Nonono

Nonono remembers the jarring cold of a bamboo spear and the scent of cherry blossoms crushed underfoot. It was their last living memory in The Great Panda City. When they awoke, the freezing winds no longer mattered. Their reflection was a stranger—a hollowed face with glowing eyes, marked by the same war paint they’d worn in their final defense of the city’s border. For seasons, they drifted, a ghost among the living, unable to feel the warmth of a teahouse or the camaraderie of the Panda Council's guards. They were a failure, a warrior who could not even die correctly. It was a lost child, shivering in the fog, who gave them purpose. Nonono raised a lantern, guiding the small one back to the city gates without a word. Their new battle is against the darkness.