Zhen and Po talked for a long time and eventually took to gazing up at the stars. Po hadn't done it in a while since he became Dragon Warrior and started training, but this was mostly because Shifu discouraged free time. Po and Mr. Ping used to go camping quite often and they would end the night with some peach pastry kebabs and looking up at the night sky. (Except for one time when it rained so hard that they had to skip camping and hide out at a local inn for the week). The two wound up falling asleep at the Wu Dan mountains and woke up later in the morning with the sun brightly shining in their face and reflecting blindingly off of the water. Realizing how late it was, Po was quick to head to the kitchen with Zhen in tow. When they got there, they found the five quietly chatting with some breakfast Crane had made.

"Hey! Good morning!" Monkey called over. "We were wondering when you guys were getting up."

"Training?" Crane guessed.

"We had a talk, actually," Po corrected. "Lots of it."

"I've been kind of a jerk, and I know it," Zhen told everyone, looking a little embarrassed. "I'm sorry I was awful to everyone when I got here."

"We understand," Viper promised. "As long as you promise to work on it, I think we can all get along just fine."

Po sat down at the table and started to eat. As he did so, he felt Viper gently touch the side of his cheek. "What happened?!" she asked in alarm.

"Uh...sparring." Po lied.

Zhen rolled her eyes. "And by sparring he means getting into a fight with Tigress," she corrected.

"Oh, is that why she opted out of breakfast this morning?" Monkey guessed.

Po looked at him. "She said that?" he asked sadly.

"More or less."

"Is she in the training hall?"

"Nope," Mantis corrected. "She actually went on a walk. Probably a cover to hit iron trees."

Zhen winced. "She must have paws made of solid jade or somethin' because I kicked one of those trees once and I swear I almost died!"

Po chuckled, though sadly. "Yeah, that's Tigress for you," he said.

Monkey patted his arm. "Don't worry Po," he promised. "She'll come around."

"I'm honestly surprised she clawed you," Crane admitted. "She hasn't done that since Mantis got into a fight with her and that was almost fifteen years ago."

"To be fair, I had that coming," Mantis agreed.

"I was just trying to get a grasp on the fact that you guys were actually leaving and I talked about it with Mrs. Jun, and apparently that made her mad. I said a lot of bad stuff too, so I owe her a big apology."

"Well, you guys can talk that out when she gets back," Mantis said. "I'm sure she'll be calmer once she gets in some warm ups."

Tigress, however, was not punching ironwood trees or warming up in anyway. She had tried to do so, but since she was still furiously angry, she decided to walk it out and pay Shifu a visit. The air was sweet and fresh and there was a small breeze that rustled through her fur as she made her way through the woods. She took in several deep breaths on the way over and soon reached her old master. Shifu wasn't outdoors today, so Tigress wound up knocking on the door calling for him.

When the old master opened the door, he was surprised to see the look on Tigress' face, but knew exactly what it meant and invited her inside.

"I just put a lot of tea on, so you stopped by at just the right time," he told her.

Tigress sat down at the table nearby and just sighed. "I heard Po came to talk to you," she said irritably. "What did he say?"

"Nothing much," Shifu told her. "It was mostly a jumble of thoughts and confused babble on the concept of change and growth. I gave him some advice, we talked about Zhen. Sounds like she's on strike again."

Tigress just rolled her eyes. Shifu brought the tea to the table and poured some for Tigress. The master just stared at the cup and said, "Oh, and hi, Shifu. How have you been?"

Shifu patted her paw. "I'm doing well," he promised. "Same old same old. I made up a new tune yesterday. Maybe I'll play it for you before you leave."

"That's be nice."

The two began to drink their tea, Tigress often stopping to sigh deeply and just close her eyes and try to relax. Shifu could tell she had a lot on her mind.

"So, Po tells me you Five are considering leaving for a new assignment," Shifu brought up. "Sounds like an exciting prospect."

