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This garden was peaceful and calm. Pink cherry blossoms and violet plum blossoms graced the sweeping trees. The petals fell like snowflakes, dancing and swirling until they
touched the soft, verdant grass.
This sounds absolutely gorgeous 🌸
Her grandmother did it every morning over her mother’s protests and offers to help. “Sweeping away the bad luck gives me something to do,” Grandmother Fa always responded. “And having something to do keeps me young.”
Oh I like that! Sweeping away the bad luck
After all, her surname, Fa, meant flower. She needed to show them that she had bloomed to be worthy of her family name.
Fa name meaning flower
She isn’t a boy, her mother had told her father once. She shouldn’t be riding horses and letting her hair loose. The neighbors will talk. She won’t find a good husband— Let her, Fa Zhou had consoled his wife. When she leaves this household as a bride, she’ll no longer be able to do these things.
This is so bittersweet moms point of view and dads
I know this will be a hard change to make, Fa Li had told her, but it’s for your own good. Men want a girl who is quiet and demure, polite and poised—not someone who speaks out of turn and runs wild about the garden. A girl who can’t make a good match won’t bring honor to the family. And worse yet, she’ll have nothing: not respect, or money of her own, or a home. She’d touched Mulan’s cheek with a resigned sigh. I don’t want that fate for you, Mulan.
Her mother telling her to be a girl
Every morning for a year, her mother tied a rod of bamboo to Mulan’s spine to remind her to stand straight, stuffed her mouth with persimmon seeds to remind her to speak softly, and helped Mulan practice wearing heeled shoes by tying ribbons to her feet and guiding her along the garden.
Her mom “ helping her practice “ being a “girl”
The look of hopefulness on her father’s face that day—the thought that she’d disappointed him still haunted her. Then fate had taken its turn, and Mulan had thrown everything away to become a soldier. To learn how to punch and kick and hold a sword and shield, to shoot arrows and run and yell. To save her country, and bring honor home to her family.
Leaving her old life behind
On the marble bench was Meng Po, fanning herself with her feathered fan. A bushy, striped fox tail peeked out from under her skirt, and a pot of incense burned at her side.
This fucking bitch
“What better place to discuss it than in the Underworld?” Meng Po said. “All of life is a dream walking—” “All of death is a going home,” Mulan finished, reciting the words written in King Yama’s throne room. She inhaled, the garden’s sweet floral smell stirring the sadness in her heart.
Death is going home
But that wasn’t all Mulan saw. She saw a young woman who’d thrown her heart into becoming a warrior, who’d fought battle after battle, whether it was to please her family and honor their expectations, or to protect China from invaders.
She saw a warrior
Couldn’t a woman be worth something without having to be a bride?
Mulans thoughts
“Huoguai,” he whispered. “A fire demon.”
Fire demon
Within the blaze’s walls formed the terrible Huoguai. His head blazed with fire, his scaled body red as blood. A fierce, pointed tail whipped behind him, its movement sharp like a stab of lightning. And on his back were wings made of smoke.
What fire demon looks like
precipices
Looked up
“Look away!” one of the demons shouted, blocking his view of her sword with his shield. “He has the sword, the Sword of the Blazing Sun.” “The hero of legend has returned!” the demons screeched. “The hero with the Sword of the Blazing Sun!”
The sword
Her father used to tell her a story about a hero, half man and half god, who had lived thousands of years ago, when monsters and demons still roamed China’s lands. The Emperor had asked the demigod, who was known everywhere in China for his great fighting prowess, to expunge the monsters that terrorized China and send them into Diyu. The Emperor, who also had powers from the heavens, gave the demigod a magical sword that glowed with the light of the sun. It could cut through anything, even the swords of demons and ghosts. But only the demigod could unlock its power.
Half man half God legend
Making use of the break, Mulan untied the knot on her head. Her hair tumbled down again, brushing against the nape of her neck. She unfastened her armor, freeing her shoulders of their heavy burden. The demons watched her in disbelief. “A girl?” “I am Mulan.” She raised her sword high. She’d never fought as herself before—as a woman, not a woman pretending to be a man. No more hiding, no more pretending. No more fears that she’d endanger herself and her family.
