It seemed the art of tact was lost on these newer generations. Although 'creature' was only a step above 'lizard' on the insult scale.

Mushu didn't have long to think on them, because the bed rustled slightly beneath him. His unspoken question was answered with Shang's own inquiry.

"Mulan?"

Her eyes were open, and she was gingerly moving herself in an attempt to sit up. Shang quickly foiled her attempt by easing her back down.

"You shouldn't move too much. You need to save your strength."

She gave him an appreciative but resistant smile. "I have strength enough. Honestly Shang, since I've started feeling ill you've treated me as if I were so breakable."

"If you could only see yourself, or even hear yourself." Shang said with his own small smile. He conceded by helping her ease up to sit.

Mushu agreed with Shang, she didn't seem to be aware of how frail she appeared. He supposed she acted that way so they wouldn't worry, still putting others before herself.

"Grandmother, do you kn-"Ching began uneasily, but Mulan's eyes had found him before she had finished asking.

"Mushu?"

She was almost squinting, and it occurred to Mushu that she may not be able to see as well as she once had. He came closer to her face, close enough to bring nearly every one of those new and unfamiliar lines of hers into view.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as her face relaxed. Although the question was the same, the deliverance of it was different than Shang's. She asked with a soft ring of laughter amid the surprise, as if he'd popped up somewhere unexpected while her mind had been occupied by something else.

She managed to bring him into a small one-armed hug, it was surprisingly tight. "It's good to see you," she added as she let him go.

He smiled up at her. It was easier to see that this was really her…that time hadn't changed much beyond the physical. "Good to see you too," he answered.

His greeting sounded a little thicker than he'd meant it to, more emotional. He gave a few coughs to try and rid himself of that. When he spoke again he tried to sound lighter. "You didn't expect me to be gone forever, did you?"

She gave a small shake of her head, a few more lines crinkling around her tired eyes as she continued to smile at him. "I've missed you though."

Mushu half expected her to ask then, why it had been so long since he was last around, since she'd been able to talk to him like this. He didn't want to have to answer that, because the truth was that he still didn't know..

Shang spoke again, cutting short the tiny reunion. "Apparently he's been sent here to help retrieve the medicine from Qin Xa."

"But Grandfather," the granddaughter Ching made herself heard. Mushu had almost forgotten she was there. "I thought we agreed that I should go. The journey wouldn't be hard on me, and I could get there and back quicker than Father or Mother." It might have been his imagination, but Mushu thought he heard a little whine in her voice.

"Yes we did, and you will do that for us." Shang answered her.

"I'm still not certain about that anyway," Deshung mumbled to his father, more audible than he probably wanted.

"Wait, what do you mean "he's here to help?" Ching asked hesitantly.

"Mushu is here to go with you."

-------------------

As Mushu lifted his head off of the hard wooden floor just outside of Mulan's and Shang's room, he took a moment to appreciate that the kind of sleep that only lasts a few hours. He could tell it had only been a few hours because the rest of the occupants of the room were still inside. The arguing had gotten much softer, so at least there was that.

He also knew that they were all still in there because if one of them had left, he knew he might be trodden on.

What did the granddaughter have against him? She was being pretty adamant that she could go and collect the cure all by herself. No matter how many times Shang told her that Mushu was supposed to help and guard her (as was the term, 'guardian'), she just kept bleating that she didn't need help.

Of course, Deshung wasn't all for her going at all, and he made sure to make that known.

Mushu eventually had to leave the room. It wasn't like they were asking his opinion anyway. He was letting Shang do the pitching to his son about him only because Deshung didn't seem to acknowledge Mushu as a sentient being, and apparently the granddaughter didn't think much of him either.

What was up with this family? Mushu had a feeling Mulan falling ill like this might have thrown an already slightly-unstable balance out of whack.

Things finally settled down and the family exited towards their respective rooms. Mushu didn't ask what the end result had been. They were all tired and he would find out sooner or later.

Curling up on a cushy chair near Mulan's and Shang's bed, he drifted off for a few more hours of the more natural kind of sleep.

The end-result of the dispute was that things would go as planned, for the most part. Ching and Mushu would travel to the town of Qin Xa; collect some sort of special herb that Mushu didn't catch the name of, and then travel back home. How quick the journey was would be up to them, but Shang assured Mushu that it shouldn't be more than a few days, a week tops.

Mushu then observed the family on this new day as they prepared for his and Ching's departure.

He couldn't help noticing the lack of contact the younger members had with each other.

