As everyone slept, and the moon crept higher, Mau and Xia snuck out of Mulan's room and went to gather some supplies. They headed out to the garden, Xia still not aware of what she was supposed to do. So she started to collect a branch from each type of tree they had. About 30 or so. It didn't take long for Xia to collect a branch of every tree. She collected branches for the fruits seeing as most of the branches looked the same, she tried to eat a peach and started choking. "Silly bird. You've got to wait. Then you can have apples in your water." Mau said, taking out his little pocket knife and starting to slice the peach. "Here ya go." He said palming a slice for her to take out of his hand. "Snack or no snack… what are we even gonna make?" Xia asked with a mouthful of peach. "I want to make something to protect the ones I love. I want… I want…" Mau said, thinking and eating a peach slice. "I want to make a shield." "Oh. That's not too hard. Wood or metal?" "Umm… Can it be both?" He asked. "Yes." Xia answered. And then got to work. Mau had to melt some metal down again, but this time it was a lot easier because he needed small chunks he could shape into a shield. After a while, he had a crude, but fully functional shield. Then he started etching into the wood and metal.
The next morning, Mau woke up before everyone and started cooking breakfast. Eggs, rice, and some cut up veggies. When Ama walked into the room, Mau asked if there was anything he should leave whole in the pot. "Why would that matter?" Ama answered. "It's just breakfast." With that, Mau scowled so hard that it made his jaw hurt and grandma Fa laugh. "Let me help though. Or everyone will know you're not Mulan. Do you recall how she makes eggs?" "Umm…" Mau stood there, blank faced. "With a little bit of milk, dear. Go get some." Ama said gently. Mau walked out to the cows and acquired a cup of milk. 'All this work for one cup.' He thought. 'One day, I want something that will keep. Like putting cold food in it and it keeps it cold. Or keeps hot food hot. That'd be cool.' He thought as he came back to the kitchen. He didn't use the whole cup of milk while cooking, so he got to drink the last of it. He was starting to learn that he enjoyed cooking. 'I wonder if I'll like baking.' He thought as everyone sat down to breakfast. "Some of your best work yet." Fa Zhou said, between bites. "So moist and fluffy." Said Fa Li. And Ama just sat there with a little happy grin.
When Mulan made it back to the tent with Mushu, they noticed a singular die next to Mulan's sleeping bag. Mulan gasped, and picked it up, putting it with the rest, afraid to lose any. As she held the bag of dice, she thought of Ama and Aba, then her mama and baba, and lastly her brother and Little Brother. She missed them dearly. She missed the way that mama made stir-fry. She missed the songs Ama would sing while she was doing things. She missed goofing off with Mau and sword fighting with mops. She even missed Little Brother's stinky breath in the mornings when he'd lick her face to wake her up. There was a lot back home to protect, to fight for. And she would. 'Tomorrow is a new day.' She thought. 'I'll show them.'
When Mulan awoke the next morning, she had a glint in her eye and a fire in her belly. One that was filled with Mushu's 'happy porridge' before she left to go train with the men. Today, they were doing all the same things they did the other day, but Mulan said that today would be different. They started with karate warm ups. Mulan encouraged her comrades and made it into a contest. After training, they were partnered up to spar and Mulan kicked Shang in the mouth. He started bleeding and looked at Mulan with admiration. The next thing was to fish with your bare hands. Mulan used her bucket trick once again, but this time didn't get caught. She finally got some fish for lunch. As well as half the men who saw what she did and mimicked her. Well fed and well rested, the mountain stood no chance against Mulan. She practically ran up the mountain with her water pails beating everyone except Shang, Ling, and a buff man she didn't know the name of yet. At the top of the mountain, everyone was to grab a bow and arrow and start shooting airborne tomatoes into the markers on the trees. She still had a problem with this. Her aim was getting better, for she could now shoot the tomatoes, but she could not get them to the markers on the trees no matter how hard she tried. And she tried hard. 'Tomorrows a new day.' She thought with vigor.
"Tomorrow's a new day, dear." Ama said while watching Mau struggle with Tarot reading. "We can try something else if you'd like." "No, Ama. I want to learn all your magicks." "Some can't be taught, they have to come from within. But I'll teach you everything I can." She said softly while holding Mau's hands.
