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1“Are you scared?”
They were nearly at the harbour, and Storm needed to know before it was too late. She dodged a step ahead and walked backwards, studying Thorn’s face.
It was the morning after the boys’ Choosing. Last night all the Thirteen-year boys had travelled to the top of the mountain, one by one. Each of them had passed the ordeal and been Chosen by one of the four Elemental spirits. Thorn belonged to Water. He and his friends were men now, newly apprenticed to a boatmaster. The winter monsoons had blown themselves out, and it was trading season. In a few days the island’s fleet would begin the long voyage to the Inner Sea. Thorn would be gone for half a year.
Storm couldn’t imagine leaving Yanlin and sailing
of over the horizon. And then there were the Drowned Ones – pirates who preyed on the trading ships. Every crew member risked death. Who knew better than her? Her own father had sailed away and never returned.
“Tell me the truth!” she demanded.
“I’m not scared!” Thorn strutted, his voice jaunty. But she just looked at him, and he laughed. “Maybe I am … a bit. But I can’t wait to see the Inner Sea and Bellum Town. It’s what I’ve dreamed of my whole life.”
“I know.” She dropped back beside him as they swung on to the harbour road. She could hear the others splashing and shouting below. Storm walked slower. This was the last time she would be alone with her best friend until the fleet returned. Suddenly, she was scared. It was all slipping away. Again.
“Hey, don’t worry.” Thorn had noticed her silence. “I’ll be back before you know it! Come on: I can hear the others having fun without us.” He grabbed her hand, and they jogged down the main road to the harbour.
The early-morning sun carved shadows on the beach. Beneath the long legs of the archery towers, boats littered the sand like sickle moons. Boys and girls climbed on to the pier, dived into blue-green water,
then swam back to do it all over again. She saw Mixi at once and wished she had not come.
Thorn let go of her hand once they were in the queue and she couldn’t escape without shame. He had stripped to the waist and his back was a map of orange freckles, like islands floating in a brown sea. Nearly her turn.
Storm gripped her upper arms, holding herself together. There were goosebumps beneath her fingertips. If only Cloud would stop messing around – stop teetering on the edge of the pier, arms whirling, screaming like a seagull – and simply jump!
Cloud had been Chosen by Air and he was showing of, pretending he could call the wind like a proper witch. Finally, he missed his footing and slipped from the pier. He twisted mid-air, stretched long, and cut into the waves so cleanly they swallowed him like whitebait. You had to love the water or it spat you out. She hated Water. The Dolphin was down there, waiting. Someone pushed her. Storm lurched forward into Thorn.
“Clumsy!” Mixi taunted. Her enemy had slipped into the queue behind her.
“Hey, Storm.” Thorn twisted around, eyes dancing. “If you’re that eager, you can have my turn.” He leaned
nearer. For the space of a heartbeat, her fear of the sea was swept away. She looked into his eyes and felt herself start to blush. The others were laughing. Good-natured teasing – all but one. Mixi crowed with spite.
Thorn planted his arms either side of her head and toed the edge of the walkway. He grinned at her. A lazy wink, a whoop of water-sun-newly-Chosen happiness, and he back-flipped away and plunged into the sea like the Dolphin itself. Storm watched the boy’s Element swallow him and was flooded with horror.
She fought against memory, but her father’s spirit came and carried her back to that long-ago sunshinetime when she was five and only just learning to be afraid.
“Don’t go, Da! Don’t you love me?”
Her father squatted and cradled her face in his calloused hands.
“Don’t scream like a new-hatched gull, little Storm-bird. I must go to sea with the men and trade your mother’s beautiful pots, or you will have no spices for your plum sauce.”
“I hate plums!”
“You will have no cloth for new clothes and will have to go naked like a cling-monkey.”
“I like going naked!”
“Not in the cold monsoon-time, I think. Besides: women have the work of making and men the work of trading. If we fail in our work, we break the Balance and the Drowned Ones will come for our island, knowing us to be weak and without virtue.”
There was no answer to this threat: Drowned Ones ate children.
“Here, let me tell you a story.” Da settled onto the pier, dangling his long legs over the water. He patted the stones beside him and Storm wriggled close. As she listened to the story, she leaned against him, breathed his salt-smell, and was happy.
