snarky_panda (snarky_panda) wrote in mulanficspace, @ 2009-01-11 02:12:00 |
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Title: Withered Blossom
Author: lightbird
Fandom: Mulan
Character: Fa Mulan
Rating/Warnings: MA, mature themes
Disclaimer: Everything from the Disney movie belongs to Disney. Anything else is mine.
Summary: Sequel to A Tale of the Woman. Mulan, now the Emperor’s concubine, has given birth to a son.
Prologue
The residents of this small village north of Chang’an were curious when she first arrived, seemingly out of nowhere, and with a toddler in tow. Soon after they discovered that she was living in a small hut outside of town, amidst a thickly wooded area near the imposing Li family compound. It was a modest abode, yet pretty silk curtains adorned the windows, the hut decorated attractively by its odd inhabitant, and there was a small thriving vegetable garden beside it.
There were many rumors about this enigma, whose name no one had yet learned in all the time she’d been there. She spoke to no one, neither did she seek anyone out, and she seemed to be as lonely and isolated as the little hut that stood in the empty wood, surrounded by nothing but trees. People caught glimpses of the slender figure when she ventured out to draw water from the main well at sunset. She never shopped for food in the village, and everyone assumed that she lived solely on what she cultivated in her garden, supplemented perhaps with fruit from the trees in the wood and fish from the nearby stream.
Adults and children alike wondered about the destitute stranger who appeared to own nothing but the old, faded clothes on her back and a few items that she seemed to have scavenged for use in her little home. She wasn’t worn out by hard labor like the peasants that worked in the fields, nor was she soft like the rich women who never toiled. This woman was lithe and sinewy and agile, as if she were an athlete trained in martial arts. Her hair was worn loose, in the style of a single woman, and she wore no make-up.
Her toddler who had accompanied her upon her arrival was never seen with her.
As the years went by some villagers claimed to have spotted the woman prowling around at times near the Li compound, once owned by the famous general and now run by his son Shang, who had himself recently received the rank of general. Some accounts went further, stating that a little boy that no one had ever seen was now living with the Li family, and several people conjectured that he was that very same toddler that the strange woman had brought to town.
No one ever visited her during the day but there had been reports of a large cloaked figure venturing there at night sometimes, clearly a man. He gained admittance and always remained there through the night, leaving in the morning.
Mystery surrounded her thus. No one knew where she had come from or why she was there.
Ten years after the arrival of the stranger First Mistress Li passed away. General Li Shang turned the estate over to a cousin and moved off to another province with his family, including the little boy. At around the same time, the mysterious woman seemed to completely disappear and the curious villagers went looking for her. When no one responded to their persistent knocking on the door, they entered the hut hoping to find answers about her. It was completely empty save for the silk curtains over the window.
They never did find out who she was.