The sun had not quite risen when Mushu prodded his companions out of their cozy sleeps. Ching was harder to get up, since she must not have been keen on the idea of leaving a bed for more days sleeping on the ground. He managed it though with a few minutes prodding (and maybe a tiny bit of singeing one of Ching's toes).
Her cousins had already known of Ching's intentions to leave before dawn, and so were up even earlier than their usual times to see her off.
After dressing and collecting all of her things, Ching went to see them in their dining room. They had all waited until she was ready to go to say goodbye.
"It has been a pleasure," Shu said in the way all good hostesses do when seeing a guest off. Ching returned the sentiment, but things were not as stiff as they had been when she had arrived.
That was very true when it was Miki's turn. Abandoning all propriety bred into her, she wrapped Ching in a hug before Ching knew what was happening. She blinked several times, and then smiled, letting her arms return the hug as well.
"You'll have to return for the wedding," she said pleadingly when she had released Ching. Ching nodded, not exactly sure if she could keep that promise. She wanted to - now that she'd found an ally in Miki - but she needed to be sure of how the more recent future would turn out.
Ching wasn't sure if Ping was even going to grace her with his presence, but it seemed his own sense of duty to his guest trumped his own feelings towards Ching's family.
Mushu and Cri Kee-x had been finishing things up with the packing and had only managed to peek into the room to see Ching saying her goodbyes when Ping's was the last to give.
After the warm goodbye from Miki, the two women had gone back to their usual duties, which left Ping in the room with Ching. He inclined his head slightly in a somewhat bow. Ching returned it, going a bit lower than his bow to show the respect that Mushu wasn't quite sure he deserved.
It was in even greater question when Ping spoke after matching eyes with Ching. "Be sure to take care of your grandmother," he said with that same tone and smile he had used the other night. "Keep an eye on her, and enjoy her stories of 'heroism'."
So, he was still under the same impression about her family? He was still sticking with his feeling of superiority? It was enough to make Mushu rush up and pop that veiled smirk right off his face. Surprisingly, he found he didn't need to.
"Oh, I will. I always enjoy them," Ching answered, in her own fronted polite tone. "I just hope that your daughters will keep their eyes on you, and their ears closed for your stories."
Mushu could see Ping's own demeanor falter for a moment, and Ching held his gaze for a moment before needing to turn away from him, presumably to hide her own smirk. She was able to spot Mushu from his hiding place and raised her shoulders in a very contained shrug. He nodded his approval, sharing in her small victory.
Shu returned again to see what she could help with once they had made it out to the stable. Pahlin was all saddled and loaded up, ready to leave, and Mushu used the time when Shu was speaking to Ching to hop back into the travel bag with Cri Kee-x in his arms.
"Please do take care," Shu said to Ching. Now that Mushu and Cri Kee-x were safely hidden, Ching climbed up onto Pahlin's back. "I am sure your mother would say the same."
Ching gave Shu a sincere smile. "She did, and I will."
It was a motherly thing to do, and Mushu supposed a fellow mother would feel obligated to say something like this when she knew that Yun was so far away.
Leaving under much better spirits than they thought they would, the group started off again on the road to Kin Xia.
After that rest, Mushu was confident they would get there quickly, and now that they were far enough down the road, he and Cri Kee could emerge.
"You know, that wasn't too bad," Mushu said, complimenting Ching for having words with Ping. She didn't quite give him the telling off he'd envisioned in his head, but she had done it in her own special, subtle way.
"It was much easier when it wasn't him," Ching admitted.
He supposed he could understand that, the guy really did not seem like the most demonstrative person to talk to, and he didn't even seem like he talked all that much either. Well, maybe more orders than conversations.
They shared a quiet chuckle, both glad to have that part out of the way and to be back on track. It was only when Ching had turned her attention back to the road in front of her that something she had said on that first night in the guest room came back to him.
He didn't say anything, but Mushu made the conclusion that Ching might have been so reluctant to say what she said to Ping for more reasons than she would willingly admit.
The traveling was going without a hitch so far. It had been a good three hours or so since leaving Miki's, with only a couple very short stops. The four of them (even Pahlin) seemed able to go for a while longer, and the weather was cooperating as well with its sunny and only slightly cloudy skies.
Little did they know that the way would not be as smooth soon, but for now everything seemed promising, if only a little dull.
Even when they camped for the night as the evening drew near things were still alright. They were well-stocked on food and were quicker than ever in assembling their tent.
There had not been all that much conversation as they had traveled, and what little there'd been had been light and hopeful, Mushu knew by now that Ching wasn't much of a talker when focused on the road but now that they were friendlier their silences were at least less tense.
Things remained in their hopeful and contented manner well after the last rays of the sun had fallen. Pahlin now rested next to the tent, not needing to be tied to anything. Ching was confident enough in her relationship with her horse to know that he wouldn't run away, and Mushu was pretty sure the horse still didn't like him enough to leave his owner completely in Mushu's care.
