sunk into mediation. Somehow the soft ticking helped.

Exactly three hours later, she was torn brutally from her meditations by a sound she could never have anticipated. A sudden loud repetitive sound, immediately followed by a high-pitched monstrous false melody, that sounded strange and aggressive to her came from somewhere on the floor. The voice sounded even more distorted, now that she had covered her sensitive ears with her paws in desperation.

"There must be some kind of way out of here!"

Wait. Those words, those hitting sounds other than the ugly voice… was that?...

"Said the Joker to the thief."

A groan resounded against the cavern walls in response to the offensive sound.

"There's too much confusion. I can't get no relief. YEE-HEA-HE-"- *Click*.

The way the noise was cut off so suddenly felt unnatural as a deafening silence covered the cave again.

Slowly, Tigress released her paws from her head while turning her attention to the human who was now awake, apparently to his great regret. She voiced the most logical question quietly, as if hesitated to break the heavy silence.

"What in the heavens' name was that?"

"The alarm app on my phone. I forgot it picks shuffle numbers from a wake-up playlist. Sorry."

"I did not understand anything of those words" she confessed grudgingly. "Speak in normal terms, like normal people do."

Alex looked incredulously to her for a few seconds before grinning.
"Normal? To me that was a perfectly normal sentence, grammatically correct and everything. You lot on the other hand, speak waaaay to formal. Hell, I'm barely using slang most of the time.
But to return to your earlier question, my phone is the communicational device that produced the noise. A function of it allows me to make it produce a sound when a certain time is reached. I put it on three hours ago, so it would warn me not to oversleep. The sound was a well-known song from my father's youth."

"That… was music?" That horrid ear-shattering noise was music?

"Um, yea. What else would it have been?"

"Don't release that twisted polluting noise again. Clear?"

"Aw, C'mon Stripes. You gotta respect the classics."

"Classics?"

"Yes! That was Jimi Hendrix' All along the watchtower, the version from 1968. Damn good song. Damn good artist. Until he died and joined the club of infamous twenty-sevens, that is. Shame I wasn't born yet to see him at Woodstock, would've given anything to have seen that." He said wistfully.

"It was awful and fits the definition of noise pollution perfectly."

"Oh, that's just asking me to play 'Rock & Roll ain't noise pollution' by AC/DC." He teased.

"Is it anything like that previous… thing?"

He grinned. "Worse."

"I'll break your skull if you dare to put it on."

"Very well, because you asked so kindly…" he gave in with an exaggerated sigh. "Give me a few moments to wake up and pack my basic bag so we can go to see your master and that palace of yours."

She gave him a nod in return and began her stretching. She vaguely saw him splash some cold water over himself in some effort to freshen up and was mildly interested when she saw him gather various objects that he would have to explain to her later. Soon after, both stepped outside once more to finish the trip they had started yesterday.

There was something different about him, she idly noticed. He had been very tense so far during their walk, even more so than yesterday. Part of the reason was obviously meeting her master and putting his fate in her paws. But there was something else, and she found it when she caught his gaze. She could nearly smell it off him now.

Fear.

He was afraid of her. Yesterday he was afraid of her as well, but in a different way she could not quite decide. His joking and teasing attempt earlier sounded more… forced than yesterday. She just couldn't point her claw on it, so she decided to simply ask him.

"You are more tense in my presence than yesterday. Have I not show trustworthy by fighting with you like you proven for me?"

"I've earned your trust?" he asked with a voice of disbelief.

"Of course not, I do not trust anyone. But you have laid certain previous doubts at rest about your character. And do not change the subject."

He was silent for some time before answering very quietly. "Because yesterday, I got a wake-up call of the kind I never wished to have. I don't fear you suddenly turning me in anymore, but what I saw you do to that last foe was… oh to hell with it. It was horrifying and gruesome, fryktelig og gyselig, that's what it was!"

"Battle is never pleasant. Were you truly so foolish to think otherwise?" she inquired, a bit condescending.

"No. I've seen the results of battle enough. I'm the guy that tries to heal the survivors, remember?" a small glare was sent her way, as if it was her that had sent people to his past who he had to heal or operate. Or sometimes, when nothing else could be done, holding their hand and talking with them in their last moments so they were not alone.
"I despise fighting completely, and have yet to see a single thing of glory or greatness that came out of it. War has no winner, only a loser. But I digress: this place seemed so… pleasant at times, almost childlike, by lack of a better description. Like the most serious thing that happened were some bandits so amateurish it was almost comical. Where the horrors and suffering of my world are so light and small scaled that they seem more like an minor day. Yesterday, the things I did, the way I saw you tear that guy to shreds reminded me that I had ignored my self-preservation around beings like you. That this place is real, is harsh and is mortally dangerous and that I'm just a guy out of place here, without a clue of what to do."

"Beings like me?" She asked sharply.

"I'll explain further later today as well. It has to do with one of the key differences of my world and this one."

"Very well." She concluded, not entirely satisfied but letting it rest for now as well. The reason was so obvious she should have seen it coming. Of course he was afraid of her. Everyone was afraid of her and most hadn't seen her fight as brutally as literally tearing an enemy apart with her own claws. Of course he was going to be afraid of her now. Even if he wasn't, he possibly couldn't have dealt yet with the aftermath of it, if that truly was his first of such fights. He was no warrior, no better than a commoner in such aspects of battle.

"How does your wound feel?" he asked suddenly, halting her musings and making her focus on her side.

"Slightly bothering, but nothing too cumbersome. As long as it is not overstretched it shall be of no trouble."

"Right. The morphine effects?"

"Have taken off largely, although it still feels a bit numb."

"I'll wear out during the day and will be gone by the evening. Perhaps it's good it's still slightly numbed, or you would be hindered more during this climb, no?"

