Chapter 1

Li Shan used to find this time of year painful to go through. After losing his wife and son in Shen's attack, despite the other surviving pandas, it was still a lonesome time for him, despite being surrounded by the other survivors. Dim and Sum were there, but his son and wife had this hole hammered into his heart...

This year, the Winter Festival would be better. He found Lotus, now called Po, and he could finally spend the holidays with wife was watching over them both, or walking by them as a transparent being, moving them through the twists and turns of fate. Luckily before the snow arrived, she had all the pandas moved to the Valley of Peace, in which Po lives in with his adopted father and his friends from the Jade Palace. It was a lovely place to be in... and it seemed to become more lively and... well, peaceful!

The snow fell gently from the star-lit sky, to silently land on the ground beneath the brightly lit lanterns, the laughter, and good company. Everyone gathered into the Noodle Shop, including every Master in China. Mr. Ping and Po made their special noodle soup, while everyone else patiently for their dish to be cooked to perfection. Li Shan was parked beside Master Shifu, while Master Ox told the villagers stories about his greatest battles alongside the late Master Rhino. The other Kung Fu Master's listened in, smiling at the facts, and smirked at the exaggerated parts that the villagers didn't catch onto.

Po had been pretty pumped up about Li Shan and the pandas to be part of the Valley at the Winter Festival. Now, he could see why; the atmosphere was warm, welcoming, and everyone around them were inviting, even down to watching noodles coming out of Uncle Wang's nose... not sure how he felt about that, but Dim and Sum found it hilarious.

The Master's were dressed very formal; Li Shan learnt that Po and the Master's had dinner together in the Palace before hand, and then joined the Valley in the shop. What stood out most was Tigress; she was wearing what he thought was a blood red jacket like her gold one, but it was it was long enough touch the ground, with a Jade green tunic and black pants. There was a head piece but he never saw on her, as Lei Lei had it balancing on her head; what looked like a red fan opened fully, with peonies loitered the base around her ears. Lei Lei thought it was very pretty, and was more then content to have it on her head. That wasn't the only pretty thing in the restaurant; Mei Mei was in a bright blue dress with pink cherry blossoms, and everyone was complementing her dress, including Po and the other males of the Jade Palace.

Perfect. Li Shan thought. Mei Mei is a beautiful little lady, just for Po...

The music came into the scene at some point during the evening in a smooth transition. Po's ears perked up at the upbeat, exciting, and lively melody, and while grabbing Mei Mei by the paw, he called for everyone to join him out in the snow filled street for a dance. The villagers raced out after him, throwing on their hats and jackets, while the Masters flowed out after them.

(ENVISIONING 'NANCY MULLIGAN' BY ED SHEERAN. THAT'S THE KIND OF FLOW OF MUSIC I'M THINKING OF, BUT OBVIOUSLY A TRADITIONAL CHINESE PIECE).

Immediately, everyone who was dancing to the music, laughing, were summoning the Masters and villagers on the sidelines to join them. Li Shan and Mr. Ping were dragged in by Po after he had a little waltz with Mei Mei, who was still laughing and blushing like crazy to her girlfriends close by. Whether it was the vibe that was bouncing off his son, or the consumption of beverages they had, a lot of the Masters joined in their own little clumps, learning their footwork off the commoners. Tigress, Viper, Crane, Monkey and Mantis exchanged looks, grinned, and stepped in. Lei Lei waddled off to Mei Mei, and Li Zhan, and the other pandas were also showing their own dances, and Mr. Ping was more then excited to learn. It took some time, but Master Shifu reluctantly got involved, with encouragement from his former students...

Mid-spin in one of the jigs, everything seemed to have slowed down. Li Shan felt his heart beating in his chest, which echoed in his ears, and everything in his peripheral vision was blurred. He felt dizzy, but in a good way. There was clapping and cheering, and feeling his ego grow slightly, he thought it was that his dancing was entertaining. Turning to look for Po, he grinded to a halt.

Po and Tigress were taking lead in traditional Panda Dance. Her jacket was off, its whereabouts unknown, ditto to Po's cloak, which granted them more room to move freely, despite the cold. Everyone clapped in time with the music, cheering them on. Li and Ping moved in closer to watch, as well as the rest of the furious five, and Master Shifu.

Paw in paw and enclosed in a circle of panda, rabbit, pig, and goats alike, they waltz, spun, twisted, hopped and slid. Words were exchanged, but he couldn't hear them. There was laughing, and lots of it. Master Viper mentioned something about Tigress loving the folk dances, which surprised Li slightly. Master Tigress was always focused and 'in the fighter zone' as Po would place it, he would never have imagined her liking something so... out of the zone. Sure enough, dancing involved moving and action, so maybe that's why she enjoyed it so much...

But when the dancing slow came to an end, and admist the clapping and cheering, Tigress and Po were just... looking, gazing... into one another's eyes. Po was out of breath, but that smile on his face wasn't getting wiped off anytime soon-

Or so Li Shan was briefly thinking, until he saw Po leaning in towards her. Maybe Po was just gonna whisper something to her... nope. She was leaning in too... and as if the eruption of applause wasn't there, his eyes couldn't move away.

They were kissing.

Seeing Christmas is coming up I figured to upload a Christmas story. Haven't uploaded new content in a while, so I hope you like this and do let me know what you think!

Ciao!