Thank you Yira for encouraging me to continue this story and being my cheering section!

Shang and Zhou were finally home again when the 6 months of training recruits was over. After the Mongol ambush of Wu Zhong, the Imperial army had stretched new recruit training periods to 6 months to help new soldiers better prepare for possible future attacks.

Mulan didn't know yet about their discussion and that Zhou knew what had happened. A few days after their arrival, Shang asked her to take a walk with him after the younger ones were in bed.

While they sat on the stone bench, he told her about Zhou's questions and what he had told him. Initially, Mulan was angry but soon realized their eldest son was indeed 20 years old and deserved to know.

Seeing Zhou in the barn with the horses, she decided to join him. He was always easy to find, usually either with his siblings outside, with the horses or studying medical scrolls with Fa Li, who had always wished she could study medicine.

On seeing her come into the barn, Zhou smiled. He knew his mother loved horses as much as he did. She helped him as they talked.

"Your father told me you had a lot of questions for him at Wu Zhong. He said he answered them, but is there anything else you wanted to know?"

Zhou looked up at his mother, surprised. He didn't think she'd be able to answer anything. His father had said it was hard for her to talk about.

"How old were you when you had me?"

"17"

"Were you scared?"

"Yes, very. I'd hardly even held a baby. I couldn't make it home, even if I'd wanted to. It was too far to go alone being so far along, and I was exhausted. Plus, I didn't want to show up here single and about to have a baby. So I stopped at the first village I found. I told them my village had been destroyed and I was widowed. I was able to find a small flat. You were born 3 weeks later. I didn't know anyone, but the midwife came with two other ladies to help deliver you."

"When did Papa stop attacking you?"

"Right before the war ended, a couple days before he told me I was free to go."

"But not after I was born?"

"No"

"How long did he do that for?"

"Ten months"

Zhou had been looking at the curry brush in his hand until that last answer. Then he stopped what he was doing and looked up at his mother. She was shaking.

"He forced you for 10 months?"

Mulan wasn't able to speak, she just nodded. She was still shaking, and had to take several steps away from the barn to vomit on the ground.

"I'm sorry, Mama. I knew it was hard for you to talk about what Papa did to you. I shouldn't have kept asking you questions."

Zhou put his arm around his mother and brought her inside. He'd always felt protective of her, even more so now that he knew what she had been through.

"I guess you never really get over it all the way, do you?"

Still unable to speak, Mulan shook her head.

Zhou had been reading a scroll a few days ago about treating victims of war-related sexual assault. A senior medic had allowed him to bring several scrolls home with him, and he'd specifically asked to borrow that one. Talking with his mother had made what he read all the more real. Her inability to talk about it, or even being unable to speak after trying to talk about it, wasn't all that uncommon.

After getting Mulan some tea and sitting with her until she was calm again and had regained her voice, Zhou went outside. He knew his father was practicing martial arts.

Seeing Zhou approach, Shang stopped what he was doing. He'd seen Mulan in the barn with Zhou and knew what they were talking about. He'd also seen Mulan vomiting and then shaking as Zhou walked her back in the house. She'd never been able to talk about what he'd done to her more than a little at a time, if at all.

Shang could feel the anger radiating off his son.

"10 months, Papa? 10 months? You didn't tell me it had gone on so long. She was shaking after just talking about it a little bit, then it was like she lost her voice and couldn't speak anymore. She's still traumatized to this day and I'm 20 now. How the hell could you do that to another human being?"

Shang didn't dare take his eyes off his son, knowing he might throw a punch at any moment. Zhou had a temper, and true to his bloodline, didn't back down.

"If I could go back and change it, I would."

"But you can't. You never can."

Images flashed through Zhou's mind from his childhood.

Waking up nearly every night to the sound of his mother's screaming...

Her terrified face during flashbacks...

Pressing himself into a corner until she'd put her weapons down...

Running around the house lighting lamps and making her tea and waiting for her to stop screaming and looking so wild-eyed...

That was Zhou's life for years.

Rage boiled up inside him.

"You son of a bitch!" Zhou turned and raised his arm up to punch Shang, but Shang caught his arm and spun him around and shoved him away.

"Come at me like that again and you'll be flat on your back for a week."

Zhou stood staring at his father. He was an army general and his martial arts skills far exceeded his own. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing until he felt himself calming down.

"I told you she gets upset when she tries to talk about it. Why did you have to bring it up?"