Tigress made a sound of agreement.

"So, since you consider good old Hendrix, one of the best guitarists to ever live to be noise pollution, what sort of music do you like?"

"I am quite fond of the guzheng."

He stared at her, mouth gaped open like a fish. "You're kidding."

"I am not."

"The Guzheng? That big and clumsy string thing that makes silly 'ptoink, ploïnk' sounds? That guzheng?"

"To be able to play it is a great art, very few can do so!"

"It sounds utterly ridiculous. I could perfectly recreate it with a rubber band. All it does is generate laughing. The awkward kind." He raved on.

"That is a worthless comment, coming from someone who values screaming incomprehensible noise." She retorted.

Both glared at each other and walked on in silence, not wanting to give in until Alex broke first.

"Alright, maybe I'm not the right person to judge, since I've yet to hear any kind of eastern music that I can somewhat tolerate. And since you know nothing about modern music and its cool evolution, I get it would sound like noise to you. How about we both admit we don't like each other's genre, but also admit we don't know shit about it?"

She mulled it over. "Formulate it less vulgar and I might agree."

"Let's both just agree to disagree."

"Agreed then."

He couldn't resist throwing some last jab, though it was with a broad grin on his face. "I still think it sounds ridiculous though."

"Likewise for yours." Tigress responded, with an expression that a very bitter man could almost have called a faint smile. Alex was sure one of the corners of her mouth went a bit up, though it was hidden just as swiftly. It was probably just wishful thinking on his side.

Soon their path took them sideways towards the edge of the village. Alex raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing as they made their way into the streets. He was sure he received strange looks, but Master Tigress' presence was enough to signify something. Whatever that was -fear, respect or downright worship- made no one bother them. The reason they entered the village became apparent when he could see the arch signifying the bottom of the stairway of the thousand steps between the brownish red painted houses.

He looked up, and could barely see an end. The stairs made faint curves, following the path of the mountain but overall it was very broad, straight and steep upwards. He had to admit, he was impressed. Imagine a long stairway towards a massive temple of ancient times, but in prime condition. Tourist-overrun ruins did such original places no justice, he now realised.

"Is it really a thousand steps?"

"Thousand and forty-six actually due to repairs over time, but originally it was a thousand from this point to the gates of the Jade Palace." There was a hint of pride in her voice. "And another hundred to the true palace."

"Jævla, my legs are going to kill me in the morning."

"There is a small rest-point halfway, many citizens cannot make it in one trip."

"Ah, makes sense I suppose."

No response came as the Kung Fu master simply started ascending the long stairs, the human following her a few steps behind. Soon they struck up conversation again, this time Tigress asking most questions.

"That word you uttered earlier, 'jeevli' was it?, was it a different language? It sounded quite different than the other words I am unfamiliar with."

"'Jævla'. And yes, I'm surprised you managed to pick that up. It's Norse, my native language."

"It is the first time I heard you relapse to your mother-tongue. Why is that?"

"My mother was British, my father Norse. They raised me bilingual. It's just as native to me as Norse. More even, given that I've not been in Norway for… nearly three years now. I only relapse now if I was thinking in Norse at that moment. My sister relapses more often, but then again, she still lives there."

"You have a sister?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

"Yes." He stated tense and rigid. That was unusual. Usually he instantly continued the conversation, either by broadening the subject in his answer or by steering it in another direction. Such short and blunt answers, followed by a tense silence were unusual and only when he was completely serious. In such moments he was easy to read when there were no smiles or emotional mask to hide behind.

Now that she thought about it, he seemed open enough about his own life and with the exception of the earlier 'sensing' discussion, he wasn't hiding anything, more often than not explaining more than she expected. Either a way to distract her by a distracting amount of trivial information or a willingness on his part to show his trustworthiness, purposefully or not, most likely. But he had never before mentioned something about family, or friends by name until he slipped right now… clearly such information was not shared as lightly. She doubted he had divulged anything on this front to Kara or Feng either. A streak of protectiveness or a cultural taboo?

"So what does jævla mean?" she asked, in some attempt to get the conversation flowing once more.

He gave a cheeky grin. "Something impolite."

The tenseness was gone and they relapsed in their exchanging banter. Both laid off of approaching any subjects and comments they considered possibly offensive or severely different for the other one. Neither wanted an angry, violent or hurt reaction and tried their best to uphold diplomacy.

It wasn't relaxed like actual friends talking by a long shot. But the shot was several steps of improvement compared with yesterday.

The sun was high in the sky now and shining brightly on the valley as a perfect summer's day with a deep blue sky and a few wisps of clouds floating lazily around the mountaintops. A faint cool breeze coming from the higher mountains caressed the grassy hillsides next to a great stair and made the grass flow like water in the wind.

Alex welcomed the breeze. He was heaving slightly under the warm sun, even though it got more bearable now that they were getting higher. The great stairway came at an and after a final faint turn under an arch of red of gold and revealed the outer gates. He stood aside catching his breath in controlled and steady intakes, trying not to heave too heavily. They hadn't paused on the way despite his legs screaming in protest.

Moving further on they crossed a courtyard with large buildings of wood in red and gold on white stone on the sides with a great number of seats in it. It almost looked like a tournament stadium, or a theatre more exactly. His guide ignored it though and walked to the end until she stopped right before a pair of broader, longer stairs guiding the way to what could only be described as a mythical temple-palace in the height of its glory.
It was imposing. It was a showmanship of skill and wealth.
It was beautiful.

