A Kind Of Bravery: A Mulan Retelling [1st Draft]

Showers of Cows

[Ah! I forgot to repost this special extra chapter! What was I thinking?]

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Showers of Cows:
Three years after the wedding of Harriet and Leopold

"Garreth, GARRETH! Captain Barbecue!" The telepathic shouts were met by the sound of the clattering of booted feet scrambling along the long third floor hallway of the castle of Marenta.

The door to the dusty library burst open, smacking the massive, jade green dragon just inside of it in the hindquarters.

"Hey! I'm sitting here! No need to hit me!" Xenon cried, causing the frazzled man to grimace and then glare at the dragon.

"Stop shouting in my head!"

"Is that what you say to all of the voices up there?" Xenon quipped and Garreth bristled.

"Shut up!"

"Shh! Any louder and you'll wake the cow!" That caused Garreth to pause. The cow? Garreth peered to the left of the over-sized lizard to see a body and a mass of red curls strewn over one of the wooden tables in the back corner.

"I'm going to tell Harriet you called her a cow." The dragon let out an annoyed huff while Garreth smirked. The lizard was going to be mincemeat. Well, once the, as of late fiery-tempered, queen woke up, anyway.

"I didn't mean Harriet, you idiot! I meant the actual cow!" The dragon seethed, his voice echoing in Garreth's mind. Garreth scrunched his hawkish nose, peering to the right side of Xenon, the sight before him causing him to widen his eyes.

There, sleeping next to librarian's desk, was a cow, complete with fuzzy black spots and a brass bell around its neck.

"Why did you bring a cow in the library? Actually, better yet, how did you get it up the steps?" Xenon just stared at him, luminous eyes wide and pleading, no doubt trying to look innocent. Garreth shook his head. As if that would work. He wasn't stupid.

However, that didn't matter. What mattered was that the queen of Marenta was finally sleeping and a dozing, bell-wearing, cow was putting that sleep at risk.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is that you need to get it out of here before it wakes up!"

"Right, okay. Wait, what? Me? Why do I need to? You're the stupid snake that brought it in here!" Garreth stopped, looking back at the cow and then at Harriet. "Though really, why did you bring it up here?"

"Why do you think?" Xenon glared down at Garreth, his dragon breath washing over him like an unwelcome gust of hot air.

"You were hungry?" Garreth guessed, keeping his voice low so as not to wake the queen or the cow. Xenon scowled, his scales glittering in the sunlight coming from the tall library windows.

"No! It's for Harriet's bath!" Garreth balked, his jaw dropping.

"Her bath! That's disgusting! Why would she want to bathe with a cow?" Garreth whispered, his arms crossed over his chest, his own glaring eyes meeting the daft dragon's.

To his credit, Xenon looked confused, his scaly eyebrows raising and his mouth opening and closing to show off rows of razor sharp teeth. The dragon shook his head, all while Garreth looked on in mild bemusement.

"No, no, not her bath! Her shower!" Garreth stared at Xenon, utterly confused. What the heck was a shower? What did a cow have to do with a shower, whatever that was?

The door of the library creaked open behind Garreth, making him turn to look and let out a sigh of relief. Oh thank goodness. The king was here.

"Leopold, the dragon has finally fried his brain. He wants your wife to take a bath with a cow," Garreth explained to the incredulous King. However, the king's confusion seemed to last for a much shorter amount of time than Garreth's.