There was a tense atmosphere in the room. Everybody was afraid of Shen's annoyed temperament. But the lord had called back his calm and walked with slow, firm steps to a chair and sat down. Po didn't dare to ask and sat down on the floor.
Soothsayer and her grandnephew Ling stayed near to Shen, and nobody wanted to know why.
Xia looked at her father, but he only gave her a cold look.
"Could you start now?" he asked icily.
He was impatient and angry together. Xia didn't answer back and began with lowered face.
"I can only say what she told me," she said quietly. "It wasn't easy for her to confess what had happened."
It sounded like an apology, but Shen didn't answer.
She sighed. "Many, many years ago, before my birth, my mother had been the princess of Jingang."
"Jingang?" Po looked at her in surprise. "That's one of the richest parts in whole China. She is really a princess?"
Xia looked at Shen, who had stood up.
"You must be kidding!" he growled. "She never told me!"
"Shen, please," the old goat said. "Calm down."
The white lord sat down again. The soothsayer nodded at her and Xia tried another start.
"Well, she was a princess, but I will explain it. Her parents were very severe with her. She had to be their beautiful daughter. Always being polite and quiet. That was her life. When she was old enough, she heard, that she had to marry a man, who she didn't love."
She stopped a brief moment.
"One day, she ran away. She wanted to flee far away. On her run, she became lost in a snow storm, until she met you."
Shen made a skeptically look, as if he wanted to say: Do you want me to believe that?
Xia rubbed her wings together nervously. "Well, after you and mother met..."
"We don't need more details," Shen cut her word. "I know the rest. I don't need strange interpretations."
Xia sighed, but she kept her courage of speaking.
"Well, she said, after you and she made a walk outside, she saw the soldiers of her parent's palace in the distance. She was afraid they could find her with you together. She didn't want to bring you in trouble."
"That sounds like a bad joke," Shen said disdainfully. "I can take care of myself very well."
"Maybe she couldn't stand it that they could kill you."
"And what happened after that?" Po asked quickly before Shen would say a next hard argument.
"Well, she saw no other chance than to show them up. The palace soldiers caught her and took her back home. In palace, she tried to find a way out, but their parents decided to dispose of her in marriage with a peacock from the other end of china immediately. His name was Xiang. Shortly after her homecoming, she was transported to the town. She always said, she never wanted to marry him. But they forced her to enter into matrimony."
"A forced wedding?" Po was shocked. "That's awful."
"That's impossible!" Shen screamed.
Po raised his paws in disgust. "What's impossible again?"
"Don't call me a fool!" The lord walked ahead and looked daggers at Xia with his eyes. "How should she have borne you? An illegitimate child is always a disgrace and carries always the death penalty. I know the law of the royals. By the way, how should I know and who gives me a guarantee that you aren't the daughter of him?"
The girl started to tremble. Po took her aside and looked at Shen reproachfully.
"Let her finish, alright?"
Shen snorted. "Don't go too far!"
The old goat cleaned her throat and both men kept silent for a moment.
"She was pregnant. Indeed," Xia admitted. "But she managed that she could lie to Xiang that we would be his own children. And we grew up as his own children."
"Nice!" Shen hurled his long robe over the floor. "In this case everything is okay for her." It was a very, very sarcastic tone. "A county, a palace, children by whomever, what more does she need?"
"But she never loved him!" Xia said quickly.
"Don't tell me a lie!" Shen became angry again.
"That's true!" Xia ran over to him and touched his wing, but Shen pushed her away.
"He oppresses her every day."
Shen shrugged his shoulders with indifference. "Her loss."
"But I'm sure, she has still feelings for you."
"That doesn't explain that she told me a LIE!"
Po winced and stumbled backwards. Shen was distracted by the panda's ineptitude and became calmer a little bit. His voice changed to a light whisper. "Everything was and is a lie."
With that, he turned around and crossed his wings.
Not a sound was to be heard, until Xia walked one step ahead.
"Believe it or not, she's unhappy with him. He always says, that he can do with her what he wants. She would be his own. I never saw her smile. She is always by his side to make him look better."
Shen didn't reply and stared through the window. It seemed he didn't want to say something more.
