wanted to be remembered, and I wanted to be useful. So I chose to live here in Diyu among the ghosts and demons and creatures I banished from Earth, and to help King Yama maintain order in the Underworld.”
So the “hero of legend” the demons on the Cauldron had been talking about was Meng Po! Mulan would never have guessed. She could scarcely believe this woman was the same person who’d tried to trick her multiple times in Diyu. She also couldn’t believe she was warming up to her.
“But I thought only a demigod could unlock the sword’s power,” Mulan said.
“That is not true,” replied Meng Po. “Only someone with a hero’s heart could do that. A heart like yours, Mulan.” She paused before continuing, “Your heart has been tested, and you have come far. But not every fight is fought on the battlefield. There will be more to come, for you and those who follow you. Do not let yourself be forgotten, Fa Mulan. And do not forget—you are not alone.”
“Thank you, Meng Po.”
The Lady of Forgetfulness passed the sword to Mulan, but Mulan shook her head. “It’s yours, not mine. I have my father’s sword waiting for me back in the real world.”
Meng Po smiled again. “Then take this, as a memory of the battles you have fought here.”
The sword disappeared, and in its place was a magnolia blossom. Its petals were soft and pink like the blush of a peach.
Meng Po tucked the blossom behind Mulan’s ear. “There. A reminder that where there is beauty, there is also strength and courage and resilience.”
“Thank you,” Mulan whispered.
Meng Po gently tilted Mulan’s chin up. Wistfulness touched her face. “King Yama will have a difficult time judging you. I’ll wager he’s relieved he won’t have to do it today.”
“What do you mean?” asked Mulan, confused.
“We here have a saying: only the brave may enter, but only the worthy may leave. You have achieved something few others have, Mulan, and shown us that your heart is true. You and your friends will have many more trials to face on Earth, and I can only wonder what King Yama will do with you when one day, you return to Diyu for judgment. Whether he will send you to me to be reincarnated—for it is clear you are a hero who could do much on Earth in yet another life—or whether he will reward you with passage to Heaven.”
She lingered a beat in thought. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait. Until then, I wish you and Captain Li good fortune back in the land of the living.”
Her skirts billowed as she stepped away from the bridge. “Now go. Your friends will be waiting for you with King Yama.”
With that, Meng Po drew up her skirt and changed into a crane. Fluttering her wings, she soared high into the sky. Mulan watched her until she vanished behind the sun with a flash of light.
Mulan tilted her head down and faced the bridge. The phoenixes guarding the entrance flared open their wings.
For the first time since she could remember, a strange feeling of peace came over her.
She was going home.
Shang was the first one to see Mulan emerge from the bridge. Waiting beside King Yama and ShiShi, he stood against the hollow curve of one of Diyu’s stone caverns, shifting from foot to foot as if he’d been waiting hours.
But once he saw her, the worried creases on his forehead smoothed and his brow lifted, and he made his way toward her.
Maybe it was from the long walk across the bridge, and all the battles she’d fought in Diyu, but the sight of him quickened her pulse. She drew in a shallow breath.
There was something different about Shang. He looked whole, yet his body still shimmered with an otherworldly aura. A different sort of aura, though. One that no longer burned like the pale blue of a fire’s heart, but instead glimmered like watery rays of sunlight.
A flush deepened his cheeks. He must have realized she’d seen him staring at her. Still, the grimace he’d worn stretched into the widest smile she’d ever seen from the stern captain.
Her stomach fluttered. She wanted to run up to him—to jump with relief and joy, and grab his hand, even—but she held back.
There was something behind the fluttering in her stomach, behind the shiver tingling down her spine. Mulan knew deep down what it was. Mushu had been right. She did like Shang; she had for a