FSE

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You! Yes, you! Come closer! Do not worry, I will not bite you. Well, not unless you are a dumpling, or a delicious piece of sugar cane. No? Well, then, you have nothing to fear, for while food may be good for eating, people are better for telling stories to. And I have a story I would like to tell you now.

As you can see, I am a pandaren. And while this may not be a rare sight these days, there was a time where none of my people could be found on the greater continents of Azeroth. I was born, and grew up, on the Wandering Isle, the land carried on the back of the great turtle Shen-zin Su. And ever since I was a little cub, the only thing I ever wanted was to be a monk.

My mother would often tell a story about me as a cub. My parents ran a small restaurant, famous for their dumplings, and my mother was hard at work in the kitchen. My older sister was off playing with her friends. And I was safely closed off in the main living area of our house, held there by the firm bamboo gates. My mother had finished stuffing the last dumpling for dinner that evening when she grabbed up a towel and decided to check on me. Lo and behold, the living room was empty! She raced through the house, calling my name, frantic with worry.

Her neighbor, Li, heard my mother's cries and shouted through a window, "Do not worry Lin, he is out here! You must come see!" My mother, instantly transported from scared near to death to cross, stepped outside to see what was going on. Li stood there, a soft smile on her face, and pointed over to where the monks were practicing. I had escaped my prison and had headed straight for them, crawling with all of the single-minded determination that only the very young can muster.

"They saw him, and now they are performing for him!" Li whispered, giggling softly. Mother's frown melted away at the spectacle the usually stoic pair of monks were making of themselves, bonking each other on the head and spinning about, still flowing through their forms flawlessly and yet finding time to make silly faces at me. I sat watching them, giggling occasionally and sucking on my paw, completely unaware of the havoc I had inadvertently caused. Finally, the young woman knocked the male on the head, and he pirouetted gracefully before falling down on his great belly, landing right in front of me. I crawled over to him, and then on top of him, attempting to peer into his face. He waited until I was in the perfect spot, and then whoosh! He swept me up into the air and tickled my sides.

The young woman had noticed my mother standing there, and she touched her companion softly on the shoulder. He blushed as they both headed over to my mother, handing me over with a bow and a whispered apology. She shook her head and promptly invited them over for dinner.

I cannot say for certain if that is the moment that I knew I was going to be a monk, or if it happened later. All I know is that for as long as I can remember, I loved monks and everything they stood for. I would watch them for hours practicing their katas, flowing effortlessly from stance to stance, and I would frequently mimic them. Junyoo, the young lady monk, would teach me when she had time away from her duties. She would always tell me that this must be in my blood somewhere, for I picked it up with ease. This praise never failed to make my chest swell with pride.

One day, when I was about ten years old, the old master came down to see the countryside, and he stopped in our village. I did not see him walk up, he was so quiet and I was concentrating on my forms so completely. When Junyoo and I were finished, soft applause reached my ears. I whirled around, and wondered who this old man was.

"Ah, Junyoo, I see you have a young pupil here." The old man said, and walked forward with a small smile on his muzzle.

"Master Shang! He is from the village, I only teach him once I am done, with my chores, it really is no..." Her voice rose from her bowed figure.

"There is no harm in this, child. This helps you become part of the village, and that is why you are sent out here. I am not here to stop this. Just to watch." He walked up, leaning heavily on a cane. "Ahhh," he said as he looked into my eyes. I trembled with emotion- pride, fear, nervousness that I would be found unworthy. "Such strength, such fire! You will go far, young pandaren, but the path of the monk is not for you. You will walk another path."

I was crushed. All of my hard work, all of my time, and I did not even pass this simplest of tests. Master Shang must have seen a dimming of the spark in my eyes, for he was quick to jump back in. "Oh no! Do not take this amiss! Continue your training, for it will help you find what your path is. And while your path will be different than Junyoo's here, that does not make it any less important or any easier. I hope to see you again, young pandaren."

With that, he walked on up the path. Junyoo gave me a last glance, filled with sadness, before heading up the path after her master. I stood there for some time, the sunlight turning golden around me, my eyes filling with useless tears. Not a monk! No, that path wasn't for me! I sniffled and shuffled in the dirt.

"Do not worry, I think I have a plan for you." A paw clapped me firmly on the shoulder. I looked up to see a smile on the face of Junyoo's partner, the male named Akyong.

"B-But why would you waste your time on one such as I? One who w-will never be a..." I started to sniffle, feeling worthless.

"Bah, do not worry about that. Monk or not, it will be your chi that guides you, and I can help you with that." The smile disappeared, replaced with a grave look. "It will be hard work, however, and is definitely not something to be taken up lightly." He dropped to one knee, looking me straight in the eye, his russet and cream fur ruffled by a passing breeze. "Do you still wish this?"

I nodded, although part of me wondered what game he was playing. What could I do? There was no space in my soul for any dreams other than the dream of being a monk, and now I was to just pick up and do something else? Just like that?

"We will begin tomorrow. Meet me here at dawn." With that, he stood and walked off towards the small monastery where he and Junyoo lived.

Ah, the work that followed! It was hard, to be sure. I grew steadily, practicing my forms and eating plenty, developing the broad shoulders and large belly common amongst my people. My parents beamed with pride. But no matter how hard I worked with Akyong, I still had no inkling of what I was to do with my life. My parents trained my sister in the ways of running the dumpling shop, so I was not needed there. I helped out around the monastery, doing odd chores to help repay the kindness shown to me by the monks, and quietly despaired.

Then came the fire. To this day I am unsure whether it was simple carelessness, or young cubs playing with dangerous items that were beyond their control, but regardless of what caused it, my neighbor's house, Li's house, burst into flames one day.

Akyong yelled at me to get some buckets filled with water and get down there as fast as possible. Junyoo was already hard at work, trying to organize a water line and keeping the crowds at bay. I came back around the corner in time to see Akyong dump two burnt and dazed cubs on the street before running back in to the conflagration. Time slowed down as I ran for the house, working hard to keep the water in the buckets.

It seemed like an eternity before Akyong burst from the house, supporting Li with one arm. He walked her to the road before collapsing, a small smile on his face. Junyoo dove to his side, and I worked hard at organizing the line, getting everyone to start passing up water to douse the fire.

The fire was eventually put out, but Lady Li's house was destroyed. Her family stayed with us while they rebuilt. And Akyong never awoke. He passed away in that dusty street with that same peaceful smile on his face.

His ceremony was small, and Master Shang came for it. He said some words that I don't remember, too numbed by my loss to pay them any mind. The great red bear had been my friend. Junyoo held my hand, that I remember. Her grief was like a cloud that clung to her, shrouding her usually happy soul in misery.

After everyone had departed to eat, drink, and remember, I headed off to the courtyard of the monastery. Flowing through my katas, I felt my chi building inside of me, like a great scream of sorrow desperate to get out. I moved from form to form, feeling my paws going numb from the cold. As I finished the kata, I thrust my paws out, letting loose all of my gathered chi, and much to my surprise a great lance of ice shot forth, freezing a pot filled with rainwater that had been left out.

"So you see. You are not meant to be a monk, oh no. You are meant for something different, something amazing. Akyong would be proud of you this day. And I would like you to come to my monastery to complete your training." The soft voice startled me. I turned to see Master Shang standing there, that small smile tinged by sadness. I bowed, accepting his invitation.

And the rest, as they say, is history.