The next day went a lot like the day before. Mulan and the men started with a warm up that didn't last as long as it normally did, and then being paired up to spar. Mulan was matched up with Yao, who mumbled "Chicken boy" under his breath before the fight and then started going crazy. Most of his moves were unlearned here, street fighting moves. All Mulan could do was dodge and avoid him. Most everyone else finished with their spar and were crowding around Mulan and Yao. Yao swung and ran, swung and ran, tiring himself out. Mulan grabbed both his shoulders and did a flip over him. The force of her flip shoved Yao to the ground, where he was too tired to get up. Mulan won her match.
That morning, Xia and Mau ran the perimeter of the Fa homestead. There were a lot of flowers and vines that Mau had never seen. After their run, Xia asked Mau about the plants he'd seen. He didn't know much, but he knew they had poison ivy around the southwest corner of the estate. Next, they walked around the perimeter of the estate, Mau with a notebook in hand while Xia preached on about the different roots, vines, flowers, and their purposes.
Like always, before anyone could have lunch, they had to catch their own fish. This time, Shang was in the water, giving a demonstration of how to fish barehanded. "So, yesterday, I saw 5 men fishing like how Mau got reprimanded for the other day. I want to see it done correctly this time." He said before taking aim and slickly slicing the water, pulling out a fish. "His way is smart, but teaches you nothing about fighting or speed. Now start." He snapped, putting the fish he caught into a bucket on the side of the river.
Around lunchtime, Mau headed to the kitchen to help Fa Li make lunch. It was bao buns, his favorite. "I'd like to pray for Mau, and thought that his favorite food might help in some way." Fa Li said with tears in her eyes. "I'm so worried about your brother." She added. Mau wished he could tell her of what Mulan and him were doing, but if she couldn't handle Mau going off to war, she sure as heck wouldn't handle Mulan going any easier. "Well, my heart goes out for Mulan." He slipped out. "Oh dear. This must be so hard on you, my dear. You're twins. You've never been apart this long before. You must be worried sick. Of course. I'm so sorry." "I… Well… You see… That's right mama. I'm so worried. It hurts my heart." "You should probably take a lay down. I'll let you know when lunch is ready."
After fishing, the group would normally take pails up the mountain. Today, they were to jump over river stones, taking them across the river, multiple times. Once, they all fell, because Chien Po, who was in the front, admitted he couldn't swim and slowed down in the middle of the river. After doing this a couple dozen times, Chien Po no longer had the fear that made him stop in the middle of the river and they all started making it across each and every time. After a while, Shang said that they had done enough for today and tomorrow would be almost entirely devoted to archery.
At dinnertime, things were quiet. Chien Po approached Mulan, Yao, and Ling and asked for swimming lessons. Mulan declined getting in the water, but offered to watch their stuff by the water. She just couldn't risk anyone seeing her feminine body.
After swimming lessons, it seemed so quiet that everyone must've gone to sleep. Mushu came to check on Mulan because she never showed up to the tent. Mulan takes this time to get in the water and take a much needed bath. Washcloth baths could only go so far. As she was enjoying the water, she heard a rustle in the bushes. At first she was prepared to stand up and fight, but then she saw that it was Shang and threw herself back into the water as fast as she could. Luckily for her, Shang noticed nothing. They swam around, bathing, until Mulan was ready to get out. She then splashed Mushu, discreetly, willing him to come over and help her. Mushu came over and bit Shang's butt. While he was freaking out, thinking there was a snake in the water and rushing to get out, Mulan got out using Khan and his coverings as a cover. After she went to her tent, got dressed, and passed out really stressed, Shang almost caught her.
That night, after learning everything there was to know about the plants on and around the estate, Xia and Mau fell asleep immediately after falling into bed.
The next morning, the group did their normal warm ups and sparring, where Mulan was paired up with the buff man from before, and learned that his name was Ricardo. Then headed to the top of the mountain where the trees were already marked for archery. When they got going and into the swing of things, it was a little easier to just focus on the airborne tomatoes and the markers on the trees. 'But that's not how it is in war, you don't get a moment to readjust when someone is in your face ready to attack.' Mulan thought while nailing the tomatoes and targets. After a while, most of the men, including Mulan, were hitting BOTH the tomatoes AND the targets. After they got better, Shang said that they had to do it while moving. 'That's more like it.' Mulan thought as they regrouped and lined up, taking turns to shoot five tomatoes and markers while running the small obstacle course they quickly, but not hastily, set up.
