Lin Xiaoyu

Ever since childhood, Lin Xiaoyu had harbored a deep fear of the water. She always felt that beneath the ocean's deep emerald waves lay countless corpses and myriad ghosts. Year after year, the coastal fisherfolk would set floating altars adrift upon the sea. She would sit on the shore, her gaze fixed upon those tiny candles flickering amidst the ripples. Illuminated by the altars' flames, the people's faces refracted a chilling light reminiscent of bloated corpses; their shifting silhouettes seemed to clamor, yet also seemed to weep. Xiaoyu suspected that the souls of the drowned were bustling just beneath the water's surface. She thought to herself that it would be better to raise goats. By herding them daily to graze, shearing their wool to spin yarn, and taking their milk to sell at the grand market, she would never lack food or clothing, and it would be far safer than venturing out to sea. Yet her parents claimed she was born to belong to the waters, for her features closely resembled the Matriarch of the Sea worshipped in every household. They dotted her brow with a red mole; at a glance, she looked exactly like the divine statue. Lin Xiaoyu did not wish to be the Sea Goddess, though playing the part had its advantages. Whenever the older children tore apart the colorful little boats she had folded, she only needed to stand upon a high place, harden her face, and coldly declare, "The Sea Goddess no longer favors you!" The flock of mischievous brats would immediately scatter like frightened birds. The year Lin Xiaoyu finally obtained a flock of goats of her own, a merchant caravan arrived in town, seeking to recruit helmsmen for a distant voyage. Those merchants took her parents away, along with the parents of many other children in the village. A long, long time passed thereafter, so long that another layer of rough edges was worn away from the coastal reefs, yet still no ships returned. The sounds of weeping rose and fell across the village like the ocean tide. Lin Xiaoyu did not cry. She hid in her house, crafting countless colorful little boats, and handed them out to the children on the shore one by one. Mimicking the tone of the Sea Goddess, she told them solemnly that their fathers, mothers, grandfathers, and grandmothers would all return! But she was not the true Sea Goddess, and she could not shelter the distant ships. No one returned that year, including her parents. Floating altars were lined up densely along the coastline. Staring at the water's surface, Xiaoyu listened to the elders cry out, "Oh, Sea Goddess, please let them return..." Suddenly, she was no longer afraid of the water. The Sea Goddess resided within it, and the ancestors of every family resided within it too. It was the origin of all people, and the final destination for all. Step by step, she walked into the sea, letting the waves wash over her ankles, then her knees, until the water gently lifted her entire body. The elders were right; she was born to belong to the sea. Like a fish released back into the wild, she stretched her limbs with unbridled freedom. Once again, she heard her mother's voice telling stories beneath the lamp, heard her father's endless admonitions before his departure, and heard them praying together. "Oh, Sea Goddess, please bless our daughter..." Lin Xiaoyu opened her eyes underwater, her tears dissolving into the salty brine. So many parents had perished in the sea, and so many children wept upon the shore. Deep down, she prayed, "Oh, Sea Goddess, I beg you to bestow your blessings, and let the souls of our parents ride the waves back home..." No one saw her cry. Only the fish saw it. Only the sea knew. She remained in the water for a very long time, pondering many things. She thought of the treasure ship, of her parents, of the legendary Master of the Seas, and of the merchants who had taken her parents away. She knew everything, and the sea knew everything. Yet, upon swimming back to the shore, Lin Xiaoyu pressed her lips tightly together, speaking not a single word to anyone.