The Last Honor

16. A cursed place

"If the king finds us here, it'll cause a lot of trouble," Liu voiced misgivings after the voices in the cellar behind the wall had died down. "And what will become of you then?"
But Xiang paid no attention to her. He simply pushed the wooden plank back, put the lantern in the wing, and hobbled back down the corridor.
"What do we do now?" The peahen asked nervously.
Again she got no answer.
"What are you going to do now?"
"Shut up!" Xiang hissed at her. "Just shut up!"
Liu backed away, startled. Xiang's feather fingers literally clawed into the wall. He was charged with so much hatred that he wanted to smash the whole building to rubble and ashes. But the peacock controlled himself again and walked on with shuffling steps. Liu followed him at a safe distance.

Po sniffed with interest, but to his disappointment, nobody was cooking in the kitchen. Still, he had to admit that this room was umpteen times bigger than the kitchen of his father. Mr. Ping's restaurant would definitely fit four or five times. From top to bottom, there were shelves with all kinds of pots and pans. In addition, the most beautiful serving bowls, plates, glasses, cups...
Po was really scared of accidentally bumping into something. As clumsy as he sometimes behaved in Mr. Ping's kitchen, a pile of broken glass could arise here at any moment. In addition to the oven and stove, there were also all kinds of work tables. The only thing missing here was the staff.
"Except for me, nobody lives here," Huan explained the empty kitchen. "Unless the cleaning service comes by. But that only happens a few times a year."
"Does that mean that you cook here all by yourself?" Po asked. A meal without company was too monotonous for him.
The bull shrugged. "Who should I invite? In the past, when royalty was still in its prime, festivals were held here regularly. But that has decreased significantly over the years. Even Xiang barely allowed any events. He always lived extremely reclusive."
Shenmi, who was still walking by Shen's wing, kept her mouth open in amazement. "This kitchen is even bigger than the one at home."
Shen, annoyed by all the pomp of Xiang, just wrinkled his beak. "There are definitely better ones in the world. And besides, kitchens are not everything."
Po twisted his mouth. He loved kitchens, but he had to admit that the most beautiful one was no substitute for good food.
"Okay, so where is the pantry?" The panda to change the subject.
At least there was no shortage of food and Po immediately offered to take over the kitchen. He was tired from the trip, but he never said "no" when he was cooking.
In no time he had put together everything for a good soup and served everything in clean bowls, each time wondering how expensive they were.
They didn't talk much when they ate. Shen was only busy making sure Shenmi didn't spill her shirt. But otherwise, it was pretty quiet. Po shrugged. At least there was no complaint about the food.
When they had almost finished eating soup, there was a knock in the door frame and an ox guard came into the kitchen.
King Wang rose from his seat at the table. "What is it?"
"A couple of porters arrived at the gate," the guard reported. "They said they were coming for the lord."
Shen stood up. "Yes, I have instructed that the luggage should be brought to me. I hope you didn't mind."
Wang shrugged. "Not at all."

In front of the main entrance of the colossal palace stood three antelopes, wearily rubbing their hooves. As soon as Po saw the exhausted sailors, he frowned pityingly.
"Oh dear. A lift really has to be installed here."
Shen paid the people their wages, then he immediately took out his lance sword. Po rolled his eyes. "That figures. Do you actually take that with you everywhere?"
The peacock demonstratively brandished the sharp weapon. "In contrast to you, I have to purchase my defense."
Po twisted his mouth. "So if you practiced your Kung Fu more, then you would be able to defend yourself well without these sharp things."
Shen's features darkened. "In your opinion, Kung Fu may be a powerful weapon..."
Po uttered a choked scream as Shen came to a halt by a hair's breadth with the tip of his lance in front of his nose. The panda's eyes wandered from the blade to Shen, who gave him a piercing look.
"...but is your Kung Fu powerful enough to scare your opponent?" The peacock finished his remarks. Then he turned the sword in his wing. "Fear is a powerful weapon," Shen continued with a dark smile on his beak. "Once fear grips your rival, you're halfway won."
He took the hilt of the sword in both wings and rubbed it with his feather fingertips. That weapon really seemed to mean a lot to him. "For this reason, I prefer fighting with sharp weapons."
His satisfied gaze wandered back to the panda, who looked at him with wide eyes. Then Po nodded. "Okay, I'll think about it."
Shen's gaze shifted to Shenmi. "And, who knows, maybe you will use it at some point."
He handed the sword to his daughter. Shenmi looked at it uncertainly. Even from a distance, you could see how sharp the blade was.
"Looks dangerous," she muttered.
Her father smiled encouragingly at her. "That's why it will be useful to you one day."
Po didn't like this idea at all, which is why he pushed Shenmi a little away from the weapon. "So I think that... she is a little too... I mean, this thing is still way too big for her. She'd better start with something smaller."
"Like this here?"
Po stared into Shenmi's wing in amazement. "What's that?"
Shenmi held the object up between two feather fingers. "Daddy's sword, only much smaller."
Carefully, Po took the little paper sword from the girl. Of course folded in origami, as always, and almost as long as Po finger.
"Oh, you like making origami?" Huan asked. Shenmi confirmed with a nod.
"Then come with me. I think I have something interesting for you."
The custodian led the group into a specific room, which luckily was not far from the main entrance. Once there, the bull pushed open two double doors.
Behind it, a bright room opened up, which was so large that you might think you were entering a library. Only it wasn't filled with books, but with all sorts of things to paint and design. On one side, there were shelves with paintbrushes, painting paper, and paint buckets, and on the other side there was even a pottery corner. The walls were painted gray and white and a spiral staircase led to a terrace-like wooden floor, from where you could also look through additional windows. Po immediately noticed a picture next to the door, which showed a beautiful view of the city. Presumably it was painted from here by looking out of this room.
"This is the art room," Huan introduced. "Here you can find everything for making art."
Shenmi's gaze immediately fell on all of the painting utensils. "Fantao would like that."
The bull led the group into a corner where several shelves with colored paper stood next to a wooden table. Shenmi tore herself away from Shen's wing enthusiastically and ran along the colorful shelves. The white peacock was reluctant to let go of the girl for a moment, but let her go.
"May I?" the girl asked.
The bull shrugged. "Go ahead. Nobody uses it anymore anyway."
Excited, she immediately pulled out a few blue pages. Then she sat on the floor and began to fold. Po looked interested over her shoulder. This girl was really skilled with her hands. In no time she had made a figure.
"What's that?" Examining Po took it in his hand and turned the paper figurine. "A blue fish?"
Shenmi smiled sheepishly. "I like blue."
"All well and good," Shen interrupted. "But we have to keep looking for your mother."
"Can't I stay here?" the girl asked.
"No!" Shen cut in firmly. "Not in this place!"
Po lifted his head in horror. "But Shen, we have no clue. Where should we start? That is an impossibility when they have already searched everything..."
"Panda!" Po ducked his head in shock when he saw Shen's angry face. "I thought you wanted to help me out!"
Embarrassed, Po put his fingers together. "Well, well, actually..."
"Kindly do as you're told!" He took Shenmi by the hand and reluctantly the girl left everything. She only managed to take a piece of blue paper under her little coat.