Po didn't bother waking Destiny up since he felt his lack of presence might help her better recover. He instead decided to wait outside the barracks and think over the conversation with Destiny. He actually liked the idea of a 60 question ice breaker and thought about maybe making one of his own. Obviously not right now, but maybe sometime in the future. Besides, he had a couple other ideas he wanted to do first. He wound up heading back into the barracks to write these ideas down just in case he forgot. His memory was pretty spry, but with all of the commotion, he could see himself forgetting something he super wanted to do. So the next half-hour was spent grabbing some loose paper and writing down several activities that might be fun for himself and the other girls to do. He got so caught up in it that he didn't even notice Ordai, who had the 10:30 meeting time, sneaking up behind him to read over his shoulder. 

"Oooh! I love swimming!" she exclaimed. 

Po shrieked in surprise and jumped nearly ten feet in the air. He was quick to calm down though and turn his attention to Ordai who was hysterically laughing at his reaction. 

"You scared me!" Po exclaimed as he took a few deep breaths to calm down. 

"I'm sorry, Dragon Warrior," Ordai said. "I wanted to see what you were doing and I didn't want to disturb you."  She looked over the list and smiled. "These look like so much fun!" she admitted.

"I'm not sure if or when we'll do them," Po told her. "They're just ideas for now." 

"Well, if you're looking for ideas, I have a personal fancy for a picnic under the stars," Ordai told him. 

"I'll make a note," Po said, jotting the idea down. 

When he had finished writing, Ordai excitedly said, "So, I thought we'd have brunch at a little cafe down by the bridge. I'll pay, naturally." 

"Sounds good to me!" 

The two headed out of the barracks and walked across the grounds to the main gate where they proceeded down the stairs and to the cafe. On the way over, Ordai began talking about her family and the village she came from and how grateful that Po had helped to keep the invaders from completely destroying everything. 

"The Five helped too," Po reminded her. "In fact, Crane and Monkey helped to prevent the fire from spreading further through the forest. I just tried to help fix the bridge!"

"And also prevent multiple invaders from climbing over the walls and destroying everything in their path," Ordai added. "And you went after those who did. And you helped my family and other people safely evacuate to the mountains." 

"Tigress helped too." 

"I know. And I'm grateful she did. You have such a great team, Dragon Warrior, not to mention your impeccable command of respect and leadership." 

Po tried to protest the exaggerated flattery, not to mention a title long bestowed onto someone else, but Ordai would hear none of it. She continued talking about how the villagers had erected statues of the masters near the beginning of their long bridge across the hilly chasms and how happy they were to know that there were always great protectors to keep them safe from harm. 

"When my family heard that you were looking for a wife," Ordai continued as they soon ventured through the village and arrived at the cafe. "I immediately jumped at the opportunity! How could I turn down a man who's done so much for people?! And you were so sweet and funny when we met the first time that I wanted to know so much more about you! Of course, I tried to get reports, but they were pretty general. You're a kung fu master, the Dragon Warrior, you trained at the Jade Palace and blah blah blah. I knew all that stuff already. I wanted to really get to know you. And now I finally have the opportunity to do so!"

Her and Po headed into the cafe as Po sheepishly said, "Well, I hope you're not disappointed in me then. I know I can take a while to get used to and I'm not always everyone's favorite person." 

"I guess we'll just have to see then, won't we?" Ordai told him with a smirk. She ordered a table and had her and Po seated over in a corner by a window which overlooked the forest behind it. The waiter came over and asked for orders, and after asking for refreshments and watching him leave, the two resumed talking. 

"So, Master Po, what made you want to get married?" Ordai asked immediately. 

"I always wanted to get married," Po admitted with a hint of a blush. "Of course, I always thought I'd get married and take over the noodle shop, but then I became Dragon Warrior and had to put those plans on hold for...well, until I was ready to retire from kung fu which wouldn't be for a long time, but then I moved to the Tsung Village, so now I can marry whenever I want."

"You can't get married when you're the Dragon Warrior?" Ordai asked in surprise. "No wonder you left!

"Oh, no, that's not why I left! I wanted to help teach kids, but to do that required  giving up my title."

"Well," Ordai said decidedly. "I think it's completely unfair. Just because you're lifestyle is different now doesn't mean that you don't deserve the highest title of all." 

"Well-" Po began, but he was interrupted when the waiter came back to the table and delivered the drinks. Ordai had ordered a peppermint tea and Po had gotten a chai. 

"Is chai your favorite tea?" Ordai asked before taking a sip. 

"Actually, I prefer cinnamon tea," Po admitted. "But I prefer drinking it when the weather's a little colder." 

