At the outskirts of the Training Camp, Mulan was just waking up, eating some cheese and berries, and starting on her tasks for the day. She started singing, some weird song that Ama used to sing when she was cleaning, although she wasn't cleaning, she was plowing and planting a small garden outside her tent. She tilled the land and toiled away until eventually she started to see people approaching the Training Camp grounds. She then settled on a rock near her camp and watched people trickle in from all over, playing with her teeny tiny baby bracelet on her simple necklace, remembering her and her brother and why she's here, renewing her vigor. She took a deep breath. "Well, now looks as good a time as any." She said as she got up to get ready, Mushu in tow. As she got up, a die fell out of her pocket. It landed on a three. Unbeknownst to Mulan that she disturbed the bag of dice while getting up, it went unnoticed.
As Mau, Mulan walked through the crowd at the training camp with Mushu hidden in her collar. "They're disgusting." Mulan winced while watching one of the men clean out the space between his toes with a pair of chopsticks while another ate his porridge right next to him. "No. They're men. And you're going to need to act just like them." Mushu said. Mulan's eyes went wide.
Mulan had seen the most beautiful man she'd ever seen in her life. He was taller than her by a whole head and very masculine. But more importantly, he looks like he has a good relationship with his mama and an amazing jawline. He looked around, feeling someone staring, and locked eyes with Mulan. She blushed, turned around, and tried to nonchalantly walk with the rest of the men into the mess hall. And ran into one of the men. This man was a short, stout, hairy man who looked kind of like a beet because of how red he was turning. He spun around, fist cocked, looking for who bumped him. A larger man, a QUITE larger man, picked him up by the shoulders and said, "Now Yao, is that any way to greet new people? Dah mu dauffy tofu dah!" He chanted softly while gently rocking the man named Yao. "Blah mu mommy tofu duh…" Yao trailed off, halfheartedly repeating the larger man's words. "Do you feel better?" He asked. "Yea, I do Chein Po. Thank you." Yao said, looking at Chein Po. Waving his hand in Mulan's direction, he said, "You aren't worth my time, chicken boy." Mushu popped up from Mulan's collar and angrily shouted out, "Chicken boy? Why don't you say that to my face, you LIMP NOODLE!" Mulan stuffed him further onto her collar and smiled at the understandably upset now Yao. "Great, you've got his attention, now smack him on the behind. Men LOVE that." Mushu whispered in Mulan's ear. "I don't think he'll let me." Mulan whispered to Mushu as Yao stomped closer. He swung at Mulan and she ducked, causing the two men behind her to take the full frontal blast of the punch. "You can't Yao." Chein Po yelled out, trying to collect his small angry friend.
Moments later, Xia and Mau were back at the statue, with the tiny silver bracelet slowly being melted down. "Holy hell. I'm glad we were up so early. Or we'd probably get caught messing up the garden. Mom loves this garden." Mau said while Xia collected small pebbles from the statue. Mau collected the larger pieces and used a 'glue' made of tree sap, the charm that was on the bracelet, honey, and broiling hot water. As Mau mixed he complained. "How do we even know this will work?" "Did I not tell you to trust me? Sounds like it's a lesson you didn't pick up on." "Well… I… You… I told you to start telling me stuff! Quit leaving me in the dark!" "Well!" Xia scoffed out… "It's finally sunrise. So you're NOT in the dark! You're in the soft morning light." Mau rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean." "Fine. We need to fix the statue, minus a few core pieces… That would be what these pieces are… a piece from the middle to represent the heart, a piece from the head to represent the mind, an ear, an eye, and a claw. All of them must be placed in the melted silver, tied to one of my tail feathers." "And how would this help me talk more like my sister?" "Goodness. Jade was a witch of the ages and you can't grasp the concept of magic. I hope your sister paid more attention to Jade and her teachings than you." Xia said sassily while plucking two feathers from her tail. She tied the ends together and then started instructing Mau to tie the pieces of the Great Stone Dragon to the tail feathers because tying the two tail feathers was hard enough for her. Once he was done, she told Mau to sing, anything meaningful while he dipped the stones into the melted silver. He sang "Wheeeeeeeeennnnn wiiiiill my reflection shoooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww… Who I am… Insiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!" slowly and shyly at first, but by the time he dipped the last of the tail feather into the melted silver, he was belting it out. When the entire tail feather and the stones were submerged, Xia started to sing, a weird song not in any language that Mau had ever heard, and the bowl with the melted mixture started to glow. Moments later, the mixture didn't look like a liquid anymore. It looked solid. "You can collect it now." "Collect what? My new rock?" Mau asked, still staring at the bowl. "Just grab it and you'll see." Xia said enthusiastically. "My first bit of magic since being awoken. Boy it sure feels good to stretch these ol' wings again." Xia said, as she fluttered up and down, proud of herself.
