By their third lesson, Chien-Po had mostly overcome his fear of being in the water and was progressing quickly through the strokes she had to teach him. He was still struggling to learn what Mulan called 'The Lotus Stroke', which relied upon bringing one's hands together like a prayer before thrusting the arms up and outwards to propel the swimmer forward, all while ducking the head under the water. Ling especially had excelled under Mulan's tutelage, and now mostly showed off and offered moral support to Yao and Chien-Po.
In all other areas of their training, however, Mulan was falling behind. Staying up late several nights a week caused her sleep schedule to suffer, and most days she barely dragged herself through training. Though each day was a struggle, she took solace in the fact that the rest of the soldiers were going through the same thing. There was a growing kinship between them, a we're all in this together mentality, a feeling that was even more pronounced during her lessons with Chien-Po, Ling, and Yao.
Mulan found herself enjoying the trio's company more and more as time went on, and their pranks now blurred the line between malicious and mischievous. During cannon practice, Ling slyly kicked out the supports beneath Mulan's cannon, forcing her to grab for it at the last second, but not before sending it on a path directly toward Chi Fu's tent. Mulan sustained tiny powder burns like deep black freckles over her hands and face, and try as she might, she couldn't scrub them away. Worse yet, Chi Fu knew exactly who to blame for the destruction of his tent, and shot withering glances her way every chance he got. Ling seemed to realize he had crossed an unspoken boundary, and apologized so profusely that night Mulan finally dunked him under the water to shut him up.
Captain Li had now started trainings at night, which meant swimming lessons had been put on hold. But after a particularly grueling session during which Yao had taken a flaming arrow to the buttocks, Mulan met the trio down by the water and stopped in her tracks. Yao had his trousers pulled down around his ankles, arms crossed over his chest, while Chien-Po dabbed a pungent paste onto his friend's left butt cheek. Yao gritted his teeth and hissed with each touch.
"Uh . . ." Mulan said. "You know, we don't have to have a lesson tonight; I'm sure all of us could use some rest. I'm just gonna go -"
"Ping, wait! Stay," said Ling. "Please." It was starting to get annoying how apologetic Ling was after the cannon incident.
Mulan considered her options. It wasn't as if she had to look at Yao. She nodded and came to sit cross-legged beside Ling. Pointedly looking out at the water, Mulan exhaled and closed her eyes. She felt more relaxed than she had in weeks.
"Ow!" bellowed Yao, and Mulan and Ling turned to look. The shorter man had leapt away, holding a hand firmly over his bare ass. "Thank you!" he growled at Chien-Po, yanking up the waistband of her trousers and stalking over to lie down on his belly beside the others, pulling fistfuls of reeds up by the bank to vent his frustration. Mulan and Ling glanced at each other and snickered. Yao didn't sound very grateful, but they knew better.
"What is that?" Mulan asked curiously as Chien-Po tucked the small pot of paste back into his pocket.
"A paste made from lavender, tea tree essence, and cypress oil," said Chien-Po serenely. "It promotes healing."
"That's amazing," Mulan said.
"It reminds me of home," said Chien-Po. Something in his voice was wistful.
Something occurred to Mulan. "Were you an herbalist? Before the army?"
Chien-Po nodded.
"I didn't know," Mulan said, shaking her head. It was hard to imagine any of them as anything but the context in which they had met. She looked around at Ling and Yao. "What about you two?"
"Bricklayer," Yao grunted. "Damn good one too."
"Yeah, except for when you were getting in bar fights," Ling muttered.
"Why don't you tell Ping what you were doing before the army, then?" Yao said hotly.
Ling looked away, a flush creeping up his neck. "I was . . . unemployed," he muttered. "But it wasn't entirely my fault! I mean, how was I supposed to know the beautiful woman I was wooing was the boss's wife?"
"Maybe the fact that she was in the boss's office should have been a clue!"
Despite the softness of his voice, Chien-Po easily spoke over the bickering pair. "What about you, Ping? What was your trade before the war?"
"Me? Oh, uh . . ." Mulan wracked her brain for the most plausible occupation she could think of. She remembered waking up the day the notices had arrived, eating a leisurely breakfast of rice porridge and taking notes on the inside of her forearm. "I was a scribe."
Ling and Yao whistled as one. "A scribe!" said Yao. "I suppose you think you're hot stuff, then."
Mulan shook her head vigorously. "N-no -"
"You mean like Mr. 'My-Face-Looks-Like-a-Baboon's-Rear-End?'" Ling crowed, referring to Chi Fu, and the three men roared with laughter. Mulan smiled, but it quickly faded. Thinking of her life before brought back thoughts of home . . . and her father. It seemed the conversation had a similar effect on Ling.
"I wasn't even supposed to be here," he said, his earlier mirth forgotten. "The conscription notice has my older brother's name on it, but he's . . . he's sick. Maybe dying. I couldn't let him go."
"It is a brave thing, then, what you've done by coming here," Chien-Po said solemnly.
Mulan teetered on the edge of revealing too much. Keeping her secret had become a blurred line in the time she spent with Chien-Po, Ling, and Yao. The decision was made for her, however, when Yao turned to her and said, "Oy, Ping, wasn't your da some kind of war hero?"
She nodded and looked down at her hands. "He was injured during his time in the army, but he was determined to keep me at home . . . keep me safe. I stole the notice from his bedside and rode out in the night." That was close enough to the truth. She was surprised to feel Ling's hand on her shoulder.
"We'll bring honor to our families, Ping," he said reassuringly. "We'll make 'em proud."
Yao's voice cut over the still surface of the water. "Oy! Are we gonna swim, or what?"
Ling jumped up immediately and splashed through the shallows. "Last one in's a pickled duck egg!"
