"A healer?  Ah, that is truly an excellent ability," he said.  "I am sure you will be most welcome should anyone be injured." Izkry said. "You lived in America?  For how long?  That explains your accent.  Your English is excellent -- better than mine, I think," he continued with a wide smile.

Ying-mei blushed slightly at the compliment. Izkry was much more approachable than his sister, that much was for sure. "I have been living in America for approximately ten years now," Ying-mei answered softly. "My father sent me there to study, and I was working as a nurse in a hospital while keeping my younger brother company in America before we came to England and the British authorities discovered what I could do." 

Jason Graves/Tombe then introduced himself. Rather than demonstrate what his ability actually was, he simply gave them an extremely vague description and left it at that. Ying-mei was bewildered-was this some English expression that she was not familiar with?-but Ying-mei did not get a chance to ask any questions, as the blonde, bespectacled man (whose name was Henry) spoke up at that moment. It was his turn to show everybody else what he could do, and Ying-mei watched in astonishment as his features morphed into an exact replica of Maria/Marie's. 

[i]Goodness gracious. With an ability like his, who knows what Mr. Ashwell could do? He could pretend to be anybody in the world and the Nazis would be none the wiser.[/i]

Ying-mei was so impressed by Henry/Tommy's demonstration that she almost did not notice one of Oscar/Tony's bottles of water bursting. Ying-mei started in alarm, her gaze drifting over to Belasý, who had scrambled out of the truck as quickly as she could. [i]Her brother said that her ability was controlling water, no? I wonder why she did that.[/i] In any case, there was little time to ponder Belasý's motives as the group began to disembark from the truck and listen to the instructions that were being given. The noise, the smell, the atmosphere in general-it was all overwhelming. Ying-mei took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of kerosene and...rubber? as she took everything in. 

She followed the rest of the group into the plane. Maria began to speak, telling them where their gear was and warning them about breathing difficulties and the cold. Ying-mei shifted nervously. She had been given basic instructions on how to use the parachutes in preparation for the paradrop, but that didn't mean that she was comfortable jumping out of a plane, for Pete's sake! [i]Jump when they tell you to, jump when they tell you to,[/i] Ying-mei repeated to herself. Maria had stressed the importance of jumping immediately, and the last thing that Ying-mei wanted was to lose sight of the group and find that she had no idea where the hell she was.

Ying-mei grabbed bags at random until she finally found hers. She was not carrying much other than the standard field agent gear that had been assigned to her earlier and a first-aid kit. Ying-mei checked to make sure that everything was there, and the sight of the first-aid equipment gave her some comfort. Ying-mei knew how to disinfect wounds and bandage cuts. She could do that. Jumping out of a plane, though? Not so much. But there was no time for her uncertainty. She'd have to jump or risk being stranded in the middle of France.

Ying-mei watched everybody else find their gear and get settled. Oscar seemed extremely nervous, babbling about viking and messing with his hair. [i]He is as skittish as a spooked horse,[/i] observed Ying-mei wryly. Jason attempted to cheer him up, mentioning some place called...Valhalla? Ying-mei had no idea what it meant. It was probably another one of those English expressions that she had yet to pick up on. Ying-mei glanced in the other direction, her eyes landing on Jean. He appeared to be slightly anxious, and a bit pensive. Ying-mei furrowed her brow and looked down, trying to figure out why. It probably wasn't because of the impending jump, as contradictory as that seemed. One would have thought that [i]everyone[/i] was frightened by the sheer prospect of jumping out of a plane, but the confidence that Jean had exuded earlier, when they were sitting on the truck led Ying-mei to think otherwise. She guessed that he was familiar with everything already, that he knew what he was doing. That was good, at least. It was nice knowing that somebody other than Maria would be able to help if anybody had difficulties.

[i]Perhaps he thinks that we are not prepared for this,[/i] thought Ying-mei. She did not blame him. Ying-mei knew that she didn't feel prepared at all! But what she felt did not matter right now. She would just have to trust that Maria knew exactly what was going on and exactly what would happen. 

Ying-mei's thoughts wandered to home. She hadn't seen her parents for a couple of years, now. Last she heard from them, they had relocated to southern China in order to escape that Japanese soldiers as they advanced across the country. Ying-mei fervently hoped that they were safe and sound. [i]Will fighting the Nazis hurt the Japanese?[/i] Ying-mei wondered. The Germans and Japanese had formed an alliance, yes, but did one country's actions affect the others? 

Ying-mei's musings were interrupted by the sound of Izkry's ever-cheerful voice as he conversed with Oscar and Jason. She was startled when he mentioned being shot down-up until this point, Ying-mei hadn't even considered that possibility-but she laughed quietly as he continued talking, listening to him playfully tease his sister. 

Ying-mei decided that it would not hurt if she divulged more information about herself. "I am from Shanghai. My father works for the government, and I have a younger sister and a younger brother," she began hesitantly. "Like I said before, my father sent me to America to study. That was when I was seventeen. I went to nursing school and graduated a couple years later, and I was working as a nurse before visiting my uncle in England." Ying-mei left out the part about thieves shooting her brother in the chest and paused for a moment in order to collect her thoughts.

"In the future...I..." Ying-mei trailed off, uncertain. [i]What is my future?[/i] she thought helplessly. [i]What is my future, assuming that I survive this?[/i]

"Well, before everything happened, my future was to marry a man from a good family and raise our children," Ying-mei said quietly. "I never really liked to think about it, because my father would decide who I married and when I married. He was, after all, the one providing the dowry. How ungrateful would it be of me if I had insisted that I should have a greater say?" Ying-mei's tone was neither angry nor sad, in fact, it was rather matter-of-fact. "Now, though, I am not so sure. If we get out of France alive, if the war ends and I am still here...I do not know. I would like to continue working as a nurse, but I am not certain that my father would permit it." Ying-mei shrugged nonchalantly and left it at that, ducking her head slightly. [i]Maybe I should not have included the part about marriage. Neither Maria nor Belasy seem like the type who would allow themselves to be forced into marrying someone. But what am I to do? They do not know what Shanghai is like, what Chinese politics involve. What do Westerners know of our ways, of our duties and responsibilities? Their world is vastly different from ours.[/i]

Ying-mei shook her head to herself. There was no use dwelling on any of that right now. Besides, she had more pressing worries-such as the fact that they were about to jump off of a plane!