When he emerged back onto the deck of the floating flower, Hao Min's purse was considerably lighter.

The gold he had won from cards in Cha Shou was almost all gone. He sighed. He had hoped to use that money to buy more things that Xiao Chuan might need. More clothes, a larger basin to wash in... and who knew what else a woman wanted to live comfortably.

"Hao Min!"

The fisherman turned as Hai Ling sprinted up onto the deck after him.

She stopped before him, lips parted. "They-they told me you paid my debt. Our debt."

Hao Min shrugged. "I did."

"Where did you get the money?"

Hao Min smiled. "I got lucky at cards."

Hai Ling's eye glazed. She quickly looked down. "I- I'll make sure he pays you back. My husband."

Hao Min shrugged again. "That would be nice. But I didn't do it expecting him to."

"Thank you," Hai Ling said, still staring down at the deck. She raised a hand to her mouth, and sobbed.

Hao Min sighed. "Come. Walk with me to my ship. I'll give you a lift home."

*~*~*~*~*~*

He left Hai Ling on the village dock, just along the wharf from her husband's shop.

"I promise, I'll give you the best prices for your fish," Hai Ling swore, as he left her.

Hao Min laughed. "Oh, I'm counting on it."

"Hao Min!" The fisherman turned. As he did, Hai Ling stood on the tips of her toes, bringing her mouth to his cheek.

"Thank you, again. You are a good man."

Hao Min just laughed, and turned away once more.

He walked down the dock to his boat, but as he did so, the feeling of eyes on his back set his neck a tingle.

He turned, to look back. Hai Ling was still watching him leave. She raised one hand in farewell.

Hao Min raised his hand as well, but his eyes scanned the wharf. All the other villagers were going about their daily lives, indifferent to his presence.

Hmmm, I must have imagined it.

He untied his ship and sailed away, but still the feeling of being watched stayed with him.

*~*~*~*~*~*

When he returned home, the cottage was empty.

"Hello?" he called. "Anyone home?"

He glanced up. The basin was still hanging from the rafters. He was relieved the girl had not tried to fill it on her own.

Unhooking the basin, he went out to the stream to fill it.

He staggered under the weight of the water back inside, placing the basin on the brick stove. Then he lit some kindling beneath it, to let it heat.

He went back outside, looking both directions along the beach. Sometimes the girl went for walks, along the shore.

He saw her at last. She was returning, walking from the direction of the peninsula. The wind caught her hair and blew it to the side like a pennant.

Hao Min raised his hand cheerfully in greeting, then slowly lowered it as she approached, her face like thunder.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

The girl did not reply. Instead she walked straight past him and into his cottage. The door banged shut behind her.

Slowly he followed.

Inside, she stood by the stove. But it was not the heating bath that had her attention. In her hand she held his purse, pulled from the ashes of the fire. She hefted it, testing it's weight.

"Where did all the coin go?" she asked.

"I... had to pay a debt."

"A debt. I see," she said. "And what debt might that be?"

The silence hung too long.

"I was watching, you know," the girls's voice was dangerous. "From the point. As you sailed to the pleasure ship," the girl had her back to him, and spoke over her shoulder, looking out the window, as though she could not stand to look at him. "I do not care that you went. What I want to know is why you went there."

"I told you, I had to pay a debt."

"Who's debt? That woman you left on the shore? Did you buy her freedom? Is that why she thanked you with a pretty kiss?"

"Hai Ling is a friend, and her husband owed money to-"

'"Her husband!" The girl threw back her head and laughed. "Oh poor man, lusting after another man's woman. Poor unrequited fool."

"I do not 'lust' after Hai Ling. It is true, we were close once, but now—"

The girl's laughter interrupted him once more. "All this time I thought you were reluctant to touch me because you were shy, or inexperienced. I did not think there was someone else."

"There is 'no one else'. I just—"

"Did she need you, fisherman? Is that why you went to her? Because she batted her eyes at you, and begged you for help? Does she sigh prettily when you touch her, and blush and beg you to be gentle when you fuck her?! Is it her weak, fragile human nature that draws you? Is that why you chose her over me!?"

In the silence that followed the girl's outburst, they both realized that the words she had said were no longer about him.