Mulan smiled.
The moon had already nearly reached its zenith by the time the four returned to camp, shaking water out of their ears. The silhouette of the post that rose from the center of the camp struck them, and they paused to gaze up at it. The arrow embedded at the top was barely visible in the darkness.
"Do you think anyone will ever get to the arrow?" Mulan asked.
The question quieted them all, and no one answered.
As they headed off to their tents, they didn't notice their commander on the ridge overlooking the camp, watching everything.
Several days later, the squad set off at dawn on a grueling ruck march over the rough terrain surrounding the Wu-Zhong camp. Less than an hour into the march Mulan knew this might be her last day in the army. Wheezing, she fell steadily behind until she was trailing the group by a full furlong. Her muscles cramped until no matter how much she willed them to move, they just would not obey. She fell to her knees, the staff bearing her gear clattering to the ground. Mulan's stomach roiled, and she retched up her breakfast before passing out.
She roused briefly as the weight of her burden was lifted from her, and she lifted her head to see Captain Li stacking her gear over his own, his expression grim. Her cheek was sticky with half-digested porridge, her entire body coated with dust and dried sweat. But no matter how bad her physical discomfort was, nothing could be worse than the look Shang had given her. It haunted her even as she lost herself to oblivion once more.
"We can't just leave him there," Ling protested when they had finished their march and returned to camp. He was bent double, supporting his hands on his knees, which were as wobbly as limp noodles.
"We have to go back," Yao agreed. "Ping would do the same for any of us."
Chien-Po nodded, looking over his shoulder. "We mustn't be seen. I believe the Captain wished to teach Ping a lesson."
"That's insane," said Ling.
Privately Chien-Po agreed. It was far too similar to the lesson he himself had been expected to learn during their first post-jumping exercise in the lake.
The sun had long since dipped beneath the horizon by the time they set on the same track they had taken that morning. No sooner had the camp disappeared behind the shadow of the ridge did a thoroughly downtrodden Mulan come around the corner, dragging her feet.
"Ping," Chien-Po said, his soft voice echoing down the canyon.
Mulan glanced up briefly. She wanted to cry, but she didn't. She swallowed down the burning in the back of her throat and fixed her eyes on her toes as she pointedly made to go around her friends. She didn't trust herself to speak. She couldn't look at them, afraid to see the disappointment she felt so keenly upon their faces. She had let them down, and she had let herself down. And maybe that was the worst of it.
Yao caught her arm before she could pass them. She looked back at him expectantly. He felt like a dog that had chased its tail and finally caught it - to his surprise. Yao said nothing.
"We came to make sure you were alright," Ling said. "Captain rode you hard today."
Mulan managed half a smile. After all, they had come back for her. "Don't worry about me."
Mulan had few belongings to pack up in her tent, but she folded everything as neatly as she could, rolled up her sleeping mat, and gathered up her father's armor. It would be for the best if she were to return home just as she had left - in the middle of the night. She emerged from her tent and nearly plowed into Captain Li. He wore the same inscrutable scowl as he handed her the reins.
"Go home, Fa Ping," Captain Li said. "You're unsuited for the life of a soldier."
Khan whuffed as Shang walked away. Mulan caught a glimpse of the post in the center of camp as she turned back and paused. Why not? she thought. What do I have left to lose?
She tied Khan's reins to a tree and picked up the weighted medallions at the base of the pole.
Mulan rode the heady rush of victory into the next week. After her success in retrieving the arrow, she found herself newly respected among her peers - even Captain Li looked at her differently. His expression often held a certain awe, as if he were proud of how far she had come. It was a look that caused Mulan to blush whenever he glanced her way, much to her chagrin.
With this renewed confidence, Mulan reached a turning point in her training. Her achievements were contagious - the other soldiers saw her progress and realized they, too, were capable of more. Their drills began to repeat - dodging flaming arrows, cannon practice, fishing with their bare hands - and as such the dreaded post-jumping balance exercise was scheduled once more.
The night before, Mulan met Chien-Po down by the water. "Are you nervous?" she asked.
Chien-Po shook his head, smiling. "Not anymore."
Mulan grinned and thought she felt a bit of what the Captain must feel when he looked at her. "Then tomorrow will be just like tonight. We're all behind you." She paused. "Speaking of which, where are Ling and Yao?"
"They drew extra kitchen duty," Chien-Po said. "Recruit Qiu happened to comment on your delicate features, and Yao took it upon himself to rearrange Qiu's face."
"And Ling?"
"Ling held him down."
"Oh," Mulan said, frowning. "They didn't need to do that."
Chien-Po shrugged. "It is how they show they care. Fortunately, you and I are above such displays of masculinity."
Mulan nodded as they waded into the water. Before they began warming up, however, the rustle of clothing and loud footsteps drew their attention. Mulan plucked a reed from the shoreline and thrust it into Chien-Po's hands, shoving his head under the water. It was a mark of how far he had come in their lessons and how thoroughly he trusted her that he did not resurface, breathing through the reed. Mulan splashed her way back up onto the bank just as Chi Fu came into view. He stopped dead.
"I should have known it would be you," he sneered as he closed the distance between them.
Chi Fu's fingers, cold and cruel, clamped down on Mulan's forearm so hard she stifled a gasp. She'd have bruises tomorrow.
Chien-Po broke the surface of the lake after it stilled and watched Chi Fu drag his friend back to camp by the arm. Ping had known exactly what being caught would mean - a visit to the captain's tent - and had taken the fall for him. Now all of Chien-Po's friends were in trouble of one sort or another, and he was powerless to help them. All he could do now was continue what the four of them had started. Chien-Po made his way to the first post, where the exercise would start, and pulled himself up on top of it.
He jumped.