“Once upon a time …” Da began, “the World did not exist. There was only the Sky, home to the Stars and the Moon. There was a big ball of fire called the Sun, who raced here and there, demanding attention. But the Sun often went away and left the others on their own. The Stars sang of loneliness, and the Moon wept green tears.
“One day, the great Unknowable One happened to pass by on its journey, and the Stars and Moon called out to the One to complain about their unhappiness.
“‘Very well,’ said the One. ‘I shall make you a companion.’ And the One plucked a tooth from its head. ‘Become Earth!’ said the One, and the tooth became a ball of stone, sand and mud. The One spat on the ball and its spit became Water. Oceans and rivers covered the Earth. The One blew on the ball, and its breath became Air – gales, storms and gentle breezes. Finally, the Unknowable tossed the ball that was the World far into the Sky,
saying: ‘I give you, Stars and Moon, a companion to love and cherish.’”
“The Unknowable One turned away to continue its journey. But just then, the Sun peeked over the edge of night and saw the blue-and-green World spinning up to join the Stars and Moon. The Sun was overcome with jealousy, for this new creature was even more beautiful than itself. So the Sun took its bow and shot a fire-arrow at the World.”
Storm gasped at the Sun’s wickedness. Da grinned and continued. “The One heard the twang of the bowstring in time to fling a thought between the arrow and the new World. The arrow plunged into the heart of the World, but it was not destroyed. Instead, the Element that had been sent to consume was itself eaten. Fire sank into the belly of the World where it was chained by Earth and imprisoned by Water.
“And then the Unknowable One said: ‘In time, the seed of Life that was caught in my tooth will grow. Creatures will come into being and will live on the World. I charge you, Earth, Water, Air and Fire, to keep the Balance so that Life may exist. I will return in the appointed time, and if your bickering has destroyed Life, you will answer to Me.’
“The One continued on its journey. But the Sun was not left unpunished, for it was no longer free to go where it would. And that is why the Sun travels in a straight line across the sky like a bufalo pulling a plough. And as long as each day lasts, the Sun
must gaze down upon the beauty of the World.
“So you see,” said Da, standing up and pulling Storm to her feet. “I have to go away tomorrow with the other men, and you must stay on the island and help your mother make beautiful pots. That is the way of our people. That is how we keep the Balance.” He lifted her onto his shoulders, and Storm put her arms around Da’s neck and hugged him close. They stood and watched the sun set on the fleet of boats, new-loaded with the treasures of Yanlin Island.
“I will always come home to you, Storm-bird,” Da had promised. But he had sailed away the next morning, and she had never seen him again.
“Storm! Your turn.”
She edged towards the end of the pier. A huge shadow floated over the waves and she glanced up. Only seagulls. Storm shivered and forced herself to look down. Thorn was swimming back with long, lazy strokes.
“Go on, Storm!” he called.
“Bet she belly-flops.”
She threw a look of scorn at Mixi. Her fear had nothing to do with skill. But her enemy knew that. They all knew.
Da’s ghost never left her alone. Water had killed him, and the Dolphin was down there somewhere. She hated the sea, but just now she hated Mixi more.
“Boy-girl! Boy-girl!” her enemy chanted. A few others took it up. She was used to the teasing. Da had given her a boy’s name and died before she was old enough to ask him why. Storm shrugged. Head high, she stepped to the very end of the pier and dived. Clean. Precise.
Water ate the sounds of happiness and spite with a gurgle. It enveloped her, cool silk on hot skin. Her downward plunge slowed; Storm opened her eyes and saw a green-blue world. Rainbow fish chased each other through forests of seaweed. Fingers of rock pierced the weed, threatening. She arched her back, pointed her arms skywards and kicked away from the seabed, gliding back towards the skin between water and air. Maybe this time all would be well…
Cold fear congealed in her belly. There it was – a dolphin the size of a killer whale. The Trickster: her father’s smiling murderer.
The Elemental winked a tear-shaped eye. Stoneheavy, Storm began to sink. She must surely die – in this moment between one heartbeat and the next.
But she did not, and at last the pain in her lungs
forced her fear-frozen legs to kick. She felt the dragging weight of the Dolphin’s gaze as she paddled, clumsy and weak, towards the world of Air.