Period 1 – Deng
Day 6
Spunky as ever Mushu scurried over his still-sleeping guarded one.
"Good morning sunshine," he chirped playfully and splashed some water from a small bottle at the soldier, who got up with a disapproving grump.
"I hope you make up for that!"
"I am!" the dragon answered with a big grin and put a bowl of porridge into the man's lap.
Deng raised an eyebrow.
"What is this?"
"It's healthy."
"That's porridge!"
"Yup."
"That's… baby food."
"And you're just acting like one, so I see nothing wrong with this picture."
Deng tilted his head and huffed at the dragon with a jokingly raised eyebrow.
Mushu instead just collegially punched him in the side.
"Trust me. It's better than that stuff you get out there." The dragon hopped from Deng's lap to shove the tent's curtain a little to the side.
"It's sushi for them."
Deng frowned.
"Again?" he pouted.
Mushu silently nodded and then scurried over to his protégé again, putting himself upon the man's shoulder.
"You should be thankful for getting something else today. Besides," The dragon scurried down again, and sent a little flame at the bowl. It was not big enough to actually hurt Deng, yet he didn't expect it and almost dropped the food. Mushu though, averted that and caught the bowl between his skinny arms.
"Your meal is hot."
"I see," Deng answered with a smirk and took the bowl, now gladly.
The soldier poked around in the food sceptically, examining it. Porridge wasn't exactly the best you could eat, and normally he would have probably preferred sushi, but not when he had lived off only sushi for six days the week already. This porridge was decorated with a childish smiley face of eggs and bacon that… looked at him. And it felt weird. This truly was the food of a child.
Even before Deng tasted any, he put the bowl comfortably in his lap and looked over to the dragon who was already busy with something else again. Apparently he was playing around with the tent.
"Say, Mushu," Deng started and the dragon snapped around, his ears pricked attentively.
"Yeah?"
"What do you think you're doing here?"
"Always do your best!" the dragon responded even faster than Deng was used to from his colleagues. "Why?" Mushu added quickly; "Is it too much salt?"
The soldier paused for a moment. Speaking of the ingredients, he didn't even want to know where Mushu had taken them from. The dragon had probably stolen the whole lot from the cook's supply.
And then he remembered his point again.
"No, it's fine," Deng answered, although he hadn't even tasted yet; "I mean, what do you think is your job here?"
A warm smile put itself upon the dragon's features and he chuckled lightly, before he – against his bouncy nature – rather slowly walked over to his guarded one and leaned against one of his legs.
"I'm taking care of you," he said and winked confidently.
He then knocked against the bowl with a knuckle.
"Now eat, before it gets cold again."
Deng rolled his eyes defeated and took a pinch of a sample.
A little moment passed and he took another, now bigger portion.
"This is good!" he suddenly exclaimed, continuing without further nudging.
The dragon smiled approvingly and gave his guarded one a little space. It felt good to be accepted.
-
Mushu's smile turned into stunned surprise as his ears perked up from the sound outside. The training had started already?
Even before Deng could finish his meal, Mushu began to push him. Annoyed, the soldier stopped eating and glanced down at the little reptile behind him.
"What is it this time?"
"Get your pants on! They're starting!"
"Wait, what?" Deng immediately stood up, almost ripping up the small tent in the progress. He rushed into his clothes; Mushu, during this process, hid in one of the soldier's boots. When Deng was about to put on that last item, the dragon scurried up his guarded one's legs and hid under his shirt.
Deng sped out of the tent, looking around. Apparently they were still on schedule. And he had been scared about his reputation. The man, now visibly more relaxed, then walked over to a bunch of people – a small group of four men that soon spotted him as well.
"Deng!"
"We already thought you wouldn't come anymore!"
Mushu curiously peeked out at the group, careful to stay hidden beneath the clothing. Now the dragon had been here for so long, yet he did not know these people; though his guarded one obviously did.
Deng had been very hospitable so far, he and Mushu had gotten along pretty well for a start; yet his guarded one had never bothered to talk about the other soldiers, nor to take the guardian along with him to training. Today was in fact the furthest Mushu had been taken yet, and he couldn't help but think that it was exciting.