"Strider, I need you to listen very closely now and follow my order exactly this time. Not for mine, but for your own sake. So far I have not made any real comment about how you address me, because I do not care if more important issues are in motion. But now, it is important. So far, you have interacted with jokes, strange words and phrases or comparisons I would have found quite insulting had it been someone else. I let it slide for a multitude of reasons, you not knowing them and not being downright disrespectful either one of them."

"Feng is a simple-minded, joking friend. Master Shifu is not. He is hero across China, the greatest Kung Fu instructor of the last generation, one of the most elevated members and leaders of the Kung Fu Council, is the Grandmaster of the Jade Palace, was a personal student of the great Master Oogway and has authority over the entire valley should he wish so. Even now he is nearly unmatched in skill. He is not someone you cross or to be trifled with."

"I get it. So this is the part where, when I say something trivial he will see it as an insult and have me executed or do it himself?"

"That type of sarcastic comment is what I meant. And no, he wouldn't have you executed over something so lightly. He values the sanctity of life too much for that. However, he would be in his full right to question you, thanking you for your effort and time and dismiss you, not seeing it worth to help you in such a strange manner. Then you are nowhere or in more trouble than before. And that would be him not addressing you on any rudeness, which he regularly did in the past."

The seriousness her words bore seemed to have broken through as he stared morose in front of him, eyes untrained on anything specific.

"Just do your best to be your utmost respectful. I know you are not familiar with our customs, but I have seen a few moments where you were polite and respectful to me, sparse as they were. Do not grovel before him or attempt to lick the bottom of his sandals. He would notice immediately and think of you as a spineless slimy coward which would be even worse. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes, I understand. Polite but not simpering, respectful but not slimy, try do address him properly, try to remember etiquette, no slouching… I can do this… I think."

"Let's hope so. Wait here while I will go and relay the events that transpired yesterday. We or someone else will come for you."

"Okay." He said in a smaller voice than he meant.

She gave him a last searching look that seemed to say 'Don't do anything stupid' before ascending the stairs and entering the palace while Alex remained behind on his lonesome. He waited for a couple of minutes before setting down his backpack and seating himself on a small side-wall.

He heard some muffled gasps and saw a few small goats or sheep harshly whispering and pointing to him before scurrying away from his gaze. More people who saw him as a flesh-eating alien. Wonderful. Technically they wouldn't even be wrong with that, would they? He put his bow apart from his pack and his arrows in reach. Just in case they tried anything. He wasn't in a mood for offensive shouts now and a weapon in open display might make them think twice before approaching him with stones.

Ten minutes passed. Another fifteen. According to his watch it had been twenty-nine minutes and seventeen seconds since the Kung Fu master had let him here. At the exact tic that announced thirty minutes passed he heard the sound of something massive opening above him. The doors of the Jade palace were opening, and two figures stepped outside, descending the stairs towards him.

He stood up quickly and held his bow in a non-threatening position whilst holding it close like a small child who is reassured when they hold their stuffed bear close. With the slight difference that a teddy-bear cannot kill people with arrows, of course.

He stood in front of the stair at fifteen feet away as a respectable distance. The small figure stopped three steps before the end, the taller one stepping down said three. So far, he could only have guessed who or what would come for him, though Master Tigress' presence was nearly a given. Before him stood something smallish with brown fur, though the larger part of its head was white, including the bushy eyebrows, moustache and beard, which were all thin but long, even though the beard was braided. It was wrapped in a fine brown and green robe that didn't quite manage to hide the big bushy tail that wagged behind him.

It was the most ancient and most pissed off red panda Alex had ever seen.

No words were said as Alex felt it might be impolite to be the one to take the initiative of the conversation on one's own home and to be better to wait for the other. Said other one simply looked hard at him as if he saw right through him. If he didn't know better, he would've been convinced the red panda had an x-ray vision and he was being screened in a way Professor Charles Xavier of X-Men would have been jealous of. Although Charles Xavier never had that pissed off glare.

Then a command sounded. "Follow me" he stated, already turning his back on him and ascending the stairs once more at a remarkable speed for such little legs, tail wagging behind him once more. With a sigh he followed while Tigress followed him suit. It hadn't escaped him that she was behind him to prevent any chance of him running or doing anything beyond just following. Inwards, he prayed to every deity he knew of that this entire thing would turn out alright.

"Well, human. I am Grandmaster Shifu. You have been in the valley for quite a while now, at least a month to my knowledge and probably longer. Your species has not been seen here before and some of encounters between you and citizens of the valley or my students require some explanation. Would you care to enlighten us of your side on this all?"

"Of course, I'll answer to the best of my ability." He was fully aware it hadn't been a question at all.

"Good. Why don't you introduce yourself first?"

"My name is Alexander Jenssen, son of James and Elizabeth Jenssen and born in Oslo on the first of October, 1990." He said. He remembered that bowing was a very common custom but wasn't sure of the exact form so finished with an average bow with his right hand over his heart. If his bow was considered strange or bad, there was no such reaction to it.

"Master Tigress has already given me a report on the events that transpired yesterday concerning you, but I would need to hear your version as well, among many other things, but this seems best to start with for now before we plunge in deeper water. So, begin telling what happened according to you since yesterday morning."

He paled a bit more at the memories but spoke without hesitation as he gave a clear account of everything that happened since he left Feng's place with her, the attack, the arrow, the night of healing work, to the time he was left at the stairs. He left out the contents of their conversations including the conflict and apologies between him and Tigress, for privacies sake.

"Your version matches the one of my student well enough it seems, if slightly less detailed.. but that is of no matter. Now, to move onto deeper waters, there are another couple of explanations I would require. I think you already know which ones, do you not?"

"I can take a probable guess."

"Which is?"

"You want to know how I got here, why I'm here, and about my time and exploits in the valley, not counting all the possible later questions of my differences."

"Yes, those are quite correct. Let us begin then, with the first one. Why are you here?"