The night was warmer than the ones they'd recently spent outside, and that made a big difference to the wild crickets of the area. They chirped their disembodied evening tune almost completely in unison, filling the night with a two-note song that – while repetitive – did not get old.
Cri Kee-x had hopped off to join them when they had started, and neither Ching nor Mushu had seen him since. They couldn't distinguish their friend's chirping from the others, but they knew he couldn't be far. He would return when he got sleepy enough.
Indeed, the melodious insects were having a bit of a lullaby affect on everyone, that combined with a full day on the road. It didn't seem long before one of the two remaining beings called it a night and slunk to the tent, but for now they remained beside the tiny fire Mushu built that had now become a staple to their little campsite scene.
Ching had brought out a blanket, but since it hadn't turned that cold after the sun went down, she had spread it out and now sat down upon it. Mushu found a corner of it she did not need and placed himself there, seated to the right and slightly in front of Ching.
"Can you tell what they're singing about?" she asked curiously. Mushu had been enjoying the music as much as she was, but he hadn't actually been paying attention to what they were saying.
Listening for a few moments to the crickets' precise chirpings, he answered. "Different things, they're all singing their own songs. It'd be more irritating if they didn't all only know the two notes." He stopped to listen again. "But most of them mention the moon and the stars; they all seem real big on them."
Ching gave a considering 'hmm', moving her bleary eyes from the grass on the outskirts of the firelight to the sky above. "I suppose I don't blame them, they are pretty clear tonight."
They certainly were, Mushu noticed. He followed her gaze up through the light haze of smoke. The light from the fire was only vaguely obscuring them, and beyond that lay a smattering (really much more than a smattering) of stars, twinkling each in their own rhythm, just like the numerous crickets that surrounded them.
Mushu was a bit surprised at just how clear it really was, he doubted he had seen quite that many in a long time. He tried to remember when that had been, but felt a pang when it finally came to him. Mulan, back with her. It just seemed to keep coming back to her, possibly this was the universe reminding him of this journey's importance... and he didn't need it. It wasn't as if he didn't know.
Readjusting himself on his corner of the blanket, he noticed that it had been a little while since anyone had spoken. Ching looked preoccupied with her own thoughts, but she might have just been enjoying the quiet. Her eyes had moved back to the fire, and its reflection in them made them sparkle a bit in their own right.
"May I ask you something else?" Ching asked. Mushu thought he'd forgo the obvious 'you just did' answer and nodded, waving a hand for her to continue.
"Is there anything else you might know about guardians?" She still had that curious tone, and her face looked so innocent as she asked, it was almost childlike. He still had no idea why she found it so interesting, but it was keeping him pleasantly occupied.
"I don't know, not much else I guess. Mostly they seem to just sit there until they are called. If one of the ancestors wakes them up and sets them a task, they have to follow it. The waking up used to be my job, after a certain... accidental oversight."
"But everything worked out, and the end result is I'm here right now." For how long though, that's the question. He didn't say the last part out loud, but Ching's next question was in that area.
"So you sit there in the temple, I still don't understand how you aren't aware of anything. Like that you hadn't known about anything that happened in the intervening years."
"Like I said, I don't know about that part. It seems like we should." Mushu answered, feeling like he was more complaining now than answering her questions. "But you know, I still don't know exactly all the things that have gone on. You weren't that specific last time we had one of these little talks."
He gave her a searching look, and she blinked bemusedly. "It isn't like I'm hiding anything from you. I just wasn't exactly sure I should. I mean, at first I figured you were omniscient or something, or at the very least Grandfather would have told you. I didn't know the responsibility was placed on me to fill you in."
Her voice was heading towards defensive, and he could guess what she was adding in her mind just then.
She hadn't known that saving her grandmother's life was going to be her responsibility either. Things were getting a tad deep then, and while late at night might be a good time to have those types of conversations, the setting simply did not call for it. Especially when both members of the conversation were exceptionally beat.
"We can save the rest of this 'til tomorrow, if you want," Mushu said quietly. "It's not like we'll run out of time to talk about whatever we want."
Ching had been resting her eyes, but gave another unintelligible sound, this time of agreement. She opened them slowly. "I suppose you're right. I'm sorry about asking all these questions that I know you're still not sure of yourself. I just find it odd, almost like they're leaving you out on purpose. It's sort of unfair."
With that, she eased herself up off the blanket and began to gather it up and head towards the tent. Mushu hopped off his corner and was thinking about calling for Cri Kee-x when he heard her again from the tent, and what she said caused him to turn back and look at her properly.
"If you really want, I'll talk more about home tomorrow. I won't leave you out, at least." She gave him an assuring smile, and then disappeared behind the flap.
And Mushu was grateful for that.
