one-twoohlookbananas:

Jane stepped off the ship, her shaky legs hardly able to keep herself upright as she lugged her bag along beside her. It had been a long trip, and she was happy to finally be on real, steady land again. The professor had been increasingly hesitant to send her off alone, with no one to accompany her. But she had done enough pleading with him that he finally conceded in allowing her to travel by herself to China. After all, he always did have a hard time saying no to his only daughter.

After having a bit of difficulty tracking down a means of transportation, she finally managed to procure an odd looking carriage and, with a bit of shaky Chinese, informed the driver of her destination. First thing was first, she had to get rid of her bag that was weighing her down before she could go off and explore.

She watched as she rolled past the people milling about, heading out away from many of the buildings. That seemed odd to her, but she decided that the driver knew better where they were going, so she didn’t question it.

Until he pulled over, and she stepped out to look around. It seemed to just be an expanse of countryside. This cannot be right, she thought to herself, turning around to ask the driver to explain why she was here. Perhaps she had somehow mispronounced the name of where she was staying. But the carriage was already heading away from her, leaving a cloud of dust that blew into her face.

Coughing up the dirt, Jane bit her lip and wondered what on earth she was supposed to do now. No wonder Daddy hadn’t wanted her to come alone.

Khan trotted at a brisk pace down the road, the empty cart rolling behind him.  By the time they returned in an hour or so, it would be laden with supplies for the camp: sacks of rice and beans, plain cloth for bandages, coal for the Consul’s brazier.  Then, the horse would move at a slower pace and Ping would walk by his side to ease his burden.  Chi Fu, however, would begrudge them every slow step, as if it hadn’t been his own idea to hitch Khan to the cart.  "Piāohàn was bred for bearing weight, not pulling it,“ he’d sniff, as if Khan was not an experienced warhorse; but since Ping was probably as low as you could get in the hierarchy at camp and Khan was not unused to pulling weight as well as bearing it, the recruit held his tongue.  In sharp contrast, the Consul had not named his horse "swift” for nothing and while it would have been unseemly for Chi Fu to ride at a gallop, his pace often left Khan and Ping behind for minutes at a time, only to come trotting back claiming that it was an accident caused by the restless Piāohàn.

Such an “accident” seemed to have occurred just now, even though Khan was not burdened with a full cart yet.  Chi Fu trotted up to Ping, his stallion’s hooves kicking up gravel…and kept riding.  "There’s a stranger on the road here!“ he barked out to Ping.  "See what her business is.  I will inform the Captain.”

“Her?” repeated Ping blankly.  "But - “ his voice faltered.  It was no use.  The Consul was already on his way back to camp without a second glance.  Sighing, Ping shifted his feet in the stirrups and Khan obediently marched forward.  Hopefully if Chi Fu trusted Ping with the stranger, it meant that the woman was no threat - although knowing the Consul, the complete opposite might be the case.