Wickedness and wrongdoing was scarce in the Valley that day – meaning that the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five had a lot of extra time on their hands. It was nearing the Holiday season and preparations for the Winter Feast would go into affect in about a week. Snow had already started to accumulate on the rooftops and street corners in the Valley, and heavier showers were anticipated in the evenings. Decorations, such as lanterns and garlands had already been hung from the shops and houses, filling everyone with early Holiday spirit.

The peaceful tranquility of the season had eased the warrior's minds, which was probably what allowed Po to convince them to help out his father in the noodle shop.

"My dad likes to prepare in advance for the Holiday. He'll probably want us to sort of spruce the place up," the panda had explained earlier to his five comrades. "Oh, and he loves decorations, so we might get to help him with that too!"

The Five cordially agreed and had spent most of the morning pacing about the restaurant, doing their assigned tasks: Crane was sweeping around the tables and seating area (due to his janitorial skills), Monkey was hanging a few festive sun lanterns about the shop (promising to leave a few for Po and Mr. Ping to hang), using his acrobatic expertise to get to the high places. Mantis was brining up boxes of extra bowls and china from the storage rooms under the stairs in the shop, Viper was tending to the flora in the vicinity – making sure that Mr. Ping's potted bamboo shoots were well watered and nurtured, and finally, Tigress utilized her strength in toting large crates of vegetables and other ingredients from the delivery spot out back.

She was currently carrying a rather huge one back into the kitchen as easily as if it weighed nothing more than a moon cake. She maneuvered expertly around Mantis as he headed back down to the storage rooms to get another dusty, old box. The crate landed with a light thud on the ground, next to a bunch of others containing radishes, turnips, and bok choy. She made sure to have them all collectively out of the way from where Po and his father were in the real kitchen part of the restaurant – taking into consideration that they needed all the space possible to properly to cut, slice, and dice large quantities of vegetables that they would need when the Holiday officially arrived.

"Is right here all right, Mr. Ping?" Tigress asked, turning her head from the crate of cabbages she had set down, towards the old goose.

Po's father turned around promptly at the sound of her voice, placing his massive knife on the chopping block next to his working son, and grinning gratefully at her. "Oh, yes, yes, right there is just fine," he said while waddling over to the feline. "I must thank you, Master Tigress. I am not as young as I used to be, so carrying all those crates myself would just be…disastrous!"

Tigress chuckled lightly at his enthusiasm, placing her paws on her hips and giving him a genuine smile. "Well I wouldn't want that. And it's no problem. It's the least I – we could do after the hospitality you showed us at the last Winter Festival."

"Yes, I don't think we ever thanked you properly last year, Mr. Ping," chimed Viper, slithering partially into the kitchen, clutching a decorative watering can in her coils. "You were most generous. And we're so glad you agreed to letting the Winter Feast take place at the noodle shop this year, again. Master Shifu was pleased too!"

"Oh, well…" Mr. Ping looked positively bashful – appreciative of all the praise as he shuffled his webbed feet across the ground.

Po suddenly turned from his work and placed a gentle hand on his father's shoulder. "Better be careful with all the compliments, guys. It'll all go to his head one day and then you'll be forced to treat him like the Emperor every time you see him!"

Tigress, Viper, and Mantis tried stifling their snickers, while Mr. Ping grabbed a wooden spoon and shook it threateningly at his panda son. "Oh, Po! Maybe you could learn from your friends a little bit about politeness! The gods know you could use it!"

The warriors were about to return back to their work when suddenly Crane poked his head through the serving window to the kitchen, holding a broom in one wing and a raggedly, little object in the other. "Hey, Mr. Ping, I found this doll here on one of the stools. I assume a child left it behind?"

The bird warrior held up a disheveled old toy of a rabbit for the old goose to examine. Stuffing was coming out of a rip in its shoulder, one of the button eyes was missing, and a blotch of noodle broth had stained the front of it, but all-in-all, it was in pretty good condition.

Mr. Ping looked at it closely, giving it a thoughtful stare before concluding, "Oh yes, that's been here for some time, I'm afraid. I was hoping whoever it belonged to would come looking for it, but I guess no one has."

Crane brought it back closer to himself, grimacing at the sight of the pathetic toy. He started to turn around, saying, "Oh well, I guess I'll go dispose of – "

"Wait! Crane, I'll take it!" Tigress snapped her lips tightly as soon as the words flew out of her mouth. Monkey had hopped down onto the serving window counter and joined in on the inquisitive glances that all the warriors – including Po and Mr. Ping – were giving the large feline. She suddenly felt uncomfortable at all the attention on her, but brushed off the awkwardness indifferently.

"Give a child the chance to reclaim it when we head back to the Palace. If no one does, I'll dispose of it properly then." She held out her paw expectantly. Crane just raised a feathery brow at her, incredibly unsure of what she had just proposed. But even he knew better than to defy Tigress' orders, no matter the circumstances.

"Okay then," he placed it in her paw, actually more happy to be rid of it than discovering the truth behind her unusual actions.