"I wish I knew" He said a bit lost with a sigh. "As to how I got here, my last memory back 'home' was that I was climbing a cliff near the Geiranger fjord. I was on my way home via this high point and I climbed it for memories sake given I'd been there before. Something –I'm still unsure as to what exactly- happened and caused a rockslide and the whole cliff to come down. I was falling and I hit my head. Next thing I know, I woke up in a field a mile or five north of the valley. I've got dozens of scientific theories by now, but they only raise more questions or impossibilities. The best I can come up with is that it was a freak accident and I'm in a different yet parallel universe without my kind ever evolving, but instead many other animals evolved along our path."

"I thought you came from a different world. Not a different universe. Besides, there is no such thing. Different worlds I can imagine, given the gods and the life beyond do not happen on the mortal world so it could be possible that there be more. But a different universe? Hardly." Tigress began to interrupt while Shifu simply listened.

"Universe and world could as words be changed without changing much to the explanation seeing as world especially is open to interpretation. And yet, universe may be more accurate. A world is a planet, a body in space, a giant sphere made of solid material, or even a liquid or gas sometimes."

"What do you mean, spheres? You speak as if the world is round." She continued.

"… that's because it is."

"Oh please, you expect us to belie-"

"Shtshtshut! I'll explain that one later on, an expanded lesson on space and astronomy if you want but for now, please don't interrupt anymore like that while I explain the basics, okay? Good. Now, as to worlds, tell me. When you look at the stars, what do you see?"

"The lights of the heavens illuminating the sky." Shifu answered confused, putting himself in the conversation once more.

'Well, I suppose that's one way of putting it.' "Not really the answer I was looking for. Every single light out there is a giant body in space, be it a star, a planet, a moon or even a large asteroid. All these things are thousands, if not millions or billions of miles away. Light-years. We are on a planet. The planet I know as earth, though you may have a different name for it. There are more planets out there, nine and the major star which we all circle around, the sun. When it's night, this side of the planet is simply turned away from the sun and thus only has darkness from outer space to watch too. Again, this is explained by the planet being round and spinning completely around it's centrum in a single day. In the day we're turned towards the sun. But we're getting side-tracked.

If this planet is a "world" then the other planets, or even stars are worlds too. Yet they are in the same cluster, a part of the universe. This is also the only habitable planet with air in this cluster, on the other's you'd instantly freeze to death or be cooked alive by the respective temperature, ignoring the lack of an atmosphere. In other clusters there may be other habitable planets or worlds but none quite such as this one, or my one. This one matches mine in geography, language, several parts of the culture, animal species,… you name it. It could not possibly be a coincidence with another habitable world in the known universe.

There for, I see only one true possibility on this : I'm in a parallel universe where my world, earth, evolved without my species, the humans. Instead, several other species such as yourself have the role we had on my world."

"If given such a description, I could understand you see it that way. But this theory only verifies that there could be other worlds, in such another… "cluster" of the universe as you name it. It would be uncertain about the existence of other universes."

Alex was mildly, but pleasantly surprised that the old master had managed to keep up completely. He feared explanations like these could get him hanged with a medieval mindset. Tigress kept looking stoic again. Meaning she lost it half way through.

"Everything except the parallel universe thing has already been proven back home. My people developed a way to travel to the moon and back forty years ago. The parallel universe cannot be proven of course, because we can't simply travel or look to it. But a popular theory is that for every decision taken, a parallel universe is created where the other choice is made, thus creating infinite universes and a universe on itself is already infinite.

Imagine a building with an infinite number of rooms in it and each such a room represents a universe. Normally there is of course a wall between such rooms so one cannot mix with the other. But sometimes a wall is thin, and a crack might even appear so something might slip through before it's closed again. I think that I accidentally fell through such a 'crack'. This is of course an abstract representation, but it might help."

"Ignoring the general insanity of all those words and the casual way with which you shove aside all of our learnings of centuries old about the outer realms, that actually made some sense." Shifu said, surprise definitely colouring his voice. "I'm afraid our learning are so oppositely formed that I cannot correctly imagine or fully comprehend it. I am not as learned in the subjects of the stars. But it is as good an explanation as any I suppose, if not better. You mentioned your people developing differently. How so? And just a few examples please, otherwise we could be here for another ten moons I suspect."

"Well, there are two major differences back home. Please note in advance these are basic facts, not an attempt at insulting you." After Shifu's nod he continued.

"The easiest one is that my people are simply much further developed in technological, and scientific means. I will leave the discussion of philosophic or social superiority concerning our civilizations out because that's quite subjective and situational. I've got several objects as proof of the technological part and as for the science… well, the easiest proof is that Master Tigress is standing next to you now, thanks to a cure of our medical science. This entire place… it resembles our China of a thousand years ago. Perhaps a bit less, but you get the point. This would be what we call "Ancient China".

As for the other difference : the relation between humanity, my kind, and the other animal species. Here, you all or at least a multitude of species that show vast differences all live together, in houses, cities, in an intelligent civilization. They – you are all self-aware. Self-conscious. But back home, only humans lived and evolved like this. The other animals remained -for lack of a better word- wild, while humanity lost its natural instincts somewhat.

I don't know how evolution here worked but this whole society goes against one of the basic laws of nature. The one of predator and prey. Hunter and hunted. Every animal eventually gets eaten or hunted by a bigger one on the food chain. A tiger back home would be on the very top of the food chain. If I encountered a version of you on my world in the wilds Master Tigress, it would most likely try to eat me and would probably succeed in doing so."

"You mean to say that… tigers on your world… eat other beings?" she asked greatly disturbed. It was strange seeing her so openly horrified.