She looks so bad ass here
Taking off that mask was exhilarating; it spurred her courage.
Hiding behind ping and coming out as herself
Speed, endurance, strength. Precision, focus, confidence, Mulan told herself. I am the coursing river, the raging fire. I am the warrior.
Popular underline
Mulan is everything
“Where was he before?” “Legends say he was a great scholar,” ShiShi replied. “One who was just and fair, and had a brilliant mind for bookkeeping. So the Eight Immortals put him here, to keep records of the Underworld for all eternity.”
King yama before
Stars wove across its canvas so that Mulan could almost make out the celestial tigers, birds, tortoises, and dragons she’d read about as a child.
So beautiful
A chill rippled down Mulan’s spine. A battle against herself? How could that even be possible?
Internal conflict
“My father encouraged me to see the strength within,” Mulan told the mirror crisply. “When I was a little girl, he told me that life is a journey, one whose path diverges due to the choices I made. He told me not to worry about how difficult a path might look, for the only one worth following was the one that my heart chose.” She waited, but the Fa Zhou in the mirror said nothing. “My father would understand what I did. He believes in me.”
Popular underline
“If it is true that only one of us may leave, then I will stay.”
WHAT THE FUCK...
Bitch what
Thousands of her reflections stared back at her from the smashed glass pieces. She was bloodied and bruised. There had to be dozens of tiny shards lodged in her body, and one particularly large piece in her thigh. Mulan winced when she saw it, but she knew what she had to do.
Mulan’s reflections smiled, their faces slowly contorting and twisting. Their black hair whitened, skin shriveling and graying like a corpse’s. Finally, their eyes blinked open, glowing a bright and terrible red.
That’s terrifying
chignon
Looked up
“I’ve tried so hard to hide, to run away from who I don’t want to be. I never stopped to look at my reflection and tell it who I want to be.”
This is a good chapter
“Maybe I didn’t go for my father. Maybe what I really wanted to prove was that I could do things right, so that when I looked in the mirror, I’d see someone worthwhile. “I want to honor my family by being a good daughter,” she continued, “but I also want the freedom to be myself, to say and do what I think is right, even if that means deviating from the path that is expected of me. For so long, I’ve been scared—scared of what my parents will think when I go home, scared of what my friends in the army would think if they found out I’m a girl. I’m not scared anymore. It doesn’t matter if I’m
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That was deep Mulan
Her reflection’s hair was short, but she wore a simple violet robe tied at the waist with a blue sash. At her hip was her father’s sword, and tucked in her hair—a blossom from their family’s cherry tree.
Another reflection possibly her
“This one. This is me.” A beat. Are you sure? asked the girl in the mirror. “Yes,” said Mulan firmly. “It doesn’t matter whether I’m a girl dressed like a bride, or a girl dressed like a soldier. I know my heart.”
Mulan flattened her hand against the glass, facing her reflection. Together, they said, “I am Fa Mulan, a girl who would sacrifice her life for her family and for China. I am a girl who journeyed into the Underworld to save her friend from dying. I am a girl who has fought battle after battle to finally recognize herself in the mirror. And now I do.”
That’s her! Yas queen
“So it was, but King Yama is too busy to oversee Diyu’s internal affairs. That is my duty, you see. I ensure that there is order in the Underworld. So when I learned that you had arrived to save Captain Li Shang from death, I took it upon myself to investigate you and deter you. I must apologize for my methods, but we cannot have just anyone coming in and out of Diyu to rescue the dead. That would disrupt the very balance of Heaven, Earth, and Diyu.”
Meng po
“But I agree that the captain still has much to do on Earth in this life, so a part of me is relieved that you have succeeded.”
Meng po
(Still not sure to trust her
Mulan was sure it hadn’t been there moments ago, but now, nestled among the bamboo was a thin bridge overlooking a clear, tinkling stream. Two phoenixes guarded the left and right side of the bridge’s entrance, their fiery wings magnificent against the sunlight.
So pretty
This is a different bridge, the Bridge of Serenity. Your friends are waiting on the other side.”
