snarky_panda (snarky_panda) wrote in mulanficspace, @ 2007-07-21 01:50:00 |
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Current mood: | content |
Current music: | Psyche |
Entry tags: | 30_kisses |
30 Kisses: Mulan and Shang, Part Twenty-Two
Title: Beginnings
Author: snarky_panda
Fandom: Mulan
Pairing: Li Shang/Fa Mulan
Theme: #15, perfect blue
Disclaimer: All characters, etc. from the Disney movie belong to Disney.
Shang watched as the lithe form of his wife glided across the palace garden, back toward him. She was just a shadow in the night right now, not even reached by the kiss of moonlight that peaked through the clouds, but he knew her figure too well not to recognize her.
They’d finally reached the palace late in the evening, after riding through a torrential downpour; monsoon season had come upon them somewhat early this year. The Emperor had his servants show them to their rooms where they would stay until the morning. Although the rain had let up this was not a time to be traveling with his daughter. It was dark, the stone streets were wet and slippery, the forest paths and dirt roads slick with thick mud. And the storm could start up again at any moment.
Hot water and bath oils had been brought, clean towels and robes left in their rooms, and after enjoying the luxury of bathing inside, rather than in cold streams, they both dressed and Shang escorted his wife to the banquet hall where they had been invited to dine with the Emperor himself along with several other guests there.
She wore a dress for the occasion and her make-up had been done by one of the women servants. Too preoccupied with other things, he hardly noticed how she looked, merely noting absently the sweep of the blue silk of her dress out of the corner of his eye as he led her to the dining room.
A fabulous spread had been prepared for dinner and they were served the best wine from the palace stores. Uneasy about the journey ahead of them and all the implications of it, Shang found it hard to muster an appetite, but he forced himself to eat. It would be an insult to any host were he to decline any of the several courses served; and offending this host would be inviting death.
Then again, if this mission goes wrong, that may happen anyway, he mused darkly.
He had misgivings about it, still unable to understand why the Emperor would entrust the safety of his daughter to just two people. The man offered no reason for his decision and Shang knew better than to ask.
Whatever happened, he was resolved to make sure Mulan was safe. If anything went wrong with the mission, if something happened to the princess, he would escort her into hiding and turn himself in. Life in the mountains wasn’t easy; but there were retreats and huts there, and monks that gave shelter to strangers. She would have to spend the rest of her life there disguised as a man. But she would be safe and alive.
His somber thoughts were interrupted by the laughter of the Emperor and some of his other guests, who looked him over mirthfully and insisted that more wine be poured for him so his sour spirits would be lifted.
After dinner, as the storm lifted, the gathering of people moved out into the garden to get some air. Moody and perturbed, Shang had stayed behind. Mulan had glanced at him questioningly for just a moment. Then the melancholy expression that clouded her face so often these days returned; and she turned without a word and left him standing on the patio outside the doors that led to the main hall.
He had sighed heavily and remained there, arms folded, his face creased into a deep frown as he watched her stroll toward the end of the garden, disappearing in the shadows of the trees. They were strangers, slipping away from each other little by little. And between the thick, uncomfortable silences that plagued them and trying to keep the princess safe by themselves it was going to be a very trying journey.
The image of the blue silk of her dress moving and swaying as she walked, accentuating her willowy figure, stayed with him. She’d been wearing the same color the first time he’d ever seen her in a dress; it wasn’t the first time he’d ever laid eyes on her as a woman, but it was the first time he’d seen her dressed like one. A perfect shade of blue for her.
She was still wearing it when he arrived at her home after leaving the Imperial City, needing to see her again but using the excuse of returning her father’s helmet so she wouldn’t guess his true intentions. He hadn’t fooled anyone. And as they walked together in her family’s garden after dinner he’d blurted out how beautiful she looked in that dress. And felt like a fool, thinking that she could never fall for him after the way he had treated her.
That is until he went to her home again a few weeks later with a message from the Emperor, only too glad to deliver it. He was invited in for dinner once more; and Mulan excused herself, explaining that she had to change out of her ‘work clothes’. She emerged wearing the same pretty blue dress.
Every time he was with her after that, and as long as she didn’t have to be in uniform, she wore that dress for him. And he knew then that she loved him too.
She emerged from the darkness, approaching the patio where he still stood and stepping into the bright lantern light, and he drank in the sight of her in that perfect shade of blue that brought out her lovely features, remembering. An almost imperceptible glimmer of surprise and hope slipped into her eyes as she gazed at him.
“Shang?” she whispered. An unspoken question seemed to linger in her voice, hanging in the air between them and she suddenly frowned slightly. She thought something might be wrong.
“Mulan,” he heard himself murmur tenderly. “I’ve always loved the way you look in that shade of blue.”
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