"Yes. Every feline or canine is essentially a predator, a carnivore. I'm an omnivore. A sheep would be a herbivore. Which brings us to the final part of this point : the general anatomy and sizes. Your sizes are much more comparable with each other. A common cat back home would be small and not stand much higher than my ankle on four legs in its natural pose, while here nearly all animals walk straight on their hind legs like a human, and are much more comparable in sizes to a human. A cat is here between four and five feet tall, I'd wager. Master Tigress is certainly smaller than a tiger back home. It's almost as if humanity here doesn't exist but is partially ingrained in you all… I don't really understand it."

That took some processing and many more minutes passed discussing it. They were not too fond of the picture this human had shaped of their respective species back home. Ultimately, Shifu decided to move on to the next matter before tempers went out of control. Alex gladly agreed.

The next hour was filled with little else than discussing everything he had done during his stay in the valley, from his way into the valley to the festival. Shifu also showed considerable interest in his bow and spent several minutes observing it.

"Will you explain our earlier discussion that you held off until now?" Tigress inquired.

"What discussion?" Shifu asked.

"Right before the ambush when he caught their presence he said he sensed them, but their positioning was good. They did not have any flaws in their hiding positioning, and given that we've already established his senses of smell and hearing are less precise than mine I did not understand how he managed that. He promised to explain us later."

Master and student looked upon their guest with curiosity in their expecting gaze.

"Alright, but I warn you, it's quite complicated so how to tell you in such a manner that you understand..."

"I am sure I shall be able to follow, complicated or not" Shifu interrupted, a tad annoyed.

"Just like we've already established that Tigress' and most likely your senses are better than mine, we've already established that my society is simply ahead in terms of technological and scientific level. Many concepts that are ordinary to me are unimaginable to you, simply because they do not exist here and the same in reverse. That is neither a good nor a bad thing, nor has it anything to do with wisdom or even intelligence. It simply is a basic fact." Alex said far calmer than he felt.

Shifu glanced to Tigress who didn't show any surprise to the human's reaction. Recognizing that it was merely formulated a bit blunt rather than meant as an insult he waved for the human to continue rather than let his annoyance take over on such a small grief.

"It actually has to do with a long history of my parents and even my grandparents their careers, goals and lives, so I'll give you the briefer, relevant version without the years of study in it.
Both of my parents are scientists, more specifically in the chemical and medical sector. They tried to improve or create medical drugs against various illnesses that we can't cure easily enough yet. One of these was called Alzheimer."

"Now Alzheimer is a strange thing. Not exactly lethal on itself, it primarily makes one forget many things. This can be about trivial things, like forgetting certain habits or small things that needed to be done but such things can simply be attributed to old age. In worse cases someone can completely forget for a while how to get home, where he is, or what the safety laws are. And those can obviously have rather dangerous consequences. In some of the worst cases, it can even cause people not to recognise their own family, a parent no longer remembering their own child when said child stands next to them. It does more than that, but that's one of the prime signs."

Tigress' and Shifu's eyes widened a bit with that.

"So my parents, being the geniuses they are developed an entire new starting synthesis to work with, based on cells of vastly different animals to look for ways to strengthen basic human cells with ways that most viruses or conditions would lose to, simply because they wouldn't work one sad animals in the first place. One of these animals were fish, more precisely sharks. Fish have this strange sort of line on their sides that allows them to feel small shockwaves in water to tell them more about their surroundings. Not unlike the aquatic equivalent of the whiskers of a cat, to have more information in the dark. Sharks go beyond average in that they can sense electromagnetic pulses of kinds from long distances away. It's pretty much a 'sixth sense'. Imagine being able to feel movements in the air around you to help you both feel and envision your environment."

"In the beginning, this path didn't seem to go anywhere. Many people had thought of using animal material before and while it created many classic superhero - or villain – stories, its results were largely fictional. But my parents succeeded. They found an opening and due to several links they created that I don't understand myself they managed to create a cure with enormous potential based on the regeneration factor of the cells and not only those in your brain. It could no longer only work against Alzheimer, but against many other things! Not only that, they found out it held the key to a quicker recovery, to hardening bone, fastening the process of cell regeneration and thus accelerating the process of soft tissue, even neural tissue! In more simple terms : it could help people recover from physical ailments quicker than before and making them less vulnerable than the first time around. It had the sheer potential of revolutionising our entire medical sector and shooting it forwards for a decade or two."

"Now, for reasons I deem to personal to my family's secrets to reveal, we'll skip a few parts and end up at a more relevant point where the contents of such a monster –a test-tube– entered my bloodstream. Problem was, that that tube was far from finished. It was a work in progress. Showing serious potential to succeed, but not refined and controlled yet, and certainly not safe for. Now, I already had very small parts of them in my bloodstream because I helped out in my parent's private laboratory. It is, I guess, what helped me be compatible with it. If not, chances are high I would have died a very poisonous death that day. The process was… not nice. To say the least. It interacted quite fiercely with my nervous system for example."

He shuddered for a moments caught back in time. It was a highly unpleasant memory. His two-person audience was quiet too, processing all that they had heard. They didn't understand specific terms but he had explained decent enough for them to understand sufficiently.

"And then? I take it we now hear how this has affected you compared to any ordinary person of your kindred?"

"I suppose so, yes. To put it simple, I've already mentioned most of the key factor. The cell regeneration. It allows me to recover from most typical physical wounds or other illnesses in much shorter time-span. A broken arm has in perfect conditions no more than two or three weeks needed, rather than six to eight. I'm partially immune to most things poisonous, be it heavy pollution, bad food, venom or certain viruses. I need a bit less sleep on average, but not much difference there."

