one-twoohlookbananas:

“Fàngjià Zài,” she replied, wincing when she realized that her accent was terribly British sounding still, despite her best efforts to hide it. She had a long way to go if she ever wanted to consider herself fluent in the Chinese language. “Am I very far? I wish I had stopped to question the driver about where we were headed before I decided to get out of the carriage. As soon as I stepped out, he just vanished, leaving me here! Is that common here?”

Jane realized she was rambling again, and throwing far too many questions at the poor man for him to answer all at once. “Oh, I do apologize. I sometimes talk much more than I really should.”

Though Ping’d squinted in confusion as the woman on foot answered, his forehead smoothed in relief when he realized where she was headed.  He’d never heard somebody speak Mandarin so clumsily, but then again Ping himself knew only one language, so he couldn’t sneer at her, even if he wanted to.  Which he didn’t.  "Um,” said Ping, because he wasn’t really sure how to answer her question.  "If you didn’t ask, he probably didn’t think he needed to stay.“  Even in Ping’s thoughtful tone, he thought he might have been too blunt, and compensated with a shrug of one shoulder.  "I’ve heard of Fàngjià Zài - but I don’t really…know where it is,” confessed the recruit, looking mournful.

Khan sidestepped, impatient to continue on, but Ping only tightened his grip on the reins.  He ought to do as Chi Fu had said - ensure the woman wasn’t a spy, return to camp, report to the captain - and, if he had been any other of the soldiers, he might not have minded that this left the woman still lost and alone.  But when you were secretly a woman yourself, you couldn’t help but wonder how it would be to be left in a similar situation.  At least, Ping couldn’t help it.  And somehow given his trouble with training, he didn’t think his time in the army would help if he were a woman traveling alone.

Ping sighed.  "I’m headed into a near village for supplies,“ he told the traveler.  "If you come with me, you can ask for directions there.”