Love or Law

Trust

Captain Li Shang led his troops out of the mountains in stern silence. His men followed his example. Yes, they had just fought against incredible odds and come away victorious without one man losing his life but in their minds there was no reason to celebrate. Their minds (and hearts) were still back in those mountains with the person they had been forced to leave behind.

And so it was with a somber air and slumped shoulders that they marched into the Imperial City. They were surrounded by joyous, smiling people in a great crowd that had come to greet the Heroes of China but not a one cracked even a small smile. They didn't feel like heroes, they felt like they were betrayers. It was as though they had just stabbed their comrade in the back and then taken all the glory for themselves and they refused to revel in it. All except Chi-fu, of course. The man was determined to enjoy his moment of fame and he put on a cheerful façade for his audience. Or maybe it wasn't simply a façade, maybe the man really was that self-absorbed so as to have completely forgotten the role he played in banishing the one who truly deserved this crowd's admiration.

Shang, for his part, barely even registered that they had finally reached the Imperial City. He wasn't aware of anything except the sound of his heart breaking over and over in his mind. He had left his beloved, injured and alone, to fend for herself in the cold, dangerous mountains with nothing but a small provision of food, her horse and the clothes on her back. Oh, he supposed she had her sword as well, and yes, he had trained her on how to survive in the wilderness but that didn't change the fact that he had turned his back on her and left her!

He had done it so that she could live. He had given her the one chance to do so, but in him doing so he had probably destroyed any chance of a future with her. Even if she did survive the mountains and the long trek back to her home, there was no way she would forgive him. No way would she look at him with anything but loathing. To Ping -no, Mulan- he was probably as good as dead in her eyes.

They had almost reached the Palace, the Heart of the City, when the sound of racing hooves coming from behind them reached their ears. Shang looked up in time to see a vision galloping directly towards him through the crowd.

"Shang!"

"Mulan?" This couldn't be real, could it? But there she was, astride Khan, looking none the worse for wear for her brief stay in the mountains, still dressed in her military tunic and trousers. This time, however, her hair was unbound; falling to touch her shoulders and declaring to the world that she was, in fact, female. Without hesitation she directed Khan until she drew up next to him. Shang was too stunned to speak but Mulan wasted no time in getting straight to the point.

"The Huns are alive! They're in the City!"

Shang could feel his men's eyes on him. He knew what he was expected to do, how he was supposed to react. In his mind, he heard the harsh words he was supposed to say.

You don't belong here, Mulan. Go home.

Could he do it? Could he say those words?

Taking his silence as disbelief, either in her or her words, Mulan continued to speak.

"Shang, I saw them in the mountains. You have to believe me!"

Before he could even stop and think, words exploded from his mouth but they weren't the ones he wanted to say.

"Why should I?" Even he could hear the bitterness in his tone, but it wasn't for the reason everyone thought. They thought he felt betrayed by her lies but he was more angry with himself than anything else. Unfortunately, Mulan couldn't read his thoughts. He saw her face harden into a glare as she forced Khan to block his path; in turn forcing him to come to a complete stop; and he braced himself for her cutting retort.

"Why else would I come back?" Ouch. That hurt more than she could possibly know. "You said you trust Ping. Why is Mulan any different?"

Shang knew he deserved that. It didn't mean it hurt any less.

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Mulan knew she deserved some of the blame for Shang's lack of trust, after all, she had lied to him about who she truly was. Then again, at some point along the way he had figured it out but kept that little fact to himself. She had figured that they could say they were even. Apparently Shang did not feel that way and his hard words stung. Never-the-less, she knew she had to stick this out. She knew what she had seen in the mountains. Now was not the time to gripe about each other's actions. What passed was past and she needed Shang to see that.

"You said you trust Ping. Why is Mulan any different?" She asked, trying to guilt him into taking action. Instead, all he did was stare at her as if he was trying to tell her something. What, she wasn't sure and she didn't have time to try and figure it out. None of them did. Suddenly, Shang was moving. He urged his mount around Khan and made to continue his march to the Palace. As he passed her, however, she heard him murmur just loud enough for her to hear over the horses' hooves,

"Do you trust me?"