Bridge of serenity
“Indeed it does,” Meng Po said slyly. “Is that all you know about it?” Mulan touched her chin, remembering. “My father once told me about demigod who lived long, long ago. He was a hero who wielded a magical sword. One like this.” “Your father was right,” Meng Po agreed. “Except that hero was not a man, but a woman. Me.” Mulan inhaled. “So the sword is yours.”
Mother fucking chills omg!!!!!!!! Villain or not YAS QUEENS
“Indeed.” Meng Po smiled. “My father was a god, and my mother was human. If I had been a boy, I would have been invited to live in Heaven. But the gods saw no use for another half-breed girl. So I sought to prove myself to my father, and I did so by serving in the Emperor’s army. I was a woman, but I was also half-immortal. The Emperor could not refuse my service, but that did not mean the men respected me. Not at first, anyway. I earned it over many trials and many years.”
Meng po past
“‘The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all,’” Mulan murmured.
I love this quote
So the “hero of legend” the demons on the Cauldron had been talking about was Meng Po! Mulan would never have guessed. She could scarcely believe this woman was the same person who’d tried to trick her multiple times in Diyu. She also couldn’t believe she was warming up to her.
Same girl I can’t believe I’m “warming up to her” either 😬
“That is not true,” replied Meng Po. “Only someone with a hero’s heart could do that. A heart like yours, Mulan.” She paused before continuing, “Your heart has been tested, and you have come far. But not every fight is fought on the battlefield. There will be more to come, for you and those who follow you. Do not let yourself be forgotten, Fa Mulan. And do not forget—you are not alone.”
Stay true to yourself? I’m crying
“There. A reminder that where there is beauty, there is also strength and courage and resilience.”
Popular underline I absolutely love
“We here have a saying: only the brave may enter, but only the worthy may leave. You have achieved something few others have, Mulan, and shown us that your heart is true. You and your friends will have many more trials to face on Earth, and I can only wonder what King Yama will do with you when one day, you return to Diyu for judgment. Whether he will send you to me to be reincarnated—for it is clear you are a hero who could do much on Earth in yet another life—or whether he will reward you with passage to Heaven.”
Chills
Fluttering her wings, she soared high into the sky. Mulan watched her until she vanished behind the sun with a flash of light. Mulan tilted her head down and faced the bridge. The phoenixes guarding the entrance flared open their wings. For the first time since she could remember, a strange feeling of peace came over her. She was going home.
So beautiful
“A female warrior,” murmured the general. After a moment’s thought, he chuckled. “Audacious, but I cannot say I disapprove. What a soldier Shang’s mother might have made. She could have defeated the Huns with her fierceness alone.” General Li made a face.
General li 😭😭😭
“Take care of your mother.” General Li placed both hands on his son’s shoulders. “And listen to ShiShi.” The general mustered a faint smile. “He has a big head and thinks he’s always right, but over time, you’ll learn he usually is. There is much wisdom you can learn from him. If you do so, you will not make the same mistakes I made when I was your age. You will become a better man than I. That is all I can hope for.”
General li saying goodbye
“Then my heart is full. I will watch you from Heaven.” General Li clasped Shang’s hand, lingering until Yama let out a warning cough.
Last thing General li says to shang
She was almost sad to leave this place behind—to return to the real world where ghosts and demons and magic did not tread. Where bridges didn’t hover in the air, and rivers didn’t stream across the clouds. Where old women didn’t turn out to be powerful enchantresses, and mirrors couldn’t speak to one’s very soul.
Mulan feeling sad
“This is the last you will see of me, Fa Mulan. I wish to make a proper farewell.” Mulan’s hand dropped to her side. Her good humor faltered. “You’re not coming with us?” “Not through these gates,” ShiShi said. “I promised General Li I would aid you in saving his son. That journey is over now, and after I report to the Li ancestors, I must assume my duties as Li Shang’s guardian.” Mulan had become so fond of Shang’s guardian. It had never occurred to her that the lion wouldn’t continue to be part of her life after their journey to Diyu together. Now that ShiShi said he had to go, emotion
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Shishi saying goodbye to mulan 😭😭😭😭
