lonewolfprincess | The Last Wudai Quest, Chapter Four

The Dragons watched the moon climb higher into the sky from underneath the lantern-lit pagoda, lounging on borrowed pillows, replete from the potluck. … Well, mostly replete. Teenage appetites demanded they snag the last remains of the mooncakes and a pot of osmanthus tea to set on the table behind them.

“Mm!” Omi took another slice of a Water snowskin mooncake, not caring how the black sesame paste encasing the lotus seed moon stained his mouth. “I must thank you again for your efforts, Mia. These mooncakes are most delicious!”

Mia chuckled as she patted his head. “Thanks, kid.” A soft sigh. “Wanted to do something for all six of us, plus the classic lotus seed and duck yolk one. Glad they landed.”

“Well of course they landed.” Clay cut his Earth one in half with his whittling knife, revealing a peanut butter moon buried in a triple chocolate sky inside the glossy pastry. He held out half to the chef. “You’re a mighty fine cook, and you put a whole lot of thought and work into this.”

Mia blinked at him, face burning in the moonlight as she casually reached for the mooncake, failing miserably to ignore the brush of their fingers, or the way her hand and brow still tingled hours later.

“Thaaank you?” She just… gingerly set the half on her plate, quietly asking the Fang permission before using it to cut her own marionberry and peach Moon-cake in half to hand him as surreptitiously as possible.

Everyone just smirked and rolled their eyes.

“Mm!” Tori swallowed her five kernels and salted caramel Sun slice. “Yup, I’d say today was perfect! Lots of tasty food, awesome quests and tons of cool new powers, and kicking Jack Spicer butt without a single Shen Gong Wu lost!”

Everyone nodded and murmured agreements. … Raimundo’s smile was muted though, palpably quiet as he turned his gaze back to the moon.

“Just… be careful, okay, girls?” He shook his head, fiddling with the Wind cake in his hand. “I don’t like that Wuya went swimming through your head like that. Usually means she’s up to something nasty.”

Oh... Now the Shoku Warriors saw the shadows in Raimundo’s eyes. Near exactly two years ago, Wuya had pulled the same trick on him, and began to pull him into the dark. They wondered how deeply visions of the Heylin Comet lingered too.

“Hey.” Kimiko gently slugged his shoulder with her free hand, raising an eyebrow at him, voice soft and firm. “We’re all a lot stronger now, tonight proved it. We’ve all got their backs… and yours.”

Raimundo’s face softened in surprise, especially as her hand rested easily on top of his, her other hand haughtily popping a slice of Fire mooncake in her mouth. But then his smile warmed, and he quietly squeezed her fingers back.

“Thanks…” A light sigh. “Okay, yeah, enough moping.” He reached over to snatch a slice of Fire over Kimiko’s mock protests and popped it in before she could stop him, the tender pastry and the brown-sugar sweet earthiness of the red anko mellowing the flare of ginger from the white anko moon. It went well with the rich, sweet and tart coconut and passionfruit custards in his. “Who’s up for some cards?”

A chorus of cheers rose up, and they gathered around the table, a round of rock paper scissors to decide the style.

Jack slumped across his worktable.

“This is the second-worst Moon Festival ever,” he whined, not forgetting to count the year Wuya ditched him for Mala Mala Jong and then succeeded in taking over the world without him. “The Xiaolin Losers are all stronger now, I got my butt handed to me worse than usual, no new Shen Gong Wu, and worst of all, no mooncakes!” He groaned into the tabletop. “From now on, I’m planning the raids.”

Wuya snickered in a tone that sent chills up Jack’s spine.

“Quite the opposite, Master. I got exactly what we needed.”

Jack raised a brow at her. “Okay… Are you talking about possessing the wolf girl?”

“Indeed!” Wuya rubbed her ghostly hands together. “My true goal was to gather information from her, and I found out some delicious details!”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Like how the cheeseball, the hick, and Kimiko were on a quest and ten minutes away from coming back and kicking our butts? Sure, whatever makes you feel better.” He slumped against the desk again. “Unless those ‘delicious details’ include her mooncake recipes, sounds like the only thing you accomplished was ticking her and everyone else off, Wuya.”

Wuya shook her head, a sickle grin spreading on her lips. “Jack, Jack, Jack… I wasn’t interested in the Wudai Warriors’ quest at all.”

The antifreeze tone chilled Jack again. “You weren’t?”

“Of course not.” Her chuckle bubbled like hot tar. “What I was looking for were names. Names which I acquired successfully, and you can search for. And now… we can begin our plan in earnest.”

Her chuckle slowly grew, and so did the knot in Jack’s chest and stomach.