ad.
He had been right. She had to learn her place. But that place wasn’t here.
The sound of thunder woke Zhou. Stirring under the covers, he turned his head and looked through the window at the onous gray sky. Sothing fluttered in his belly, and his leg, which ached on a good day, pounded with the iending weather. Sothing was wrong. He knew it.
Pushing off the sheets, he lowered his feet to the floor and tiptoed out of the roo A boonbsp; of thunder echoed through the house, and Zhou froze as Li stirred in bed. When she settled, he began to tiptoe once re.
As he entered the living roo the feeling in his stoch worsened. Across the way, he saw the cabi with its doors slightly ajar. His fear growing, he walked over to the cabi and swung open the doors.
It was ety.
Zhou gasped. “My sword and arr!” he said. “They’re gone.” The words were loud, the etion behind thenbsp; thick. Hearing footsteps behind hi he didn’t even turn as Li entered the roonbsp; and raced over.
“Who would do such a thing?” Li asked as she, too, took in the ety cabi and then her husband’s pale face and shaking hands.
Awoken by the tion, Xiu appeared in the doorway. She rubbed her eyes, still half asleep. She barely registered the ety cabi. Instead, she noticed sothing—or rather soone—else that was ssing. “Where is Mulan?” she asked.
Mulan
. Zhou took another ragged breath. What did Xiu an? Mulan was in her bed, where she was supposed to be. But a look at Xiu told hinbsp; he was wrong. A thought, one that he desperately didn’t want to be thinking, began to take shape. His own words yelled in frustration and anger echoed back to hi Learn your place, he had said. He had seen the hurt on Mulan’s face, but in the nt, he had been too absorbed in his own pain to care. But now??.??.??.
Turning fronbsp; the cabi, he searched the sll living area. Watching hi Li raised an eyebrow. “My conscription scroll,” he said, answering her unasked question. He had to find it. If he couldn’t, it could only an one thing. He brushed aside the plates and ety bowls, looking for the paper that he had left there hours earlier.
But it was gone. In its place was Mulan’s lotus b.
Zhou raised his eyes, his gaze eting Li’s. The terror he felt was rrored on his wife’s face. They understood what the ssing arr and conscription scroll ant.
“You st stop her,” Li said, holding a treling hand to her heart. “The northern invaders will kill her!”
Zhou bowed his head. Mulan had ne
He had been right. She had to learn her place. But that place wasn’t here.
The sound of thunder woke Zhou. Stirring under the covers, he turned his head and looked through the window at the onous gray sky. Sothing fluttered in his belly, and his leg, which ached on a good day, pounded with the iending weather. Sothing was wrong. He knew it.
Pushing off the sheets, he lowered his feet to the floor and tiptoed out of the roo A boonbsp; of thunder echoed through the house, and Zhou froze as Li stirred in bed. When she settled, he began to tiptoe once re.
As he entered the living roo the feeling in his stoch worsened. Across the way, he saw the cabi with its doors slightly ajar. His fear growing, he walked over to the cabi and swung open the doors.
It was ety.
Zhou gasped. “My sword and arr!” he said. “They’re gone.” The words were loud, the etion behind thenbsp; thick. Hearing footsteps behind hi he didn’t even turn as Li entered the roonbsp; and raced over.
“Who would do such a thing?” Li asked as she, too, took in the ety cabi and then her husband’s pale face and shaking hands.
Awoken by the tion, Xiu appeared in the doorway. She rubbed her eyes, still half asleep. She barely registered the ety cabi. Instead, she noticed sothing—or rather soone—else that was ssing. “Where is Mulan?” she asked.
Mulan
. Zhou took another ragged breath. What did Xiu an? Mulan was in her bed, where she was supposed to be. But a look at Xiu told hinbsp; he was wrong. A thought, one that he desperately didn’t want to be thinking, began to take shape. His own words yelled in frustration and anger echoed back to hi Learn your place, he had said. He had seen the hurt on Mulan’s face, but in the nt, he had been too absorbed in his own pain to care. But now??.??.??.
Turning fronbsp; the cabi, he searched the sll living area. Watching hi Li raised an eyebrow. “My conscription scroll,” he said, answering her unasked question. He had to find it. If he couldn’t, it could only an one thing. He brushed aside the plates and ety bowls, looking for the paper that he had left there hours earlier.
But it was gone. In its place was Mulan’s lotus b.
Zhou raised his eyes, his gaze eting Li’s. The terror he felt was rrored on his wife’s face. They understood what the ssing arr and conscription scroll ant.
“You st stop her,” Li said, holding a treling hand to her heart. “The northern invaders will kill her!”
Zhou bowed his head. Mulan had ne