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I imagined we looked comical, walking down the street. When I’d lost my escort and found a kind stranger to help me, I’d been surprised to discover that he was at least three, maybe four times my size. He seemed to be the embodiment of the phrase, ‘gentle giant’, and I could practically feel his kindness shining through as he took me by the hand and guided me.
“So uh… where are we headed?” He realized he’d forgotten to ask, only now that he’d taken me a little ways already, it made me chuckle.
“I think I’d like to find somewhere to eat. Afterward I’ll be going to the Jade palace.” I tried to continue walking but my companion had stopped dead in his tracks.
“Y- You’re going to the Jade Palace?” He sounded like his world had turned upside down, though I could tell it was excitement and not maliciousness that coated his voice so I simply nodded. “That’s where the Furious Five live!”
“I know, I-”
“And Master Shifu!” He gasped so loudly I could feel his breath drawing at my fur, like he would inhale me. “Do you know Master Shifu!?”
“No, I-”
“Or Mantis?”
“No, I-”
“Ohhh oh oh oh or monkey!?”
“Po.”
“Or don’t tell me it’s Viper!?”
“Po.” This time my voice seemed to reach him and he cleared his throat awkwardly, leaning down to listen. “Do you know somewhere I can find something nice to eat?” I smiled gently.
“Oh! Right! Got the hungies, I get ya. My dad actually runs a noodle shop. He makes the best noodles, and I’m not just saying that!”
I nodded, “That sounds wonderful.” I reached up to take his fur, “Please, lead the way.”
He eagerly did, walking in near silence for almost a full second. “Are you a kung fu master?” He made another impressive gasp, “A blind warrior! That’s so cool!”
I shook my head, “I’m hardly a master.”
“That’s what people who are basically masters say !” He walked up in front of me. “Please, please can you show me a move!? Please, please please?”
I chuckled, shaking my head at his attitude, but despite it I still found him quite endearing. “Is there anyone behind you?”
“Oh, uhh, no, why?” He didn’t get a chance to finish the thought before he’d hit the ground. I was glad he had a nice hide on him, it meant I didn’t feel much need to worry about hurting him. He was up the next second “that was awesome ! Do it again! Pleaaase! I didn’t get a proper lo-” Once again he landed on the ground flat on his back. He got up, laughing in amazement and wonder, as though he’d seen the greatest thing in his life.
When I finally had the soup in front of me I’d thrown him 4 more times. I shouldn’t have, I know, but something about it felt indulgent and he seemed to love it. It was fun, everything about his attitude made me want to be a little more carefree than I usually let myself be. He was silly, but maybe silly wasn’t so bad. He let me sit and eat for a bit, though I could hear the sounds of his staring at me, he was an impressive beast, who couldn’t even sneak up on blind prey.
The soup gave me pause when I tasted it. For a moment I forgot about Po and his antics, forgot about my journey, simply felt awake and present in that moment. It was an unfamiliar, wonderfully unfamiliar. “Do you like it?!” Po managed to surprise me, so lost in the experience had I been that i hadn’t realized he’d moved up to me.
I nodded, “It’s spellbinding. Did you cook it?”
“Yeah! My dad makes it better but… It’s pretty good, right? I added my own special ingredient.” He leaned in close as though divulging a great secret, “A bit of milk.” I couldn’t help but laugh, actually laugh and I managed to surprise myself. “Everything alright?” He sounded concerned, I must have looked strange.
“I’m alright. I just… I can’t remember the last time I laughed. I don’t know if I ever have.”
Po paused at this, it seemed I’d actually managed to silence him, quite a feat if I’d say so myself. “Well I mean… what if something’s really funny? Don’t you laugh?”
“Well I would. But I haven’t really experienced anything funny. I haven’t really experienced anything.”
I felt Po moving closer, he was sitting on the other side of the table from me and I imagine he was leaning so far over it looked like he was lying on it. “That’s… *gasp* Do you have an awesome tragic backstory? Like,” His voice changed into that of a storyteller and I could tell he was far off in his own world in a flash. “You were raised by bandits, they never let you have any fun and raised you to be a fighter in the gladiator pits! But one day you swore you’d escape, and have your revenge…!” I think he was staring out into space as he spoke, once again I chuckled.
“Nothing quite so exciting I’m afraid. My mother went to meditate in a cave in order to discover the secrets of the universe. She had me while on that spiritual journey. I grew up in the dark silence of a cave, learning to meditate before I could walk.”
Once again I’d struck him silent for a brief moment. “That’s… That’s so awesome ! I wish I was born in a cave! I’d have been all spiritual and deep, like you! Did you get any special powers? Can you like… fire arrows with your mind !?”
“Nothing quite so exciting I’m afraid.” I repeated. A sly smile crept onto my lips and it was my turn to lean in to whisper in his ear. “Although, I can sometimes see the future.”
Po’s gasp this time really did threaten to inhale me. “NO WAAY!”
“Way. I had a vision that I need to present to Master Oogway. That’s why I travelled here.”
“Is the valley in danger!? Did you see something grave and dangerous and incoming and omonious and so, so cool!?”
