Eventually the day finally came to a close and everyone settled into bed, hoping for a better start the next day. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like that was going to be the case, since the first sound they heard was Superintendent Wu barking orders at the Jade Palace servants who were wandering around. The masters weren't really able to avoid him since they still had to eat breakfast, so they wound up sitting at the table with irritated looks on their faces while listening to Superintendent Wu berate the servants for not being efficient enough. Which of course was followed by Master Shifu scolding him for interfering in Jade Palace business. Master Leopard, never one to deal with morning troubles politely, made herself a pot of tea and dismissed herself from the table and asked someone to get her when breakfast was ready so she had more time to wake up and not risk saying something that would bring more disapproval from the emperor. Tigress seemed to be in a better mood since she actually sat at the table with everyone and attempted to hold a conversation with anyone who was actually awake and in a decent mood. Po was glad to see it, though it reminded him of the conversation he planned to have with Ordai and he decided he should do that quickly before she even tried doing it with Tigress. He went over the conversation in his head so that he could phrase it in a way Ordai would understand and not take offense to, though his thoughts were interrupted by Shifu slamming the doors open and quickly shutting them behind him. Wu, who had clearly followed the master to keep yelling at him, got even angrier at having the conversation forcefully halted and stomped outside to yell something at a palace servant.

"A sporadic training session hidden outside the confines of the Jade Palace sounds like a perfect antidote to the poisonous attitudes seeping through the grounds," Tigress remarked slyly, her jaw cocking into a half-smile at the suggestion.

"Honestly, Tigress," Shifu said with a tired sigh. "I just might do that." He glanced at Po and asked if it was possible to keep Wu busy so he and the Five could slip away and have an undisturbed training session for the day.

"Sure," Po said reluctantly. "Where is Ming, speaking of which?"

"No idea."

"Oh, I saw her this morning walking around the valley," Ella piped up from the table. She was sitting between Kay and Snow Leopard's empty chair, patiently waiting for Po to finish breakfast. "I went down this morning with my bodyguard to have some early morning tea at a café. Couldn't tell you what the ingrate was doing, but as long as she stays away from the Jade Palace, you'll be perfectly safe, Pooey."

"Pooey?" Lu-Shi repeated with a grimace.

"Uh, I don't suppose you have any plans, Ella?" Po asked. "I know you've been sightseeing a lot. Any new places to check out?"

"Oh, there are so many! But I was thinking of checking you out today."

Po felt a wave of panic wash over him, though any thoughts to follow were interrupted by the sound of cracking and Viper yelling out, "Tigress! Your paw!!!!"

Po turned around from the congee he was prepping and looked over at Tigress who was cleaning up the hot tea she had spilled on her hand. Judging from the mess, Ella had startled her into cracking her tea cup, though everyone else at the table pretty much shared the exact same expression of concern, surprise, and distrust.

"Why is everyone looking at me like that?!" Ella snapped. "I haven't gotten to spend any time with Po and I think it's very rude for you all to hog him like that!"

"Um...Ella," Monkey said. "You do realize you're not in the contest, right? That's why you left in the first place."

"Well I'm here now, aren't I? And your job is to keep me safe isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"So I insist I get to explore the Valley of Peace with Po. He'll be my very handsome bodyguard for the day."

Po turned bright red but said nothing. It wouldn't do much good to argue anyway. As disgruntled murmurs went around the table at the idea, Shifu's ears twitched rapidly and he suddenly announced, "Furious Five, let's head into the valley for training. Immediately."

"But Po didn't finish breakfast," Mantis pointed out.

"I hear company coming and I do not have the energy or patience to keep myself composed at the moment. We'll stop at Ping's for lunch as compensation."

"Sounds good to me!" Monkey exclaimed, getting up from his chair as the Furious Five followed Shifu out of the door.

The kitchen was quiet for a little while before more commotion came from the front of the kitchen and Superintendent Wu slammed the kitchen doors open. Behind him was Ming, and right behind her was the Emperor and the Empress.

"Where's Shifu?!" Wu demanded.