Mau's gaze never left the bowl, but its contents DID change. He reached in and grabbed, what he thought would be a rock, but it was a beautiful and dainty necklace. He examined it closely. On each of the little gems that dangled off of it, a symbol of what was used (a heart, brain, ear, eye, and claw) even the gems were beautiful and dainty. "Oh. What's this?" Mau asked, still staring at the beauty in his hands. "THAT'S how I help!" Xia said excitedly. "How does this help?" "Put it on and you'll see." "Well." Mau started, "It IS beautiful." He clasped the necklace around his neck and added, "But I don't see how this will help." And the voice that came out was not his, but his sisters. "What is this? How long does magic last? Can I learn? What?..." "IT'LL LAST…" Xia screamed, cutting off Mau. "as long as you wear it. Take it off and you'll sound like you again." She said in a more normal volume and tone because Mau was quiet. "OMG! This is amazing!" He screams out.
Mulan croaked out a scream as she dipped under a table. The men around her are still fighting one another. She peeks her head out from under the tablecloth. The man that she spotted earlier with a healthy family dynamic and healthy workout regimen comes walking into the mess hall tent. "What's going on here?" He asked. Mulan dipped her head back under the tablecloth while it sounded like the men were still fighting. "I SAID," the man screamed out, making everyone stop and stare. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Most of the men started to stammer and tell how they got involved in the fighting. But the man shut them all up at once. "ENOUGH!" From Mulan's spot, she could hear him take a deep breath. "I, your general, Shang, *AHEM* Captain General Shang. I want every single grain of rice picked up by dinnertime or there will be none tonight. The real training will start tomorrow." He said and then walked off. Mulan left her hiding spot and ran through the door, and smacked right into Shang. "I, uhhh." *AHEM* She cleared her throat and then said in a lower tone, "I'm sorry about that." Shang looked her up and down, frowned, and then asked, "Who ARE you?" "I'm uhh…" Mulan started, but then stopped talking and presented him with the scroll she got from Chi-Fu. "Fa Zhou's son?" "Yes. That'd be me. Name's Mau." She said in as deep a voice as she could muster. "I've heard very little about Fa Zhou's life since the last war. I've heard he also has a daughter." Shang said. "Yes. That'd be my twin. Her name's Mulan." She said, purposely not making eye contact with Shang. He didn't notice. "Well. If her eyes are as bright as yours, I bet she's beautiful." Shang said, staring into Mulan's bright green eyes. Mulan blushed before she remembered herself, or rather himself, and then started laughing to play off her blushing. "I guess she is. I don't know. She looks kinda like me. So am I hot?" She asked. "I… well… You…" Shang stammered out and then turned around and walked away. "I guess I pissed him off."
"I guess I pissed them off." Mau said to Xia when they walked into the house and found his parents glaring at him. "MAU LEFT FOR THE WAR AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN WAKE US TO SAY GOODBYE?" Fa Zhou screamed. "Please. PLEASE. Please tell me you saw him before he left. What did he say?" Without skipping a beat, he told his parents what he would've said if he were the one to ride off. "He's scared, but knows he has to be strong for the family." And then added what he knew to be true. "He loves us. Probably more than we know. Why else would sh… HE leave to do something so dangerous?" Mau said as Jade came out to meet everyone in the doorway. "Are we having a party out here then? I figured we'd all want breakfast." And everyone was led off by Ama to the kitchen/dining area.
Sort of late in the afternoon, the men finally finished picking up all the grains of rice. So they ate a dinner of dumplings, rice, and steamed veggies. As Mulan sat there with the men, she found it hard to eat as slovenly as half the men there. Luckily enough, there WERE civilized men eating there too. She went to sit at their table, and overheard a conversation about a girl worth fighting for. "I'd want her paler than the moon, with eyes that shine like stars," one said. Another said, "I couldn't care less what she'll wear or what she looks like, it all depends on what she cooks." And the third started saying something but fell flat when he saw Mulan and yelled out in rage, "It's the chicken boy!" Mushu, without thinking shouted out, "OH! It's the limp noodle?" from Mulan's collar. "Oh. That about does it!" The small angry man shouted as both the larger and largest man picked him up and chanted again. "Umm. Thank you. For earlier… too, I mean. Your chant thing is amazing." Mulan muttered gratefully. "I'm a monk. Also, I'm named Chein Po." He responded. "Wait… you're a monk that was sent off to war?" Mulan asked, her voice a touch soft. "That's a real crap thing my boy." She said, remembering herself and deepening her voice. Chein Po tilted his head looking at Mulan but nobody else seemed to notice anything.
