The Lion and the Peacock

The Journey

During Leo Lung's time in voluntary exile when he was younger, he had made the journey to Gongmen City. He had simply gone off of what he had seen in maps and paintings- looking for landmarks and asking for help from locals when he needed it. He had arrived in three days. However, that was when Leo was alone and in the prime of youth. Leo had also made little to no stops back then. This time was much different. The lion now had six other animals to take care off, one of which was a panda who forced the group take a rest break every four or five hours. The seven animals had left two days ago and Leo guesstimated that they were not even half way there.

The seven animals crossed a desert, a mountain, and even a barren land filled with nothing but rocks. No matter how different the terrains and biomes were, one thing was held in common: Po was not cut out for long distance journeys. Not even a day into their trip, Po had already collapsed, wheezing for air. While Po managed, somehow, to keep up with the team, rest breaks came far too often.

But patience came easy to the lion. Whenever Po collapsed, his chest heaving with every breath, Leo would simply stop and wait for Po to get back up. Tigress, on the other paw, was itching at the bit. Tigress had never been to Gongmen City- none of the Furious Five have- and she seemed eager to tackle the new challenge. She was not intolerant or rude to Po's constant needs, but it was obvious- at least to Leo- that she wanted to get a move on. To her, Shen was just another bad guy. She did not know that Leo Lung was involved with Shen's exiling almost twenty years prior.

Out of fear of lowering moral or increasing the nerves for his team, Leo decided to not tell the other six animals of how he had caused Shen's parents to turn on him. The lion simply decided to keep his secrets to himself.

When the seven animals settled in for their second night, Leo Lung settled on his knees and gazed up at the stars. Gathered in a ragged circle around him, his team began to rest. Po was already in a deep slumber while Viper, Crane, Monkey and Mantis were starting to doze off. Tigress, however, was sitting with her legs crossed. She stared at Leo, and spoke,

"How much longer do you estimate it will take us to get to Gongmen City?" She asked him quietly. Her voice was hushed so that she would not wake her sleeping team mates. Leo Lung sighed as he stared at the barren ground in front of him- they settled on a mountain side.

"It took me three days to get to Gongmen when I went in my youth. But I made no rest stops. I also did not have to look after anyone else." Leo gazed at the other animals, who were starting to snore quietly. A slight smile creased his muzzle. "I don't know how long it will take us now; Po's energy bursts are few and far between; it is difficult to know when he will be full of energy and excited, as opposed to slowing down our pace. However, I believe we are almost halfway there. If we keep a constant, steady pace, we should make it there in less than a week or so."

Tigress nodded slowly as she took in the information. She yawned tiredly. Leo observed this and commented: "You'd better get some sleep. We won't be taking as many breaks tomorrow as we did today, hopefully." He added.

Leo watched as the tiger curled into a loose ball and closed her eyes. He waited until all six of his teammates were fast asleep. When the lion could hear nothing else but crickets and snoring, he looked up at the stars. A band of silver stars stretched across the sky, from horizon to horizon.

Feeling a wave of sleepiness wash over him, Leo leaned back so that he was laying on his back. Darkness soon engulfed the lion's vision, and Leo succumbed to sleep.

...

Three days later

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