"Yes," Tigress said, glad to have some joy coming from the announcement instead of a bitter fight. "Some of the north western mountain masters need some assistance and there are other areas that are asking for an exchange of masters to assist, like Gongmen city."

"Which one were you asked to help out?"

"Gongmen city."

"That's quite the challenge. It's sounds right up your alley."

"Exactly! And that's what I tried to tell Po but Po is so bent on us staying behind...it's just....!!!"

"An adjustment for him?"

Tigress rolled her eyes. "Sure. For a man who can go with the flow, it's "an adjustment"," she mocked. "Po's never had problems before! I don't understand why he's having problems now!"

"Change takes time to adjust. Po's used to serving alongside you. This is just an acknowledgement that he's finally grown from being a student and no longer needs you."

Tigress paused and looked at her master funny. "Well..." she started. "Yes, of course."

Shifu looked at her. "Ah," he noted. "I see."

"What?" she asked.

Shifu didn't answer her and poured himself some more tea. "You know, when Po told me, I must confess I was surprised. But figuring how bad the experience with Mugan was, that's understandable. So I figured you were ready for another chance."

Tigress watched him for a moment before for muttering, "You're going to make me say it, aren't you?"

"I'm not making you say anything. But if there's something you wish to acknowledge and get out on the air, I'm more than willing to discuss it with you."

Tigress fell quiet, not wanting to say anything else, and just drank some tea with Shifu.  None of them spoke for a solid half hour until finally Shifu put his cup down and coaxed gently, "Tigress....."

When she still didn't say anything, Shifu drummed his fingers against his teacup for a few seconds and then decided to talk for a bit.

"I don't believe Po is upset because that you're leaving. The problem is more that he's in the middle of a challenging situation, and he's afraid of handling it alone. Especially since there's now a possibility of him getting hurt or worse by some upcoming threat." He looked the master in the face. "And it seems like you're well aware of this issue."

Tigress looked a little embarrassed. "Yes," she admitted.

"And yet you're angry with him over this?"

"I....Po's good at dealing with the tough!" Tigress protested. "He's gone through major upheavals before and turned out fine! Like...Gongmen City....."
She paused and reflected for a second.

Shifu eyed her.

"Yeah, bad example. Uh...Kai. Po handled Kai by himself-"

She stopped herself again.

"Having trouble?" Shifu asked her knowingly.

"It's...Po can focus. He just sometimes focuses on the wrong thing when he's upset. Like with Warlord Yam! He managed that one when we....wait...."

Tigress kept thinking, trying to count on her fingers, but finally she just groaned and said, "Fine. I've got nothing. Po's terrible under pressure."

"A weak point he's still working on."

"Yes, but it's not like he can't handle himself! You did fine when Oogway passed and you're the worst under pressure I know after Po!"

Shifu did a double take at the comment while Tigress stopped in embarrassment to correct herself. "I didn't mean...I meant that respectfully....Shifu.... I'm sorry."

Shifu sighed. "When I stop and reflect," he said, more to himself. "I passed along a lot of bad traits to you and Tai Lung. Though I'm relieved you're more level-headed under pressure than the three of us combined."

Tigress turned red and just mumbled another apology before drinking more tea.

"I'm not offended, Tigress. You're right. I tend to overthink a situation before getting myself calm enough to rationalize the problem."

Tigress didn't say anything.

"While I'm thinking about it," Shifu added. "I want you to remember that I don't mind Tai Ling being brought up in conversation. I've come to terms with what happened and I'm fine. There's no need to tiptoe around me anymore."

"I know. It's...a habit, I guess."

"I know. And I'm sorry for the pain I caused."

"It wasn't your fault."

"No, but I could have found ways to handle it better."

They were quiet for a little bit until Shifu asked her how her nerve strike training was going.

Tigress reddened a little, but tried to keep her face composed. "It's improving," she said, reluctantly. "It'll take me a while to learn since I've just started working on it."

