The Lion and the Ox

Sibling Rivalry

In the mountains

Po, Li, and Klara had been walking for several hours. The weather was beautiful for hiking: the summer sun was beaming down, but the mountain winds were keeping the three hikers comfortably cool.

Li and Po were panting lightly. Despite Li searching years for Po, and Po being the actual Dragon Warrior, stamina was an attribute that avoided the two pandas like a plague.

Klara, on the other hoof, was skipping along like a child on her way to school. Klara had spent ten months hiking across all of Asia with Elena just to find her father. She had scaled mountains, survived Russian winters, and trudged through the Gobi desert. She had feet of steel. No feat of geography could tire out this eight-year-old.

So, while Po and Li were sitting taking their first break about five hours out from the Jade Palace, Klara looked around searching for wildflowers. Po watched her out of the corner of his eyes, "Don't go too far." He panted, sitting on his rump. Klara nodded in understanding.

As Po threw his backpack onto the ground, he heard a muffled squawk come from inside. Po narrowed his eyes. He crawled over to the backpack and ripped it open. What he saw honestly surprised him.

Inside the backpack, Mr. Ping was scrunched up on top of the food and supplies. He saw Po staring, confused, at him, and smiled sheepishly, "Hi, son."

"Dad?! What are you doing here?!" Po exclaimed. Mr. Ping crawled out of the backpack, and Li and Klara watched in shock.

"What am I doing?" The goose grumbled grumpily, "I'm getting a backache! Did you have to step on every rock and twig in your path?" He asked. Po shook his head,

"That's not what I mean!"

Mr. Ping nodded, knowing exactly what Po meant, "I had to come! I simply couldn't let you and Klara go all alone! What if the pandas have food you don't like? You can't save the world on an empty stomach! Those pandas probably don't even know how to make pierogi! We can't let poor Klara starve."

Li pursed his lips. He had never even heard of pirogi. But as Po and Mr. Ping argued, he turned and looked at Klara, who was holding a bundle of wildflowers in her hooves. She had seemed initially shocked at Mr. Ping's appearance but had simply shrugged it off and turned to collect her flowers. She was more than happy to welcome the goose on the journey. But Li had other thoughts,

"It's supposed to be a secret panda village. We can't share the location with anyone."

"You think I can't keep a secret?!" Mr. Ping demanded. He waddled towards Li, stopping in front of him, "I raised Po for over twenty years before I told him he was adopted!" The goose pointed a feathery finger at Po.

Li frowned, "Seriously?"

Po nodded sheepishly, "Yeah, it was crazy." The panda said, reminiscing on the memories.

The large panda thought for a moment, before sighing. He was already bringing Klara along with him, so what harm would one more guest make? He looked up, "Alright, I guess it would be cruel to make you fly back." Li stood up, stretched, and began trekking down the path. Klara, noticing Li leaving, grabbed her bundle of wildflowers, skipped along with him.

Po's head shot up, "Wait, Dad, you can fly?!" The surprise and shock in his voice were almost tangible.

Mr. Ping moved to join Li and Klara, and didn't even look at Po when he responded, "I'm a bird, Po."

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In the Jade Palace

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