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That evening, Master Shifu ate with his students, telling the group how well they had learned their dancing. “I have to say, students, that you developed a strength towards your dance quite quickly.” Shifu said, nodding with approval.
“I really think,” the sagacious teacher said, leaning forward with his hands on the table, “that you all will be ready for this next village festival.” Satisfied with his speech, Shifu sat down and ate, a smile on his face.
The Five and Po exchanged glances. It would be possible, yes, but no one accept Shifu had the idea that that’d perform for the village, if only Tigress and Po, Po of whom thought it more jokingly. Before anyone could say for or against, Shifu finished his food and hopped down from the table.
“Thank you for the meal, Po. Let’s hope your dance becomes as fine as your cooking.” Then he left them, with a note to practice hanging in the air. The group retired wordlessly, Tigress immediately walking outside, Monkey and Viper off to his dorm, Mantis stayed to eat more, while Crane took a spot on the large jade training turtle, gripping its edge with his two feet.
Things were slower going that afternoon. Po felt tired and rested for awhile, feeling uneasy about many things: would they be ready for the festival? What was Tigress going to do now that she had two performances to be in? Was there too much spice in the soup today? Po’s stomach gurgled in annoyance, which answered the last question.

Tigress stood outside alone, balancing herself on a rock on the ledge of the sacred peach tree. She hoped she’d be able to balance herself on the edge of a branch; that was supposed to help a lot with stress for the mind, but years on Kung Fu told her to practice in a rudimentary way first, regardless of the level of mastery by the practitioner.
But, try as she might, Tigress could only think of what responsibilities awaited her. A tear webbed down her face, very cold in the passing wind which blew some of the dead peach leaves down onto Tigress. Things weren’t as easy as she’d hoped. Tackling simple voice lessons and dancing were going to be easy; she knew some measure of dance based off of what Master Shifu taught her long ago in learning dominos. No, the issue was again Po. Tigress hit herself in the forehead hard, then winced, sitting down. She wished she could just forget her feelings, then she’d do her job.
But all she could think about was herself, dancing with Po, singing sweet songs. Tigress looked up. Was it really wrong? Tigress gritted her teeth, taking on a more habitual expression she held several years ago. Tigress grew sad. Last time she denied herself the very allowance to think what she wanted, or what was on her heart, she went crazy. When she went crazy, people got hurt.
Tigress shook her head and stood, holding her forehead. No. Not anymore. Not Po, not Shifu, or any of the Five. Tigress calmed herself, breathing, swaying back and forth, practicing her dance. Slowly, it was able to relax her, calm her, even bring that familiar smile back to her furry face. Tigress sighed happily. Much better.
“Master Tigress?” Came a voice. It was Po, Tigress could tell. Tigress deflated. She wanted to have them talk again, just to give her the assurance that the two weren’t going to be separated forever, but at the same time, she’d much rather preserve her previous mood.
“Up here.” Tigress said. Po jogged up to her, looking like he wanted to ask something.
“Um, I wanted to ask you…”
“Yes?” Tigress asked, looking placidly indifferent.
“I was wondering if you could help me with my dance. I think I have the basic principles-” Po demonstrated “-but I’m confused on how to make it fluid.”
“Well,” Tigress said, speaking in a smooth, motherly tone, “you can always practice slowly, I just did that myself these past few minutes.”
“Really? Um, could we practice together? I think I’d get it better if I watched first.”
Tigress nodded. “Mhmm. Sure.” Tigress readied herself and demonstrated, very slowly and precisely, moving as though she were in slow motion.
Po couldn’t help himself and walked around Tigress, watching her every move. “That’s, that’s really good.”
Tigress decided to keep the slow motion as she closed a single eyelid and opened it again, a slow wink in his direction as she continued. Finally after a few more seconds, she quickly whipped back to a bowing position then took a step away. “Your turn.” Tigress said.
Po’s mouth closed, and a worried look came to his face. “To tell you the truth,” Po said as he readied himself, “I really want this to work out, the dancing and all, for the festival.”
“What about the singing?” Tigress asked, occasionally guiding Po by mirroring him and correcting herself.
“What? Oh, yeah, the singing too. I’ve just, been thinking about that a lot.”
Tigress paused, looking sad. “So have I. A lot.” she said to herself.
“Really? Do you think we’ll be ready in time?” Po asked.
“Yes, I think everything will work out.” Tigress said, thinking more of how what she said compared to her relationship with Po than with the festival.
“In time, for better or,” Tigress paused, thinking, then finished, “or for better. Only good can come out of these hard times.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Po said, thinking more about keeping himself fluid than really listening. “That was, that was pretty deep, what you said, right there.” Po said, still in his zone.
Tigress stopped, and smiled. “What?” She asked, grinning. That goofy panda, he probably didn’t even know what he was saying.
Po lost his focus and slipped, falling flat on his face. Po grunted, and Tigress helped him up, chuckling. “Don’t worry about it, Po, let’s just keep practicing.” And the two continued until late in the afternoon. Tigress smiled, but felt a ting of sadness in her as they practiced. Things, if only for a moment, felt normal again, when the two were close.
If only for a moment, things were beautiful…