"Another important one is my metabolism, or the way or speed at which your body functions. Whether you have a lot of energy, how quickly you burn through your food and all that. Mine's very versatile. When my body senses I've a surplus of food it works harder meaning I have more energy to spare and recover quickly. If the opposite, it will slow down and allow me to go with much less for a long while, while placing greater limits on me making me weaker than the average fellow. It also means it's really difficult for me to get fat or drunk for example. I am grateful for the first one but not so much for the second."

"So while it will not help you in direct danger or emergencies at all, it can ease things greatly in the long run, travels or general life."

"Yup. A lethal wound has just as much chance of killing me as anyone else. I'm not the fricking Wolverine or something. It doesn't make me really faster or stronger either, not any more than a person in similar shape. But I've got more chance surviving poison, more chance to survive the shorter aftermath and more chance to survive when food, water and similar circumstances are dire. And I can't get fat. I think that's it."

"Not yet. The thing that started this was the way you sensed others. Has this to do with the sharks you mentioned?"

"Very astute of you Master Tigress. And yes, it has everything to do with that. I possess a similar sense, as in that I can sense electromagnetic pulses through the air, or something that resembles them at least. Things that create such a thing for example, are beating hearts. But it's not that accurate. Generally the bigger the source or creature and the less various sources, the clearer it is to discern a certain sense there are many sources of such energy back home, but the only ones that I've managed to learn how to discern are humans or thus, similar readings of other creatures. I'll know if other sources are present, but I wouldn't know what they were.
To illustrate : in the lone woods, with no one else nearby, I would be able to sense Master Tigress from sufficiently far away to make preparations, especially if I was already 'listening' so to say. Perhaps a quarter mile? While you Master Shifu, I would barely be able to sense you beyond this room here, if at all. Everyone 'feels' a bit different and with longer exposure to a certain individual, I'm able to discern them from the rest of their species. I'd be able to recognise Feng or Kara now from another wolf, but if they stand in a group of wolves, then all I'll feel is a bunch of wolves."

"That sounds rather incredible and I find it a bit hard to believe."

"Perfectly understandable. Would me notifying you of other presences in this hall –a panda, a snake, a large bird and a monkey– help in convincing you? From what I've heard, those match up with three of the five members of the Furious Five team and your 'Dragon Warrior'. Since Master Tigress is also present, I take it the only one I've missed is Master Mantis and he is simply too small for me too sense but I guess he's here somewhere as well since it would fit the entire team."

Shifu looked wide-eyed for a few moments and then made some gesture to which several hidden figures came to the light with fluid movements. A moment later they all stood in pose behind their master, silent, rigid and ready. Except for one.

"Ohohohoho, so you can sense everyone around you? That's so cool, it'd be so handy during those stealthy sneaky missions where you could surprise everybody! I betcha it would be awesome in a fight and you could evade everything and win without a scratch because you'd know where they would be before the would know it even if they were hiding and…"

Shifu could not blame the human for taking a slow step backwards and regarding the giant panda with a wary eye. He'd do the same.

"… Is he always like this?" the guest asked uncertainly.

"Alas so." Came the confirmation of a sighing Master Crane.

"What manner of mania is he suffering from?"

"Mania?" Shifu asked.

"A mental disorder in which an individual is overexcited, hyperactive, and wildly optimistic beyond."

"You people have enough guys like Po to have a name for that sort of thing? Man, that sucks." Someone, Alex thought it was the insect -Master Mantis- brought in.

"We have no specific term, but a mental disorder was all but verified" Tigress put in disinterested, as if one spoke about a long lost cause.

"…. And so it would be ultra AWESOME! RIGHT GUYS?"

"Right, Po" the snake said in a benevolent tone. Alex was certain he had seen such looks on overly patient mothers.

"Thank you Po, calm down now. Students, you can go down to dinner while I discuss further developments with our guest. Dismissed."

"Master." They all chorused with a perfect bow, their hands, paws, feathers or thingies clasped together.

"You as well, Tigress." He added to his student who lingered on. She followed her comrades after a last hard look and human and red panda were alone.

Shifu pondered for a few minutes, just mulling things over in his head. His thinking process was betrayed by small flickers of emotion and his eyes not really looking at any place in particular until they focused on his conversational partner once more.

"What if we arrived at an agreement?" he asked.

Alex narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "What manner of agreement are you talking about?"

"It is obvious we must come to some sort of an agreement for this situation to be handled. We must simply look at our options. Unfortunately I cannot just help you like that, not in the last place because I don't really know how, but also for more complicated reasons."

Seeing no motion to interrupt he continued. "You may or may not understand it but the Jade Palace is not merely a complex of halls were sacred artefacts are stored and kung fu students are trained. It has been a seat of ruling and governing should the situation call upon it for the entire valley and has even the highest direct authority over the entire province, save for the kung fu council, the emperor and similar entities. The way we come to an agreement reflects not only on you, but on the Jade Palace, everyone tied to it and potentially far more."

"So it is for a possible political backlash that you must ensure the Jade Palace has some sort of advantage over me in an official way that if I did something wrong, you have something to recall upon or control me. Or at the very least protect your reputation to explain yourselves. A political and strategic manoeuvre." Finished Alex' voice. His eyes were a bit more narrowed now as a sign of a man who detected something suspicious.

"Quite right, but not only for our reputation or advantages, but yours as well. If you would be linked to the Jade Palace it would grant you a certain level of protection among other things that you could not get on your own."

"… but you require something in return. It sounds like quite a big favour for a wild card like me. Too big. I've learned that people rarely do something for free if it may affect them and you are in a position of power, which means you've got quite a bit to lose. What is the true deal here then? What's the price on my side?"