That night, nobody rested soundly. Mau couldn't sleep in fear of his lies being found out. Ama couldn't sleep because she was in the temple praying for her family, especially Mulan and Mau. Fa Li and Fa Zhou couldn't sleep because of their sadness in not seeing Mau off before he left. And Mulan couldn't sleep because she was watering her freshly planted food, thinking about how much today has taken out of her, and wondering/worrying about what training would look like the next day.
The next day, everyone awoke groggy and awkwardly. Mulan awoke to Mushu happily stirring a small pot. "Oh good. You're up. I made porridge. And look, it's happy to see you." He said, holding up her bowl that had eggs and a slice of bacon across it to look like eyes and a smiling mouth. "Now." Mushu started while Mulan sat up. "SOMETHING SOMETHING… And play nice with the other kids, unless of course one of them wants to start something, then you've gotta kick the other kid's butt." He was muttering while feeding Mulan her porridge periodically as she got dressed. "But I don't wanna kick the other kid's butt." She said with a mouthful of porridge. She was tying her sash around her when Khan poked his head into the tent and neighed. "What do you mean they headed out already?" Mushu asked, alarmed. Mulan's eyes got huge and she finished putting on her shoes and ran out of the tent. Mushu ran after her, "You forgot your sword. You forgot…!" He trailed off knowing she couldn't hear him anymore. "Look at our little baby go. All grown up and out to kill people." Khan snuffled in agreement, then walked into the tent, feeling that his guard shift was over, and fell asleep.
At the Fa residence, everyone awoke awkwardly, stumbling out of bed, or just not getting out of bed at all. Fa Zhou and Fa Li were the latter. Jade went to the shrine to light incense and on her way back in, picked some fruit from the garden. Mau, already dressed in a lavender kimono with soft pink trim and matching sash, was working on breakfast when Grandma Fa came in with a handful of seasonal berries. "Ama?" "Yes, young one?" "I can cut those up and serve them." "No. You will NOT!" Ama almost shrieked the last words out. *AHEM* She cleared her throat. "What I mean is, these get dried and put into their teas to make them feel better." Mau stood blank faced for a second. "OH! You mean your witchy things." Xia finally got up from Mulan's room, where she and Mau were sleeping and fluttered into the kitchen. "Told you you weren't that bright. You literally SAW her do magic in a flashback. But somehow her doing simple magicks confuse you?" "I've seen her do rituals. Things like making the garden bloom out of season, turning the tides in your fathers gambling, weaving protective spells in your guys' clothing, and there was this one… Boy howdy, would not recommend that for you… required a blood sacrifice… oh. Umm. That's something you're not ready for, neither the act nor the story." "And those always work for whatever she wants. But I didn't realize that there were magicks that could be as simple as drying fruits." Mau said, looking down out of shame. "Sweetie, there are people who solve their problems with a few meaningful words, but we call that religion. To do magic can be simple, just like prayer is simple. If you wish to learn, I can show you. The spreading of information is how religions AND covens are made." Grandma Fa looked at Mau. "Who knows, it might help you make all sorts of friends."