"Perhaps you can show me what you've learned so-"

"No!"

Shifu jumped in surprise. Tigress looked embarrassed at the outburst. "I mean...I don't...want to practice it on you when I'm not in full control of it just yet...." she corrected awkwardly.

Shifu gave her a knowing look. "You haven't been practicing much, have you?" he observed.

"I'm good with my own style. I don't need to learn nerve strikes."

"Don't need to or don't want to?"

Tigress didn't reply.

"Tigress...."

"I don't want to use them and accidentally hurt someone," Tigress told him flatly. "Enough people have gotten hurt from that."

"They don't if you practice. And Po's a very patient teacher."

Tigress grimaced at the mention, and upon seeing her face turn red, Shifu immediately sense something was wrong.

"Tigress..." he encouraged. "Tell me what's going on."

The master didn't say anything for a moment. But finally, she said, "I thought...I was thinking that...I realized that Po's going to get more students, less experienced people who have an opportunity to be something better. And when he does that...he won't need us anymore. So I thought I might as well get used to a new assignment before that comes to pass."

Shifu reached over and squeezed her paw. "But he does need you," he told her.

"Yeah, now. But not forever. I just...don't want to feel like a wasted space."

She fell quiet as Shifu kept holding her paw. "You never will be, Tigress," he promised. "It's true, Po's gotten better, and maybe there will be a moment where you're not there to help him, or not needed immediately. But Po will always need help at the Jade Palace. Even Oogway knew that. That's why he was always going through students. He couldn't always do things by himself. He needed to train others. And through every student he's trained, only one or two stuck close to him the longest. That's what you are to Po. Someone reliable. Someone he can go to even in the worst of times, even if it isn't on a constant basis."

Tigress felt her eyes water as her mind wandered back to the fight the day before. Some help she had been.....

"We got into a nasty fight yesterday...." she finally admitted. "I don't know if he'll want to talk to me after that."

"A nasty fight? I'm guessing it was more than just another battle of the words?"

"I scratched him in the face and I blamed him for it."

Shifu blinked in shock. "Oh...." he said simply. "I see." He furrowed his brow in thought, thinking over the situation.

"It was bad. I know," Tigress admitted. "But I was just...so angry!"

"I know. And I've taught you better than that, Tigress."

Tigress pulled her paws away to rest her head in them. "I messed up really bad, Shifu," she sighed mournfully.

Shifu got out of his chair to pat her shoulder. "Then you and Po should have a long calm talk about it," he encouraged. "Po isn't the type to hold grudges. He'd have every right to be upset, but once you two get everything out in the air, including apologies, he'll come around. I promise."

Tigress took a deep breath, trying to control her facial expressions. "I know..." she mumbled. "It just...I really hurt him."

"Then go talk to him. Maybe once you two get that all figured out, we can discuss Zhen and this vision Po has all together. Give him some ease."

Tigress agreed to this and finished up her tea with Shifu before wishing him well and leaving his house. She began to head down the road back to the Jade Palace, taking in the late morning air as she tried to keep her head and emotions clear enough to talk to Po without inciting another fight. As she walked, a strange noise, like a twig or leaf being stepped on, rung out behind her. Tigress' ears twitched at the sound and she turned around to figure out who was behind her. Probably more bandits. One would have thought those clowns would have learned their lesson by now. She walked around carefully, examining the area to see any traces of mischief or bad intentions. To her surprise though, she found nothing. But she had heard something!

I'll just be extra vigilant on the walk home. Just in case, she told herself as she started walking back down the path. As she did, she suddenly felt a tall warm shadow behind her and she swung around to attack the intruder, only to have her paw intercepted. As she came nearly face to face with the intruder, the master gasped in shock, and just as quickly found herself knocked to the ground. She tried to get up, but she felt a sharp pinch on the back of her neck and was soon unconscious before she could even react.