Po swallowed heavily. "Uhm, uhm."
His eyes were focused on the lord, just to be sure, that it was allowed that he said a word. But Shen didn't forbid his try of communication and Po continued.
"Uhm, since when do you know, that Shen is, uhm, maybe, your possible father?"
"A half year or so ago," Xia answered. "It was a few days after the big battle in Gongmen City. People talked about a warrior who defeated a white peacock who wanted to conquer China. I also heard about it. But after that, my mother broke down. I remember she retired into the loneliest part of the palace and cried."
Many months ago...
With worried eyes, Xia opened the door of the room. Her mother lay crying in the corner like she had seen it through all the years. But this time it was worse. Slowly and quietly, she closed the door behind herself and walked over to her.
"Mother? What happened?"
But the peahen didn't listen. Carefully, the young girl laid a wing on her shoulder. Now there was a movement. With tears filled eyes, the mother looked at her daughter.
"Did father hit you again?" Xia asked.
Her mother didn't reply and covered her face with her wings. Xia sighed and sat down next to her.
"Why is he doing that?" she muttered. "Can't he love you like he loved you at your wedding day?"
"Love?" For the first time, Yin-Yu spoke a word like venom. "He never loved me."
Her daughter avoided her glance and put her finger feathers together.
"But in your wedding night. There must have been a touch of love, haven't you?"
A louder sobbing let her freeze.
"This can't continue like it is," Xia said sadly.
She winced. Her mother took her in her wings and hugged her very tight.
"I wish I could stop it, but I never could. I really wished, they had never found me."
Carefully, her daughter stroked her. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, my dear, it was all so..."
Again she cried. Her daughter didn't know what to do.
"Maybe it might have been different," Yin-Yu uttered. "But I had no other chance to protect you."
Her daughter was confused. "I don't know what you say."
Her mother laid her wings on her shoulder and looked at her.
"Maybe, you and your brother bear some resemblance to him."
"Resemblance? With whom?"
Yin-Yu wiped over her wet eyes. "He is gone. I can't live with that, that he could fade into obscurity completely. Not without that you hear about him."
Xia didn't know what to say. Her mother forced a smile, what happened very seldom.
Finally, Yin-Yu brought herself to speak. "Did you hear about the battle in Gongmen City?"
"I heard about it. It was a peacock like us. But why does it concern you?"
"His name was Shen. He should be the lord of Gongmen City."
Xia became unsure. "Was he a relative of you?"
Again a forced smile. She put her wings on hers tenderly.
"Xia, my dear child, I have to tell you something, but I was scared that you hear it, because it could bring us in danger. Me, you and your brother. But it's time for you. I want to talk."
"What are you talking about?"
"Xia, my dear. Xiang... Xiang isn't your father."
Xia stared at her mother. "What?"
"Shen - Shen was your real father."
"After that, everything broke out of her," Xia continued. "She told me everything. And I told it to my brother later."
"What did he say?" Po asked curiously.
"He was confused. He needed a while until he had realized it. But it was clear for all of us, that Xiang should never hear it."
"Understandable," Shen's whispering voice sounded through the room. He was still staring out of the window. "Very suspicious that she told her about me after my "death"."
Po nibbled his nails. "Uhm, apropos son, what about the Huns?"
Xia seemed to be glad that he asked after a different theme.
"Our town lies not far away from the frontier of China, in near of the land of the Huns. Xiang always challenged them. But this time it was a bad time. Huns ran over the frontier and raided or city. My mother helped me to escape. My brother fought longer, but he couldn't win. I managed to bring him out of the battle. Together we found shelter in a little village. The villagers take care of him, but... but they have no much hope for him anymore."
"The punishment follows swiftly," was Shen's single argument.
Xia tried to ignore it. "But then, I heard about that the white peacock is still alive and I had no other idea than to search for him."
At this moment, Shen turned around to her and looked at her with icy eyes. "And why?"
"I searched for you that you could help me. The Huns captured them. I'm afraid they could do bad things with them. I need someone who can save my mother and... her husband."
What should she say about a father, which wasn't her father?
The peacock lifted his nose. "Why me?"
