"I don't want to lie to you."

Aurora looked up from her cup of tea and glanced across the fire at Mulan. As far as she could remember, Mulan hadn't spoken more than a few words in the week they'd been wandering together, so she was shocked by hearing the other woman's voice.

"Philip and I," Mulan started, stirring the fire with a stick. She looked up at Aurora, showing the first sign of emotion since they'd witnessed Philip's death.

"I knew it." Aurora pulled her shawl tighter around her. She'd seen the way Philip looked at Mulan. It was almost like how he'd always looked at her, but there was something different. For her, it was romance. For Mulan, it was something else altogether.

Mulan shook her head. "Before you get angry, let me finish." Aurora arched an eyebrow but stayed silent. "He loved you more than anything, Aurora. He never stopped looking for you. I was just convenient." She looked even sadder than she had when she started. "I'm so sorry."

Aurora forced herself to take a breath, her jaw clenching. It was all she could do not to throw her cup at the other woman. "I wish you'd told me this sooner so I wouldn't have bothered missing him," she huffed.

Mulan stood up, but instead of walking away she circled the fire to sit beside Aurora. She tried to take the princess's hand, but Aurora yanked it away. "He wasn't a perfect man. But he was your true love. Doesn't that count for something?"

"Are you sure he wasn't yours instead?" Aurora grumbled, folding her arms tightly across her chest.

Mulan shrugged. "He never kissed me. What he had with you was so pure, so beautiful. He didn't want to waste any of that kind of love on me."

Aurora relaxed slightly, turning to look at the woman beside her. "If he didn't even kiss you, why are you making me listen to all of this? Nothing happened." She drained the last of her tea and set her cup down.

"I loved him," Mulan said, her voice hardly more than a whisper. "And because I loved him I let him treat me like his whore." This time, when she reached for Aurora's hand, the princess relented.

She knew what Mulan was implying, even though she didn't know the details. She'd never been married, after all. But she knew that there were things men did with women, shameful things. "At least your true love is still out there," she said, giving Mulan's hand a squeeze. "You'll find him someday."

Mulan felt lighter as their days together turned into weeks. After her initial outburst, Aurora was kind, if a little bratty. It was almost as if they were friends, Mulan supposed. She'd never had many female friends, or many friends in general, and knowing that there was someone who walked close to her and asked her questions was surprisingly pleasant. Once they'd been on the road almost a month, Mulan found herself wishing that they'd never find others. They could keep on like this, wandering through the beautiful forest, making their little meals of whatever animals Mulan could catch and any herbs and roots Aurora dug up. The days were getting colder, and Mulan would often awake to find that Aurora had unconsciously curled against her in sleep, seeking her warmth.

As they trudged through the first snow flurry of the year, Aurora had her usual argument with herself over whether to ask Mulan the question that had been eating away at her since their fireside conversation weeks before. The other woman looked deep in thought, and Aurora considered leaving her alone before blurting out, "What did Philip do to you?"

Mulan looked up, startled. "Aurora…"

The princess blushed. "I've heard rumors about those kinds of things, I just don't really know." She pulled her shawl tight against the wind.

"One day, you'll fall in love with someone who will love you back, and he'll show you," Mulan said after a pause. "Don't settle for anything less than that."

Aurora nodded. "I'm sorry he hurt you," she finally said after a long silence. They were hard words to say. She'd spent so long nursing her own wounded feelings, but the longer she spent with Mulan, the more she realized that the sadness was mutual.

"I shouldn't have let him," Mulan replied, suddenly grabbing Aurora's arm and pointing off into a grove of trees. "There's a cottage. We can stay there until the snow blows over."

Aurora followed quietly. The cottage was cold and abandoned, but the princess was relieved to see that it had both a fireplace and a bed. She shivered, looking out the window at the snowfall, while Mulan built a fire with the long-abandoned pile of logs. Mulan stripped off the heavy armor that she was regretting more and more each day. Aurora pulled a chair close to the fire, then paused and moved a second one for the other woman. Mulan smiled gratefully as she sat down.

They fell into another silence. Many nights they could sit together for hours without even needing to talk, but their earlier conversation lingered in the air, making every moment uncomfortable. Finally Mulan spoke, keeping her gaze on the fire. "There are things one does to conceive a child," she explained, her voice just above the crackling logs. "Or for pleasure. Philip and I were obviously together for the latter reason."

Aurora nodded, loosening her hold on her shawl and letting it slip from her bare shoulders.

"I loved him," she continued, "but he never once kissed me. No one has. And now that I've given myself up, no one ever will."

"True love is out there," Aurora replied emphatically. "Yours won't care about Philip. When he kisses you, all that will go away. You'll be pure again."

Mulan couldn't help snorting at that. "So that's what they teach you at princess school? That you can just kiss away all of your mistakes?"

Aurora rolled her eyes, although she was happy to see Mulan smiling. "You know there's no such thing as princess school."

