Love of the Dragon Warrior

Underneath the pale blue sky

Po made his way back to his room around 1:15, leaving him some time to think over the next round of chatting he'd have to do. He really hoped Song didn't take him through the village because he didn't feel like thinking about the embarrassing photos Mr. Ping had taken and if he had possibly shown any more naked childhood photos to Lam. He sat on his bed and looked over at his list of activities, only to see a giant line of ink towards the bottom of the list. 

"What the heck?!" the master exclaimed, picking up the scroll and examining it. There was so much ink on the one line that it had actually bled through the scroll and leaked all over the side table. (It had also partially taken out the two sentences it was sandwiched between). Po frowned. He didn't remember crossing anything out. And even if he had, he never would have crossed it out with this much ferocity! Po thought hard about what he had written down on the list, but he couldn't remember. He put the scroll back down on the table and sat back on his bed to think everything over. Fifteen minutes later there was a knock on the door and Song appeared along with her umbrella. 

"Hey, Po," she greeted cheerfully. "Ready for our talk?"

"Yep," Po said, getting up from his bed. "Where are we headed?"

"I noticed there were back paths around the grounds, and your master said they led to the Wu Dan mountains. It's supposedly very pretty, so he let me set everything up there as long as we don't leave  any trash behind." 

The two left the barracks and made their way towards the peaceful mountains where Song asked what Po had been thinking about when she walked in. "You looked very perplexed about something," she said. 

"I wrote down some fun activities that maybe we could all do," Po explained. "But when I came back from lunch with Lam, I noticed that one line on the scroll was inked out like crazy! Like, the ink actually leaked through the page!"

"Oh!" Song exclaimed. "That is strange. I'm guessing you didn't do it then?"

"No. I'm not even sure when it was inked out. I didn't look at it at all after I came back from talking to Ordai, and I just noticed it when I came back from talking to Lam, so I'm not who did it. Or why." 

"When did you write it down?" 

"I wrote it down some time before the meeting with Ordai, so around 10:30." 

Song frowned. "I can't think of who would want to erase an activity on the list," she admitted. "Unless maybe someone glanced at it while passing by and decided they didn't feel comfortable doing it. But I would imagine they'd just cross it out and not tarnish the paper." 

"I'm not sure. I wish I knew though." 

The pair soon made their way up the back paths of the Jade Palace and up the side of the mountains to their afternoon spot. Song had set up a small tea table and some tea right by the Pool of Sacred Tears as she had thought it to be a very pretty spot. Po promised her that, maybe in the future, they could tour more of the mountain. (With Shifu's permission of course). 

"I figured the other girls were stuffing you senseless all day, so I thought a simple tea picnic would be better," Song said as she sat down and closed her parasol. 

"I don't mind, but I appreciate the consideration," Po told her as he joined her at the table. 

Song poured out the tea with a smile. "It's been a long time since we've hung out," she reflected. "I really wish we could have seen each other sooner, but between your duties, my team undergoing a serious reform, and of course, you moving away...well, circumstances haven't been the best, I suppose. But now we have all the time in the world."