"Restrain yourself, there is no need for such outbursts. Although your level of caution is not an unwise trait to possess. The truth is actually better than you seem to expect. While I could simply thank you and say it's impossible to help you, it would stain my honour if I did not at least try. You helped three of my students out of a dire situation. One may have been a foolish gamble but with an admirable goal –to diffuse a fight altogether- but there is no denying you saved Master Tigress' life. And you saved the lives of you younglings were we failed to notice. I feel I am required to help you at least without demanding anything that does not affect the palace directly.

The way I see it there are several options. I could take you as a student, temporarily or not, I could either assign you as a guest, ward or ambassador, take you in service or you could remain on your own if you so prefer not to associated with us in public."

"Could you please explain what each of those situations entails, Master Shifu?" he asked with a frown.

"Certainly. If you are in service in any way with the Jade Palace, it would allow you certain privileges and certainties, along with a level of protection. As a student you would be required to train with us and have certain duties, like protection of the valley, patrols and a sworn oath. Given your rather unique situation, I would allow you freed from said oath to return home were it possible. However, until such a time, I would be your grandmaster, and one of the current masters would be your master. They would have command over you and you would need to obey as a student. However, even an adult student automatically has a military rank and such rights and this would be rightfully your home.

A guest would be no more than that. You would be welcome to stay for a long while, but you would have no more privileges than any valley-born adult citizen. As a ward of the Palace, you would not be required to do any duties except the occasional demand but you would be tied to the palace and thus me. It would be your home but until I release you from it I could refuse or command you of certain things, nor would you have a rank coming from the council, but be acknowledged within the valley or province. This all would require you of course to stay within the Jade Palace and make certain public appearances. If you choose to remain in hiding in your cave like before, you could. But then the Jade Palace would not be tied with you."

"What of the… ambassador?"

"A slightly trickier idea. The Jade Palace and the council would recognise you as an ambassador of sorts of a foreign state and after helping us out we are providing a return service. As an ambassador you would be allowed to remain here as a protected guest for as long as your mission requires while the Jade Palace or the Council can call upon you for council or advice, but cannot demand rights to physical or informative aid unless given. It would again give you certain right and privileges but they would be tied to you as a person more than to us. In strange coincidence, your mission would be as along as until you could return home.

It is no lie, for you are the first we meet of a different state, larger and more important than any we've faced since ancient times, so that automatically makes you a spokesperson for your state. And until someone of your own negates this and proves you are no such thing and they have a 'true' ambassador you would be one. That it is a state in a different world was never really considered in the laws, so no law has been crossed. Merely playing out a small loophole."

"This may sound stupid but why do I need to be associated with the Jade Palace for aid? After all, I'm looking for a way back home. If you have that knowledge or starting points I could go from there or be sent home in which case none would ever see me again. So why? Reassurance that I'm a known factor to the valley?"

"It would indeed solve things if the guards or the people knew we keep track of you so nothing escalates. You may not realise it but there are many rumour about you in the valley, most of them ill. A public appearance or notion from us would let them rest. As for the aid… if we have such knowledge it is in the archives and I simply cannot let you enter those alone. There are secrets and powers kept safe I do not want unleashed or known or damaged in any way. And I would be present with you during your search, not only as a safeguard but also to help for efficiency. None in China know these archives currently better than I and even I know little of all its mysteries. But I simply cannot let you enter those while acting like a fugitive."

"What would be easiest for you?"

Shifu looked a bit surprised at the question, perhaps because it was strange to ask for the Palace's gains when the subject were his own. "None of them are any true trouble to the Jade Palace, though I suppose a decision to name you a student would be frowned upon and met with resistance. Making you a guest would be easiest. You in hiding would simply complicate things as explained."

"There is something else isn't there? Something else you want of me."

Shifu sighed before he decided to just get through with it, whatever it was.
"Yes, there is something. Strange events are occurring more often as of late all over China. So far they only happened beyond the valley's borders but this attack on you and Tigress… it doesn't make much sense. A battalion of fifteen trained killers doesn't just appear. They infiltrated in the valley, must have done so days ago to position themselves on a lesser-known path and nearly succeeded in killing you both. I do believe you were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time but this, among many other things don't make sense! The Palace cannot ignore this and the council makes little progress. There is something larger and foul at work here and an unknown enemy is double as dangerous.

Your presence here is something I refuse to believe to be coincidence. You look upon thing with a very unique perspective and this conversation alone has made it abundantly clear that you are very perceptive. You might think of ideas or signs none of us would or you have other ways or instruments… I don't know. I would like your help with this. Since you made their attack fail, it could be important to you as well. But I cannot demand this, or at least, I will not. I won't ask you share knowledge you don't wish to share. I might be disgruntled but I think I must respect it."

"So you want me to help you investigate a series of attacks that have been rising all over the country and search for any alternative options or leads, but I am free to refuse when I wish?"

"Basically? Yes."

"Was this what you thought of when you mentioned being in service here? To assist you like this?"

"Very perceptive indeed. And the thought may have occurred, yes." He confirmed with a rough chuckle.

Alex mulled all this new information over in his head. This was a lot to take in and his decision would be a large turn-wheel in the days to come. But he needed help and nowhere else would it be offered to him like this. Staying in hiding was no longer an option, it was time to get out of his Plato's cave with his blissful shadow of safety and step in the light for better or worse. A student was out of the question. He wouldn't fight and wanted to stay as far away from the military as possible. So what of the other ones…

He kept thinking furiously until he took a leap of faith with a deep and shaky breath.

"I have decided."

Shifu's gaze was waiting for an answer.