After delivering the food to Baba and Mama, Mau went out for a stroll. "I'll go with you. You never know when you might need my help." Xia offered. "No… I, well I… I need to go alone, clear my… my head." Not knowing that this might be the most eventful stroll they ever took. As Mau walked around, he was appreciative that they were not nobility and had not had to wear any form of royal shoes that were pinchy and awkward, at best, for women in the first place, because in the flats he was in, his feet were already killing him. When he made it to the town square, where everyone once awaited the Matchmaker, and his sister was demeaned by that ridiculous crotchety old man, he took a seat by some old men playing pai-sho. As children, Mau and Mulan used to play all the time. That was before they got a dog that thought the way to win the game was to knock all the pieces on the floor. Mau giggled at this thought. One of the elderly men overheard it and thought it was directed at him. "Think you can play any better, girly?" He smacked out of his toothless mouth. "Think you can sass the elderly, huh? Put your money where your mouth is!" The geezer wheezed out, and then doubled over into a coughing fit. "That wasn't what I…" "Afraid you'll lose? Dishonor your family?" The old man's game partner asked. "It's ok. He's just an old windbag. Gets angry for everything. You can play against me. Win or lose, you will have no more or less honor than when you stepped out of your home. You have my word." And he placed his fist over his heart the same way Grandma Fa did when she was making promises or telling the truth. Mau didn't know why, but this man calmed him down, and he felt safe and fine playing pai-sho with him. As they played, the gentleman started talking to Mau. "Normally, girls pay no attention to this game, it's all about strategy. It's like war!" He said energetically as he placed his tile down. "Now now A-pa. No more talk of wars. We've already sent off such brave, strong boys to defend us in this one." A strong, muscular boy about Mau's age said, as he came in carrying a tray containing a teapot and several teacups. "I hope you don't mind tea, stranger. It's all these geezers like." He said with a smile. "Well, I wouldn't be a stranger if…" Mau started, leaning forward to take his turn, trying to flirt, but one of the elderly men shouted out, "Well, we like sake too, but you won't let us have any!" Which made all the elderly men laugh so hard that a few of them started having coughing fits. The boy with the tray rolled his eyes and smiled at Mau.
After catching up to the rest of the troops, Mulan saw what training entailed. There was an obstacle course set up, a bunch of pails by the river, and what looked like archery targets scattered throughout the trees. "This might be a little harder than we thought. I thought war was about strategy, like pai-sho." Mulan muttered as she approached the crowd. "Ha. Only if you're a general. Like that guy." a tall man in between Mulan and Yao said. "Good morning troops. Don't expect every morning to be sunshine and daisies like this. This is just the beginning. Today, I take a hundred thumb sucking mamas boys into hardened men. Now, who would like to be the first example?" Shang says, shirtless already and putting an arrow into his bow. Everyone but Yao, who was looking to his side to see Chein Po in the crowd and make sure he was ok, took a step back. Even Chein Po. "Good. Yao. You will do nicely." At this Yao finally looked at Shang and saw the arrow. He stood with his chest puffed out and said, "Do your worst." And Shang did. He aimed the arrow at the top of a wide pole, about a hundred feet in the air and let it soar. "You will retrieve the arrow from the top of the pole." Shang said with a smile while half the men had crapped their pants in fear for Yao.
When all the games of pai-sho ended, and the old men were satisfied, they offered to let Mulan play daily on her walks if she'd like. Mau graciously accepted. Afterwards, Mau and the boy with the tray, who Mau found out was named Rum, went for a walk around the town square. His parents were traveling the countryside to work their wine farms and he was left behind to take care of his grandpa, the only other person living in their family home after his brother was sent to the war. So Mau talked of Mulan, using his own name the whole time. It got easier to be Mulan the more he talked. When they got closer to the matchmakers, Mau was happy as Mulan, forgetting just what being Mulan entails. As the two walked past the matchmakers, the doors burst open and the matchmaker waddled down her stairs to Mau. "I found you a match, girlie!" She shouted, throwing an arm around Mulan's shoulder. "And let me assure you that it wasn't easy." She muttered into Mulan's ear. "Now come come come. Now you will come see." She rushed out in one breath as she ran up the stairs, Mau still under her arm. (S)he looked back and gave a sad wave to his new friend.
Yao grumbled out, "Fine… I'll get your arrow, pretty boy. And I'll do it with my shirt ON." "Oh. But you're forgetting something." Shang said as Yao made it to the pole. He opened a large ornamental box and pulled out a large medallion on a rope. "This represents courage." He said, then taking out a matching medallion he added, "And this represents honor. You need both to reach the arrow." Yao spit on his hands and attempted to climb up the pole with raw strength, letting the weights dangle from his sides. He made it about 3 feet up the pole and slid back down. The next three men behind him all tried to tie the ropes together and hold on to the weights to support themselves. One man made it halfway up the pole before his rope slipped and he slid all the way down. Next was Chien Po. He took the medallions and placed them both on the ground, uprooted the pole, and laid it down so the arrow could be retrieved. "I like your thinking, and thinking like that will keep you safe on the battlefield. But here, I need you to follow orders. Put the pole back up." Listening to his captain general, Chien Po put the pole back up, then he went to the back of the line. Man after Man, everyone took a turn falling on their butts. Mulan's turn was no different. She made it about 4-5 feet up the pole and slid back down, just like most everyone else before her. The group did this exercise three times before dusk fell and it was dinnertime. Nobody retrieved the arrow. The arrow sat there, overnight.
