51 第10章 军旅生活（1）

 第10章 军旅生活（1）

By the time Mulan found a pair of boots that f it and training clothes that were only two sizes too big, it was growing dark. Walking out of the clothing tent, she searched for her assigned barracks. Each tent looked the same, and for a while, she wandered through the encampment, happy for the darkness and the solitude. After weeks of being alone, she realized she had grown used to the solitary sounds of the thoughts in her head and Black Wind’s hooves hitting the ground. 
As she moved among the tents, she wrinkled her nose at the odd scents that f illed the air. There was a distinct mixture of sweat, unwashed clothes, and undercooked meat. Even though she was hungry, the smell did little to entice her to f ill her belly, instead making her queasy. F ires had been lit in front of the bigger tents, and soldiers stood around them, warming their hands, their booming voices all the louder in the stillness of the night. 
Mulan sighed. She wanted desperately, in that moment, to be back in her family’s house, sitting with her sister. She wouldn’t even have protested if her mother tried to play with her unruly hair, twisting it and looping it as she mumbled to herself. Your hair is like you, Mulan, impossible to control, she would say. But her voice would be soft, and Mulan would feel her mother’s gentle f ingers brush over her shoulders, silently adding, I love you.
Shaking her head, Mulan pushed away the thoughts of home. They would do her no good. The monks had told her she had to act like a man. And men didn’t get weepy and sentimental. Spotting her assigned tent, Mulan slipped inside. 
Immediately, she wished she hadn’t. 
In front of her, men in various stages of undress joked and laughed with one another. Mulan’s face f lushed and she felt her throat become dry. Two of the conscripts were trading playful punches while they argued over who should get the better sleeping platform. Another conscript was searching through his clothing, tossing things over his shoulder without care. There was a conscript sharpening his sword and another picking his teeth with the tip of a dagger. 
Keeping her eyes down, Mulan made her way through the tent. Other than the soldiers, the tent itself was practically empty. The only furniture was the eight sleeping platforms that ran the length of the tent. Beside most of them were piles of clothing and equipment, thrown down by whatever soldier had claimed that platform. Spotting one of the last empty platforms, Mulan started toward it. But just as she was about to reach it, a conscript moved in front of her, his bare skin brushing Mulan’s f ingertips.