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Reconnaissance was both a duty to her captain, and a way for Mulan to satisfy her burning curiosity about the new world that fate had brought her to. And so the young Chinese soldier skittered through Stacy's halls, quietly, purposefully, and above all, curiously.

She was glad she'd found her armor, along with her sword, her bow, and her quiver, in the Possessions locker. Her armor would be hot and heavy to wear in this humid environment, but at least it concealed the embarrassingly form-fitting suit the ship had given her. It was much preferable to be slightly uncomfortable at all hours of the day then to be walking around in what would have qualified in her time as nothing but the barest of underclothing. With her armor on and her hair tied back, she looked more like the boy she had become used to pretending to be, the boy she had just been growing accustomed to not having to be back home.

As she explored, she kept her bow, arrow notched and at the ready. She'd heard enough about the dangers that had already beset the crew, though she had the sense not to pull back on the string at the first signs of movement. The people here were abductees, like her, dragged from their strange foreign worlds into an equally strange and foreign one. It would not do to shoot any of them for no reason.

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"Uh . . . no, they're not." She pauses. She thinks. "Actually, now that I think about it, I must be the only one!" She pauses. "Barring other crossdressers." There might be some. If she could pull it off, maybe somebody else thought of it.

Crossdressers? Were females in this China place discouraged, or simply not allowed to be soldiers? But, if the latter were the case, wouldn't she have been fearful of being discovered? Very odd.

"You must be a very strong warrior, then," Kang's head tilted to one side slightly. It was the only thing that made sense, for her to be something like the Blue Lady, The Golden General, or... or Huzzad.

She bows her head with pleased humility. "I'm only as good as I have needed to be to defend my country." She chuckles. "Which is better then I was at impressing the Matchmaker."

Her smile is bright. It nice to finally be good at something.

"Matchmaker?" Kang was curious. He liked Mulan well enough; she wasn't helpless, and even though she was confident in her skills, she didn't seem to feel the need to constantly prove herself like a few other female warrior the bozak had encountered.

"Ah." She blushes. "It's . . . very embarrassing, actually. I sort of . . . set her on fire."

She adds "By accident!" lest Kang think she makes a habit of matchmaker arson.

Kang had to shove down the mental image that conjured, of Maranta becoming a living (but not for much long after) torch. From Mulan's reaction, and what little he'd been able to read about her personality, the woman must have survived. "It sounds like it's an amusing story, actually. The ones we're most embarrassed by usually are."

"My father was humiliated," she says, rather more gravely. "It's a woman's duty to bring honor to her family by making a good match and bearing sons to serve as soldiers in China's army . . ."

She shrugs, a wide, sheepish grin returning to her face. "I suppose, in the end, we found a compromise."

Frowning, Kang crossed his arms over his chest, "I don't even want to think about what state any person who told one of our females that would end up in. If they weren't killed outright." It'd be very messy, at the least.

"So how did you end up as a soldier, then?"

"Really?" she looks confused for a moment before considering - females of Kang's kind would be females, but may still have wings and claws and fangs and be built to fight. Women of China usually are not. Strictly speaking, SHE is not - but somebody who can be sneaky and clever can make herself of great use in a battle.

She presses her lips together. "My honored father fought bravely for China in his youth, and was injured. When Shan Yu and his army of Huns invaded, the Emperor called for one man from every family to fight, and as I have no brothers or uncles, the duty fell to him." Her face "My father would have gone bravely and honorably to his death, which, with all due respect to the great and glorious Emperor who issued the decree in his great wisdom . . . I did not think it was fair, so I . . . took his place."

She shrugs. "I was better at being a soldier than impressing the matchmaker." And she smiles with quiet pride.

"They, ah, don't like being treated differently," Kang couldn't help a smile there, remembering how proud they'd made him when he'd realized what they were capable of. They may not have beem quite as strong as the males, but in battle, speed, agility and intelligence were just as important.

He was impressed, and it showed in the tone of his voice. "That takes a lot of bravery, to do what you did. I hope you didn't have to work too hard to prove yourself capable to the other soldiers; it's a bit of a problem on Krynn. Female humans and elves are typically discouraged, and for no good reason that I can think of. I knew of at least one woman that could kick my a- ah, beat me in combat."

Edited 2010-01-15 22:49 (UTC)

She grins. "I was lucky. I had a great captain to train me. He did such a good job that by the time they found out I was a woman, I had already saved his life in combat, and because of this debt he was not obligated to kill me for my deception."

She beams, like this is the best thing ever.

"And now we're engaged!"

Kang stared. What?

"...so, there's a death penalty for females if they're caught in your nation's military. When you were found out, instead of killing you, he spared you because you had saved his life. And now you're to be mates?"

That had to be strangest way he'd ever heard of for two people to become mates.

Oh Kang now you've gone and done it. You said the "m" word.

"We - I - we are engaged," she says, trying to contain her blush. "After our courtship has completed, we will be married, yes."

And then, theoretically, there will be mating. You know, so Mulan has heard. From her gramma.

Oh, now Kang was amused. Softskin races always acted so strangely to their mate being called, well, their mate. Isn't that what defined the relationship, that you mated only with them?

He laughed, "I don't think that sparing your life was entirely because of the debt he owed you, Mulan."

Aww, don't say that to her, Kang.

"He thought . . . I was a boy . . . until that moment," she points out.

That's just a WHOLE 'nother can of awkward.

"Could be that he was impressed with your bravery, or that he disagreed with that law, which truth be told, I think is silly," Kang shrugged. "Females can fight just as well as males."