Wind and weather had made its journey a hard one, and even though it kept being pushed back, the animal continued its flight dutifully. The bird reached the building heavily panting and dropped upon the sill. It made some strangled squeaking noises before collapsing, right on the spot. The unusual sounds had caught the attention of a certain red dragon that up to that point had been involved in a heated discussion with the spirits of the Fa Ancestors' temple. All too glad at the chance to break away from that he moved over to the worn pigeon with an expectant look on his face.
"Do you have…?"
The bird, lifting a single wing to hush the reptile, gasped for breath and removed a few scrolls from his leg, handing them over to Mushu who accepted them with a beaming grin. Leaving the messenger be for now the late guardian leaped upon his pedestal in an all too chipper mood and almost mockingly waved the scrolls around, to regain the ancestors' attention.
"Fanpost," he chimed and went to inspect the first scroll.
Fa Zhou stared at the bag in bewilderment, one eyebrow quizzically raised. He looked up at the man not finding the need to verbalize his question.
'Why?'
"I need one," the man explained himself, "Is it too little? Do you want me to increase the offer?"
The old man pulled back sharply, staring at the young bearded stranger. The prize he had offered was immense already, it would keep his family well-fed for quite a few months, but…
"Sir…," Zhou turned back to the small man and returned the offered goods, "maybe some other time."
From the looks of it, the person in question needed the money more than what they were asking for. All in all, the late family father could not understand the sudden strange requests that had been coming in anyway.
"What were you talking about?" Mulan questioned as she entered the scene, keeping her eye on the man, still as he disappeared around the corner of the gate.
"Ask your grandmother." Fa Zhou cut his response short, "She has a better grip on these kinds of things than I do."
The girl stood still as she watched her father limp back into the house and fixed her eyes on the Ancestors' temple, a curious eyebrow raised.
"Grandma?" she asked softly as she entered the small building. There the old woman in question had been silently muttering a mantra in mid of some burning incense. When her grandchild had gotten as close as to look over her shoulder, the woman turned to greet the child with an enthusiastic and wide grin.
"Yes, dear?"
Mulan examined the ground she had covered before with a mix of confusion and suspicion.
"Grandma, what are you doing?"
"Hush, child…" the woman cooed, putting a silencing finger on her lips, "the ancestors are debating."
Heeding her grandmother's words, the young woman kneeled down next to her, giving the elder an inquiring look.
"What about?" Mulan asked softly.
"Who's made the best offer for the dragon."
If just for a moment, the young woman felt like the world could have stopped turning, staring at her grandmother in shock and when she came to again, one of the bags had toppled over, releasing some golden coins that rolled on over the stony ground.
The strange happening was immediately followed by a loud whooping sound from above and a by far too cheerful – familiar – voice.
"I'm worth a bag of go~old, I'm worth a bag of go~old…"
A big smile formed on the Granny's face, she picked up the bag – hugged Mulan – and left the temple.
Mulan was left stunned for a second, a slight frown growing on her face. If neither her father nor granny were willing to give her an answer, then she still certainly knew of someone who would; whether he liked it or not.
"Mushu!" she bellowed firmly and the dragon on his pedestal, although she couldn't see it, winced to a stop.
"Stables! Now!"
"It's a – bag – of – GOLD, girl!" the dragon insisted, "Come on – this is awesome! How come ya aren't happy for me?"
"I can't," Mulan responded to his optimism, nothing short of… was that… spite?
"Because, you know," she continued maybe a little louder than she would have liked "I was… had been wondering if I could have possibly inherited you."
Thoughtful lip-tapping ensued until finally… "You know, when you put it like that indeed sounds bad." His conclusion made, the dragon stopped his pondering gesture and instead carefully looked at Mulan, suddenly feeling like it'd be the last time he'd see her… and why did she have to look so… angry? "Geez, girl! Why do you do this? Now I feel bad!" And there he'd been so excited about never having to see Fa Deng again!
"Well, it's not my fault," Mulan recoiled the argument. The dragon, confused shifted awkwardly. He hardly recalled the young woman ever being in such a huff, and to be on the receiving end of it… Mushu suddenly felt like he had to mend this somehow.
"You know this money will assure your parents a good life. Ol' Zhou can't work, your Mom is busy with the housekeeping and your grandmother is basically half an ancestor already." What could he say? It was true. Who would she be to deny it? "They need that money." It was the one last… sacrifice that he would make if he'd even dare say so. He didn't pay attention to whether or not Mulan was going to respond and instead rambled on, chatting away, surely something that he would come up with would be of a sound reason convince… not only Mulan. "You're gonna have a good life, I know! And you won't need me anymore."
Mushu grew a big fake smile on his face, the ears perking up in false enthusiasm, though his tail kept lashing about nervously. "And I – I can make it big, I can make a career. You are the hero of China, the ancestors out there are killing each other all over again about me!"
Yeah, that sounded good, didn't it? So this was where the dragon stopped with his attitude restored and hopeful.
"Is that all?" was the only response he would get, bitter and disappointed. His façade cracked, Mushu's ears drooped helplessly.
"Of course," her guardian resigned for a moment, "I'm gonna miss you, sweetheart."
As there was no notable response coming, Mushu, despite himself, began to panic. He couldn't take the silent treatment, not now! So he tried to break the silence with a chuckle, as broken as it was.
"Ain't it funny how things change?"
Mulan raised a tired eyebrow at him. She felt dejected. Ignored. Left Out. How did Mushu even dare to make such a decision without consulting her first… and then try to vindicate it?
"One day I'm an incense burner and puff, I'm a guardian again – and for a whole new family too…" Not like any of that vindication was helping the matter anyway.
"And you…" the dragon still rambled on, more or less absentminded by this point, "you're gonna marry a general," he trailed off when the words came to a full realisation, "I'd say that's a huge jump from disgrace and warrior all the same!"
"Mushu!" Mulan cuffed him over the head in a playful manner; now however, a sneaky smile was present on her lips, "Thank, you!"
"Never mind it," Mushu complained as he rubbed his head. He tried to glance up if he could spot a bump maybe, but naturally failed at it and turned to scowl at Mulan instead, "It's all you anyway," he huffed. He knew that he owed that girl so much; everything when it came down to it… even if he would never admit that out-loud.
Mulan could swear she almost choked at the lump in her throat and immediately went back into a slumping position. "Don't say that."
"No, for real!" the dragon insisted, now slightly panicky. He'd been so relieved at seeing her smile just then, that the guardian hadn't thought that it would upset her like that. "Just imagine you could have died out there… or no! Don't! I really don't wanna know the next level of Gong duty…"
Before the dragon could go on and fix that mess he was riding himself into, he found himself lifted up by a hand and the next thing he felt was… clothing… warm fabric rubbing against his scales, a beating heart and the hot breath of a discouraged sigh from above. Unspoken words lingered in the air, as silent tears crept down female cheeks and Mushu didn't know what to do.
The dragon gulped and first slightly, then firmly clawed into Mulan's arm, afraid she would fade away if he didn't. But Mulan wasn't a ghost… and she'd never be going to be wherever he would end up at. That was… well…
For all he was worth materially, all the gold in the world that stroked his ego – he'd never thought that saying goodbye like this would be so hard.
If he was worth his weight in gold – he felt like a feather could have pulled him down.
"Mushu," she cooed and a shiver went down his spine as he looked up, though he couldn't catch a glimpse of her face. "You're priceless." And she was certain to convince her parents of that somehow.