The Last Honor

33. Insecure Steps

It was already pitch dark outside when the last person in the palace, with the exception of the guards, had finally gone to bed. The Furious Five had preferred to spend the night at Po's bed, while the two other masters moved into a room for themselves, which was not a problem with the number of rooms. Liu was still so dazed from the sedative which the doctor had given her that she had not woken up yet. Shen shared a large room with Yin-Yu and the children. He shared a large bed not only with his wife, but also with the four young children, while Sheng and Xia each had their own smaller bed.
Peace returned. Everyone was sound asleep... except for one.

Xiang tossed and turned in bed. The room, that Huan had brought him, was far enough away from his former children's room, but he still had a restless sleep. Now and then he woke up. When he realized what had happened today, he calmed down and lay down again. When it slowly began to get brighter outside, the blue peacock could no longer stand these phases and sat up. His gaze fell on the door of the room. It wasn't locked, otherwise he always preferred to lock the door. As a small child, he had never had the chance to protect himself from his mother's gruesome visits. An ice-cold shiver ran through his body. He screwed up his eyes. It was over. His finger feathers clawed the bedspread. He would love to jump up and throw everyone out of the palace in one fell swoop.
He looked over at the wall. There was a secret door there. He could hobble over there and run away. Or was someone lying in wait for him there? Maybe even the white peacock? He sighed. His ex-wife had said he could run away if he wanted to. Should he?
For a while he sat listless. Then he slid over the edge of the bed. He groaned. His left leg hurt from sore muscles. He hit it furiously. After cursing his lame right leg umpteen times, he hobbled over to the door on his good left leg and opened it. He looked right and left, but the corridor was empty.

Liu blinked and opened her eyes. At first, she didn't know where she was. But when she felt the pain in her back, she remembered. After the initial dizziness subsided, she dared to sit up a little and look around. Po slept a little further away in a bed. His friends lay around him. Her gaze wandered around the room, but otherwise no one was here. The peahen shivered. Where could he be? She didn't want to wake the panda and his friends; but on the other hand, she couldn't stay in bed all the time. She had to ask someone who was still awake. With difficulty and carefully, she got out of the bed. Once, she almost screamed when she moved her back too violently. Panting, she leaned against a table. After she had composed herself again, she dragged herself to the door and went out into the corridor. At that moment, Tigress, who had just seen the peahen walk out the door, got up and wanted to follow her, but a voice stopped her.
"Let her go," Po mumbled, who had also noticed the young peahen's disappearance. "She has to know what she's doing."