"She came in and asked if I had any questions that hadn't been answered. I asked her how old she was when I was born and if she was scared. She told me about going to a strange village and having me. I asked her when you stopped, if you attacked her after I was born at all and how long it went on for. That was when I noticed she was shaking. I was flabbergasted that it'd gone on so long, so I asked her if it had gone on for 10 months to see if I'd heard correctly and she nodded and threw up. Then I took her in the house and got her tea and stayed by her until she could talk again."

"I'm sorry, Zhou, I shouldn't have assumed you brought it up and I shouldn't have blamed you for her being so upset."

"No. The only one you have to blame for her being so upset is yourself."

"I know. Boy, do I know."

"Papa, don't you start entertaining thoughts about falling on your sword again. Mama needs you. Qiang, Mingzhu and I need you. Grandma needs you. Killing yourself won't help her and it won't change the past at all."

"You're right. How did you get so wise?" Zhou's insight and wisdom was beyond his years. It always had been.

"I had to grow up way too quick. Years of being the only one there to calm her down did that. Do you have any idea what it was like almost every single night waking up to her screams? Watching her waving a sword or dagger around and waiting for her to put it down before I could move again?"

"That had to be terrifying."

"It was."

"I hope some day you can forgive me, Zhou."

"Maybe."

"That's better than never."

"I suppose."

Zhou turned and punched a tree several times. So that explained why there was patches of missing bark on so many trees at Wu Zhong, and at home.

"Hey, you need those hands to heal with. Don't mess them up!"

"Yeah, you're right."

Both men went in the house. Mulan had fallen asleep, finally appearing to be calm. But, it didn't last. A few hours later, the household was woken by her familiar screams. Zhou got up and made her tea while Shang dodged punches and reminded her to focus on the cherry blossoms in their room. About 20 minutes, countless dodged punches and two cups of tea later, she was calm enough to lay back down and try to sleep.

Three steps forward and two steps back. That's how it had always been for Mulan. She'd have good periods of few to no nightmares and bad spells of waking up nearly every night multiple times. Talking about the trauma had knocked her into a bad spell.

By the time Zhou and Shang had to go back to Wu Zhong, she'd entered back into a good spell.

On the way there, they happened to come upon some bandits attacking a brother and sister traveling on the same road. The bandits had killed the brother and were gang-raping the sister. Shang and Zhou were able to subdue and kill all three bandits.

After giving the woman a minute to get her tattered clothing back on, Zhou checked her over for injuries. It was obvious she was terrified of him and Shang. After a quick whispered conversation, they asked her if it was alright if they took her to their home. Mulan and Fa Li could take care of her. Her home was a day away and she had no other family.

Even though she was terrified of Shang and Zhou and all men, she agreed.

Mulan and Fa Li were mystified as to why they were returning back home. Shang and Zhou quickly filled her in on the girl's plight and Mulan was more than happy to take her in. Her name was Liu. She was 18.

After making sure she was settled, Shang and Zhou took off again, hurrying their horses to make up for lost time.

Mulan made up Zhou's bed for Liu and for the first many days she barely got up and didn't speak or eat.

Even when Fa Li insisted she drink tea, she refused for the first three days. Usually, Mulan's mother was able to get tea into anybody, anytime. After Zian's stillbirth, Mulan had refused to eat or drink except for when her mother shoved a tea cup into her face several times a day. Same with Shang after the barn fire. After Fa Zhou had returned home with serious war injuries all those years ago, for days she'd only been able to get tea in him.

Liu started having nightmares of the bandit attack, several times a night. Just as her family did for her, Mulan would light a lamp nearby and make her tea and sit with her until she calmed down.

After a few weeks, Liu and Mulan became close friends. Nine year old Mingzhu loved to follow her around and they became like sisters. She also became like a big sister to 6 year old Qiang.

After a month, Liu was experiencing morning sickness and missed her monthly bleeding. Not having been with anyone else, it was a direct result of her attack.

Mulan opened up about her own experience with a pregnancy after rape and became a source of emotional support. However, she left out the part about Shang being the one who raped her. She knew he would be back home in several months and wanted Liu to feel like she was safe living with their family.

Shang and Zhou returned home after an uneventful six month training period. Zhou made a bed in a different part of the house, so Liu could continue to stay in his room.

Right from the time he got home, Zhou and Liu got along like friends. She knew he, as well as Shang, had saved her life.

Her baby boy was born 3 months later. The same midwife who had delivered Mulan, Mingzhu and Qiang also delivered hers. She named him Wei.

When he was two months old, Liu and Zhou were married. She was 19 and Zhou was 21.