Hello everyone!
New chapter up. No real warnings for this one, just getting the plot started. =)
Chapter Two
It was a day like any other; she awoke at dawn to feed the chickens and Little Brother, prayed to the ancestors for guidance, talked to Mushu like he wasn't back to being a gold-plated figurine again, and kept a close watch over Cri-kee as she made breakfast for her family.
It was a day like any other until they heard the thundering hooves that they had been waiting for since finding out that Shan Yu was looking for women for his harem.
She was sitting with Grandmother Fa, helping her stay sitting up while she had the simple rice and egg breakfast, when she heard the beating of many hooves on the ground and the pounding of the drum to signify their arrival.
"What's that, Mulan?" Grandmother Fa asked, pausing between bites at the thundering sound.
"It's Shan Yu's men," she replied softly, glancing out the window to see an entourage of horses pass by. She thought she saw a familiar figure pass by but couldn't but sure, so she turned back to her grandmother. "They're looking for women to be in his harem."
"Better go back to cross-dressing," Grandmother Fa advised, and although it was probably meant as a joke, Mulan actually though it might be a good idea. She doubted she would be chosen anyway, but there was no way she would be able to be in his harem without losing her life first—of course, for making an attempt to kill him. Even if she did manage to kill the emperor, he had plenty of men who would ensure her death afterward.
Chopsticks clattered against the china bowl and her grandmother leaned back against the headboard of her bed.
Mulan hesitated to say something, but Grandmother Fa spoke first. "Your father's old uniform should be back in his room. Best not to tell him what you're doing, though."
Smiling fondly at her grandmother, Mulan nodded. "Thank you, grandmother."
But the old woman was already asleep—the medicine she was prescribed by the doctor made her sleep a lot.
Mulan left her grandmother's room and placed her bowl in the kitchen, glancing out the window and checking for her father. She stiffened, seeing him at the front of the farm—he was inevitably receiving orders from the Huns to bring his daughter to them, her mother standing at his side.
She knew then that cross-dressing wasn't going to work. They would expect the Fa family's only daughter—only child—to be present for the picking, no matter how dishonored the family was.
Watching her parents for a moment more, she saw her mother nod at the horseman who was obscured except for his gloved hand and the hind legs of his horse. She returned while her father stayed and Mulan knew that her mother would likely order her to get dressed into something nice.
Fa Li returned and found her daughter in the kitchen. Not surprised that her daughter, vigilant from the war, had been watching, she merely said, "Go get dressed Mulan. They want all the eligible brides to be gathered in the town square by noon."
Mulan mutely nodded, a sort of fear taking over her that shouldn't have been present. It wasn't like Shan Yu was with these men and it was likely that she wouldn't be picked anyway…oh, ancestors, she hoped she wasn't!
It was so different, going from respected soldier to disregarded woman. Most women didn't think of themselves that way, but most of them hadn't been treated like a man before, either. During the time her secret had gone undiscovered, she had been treated like an equal by everyone she met, if not put on a pedestal by women because she was a man. Women looked at her with flirtatious eyes—okay, so that hadn't been so great—but they had shown her the best of everything. Of course, it had only been during brief intervals in towns they had passed through that this had happened, but it had been refreshing. More than once during those times, Mulan had hoped her secret would never be revealed and she could just live like a man the rest of her life…selfish, of course, because her family would never see her again, but she couldn't help but long for the days when she had been in control of her life as much as it was possible to be. As a woman, she was made to do the worst of the chores, she had to cook and clean and then hope she wasn't married off to a man that she didn't like…Now, of course, she didn't have to worry about being married off at all because of her dishonorable status.
Except that there was the very slim chance that she might find herself 'married' to the worst possible man of all.
That in mind, she determined that she would not paint her face like the rest of her female townspeople would. Better to seem uglier than them to avoid the possibility of being chosen—even though, if what the matchmaker had said was true, she had an even slimmer chance of being chosen than the other women in town.
By the time she was finished dressing, she only had a little bit of time left, but she knew there was one last thing she had to do. When her mother went to retrieve her, Mulan quickly made the excuse that she wanted to pray to the ancestors before going to the town square, and yes, she'd take Khan if she was running late.
Fa Li had only clucked disapprovingly when she saw Mulan's makeup-less face, but there hadn't been enough time to say anything to fix it and so Mulan hurried to the temple.
Slowing herself down, Mulan languidly lit the incense and knelt to the floor, bowing her head respectfully.
"Oh great, honorable ancestors, Shan Yu's men are here today to choose brides for him. Please…should anything happen, please send Mushu to guide me." She felt Cri-kee, who was hidden in the folds of her clothing, chirp in agreement. "Please. Should anything happen, I beg of you to send Mushu as my guardian."
