Strength In Unity

Chapter 5: Dinner and an Ambush

The dragon warrior watched as the wolves inside their home all stood and gathered around the old goat. Tyan, curious as to who this stranger was, came forward after the initial greetings were finished. The soothsayer looked over to the young boy and smiled, slightly nervous but encouraged by his uncle, the boy went up to the soothsayer and gave a small wave of a paw.

"My my, I haven't seen you before, where are you from?" The boss wolf stepped up next to her and whispered in her ear, the goat nodding slowly while giving the boss wolf a disapproving look. Tyan looked at his uncle and then to the goat, unsure what was being discussed without him. The soothsayer could feel Tyan's uneasiness near her so she patted the seat next to her for him to come over beside her. Sitting down, he stared at her, perplexed at who she even was still but he'd remembered seeing her before in Gongman City.

"You have been under you're uncle's watch for a while now haven't you?" Tyan slowly nodded, uncomfortable with how she looked at him, feeling her eyes crawling through his fur past his skin.

"There is little you seem to fear, though what does scare you is mainly yourself and who you think you may be." Her tone felt like a soft blanket gently falling around the wolf. Po watched and listened silently as the soothsayer continued, hoping she would be able enlighten him or anyone around of what was to be done in the valley, for the valley.

The old goat then yawned and shook her head, the dragon warrior stood up forgetting his manners, "Oh I'm sorry you gotta be exhausted from coming all the way here, let me get you set up with a room." Po said, quickly taking her hoof and leading her out of the wolf's dorm, Tyan watching the two leave, knowing he would have to ask his uncle about the soothsayer later to see what she was talking about exactly.

The panda and the goat walked in silence for a moment, Po felt as though something was troubling the soothsayer as they headed into the palace together. Reaching the doors, the bear looked down at her and began to open his mouth to ask a question but she cut him off, "Po...It's alright, I'm okay, I'm just, well I miss him is all." She said, the bear feeling the goat's longing to see the albino Peacock he'd fought in Gongman City. The panda's expression shifted into one of slight regret. He'd done his best to keep from killing Lord Shen, though as he began to dwell on it, the bird had surely given him no choice in the matter. She looked up at him, "You need not concern yourself with the past young warrior, I hold nothing against you for having to make such a decision." She said giving the bear an approving look. She wished not to bring back any more painful memories to the guardian of the valley, she could sense he'd already had his fill for the time to be.

Master Shifu greeted them in the front hallway, approaching the goat and shaking her hoof. "It is nice to have you join us, I believe Po was just on his way to start dinner." The grandmaster mentioned in a hinting voice to the panda who smacked his forehead and quickly darted off toward the kitchen after bowing to Shifu and the led her into the palace, allowing her a small tour of their royal home. Once the tour was finished and a room was selected for her, the grandmaster and the aged goat headed into the dining area of the masters where Po and Tigress had set up two extra seats for Shifu and the soothsayer. Shifu called the five before him and gave the introductions,

"Madame, this is the furious five, Masters Tigress, Mantis, Monkey, Viper and Crane." The five smiled and gave small bows to her, "In case you are unaware, this woman was Lord Shen's caretaker in all of his growing years before...certain events." They all nodded in understanding, not wishing to bring a dark cloud of mourning over the table in her presence, the dragon warrior quickly arrived with eight bowls of soup for everyone, glasses of water on the side. During their meal, several stories were shared, the five telling the old goat of their journeys and even several pranks that had been pulled around the palace. Mantis laughed heartily as Po spoke of the first time he'd introduced the five to his soup he'd learned to make from his father Mr. Ping. As the tales rolled off the table, the old goat grinned in humored interest with every exaggeration Po managed to fit in as he dramatized each moment of his training and his experiences with the five often earning a chuckle out of Monkey and Viper. Though it was a quite heartfelt and upbeat dinner conversation, when the topics came to the opponents the team had faced, the soothsayer's face fell slightly as her own thoughts shifted to her adopted son. Tigress noticed the goat beginning to look a bit crestfallen with hearing the things her albino peacock had done during the fight, during his last moments, nudging the panda, she gave Po small eye shift to direct the conversation in a somewhat less touchy subject.