Love or Law

Get Some Sleep

Mulan marched between Yao and Po. After her time in Diu's booth she had gotten back to the encampment in time to help pack up camp and move out. Her feet were sore and her arms and back ached from carrying her pack and weapons but at least she was feeling stronger than yesterday. Before she left, Diu had given her a dried herbal mix that relieved pain after seeing some of the bruises Mulan bore from the river. It could be made into a tea or ingested by itself. Thanks to that and a good night's sleep, she felt that she was doing a fairly good job keeping up. Every time they stopped for a short break, she would also go back and check on Khan just to reassure herself that he was still fine and unhurt.

Yao and Po were talking about their homes and what they would be doing if they were there, so Mulan didn't feel too guilty when her attention wandered away from the conversation. There was no way she was going to tell them about her home life, after all. Instead, Mulan's eyes wandered to the front of the line where she could just make out Shang's broad back as he rode his horse ahead of his army.

Her thoughts wandered to that morning and she felt her face heat up at the memory. Her mind may not remember how she ended up in that position but her body could remember the sensation of laying across his body. Everywhere she was soft, he was hard with muscle. She could easily recall his masculine scent and the rough feel of his tunic under her cheek. When his arm had come around her and pulled her closer to him she had felt a lurch in her stomach and her heart had been beating so fast she had felt as though she were running a race.

Mulan was so confused. She had never felt this way about any man before. She couldn't stop looking at him, watching his muscles stretch and strain with every movement beneath his tunic. She wanted to walk close enough to him so she could feel his heat; close enough so she could touch him again. At the same time, every time she had these thoughts the fluttering in her stomach intensified and her heart beat so fast she felt sick.

Maybe she was sick. What other reason could there be for her symptoms? Maybe she had a fever from falling in the river. That could explain it. She didn't know why her symptoms grew worse when she was around her Captain but if she stayed far enough away from him maybe they would go away entirely.

Her mind made up, Mulan began to plan where she would sleep for the night, because there was no way she was going to make Shang go without a tent just so that she could get over her fever. She should probably stay away from the other men too, to ensure that they didn't catch whatever ailment she had.

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When the sun touched the horizon, outlining the distant mountains that were their destination in red and gold, Shang sent out a party of men to locate a good camp. They came back shortly and led the army to their resting place for the night.

As the men set up camp, Shang met with his Lieutenants and Chi-fu to go over their route for the next day and their battle plan for when they joined his father to fight the Huns. It took a little over an hour but in that time his soldiers had pitched all their tents and had a good meal cooked. Shang took his bowl to the campfire nearest where Ping had set up their tent. Expecting to see her there, he was surprised to hear that none of the men had seen her since she had set up the tent and gotten her food. Yao reported that he had last seen her making her way through the camp in the general direction of the horses, but no one knew anything else.

Shang assumed that Ping had gone to check on her horse, Khan, again before settling down for the night and so he wasn't too concerned. However, when it was truly dark and all the men were retiring and she still hadn't returned, he decided it would probably be a good idea to go and find her. Moving quickly through the dark camp, Shang made his way to where the horses were picketed and there he found her.