In the morning, when Xia and Mau woke up, they started a fresh pot of coffee so they could get the most out of the day. When they tried some, they almost immediately spat it out. It tasted like dirt. But not just any dirt. It tasted like the dirt that they've been smelling for the past few days. Magic dirt? Could there be such a thing? If there was, it was right there in their coffee. After drinking coffee, Mau started learning to read tea leaves. After a while, Ama came out of her room and started watching. Intrigued, she volunteered to have her tea leaves read. She drank her tea slowly and then did the usual. Three clockwise circles and then took a peak. What she saw was…
"Squares? But what do squares even mean?" Mau asked, twirling the cup in all directions to see if he missed something. "It's literally just all squares in your cup." Xia said, looking over Mau's shoulder. "Squares mean that I'm happy. I have found comfort and peace." "How can you be peaceful at a time like this?" Mau asked. "I wish I could be." He added. "You'll get there. One day. I'm only so calm because I've seen the future and know how things are going to go and I see nothing to fear." "But I die as a result of the war!" Mau screeched out. "How can you be ok with that?" "Because the future isn't as black and white as you seem to think." Ama answered while pouring herself another cup of tea. "That's something you have to learn on your own though, sadly." She said while taking a sip. She stopped drinking for a moment and listened. Open the door, young one. I believe it's for you anyway."
Mau answered the door, and in front of him stood the Matchmaker. Mau sighed deeply in his soul, but answered politely. "What can I do for you, ma'am?" "You can go on another date at noon today. Meet at my house." She said curtly, and then turned to leave.
At the Matchmakers house, Mau met with a boy about his own age. 'Much more suitable for Mulan.' He thought. They sat down at the picnic table outside the Matchmakers. He said his name was Jun. And then that was it. They sat in complete silence for over a half hour before Mau tried to say something. "My name is Mulan." "Like I care! You're a woman. So shut up!" Mau looked like he was struck. And then reached out and struck the man. "I WILL NOT tolerate this level of disrespect." Mau said to Jun's face. "MATCHMAKER!" he yelled while walking to her door, and Jun rubbed his cheek. They filled out a paper each as to why they were incompatible. All Mau wrote was "sexist narcissistic pig" and started to walk off. But before he could, the Matchmaker took her hand and said, "Listen, Mulan. I have another date lined up for you tomorrow at noon. This one better be a hit, because I'm running out of eligible bachelors." She let go and then put her hand to her temples. "Nobody else has given me THIS much trouble."
At the end of the day, Mulan and the men could hit almost every single tomato and marker while running. There was a miss here and there, but that was to be expected, it was their first day training like this. As they huffed down the mountain, everyone felt pretty proud of themselves and wondered what tomorrow's training would look like.
As Mau lay in Mulan's room, for yet another night, he looked at the shield that he and Xia made. It felt comforting to have something that he made by hand. And the shield felt comforting, like his family was safe, no matter where they were. As he stared at the shield, he drifted off into a pleasant sleep.
Mushu was tired of not knowing anything. Nobody told the soldiers anything they didn't need to know, so Mushu couldn't know anything that Mulan didn't, and that wasn't much. He decided to take matters into his own claws. As he snuck around the captain's tent, ChiFu was pacing and Shang was nowhere to be found. Mushu shook the trees outside the tent to make ChiFu jump and he decided that he didn't want to be in the tent by himself right now. He headed to the water to take a bath with at least a handful of men, that would make him feel safer. When he left, Mushu ran into the tent, and started looking around amongst ChiFu's notes. Among his notes was a paper, covered by many others, but Mushu could clearly see the words, Urgent, Bloodbath, and Backup. This might just be what he was looking for. He pulled the paper out of the stack and continued reading. IT WAS! While he was making his revelation, he heard a noise coming from outside the tent. 'It's barely been a few minutes.' He thought. 'So this must be Shang.' He thought as he left the note on Shangs cot and hid under it. It didn't take too long before Shang stomped out of the tent, roaring. "Where's ChiFu?" He yelled just outside the tent. He got his answer right away because nobody wanted to cross him at this point. Shang makes his way down to the water. "What is THIS?" He asks ChiFu while holding up the paper. ChiFu pretended to not know what was going on, and continued bathing. Shang got in the water, picked up ChiFu by the neck, and asked again. "I said, what is this?" he gritted through his teeth while holding the paper mere inches away from ChiFu's face. He let go of ChiFu's neck and waited for an answer. He stammered for a minute first, then saw Shang's face and blurted it out all in one breath. "The-captain-your-father-sent-word-that-he-needed-backup-a-few-days-ago-and-I-replied-that-the-troops-weren't-ready." Then he took a breath and added, "BECAUSE THEY AREN'T!" louder than he expected. "That's not your call to make. This is a war. If we're needed, we're needed. Tell the troops that we will ride out tomorrow morning." "Right now?" "Well, you COULD have told them a few days ago… But now you can do it naked for all I care. But do it NOW!" he shouted and then started walking back to the tent. "And if you ever, EVER, be insubordinate again, I'll take care of you… personally." He said as he started throwing ChiFu's cot out of the tent. "You fancy yourself the star of this show, so sleep under them." He said while entering his tent.