Up till now the dragon had spent the previous days since his arrival in cleaning up the tent. He had only joined up with Deng once his guarded one had already been at the camp for a while; consequently his sleeping place had been a mess and while cleaning it out, Mushu had already learned a good deal about his guarded one's character. At least he had believed so – until now.
The reptile jerked up in surprise when one of the men had snuck around Deng, to smack his butt from behind. Deng, apparently gone nuts, laughed and returned the gesture. As they bumped their hips at each other Mushu reflexively dug himself back in, heading for Deng's spine in a groundless struggle. For a short moment, the dragon prayed that no one had seen him, and indeed he had been lucky – a lucky dragon after all.
"So, Deng, gonna kick the kiddies' butts again today?"
"Sure thing," Deng laughed and Mushu relaxed at him not hopping around like a bunny anymore. The dragon made a mental note to ask his guarded one about that later.
"The training starts in about 20 minutes!" another one of the men said. "I dare you to leave us alone with those newcomers!"
"Of course not!" Deng could only manage a broken smile – he had his very own newcomer to attend to. "You go ahead and have fun already, I've still got something to do – but I will come after you guys!"
With this the young man separated from the group and Mushu peeked up from his collar.
"Still got something to do?" the dragon questioned and put himself openly on Deng's shoulder as soon as no one was paying the soldier close attention.
"Well, Mushu," Deng carefully lifted the dragon from his seat; "I really don't need you during my training." As much as the man knew how badly the dragon wanted to learn, if Mushu kept on clinging to him like this he'd be more of a burden than a help.
"So why don't you go look for some friends yourself?"
The soldier then let Mushu to the ground where the dragon crawled from his hand and looked up at his guarded one in silent awe.
Deng frowned for a second.
"If you get bored," he fudged an excuse; "you can wash my clothes."
Mushu silently nodded and then scuttled off towards the tent. Every now and again he stopped for a short moment, making sure that no one saw him, but soon the reptile had disappeared behind the cloth of the tent.
Deng stood still for a moment. He knew that he was Mushu's only company for now, but as much as he approved of the dragon's optimism, Deng didn't want to have him around 24/7. Mushu's next lesson would be the subject of privacy.
The guardian had dragged some of Deng's clothing towards the river and kept himself upbeat with the thought that he was at least making himself useful. It reassured him that the 'drag' in dragon didn't stand for a drudge or… the other thing.
-
Day 7
The next morning started out rather quiet. Deng had gotten back in his wake-up pattern, and was now enjoying his breakfast. Mushu sat cross-legged at the other side of the tent.
"What did you do yesterday?" he spoke up.
The dragon had found this was the right time to ask this question. On said day, he didn't have the chance; as Mushu had found Deng already fast asleep when the dragon had returned from his 'duties'.
"We did the basics with the newcomers," Deng replied, "You know."
Mushu frowned and bent forward a little.
"I don't."
Deng flinched subtly and put the bowl down, clearing his throat.
"We taught them the rules, some easy fighting skills. Don't steal, don't bicker, how to hold a staff, which is the right end of the sword, etc…"
"You're still not through with that?" the dragon requested to know, just to be cuffed over the head.
"Some of them just arrived," Deng explained his actions, while Mushu was still rubbing the sore part of his head. "We turned up pretty early here," the soldier continued; "that means I did…" he then mused to himself, just to be interrupted by his guardian.
"You are fairly known here, aren't you?" Mushu said, tilting his head with a faint proud smile – his guarded one got to teach stuff after all. And he seemed to be all-round popular. "Who were those people?"
Deng was about to pick up his bowl again, but refrained from doing so after the question.
"They're my pals," he said and stroked the guardian over his head in a rough motion. Mushu grabbed Deng's hand and more or less firmly pushed it down, so he could peek over it.
"Are we pals?"
Deng stayed silent for a moment and picked up his bowl again. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to see the stubborn creature's own.