"I don't know who could help me instead."
A cold smile played his beak. "Why should I do that, after she played a game with me?"
There was a hard trembling on Xia's face. "Why don't you ask her alone?"
"Good idea," Po admitted and covered his mouth immediately.
But the white lord just waved his wing with disinterest.
"I have enough to do other things. Maybe you should search for another one who could help you. What about him?"
Po made big eyes when the lord pointed at him.
"Me?"
"Isn't that your task as the Dragon Warrior?"
"Mm, yes, but, that's not a personal thing about me. It's about..."
"Silence, panda!"
"Then do it for your son," Xia tried. "Just give him a last look, please!"
Shen was going to shake his head.
"Just a little moment for the eternity."
Her eyes were big and pleadingly.
Shen narrowed his eyes. "I have to think about it."
With that, he left the room.
Deep in thought, he walked on the terrace of his new palace. It was still cold. He didn't know how long he has walked. Thousand questions crossed his mind and always the same mixed feeling. Should he go or not?
He looked into a direction when he heard a clicking sound, which came around a corner. Carefully, he walked over to it and looked around the corner. The old goat sat on the wall and rubbed with her cane on the stone floor.
"It's cold, isn't it?"
Shen snorted. "Not cold enough."
"I felt the icy atmosphere."
"Spare me with your wisdom," Shen cut her word and wanted to continue his walk.
"Do you need a little company?"
She had stood up and looked at him.
"As you wish."
"Just if you allow."
"I allow it."
Together they walked along the wall. For a while nobody spoke a word, until Shen couldn't keep his question any longer.
"You know so many things. Say, is she and her brother, my real children?"
She stopped. He stopped, too. She looked ahead, he looked at her from the side.
"I see pain."
"What about... Ouch! Not this again! Let my feathers!"
"Anger from past days."
Thoughtfully, she eyed Shen's feather. Shen made big eyes.
"Are you going to say something about my future?"
But the goat didn't reply and put the feather, which she had pulled out before, on the floor.
"A new trick?"
But instead the old woman held out the feather what Xia had shown.
The peacock narrowed his eyes. "What do you want to say?"
"I know, you still don't believe that she is your daughter, right?"
"You don't know why."
"I know the reason. And you believe it more than her."
The lord swung his robe and turned around with disappointment.
"I burned it! You can't know it!"
"You said, I would know about many things. And this is one of many things what I know."
"And what do you want to say with that?"
She placed the two feathers side by side.
"If she doesn't love you, why did she wear this all the time?"
"To make a fool of me."
The goat shook her head sadly. "Your view is covered with many dark clouds of anger."
"My mind was never clearer enough than today," Shen growled. "At least give me a clear answer. Are they my children or not?"
"Shen," she began gently. "You have to find it out alone. Find it out with an open heart."
With worried face, Xia walked on a terrace on the other side of the house up and down. Po watched her from the distance. But at the moment when he was going to say something to her, Shen appeared. The peacock gave him a warning look and Po disappeared around a corner.
After that the lord went to her. Xia looked at him unsurely, until Shen interrupted the silence around them.
"Alright. I will come with you."
In Xia's eyes glowed a shimmer of hope, but before she could say a word, Shen stopped her.
"BUT... just to make some things clear." He pointed his finger feather on her beak dangerously. "And I don't care about that you are my real daughter or not, I will never accept you as a part of me, get it?"
She nodded intimidated and Shen was satisfied. "Fine... and you!" He looked back. "You eavesdropped long enough."
Shily, Po peeked around the corner and left his hiding place. "Uhm, my feet didn't want to move too far away."
Shen rolled his eyes. "Nice."
He passed the panda, but before he reached the house, Po muttered a sound. "Uhm?"
Shen turned around. "What?" he asked annoyed.
"Uhm, can... can..." Nervously, Po tapped his fingertips together. "Can I come with you?"
Before Shen could open his mouth, Po was faster. "Please! Please, please!"
His eyes grew wider and his pupils became bigger. Shen wasn't impressed of that sight, but that panda would follow him regardless he says, yes or no.
A deep sigh let the panda tense.
"Alright."
Po rejoiced innerly. "Yeeah!"