Strong

The Howl

Po looked at the night sky as the cool wind ruffled his white and black fur. A small smile sat on his face. His hand grabbed the peach next to him and ate it, slowly munching into the soft sweat texture. The wind blew again. "Hehe, I know. I know," He said to himself. Somehow the earth itself knew when it was time to go to bed. Po stood up and tossed the fruit's core to the ground for the next peach tree to grow. He turned to go.

Then he stopped.

The wind felt different all of a sudden. A chill, a warm chill ran down his spine. The hissing of the breeze swept past his ear, and on the distant reach of the valley's mountains, he heard a sound, a moan, no.

A howl.

"OOookay. Weird." Po shook his head and walked down the steps to the barracks. He carefully tiptoed to the kitchen where Tigress was. "Oh! You're still up?"

"I was actually waiting for you," Tigress said. "You've been spending a lot of time at the Peach Tree. Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine. I was just reeeaaallly craving some heavenly enlightened food," Po chuckled. A small smile graced Tigress's lips. "Why aren't you asleep? Shouldn't a master get rest?"

"A true master can control the time he or she can or can not rest, lest they fall prey to their enemies' attack."

"Rrriiiight. Uhh okay. That's uh... nice to know," Po said. "Anyway, I should go to bed."

"There was something else I needed to tell you," Tigress spoke up.

"Hmm?" Po poked his head around the kitchen's entryway.

"There's supposed to be a new councilman coming to the Jade Palace tomorrow. Master Shifu wanted me to make sure that you were briefed."

"Huh? When did he say that?"

"A few hours from now."

"Why didn't anyone tell me earlier?!" Po exclaimed.

Tigress rose her eyebrow with a smirk. "You were munching on Heavenly food."

"Ha. Ha. Alright. I'll get some rest for the new guy. You know what he's like?" Tigress shook her head.

"I do know he's supposedly a former warrior of incredible strength," She said. "His name is Platon."

"Why is a warrior doing boring paperwork?" Po asked.

"There's good to be done everywhere, Po. Not everything has to be punched through."

"Where's the fun in that?" Po smiled. Tigress slightly glowered at him.

"I would hope that the Dragon Warrior knew that sometimes a delicate approach is needed."

"Ahh what I mean is... uh... anyway, I should get to bed. Hehehe." The stammering panda rushed off to his bedroom and shut the silk door behind him. "Wow, I'm such an idiot sometimes." Po hadn't gotten better at talking with Tigress. Mostly because it was still like talking to a walking powder keg at times. He didn't know what might set her off. Of course, while some things were more obvious than others, it still didn't make being her friend any easier.

Po sighed and crawled into his cot, but he didn't go to sleep right away. The howling wind unnerved him. He felt its prickly fangs grazing his back. "I need another blanket," He muttered, thinking it was just the cold.

Hopefully, it was just the cold.

*********************************

The fog from the lake puffed around and killed any noise that dared tread through it. The waters stood in front of the craggy mountain and sat on the mouth of a dark toothy cave with dripping mist drooling from its throat. Yet, the cloaked man didn't fear the darkness. His face was mostly hidden as he carefully walked in and down the cave's throat. Moans and groans escaped from the cave's depths, yet the man simply clenched his jaw harder as his torch flickered in the darkness. Each step loudly announced his presence as the cave silently peered at him through the darkness. At last, he came to a wooden bolted door with two large rhinos guarding the entrance. "Who goes there?" They asked. They didn't make a move for their spears. They knew anyone who stepped in that door would have to be strong enough to come out of it alive.