"Oh, uh...you just missed them," Po told him, doing his best to keep things vague. "He and the Five got an early start on training."

Wu looked at the pot on the stove. "Without eating?" he questioned suspiciously.

"Oh, he does that all the time. And, I mean...they didn't get to finish training yesterday 'cuz of...you know...stuff going on?"

"That's no excuse! I demand an apology for myself and my daughter!"

The Emperor cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and keep Wu from yelling again. "The Empress and I have come to the conclusion that there was a mutual misunderstanding that got blown very much out of proportion. We have informed Wu that they will be receiving an apology as well as giving it."

Wu frowned in annoyance. "I want my apology first," he insisted.

Tai Lin groaned, was quiet for a moment, and then said, "I'm sorry things got taken out of context yesterday," she said. "I wasn't trying to insult your daughter; I was just trying to stop her spreading misinformation about one of my friends and keep her and Lam from arguing."

"Where is Lam anyway?!" Ming yelled. "I am not leaving this kitchen until she gets on her knees and apologizes to my face!"

The table didn't have an answer for that though as they hadn't seen Lam all morning. In fact, the girls didn't even remember her coming into the barracks at all last night.

"She might turn up later," Ordai offered. "Then you can get your apology." She sighed and drank some tea as Po finished up the congee and started pouring it into bowls and distributing it around the table. He offered some to the emperor and empress, but they declined saying that they had eaten already, wanting to get official business out of the way as early as possible.

Superintendent Wu and Ming also declined to eat and soon followed the royal couple out of the kitchen. Eventually Snow Leopard came back into the kitchen and was relieved to hear that she had missed all the commotion. Everyone ate and chatted for a little bit before cleaning up from breakfast. Ella then promptly took Po's arm and led him right out of the barracks and into the village to chat and sightsee. Po quickly learned that she had done a lot of rounds shopping at different dress stores and had poked about here and there at multiple cafes to get a taste of the different teas and rank them based on the taste and potency. The master was hoping at least to get a glimpse of some of his favorite stalls, but Ella whizzed passed everything to check out flower stalls, chat with some of locals and complain about the weather (it was too cold for summer), and even bought a necklace she had noticed earlier that morning.

Po spent most of his time just standing around listening to her talk and try things on, which admittedly made him pretty bored. He stood there and looked around the area, his eyes eventually settling on the stand way down the road. He wondered if there were any new action figures on display or if it was the same as it had been since the girls had arrived. They usually changed the display every two or three weeks, but with all the commotion and sudden passing of Song, Po hadn't gotten the chance to really look at it. He was secretly hoping that Ella would take him past it so that he could get a good look, but he had a feeling that wasn't going to happen. Besides, if he got bored by her trying on dresses and jewelry and being picky about the pattern and silhouette, she'd probably get just as bored with him examining the material of each action figure and being picky about what stance it was in and whether or not he had something similar to it and how rare it was and whether the expense was worth was worth it.

Po sighed and watched Ella twirl about with her new necklace, which was a collection of little rubies spiraling around on golden leaves hanging from a chain. He wondered how much time had passed by.

"Anything else on your exploration list?" he asked, hoping they were almost done.

"Oh, just one stop," Ella told him. "You'll have such a good time! I found this little place a few days ago and thought it would be a perfect date! If you like it so much, we can come back in the afternoon!"

Po colored in terror. "Um, I-I...sounds...sounds great, but I actually have a...I have a private conversation I need to deal with this afternoon and I need to get it out of the way before we have any more escalating arguments or...something worse. But...you know...maybe another time if I do like it?"

Like I'd actually like anything you drag me to..... man this morning had been so boring!!!!

"Oh, of course," Ella cooed, patting his hand. "Whatever you say. I wouldn't want to get in the way of your-"

She paused, her ears twitched, and her eyes darted around suspiciously.

"What?" Po asked, looking around.

"Run," Ella ordered, pushing Po forward.

"Run? Run where?"

"Don't question me! Just do it now!"

