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Mulan sighed and pushed her hair out of her face as she finished up the last of her chores with Mushu’s help. If anything, it felt like there were more chores than before, but she didn’t complain. She didn’t want to complain, knowing that there were more than a few times she should have died but didn’t. There was also the matter of Shang and she smiled as she thought of him. If her grandmother stopped interfering, then maybe, just maybe, she could settle down with someone who valued her opinions. Who liked having someone to speak to about all matters of the world instead of just trying to speak to her in poetry.
“I know that look,” Mushu said.
“It’s my happy look,” she said and shrugged. “I think that’s everything.”
“It is.” Mushu kicked around some dirt. “I do want to talk about something, considering you and Shang.”
She felt a bit of dread growing in her stomach. Did the Ancestors not like him? She would have thought that they did, considering his strong family, but she also knew that they could be fickle at times. Or maybe he overheard her parents deciding that he wasn’t the right fit for their daughter. It could be anything. “They don’t like him?”
“No, it’s not that.” Mushu looked highly uncomfortable, squirming a bit, which she thought was odd. Usually her dragon guardian just told her what he thought, loudly and sometimes funny, but this was making her worry even more.
“You don’t like him.”
“Well… you’re getting there,” Mushu said. “I don’t want to be forgotten about.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Look, the two of you… your parents are just ironing out some more of the details. They like him, really like him, and he’s got going to be chased off by one or two things. But you’re going to be under his ancestors after that and I’m going to be left here. So, I don’t want to be forgotten.”
“Oh… well…” she was at a loss. She didn’t want to lose Mushu, but she hadn’t told anybody about her dragon guardian yet. It seemed that would chase off Shang more than anything her grandmother did. Yes, they all believed in the spirits, but to have one that was her guardian? And around all the time? There wasn’t any good to come out of it. “I don’t want to forget you either. Give me time to come up with something?”
“Yeah,” Mushu said as his name was being called by the Ancestors. “See you.”
She sighed as she watched him walk back with his tail dragging on the ground. It was the best answer she could give him at the moment. It was true and, until she could figure out something better, it would have to do. She sat there for a moment before she heard her mother calling for her and went into the house to see what was needed. After getting the list, she headed towards the market as she hoped that today was one of the days where people ignored her.
Ever since coming back, some days she was ignored or treated like she was before she left. That was what she considered the better days because it meant that she could get things done quickly and quietly. It allowed her to get back home and help in other duties around the house. Or, on the days that Shang visited, allow them to talk before she needed to help with the meals. Her grandmother pushing for her to be the one who always served when they had guests nearly ended badly with food nearly ending up in Shang’s lap once. She chuckled as he was the one to catch the food and held her hands for a few minutes as her hands started shaking.
Ok, so maybe her grandmother’s meddling wasn’t the worst at times. This time though… she wasn’t sure. One of her stops was to visit the stores to get a few beauty products. She could only hope that she could stop from being put on the stool and being made up like a doll. It wasn’t her and it would probably make Shang run faster than when they were running from the avalanche. She decided to go there last and went to the market first for food. Discretely looking behind her, she saw that she was being trailed by a few children. She smiled and turned to wave at them. The response was for them to laugh and for one of the girl children to ask if it was scary to fight the Huns.
“At first, yes, because, even though I had a wonderful teacher, I hadn’t seen battle,” she replied honestly. “After that…. No. I trusted myself and knew what I was doing was right.” She was about to say more when a woman appeared and ushered the children off, giving Mulan a glare, and Mulan held her tongue.
“She didn’t really like you,” Shang said from behind her.
Mulan smiled and turned around. “How long were you standing there?”
“Long enough,” he said. “Wonderful teacher, huh?”
“You grew on me,” she teased. “I didn’t expect to see you until tonight.”
“The Emperor let me go early,” he said. “Even though he’d rather have you for his advisor, he’s at least been happy with my work.”
“Good,” she said, smiling. “I’m glad that you’re not in a positon where you’d have to immediately leave for the front.”
“I’m not leaving you behind if I have to do that. Ever.”
She felt her heart beat faster as he said that. She took his hand and led him over to an out of the way spot so they wouldn’t be overheard. “I need to tell you something. And you have to promise me that you won’t laugh.”
“Ok,” he said, a bit hesitantly. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” she replied. “I… I have a dragon guardian named Mushu and I want to make sure that he comes with me when and if I marry you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “A dragon guardian?”
She nodded. “He helped me get through training, the avalanche, and then helped me defeat Shan Yu. I can’t leave him behind. I’m the only child and… well, I don’t think I want to leave any of my ancestors behind.”
He took her hand and kissed it. “Then you won’t. We’ll blend our ancestors. I know I could use some more of them as it feels like they have moved on in order to make room for my father’s and mother’s spirits. And for them to have one that is a guardian to make sure that you could survive – well, for both of us to survive – it would be right to make sure he has a home to go to.”
She hugged him. “Thank you.” She sighed. “Please tell me you don’t like women in makeup.”
“Why do you need makeup? You’re beautiful as you are.”
She laughed and the two of them got what was needed from the market, aside from the makeup. After getting back home and putting the things away with the help of her grandmother, Mulan took him to the garden and to meet Mushu. Aside from the shock of an actual small dragon, it was a good conversation with Mushu happily agreeing to be folded in with Shang’s ancestors. With seeing her father and Shang in deep conversation after dinner made it a very good day for Mulan with being hopeful for the future that was going to come sooner rather than later.