Shen sat up with a jerk. Someone was sneaking around in the corridor outside. His gaze wandered to the window. It was getting brighter outside. Thoughtfully, he looked at Yin-Yu and wondered whether he should wake her up or not. Finally, he decided to go over to Sheng and wake him up instead. The piebald peacock was quite surprised to see his father standing next to his bed so early, but the white peacock did not hesitate to explain.
"Sheng, take care of your mother," he whispered to him. "I'll be right back."
With that, he took his long sword and slipped out into the corridor. To his amazement, the hallway was empty. He spun around when he heard clumsy footsteps in the other corridor. He ran quickly towards it and jumped around the corner, swinging his lance sword forward and aiming at the person. Liu was so frightened that she fell to the floor. The point of the sword stopped just short in front of her face. The white peacock paused in surprise.
"What are you hanging around here?!" he asked sternly.
Liu ducked her head. "I just wanted to inquire about Xiang."
"And did you have to leave your bed for that?"
"I didn't want to wake the others," she explained, "I wanted to look for a guard."
Shen's eyebrows knit. "With these injuries?" Liu was silent. Shen just looked at her, then he laughed. "You are crazy!"
Liu ignored his remark and looked down. "I just couldn't stand it in bed anymore." She looked up at him. "How is he?"
The white peacock made a hissing sound. He thrust out his sword and put the point under her beak and lifted her chin. Liu didn't move away. Shen's eyes narrowed. "Why? Why do you care so much?"
The peahen sighed softly. "You ought to know best of all. Because you have someone you are very fond of."
This statement confused Shen more than it made him angry. The peahen in front of him did not avoid his gaze. She seemed really serious.
Suddenly, there was a rumble not far away. Shen spun and dived around the other corner of the corridor. Liu raised his head in curiosity. She was shocked again when a blue peacock was pushed forward. Xiang tumbled over the carpet. But before he could straighten up, Shen held out his sword in front of him again. At the sight of this sharp weapon, Xiang felt the pain in his shoulders again that Shen had inflicted on him years ago, but Xiang did not act fearful and they both stared at each other.
"Did you want to run away?" Shen snapped at him.
"This is my house," Xiang replied crossly. "I can walk and stand as I want!"
Liu looked from one to the other in fear. She feared that things might escalate again. Shen noticed her fear and distanced himself, but he couldn't take his venomous stare away from his rival. Then he walked around him. Xiang didn't react to his game and did not follow him with his eyes. Instead, he was lying half upright on the carpet, breathing loudly. "It means a lot to you to see me like that, doesn't it?"
Shen came back into view. "Making judgments aren't exactly my favorite thing to do," he said derogatory.
"You have no right to judge me!" Xiang intervened. "Not in my city. You haven't even conquered it-"
He stopped when Shen held his sword in front of him again. "My nerves are already at their limit," the white peacock growled. "I would advise you not to irritate me unnecessarily!"
"Please, stop it!" Liu pleaded suddenly. "Please stop arguing."
The white peacock glared at her. She was afraid for him, which he didn't like at all. He held his position for a while, but then he tapped Xiang's chin briefly with the tip of the sword, then he pulled it back. He glanced sideways at Liu, then he grinned mockingly. "I think, you are both crazy."
With these words, the white peacock walked away and left them alone. The two peafowls were surprised by his quick turn in and for a moment both sat and did not speak a word. Finally, Xiang dared to look over at her. She was still sitting on the floor, like him, and seemed to be looking closely at him. She wondered whether he'd heard her last sentence from earlier. But she thought it wise not to speak to him about it. She was just glad to see him safe and sound, but Xiang couldn't say the same about himself.
"What are you doing here?" he growled and heaved himself up against the wall so that he was standing on one leg again. "If you're already doing gymnastics around here, then the wound couldn't have been so bad."
"I wanted to see how you are," Liu explained.
"With these injuries?" Xiang's beak stayed open for a moment before he gave a mocking laugh. "Tz, you're crazy."
Liu looked down again. "I was worried about you."
"You just had to ask someone about me."
"I was passed out."
"That's not an excuse." He leaned his back against the wall and folded his wings, looking sternly at her. "What do you want from me?"
"From you?" Liu looked at him in surprise, then she sighed heavily. "I'm not asking anything from you."
"Then why are you always after me?"
Liu avoided his gaze. But Xiang was not satisfied with that and asked for an answer. "What do you want?!"
"I just don't want that anything happens to you," she replied truthfully.
"Why?" He looked at her with a look like: Say it and I will hit you. Liu kept his beak shut, but Xiang said it. "It's pity again, isn't it?"
Liu's breathing quickened, fearing he might have another fit of anger. "It... it's not just that."
"Then what?!" he snapped at her irritably. "Just because I'm rich? You won't see a whit of it. That is, if I ever get my fortune again."
The peahen gasped for breath for a moment. "I don't care about your possessions! I just want... who, besides me, should take care of you?"
She leaned against the wall. Her back hurt. Xiang narrowed his eyes skeptically. The peahen looked at him so intensely that he thought she was going to cry any moment. But then he remembered what had happened in the cure residence. "I thought you wanted to get rid of me? You didn't want to take care of me."
Liu dug her finger feathers into the carpet. "That... I didn't mean that."