Ella pushed him again and then ran down the street, grabbing his paw and pulling him after him. Po was surprised by the sudden urgency and the burst of speed, but he didn't have time to really think it over since he focused more on dodging carts and trying to not knock over the villagers as Ella zipped down the streets and suddenly turned corners and ducked underneath villagers carrying rugs and other items. At some point, Po spotted Mr. Ping and Lam who seemed to be carrying supplies back to the noodle shop. (These were rare supplies Mr. Ping had to pick up personally for certain recipes). Mr. Ping barely had time to express his surprise and Po barely any time to say hi before they were out of sight and he was all the way down the street and around another corner of the village. Finally, just as Po started to run out of breath, Ella pulled him into a tiny alley and sat them behind a pile of boxes. Po tried to catch his breath and watched her glance around the boxes before sitting back and breathing a sigh of relief.

"I think we lost them," she said with a look of relief.

"Lost...who?" Po wheezed.

"No idea. I just noticed someone was watching us. It made me uncomfortable."

Po frowned. "You dragged me all the way over here because one of the villagers was looking at us?" he asked.

"No! I didn't see who it was. I just noticed a shadow. Shadows are bad. Usually it means someone had ill intent."

Po groaned. "Well...do you have any idea why there'd be a shadow?" There was a pause. "Any at all?"

"Well it couldn't be the invading warriors back home. They'd be after the royal family. And plus they'd have no reason to suspect I'd be here anyway. Maybe it was Destiny. She likes to be weird and creepy."

"Oh for goodness sake, Ella....."

"Don't make fun of me, I'm being serious. Whoever this is is either after me or you, and I certainly don't want anything to happen to you...."

She went to kiss Po, but the panda quickly ducked out of the way and stood up with an irritated grumble. "Ella, I don't want to be rude," he told her. "But I think you're being paranoid. Or at the very least sneaky."

"I am not!"

"Really? You're sure you didn't just drag me all the way over here to kiss me?"

"Oh come on, Pooey, don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not being ridiculous. I'm being serious! You can stay here if you don't feel safe, but I'm not sitting here with you waiting for some invisible shadow man to show up!"

He then left the alley and made his way back through the streets, ignoring Ella's cries for him to come back and that it was too dangerous. He eventually made his way to one of the bridges going over one of the rivers and decided to go down and just sit by the water's edge. He took a deep breath, let it out, and leaned forward to stare at the water. He just needed a minute to breathe and then he could go back and guide Ella to the spot she wanted to show him. He felt a little bad leaving her by herself; she had sounded genuinely worried, but she had also been a little invasive of his personal space so he wasn't sure if she was playing with his head or not. The master sat by the water for a little bit and glanced sown the river to where it disappeared off in the distance. He turned back to look at the villagers behind him and see what everyone was up to, only to catch a glimpse of a weird shadow in the water. He turned his head about slowly seeing if he could recreate the shadow. (In case it had been just the reflection of a tree or building). However, he didn't see anything.

It's not a shadow man, Po told himself. Just...maybe someone running by the bridge?

He glanced over in the direction of the bridge next to him where he had seen the shadow, looked up, and looked around. Nothing.

You know, I think I should go back to Ella now.

he went to get up but then saw the flicker of another shadow under the bridge. He felt a wave of terror run through his chest and he froze as he caught a glimpse of the shadow moving across the water and over towards the woods on the other side of the river. Was there someone...under the bridge? Well whoever they were, they were gone now. He hoped.

Po breathed a little to give himself something to calm his nerves and he walked back over in the direction of Ella. He went back to the alley, only to find that Ella was missing. Po panicked a little. "Ella?!" he called out. He left the alley and began to look around for the young lemur, worried that he had actually left her in some kind of danger.

I'm a terrible bodyguard!

As Po looked around the village, he kept an eye out for any more suspicious shadowy figures. He didn't see any, but he did get the bad feeling that he was being watched. Though maybe he was being a little paranoid because of Ella going missing.