Since heading back on the road, the sleeping arrangements of the three seemed to have changed. After being given a spot on the bed when in the guest room, apparently no one thought anything of giving Mushu the permanent promotion of sleeping between Cri Kee-x's place in Ching's shoes, and Ching's own increasingly messed up tresses that went pretty much everywhere while she slept.
The shoes Ching wore were placed nose-adjacent only because they were Cri Kee-x's favorite sleeping spot, and since that became known, Ching had made a point of washing them every chance she got so they did not have the usual smelly shoe bouquet.
They were now on the far left front side of the tent, with Ching near the right side (where Pahlin slept just a thin sheet away) which left Mushu in the middle. His nest of an old towel was still there, only he had folded it into more of a rectangular cushion, having enjoyed the softness of the bed and the window seat.
Ching had fallen asleep quickly, and Mushu tried his best to wait for the one missing member of their sleepy trio (quartet if you counted Pahlin). As the minutes dragged on though, Mushu found the allure of sleep too much for him as well.
His dreams were just pictures, flashes of things he couldn't get a good look at before they had disappeared from sight and were replaced by something else. They were not the most restful of dreams, and so it was no surprise that Mushu's eyes fluttered open soon after enough of this.
He looked up at the canopy of cloth the top of the tent made. It fluttered slightly in a small breeze. He was still very tired and was in such a comfortable position that he was not sure he even could move if he tried. He could hear Cri Kee-x's sporadic snore-ish chirps, and the more awake portion of his brain acknowledged that he had made it in safely. That was good.
Mushu could also feel the slight breeze from Ching's nose as she breathed steadily, evidently untroubled by her own dreams. He was close enough that it brushed the back of his neck a bit, but for once each breath was perfectly silent.
Finding enough strength in his drowsy form, he attempted to turn to one side and therefore possibly coax sleep back to him, but this was when he felt something... an odd sensation around his tail, as if something had encased it.
His mind awake enough now to notice this, he lifted up slowly to inspect it. He blinked at what he saw. He could see only due to the combination of the moon's faint glow through the tent roof, and the fact that he happened to enjoy better-then-average sight in the darkness (a perk of being a dragon or a guardian, he wasn't sure which).
There - wrapped loosely around Mushu's slightly curled tail - was Ching's left hand.
Mushu felt a strange jolt when he saw it; he wasn't sure how to place it. He found himself frozen, unsure of whether he should move his tail or not. His eyes moved up her arm to see her face. One corner of her mouth twitched, and her right arm was tucked under her head, as one of them always needed to be attached to her head for her to be comfortable as she slept.
And she certainly did look comfortable Mushu thought - or he would have if all thought had not quite suddenly and literally rushed out of his mind at that moment.
Once he did manage to get his mind going again, Mushu decided to attempt to ease his tail out of her gentle hold. As he began to move it though, he felt her fingers curl suddenly tighter, then slacken again. A knee-jerk reaction most likely, but one that caused that jolt he felt to return… reverberating off the walls of his insides.
After they loosened again, Mushu decided to forget about cautiousness and flipped his tail quickly out of her hand and place it safely around his leg before he could so much as breathe.
Laying his head back down facing away from Ching, the feeling in his chest died away gradually. It was just surprise most likely, something he hadn't expected… that was why he'd reacted the way he did, Mushu was sure.
This time sleep was harder to find for him, as he resolutely stayed in the same position for the rest of the night. He didn't trust that unusual sensation not to return if he moved any other way.
It was a muffled sound that woke him again, this time from a dreamless half-sleep. As usual his ear was the first thing to move, and as he opened his eyes he heard it again. It was very quiet, but slow and steady. It sounded like slow footsteps.
A shock completely different from the one from earlier came over him, this one clearly of unease and protectiveness. If there was someone outside, what could he do? Thinking fast Mushu gave Ching a few light but pointed kicks to wake her up and then hurried out of the tent.
Unfortunately, this proved the wrong thing to do.
Not only was he too late to do anything when he saw an unknown person quickly mounting Pahlin, but his presence in the dark – combined with Ching's sudden realization of what was happening culminating in her own plan of shouting loudly as she tried to scramble out of the tent herself – spooked both horse and thief. This ensured that Mushu was thoroughly trampled as the stranger rode off into the shadows.
Ching ran after them, and Mushu followed her. He knew she couldn't catch up to them, and deep down he knew that she knew it too, but both were in such confusion that they had no idea what else to do.
Author's Note: Short again, but at least on time! A cliffhanger yes, and one that's supposed to feel quick and almost out of nowhere, exactly how the characters feel, caught off guard (yeah…that's it…)
Hope this one is as good as I'm hoping, there's a scene in there I've had in my head for a long time, and I want to come off the way I intended.
In other news, Princess and the Frog is out today, so going to see that, as should you all when you get the chance : - )
Read and enjoy, everyone!