"How about you? How was your day?" He switched the topic, a sudden coldness entering his voice.
Mushu squinted at the stack of clothes.
"I was… busy."
Deng sighed and remained utterly still for a moment, before he put the soup down again. That dragon was worse than his wife!
"Alright," he said.
One of Mushu's ears perked up in alert.
"But even buddies have rules," the soldier added.
The dragon crossed his arms attentively.
"Bring it on!"
-
Being clued in into the conditions now, Mushu was allowed to join Deng in his training, as long as he behaved. That meant: No biting, no kicking, no scratching, and no randomly attacking people. When Mushu had reminded Deng that he was not a dog or anything of that sort, the soldier had announced that Mushu was also supposed to stay undercover and to respect Deng's privacy – whatever THAT meant.
The soldier stopped next to a tent and Mushu crawled upon his shoulders. Deng pointed into the direction of a large, flat plain.
"This is the training area; it's where we teach them anything from theory to Kung-Fu." Deng's pointing finger then moved to the left. "Over there is a river. You can't have a camp without a decent water source."
Mushu nodded subtly, he'd been there before.
His guarded one then granted the dragon a peek into the tent closest to the training plaza.
"This is where we keep the training tools." Deng turned to face the camp.
"And this is where the recruits rest." The young man frowned at the empty picture and murmured a subdued, "Sleepy heads…"
Mushu's eyes had locked upon their own sleeping place, as Deng turned around another time to point out a specific tent. The material and decorations alone made it clear – even from afar – that the owner of this tent was rich.
"That's the General's tent."
Mushu jumped on Deng's head for a better view and then bent down to meet the face of this protégé upside-down.
"The General, huh?"
Deng nodded, careful not to shake his guardian off.
"And the Captain?"
Deng laughed contently, "Remember the men you asked me about?"
It didn't take to be a genius to figure out the next step.
"You're friends with the Captain?" Mushu pointed at Deng to put weight on his astonishment.
Deng nodded again with a proud smile.
"My buddies and I take care of the rookies for him, before he starts the real training."
Mushu scurried around on the head with excitement.
"Does this make you a Vice or something?"
The soldier made a grab for his guardian who did not resist being caught. He brought him down from his head and kept him in his hands.
"No, I suppose not," he answered. He was merely doing the warm-up with them, important enough, but not worthy for anything of that rank.
Mushu's ears dropped for a moment; then he dashed over Deng's arm and disappeared under the collar.
"Deng!" a voice from behind called; "Are you ready for the kids?" asked the guy. Deng gave him a thumbs-up and the man passed him, heading towards the tent with the equipment.
Mushu peeked up from his hideout again and put himself on Deng's shoulders, his tail swayed contently around; though if he had to keep this up, it would become a chore sooner or later.
The soldier squinted at his dragon.
"You can watch the training," he started and then shrugged, "But I'd prefer that you'd do it from afar. I'd rather have you not stuck anywhere inside my clothes during that."
Mushu took a moment to contemplate the offer, though it didn't need long for him to agree with Deng. Clinging to his guarded one would be hard, and with all eyes on Deng during the training, at least one pair of them might spot Mushu sooner or later when he came up from the sweat-drenched shirt to catch some air. Not that he was one to bother about hygiene, that was the least of his worries, but he also preferred not to be tossed around so much.
However, all may have turned out well in the end; Deng wasn't rejecting him like he had been the previous day. The soldier had still granted, even requested the dragon to watch from afar.
"I guess I'll be able to keep an eye or two on you," Mushu answered with a smug grin and bumped into Deng's cheek. He was then let down by the soldier and saluted his guarded one off.
"Do your stuff!"
And with that they parted.
-
Mushu had seated himself on top of the weaponry tent, and watched the training session carefully. The rows were filled with beginners – just like him – and the dragon tried his best to pay good attention; he too might be learning something from it, especially since the 'training' had been less practical than what he had imagined. However it was clear that he wouldn't get to witness many more of these theory lessons. You couldn't get your guarded ones prepared for war fast enough – and a whole week was a great deal of perfectly wasted time already.