Tigress accepted it gratefully, "Thank you." She brushed her thumb over the doll (which was large enough to cover half of it) and looked down at it tenderly. She then slid it into her waist wrap for safe-keeping (seeing as her black, silk pants lacked pockets) – its little head and paws hanging over the side of the fabric and large ears folding onto its face - and journeyed casually back out to the yard outside where a couple more crates were waiting.

Mantis caught a glimpse of the female tiger as he hopped back into the kitchen, holding a bowl three times his size in his talons. He watched her leave with a peculiar expression, as he had obviously missed the entire conversation beforehand. He suddenly turned back to his comrades in the kitchen. "Does Tigress know she has a toy wrapped at her waist?"

As the day drew to an end, and the sun was beginning to set behind the distant mountains, Tigress did as she promised – tried to find the owner of the toy she had taken custody of. Meanwhile, the rest of the Five and Po headed back to the Palace for dinner. She spotted a small group of children lingering around the noodle shop with their parents and politely asked them if the doll belonged to them or to anyone they knew. To be honest, the children were too excited to be in the presence of the Master Tigress to even respond properly. She got a better answer from the parents, who denied ever having ownership of the sad, little doll.

The tiger master was actually relieved by this – that it had no owner and it was left with her. She was, of course, taking it back home with her. She had a better plan for it than simply throwing it away to spoil. The only problem that remained was hiding it from her friends and making sure they never saw it again. But that shouldn't be too hard, she told herself. Besides, based on where it was going, it would be almost impossible for it to arrive back at the Jade Palace.

Getting to the court of the Palace was easy. What was hard was making sure none of its other inhabitants were spying and/or watching her. Tigress successfully made it to her room located in the student barracks with no distractions (thanks to her feline prowess and well-honed stalking skills).

She immediately opened the small dresser chest situated in the corner of her room - which contained only clothes, a calligraphy set, some herbal soaps, and a few fine combs she used to groom her fur on special occasions - and pulled out an almost full, cloth sack she had stowed away. The strap attached to it dangled over her paw. She briskly untied it, stashed the doll in the sack, and retied to top of it into a thicker knot than before. She gently weighed the bag in her paw, concluding to herself:

"That should be good enough for this season. There's probably more in here than what I gathered last year."

Tigress gave a small grin at the sack – happy as to what it had accumulated to –before stuffing it deeply back into the drawer she had removed it from. She gave the closed top of the dresser a satisfied pat as she stood to her full height, lulling other thoughts in her mind.

"Hmmm…I guess I'll leave tonight. Just after dark." she decided as she turned and reached out for the sliding door. "Besides, they'll be expecting me soon, anyways."

She poked her orange head out from her room, into the hallway –glancing around suspiciously before closing the door quietly behind her and padding towards the kitchen. The tiger was well aware that no one would dare enter her room – with or without her permission – but she didn't want to take the risk of anyone discovering what she had always managed to hide during the Winter Holiday for the past ten years. It wasn't anyone's business, but her own. She might even tell her friends one day, but for now, it would remain a secret. Her secret.

The light in the Palace kitchen told her that dinner was already served. Although, she imagined Po would generously save her a place setting and a steaming bowl of soup, regardless of how late she returned from the Valley below. The feline warrior stepped into the kitchen to find her friends eating and chatting happily – each giving her a nod and a smirk as she entered and took her seat. Sure enough, a bowl of noodle soup was placed in front of her.

"Hello, everyone. Sorry for being late," she uttered humbly, taking her chopsticks in hand and joining them in their meals.

"Hey, don't worry about it," reassured Po with a wave of his hand – slurping at his noodles hungrily.

Crane dipped his spoon into his bowl and brought a spoonful of warm broth to his beak. "So, did you find the owner of that doll while you were down there?"

Tigress swallowed and answered nonchalantly, "No. Apparently it belonged to no one. But I got rid of it. It's no longer a problem."

"Didn't seem like a big one to me," added Monkey, not looking up from his dinner.

All eyes rested on Tigress.

Said tiger, however, was not phased by their stares. She casually inspected her food as she brought it up from her bowl, before bringing it to her mouth. "It wasn't. I just thought it would be something I would want someone to do for me if I lost my toy as a child, that's all. Po, you put tofu in the soup?"

The rest of the Furious Five suddenly looked into their bowls, searching for signs of tofu that they hadn't noticed before. Crane looked at the spoonful he had yet to consume and found a little cube of the stuff sitting in the broth.

Po turned to Tigress, surprised, before smiling sheepishly at the rest of them. "Yeah, I did actually. I had a lot left over in the cupboards and thought I'd use it – as a little thank you for helping me and my dad today. You guys don't mind, do you?"

"No, that was very kind of you Po," said Tigress appreciatively. The rest of the Five nodded their thanks as well before returning to their bowls with greater interest. "Tofu's my favorite," she smiled – picking a large chunk with her chopsticks and placing it favorably on her tongue.

"Well it is the giving season after all," added the pleased panda.

The striped feline finished her soup. Filling the emptiness in her stomach with that delicious, warm meal almost made her want to purr with contentment, but she successfully stifled the natural urge. "That it is, Po. That it is…" she whispered, running a tongue over her ivory fangs.