At dawn she takes leave of the Yellow River,

In the evening she arrives at Black Mountain.

She doesn’t hear the sound of Father and Mother calling,

She only hears Mount Yen’s nomad horses cry tsiu tsiu.

Seasons passed and soon, the harsh winds and snow of winter would fall upon the soldiers. All of them felt it, the heaviness in the air and the gloom that hung above their heads. They were becoming unmotivated and became restless. Would they even have a chance to fight the war? So it was a miracle for them, when they were called from their training to assemble on the field.

They moved quickly and efficiently, their movements robotic and stiff. No longer were they just individual soldiers, instead, they formed rows and rows of warriors. They became one. 

"Attention!" called a harsh voice. 

Heads swivelled in unison to face the sound. 

Unison. Discipline. Brutallity. Swiftness. The words were hammered into their heads. Obeying orders became second nature for all of them.

The voice continued to bark orders but Mulan ignored it. Instead, she was focused on the man's face. It was leathery and wrinkled, and his complexion was dark, from all the years spent fighting the war. However, his eyes were still sharp and piercing, the type that seemed to demand respect. Perhaps the man had been good-looking when he was young, handsome even, but time had clearly stolen away the man's youth. Her eyes travelled down towards the assortment of badges pinned on his murky-green uniform. He wore the badge of a general. No, not a general, the General.

Mulan's eyes widened as she realised who he was. General Han, younger brother of the Emperor. A warrior since birth. A man who was feared but respected. 

Suddenly, she became aware of all the soldiers around her saluting him, and she hurried to do the same. 

The man gave them a wave of dismissal and the rows gradually dissolved. 

That was when she realised she had no idea what he had told them. Mulan searched around for Luhan or Chen, so that she could find out what happened. Frantically, she hurried through the crowd, occasionally bumping into people. Muttering 'sorry' under her breath, she followed a familiar figure. 

"Luhan!" she called, trying to catch his attention.

The figure stopped and spun around.

"What did the man say?" she asked.

Luhan raised his eyebrows at her. "You didn't hear anything he said?" he asked.

Mulan grinned sheepishly at him.

He shook his head. "They need us to back up the troops in the North. We are leaving at the next full moon, three days from now."

Mulan gaped at him. "The troops in the North? The frontline troops?"

He cocked his head. "Anything wrong?" 

"So soon," she said, shaking her head. "And aren't there already thousands of soldiers up there?"

Luhan gave her a grim expression.

"They barbarians from the North are ruthless. Casualties are so high now. They need us to fight. And that's what we signed up to do."

That night, Mulan couldn't sleep. She lay there in her hammock, listening to the sound of hundreds of men snoring. The sound was loud and frustrating, and despite her efforts, the blanket smothered in her face was doing no good to drown out the noise. Luhan's words haunted her as she squeezed her eyes shut.

They need us to fight. And that's what we signed up to do.

If you asked her before she left home, she would have said that she would fight for her country even if she knew that she was going to die. But now, she wasn't so sure. 

I'm just a girl. Pretending to be a man. Am I