One door closes another one opens.

Song pranced cheerfully to the table where her cub moped and placed a large bowl of green limp leaves on it's surface.
The cub heaved a sigh.
"What's wrong Mei?" The Tigress asked worriedly.
Mei, who was only about four dry seasons old, flopped back in her chair and looked at her mother seriously "Mother, I'm tired of cabbage."
"I'm sorry Mei but It's all we can afford after your dad left" Song reminded her cub sadly.
Mei stared at her mother in confusion, being a very young cub she couldn't completely comprehend what her mother was telling her, sure her father was gone, her mother didn't have a job and had to take care of both her and her grandfather but what did that have to do with affording food? Mei had no idea, but she wasn't one to pry so she shrugged and painfully ate the boiled cabbage trying not to gag.

"Mother perhaps you should fry the cabbage next time," She suggested as her mother collected the bowls and prepared another for her Grandfather. "They would taste better."
"Well, yes Mei I'm sure they would" Song concurred "But oil is expensive now in days and we cant afford to waste any"
Mei sighed again, standing from her chair, there her mother went with what they couldn't afford, but what about what they could afford? What about that? "I'm going outside mother."

Mei's village was small and crowded,there never seemd to enough homes for everybody food was scarce and none of the children liked to play. But if there was one good thing about her village it was the fact they never ran out of water, in fact they provided most of the water to the surrounding villages. That was the one thing Mei was proud of about her home and on her days out she would spend a great about of time there, watching the clear liquid flow through the many vessels that ran on either side of it.
But today Mei felt like doing something different, something that unknownst to her would change her life completely.
Mei went to the market.
The market was equally as crowded as the town but it had a sense of excitement to it the constant chattering of animals haggling for a better price on trivial items and the clicking of travelers wheel burrows on the stone road all seemed interesting and fun to the cub.
She squeezed behind a wooden crate watching the commotion from a far, she enjoyed observing the chaos but she had no want to be apart of it.
Over the course of her observance she saw many things some of which made her laugh and things which made her blood boil, two goats rushing around the village screaming about the end of world, which made her giggle quietly, an older pallas get being shoved to the ground by a large tiger, which made her wish she was able to help, finally the sky began to grow dark but strangely it wasn't the usual red and violet instead a light green sheen and huge dark clouds painted the sky.
Hmm, she'd never seen that before.
She stood watching for a while as the clouds moved slowly around the sky wondering to herself what type of weather they would bring, was it rain, snow or maybe even hail? She was snapped out her reverie when a horde of animals rushed past her, looking significantly more wired than usual.
Well whatever the clouds where bringing it must be bad, taking one last look at the sky she stepped out into the crowd, struggling not to fall behind on her short legs.
By the time she neared her village the wind was howling in her ears and slammed into her rack almost knocking Mei off her feet, she had separated from the crowd at some point in the market feeling it would be much safer and less likely for her to become trampled by the frenzied animals
Now she was beginning to wonder if that was a mistake.
As Mei stumbled through the town trying to remember which of the many paths lead to her hut, she was completely alone, the once overpopulated village now seemed devoid of all life.
The wind blew harder, finally knocking her off her feet and flinging her across the dirt road and under an anchored stone bench slamming her head against one of its legs.
She laid dizzily on her back, fighting to stay conscious.
The last thing she saw before passing out, was goat who flew through the air like a wingless bird.

When Mei awoke the bench was still firmly rooted in its place her head was pounding and the world had gone silent. Something was wrong.
Slowly and painfully she rolled from under the bench and onto her feet, something was very wrong. The place which she had called home was gone, jagged pieces of wood lay scattered over the ground every single, path had disappeared underneath, what looked to be half a forest of trees and bushes.
Mei glanced around fearfully looking for someone, anybody who could explain how this happened or least where her mother was, but she could find none.
She stood staring vacantly at her destroyed home for what could have been seconds, minutes or even hours.
Suddenly she felt her feet moving and before she knew it she was running full speed through the market, following the wide waterway that ran through it.
Mei had no clue where she would go she just knew she had to go somewhere.
So she ran, ignoring the burning that welled up in her chest.
After a while she found herself in a thick forest then something caught her eyes-well actually her ear, the familiar sound of a bustling town rang out from the other side of the copse.
Carefully she pulled two branches to the side and peeked ahead, sure enough a small village , bigger than her's but sill small, lay nicely in front of her, animals plodded around, buying goods and loading them into burrows, just like home...
Tentatively she placed her left foot on the road then slowly plopped her other down.
And quickly merged into the early morning crowd.
Some animals gave her odd looks, something she didn't quite understand but she continued on none the less, if she stopped now Mei didn't know if she start again, she was still so confused and frightened, would she ever see her mother and grandpa again? And what about her village could it be fixed.
Someone here can help me. She assured herself, feeling her spirits lift she speed through the market shrugging off the looks of confusion from the villagers that turned to stares of fear, she wouldn't let them faze no one would, well expect the huge thing she just slammed into
"OW!"she cried in pain "WATCH IT!-oh..."
A giant turtle, not it was tortoise, stood in front of her smiling kindly "Well, hello child"

Mei shifted her feet in embarrassment, but quickly remembered her manners and waved. "Hello sir..."

The Tortoises smile remained firmly on his old face, something Mei found a little unsettling, "Are you alone dear?"
Mei faltered before nodding slowly, her mother had always told her not to talk to strange men but the old tortoise seemed harmless and for some reason she felt she could trust him."My village is gone and I don't know what to do."
The elder Tortoise's gentle smile changed to a knowing one "Hmm, I see" He said calmly turning her softly with his staff "You should go in here.."
Mei looked at the building that she had somehow failed to notice before..."What is it?"

"A place that will give you a home and something more.."
Mei looked at the tortoise blankly "What."
The elder shook his head lightly "Other children live here, I'm sure they would love another playmate.."
"Really?" The tiger cub's eyes widened in excitement and allowed herself to be pushed through the open door, when something came to her "Wait! what's your name sir?"
"You'll find out soon dear."

Mei shrugged and quickly forgot the strange tortoise at the sight of a room full of children
"Wanna play!"

A/N. Well you know what happens next..

Hmm, I wonder why Oogway seems to appear around times like this...

Eh, I hope you like this one..