Root

**Root**, or **Root Risingtree**, was the late father of Leaf, Rain, and Ghost. Root never knew his cubs, as he perished in the Great Flood shortly before their birth.

## History

### *Creatures of the Flood*

Root is seen fleeing the Bamboo Kingdom alongside Orchid during the great flood. The pair are traveling towards the Mountains, when they are confronted by a troop of monkeys. The monkeys blame the pandas for the flood, as they never warned the other animals in advance, as it is their Dragon Speaker's job to do so. Root declares that the pandas did not know about the flood anymore than the monkeys did. However, the monkeys do not believe the mated pair, so they attack Root. Orchid tires to help her mate, but he is knocked out of the tree that he is holding onto by the monkeys, and washed away by the flooded river. Devastated by the loss of her mate, Orchid secretly hopes that the monkeys come after her as well, but they do not. When a voice reminds Orchid that she is not alone, Orchid briefly wonders if it is the voice of her mate before moving on. Root is indirectly mentioned, when Peony states that Rain's father drowned. Rain thinks about how much she loved Root despite not having a chance to meet him and missed him dearly.
Root is brought up again during a heated discussion between Rain and Pebble, regarding Sunset's intentions. Although Rain states that her suspicions regarding Sunset are supported by her observations of the latter, Pebble stubbornly refuses to believe his best friend, claiming that she does not know what it is like to lose kin. But Rain reminds Pebble that she lost her own father to the flood before her birth. Rain states that, even though she never knew her father, she knows how Pebble feels about the lost of his loved ones, and informs him that she wished she got to know her father before his death. Pebble remains optimistic that his mother and elder brother, Stone, who had also perished in the flood, might be still alive, and he suggests that Root (Unnamed) might be alive as well. However, Rain remains pessimistic, not because she wants Root, or Pebble's kin, to be dead, but rather because she is convinced that Root and Pebble's relatives would have found their way back to their home and loved ones by now.
Back in the Mountains, Root is indirectly mentioned by his son, Ghost, when the later asks Winter the identities of his birth parents.
Winter is unable to tell her adopted son or her own cubs anything about Ghost's blood relatives as, neither Root, nor Orchid, were with Ghost when Winter found him. Winter explains that, when she found Ghost, he was all alone, with no parents to protect him. After Frost and Snowstorm disown Ghost, Shiver follows her adopted brother, due in part that she still regards the panda as kin, regardless of who or what the latter's real parents are.
In *River of Secrets,* Peony reveals his identity to Rain when she tells the latter about her true origins. There Peony acknowledges Root as Orchid's mate rather than her own.
### *River of Secrets*

When Rain spots skeletal remains of animals in the river, she mentally notes that some of the bones belonged to her father.
Rain then stops thinking about her father as Root wouldn't want his daughter to lament over his demise when the latter has an urgent mission to complete.
Root is mention when Peony tells Rain that she is in fact adopted. Peony reveals that Root was the name of Rain's father. However Root was not Peony's mate but Orchid's. Peony explains that Root was killed when a troop of monkeys knocked him into the flooded river below, forcing Orchid to give birth to Rain and her littermates following the death of Root. Before Rain revealed that she and her littermates were destined to become Dragon Speakers, Peony stated that she initially thought that Orchid gave her cubs up because the latter was too traumatized by Root's death to pay time or interest in raising their litter.

### *Journey to the Dragon Mountain*

After Rain acknowleges Dusk's role in causing the Great Flood she informs the latter that Root (Unnamed) was among the death toll.

## Family

* **Mate**: Orchid
* **Daughters**: Leaf, Rain
* **Son**: Ghost