An Ending

The ride to the home of the Na clan had been long, but still it was well worth it. Feeling more than a little bit nervous, Chuo dismounted from his steed before turning his head to look at the black horse. Smiling, he gave the noble beast a pat on the neck.

Turning his head to the house, Chuo cleared his throat and wondered what he was to do. Just go up? He was about to when she emerged: Alun, having grown lovelier than when he had seen her last. Yes, she had grown just as he had. They were no longer children.

Alun's green eyes widened in surprise and then a smile spread across her countenance. Placing her hands in front of her, she said to the Young Tuyuhun: "You have grown, Chuo."

Nodding, Chuo replied: As have you, Alun."

"I hoped I would see you again." Alun told him, approaching the young man. "When you came to rescue me twelve twelvemonths ago, all other boys, all other men ceased to exist."

"I hoped I would see you again as well, Alun." Chuo asked, smiling at her, his blue eyes gazing into her green eyes. "I have something that I would ask you. If you would have me."

Chuo made his inquiry and Alun accepted. She would have had no one else, no one else but the boy, now a man, who had come to rescue her.

When Captain Na returned home and learned of what had happened, he could do naught but smile. "The man who had become second-in-command of the Khan's Host as my son-in-law? I wouldn't have any other marry my daughter!"

Then came the time to return to the home of the Tuyuhun Clan and there did Chuo once again see his materfamilias. Embracing her and his sisters, Chuo then introduced them to Alun. They were all very happy and welcomed her into their family with open arms, while his elder sister Borte's husband stood nearby with their son in his arms, smiling as warmly as the rest of the family was.

Sitting inside the yurt, General Tuyuhun could only stare at his son and his betrothed, a happy expression upon his countenance. They were so happy, just as he had his wife had been through all their twelvemonths of marriage, just as Borte was with her husband. He then thought of his elder son, his firstborn, and remembered his general lack of interest in the fairer sex. A day such as this was something that never would have come with his elder son and yet, General Tuyuhun could not have imagined he would have seen this day with his younger son either.

The son that had been born sickly and before his time. The son he thought he had seen for the last time when he had gone off to serve in the Khan's Host. Beyond all hope, everything had turned out alright for his younger son, for Chuo.

"Father…" began Chuo. "Mulan Badaling had invited me and Alun to marry alongside of her Wang Qinyun. Would you have any objections of that?"

"None at all." Stated General Tuyuhun. "I have not seen my old friend Captain Mulan Hu in a long time and it sounds very grand."

"What of you, mother?" inquired Chuo.

"None at all." Stated Lady Tuyuhun, smiling at her son. "Two high ranking soldiers marrying their loves alongside one another has the makings of the ending of a great romance."

Perhaps it did, but if that story would be told in twelvemonths to come or would be forgotten was anyone's guess. It was entirely possible that the tale of Mulan Badaling would overshadow that of all others who served in that twelve-twelvemonth campaign.

And that was indeed the case. Mulan Badaling's tale would overshadow that of others who had served in that campaign, the appellations of many men and women lost to time while hers was remembered, albeit not correctly. Even the tale of Tuyuhun Chuo would be lost to time… If temporarily.

By the time of Kublai Khan, the tale of Tuyuhun Chuo would be rediscovered and for a time overshadow that of Mulan until the rise of the Ming, causing Chuo to become less well-known, but thankfully, not forgotten.

But all of that was many centuries away.

As General Tuyuhun heard his wife's words, he too looked at his son and future daughter-in-law. "No, my dear, I do believe you are in correct." He said. "It is not an ending. It is a beginning, a perfect beginning."

That it was. Chuo and Alun did marry alongside Mulan Badaling and Wang Qingyun and like the marriage of Wilfred of Ivanhoe to Lady Rowena, of which famed western writer Sir Walter Scott would write of over a millennium later, these marriages were celebrated by Xianbei and Han alike, just as that of Ivanhoe and Rowena were celebrated by Saxon and Norman alike.

Chuo and Alun lived long and happily, had children, grandchildren and their descendants continue to live in China's province of Inner Mongolia. When the Tuoba Wei Khanate divided between the West and the East, the Tuyuhun Clan sided with the West while the Mulan Clan sided with the East and became bitter enemies with the Tuyuhun. Mulan Badaling's last descendant was ultimately slain by a member of the Tuyuhun Clan, wiping out the Mulan Clan altogether, but that is a tale of which few details are known, only that the Last of the Mulan had been threatening the Tuyuhun's pregnant wife.