The Hybrid

Being A Different Mirror

The other two animals at the camp were spending their time in silence while Raven and Po were gone. Tigress sat in a meditation position on an elevated rock while Ed paced around on the floor. Several times, Edgar stopped his pacing to try and speak, but he would stop himself and resume pacing. Tigress opened her left eye at the raven. "You're wanting to ask me something, Ed?"

"You don't have to be so hard on her," Ed immediately blurted out. Tigress gave him a very emotionless stare, but Ed guessed she knew what he was talking about. "She's new and has been through a lot."

"I know that, Ed. Don't let your attachment to this girl blind you. I teach her the way I do because of who she is, not because of who I am."

"Do you think she'll be able to take your beating?" Ed asked innocently. Tigress glared at the bird, causing him to stutter. "I don't mean to say you're abusive or anything, but-"

"What are you afraid of, Ed?" Tigress interrupted. The raven hesitated for a moment and then blew a sigh.

"Is she going to stick to it?" Ed asked worriedly. Tigress sighed with a smile. She jumped down from her rock and petted Ed's back.

"She'll be fine. She and I are more similar than you think," Tigress explained. Just then, Tigress felt the wind blew through the trees with a reassuring air to it. She looked towards the snow-capped mountain and saw a figure coming through the thicket of the forest. It was around sunset, so Tigress squinted her eyes to see the stranger.

"Hello, is anyone there?!" Called the voice. Tigress's eyes widened when she recognized the voice and the person who came out of the shadow of the trees.

"Master Dhaal," Tigress said, surprised to see the warrior. Master Dhaal was a young stun-horned rhino with boyish-like blue eyes. He was taller than Tigress by about half a foot, but that was short for a rhino. "What brings you here?"

"I had orders from Verloor to be here. News of the Hybrid coming straight here got to me. Where is she? I'm so excited to see a real live human!" Tigress rose an eyebrow.

"She's training with the Dragon Warrior on healing. She should be back within a day or two. In the meantime, sit and eat. Your travel from India must have been hard."

"Oh, Vishnu was it," The rhino sighed, sitting on the brown mat prepared, "I had to fight my way through ten camps of Mongols just to get here."

"The Mongols have reached you in India?" Tigress asked.

"No, when I was called here, I was up in Afghanistan fighting them," Dhaal explained. This confused Tigress.

"It's more than a three week's journey from here to Afghanistan. How did Verloor know that she would be here if she was supposed to see you?"

"Verloor must have had a hunch where Raven would go. She is stubborn sometimes," Ed grumbled. Dhaal finally noticed the raven and extended his arm for Ed to jump on.

"He he hey! Ed! It's good to see you. What happened to your arm?"

"Minor accident," Ed gripped, rubbing his patched wing with the other. "It's good to have you around. Now I don't have to worry so much about Raven."

"Why?" Tigress asked.

"Dhaal is the Animalist of Armor. If she has that, she stands a chance against Genghis Khan," Ed convinced himself. Tigress sighed, as she went into the tent to get food for the rhino.

"Come on, Ed. She can't be that bad. Can she?"

"She isn't, but... dude, we're dealing with the Khan here! Not some cray-cray wimp with two shiny rocks! Even without the shards, he was dangerous!" Ed exclaimed. Suddenly, he felt a feather plucked from his back. "OW!"