Xiang raised his head disdainfully. "Oh, now all of a sudden?" He turned his back on her. "Let's face it. It's the best if you get out of here as soon as possible..."
"No!" To Xiang's surprise, she threw herself forward and clutched his shirt. In vain, he tried to tear himself away from her. When that didn't help, he wanted to kick her, but with only one leg it didn't work and the peacock fell lengthways to the ground. Startled, Liu leaned down to him. "Everything okay?"
Xiang lay on his side, panting, staring at the floor. "Why me?" he muttered. Only then did his gaze wander back to her. "Why me?"
Liu's wings began to tremble. "I can't force you to do anything, I can only ask you to." She let go of him. "If you wish, I'll go again. I never meant to harm you." She slid away from him. "I just wish we could... we could..." She shied away from finishing the sentence. She was afraid of the consequences. But that's exactly what Xiang asked her to do. "What did you think?!"
Liu swallowed hard. "... be friends."
She screamed when Xiang jumped at her, painfully hurting her back wound, but she found the strength to look into his face. The blue peacock's eyes glared at her. His claws rose to her larynx. "You damned...!"
"I'm serious!" she intervened, holding onto his foot. "I want to help you! Please let me help you. You don't need to be afraid of me."
"I don't let women near me permanently!" he hissed.
"Can't we try at least?" she asked.
Xiang narrowed his eyes. "If you think you can obtain something from me...!"
"If you were all the same to me, I wouldn't have sacrificed my back for you!"
This sentence caused the blue peacock to pause for the time being, but before he was ready to start a new counter-argument, Liu got ahead of him.
"I just want to stay with you." She tightened her grip on his leg for a moment. "If it doesn't work, you can always send me away."
Silence returned, only the excited breaths of the two birds could be heard. Liu continued to lie on her wounded back, while Xiang lay sternly on her upper body, his ankle claws still pressed against her neck. Reluctantly, Liu stroked his leg with the finger feather tips. Gradually, Xiang's tension subsided and reminded him of her care while he was recovering. Finally, he eased the pressure on her neck.
"There you are!"
Both looked up. The birds were amazed when an old pika came towards them. Quickly, Xiang got off Liu.
"Mr. Furu?" Liu was completely confused. "What are you doing here?"
"After a long search, I finally have to find out that the staff and the patient are miles away," the small mammal complained. "Even without a permit."
"That was an accident, we were kidnapped."
"You acted against the instructions."
Liu took a deep breath. "I accompanied him and took care of him. This is my job."
"It would have been your job to send him back to the residence. You failed to report and, in the process, committed perjury to an enemy of the state."
"I can explain it to you, I..."
"You're fired! From now on you will return to the laundry, where you belong. And you," this time this sentence applied to Xiang. "Of course you are also dismissed!"
The blue peacock folded his wings. "That's the first good sentence I've ever heard from you," he remarked sarcastically. "But she's not going anywhere. You have nothing to say here."
The pika's jaw dropped briefly. But only for a moment. "Don't you get rude!"
"Not in that tone with me!" Xiang scolded and grabbed the pika by the collar.
Mr. Furu wriggled in the air indignantly. "Hey, let me down, let me down!"
"What's the riot here?" another voice complained and King Wang appeared on the scene. "Can't you just have a rest in this house?"
When his gaze fell on Liu, he was surprised that she wasn't in bed at least. Xiang, on the other hand, did not care about the Hun King at all and began to shake Mr. Furu. "Oh, you just fire her like that, yeah? You would like that, wouldn't you?!"
"She's just an employee," the pika instructed. "And she's going to the laundry again!"
Liu wished she could sink into the ground while Xiang roughly let Mr. Furu fall back to the ground. "But she will not go with you. - Wang?"
Wang raised his eyebrows in annoyance. It annoyed him that he only addressed him as Wang instead of King Wang. "What is it?"
"I do have direct access to my assets, right?"
The ox snorted. "As long as you don't use it to get anything illegal."
"Then I'll buy her from you. Then she works here. At least until she feels able to do it."
Mr. Furu's jaw dropped before he lifted it again and pointed threateningly with his finger at the blue peacock. "Hey, we're not in a slave market here."
Liu, on the other hand, looked at Xiang in complete dismay. "Do you really want that?"
Xiang turned to her grimly. "Just because I need help," he hissed at her. "I have not decided yet that you will stay here for a long time!"
Wang wrinkled his nose. "As if he had something to decide. It has not yet been decided how much you have to say here."
Xiang looked at him indignantly. "I thought my ex left my home to me, didn't she?"
Wang waved his hoof disparagingly. "Alright." He didn't feel like arguing any further with this peacock, but he couldn't help but say anything. "And why she, of all people?"
Xiang's posture temporarily stiffened, especially since Liu looked at him expectantly again. Then he waved his wings angrily. "You wonder why? Next time, you will send me a gorilla or an elephant. Since it, she is already the lesser evil!"
Wang frowned in displeasure. "As if..." But he thought, it's better not to say more.

Shen folded his wings. After leaving, he hadn't gone too far and overheard everything. He stared at the wall, then he shook his head with a venomous smile.
"He's not like me at all," he thought and walked thoughtfully through the corridors.
Sheng stood a few blocks away with his mother Yin-Yu, who had also overheard the conversation. The older peahen leaned against the wall and sighed wistfully.
Maybe that was the first step. For both.