•{|💙A New Friend💙|}•

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"Mama can I please go see the Jade Palace?" Asked a desperate and young Ming to her mother. "No, who KNOWS who or what could be there! You could get hurt...! Now go get the water from the well and come straight back home." Scolded her mother, but not too harshly. The young black jaguar cub poured with a small "Ok..." as she was given a large bucket from her mother, sighing but then is given a small reassuring hug from her mother. "Just be safe ok...? I can't lose you too. I just want to keep you safe and well Ming...you'll understand. I love you and like I said, straight back home once with the water." She continued as she gave her daughter a small smile, Ming returning the smile from the motherly love she received. "Ok mama! I'll be ok...I know where the well is and where's home! You can count on me!" She shouted in a confident and cheerful voice, her mother nonverbally responding in awe before helping her daughter outside and the two sharing their goodbyes as her mother watched her skip happily into the village.

•~•

As Ming skipped through the village with the bucket, she glanced and looked at the sights around her. Her eyes fluttered with amazement and awe as she passed by the shops and people that she passed, admiring them. "Hello!" She shouted to a villager, "Hi!" She shouted again to a young piglet, the piglet smiling and waving back in return as she kept skipping through the village. As she got closer to the end of the village to the well, she turned down a different path around the mountain where the Jade Palace stood, huffing from the energy she's used to get there. "Luckily I made myself a small shortcut so I wouldn't have to worry about going to the palace and getting in trouble!" She thought to herself as she followed down the path to the well deeper within the forest. As she kept going deeper, she slowly began to feel uneasy with her surroundings, the sun peeking dimly through the large and huge trees that surrounded her and the path becoming more unable to track down, that's when she finally heard it, Snap. "Ah!" Ming yelped in a high pitched voice as she stopped dead in her tracks from the sound she just heard. "Uhhh...h-hello???" She mumbled with anxiousness as she continued on to the well, when she didn't hear anything else, she felt a pinch of relief and began running again. After a few more minutes of sprinting, she finally found the well. It was centered in the complete center of the forest, her eyes sparkling with relief and a smile of happiness growing on her face, she went to the well and began to grab some water. "Hopefully mama won't get too impatient!" She said to herself as she dropped the bucket and began to row the handle and the other bucket in the well began to lower into the waters below. Suddenly she heard it again. Snap. "Huh???" She said in confusion and startle as she looked around herself with a hint of anxiousness once again. "W-Who's there? I'm not afraid of you! Come out...!" She then heard another snap from nearby the well, causing her to yelp and quickly turn to the well only to see no one there. "S-Stop playing with me! I-...I-I know you're there...!" She squealed as she tried to stay brave, stomping her foot down with a hint of anger at her direction the sound came from. "H-Hello...? A-Anyone...?" She asked again, shrinking with fear and beginning to feel afraid of her surroundings, her whimpering in her voice. Right when she got up and tried to row back up the bucket full of water, she heard yet another sound, but it wasn't that of a twig snapping or bush moving, she heard...footsteps. Her ear twitched and her eyes dashed around to where the footsteps came from as she heard then get closer, and Closer, and CLOSER until...it hit her. "YAAAH!" A voice hollered as a young snow leopard cub pounced out the bushes, making the other scream and fall back onto her paws in fear. "A-AAAH!" She squealed, her crawling away a little from the cub before her. When she got far away enough from the other, her eyes widened as she caught a full glimpse of the strange child. Eyes of radiant yellows and oranges, fur white as snow and faded spots of bright brown and black, they're tail swaying from side to side as they stood up fully. "Hi!" The cub spoke with excitement as he smiled widely at the other cub, Ming shaking a bit from being spooked but soon hesitantly stood up. "Uhm...hello." She murdered softly as she held her paws together out of nervousness but soon was surprised from the cub speaking again. "My name is Tai Lung! What's your name?" The cub asked as he bowed and held out his paw out to her with his smile growing more excitedly by the second, Ming blinking and nervously taking his paw. "I'm Ming..." she responded softly as she too bowed and looked away awkwardly, Tai only kept smiling and laughed. "That's a nice name! I'm a cub from the Jade Palace near that mountain!" He said as he pointed to the palace that poked through the trees on the mountain nearby, Ming's eyes widening from the amazement of seeing it up close. "Whoa...your a cub from the Jade Palace? That's so cool!" She said with admiration as her eyes sparkled back at the other cub. Tai smiled more and looked at the well nearby the two and looked back at her. "Are you getting water...?" He asked with a raised brow, "Yeah! My mama told me to go get water from this well....I have to go home, she'll be mad if I be late." Ming spoke with a pinch of anxiousness as she struggled up to the top of the well and grabbed the filled bucket, pouring the water into her own with difficulty due to her only being a cub. Tai jumped onto the well with ease and helped her pour the water into the bucket correctly. Ming was surprised at first but smiled and looked at the cub as he looked at her and then hopped back off. "Thank you!" She squealed, Tai only bowed with a polite smile before hearing the voice of his master calling for him. "Oh! My master is calling me...bye bye!" He said as he waved and dashed back into the trees of the forest in the direction of an exit to the palace, Ming looking confused but simply smiling afterwards. "Bye bye!" She shouted, waving her paw in return to the cub as she saw him vanish out of the woods for good.

•~•

Ming was returning home through the woods running on her feet as fast as she can, the bucket swaying by her side as small amounts of water splattered on the trail. She remembered the encounter she had with the cub and soon began to gaze at the palace that peeked through the trees, her lips forming a small grin. Once she found the exit of the shortcut, she quickly dashed back home through the village, dodging and missing the many obstacles in her path. Soon, she made it to the far end of the village wear her mother waited for her, her looking rather anxious and her looking around for her own daughter. "Ming! MING!?" She called out, her voice sounding worried and scared but soon found relief when she heard her daughter's voice respond not too far from the house. "Mamaaaa!" Ming squealed with joy as she rushed to her mother and made it home just in time. "Ming! Oh my sweet little girl, where WERE you?! You had me worried sick!" Her mother scolded, making Ming wince a bit from her angry yet worried tone. "I was getting the water from the well near the palace...and I met someone there too." She said with honesty, her mother suddenly growing even more protective of her. "WHO?! A man, a stranger?! What did they do to you??? DID THEY HURT YOU?!" She asked all at once out of pure anxiousness, Ming simply answered with a bit of whimpering. "A friend..." she softly spoke, her mother finally realizing her tone towards her and immediately calming herself. "A friend..??? Who dear?" She asked softly as she sat on the last step on the porch, Ming crawling up onto the step next to her and sitting. "A cub, from the Jade Palace in the forest at the well...he was nice and helped me get water for you..." she answered, her mother sighing in relief and hugging her daughter. "Oh thank the heavens...I thought you was in danger." Her mother responded sweetly as Ming rested her head gently on her arm with a purr. "No mama, I was fine!" She squeaked, her mother sighing once again and picking up her daughter with the bucket and taking her inside. "I know I know, but please be more careful." She responded calmly, "Ok mama..." Ming said soon after, once again remembering the cub she met from the forest and smiling more than before and thinking to herself, "I finally made a friend."

•~•

•{|💙 The End 💙|}•

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