For a single, brief moment, she felt a blue light fill the room, but as quickly as it had happened, it was gone. Hope stirred in Mulan's heart. Perhaps she would see Mushu again…she'd missed him so much when he'd been forced to return to the ancestors, never seeing her again except as the gold-plated dragon on the plate where she left the lit incense.
As she sat up, she glanced sadly at her friend's place next to the incense.
"Oh, Mushu…" she whispered, and she stood, running her fingers lightly over his hard metal body.
Then, she heard her mother's frantic shouting from the house and she knew she'd taken too long. Running as quickly as she could in her restrictive dress, she passed the stones leading to the temple and over the bridge before reaching Khan, who was already saddled, and leapt onto him.
Kicking him urgently, they set off at brisk pace towards the town center. She heard Cri-kee chirping nervously in the folds of her dress and she patted him lightly.
"Everything's going to be okay," she said, but she was sure she didn't sound all that certain herself.
As she approached the town square and saw the intimidating, hulking, familiar figure atop a large black stallion who gave off a much different air that her beloved Khan, Mulan's heart stopped in her chest.
No one had said he was going to be here!
Suddenly, getting there on time wasn't such a priority.
"Is this all of them?" Shan Yu asked the elder who led the town.
The old man counted the girls, much like they were cattle, and then shook his head. "No, Fa Zhou's daughter is not here."
Shan Yu repressed a growl of impatience just as a young woman—no older than eighteen, trotted up on a black horse.
"Girl, you are late!" scolded the town elder, Mu Yeng.
Stepping gracefully off her horse, the girl bowed to the elder. "My apologies," she said, although she did not sound sorry at all, before stepping into the line of young women presented before the emperor.
"Do not worry about her, majesty," the elder said with much more regret in his voice than the girl had. "She comes from a dishonored family and is not worthy of your time anyway."
How interesting…Shan Yu wondered what had been done to dishonor the family so greatly that someone would say that about them—and when he noticed the other villagers present nodding, his curiosity intensified.
He also noticed vaguely that she did not wear the traditional white paint and red lip coloring as the other women did, nor were her eyes outlined in black. It amused him that she clearly did not want to be chosen as one of his wives, and then looking at the other girls who were meekly bowing their heads to him and clearly dolled up to their best, he wondered why.
Silently, he dismounted his horse and stepped in front of the first young lady. There were eight in all, including the daughter of Fa Zhou.
The girl he stood in front of was clearly a virgin—she looked no more than fourteen. Without a second's notice he passed her. He wanted a virgin and he wanted her of child-bearing age, but he found nothing attractive about a child, no matter how pretty they were when dolled-up.
The second was more to his liking. He only needed two from this town to complete what he had set out for and it was likely that this girl would be one of them. She had a full figure and large hips, good for bearing sons. Her face, while not overly important, was satisfactory as well, although he wondered how she would look without the makeup.
He wouldn't really have to see his wives without it anyway—for all he cared they could sleep with their makeup on. A pretty face was of no use to him.
Shan Yu motioned for the second girl to step away from the line. Unless one of the other girls was much better, she would be chosen.
He continued down the line—the third was too homely and the fourth too tall for his tastes, the fifth was a minor possibility and the sixth out completely for her weight was unseemly. The seventh impressed him by inclining her head and making coy eye contact, but it also made it clear that she was probably not a virgin as he wanted.
Shan Yu stepped in front of the final girl, Fa Zhou's daughter. She did not bow her head and she did not waver when she bravely made eye contact without flinching. However, he was a hunter even before a warrior and he could smell the fear rolling off of her in waves.
He stepped closer to her, towering over her small stature. She didn't move an inch or make any sound at all—the visage she portrayed was clearly without fear.
Looking into her eyes, he saw the fire that had been in the Ling boy's eyes. Looking at her face, he found familiar features—thin lips, nose that had been too feminine for a boy, strong eyebrows and a sharp jaw…
He saw the soldier from the mountain in her features.
For the first time since observing the girls, he spoke. "Do you have a brother?" His tone was casual, but at last she flinched.
She shook her head mutely, finally breaking eye contact. The fear was terror now.
It was impossible. She had to be lying.
"Does this girl have a brother?" he demanded of the village elder. The frail man, one he could crush with a single clenched fist, nearly jumped out of his shoes and nervously said, "No, your majesty, she doesn't. Fa Zhou has no sons."
His eyes returned to hers and she was resolutely not looking at him now, her face downturned to hide her features.
Shan Yu pressed two fingers under her chin and forced her to look up at him. The face was unmistakable, the resemblance too clear.
"What is your name?" he asked, not quite sure himself in what he was looking for; perhaps any indication that 'Ping' would be distinguishable from it.