The daughter-in-law – Yun – flitted about from room to room and person to person; making sure everyone was comfortable but not stopping to talk. Deshung hadn't seemed very engaging towards anyone in the few minutes Mushu saw before he had headed out for work. The granddaughter – Ching – he hadn't seen. She was presumably in her room preparing and possibly sulking. She seemed the type to do that. Or possibly working on some of the things her mother was unable to get to somehow with all her running about…and sulking.

However disconnected those three seemed to each other, Mushu was glad to see that they treated Mulan and Shang so well. It was always important that the grandparents in a family were respected and taken care of, even when they weren't sick. That would have been something that Mushu couldn't have handled, especially as these grandparents were his pals.

It was that respect and love for them that was prompting them to get everything ready so fast. In only about an hour or so Yun had managed to get most of the food and other supplies they would need into one bag that Ching would carry. She didn't say much to Mushu, but she didn't specifically avoid looking in his direction the way her husband had been. Mushu merely chalked it up to not knowing what to say to a dragon, and plain not having time.

Mushu now sat back in the room with Shang and Mulan. She looked slightly worse today, she'd only woken up for a little while that morning before drifting back to sleep again.

Wanting to get his mind off her condition, and what sort of state it would be in by the time they got back, Mushu thought he'd ask Shang to fill him in some more on that sizeable block of their lives he had missed.

"Everything's just so different," he stated, finally voicing what he had been thinking over and over despite his acceptance of the fact.

"That happens after forty years," Shang said.

"They're certainly different," he said, meaning Deshung and his family. Shang seemed to understand.

"They're not so bad, they've just… had difficulties."

Well that was certainly vague enough. "What kind of difficulties?"

Shang looked over to him as he sized up the question. "…It's a long story. Perhaps Ching Lan can tell you while you're traveling."

Mushu thought he understood Shang there. Perhaps he didn't want to start a long story while they were waiting for his granddaughter. Hopefully the girl would show up soon, Mushu was beginning to wonder whether she'd gone on without him.

It was a few more hours before she arrived back at the doorway – long enough that Mushu thought Shang could've had time for three long stories.

"I think I'm ready, Grandfather," Ching said confidently. Shang remained in his seat but nodded.

Finally, Mushu couldn't help but think as he hopped off the bed to join her. She had already turned to leave, and he now had to follow her.

"Hey," he said, trying to get her attention as he attempted to keep up with her brisk walk to the front door. "Weren't you gonna say good bye to Sha- uh.., your grandfather?"

"I already gave them both my goodbyes earlier," she answered as they exited the house. She didn't look at him, and she sounded like she found his question too obvious to answer.

The way she was acting it was almost like he was the one holding her up, when she'd been off doing whatever all day and Mushu had to watch Mulan getting worse.

He was still following her as she headed for a pen when he felt something catch on his tail. It didn't hurt as it clung near the tip of his tail. It was a little while of shaking without it coming off that he finally stopped to inspect it.

Holding on with all six legs, his little eyes rolling dizzily, Cri Kee XXIV gave an awkward little chirp in greeting.

"And what are you doing here?" he asked the cricket once his eyes had focused on Mushu.

Cri Kee XXIV let go of Mushu's tail and landed on the ground, giving his explanation as he went.

"Well sure, I had a lucky cricket with me last time I ventured out, but that doesn't mean you have to come."

He then chirruped a little more determinedly, pointing to himself and then to Mushu.

"Alright, I could see how you think going with me would honor your ancestor, but you really think you're ready for something like this? You probably never even left this garden."

Cri Kee XXIV chirped sadly, and looked up at him with big, round, pleading eyes.

Mushu rolled his own eyes. "Fine, but I will not be held accountable if you get squashed… and no more riding on my tail."

Cri Kee XXIV jumped with joy but Mushu grabbed him midway through and continued following Ching. Once they got to the pen she had already brought out a very large brown horse.

Mushu slowed to a cautious walk as he approached the animal. He didn't do so well with horses, thinking back to Mulan's Khan.

"So we are riding to that other town, huh?" He asked, making his way to the back of the horse were he would need to climb up.

"If you're coming than yes." She answered, still with that tone like she wanted to get going as soon as possible.

Mushu would have said something, but he remembered that this was actually what he wanted, so he got up behind Ching as she gave the horse a quick jib to start walking. Might as well not look a gift horse in the mouth, even one that was seeming so unfriendly.

He also thought it might be good not to look this actual horse in the mouth either, if he might be anything like Khan.

Author's Note: Anybody remembers this story? Hopefully it hasn't been so long that you don't care anymore. Also gave my beta a break, so it's probably rattled with errors. Hopefully it won't take another six months to get the next chapter up.