"I'm just surprised that you still believe in all of that true love business after Philip betrayed you." Mulan finally turned to face Aurora.

"You saw what happened. Only true love can break a spell."

"But he wasn't true."

Aurora sighed. "I don't know, Mulan. I'm not an expert in anything. You're the smart one."

"You've certainly got me beat when it comes to fashion," Mulan said, looking down at the plain shirt and pants she wore under her armor. "And kisses, true love or otherwise."

"Well, if there was a decent dress shop left in the land I would take care of that. And it's very easy to catch up on kissing."

Mulan was about to protest, to say something about how there was no one to kiss, when Aurora leaned over from her chair and met her lips. The fire roared, sending out a blast of heat and light, and Mulan understood. There were no spells to be broken, but there was magic in that kiss. When Aurora attempted to pull away, to make sure she hadn't overstepped too badly, Mulan brought her hands up to cup the princess' face and kept her in place. Aurora responded by deepening the kiss, her tongue teasing at Mulan's lips until she was granted access to explore her mouth. Mulan finally broke away, out of breath, and she watched as Aurora slowly opened her eyes and grinned.

"What if Philip isn't your true love?" Mulan asked timidly. She didn't want to admit to the heat she'd felt, the magic, until she knew it was mutual. All she knew for certain was that Philip had never made her heart race like that.

"It's a possibility," Aurora replied. "A very strong possibility."

The women slept in each other's arms on the narrow bed that night. Mulan was comfortable as she'd never been with Philip. Aurora, waking up with strong arms around her, felt as safe as she ever had. She stayed in bed, reveling in the warmth, until Mulan stirred and lightly kissed the nape of her neck.

Mulan got up despite Aurora's grumbling and fed another log to the fire. The snow had kept coming all night, so she fished some of their remaining apples and nuts out of her bag and set them on the table. When she looked back at the bed, Aurora was propped up on an elbow watching her. "Come back," she said, slightly whiny but not as much as usual. "I'm cold."

There was a time when Mulan might have rolled her eyes at that, but she couldn't stop smiling. Aurora hadn't been selfish last night. She'd been sweet and even brave. And now, with her hair a little messy and her cheeks flushed from the cold, Mulan could see why Philip had loved her so much. She hated him in that moment more than she ever had.

Aurora moved over to make room for the other woman. Mulan sat on the edge of the bed, just looking at the princess. She wanted to say something about the night before, but the idea that Aurora might have kissed her as a joke lingered in her mind.

But then Aurora put an arm around Mulan's waist and kissed her again. The thrill was still there, almost stronger than before.

"This is really different," Aurora said when they paused to allow Mulan to get completely onto the bed.

"Different?" Mulan asked.

"Than Philip."

Mulan forced herself to meet Aurora's eyes. "Different," she said again.

Aurora smiled slightly. "I didn't feel him like I feel you," she admitted.

Mulan had always been good at hiding her emotions, but Aurora was looking at her so honestly that she couldn't help tearing up. They kissed again, deeply, and Aurora reached up to undo Mulan's hair. She combed her fingers through it, and when Mulan sat up it flowed long around her shoulders.

"It's like I was always half asleep before," Aurora said.

Mulan bit her lip, looking down at Aurora. "Same here," she whispered. She'd loved Philip desperately during their time together, but this was entirely different. Philip had never once looked at her like that, like she was everything.

Aurora pulled her down for another kiss. Mulan shifted position, one knee between Aurora's legs so she could have better leverage. She didn't mean to press against Aurora and immediately pulled back, but not before the princess let out a squeak.

"Sorry, love."

Aurora blushed, bringing her hand up to brush Mulan's cheek. "It's okay." It had felt a little thrilling, and she couldn't hold back a grin. Mulan had told her, hadn't she, that the man who would eventually love her would show her all those things she didn't understand? While Aurora had been waiting for Mulan to wake up that morning, she'd thought about how this, how that kiss, changed everything. Even if the world returned to normal, even if Philip were somehow back to life.

True love's kiss, she'd been told, could cause amazing transformations. And the night before, something had transformed in her.

"I'm not ever going to get married," Aurora said, but her tone was bright.

"It's a shame," Mulan said. "You'd make a beautiful bride."

Aurora shook her head. "I want things like this. I want you."

Mulan leaned down to kiss her again, and Aurora looped her arms around the other woman's neck.

"Will you show me what people do?" the princess whispered into Mulan's ear, staying close both for the intimacy of the moment and so that they wouldn't have to make eye contact while she asked the anxious question. "I mean, is that possible without a man?"

Mulan stayed down against Aurora for the same reasons. "It can't be the same," she said. "But I think we can figure something out." She sat up, and they shared a glance and a blushing smile. Mulan cautiously brought her hand to the laces of Aurora's dress. "Are you sure, Aurora?"

She nodded, and Mulan began to untie the dress.