The next morning, Mau got ready to meet with Mulan's match. They met at the Matchmakers and did introductions. Just the basics, names, hobbies, and 'something special about you' which for Mulan, Mau said that something special about her is that she's very smart and most animals love her, which makes it really easy for her to train them. All spoken from first person, but as he spoke, he realized that this only applied to Mulan. 'What are my good qualities? What's special about me?' He thought to himself while the man in front of him droned on and on about how his mother named him after some great warrior of old myth. The Matchmaker didn't even let him finish, he just kept talking. So the two left to 'go on a date.' which is just a little picnic table outside the Matchmakers where they sit and get to know each other. The man, named Pangu, would not shut up to save his life. Mau didn't know if this man ever took a breath. After 3 and a half hours, the Matchmaker came out to tell them that their time was up and to have their written statements about each other done by tomorrow. All Mau could think was 'He talks so much, but says so little. My brain is buzzing, but I still know nothing about this man.' And wrote it on a piece of paper the Matchmaker gave to her as soon as the man left. Mau handed the paper to the Matchmaker and hoped his pleading eyes were enough to get her to understand that this was NOT the man for Mulan, nor him for that matter.
The rest of the day was nothing but various training exercises. First they were told that they had to go to the river and catch their own lunch but they weren't handed any fishing rods or nets. They were told to 'pluck the fish from the water.' As Mulan and about 30 other men stood in the river, everyone was slapping around in the water at various times, making the fish dart here, there, and everywhere. Mulan took one of the buckets by the riverbed and put some leftover crumbs from breakfast at the bottom, then put the bucket in the water. In 10 minutes she caught 5 fish. She brought the fish up to Shang, who looked angry, but then decided that it wasn't worth blowing up over. Instead, he took all of her fish and told Chi Fu to start a fire for the chef to cook them. Then he turned to Mulan and said, "Well? What are you waiting for? Go catch a fish… The RIGHT way." And sent her off. At the end of an hour, nobody had caught any fish the way that Shang wanted them to. So the only ones to eat lunch were Chi Fu, Shang, and the cook, none of which were to haul full water buckets up the nearby mountainscape. Shang led the way, but he took no water with him. Mulan could not handle her hunger and tiredness and passed out 3/4s to the top of the mountain, angering Shang to the point that he came and took her water pail and left with the rest of the group.
Having gotten home and taken his shoes off, Mau was in Mulan's room, pacing. Asking the hard hitting questions, to no one in particular. "What makes me, me?" "I don't know." Xia interrupted, making Mau aware of her presence. "Jade had magic that set her apart from others, your sister has a passion in her heart and a fire in her belly that allows her to do what she sets out to do. What do you have?" She asked, standing softly on a sleeping Little Brother. "What makes Mau, Mau?" He repeated to himself. "Well, I can… There was that one time… I… Well…" The more he thought, the more frustrated he became. "That's stupid, because Mau is supposed to be out at war!" He burst out, stopping his pacing and flinging himself around to look Xia in the face. Tears running down his own, he started "I wonder how Mulan is doing. I wish I knew how hard it was to be Mulan before she left. War seems less scary than whatever the heck is going on now. Or maybe, I'm just a coward? I mean, isn't that the only reason I'm here? Maybe that's my only defining trait.." at this, he slumped onto the bed, and started sobbing softly.
When Mulan awoke and continued on her trek, she found the rest of the soldiers on the top of the mountain, shooting tomatoes thrown into the air into trees with arrows. When she reached them, Shang wasted no time. "Grab a bow and quiver. War will not wait for you to catch your breath." Around the time that Mulan got situated with a bow and was stringing her arrow, Shang started singing, more to himself at first, "Did they send me daughters, when I asked for sons." But as the song continued it seemed more and more directed at her and the other soldiers. "I'll make a man… Out of YOU!" 'Some of that song was pretty hurtful,' she thought while they jumped across river stones for their next training exercise. One of the men stopped abruptly in the front which made the others stop just as suddenly, causing 5 men to fall into the water. The next thing was to take the water pails back down the mountain and back to the campsite to use in a stew that evening. They all grabbed their buckets and headed back down the mountain. Going down was easier for Mulan to keep up and stay steady than going up. When they all got to the campsite, most of the men fell to the ground and lamented on their day and aches and pains. Mulan went to her tent, greeted by Mushu. "How was today? Do anything special?" And with that, Mulan glared at him and left the tent.
