The Tour

Tea Houses and Enemies

"So where are we going first?" Jane asked when the silence had become unbearable.
" Well since no one has eaten breakfast the emperor and I think that going to a tea house would be a great start." Mulan explained. As if on cue Jay's stomach growled quite loudly, causing everyone to laugh. "Breakfast it is then." The emperor said still somewhat grumpy.

After about 10 minutes the carriage stopped in front of a quaint little house-like building with a Chinese roof and traditional sliding doors. Everyone got out of the carriage and let the Emperor and Empress lead them inside. The lighting inside the tea house was significantly dimmer than that of outside, with paper lanterns lighting the place. After her eyes adjusted and their group was seated Mal looked around and admired the place. Each table was low and surrounded by pillows to sit on as traditional tea houses went in China, there were bamboo placemats, as well as some breathtaking artwork hanging on the walls. There were various age groups present in the place. At one table, a group of elderly Chinese people sat playing mahjong. Not far from the elderly people, a family of four sat with a very tired mother breaking up a fight of tug of war between her two young daughters over a doll while her husband looked on. Two tables over, a group of young Chinese women sat drinking their tea and gossiping. Mal looked closer at the group and saw
Yin Su, the girl who had challenged her at last night's ball. Yin Su met Mal's eyes and glared. Mal glared right back. Mal didn't say anything but she noticed Ben was in deep conversation with the Emperor and Lonnie and Jane were talking to Mulan while Doug read a book which left her and the VK's to themselves. "Mal are you okay?" Carlos asked. "I'm fine why?" Mal replied, not taking her eyes off of Yin Su. "Because your eyes are glowing." Evie answered. "So?" Mal said. "So why?" Jay asked. Mal didn't say anything. Instead she jerked her thumb towards the table that Yin Su was seated at. The gang followed her gaze and after realizing who they were looking at,the gang narrowed their eyes. "Isn't that the girl from the ball?" Evie asked. "Yep." Mal replied. "I wonder what she's doing here." Carlos said. "Well if I had to guess I'd say she's drinking tea considering we are at a tea house." Jay said sarcastically. "Yeah but there are like a million tea houses in Beijing. What are the odds that she happens to be at the same one as us?" Carlos asked. "Not high." Evie replied. At that, Mal finally stopped glowering at Yin Su, for the likelihood of her being at the same tea house as them was indeed low.Mal and the gang had their tea and pastries that the Empress ordered but never stopped glancing over at Yin Su. The group was just about to leave when Yin Su and her followers made their way over to their table. Mal immediately latched on to Ben's arm possessively. Ben finally noticing something was wrong glanced up and, when he saw Yin Su he immediately fixed a scowl on his face. First as was proper Yin Su went and curtsied to the emperor and empress.
"Your majesties." Yin Su said almost mockingly. "Yin Su." They greeted. Then Yin Su went to Ben and did the same. " Hello your Highness." Yin Su purred, causing Mal to grip Ben harder.
"Hello Yin Su." Ben greeted politely.
"I just wanted to invite you to my home for dinner tonight." Yin Su said. " I'm sure that we'd love too."Ben said hating the very idea of it.  "We?" Yin Su asked faking confusion. "Yes my girlfriend, my friends and I." Ben replied. "Oh forgive me your highness I meant only you I wish to enjoy the pleasure of you- oh I'm sorry I mean the pleasure of your company." Yin Su said silkily. "Wherever Ben goes I go." Mal cut in. "I'm sorry I didn't know you spoke for the king." Yin Su said, causing her friends to giggle behind their fans."I'm not speaking for him I'm speaking for myself." Mal said. "I didn't realize that a simple consort was allowed to speak against a person of noble birth like myself." Yin Su bit out. "I'm not just his consort I'm his girlfriend and I will speak my mind to whoever I please." Mal growled. "Oh please he'll get tired of you soon enough and find someone better to please him." Yin Su said as her friends tittered in amusement. "Well Yin Su after what Ben and I did last night I think we please each other very well." Mal said, boldly moving Ben's hand to her lap. She heard someone choke on their tea, probably the Emperor. "Like I said once he learns all your tricks he'll move on." Yin Su said. Mal had enough. She stood up, eyes glowing with the other VK's behind her ready to back her up. The others looked astonished but didn't know what to do. Even Ben seemed frozen. "Look Yin Su I don't know what your problem is with me and I don't really care. But you should think very carefully about whether or not you really want to make me your enemy. I may not be evil like my mother but I am just as if not more powerful than her. I'm so powerful that I could convince you to jump off a cliff and make you thank me for it. I could stop your heart right here and right now if I wanted to. I could convince you to stop breathing. Oh, and Evie, my blue haired friend could kill you with a hairpin before you could blink. Jay could easily snap your neck. Carlos could strangle you with a piece of thread. So I'll ask you again do you really want to mess with me? Because if you mess with me you mess with them too." Mal said. During her speech the tea house became deadly quiet, and Yin Su and her friends all seemed paler than ghosts.  Yin Su's hand was on her throat as if guarding it. Then, Yin Su spoke. "I sincerely apologize for my behavior I'll never bother you again."  After sinking to a deep curtsy Yin Su and her friends left. Finally, Mal and her friends sat down and looked at the others. Some were looking at her curiously, some admiring and others fearfully. Finally Jane spoke. "Mal? Can you all really do that stuff or were you just saying that to scare Yin Su?"
Mal thought a moment before answering. "Yes we can do all those things and worse. Growing up on the Isle it was kill or be killed so not only can we do all those things we have done all of those things." Mal replied honestly. No one said anything.

After leaving the tea house the rest of the day was awkward. Not even the tour of the botanical gardens could cheer Mal up. The others seemed unable to talk to the VK's, even Ben had hardly spoken to her. It hurt Mal's feelings deeply. The ride back to the palace was silent. As soon as they arrived Mal went to bed and sobbed her eyes out. Evie came and sat with Mal, crying too.  After all her tears were gone Mal sat up. "Ben hates me now. He won't speak to me or even look at me. I'm a monster." Mal said. "Doug is acting the same way and it hurts." Evie said. A knock on the door sounded. "Who is it?" Evie asked. "It just Jay and Carlos." A voice said back. "Come in." Mal said. The boys came in and saw the girls tear stained cheeks and smeared make up. "What's wrong?" Jay asked as he and Carlos took a seat on the bed.
"Ben and Doug hate us." Mal said bluntly. "No they don't." Carlos said.
"Yeah they do, they won't talk to us or even glance at us they're probably disgusted by us now." Mal said as she and Evie burst into tears again. Jay and Carlos at a loss for what to do, tentatively wrapped their arms around their surrogate sisters and rubbed their backs, soothing them. After a while it became apparent that the girls had cried themselves to sleep. So after tucking them in, Jay and Carlos set off to find Ben and Doug.