Fearless (A Mulan Retelling)

Chapter Thirty One

The general didn't know what to feel besides utter disbelief at the moment. He didn't know whether to step out and make his presence known or to run. As he really thought about it, things immediately fell into place as Zayn recalled how Ingred slept in armor, worked extra hard to be good, and was quicker than any man he'd ever met. It was because Ingred was no man at all. Flashes of every emotion colored Zayn's mood: shock, anger, bafflement, betrayal, and a touch of wonder. He stood still for the moment, deciding to continue watching for the moment.

It didn't take long for her to slide on her tunic and breeches. Zayn almost stepped out after she was fully dressed, ready to interrogate her. Yet, something changed his mind... Iris looked up at something the general could not see, and beamed for several moments. Zayn finally understood why the rogue rarely smiled... because it made her look absolutely lovely. Oh, and it really made her look feminine. If she were to have smiled like that anywhere near the soldiers, her identity would have been crushed from day one.

He watched as she took a seat by her things and raised her tunic enough to expose her stomach. The first thing that caught his eye was the red injury that grazed her side. It looked entirely out of place on her, he observed. After all, wounds were not usually found on milky skin, but on calloused limbs.

Iris reached in her satchel, and the general saw the bandages the moment she pulled them out of the haversack.

After this, the general promised himself, touching the hilt of his sword, I have to do my job.

He was fully ready to treat her as he would any traitor. She would have to die for her crime. He grasped his blade now, feeling blooms of anger whirl through his stomach. His own soldier had deceived him and betrayed the Eldian army. He tried to anger himself even further, knowing that he would feel guilty for doing his job if he didn't lose himself in fury. Yet, in a second... all the wrath was sapped from him.

He caught eye of the scar in the middle of her belly. The very scar she had received from the blow that would've ended his life had she not stepped in to take it for him. His hand fell to his side.

How can I end a person's life, if they saved mine?

"Who are you?" he said under his breath. She didn't appear to hear him, as she was still tending to her new gash.

"Shit, that hurts," she said. The general was taken aback at her voice. It was no longer the gruff, low voice of the man -well, kind of- that he had known... but a soft voice. One that fit her appearance. For a moment, the general questioned whether or not it was really Ingred he was seeing.

Iris began putting on her armor and strapping her weapons to her waist. She followed by tying her hair into a topknot. Before Zayn's very eyes, the woman in the stream became the awe-inspiring recruit, the person he had been traveling with, the one that retrieved the arrow, and the very one that had saved his life that night in Morthrior.

"Time to get on, I guess," she mumbled in that same delicate voice. Yet, Zayn noted that she did not appear fragile, even though she was a woman. She appeared... respectable. This surprised him, even though he was looking at the same person he had been for gods knew how long.

With a final reach in her backpack, Iris pulled out a small pouch. Zayn continued to stare as she withdrew what appeared to be some kind of spiky plant from within its depths and then pop it into her mouth. With a few labored chews, she began to cough in disgust. Zayn was only confused for a second.

"Ugh, you'd think one would get used to it," came the gruff voice that he knew so well. With a final shake of her head, Iris grabbed her things and bolted off in the other direction. The general continued to stand there... dumbfounded.