Mau was crying and crying and couldn't think of any way to stop. The tears started to slowly fill up the room he was in. Moments later, he was bobbing close to the ceiling, gasping for air. Then he saw it. A little hatch directly on the ceiling. 'Wonder why somebody'd put that there.' He thought, shrugging and making his way to the hatch. It was easy enough to open. When he did, him and the water from the other room started pouring out, like from a glass. He found the next hatch and ran to it, before this room could get flooded too. He opened it, and basically fell down into the next room, which didn't look much like a room at all. It looked like a small rainforest. The water started pouring out of the other room, trickling out and creating a waterfall. It was beautiful. He dusted himself off and took in the scenery. There were birds swimming, fish flying, and the only reason you could tell that they were in any kind of enclosure was because you could see the walls, no ceiling, but the walls weren't the same shade of blue as the sky, nor the same green as the foliage. 'Am I supposed to find a way out of this room too?' He thought. "But I like this room." He said to himself, making a nearby nest of fish coo. He started exploring the room. Soon, he found himself at one of the walls. Not wanting this to be the end of his adventure, he took some of the foliage around him and started constructing his own pair of wings. It took what felt like ages, but he did it, with some sap, leaves, and sticks about as thick as his arms. He took a step back to admire his work, and fell off a cliff he didn't know existed. His first thought was to call for help, but who would even hear him in this jungle of a room? He started trying to grab onto things to slow his descent. Instead he unrooted a mulberry bush. He frantically started shaking the bush, flinging berries all over the place, but also slowing down his fall. He started to shed the bush of its leaves, and covered himself, still sticky with sap from making his wings on top of the cliff. When he finished was when he took note of how quickly the ground was approaching. He started flapping his arms and hoped for the best. And the best happened. About 10 feet from the ground, he hovered. He didn't fly any higher, but he wasn't falling anymore. A school of fish flew by him. One nudged him in the shoulder. And pushed him into the water. The sap and leaves did not wash away in the water, instead, they helped him steer himself. There were flocks of flamingos that were so far away they were barely pink anymore, and a flock of penguins around him, catching small prey. The prey looked like little yarn balls, like from when Ama knit. Mau went to grab one of the little prey, and it started to unravel. Not around him, but leading in a straight line, down to the flamingos. Mau shrugged and followed. As he approached the flamingos, they all looked at him, and then bared their teeth. He screamed a silent scream and started swimming away. He felt too slow. He started to rub his arms, hoping that he could speed himself up with his makeshift wings. The reason he wasn't going as fast as he'd liked is because the more he touched the leaves on his arms, the more they turned into steel. Eventually, he floated there with armor on. This gave him an idea. Snoorkt* "What?" Mau awoke, rustled awake by something touching him. Xia looked at him with a bit of concern in her eyes. "I know it's not my place, but are you ok? Do you need help?" "Oh, yes I do. But not the help you might be thinking of. Come on!" He said while grabbing Xia gently and placing her on his head.
While everyone was in line for their stew, Mulan went to the pole from this morning. She sighed, looked down, and found exactly what she needed. The two medallions. She grabbed them both, looked up at the arrow at the top of the pole, and then tied the straps around her wrists. She climbed and climbed. About halfway up, she lost her footing and slid down 2-3 feet. But then she found her footing again, growled, and continued her way to the top. When the line died down, Shang came to get some stew and noticed Mau missing. "Where's Mau? Find him." About 8 men, including Chien Po and Ling, went searching for Mua. Chien Po was the first to see Mulan at the top of the pole and told Ling to alert the others. He ran as fast as he could to the dining tent all the while screaming, "The pole! The pole! Come see! Come see!" And everyone left their bowls where they sat and came to the pole where they once met, just this morning. By the time the men came to crowd around the pole, Mulan was already sitting on the top of the pole, holding the arrow, twirling it gently in between her fingers. Shang came out of his tent with Chi Fu and Chi Fu was complaining about something. Mulan threw the arrow at the space in front of Shang's feet, missed, and instead threw the arrow in front of Chi Fu's feet, causing him to pass out. The crowd of men cheered. Shang chuckled and carried Chi Fu into his tent for the night.