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Throwing a few things in a small satchel, she hesitated in the doorway. In her sleep, Xiu let out a small whimper. A fierce wave of love rushed through Mulan. She knew that the moment she stepped out of their house, she would risk never coming back. Even if she was to survive the army, which she very well might not, her reputation was unlikely to survive what she was about to attempt: pretending to be a man to fight a war she had no place in. She knew the odds were against her, but she also knew she couldn’t let her father go in her stead.</p>

He had been right. She had to learn her place. But that place wasn’t here.</p>

The sound of thunder woke Zhou. Stirring under the covers, he turned his head and looked through the window at the ominous gray sky. Something fluttered in his belly, and his leg, which ached on a good day, pounded with the impending weather. Something was wrong. He knew it.</p>

Pushing off the sheets, he lowered his feet to the floor and tiptoed out of the room. A boom of thunder echoed through the house, and Zhou froze as Li stirred in bed. When she settled, he began to tiptoe once more.</p>

As he entered the living room, the feeling in his stomach worsened. Across the way, he saw the cabinet with its doors slightly ajar. His fear growing, he walked over to the cabinet and swung open the doors.</p>

It was empty.</p>

Zhou gasped. “My sword and armor!” he said. “They’re gone.” The words were loud, the emotion behind them thick. Hearing footsteps behind him, he didn’t even turn as Li entered the room and raced over.</p>

“Who would do such a thing?” Li asked as she, too, took in the empty cabinet and then her husband’s pale face and shaking hands.</p>

Awoken by the commotion, Xiu appeared in the doorway. She rubbed her eyes, still half asleep. She barely registered the empty cabinet. Instead, she noticed something—or rather someone—else that was missing. “Where is Mulan?” she asked.</p>

Mulan</p>

. Zhou took another ragged breath. What did Xiu mean? Mulan was in her bed, where she was supposed to be. But a look at Xiu told him 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 him. Learn your place, he had said. He had seen the hurt on Mulan’s face, but in the moment, he had been too absorbed in his own pain to care. But now??6??2.??6??2.??6??2.</p>

Turning from the cabinet, he searched the small living area. Watching him, 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 mean one thing. He brushed aside the plates and empty bowls, looking for the paper that he had left there hours earlier.</p>

But it was gone. In its place was Mulan’s lotus comb.</p>

Zhou raised his eyes, his gaze meeting Li’s. The terror he felt was mirrored on his wife’s face. They understood what the missing armor and conscription scroll meant.</p>

“You must stop her,” Li said, holding a trembling hand to her heart. “The northern invaders will kill her!”</p>

Zhou bowed his head. Mulan had never wielded a sword in anything but play, and even then it had been a stick, not a real weapon. She would fall in the first fight. But if he went after her and exposed her lie, her fate would be the same. Her own people, the other soldiers and the leaders of the army, would never let her live if they found out she had betrayed them. He could not stop her. Leaving his wife and daughter weeping, Zhou exited the house and made his way to the phoenix shrine. He didn’t hear the thunder or see the lightning. His head was too full of grief. He had done this. He had pushed Mulan away and sent her to her death.</p>

Entering the small shrine, he kneeled in front of two large tablets. The spirit tablets were said to hold the wisdom and spirits of all the ancestors who had come before. They were supposed to hear and answer prayers. He had to hope that they heard his now. “Ancestors,” he whispered. “I??6??2.??6??2.??6??2. I ask for your help. My daughter has made a terrible mistake. Please protect her.”</p>

His prayer done, he let the tears fall. Behind him the storm arrived. And somewhere out there—alone—was his daughter.</p>

Mulan,</p>

he thought,</p>

I’m so sorry. Please come back.</p>

With his head lowered, Zhou did not see a small, ugly, and misshapen bird emerge from behind the phoenix statue. One wing hung low and its head was bent at an odd angle. The bird eyed Zhou for a moment and then hopped down from the statue and made its way out of the shrine. It shivered as the first rain touched its feathers, and then, with a resigned sigh, it scurried—one good wing flapping while the other dragged—out of the tulou.</p>

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