06 第2章 女子的本分（1）

2-1 女子的本分（1）

Mulan sat behind Xiu, absent-mindedly brushing her sister’s long black hair. In front of her, the younger girl was quiet, lost in her thoughts. Mulan didn’t mind the silence. Her own brain was loud and busy enough. All she could see was her father’s look of disappointment. It haunted her like a nightmare she couldn’t wake from, making her feel shaky and uncomfortable. The last thing she would ever want to do was hurt her father. Mulan had simply wanted to help. 
And somehow, she seemed to have done just the opposite. 

“Mulan?” 

Xiu’s quiet voice interrupted Mulan’s dark thoughts. Her hand stopped, the brush hovering over Xiu’s hair as she waited to hear what her sister wanted to say. 

“What happened when you fell off the roof?” Xiu asked. 

Mulan didn’t need to question what Xiu meant. She had felt something ... odd ... as she fell through the air. Like somehow her mind had seen a step ahead and her body had known the moves it needed to make before she was even aware herself. But she wasn’t about to admit her thoughts out loud—especially to her younger sister. “I was chasing that naughty chicken,” she said instead as she resumed combing Xiu’s hair. 

Beneath the comb, Xiu shook her head. “No,” she pressed. “When you slipped. For a moment it was like you were a bird ...” The younger girl’s voice trailed off. 

Mulan frowned, surprised by her sister’s astute observation. 

But how was that even possible? She hadn’t dared think about it until this very moment, but she knew that she had narrowly escaped getting hurt—or worse. Somehow, whatever that feeling inside her was, it had managed to save her. Which sounded strange. Which meant there was no way she was going to say it aloud to her sister, because Xiu would def initely think it was strange. So instead, Mulan changed the subject. 

“Xiu,” she said, her hand growing still. “Don’t panic. But there’s a spider crawling in your hair.” 
Xiu’s shoulders crept up toward her ears and she turned to look at Mulan, worry creasing her innocent face. “You know I’m afraid of spiders,” she said, her lower lip beginning to tremble. Then her eyes narrowed. “This isn’t one of your tricks, is it, Mulan?” 

Mulan tried not to smile. “Don’t move,” she said. “If you hold very still, I will squash it ...” Her voice trailed off as, from the room below, she heard her mother’s voice rise.