Mushu told Mulan the news while in their tent, thinking that she would NOT want to see a naked ChiFu delivering the message to the rest of the troops. That night, everyone slept like on eggshells.
The next morning, as was told, the troops headed out.
After Mau awoke, he didn't know what he wanted to do. So he went to visit the old men playing pai sho again. And again, ran into that cute boy, Rum. Mau, as Mulan, helped serve the old men and also played three games, winning two and losing one. Then Mau asked if Rum would like to go for a walk. After making sure that the old men would be fine for a while, they headed off. They walked through a beautiful meadow just outside the town and picked flowers, making flower crowns for each other. After that, they headed towards a stream that fed into the meadow and splashed around, falling to the bank after running out of breath. The laughter never stopped, and neither did their words. They never ran out of things to talk about. Even talking about things like the fears of matchmaking and things outside their control. "My family wants me to run the distillery." Rum said. "But I want to travel, see the world, and make something new." Mau looked on in contemplation. "I don't know what I want in life yet. I just know what I don't want." "That's a start at least." Rum said as they headed back to the elderly home.
"For a long time we've been marching into battle." Ling sort of sang. "In a thundering heard, we fell a lot like cattle." Yao added. "Like the pounding beat, our aching feet aren't easy to ignore." The rest of the troops added. "Hey!" Ling shouted. "Think of instead… A girl worth fighting fooooOOooooooOoooooorrrrrr." He sang out, holding the last note and making most of the men crack a smile. "Huh?" Mulan said in confusion. "You heard what I said. A girl worth fighting fooooOOooooooOoooooorrrrrr." He took out a crude drawing of a woman that looked kind of like a fertility goddess, just skinnier. "I want her paler than the moon, with eyes that shine like stars." He sort of sang. Yao took the drawing from him, looked at it, and sort of sang, "My girl will marvel at my strength, adore my battle scars." Chien Po took the drawing and kind of shrugged, handing it back to Ling and singing, "I couldn't care less what she'll wear, or what she looks like. It all depends on what she cooks, like beef, pork, chicken." All the men said, "yum." and "mmmm." in unison.
As they crossed a river, Ling sang, "I bet the local girls thought you were quite the charmer. And when they got out of the water, his armor was full of water, making him look like he had more muscle than he did. "And I bet the ladies love a man in armor." He sang while posing with his newfound muscles until the water drained away and he looked like himself again. "My girl will think I have no faults." Yao added. "That I'm a major find." Chien Po added. "How about a girl who's got a brain… and… always speaks her mind?" Mulan added. "Nah!" Everyone who could hear answered in response. People were adding bits and pieces of things that would make up their dream woman, some men just described how she'd look, some how she'd feel, some how she'd love him unconditionally. Before long, they were at the battlefield, looking out onto what should have been a stronghold, they looked out into a massacre. Shang was pissed. He called for ChiFu and he had to come to the front of the lines. "This is all YOUR FAULT! Had we been here days ago, we could have helped. Now they're all…" He stopped talking and teared up. "Check for survivors." He screamed out to the troops.
When Mau made it to the Matchmakers, he was still wearing his cute little flower crown. He met with the Matchmaker and the new suitor, this one named Khang. He introduced himself, asked Mulan's name, then insulted her flower crown. "My girl will only wear the best. And if it's not the best, she won't wear it." "What if it's something that I like?" Mau asked. "Doesn't matter. I'm the best, and I deserve the best, so that means my woman deserves the best, and anything that isn't the best will be burned." "Then consider me burned. I'm done. Matchmaker, paper please." Mau said. This time, they didn't even make it to the table. They were still standing in front of the Matchmaker. She gritted her teeth and handed them both a paper. Khang wrote Judgemental. And Mau wrote Don't ever put me in a room with him alone cuz I'd probably kill him.
After a while, the soldiers came back to Shang to report no survivors. Ling told him where he could find his father. And Mulan came across a small doll that was at one point owned by a little girl with hopes and dreams. She wondered what happened to the townsfolk. As she walked a little further, she saw Shang stabbing a sword into the snow, and placing his fathers helmet at the base of the sword, kind of like a little shrine. She walked up and added the little doll, tilting her head in prayer. Hopefully, she'll be ok.