"I think the ambassador is the best option for the both of us. It would name me of figure of some importance, while it would keep the Jade Palace even from direct interference over or from me. You would not seem to have given me any unnatural favours that could be held against you because as an ambassador it would be normal for me to stay here. It also would allow me more freedom and not bowing down while any privileges might come from myself, rather than your presence. It would explain my differences of me being a different kind and possess such a different mind and knowledge or culture if I was from a vastly different society, far away from here. That would keep us from the more nasty question how a freak like me could be in China otherwise and they won't start hunting for a hiding society in this country. We wouldn't need to fabricate a past for me.

The only drawback is I would need some lessons or answers ready for the more political questions as an ambassador I suppose. And I could be a foreign help investigating an attack on its ambassador in coalition with the Jade Palace." He finished.

"Ah, wonderful. I do not see anything wrong with it and it would explain your differences quite well indeed. Still it may not be unwise to heed your previous caution. Your very presence is something that upsets every kind of balance there was and I would rather not any unsavoury parties get wind of your existence. Under normal circumstances I would send word for a verifying emissary of the Council, but I will wait with that. If you get hold of a travel home earlier, all is well. If not, the winter feasts and the winter gathering of the council are held in the Valley of Peace and the Jade Palace this year, meaning the entire council would be here. If you are still here by then, it shall be done then."

"I thank you, Grandmaster Shifu" he said a bit over-formal with a small bow once more with his hand over his heart but Shifu made no remark.

"And I thank you, Ambassador Alexander Jenssen, Son of James. Do you have any more questions? If not, Master Tigress shall point you to your room. They should have finished their dinner by now and I shall have a portion brought to your room."

"Actually, there is one more question…"

"What is it?"

"… Where are the toilets?"

"What are toilets?" the old master asked, turning confused when he saw his human guest's horrified expression.

"Students, I have an announcement. As you already know, this is Alexander Jenssen, a human from a different world, also known as Strider. We have agreed that it is in our mutual best interests if he stays in the Palace for a while, until he may find a way home. I will help his search in the archives. He is appointed the title of ambassador of his state as per first contact rule. Crane, I would need you to educate him on the basics he can except concerning politics. Mantis, he has healer experience of a different kind, perhaps you can learn from each other. Po, do not forget your meditation after dinner. Tigress, can you show him his room? It has been prepared. That will be all."

With that Shifu left and it was quiet for a few seconds until the questions were fired at him at a rapid speed. Before he could answer or understand any though, Master tigress blocked his sight and gestured to follow her while she took off, presumably towards the barracks. Alex gave a quick "masters" along with a light bow and followed her.

It was evening already and the sun had sunk behind the mountains. The small trail upwards was getting painted in darker hues of blue while the servants were lighting the lanterns, bright spots of warm orange along the paths. Far below, a part of the valley was dotted with small lights, creating a picturesque and magical world, straight from a movie.

The barracks appeared to be another hall of dark wood on a level base of stone. The chambers appeared to be simplistic but clean and of good quality even though the inner walls would be very thin. In the middle she stopped and pointed.

"This is your room. Do not mess it up."

"I won't. Thank you Master Tigress."

"If I may… why did he order you specifically to bring me here, when this would be more of a servant's job and you don't like me in the first place?"

"You have shown perceptiveness before, so why do you think?"

"You led me here without bombarding me with question as the others would have, you wanted an excuse to retire to your room or your wound requires you to catch rest earlier?"

"Then why do you ask questions if you already know the answer?" she asked rhetorically and irate.

"Curiosity?" "Hmph." She couldn't resist asking something she'd wondered in the morning though.

"What is that actually? The round instrument of metal and glass with the ticking sound around your wrist?"

"A watch. An instrument to indicate the time very accurately due to a complex mechanism. The three 'arms' indicate respectively hours, minutes and seconds."

"Arms? How can your watch have arms?"

"The three little sticks that rotate around the middle and point at the ciphers. They're called arms. It's figure of speech."

She seemed confused by this until she grasped his meaning a few seconds later.

"May I observe your watch for a moment, then? Such a precise instrument to indicate time, let alone so small, is extraordinary! I've never seen its likes before."

He hesitated, looking torn, before sighing and pleading "please be very careful with it. It used to be my father's."

"He gifted it to you? Does the act have a special connotation or meaning?"

"No, it's, you know... It's a piece of him. He wore that thing for over twenty years. It's a little piece of him that I always carry with me since he… never mind. Just treat it carefully please."

Tigress' eyes widened before they softened with that information.

"I should have grasped that information earlier from your hints that make sense now. Forgive me, I didn't mean to remind you of your loss. You keep it, I shall observe it another time."

She didn't really know why she apologised so profoundly when she rarely ever asked for forgiveness, nor why she felt quite horribly with herself. Was it because she was angry at herself for being stupid and not understanding all his earlier hints that she should easily have gotten? Was it because she had wronged him, and she still felt guilty about that? He had shown to be a more interesting person than she had met in a long time, was she trying to prevent losing such an intelligent conversational partner with whom she could discuss things in ways or matters that she couldn't with anyone else? Or was it simply because she once again had misjudged him, and he had had a harder life than she anticipated of his easy attitude? She didn't know.

"Don't be. You couldn't have known and it wasn't relevant." He brushed it off. "How is your wound? The morphine should be gone now, doesn't it hurt too much?"

"The numbing effect is indeed gone, but the wound is better than expected. The poisonous effects are all but gone and the wound itself is not too terrible, it was checked upon by a healer before dinner. I advise you to not to delay your rest. We wake early and while not a student, Master Shifu will undoubtedly wake you as well and you lost sleep last night."

"Right. Good evening Master Tigress."

She merely nodded in return and left him to his devices.

He sat on his new bed and looked longingly at his diary in his hands, contemplating whether he should write tonight or not. With a sigh, he decided to follow the cat's advice and put it back, just laid down on his bed and closed his tired eyes.

Twenty-three seconds later he was asleep.