Strength In Unity

Chapter 20: Once Upon a Body

The valley of peace had always been a destination of ease, happiness and helping hands. In the last several days however, the main feeling in the village had been one of discomfort.

The villagers had made good on their promises to extend their homes to the wolves of the valley, offering to take them in as soon as they needed. To many of the ferocious looking canines, this put them in a feeling of extreme awkwardness, to be shown this kind of attention, to be offered such protection from creatures so much smaller than they. The villagers had all picked who would stay with whom. Mr. Ping, Po's father, had seen marvelous opportunity to aid his business and requested three of Kirscher's army to reside in his restaurant. Once they'd entered and gotten settled the old goose began instructing them on the methods of his craft he'd honed over the years.

The Furious Five oversaw the pack's inclusion on the villagers, coming through the village checking on how each and every family was coping with the new situation. From what they could tell the wolves all seemed to follow similar habits. They would come into the home and then set their bedding right beside the front door, positioning themselves in what appeared to be their method of securing their temporary home. The dragon warrior's inspections filled him with building confidence that Shifu's plan was going accordingly. As long as no big conflicts came up this would work itself out just as it was expected, though that was severely optimistic. Po tried to keep the villagers attention mostly on their day to day jobs and assorted projects. The panda engaged as many of the valley's residents in their activities as he could, hoping that he could be beside any of the pack who had trouble adjusting to Shifu's plan. It wasn't a perfect solution, something he knew all too well, there would many awkward situations for his neighbors and at this point he and the furious five had to put together the best methods for getting around them. Many of the wolves, though now less temperamental than when they'd first arrived still came on as aggressive and impatient. They did their best to shield the villagers from their natural temperment which tended to result in damaged miscellaneous goods from behind the backs of the stores.

Tigress walked beside Viper as they helped villagers accommodate their homes for the wolves. She kept an eye on the serpent's condition, having done so since she'd left the medical ward. She stopped when she noticed the legless master hesitating.

"You alright?" Viper managed a small smile to ease her sister's mind, "Yes, sorry I was just thinking about what's happening, the council, the fox clan. Something just seems..I don't know..." She trailed off leaving Tigress with a concerned look on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's been almost two weeks after we saw the foxes, we haven't received word of their movements since the attack."

"Most likely they are arming up for another attack. We disabled the majority of their group but I'm sure they are calling in reinforcements from their hideout." Viper nodded, still full of concern that something was amiss but she wouldn't trouble Tigress any further about it. Heading into Mr. Ping's restaurant, they watched with amusement as the old goose went about training the wolves in his line of work.

"No no no! You must dice the vegetables, not scatter them everywhere!" The goose took one of the wolves paws and guided his chopping motions, swift and precise as was most of his preparation. The two behind him snickered and continued horsing around.

"And YOU TWO! Why exactly isn't the water boiling? These dumplings are getting cold!" Mr. Ping flicked each of the canines, earning a stifled growl and grumbling as they set back to their tasks.

Po entered his father's shop, pausing for a moment to look around. Many of the usual friends and neighbors who he would see coming in now had one or two wolves sitting beside them or standing guard silently. The panda's thoughts drifted to Gongman, how odd this would look for it's residents to see those who had bullied and abused them, now watching over and aiding the villagers of the Valley. Walking past the customers, Po entered the kitchen, not noticing someone on the otherside of the door-