"Ella!" Po yelled. He checked some of the shops. No Ella. He looked around at another river. No Ella. He checked a café, asked some villagers, and even checked a few more back alleys, but no Ella. Po felt more panic rise up in his chest, but he took a breath and closed his eyes to think. If he were Ella and actually genuinely believed he was in danger, where would he go? He thought for a moment and then figured she'd try to sit next to him or go and hide somewhere. However, he hadn't seen her, so...maybe she was just trying to get his attention and went back to the Jade Palace. He supposed he could try to go back that way and just make sure she hadn't wandered back in that direction.

Po suddenly felt warm breath on the back of his neck and the shadow of a figure hover behind him which made a chill run up his spine. He spun around to punch the figure, but there was no one behind him and he wound up punching the air. Behind him was an open alley going into the woods. In hindsight, standing right there was probably a really stupid idea. Po considered leaving, but he considered the idea that maybe Ella was in actual danger and following this mysterious shadow was the only way to get her back and keep her from getting hurt. So he ran down the small road between the buildings in the valley and entered the bamboo forest. He wasn't entirely sure where he was going, but he was already determined to catch this person.

The master stopped part of the way through the forest to get his bearings and figure out where exactly he needed to go. The forest was open enough to prevent any bad people from hiding, but the trees were also tall enough for them to hide high up and out of sight in the very top of the leaves. Po glanced up and around to see if he could spot anyone, but he was so confused. He could have sworn the shadow had run here. Unless they scampered across the rooftops of the shops? He heard sudden cracking coming from the trees and spun around, but there was still no one there.

"Hello?" he called out seriously. "Who's there?!"

No answer.

Po looked carefully through the trees for any signs of suspicious activity, but then suddenly felt what he thought was a stick run up his spine and to his shoulders. Po spun around to grab it and felt a satisfied grin form when he did, which turned out to just be a fallen bamboo branch. However, to his dismay, there was no one attached to the other end.

Okay, this is getting kind of creepy... he thought to himself. He held onto the branch just in case he needed it, though he knew a flimsy tree branch wasn't going to stop an attack from a mysterious creepy foe. He kept turning around and moved more into the forest in an attempt to find the mysterious stranger but he still had no luck. He kept trying to calm his breathing so that he didn't panic. He now had a very strong feeling that he was being watched. What did they want?! Who on earth had been following him and Ella?

Po suddenly felt warm breath on his neck again and he turned to whack the stranger with the branch, but to no avail.

"Okay, seriously?!" he yelled angrily. "Who are you?"

He could feel that they were somewhere behind him, but every time he turned around, everywhere he looked, there was no one there. He figured Ella must have had very keen senses to have spotted them so fast, way before he even did. He just hoped that she was okay. He wasn't liking this scenario and he hoped nothing had happened to her while he had been by the river. He suddenly felt a ton of leaves being dumped on his head and the branch was knocked out of his paws. He could hear footsteps moving around and he blindly went to chase after them while trying to get all the leaves off his head and the scarce falling dirt out of his eyes. He followed the sounds until they stopped, leaving him deeper in the forest and pretty far away from the noise and bustle of the village. It was quiet.

Very quiet.

Po breathed and closed his eyes. He was going to find this shadow if his life depended on it. He just needed to very carefully listen for footsteps, cracking branches, or something. There was a small rustle from the trees above, but it was also accompanied with the feel and sound of the wind blowing through the forest, so Po ignored it. He quieted his breathing and listened carefully to all the sounds going around him. At some point, he finally heard footsteps moving quietly towards him and Po spun around and opened his eyes to catch them off guard. However, he only saw a shadow move just past his blind spot behind him. Po tried to turn and see, but he was already moving fast in his initial attack direction and wound up tripping and landing face first on the ground. Before he could even get up and recover, the shadow had wrapped what felt like a vine around his eyes, blinding him. Po yelled in protest and went to grab them, but only managed to graze the person's fur. Frustrated, Po went to stand up and get the vine off his eyes, but he felt the shadow whack his paws with something hard and sturdy. Po couldn't tell if it was an actual part of the bamboo trees around him or if it was a dangerous weapon he needed to be mindful of. He panicked for a moment but then calmed down and went back to listening for the footsteps of the shadow. He heard them approach and was able to successfully dodge out of the way of multiple attacks and finally grabbed hold of the weapon they had and violently threw them in the direction of the trees. He was surprised he didn't even hear a grunt or gasp of surprise.