Before they start making their way to the emperors, they look around on the outskirts of the town, hoping to find gardens or a source of water to refill their water pouches. Mulan heard noises coming from what looked like a burned down barn. She started clearing the debris. Some of the men watched out of curiosity, but Ling, Yao, and Chien Po started helping her. Soon, they found a trapdoor. Mulan opened it.
The townsfolk looked up at Mulan, small children crying and mothers consoling them. It looked like the whole town was in here. "It's… umm… safe? To come out." Mulan said, reaching a hand out to the people in the safe room. "It's not pretty. But it's safe." The townsfolk came out. The adults took a look around. Some of them cried softly to themselves, some of them flat out threw up. One of the women stayed behind with the children and a couple of women came out and led the men to the stream to fill up their water pouches. Before the soldiers took off, the townsfolk said to not worry about them, they'll rebuild the village as soon as they can. Until then, they'll take shelter in a nearby village, the opposite direction of where the soldiers are headed.
After the "date" the matchmaker had set up, Mau was distraught and didn't know where his feet were carrying him until he got there. He said Hi to the old men and helped out again so that Rum could have some free time. They headed to the meadow again. This time they just laid amongst the flowers and talked. "So how'd things go with this one?" Rum asked. "Absolutely terrible. And the worst part was that I think he thought he would be doing me a favor." "Eww." "Besides, whether he was an ass or not, it doesn't matter. I already have my sights set on someone." "Ooohhh… Juicy. Do tell." Rum said, propping himself up to see and hear better. "Duh. Wouldn't it be obvious by now? You." Mau said, readjusting to see Rum's reaction. "Well… That's awfully nice… But… But I… I… There's a reason I'm not at the matchmakers ever… Like, ever. I signed up to be a priest so that I would never have to wed and in the hopes that I could travel like my dream. I don't like women. I'm sorry. You're great and all… Just… Not my type." Rum stammered out, trying to let Mulan down gently. "Oh. That's GREAT!" Mau shouted out, starting to take off his necklace and kimono. "I'm into men too!" He said in his own voice, in nothing but some undies. Rum found it hard to take in what he was seeing. He teared up and ran away.
As the soldiers trek on, they think about what kind of person would be able, no… willing… willing and able to do something like that. "Obviously, we're dealing with an ex-soldier." Ricardo piped up. "Can't be. Soldiers have morals. I don't think an ex-soldier would massacre everyone like that." "Then we must be dealing with a supervillain." a skinny man from the back piped up. "Supervillians only exist in comic books." a fat man responded. "But what other explanation do we have?" a bearded man asked. "Shan Yhu?" a timid man answered. "And the Huns?" Ricardo asked, slightly worried. "Sounds most probable." ChiFu said, barely looking up from his notes he was scribbling while riding his horse. A few of the more weak kneed men started trembling and fell to the ground. "How are we supposed to fight Huns? It's a losing battle." "I'm scared I'll never make it home to my family." "I'm scared that I'll never see my pets again." "I'm just scared." The men started saying. It saddened Mulan's heart. So she turned around and said, "Nobody is ever NOT scared. But bravery is doing something even when you're scared. Let's be brave together." And the men seemed to brighten up at the thought and continued walking.
On the way back to the village from the meadow, Mau heard a noise and jumped. When he looked behind him, he realized it was just a cat. One of the old men that Rum looked after was wandering around the town square. So he led him back, hoping to talk to Rum in the process. He was nowhere to be seen. Saddened, Mau walked off, to nowhere in particular. He ended up at Pia's, his best friend's place. The little girls were running around collecting berries from the bushes that lined her property, filling little baskets. Pia was hanging laundry with a baby in a papoose on her back, asleep. As Mau walked into the property, one of the kids came behind him and tugged on Mulan's kimono. Shocked, he twirled around, heart thumping, and realized it was just a kid. "Wanna pick?" She asked. "I'd actually love to. But first, I need to talk to Pia." Mau said. He walked up to Pia and she stopped hanging laundry to stare. "Something's different about you, Mulan. I can't really place my finger on it. But ever since your brother's gone off to war, you've… GASP* Mau?" She leaned closer. "Mau, is that you? I mean, if it IS you, Mulan, I'm sorry. But if this is Mau, that explains a lot." She added. "Well… I… I mean… Maybe…" Mau stumbled. "Can… Can I sh… show you?" "Well, Mulan. I thought you'd never ask." Pia said with a little hint of flirtation and a wink.