One Tail at a Time

The Birds and the Bees

Shifu doesn't say anything for a while, because I guess he's tired.  Its been a long day and normally he would be getting ready to give his report to Zhe Yan about now, only he has something super important to say, so I wait quietly while snuggling against his arm until eventually he sits forward which forces me off him.  Actually, its just as well, because Im tired and all this silence has my eyes drooping.  Only they're not drooping now, because Shifu is looking super serious.

With a short wave of his hand, a little nest filled with eggs, suddenly appears before my eyes.  They are pretty blue ones flecked with gold splotches, so I know these are wren eggs.  One of my lessons from long ago, involved learning to which birds different egss belonged to, which ones could be eaten, and which ones are best to leave alone.  Hawk eggs are rare because they don't make as many as the wrens do, so its best not to touch them.

"I see you remember our lesson in survival?" he asks smiling at me as I gently blow my warm breath all over them, seeing as Mama wren is not there to do it for them.

"Of course Shifu.  Wren eggs are very small and fragile, they break easily but the birds themselves are actually quite hardy." I tell him as that lesson comes back to me.

"Good.  Then let me ask you a question." he says before taking a long drawn out breath.  "Do you know, how these eggs were made?" 

Nodding my wise head enthusiastically, I continue to lightly blow on the little eggs while also making sure not to touch them.  Shifu said unless I am going to eat them, I should not put my scent on them otherwise Mama wren will get mad.  I've never seen a mad Mama wren before, so I can't imagine what that would look like, but I imagine it would be similar to my own Mama who is normally super sweet and ....

"Seventeen!" Interrupts my thoughts and making me jump.  

"Yes Shifu?" I ask a little worried now.  He only ever calls me Seventeen when we're alone if he is mad with me, so I put the thought of a mad Mama to the back of my mind to pay attention.

"How were these eggs made?" he asks impatiently.  

I didn't realize he wanted me to explain, so I think about it for a moment.  I remember Zhen Zhen talking to me once about the chicken eggs we eat, and how the chicken pushes them out of their butt and he only told me that so I wouldn't take the last egg because he wanted it.  And that then has me thinking about Chang Shan who loves eggs and will fight tooth and nail for the last one, even against Shifu.  But what has me snickering into my hands, is that brother will wait a full hour before using the abolution block after one of the others has used it so their lingering smells don't stick to his perfectly ironed robes, but he will eat an egg that shot right out of a chickens butt!  And that tought only makes me laugh more.

And suddenly a long drawn out sigh beside me has me realizing once again that Ghost brain has taken hold.  

"Seventeen.  I know it has been a long day and you are tired, but this is no time for daydreaming.  Answer my question.  How were these eggs made?" he asks again and this time forcing my head up with a finger under my chin.

"Uhhh....  Mama wren makes them in the wamer months because that's when the bees make their honey." I tell him most knowledgeably only Shifu looks confused.

"Uhh.. how are the bees relevant?" he asks with the smallest of smiles on his face.

"Zhen Zhen said that the bees are most active in the warmer months and thats the best time for honey.  It is super sweet and liquid gold which Papa wren steals in the middle of the night and feeds it to Mama wren who then uses it to make her little eggs and thats why they are covered in gold splotches and why the eggs taste so good." I tell him.