Yeah, this is still weird, Po thought as he quickly took the blindfold off and, once again, was greeted with nothing. He sighed and glanced down at what he held in his paws, which turned out to be a cut part of one of the bamboo trees in the area. He heard more rustling from up ahead and braced himself for more fighting, only to be surprised by Ella running towards him with a determined but relieved look on her face.

"You're okay!" Po exclaimed happily. "Where were you?!" He glanced at her paws. "And why do you have a tea pot?"

"I was hiding," Ella explained. "When you left I figured my position was compromised. I kept seeing the shadowy figure, but then you left and I never saw it again so I thought maybe it was actually after you and not me. So I bought this tea pot as self-defense in case you needed-"

Ella suddenly hurled the tea pot at Po, causing him to yell and duck out of the way. The tea pot landed abruptly behind him with a loud CRASH which indicated someone was behind him. The panda spun around to grab the shadow, but once again they were gone. However in their place was a big puddle of water and some wet and slightly muddy footprints.

"AHA!" Ella exclaimed.

"Hey, not bad," Po complimented.

"You track them and I'll get one of those guards," Ella told him. She then ran off while Po tracked down the footprints that he saw in the dirt. Eventually he came to a dead end when he discovered that the shadowy figure had climbed up the bamboo trees and jumped through the tops of the branches to avoid detection. However, he saw and heard what direction they went in and upon Ella's arrival with a guard, informed him of what happened and left the guard to continue the tracking while he and Ella returned to the safety of the village.

"How did you know he was there?" Po asked. "I didn't even realize someone was following us!"

"When you're a part of the royal court, you learn to be wary of plots and intrigues," Ella told him matter-of-factly. "And my father's always been concerned my safety so he taught me how to evade enemy attackers from a very young age."

She raised an eyebrow at Po, who sighed and immediately apologized for not believing her. "I thought you were just trying to be sneaky or something," he admitted.

Ella smiled and relaxed her face. "Apology accepted," she said. "Now, let's finally go to my favorite spot."

She took Po's arm and led him through the village once more. Po wasn't looking forward to it, but he honestly preferred anything to being stalked by some random shadow figure. So he walked through the village with her and eventually came across a small house with a back alley and multiple boxes. Ella led Po through the narrow street and eventually came to a small hidden door way in the back. Ella knocked and the door opened revealing an old rabbit lady with a little basket of goodies.

"Aia Mure, plus one," Ella told her immediately.

"You're late."

"We got stalked by an intruder on the way over. It's been taken care of."

"Oh, poor dears. Well, in you go, but you don't get extensions."

"Yes, yes, I know."

Ella pulled on Po's arm and led him into the house while the old lady shut the door and directed them into a nearby cellar. Po was very confused, especially when the cellar stairs turned into a very long and narrow hallway. Then he heard music. Then he saw multiple lights down the hall. And soon Ella had pulled him into what turned out to be an underground dance room.

"How long has this been here?!" he exclaimed. "I've lived here for over 20 years and I've never seen this before!"

"It's very exclusive and very limited," Ella explained. "You need a reservation and a down payment and considering the limited space it can be pretty hefty. Fortunately there were a few openings, so I got to book us for a morning of dancing!"

Po looked up at the ceiling which had colorful lanterns spinning about scattered across the ceiling, and several food and drink stations were set around the room as well as some chairs for tired dancers to rest their legs. He gaped in shock and amazement at the multiple dancers on the floor, the pillars lining the room decorated with small stenciled fruits, and immediately began tapping his foot to the bouncy music.

"Sooooo, how about it?" Ella nudged with a big smile on her face. "Care for a dance?"

"I could go for some awesome dance moves," Po told her excitedly. "Though I warn you, I'm not much of a dancer."

"I can work with that," Ella told him with a laugh, and she immediately grabbed Po's paw and ran with him into the center of the dancing crowd to join in.