Master Po meditated in front of the pool of sacred tears: slowly breathing in and out. Master Shifu stepped into the room and tapped his peach wood staff on the ground to gain Po's attention "It is time again Po," . Po let out one final breath " I know" he said " I've secretly been terrified about this day for years," he habitually put his paws on his ample stomach and gave it a few pats " I fear that who I select will not be our savior," his eyes lowered to the ground and stayed focused on the pattern of the tiles. Shifu looked about slowly "hmm, I know this must be a stressful time for you, but I believe that you will know when the time comes," Shifu took his staff and lowered the Panda's hands away from his stomach and lifted his chin so that his eyes were level with his " You are a wise man, Panda. I wouldn't have ever thought that I would say that of you, ever, when Oogway first picked you as the Dragon Warrior, ever"<br/><br/>"I know," Po sighed<br/><br/>"Like, in a thousand years," Shifu continued<br/><br/>"Yeah"<br/><br/>"I was searching for a word that was literally it's absolute opposite while being adequately insulting,"<br/><br/>"I get it," Po said with a touch of irritation in his voice.<br/><br/>Shifu shivered at the memory of the day "but if he hadn't picked you then, we wouldn't be standing here today," he put his tiny paw on the large bear's shoulder "I'm sure that whoever you pick will be exactly who is needed, Oogway will not let us down,"<br/><br/>"I believe you, for in the few moments I knew him, he taught me much," Po went back to his habitual patting " but I still worry"<br/><br/>"We all worry, but we must understand that what was, was, what is, is and what will happen, will happen, I have faith in you, try having faith in yourself," with that, Shifu lifted his paw and walked off to wake the Furious Five and arrange the ceremony<br/><br/>"Wait," Po said quietly<br/><br/>"Yes?" Shifu responded but did not turn around.<br/><br/>"Was the day Oogway picked me as the Dragon Warrior really that bad?" Po said with a more childish tone<br/><br/>"Absolutely the worst day of my life,"<br/>________________________________________________________________________________________________________<br/><br/>The Valley of Peace was not so peaceful on this particular day. The elders would say that the air around them was buzzing with anticipation, but to Hao it was just lucky that he managed to get to a good place to sell his wares. He began to set up when a little bunny girl came chasing after a ball. When she grabbed it, she looked up and smiled "hi" she said in a small voice he smiled and returned the greeting. She giggled and said "You're very pretty" before running off with her ball. He sighed and went back to tending to his wares until, once again, he was interrupted by someone " she's right," an old lady said "maybe it's the vest," Hao turned and was prepared to shoo the old woman away when he turned around to a familiar face<br/><br/>"Mrs.Yin!" he said excitedly and greeted her with a quick bow. She laughed "give this old woman a hug" she said and he gratefully obeyed. She patted him on the back and eyed the clothing he was selling "not most noble boys are taught such wives skills," she said, admiring the beautiful patterns on the clothing<br/><br/>"Well, some noble boys grow tired of calligraphy," he said, hefting the clothes onto a wire to more adequately display them.<br/><br/>Mrs.Yin nodded "you were always the inquisitive little rat," she said "your parents always loved to tell the story of how you learned how to make the secret noodles from old Mr.Yin by asking 'why' over and over again," she chuckled<br/><br/>He gave a forced laugh "yeah," is all he said back. They were both silent for a long time. Hao finally offered Mrs.Yin a chair and some tea and the conversation began again. Once he was finished setting out all his wares, he sat in front of the old woman and began in a hushed voice "Did anyone else from the city make it out okay?"<br/><br/>Mrs.Yin gave a grunt of affirmation before setting the tea down "Most of the city in fact," she took another sip of the tea before continuing on "it seemed like they were really only trying to take control of the city, so anyone who ran off fast enough wasn't chased after,"<br/><br/>Hao's golden eyes twinkled with hope "have you heard anything from my parents?" but at the mention of them, Mrs.Yin spilled the rest of her tea.<br/><br/>"I-I haven't um..." she said. Hao's large ears fell back. Seeing his disappointment Mrs.Yin changed the subject "b-but I did get a message from that rat boy you liked so much," she fumbled through a small bag she was carrying and handed him a yellowish, slovenly folded letter.<span style="font-style: italic">alive</span>He thought<span style="font-style: italic"> He's alive</span>. Hao was so stunned that it took him a moment to take the note from the woman. She smiled at his expression "It's almost odd to see the little boy you taught how to read grow into a lovestruck man,".<br/><br/>Hao's cheeks burned and he was glad that his fur covered it "He was my Kung fu Master, nothing more" he said; unsure who he was trying to convince more. Mrs.Yin gave an unconvinced nod, stood slowly from her chair and made for the street "it was nice seeing you after all these years, I'll be back after a few rounds of Mahjong with that at old goat Yuan. I'll bring noodles; you look like you need to eat after all these years," she laughed at her own comment before walking into the steadily growing stream of people.<br/><br/>Hao looked at the note with mixed emotions. Eventually, he decided to stow the note in his cart for later and set up the canopy to block out the summer heat. He should be glad about today, it was almost time for the Summer Festival and customers would be pouring in.