The Last Hope

19. The Preparer of Poison

"And you still want to go to Africa?" Po asked.
The panda leaned against the railing and looked wearily out to the sea, always expecting to see the coast of China at any moment.
"Nothing has changed at my travel destination," the big snake replied. "Perhaps there is a better welcome there."
Po raised his eyebrows skeptically. "If you say so, mate."
"Would you be better off not using the word 'dude'?" the tall reptile asked with a dark undertone.
"Sorry," Po apologized. "What's your name, mate...um...yeah, what's your name?"
The venomous python narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "In the first place, Wunambigu."
Po's mouth hung open briefly before he could close it again. "... what? Could you repeat that again?... Or maybe you have a nickname?"
"If it makes it easier for you. Some people just call me "Nhinngi". Some later just "Boagoo.""
Po scratched his head in confusion. "How so?"
"A joke by an immigrant," the Australian enlightened him. "It's actually an Australian name, but the guy picked it up somewhere and applied it to me. It sounded like "Boa go" to him. When word got around, people later called me just that."
Po frowned. "Mm, okay. However, if I have to call you by your first name, I cannot guarantee that it will get my tongue round."
The snake narrowed his eyes indifferently. "Choose one, it doesn't matter. I never talk to anyone anyway."
"But everyone has to have a name to address someone by," Po insisted. "Mmm. Maybe I should give you a Chinese name when I talk to you."
The giant snake rolled his eyes. "Do what you want."
"Okay." With that, Po frowned again and began to think hard. "Hey! How about Wolong?"
"Sounds awful," was Boagoo's only reply.
"Why not?" Po asked. "It's the figure of a dragon from a story. I used to read this story a lot when I was a kid. And... well, snakes are sort of 'related' to dragons, aren't they?" He gave the venomous python a mischievous look. "And besides, me as the Dragon Warrior... we both have to have a good connection, right?" Po gave his impassive interlocutor a comradely side blow. "So, shall we do it like this?"
Although the snake Wunambigu, or Boagoo and now Wolong, said nothing about it, but for Po the subject was closed. "Fine, I'll call you that for the rest of the ride, okay?"
Wolong let out an annoyed hiss. "Fine with me," and turned back to the sea. Po did the same and went back to his thoughts.
"Maybe," the panda began after a while. "Maybe you could start afresh in China. What job did you learn at home?"
Wolong shot him an indifferent sideways glance before replying with a sigh, "Mortician."
"Uh..." Po had to swallow that first.
"I didn't get anything else," Wolong gave as an explanation.
Po's jaw dropped briefly before the corners of his mouth lifted in a tortured laugh. "Oh, well, mortician's a job, too! I mean, everyone needs one sometimes. In life. At the end. Sometime."
He glanced over to the other side of the ship. Shen had retreated to the front of the ship and was also staring out to the sea. Po's eyes wandered to Dao, who was still leaning against a wooden wall like a doll and staring straight ahead. The panda let out a deep sigh. Will he ever become normal again?, Po thought to himself and looked out at the sea again.

Shen gave the impression that the view of the sea would captivate him. But in truth, his thoughts were far away. Still clutching the lance sword in his wings, he stroked the cold metal. How long had it been since he first held it in his feathers...? Many years ago... before everything turned against him...

"You are our leader now."
The young white prince flinched as the wolf offered him the lance sword with both paws in surrender. The peacock couldn't believe what he had just heard and shakily he wiped his face where soot from the explosion was still stuck to his feathers.
"I? A leader?" Shen stared at the sharp, wavy blade, wide-eyed. Still stunned, he took the lance sword, then he looked back at the one-eyed wolf kneeling in front of him. He nodded in confirmation.
"Because you defeated him. Now you're the alpha leader." The wolf looked down slightly. "She wouldn't have wanted it any other way."

Shen tightened his grip around the lance sword.
She.
The thought of her took him back many years more.

The cold blizzard swept relentlessly across the land. The she-wolf huddled closer into the snow hollow under the big pine tree. A wolf pup and an odd-looking peacock chick huddled beside her.
The little wolf couldn't resist and curiously he rubbed the colorfully smeared feathers, whereupon white spots could be seen. The peacock chick was too exhausted to stop him, but buried its head deeper under its wings. The wolf cub sniffed him again, then he nudged his mother.
"Mom, do all white peacocks paint themselves?" he asked.
The she-wolf lifted her head from her lying position and looked down at the peacock chick. Most of the paint in the plumage had dried and was peeling off in some places.
"He's quite a strange peacock," she said quietly.
She reached out her paw to the chick and stroked its painted head, whereupon the painted peacock chick snuggled deeper into her warm fur.