Stand Tall (Zhou gen)

[storypaint]

Title: Stand Tall
Day/Theme: Oct 28 // wild at heart
Series: Mulan
Character/Pairing: Zhou (Mulan's father) gen
Rating: G

Excerpt: He needs a son-- he has Mulan instead.

"I know my place," Fa Zhou says. "It is time you learned yours." The words bite his lips as they pass through, but he cannot stop himself. It's true, and it's painful truth, but it must be said. He must know that his family will be taken care of, afterwards.

He needs a son-- he has Mulan instead. And he loves his daughter as much as he would love a son. He does not regret raising her to be intelligent and self-reliant. Those attributes will serve her well in her future life.

But this is China. The Great Wall was built by China's sons and China's fathers. There is no place for a headstrong woman here. She must find her place.

He has no idea that it is her place to stand beside Li Shang, tall and proud as any man, but he will be grateful when he learns the truth. For now, he must simply pray and limp and wait.

He would rather have her back than all of the honor in China.

Comments

[claire-chan.livejournal.com]

Thinking of this, I've been reading The Art of War lately! It seems to be mostly a treatise on logic (at least when it comes to war), and I've noted a definite male slant, like when referring to the general, Sun Tzu will always say "he". Do only males fight? It is only minorly an annoyance, especially considering it's +2500 years old. Seeing my reading it so ardently amuses me, my 2nd Latin name was Placida, and neither name was Bella. Like "bellicose", or more rarely "ante bellum". (My other one was Alta.)

[storypaint.livejournal.com]

Do only males fight?

Back then, that was pretty much true. Generally women who got caught like Mulan did would be killed.

[claire-chan.livejournal.com]

Hence the minor bit.