"I like tea year round," Ordai admitted. "It's cake I can't eat all year round. It's so heavy and warm....I'd rather be as cool as possible when the weather's nice."

"That's understandable," Po agreed. "Hot weather is pretty unbearable on its own. I wouldn't want to eat something hot on top of it. Except maybe hot peppers, but not if it's humid out." 

Ordai took a look at the menu that was in front of them. "Mmm, there's so much stuff that looks so good!" she said as she spied several tasty options. "Steamed buns stuffed with paste, custard tarts, noodle cakes, sesame balls, sponge cake........"

"Yeah, the steamed buns are okay," Po said glancing at the menu with a frown. "But they never have any bean paste for options. Just pineapple and walnut. And I hate both those flavors!"

"Really? I love walnut. Pineapple not so much. Hey, we have something in common!" 

"I guess we do." 

They looked back through the menu, Po looking at more preferable options to eat, such as sponge cakes or moon cakes. Then he considered the fact that Lam was making lunch at their next meeting, and he might have more snacks during the day, so he should probably snack light. 

"I think I'll get the sesame buns," he said aloud. 

"I'm getting the egg custard tart. The coconut buns are very sweet, so I like saving those for dessert." 

"That's a good idea. I figured I'd snack light today what with all the other meetings today-wait! I forgot to bring the timer!" 

Ordai quickly put a paw on his arm and said gently, "Relax, it's okay. I'm good at keeping time. We won't run over on my count." 

Po frowned. "I'd feel better getting the timer," he admitted. 

"I'll have us out of here within the hour. Trust me. I'm an expert at time management. If I didn't, we'd have some issues in the workplace." 

Po wasn't really convinced, but Ordai had such a resolute and imploring look that he was soon persuaded to sit down in his seat. When the waiter came back, the couple ordered their pastries and then returned to their conversation when they were alone again. 

"So, Dragon Warrior," Ordai said, leaning on the table with her head in her hands. "I take it you've traveled a lot?"

"You can just call me Po," Po told her quickly, hoping to avoid any more trouble in the future. "You don't need to be so formal." 

"I don't want to be disrespectful!"

"You're not, trust me. We hardly call each other master when we're all in the temple unless we're in the company of people we don't know very well. Or if we're mad, but that rarely happens." 

"You call Grandmaster Shifu master." 

"Um...well, I don't do it all the time," Po explained sheepishly. "I just...I like being on friendly terms with everybody and being allowed to say someone's name without calling them master kinda' tells me I'm one of their buddies now...or are just on good terms...I don't think Shifu minds all that much, but...I guess what I'm trying to say is that, since we're trying to get to know each other better, it might be more comfortable to be more informal. So you don't have to keep calling me master." 

"Ohhh, I see what you mean. Well in that case, I think we're going to have a very pleasant hour together Po." 

Po reddened a little but didn't say anything further as the waiter came back with their pastries. Ordai was quick to dive into her food and Po took advantage of the brief silence to ask her some questions. 

"You said you worked?" he recalled. 

Ordai nodded with a muffled mmhmm. Po nearly laughed when her tart nearly fell apart in her paws, but kept himself together and asked what she did. Ordai wiped her mouth and took a sip of tea before answering the question. She made silks for dresses. 

"Really?! That's cool! I hear it's hard to make those though."

"It is. You have to make the strings, weave the fabric, collect the right plants to make pigments, make a water bath with them and dye the silks, and then you need to take certain colors to our painters to have all the patterns set on right. But it's a lot of fun watching all the colors come together at the end of the day. Especially when you make extras and get to make your own hanfu!"

"Sweet! So, does that mean that you make your own clothes?" Po asked, eyeing her gradient blue dress. 

"The elder ones in the village do," Ordai corrected. "But I've learned how to do it too. It's just that they have more time than those of us making the silks, so they take it upon themselves to make everyone new clothes with anything new or leftover."

She ate some more of her pastry and took another sip of tea while Po continued to talk. 

"It's pretty cool that you know how to make silk," he complimented. "The only thing I can make is noodles. Not that it's a bad thing, I love it, but that's kind of where my skills end. Well, except for kung fu naturally. Trust me, making any kind of craft is out of my element." 

"I refuse to believe that," Ordai laughed, putting her tea cup down. "Everyone's handy with something." 

"That's not really true actu-"

"Everyone has a bit of artistry in them, whether it's pottery, porcelain, lantern-making, or silk design. You just need to find a creative outlet that you can easily experiment with." 

Po thought for a second. "What about noodle making?" he asked. "It pretty creative when you really think about it." 

Ordai frowned. "Maybe if it was cake decorating," she replied. "I think cooking on its own is a bit more mechanical."