"Fa Mulan," she replied, but her voice was too feminine. There was no way she could have impersonated a man.
He kept digging anyway. "And what is your family dishonored for, Fa Mulan?"
The fire raged in her eyes and she jerked her chin away. "I don't think that's any of your business."
Before anyone could blink at her arrogant, disrespectful tone, he hand backhanded her. However, she did not fall—some kind of instinct helped her stay on her feet and regain her balance.
He turned to the elder, his eyes passing over the now-frightened villagers. At least this man was not so foolish as to defy him.
"What is this Fa Mulan's family dishonored for?"
The village elder seemed to have a light struck in his eyes, as though he'd suddenly come to a realization. He shook his head fearfully and at his hesitance, Shan Yu drew his sword.
"Now, old man." He had approached the elder and his sword rested under the man's chin, ready to draw blood at the slightest movement.
"Oh, forgive me, your majesty!" The fear clouded the old man's gaze. "The Fa family is dishonored because Fa Zhou's daughter impersonated a soldier in the war! Please, spare the village-"
Shan Yu ignored the old man's prattling. Like a sun revealing itself on a cloudy day, everything made sense. 'Ping' had been a false name all along, although Yao, Chien-Po, and Ling had clearly known he was impersonating Fa Zhou's son—and they would pay for that when he returned. Dishonorable discharge; his inability to find a 'Ping' in the consensus records or army archives; the reason 'Ping' hadn't been present for the conquering of China. He'd injured him before he was overtaken by snow and clearly, the wound had revealed Ping to be Mulan. For some reason, the girl's life had been spared upon discovery—perhaps because she'd been the reason army was so nearly defeated.
He rounded on the young woman who was responsible for so many of his men's deaths and she stood tall, awaiting her death without fear.
Before he could strike her down, kill her on the spot, a much more pleasant idea surfaced. She clearly did not want to be in his harem, clearly wanted nothing to do with him and that was now justified. What better way to punish her than to do just that, force her to be a helpless woman under his rule? He could torment her daily, humiliate her, put her to work…and perhaps she would bear him a son and be forced to watch her children be raised by the Huns, whom she hated so dearly.
It was a revenge better than death.
He disregarded the other girls completely as he approached her. Grabbing her by the collar of her shirt, he pulled her face to his so that he could breathe into her ear. She shuddered at the contact, clearly reviling his touch.
"I think I have a better punishment for you than death," he murmured to her, then flung her to the ground.
She sat up, bewildered and finally openly afraid, and he spoke to the other villagers, pointing at Mulan and the other girl he'd chosen.
"These two will accompany me to the Forbidden City," he announced in his commanding baritone voice. His eyes ignored the first girl he'd chosen in favor of meeting Mulan's hateful gaze. "Have them prepared for me by sundown."
He allowed the men in his entourage to give orders to the remaining villagers for supplies, a hot meal, and shelter, while the others guarded the wagon that his other five chosen women stayed in for the journey. Shan Yu smirked down at Mulan toothily and she got to her feet quickly.
"I'll kill you," she hissed, and the villagers gasped at her audacity.
The mighty khan chuckled, amused. "I'm sure you'll try."
A blue, mystical light traveled up the ancient headstones, lighting the kanji eerily. The First ancestor's spirit rose from the headstone, staff in hand.
"Mushu, awaken!" he commanded.
Unlike the first time the small dragon had been awakened, he did not come alive with witty remarks or his pompous attitude. Quietly the gold turned to red scales and landed on the ground holding the gong.
"Whatchu need, great ancestor? Time for a family reunion?" the dragon asked smartly, not without attitude but certainly not as vivacious as he once was. His resentment for the ancestors, however, was clear.
"I don't like this," muttered the First ancestor, but with a world-weary sigh he looked down at the small dragon. "Fa Mulan had asked for you to be her guardian. She has been chosen by Shan Yu, the new emperor, to be one of his wives and-"
"Oh no, no, no! That old man did not take my baby girl to-"
"Mushu!" the Fire ancestor bellowed. "You are being sent to protect her, although why she would ask for you is beyond my imagination." The spirit rolled his eyes and rubbed his temples absently.
"She asked for me?" Mushu said, sounding aghast. It was clearly a surprise, as he'd failed her after all.
"Yes! Now go! She leaves for the Forbidden City at sundown!"
"Oh, you got it great ancestor!" Mushu said, some of his old spirit back to normal as he rushed from the temple. "No one's gonna touch my baby girl! You can bet your life on that!" Almost belatedly, he turned back to the spirit. "Not that you can anyway, but-"
"GO!"
With that, the travel-sized dragon sped off for the Fa household.
So, the story officially begins! Please, please, please review!