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Ping fought with all the bravery of a dragon, and he won his battles. He was trusted, he was respected, he was befriended.

A woman would never be given that honor.
Mulan fought with the grace and strength of a dragon, and her plans never failed- but she was a woman, and she needed to know her place. She knew it, and it was not one where she would be subservient.

Or as she put it- "The next person to tell me I should be married off will see the point of my sword." And though her friends laugh, and tease her-- friends that accept her anger and her fire, and one who loves her for it-- she still hears her mother, telling her she will never marry if she keeps this up.

And though she loves her mother, Mulan is tired of being told that fighting with fury in her eyes is unseemly for a lady, that standing up and shouting is unattractive, because when her voice is hoarse and there is blood on her blade she is Ping again, respected, trusted, admired. The sword of Shan-Yu is the one she wields now, because maybe then the world will know what she has done for China, and listen to her. Until then, despite her carrying the seal of the emperor, she will be stuck as a painted, forgotten bride, looking pretty for her faceless husband. In the place society says she belongs.

To Fa Mulan, the day the generals and captains respect her prowess, the day her seat on the Council of War is not called into question, that is the day she will put down her sword and say enough.

She knows that day may never come. But that does not stop her from fighting, because she knows her place, and it is on the battlefield, where she belongs.