"Not really. You have to make up different recipes, trial and error the taste, make sure the noodles are the right thickness, make a unique meal that makes everyone come and pay you tips so dad can refurbish the kitchen with better wok pans....."

"Yeah, but when you're not making up a new meal, which I'm sure is rare, you serve the same dishes over and over again to the point where you don't even need to put thought into it." 

"Don't you do the same thing with silk making though? It kind of sounded tedious to me."

"Every silk is unique in it's own way, from the pigments we collect to the shapes we form. Every thought it put into our silks and we sell them as we create them. And people pay a lot of money for art." 

"Well, I would imagine so. Silks are pretty nice. But I think food is kind of the same way when you think about it." 

"Some people argue the same for math, but is it an art? No, it's a technical skill." 

Po opened his mouth to argue a further point about noodles, but stopped suddenly and asked, "Wait, people think of math as an artistic talent?" 

"Oh I know, right? Ridiculous! You're telling me that you stare at a bunch of numbers and graphs all day and think there's artistry that goes into it? No way! Of course, there's nothing against those kind of professions at all. I think accountants and bankers and so forth are all very useful. But I like a more colorful form of work, so I'm happy where I am." 

"If you're happy with silk making, wouldn't you want a husband who does it too?" 

"Oh, you don't need to worry about me, Dragon Warrior. I mean, Po. Next to making silk, painting is my next best gift." 

The subject on jobs was soon dropped and Po was more than happy to switch to the cheerful discussion about vacations. Neither Ordai nor Po did much travelling about, but Po had gone to a few distant villages and cities in order to stop tyrannical villains and Ordai once had to travel as far as the south seas docks in order to deliver an important order to a client. Aside from these, Po didn't take a vacation unless he and his dad went camping or visited relatives and Ordai had once traveled to a local hot springs resort during their non-busy season. 

"They actually have a private section for people without children," Ordai was saying. "I think children are adorable, but if you are looking to just relax, then it's nice to not have to deal with someone else's kids."

"Same, though I honestly wouldn't mind being on baby-sitting duty." 

Ordai smiled absent-mindedly. "I hope I'm a good mom," she said. "My mom raised seven kids and that's no easy task. Especially when three of them don't know the definition of sit still." 

Po chuckled. "I don't think dad had it much easier," he admitted. "Apparently he imported a lot of bamboo furniture for the restaurant when I was little, and I ate all of it." 

Ordai burst out laughing. "That must have been torture!" she exclaimed. "Imagine being a kid and seeing candy furniture being brought in, and then you're not allowed to have a nibble or two." 

"I know right?! To be fair though, most other people don't eat raw bamboo, so he probably didn't even realize that furniture was a bad idea." 

Ordai laughed a little longer before returning to an earlier train of thought. "It must be so weird being an only child," she observed. "I'm exactly in the middle of all my siblings, so I'm used to all the bustle and noise and whining and all the "I didn't trample the silk bushes! Ordai did it!"."

Po laughed again and then asked her how old everyone was. 

"My eldest sister is 34," Ordai explained as she sat back in her chair to think carefully about who was older and who still had a few months to go. "Then my oldest brother is 30, and my brother after him is 26. They're married, the three of them. Then my younger brothers are both 19, and my little sister will be 14 next month." 

"Wow! Do your older siblings have kids?" 

"Liqiu has three kids: the eldest is 8 and the younger boys are 3. My brother, the older one, Bolin, has two boys who are both 6, and Jian just had a new baby. They promised to send me a picture of her once they get family portraits all finished."  She smirked and added, with a brief chuckle, "In case you haven't noticed, twins run in the family." 

"I was kinda' figuring that. I was actually thinking how cool it is...I have a cousin named Jian and he has twin girls." 

"Really?! We really do have a lot in common, don't we!" 

"Yeah, it seems so. Um, which of your parents was the twin in the family?" 

"Both of them actually. I hope I have twins. I know it's a lot of work to care for two babies at once, my  poor mother didn't sleep for goodness knows how many months, but there's something so much fun about carrying on a family trait, you know?" 

"The only trait I could carry down is cooking," Po said sheepishly. "I don't know too much about my birth family." 

"Oh! Oh that's right! Well, I'm sure you'll pass down something wonderful to our kids." 

Ordai immediately stood up from the table and added, "Well that was a fun hour! I wish it wasn't so short." 

"Wait, it's been an hour?" Po repeated in surprise. 

"I told you I'm excellent at time-keeping," Ordai told him with a wink. She then called the waiter over to pay him for the meal and then walked with Po back to the Jade Palace for his next meeting, not minding a little extra conversation along the way.