Fearless (A Mulan Retelling)

Chapter Forty Four

"Welcome to Garn," the general said quickly to his men, using his arm to motion to the small town around them, "We will stay here for no more than a night or two, I haven't decided which, so don't get too comfortable. We head out for Wallfront soon to begin our final push to the fortress. We'll stay longer there."

"Any specific goal in mind here?" Dregar asked Zayn.

"Rest," Zayn replied simply, "Whatever is ahead of us, we need to be even more prepared than before. The closer we get to the border, the more dangerous it gets on our part. I know none of us wish to see any more Tokens, but that doesn't mean that we should close our eyes to them. Either way, sleep. Eat. And be ready to leave on my command."

"Very well, sir," Dregar responded, as did all the other men. And then, the group dispersed. The only people left standing with the general were Iris, Kayde, and Shen, who didn't seem to know exactly where to go. Shen spoke up to Zayn. "Do you have any clue where to find an inn?"

The general looked back. "Not a clue," he said with a chuckle. "I was going to look around for one myself. Might do us some good to ask around."

Iris began looking for any sign of one, but had no luck in her search. What she did notice, though, was that this town reminded her a lot of home. It was small, and there were people bustling about everywhere in the streets. She assumed by how busy it looked that there was a marketplace nearby. She pointed to the people.

"Must be around here somewhere. I suggest going that way," she suggested.

"Shot in the dark?" Zayn asked.

"Not quite. I grew up in a village much like this, general," she said, "Look at all these people running about. You'll notice that some are carrying bags. What does that mean? That means there's a market nearby. And, if this place is anything like Eda, the market is generally where you will find everything. Even inns."

"That makes sense. Thanks, Ingred," Shen replied before anyone else could say anything and then began to ride past them towards the busy streets.

"Hopefully I'm right in my assumptions," Ingred mumbled to Kayde and Zayn, "I'd hate to send him on a wild goose chase."

Kayde smirked in her direction.

"I doubt finding an inn to sleep in is anything like chasing a wild goose," Kayde said with a slight grin.

Iris smiled at Kayde as well after making sure the general could not see her.

"Then you know nothing about inns, Kayde," she jested, "Or perhaps nothing about chasing wild geese. At least the geese are loud when they run."

The general couldn't help but to snort at this. Both Kayde and Iris snapped their heads to him as soon as they heard it. He was looking back at Iris with an expression of amused disbelief. His eyebrow was raised at her as if he were asking her why the hell she would say something like that. Iris quickly looked away from him. Why? Because she wanted to smile. Really smile. Laugh, even. His laugh, even though it wasn't heard much, was contagious.

"At least the inns stay still," the general pointed out. Iris composed herself and met his gaze once more.

"Shows what you know."

As Zayn and Iris continued to jest with each other, Kayde just watched them in silence. He observed them both with keen eyes. He saw that Iris's cheeks were flushed with color and noted that she seemed to be extremely happy speaking with General Zayn. Kayde didn't pretend that he didn't know why. He knew exactly why. The same exact reason the general returned her friendly banter with an equal amount of contentment. Kayde knew that the general had taken a liking to Iris.