Instead, she kept her eyes on the eagle in front of her. They circled around the island, and then the palace, until Daji found what she was looking for. The garden. The eagle swooped down, with the hawk following close behind. As they reached the treetops, both birds began to shrink. They almost seemed to shrivel into the air, their feathers and beaks melting away and the wings thinning and diminishing. If any Immortals on the island had happened to notice the two stray birds flying above, they would’ve shaken their heads in confusion at the birds’ sudden disappearance and decided it was all imagined. No Immortal would have noticed two extra bees on the flowering bush.
But unlike the other bees in the garden that flitted from one flower to the next, these two bees sat quietly in the purple blossoms, settled for a long wait. Would the girl come? Xianniang wondered. That girl that Daji did not even call by her name. Mulan.
Would Mulan come?
THE GUARDS left Mulan (carrying the Rabbit) and Lu Ting-Pin at the gate of the garden, another arched entry of jade topped with sweeping, gold-tiled roof. The entire garden seemed to be enclosed, as a red wall of cinnabar stretched endlessly from either side of the gate.
“In we go,” Lu Ting-Pin said cheerfully. He was in high spirits since he had received his unofficial pardon from the Queen Mother, and he almost skipped through the entry.
They passed through a small courtyard tiled with a luminous mosaic pattern of the smooth, rounded pebbles—no, not pebbles. The ground gently massaged her feet as she walked, and Mulan took a closer look to see they were pearls. Silvery grey pearls had been arranged with lighter ones to create a plum blossom motif on the ground.
But it was the moon gate across the courtyard that caught Mulan’s breath. For it was through that round opening that she caught her first glimpse of the Queen Mother’s garden. Cascading willows draped over a jade-green pond surrounded by jasper stones. Glistening lotus flowers rose through the wide, floating leaves, like shooting stars breaking though emerald and garnet clouds. Brilliant flowers dotted the greenery like scattered jewels, and multicolored birds with sweeping tails arrayed themselves on branches. The Queen Mother’s garden was truly a garden of splendors.
Lu Ting-Pin sneezed.
“All this grandeur makes me feel like my blood is flowing backward,” he complained as he ushered Mulan through the moon gate. “Let’s find this plant and leave. What does this Essence of Heavenly Majesty look like?”
Mulan halted and stared at Lu Ting-Pin. “You don’t know?” she gasped. “I thought you would!”
“Me?” Lu Ting-Pin looked back at her with equal surprise. “But I don’t know about plants and herbs! That’s Tuzi’s specialty.”
They both looked at the Rabbit, curled up around Xiu’s toy like an infant, silent and still.
“Maybe we could ask the Queen Mother?” Mulan asked, gazing back through the moon gate toward the palace. But even as she said it, they both knew they could not. The queen had granted her one favor. She would do no more. Lu Ting-Pin and Mulan looked at each other helplessly.
“It’s a flower, right?” Lu Ting-Pin asked Mulan. She closed her eyes. What had the Rabbit said? To cure hupo poison, she needs to drink a decoction of Dragon Beard Grass and a freshly picked blossom of the Essence of Heavenly Majesty.
“Yes,” Mulan said, nodding, “and the Rabbit said it had to be freshly picked to work.”
Lu Ting-Pin leaned in close to the Rabbit’s ear. “Tuzi!” he said slowly, forming each word carefully. “The Essence of Heavenly Majesty! What does it look like?”
They both bent closer to the Rabbit, holding their breath as they hoped the Rabbit would give some sort of answer. He did not.
They straightened, staring silently at the Rabbit as if they could will him to speak. But the Rabbit’s eyes and mouth stayed shut, his once gleaming fur now drab and dark in Lu Ting-Pin’s shadow.
Mulan turned to look at him and realized with horror that the sun was now directly behind him, a soft pink tint washing over the sky. Soon it would be the night of the new moon.
LU TING-PIN was also staring up at the lowering sun, his look of dismay unsoftened by the pink light. He met Mulan’s eyes, their faces mirroring alarm.
“There must be something,” Lu Ting-Pin said, stroking his beard furiously. “We just need to think!”
Essence of Heavenly Majesty. Essence of Heavenly Majesty. Mulan’s mind raced. “Lu Ting-Pin!” she said. “The name! The name of the plant!”
“What about it?” Lu Ting-Pin said, his brow furrowing. “Other than its being ridiculously long? These royal gardeners…”
“It’s a clue!” Mulan said. “They must have called it that because of the way it looks, right?”
“Yes, of course!” Lu Ting-Pin said, his face lighting up. “So, what color would Heavenly Majesty be? Gold?”
Mulan stared upward at the heavens. High above them, the amethyst sky had already darkened, deepening to violet. It was the same color as the Queen Mother’s robes—a royal color. A majestic color. “Purple,” Mulan said. “I think the flowers must be purple.”
“Of course!” Lu Ting-Pin said. He jumped up and looked around. “Let’s look for all the purple flowers and go from there. We don’t have much time.”
They headed in separate directions, Mulan walking briskly and Lu Ting-Pin hopping into the air in flight. As Mulan walked the winding paths, she became aghast at the vastness of the Queen Mother’s garden. How would they find the flower they needed? Among the elegant trees and carefully placed stones, plants of all sizes received her. Some she knew, like the azalea bushes flowering pink and the cabbage-sized peonies of garnet and snow. However, others—flowers with petals like flaming phoenix wings and multicolored blossoms of layered chrysanthemum, peony, and lotus petals—she could only blink at. All were astonishing in beauty, but none, yet, were purple.
Mulan felt her heart turn grey as the she followed the curved path through a flower-shaped opening into another courtyard. How futile this was! The garden was endless and awash with plants; they would never be able to find the Essence of Heavenly Majesty. Above, the sun began to protest its departure, the gentle pink heightening and filling the sky with vivid color. How could they have come so far, merely to fail now?
She stepped into the new courtyard, then halted. Her mouth gaped open and Mulan could only stare at what was before her.
The courtyard, the ground paved again with a luminous pearl mosaic, stretched out almost endlessly. It was completely empty with the exception of a tree, exactly in the center. And it was clear this was no ordinary tree.
It was ancient; one could tell by its permanently gnarled and twisted limbs and its rugged bark, almost stonelike with age. But glossy green leaves sprang from the branches, cushioning the cascades of round, blushing fruit. Peaches.
Remember, it’s the peach you want, Daji had said. Mulan now knew better than to believe her, but she could not help being transfixed. A delicate aroma, fresh and sweet, tickled her nose. The peaches, velvety with rosy fuzz, glowed with a soft golden radiance, a flushed light that was more gentle and delicate than that of a lantern. They dangled temptingly, swaying toward her in the breeze, and Mulan knew that these were the queen’s prized Fruits of Longevity.