“No, I-”
“Or who the Dragon Warrior is going to be!?”
“Po.” This time he immediately shut up, leaning slightly closer as he readied himself to hear the reality. “I had a vision that the Scroll of the Thousand would be uncovered soon in the western part of the Aldrin mountains. I thought he would wish to know, and send someone to retrieve it.”
“That sounds so important! Can I go!?”
“Po.” This time my tone was one of surprise, “It’s a dangerous journey. Bandits are the least of the dangers in those mountains.”
“Of course, of course! Can I go? Please please please?”
I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for him, clearly he longed for so much more than to be a noodle chef. Which was a shame, because he was a very good noodle chef, and it would be a great disservice to the culinary world, was he to get himself killed in some mountains. I sighed, and closed my eyes, placing my hand against his forehead. “It is not your destiny to go on this journey, Po. There’s something of importance you must do here instead.” That was true, but pretending to know his future was perhaps cruel. Still, whatever kept him alive. I kept my eyes closed, pretending to read his fortune. I could tell from the way he was shaking with anticipation against my hand that I could tell him anything and he would listen. “Yes… Something important will happen. Just watch out for-” A flash went through my mind, an actual snippet of a vision, “Fireworks…” I said in a surprised tone.
“Fireworks?!”
“Y- Yes… When you are walled off from your true desire… look for the fireworks.” That didn’t sound like a good fortune, and I hoped it wouldn’t lead to him getting hurt. Of course, once I’d seen something, it would happen no matter what I did. My advice was useless in something like this. In fact it usually was. That’s why I’d been so happy when I had the vision of the scrolls. I had seen them being found, but not whose hands they would end up in. A rare case of my powers actually being useful to someone else and giving me a chance to leave my meditation and experience just a small amount of life. Po felt like life, like so much energy rolled up in one person, a bundle of radiant life and part of me just wanted to bathe in it for as long as I could.
Even though I ate slowly and kept up a conversation with Po, who had started to talk about the Furious Five and did not seem intent to stop anytime soon. I still found that the bowl was eventually empty, and I knew I should get going. “Do you need me to guide you?” He asked in that friendly tone.
I didn’t, I rarely got lost, but I nodded, taking his hand once more, enormous and comforting as the gentle fur closed around me. The walk was over too quickly and I felt our meeting was at an end. I felt sadder than I thought I would have, but chance meetings were like that. Temporary and rarely meaningful.
“So uhm… this is it. There’s just… a couple of thousand steps.” He sounded a little melancholy as well. I suppose his brief meeting with someone who lived in that world he admired so much had meant something to him as well. Which did make me feel better. I nodded to him and turned to the steps. “Hey, Mei?”
“Yes Po?” I was hoping for something, though I wasn’t sure what.
“Can you teach me a move?” That childish excitement that had been lost for a moment seemed back in his voice and I smiled.
“Alright, but just something simple.”
“Po, yelling when you move doesn’t help with anything but distracting you from doing it properly.” I chuckled.
“That’s not true! It’s what makes it look awesome!”
“That’s absolutely false.”
“How do you know? Have you tried it?”
“... Well, no.”
“Maybe you should, it feels awesome!”
A part of me wanted to tell him he needed to expand his vocabulary, but I thought better of it. Perhaps many more things were awesome than I’d ever thought. I shook my head in exasperation and relented, moving through the simple pattern I was teaching him. “Hiah.” I said as I moved into the punch, it felt forced and strange.
“What? That’s the best you’ve got? Come on, look!” He punched the air with a battlecry that didn’t suit the motion at all, starting to tumble around, punching and kicking while making noises that made me laugh once more.
I took a deep breath, doing a more complicated routine and ending it with a proper battlecry. I felt my whole body shake as it left me, like all my air was pushed through my lungs and in that moment I realized that this was what it felt like to be alive. My body was suddenly shaking and I wanted to jump, tumble around on the floor like a wild panda doing his best imitation of Kung Fu while having no understanding of it. And… I did. For a few moments I allowed myself to abandon my shame and simply act, jump and punch the air and yell like an idiot, and I found myself laughing, not a short laugh at his silliness but a proper laugh that lasted for minutes and wouldn’t seem to leave my body once it had taken proper hold. I felt so freed, and when I found myself lying on the grass next to him I felt like a weight had been lifted from me.
“Thank you, Po.” My breath was ragged and I was still giggling.
“Me? But you’re the one who taught me?”
I shook my head, “You taught me how to laugh. And there are few greater gifts. I wasn’t sure I was able, but thankfully I learned from a master.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” My smile broadened, I wish I could have seen his expression.
“Hahaha, Po, master of comedy! I guess it’s something.” There was a bitterness to his words, even if he didn’t seem overly bothered.
“Master of comedy, and maybe someday, Kung fu.”
“You think so? Did you have a vision!?”
“Hm… No vision. But I think I saw something in your future. Something… awesome.”
Po was quiet for the longest I’d experienced it from him. “Something awesome.” He whispered. “... Awesome.”