The Last War

9. Muzzled

So cold and silent the atmosphere was in the coach and Shen's emotions like the winter around, all the more cheerful was the ambiance in the rickshaw. Po told Xia one adventure with him and the Furious Five after another. Time flew. The landscape became flatter, finally they travelled through valleys until a junction.
Shen ordered a break and to decide what way they should go next.
While the sheep and rams cleaned the wheels from ice, Shen opened out a map on a flat snowless stone.
Xia and Po consorted to him and studied the plan.
"Until the border of China in Nord-West, we will need more than three days," Xia said after she knew where they were at the moment. "At least we aren't so far away like at the beginning of my journey."
She wandered with her wing feather over a special line on the map.
"We should follow this w..."
Shen stopped her movements on the paper and pushed her finger feathers away.
"We take this way," the lord said emphatically and stroke over a blue line.
"The Xiyi River?"
"With this route, we will save a lot of time and spares us a tour through the high mountains."
"But the Xiyi River isn't safe," Xia objected.
Shen's finger feather cramped on the card and the girl ducked her head a little with anxiety. The lord had the angry look what made everyone afraid.
"A river trip in winter time?" Po asked. "Isn't it frozen?"
Shen lifted his nose.
"According to that you can see, you have no knowledge about many things. The Xiyi River froze seldom. His water is warmer than usual and wide enough. We will need just one until two days. Did you win one experience more, panda?"
If the situation hadn't been serious, Po would have chuckled, but he didn't. Just for his own safety, because Shen was still annoyed.
"Don't forget," the peacock continued with offended voice. "I'm the leader. That we are traveling through that cold life-hostile solitude is only because of my permission. I advise you to observe or you have to bear the consequences!"
Shen's voice became louder, what caught Po unawares. Something drove Shen mad.
"And if I say we go this way, then we will go this way. Did I make myself clear?!"
Silent nods of his opponents and he became calmer. Much to Soothsayer's relief.

"We will not reach the river before night," Shen said. "We will set up our night camp here."
The sun was almost gone. The sheep and the rams took out the tents.
"I have to stretch my legs," Po muttered and made one step after another into the snow. "Who'd have thought that long sitting can be so demanding? Barring potholes."
He rubbed his bottom.
"Same to me," Xia said. "A little walk?"
"A walk with a princess? I'd be glad to."
Shen watched how they disappeared, but he didn't pay more attention to them.

Together the panda and the peahen walked along the trees of the valley. In the last sunbeams the ice glinted like diamonds. Xia eyed the nature spectacle with fascination.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Oh, yes," Po admitted. "It is."
"My mother always likes the winter time. She said, it would bring back memories."
"What memories?"
"She never told me."
Silently, they watched the snowed landscape, which was light red in the sun.
Absent-mindedly Po reached into the snow and formed a snowball. Then he threw it against a tree bole.
Xia smiled.
"My brother had caught it."
"Oh, he likes to play snowball war?"
"No, but he has quick reflexes." Her face became sad. "Or maybe he had."
Po didn't like to see her sad. "So, he is a soldier?"
"Similar." She wiped away a tear in her eye. "He got one of the best fight school."
"And you? What fight technique do you have?"
She looked at him in surprise and shyness. "Nothing."
"Nothing? Why?"
"I'm a girl."
"What should that be for a reason?"
She sighed. "Xiang always said, women aren't allowed to fight. They only have to be beautiful for their men. That's all what you have to live."
She turned around and walked a few steps away. Her face angry and ashamed.
Slowly, Po came closer. "So, you never tried to kick anyone?"
She looked at him and shook her head.
"Not me, but my brother."
"Because he is a man."
She narrowed her eyes. "Correct. He got a good school to fight like a solider. I spent the most time with my mother instead."
Po looked at her and rubbed his head. "Uhm, if you want... I don't know. Should I show you some fight tricks?"
"To me?"
"Of course. To be a woman is not a reason not to learn something like kung fu." He swung his arms. "First you have to have a strong self-confidence. You have to have the courage to kick or to hit someone."
"Kicking? Hitting?" The girl was more than unsure. "Xiang would never allow me. He would give me a slap for this."
"Oh fiddlesticks. He isn't here. He can't see us. Come on. I will show you. Try to hit me."
"Hitting you?"
"Of course. Don't worry. I will avoid your blow."
The peahen didn't know what to say and eyed the panda, whether he was making a joke. But Po's position bespoke he didn't make jokes.
"Okay."
Slowly, she moved and raised her wing, but then she stopped. "I can't. I even never dared to contradict someone. Especially not my dad. Well, if he would be my dad. Ahm. Even if my mother says something what he doesn't want to hear, he always gives her a slap in her face."
Po lowered his arms. He couldn't imagine that a father could be so brutally to his own family. But could Shen be better? At least he never hit her.
"Say," he asked carefully. "Could you imagine, Shen as your father forever instead of Xiang?"
She rubbed her wing nervously. "Well, before, I never knew him, but now... I don't know. In addition, I'm afraid that he could hurt my mother... Something bad happened what I can't understand. My mother always said, she loved him."
"Does she know, that he survived?"
She lowered her face. "Not yet."
Po opened his mouth in surprise.
"I heard of his survival after I brought my brother into a lonely village," she continued. "And I don't know what will happen if she knows it."
"But that happened many months ago," Po said. "How didn't she hear about it?"
Again a deep sigh. "Xiang isolated her from the environment."
Po didn't understand. "Why?"
"After she had heard about Shen's "death", she wasn't like before. Her words came almost automatically, it was like she had lost her meaning of life. After a while it became too much for Xiang, and he imprisoned her in her room until she would be normal again. This had taken her more her life energy." She took a deep breath and gave him a wistful glance. "Maybe if I and my brother hadn't lived, maybe she would have died already."
For a few seconds, nobody said a word, until Po got the courage to break the silence. "In this case, we have to bring both together. Maybe everything will come alright again."
"I don't know. What if everything becomes worse?"
"If we never try, we will never know it. I'm thinking some things have to come different. For you and your mother."
"But what if Xiang..."
"Forget him for a moment, alright? He has no right to decide about your life in this way. You have the freedom to guide yourself. And the first step will be to give me a kick. Now get stuck in!"
He took a position and was ready.
But Xia was still unsure. "You are a good guy. Sorry, I can't."
Po thought.
"Oh, just a moment!" He raised his finger with an aha gesture. "I have an idea."