"If you would just listen, I will tell you what happened this morning," said Hao Min, patiently and calmly.

"I do not want to listen." The girl bit her lip painfully, then turned for the door.

"Please, just—" Hao Min had reached out to grasp at her wrist, to stop her. But as soon as his hand closed around her wrist, the girl whirled, brought her foot up, and sank it into his stomach.

"OOOOF" Hao Min's breath rushed out in a whoosh, and he let go of her wrist, doubling over. "Wait—!"

He staggered after the girl, trying to follow her out the door. But she slammed it shut behind her, and, bent double as he was, his nose was the first thing that connected with it.

"OW! Shwon of a-" his curses were distorted around his now streaming nose.

"Dammit!" The fisherman pushed the door open and staggered out, one hand on his stomach and the other on his nose.

The girl was already down the beach, and wading out into the waves toward his boat.

She is going to take my ship, he realized.

"Wait!" he called out, starting to half hobble, half run down the beach. Blood from his nose ran into his mouth, and he spit the bitter taste back out into the wind.

By the time he reached the waves the girl had already climbed aboard his ship and was untying it from the mooring line.

"Wait! Little Ship!" He staggered through the water, one hand reaching out for the prow. "Little Ship, just listen!"

"Do not call me by that!" the girl snarled. "Do not call me by your stupid nickname. And do not follow me. Go back to shore."

"No," Hao Min protested, reaching out to grab at the edge of the ship. But just as he did, the girl raised the single sail. It caught the wind and she was away.

Shit.

Hao Min continued to wade after the ship, until the waves were too deep. Then he began to swim.

The girl glanced back at the shore. Her eyes widened when she saw him, still swimming behind the ship. "I told you to go back."

"I like to swim in the morning sometimes. It wakes the brain," Hao Min said. But he was not sure she could understand him, over the blood and water that filled his nose and mouth.

Her eyes turned bitter. "Fool," she said, and turned around with determination.

The ship started to pick up speed. Hao Min pushed his muscles to their limit to keep up, arms cutting through the water, legs kicking as fast as they could. The blood from his nose ran down into his gasping mouth, and he was not sure if the salt he tasted was from that or the sea.

The girl looked back once more, as they neared the point. "Go back! The waves past the point are too big. They will drown you."

Hao Min shook his head, as best he could above the waves. "No need to worry. I grew up in the sea."

The girl hesitated, reaching for the tiller. But then the ship passed from the leeway of the point, and the newly forceful wind caught his small ship, propelling it forward it across the large swells.

The waves that his ship so easily skimmed across caught him, turning him around, throwing him up and down. It was already a stormy day, the sky dark, and the waves around the point were ready for a storm. A particularly large swell that was beginning to crest caught him, and he went under, swirling down into blackness.

Finding his center, he turned, trying to force his way back to the surface. He knew with the sea the real danger lay not what was above the waves but what was underneath. If the current caught him against the rocks—

He broke the surface with a gasp, lungs and muscles screaming, and almost immeadiatley was swept under again.

This happened two more times, until Hao Min was forced to confront the second most dangerous thing about the sea: exhaustion.

I can do it, he told himself, kicking toward the surface once more. I just have to get air, and get away from the rough waves at the point.

But his kicks were weakening, and no matter how he called on his strength, it was not there...

I can.. make it... I just...

A hand, stronger than its slim shape implied, reached down and grabbed his shoulder, dragging him up, up, above the waves, into the day, and aboard his ship.

"Stupid, foolish man! I told you the waves past the point were too big!" The girl cursed at him, anger rivaling the fear on her face.

"Please," Hao Min gasped, when he had finished spitting water onto the deck. "Please, listen to me."

The girl folded her arms. "Fine. I will listen. And if I do not like what I hear, I will drown you myself."

*~*~*~*~*~*

The girl sailed the ship back a little way into the bay, and anchored where the sea was calmer.

Then she sat beside him on the deck, waiting for him to speak.

Hao Min said nothing at first, wondering how he could explain his situation to her in a way that would not make her leave.

"I told you, my mother was from a wealthy merchant family," he began. "When she married my father, her family would not approve the marriage. Said she was making a mistake, and the marriage would not last."

"It turns out they were correct. When I was ten my mother left. Never gave us a reason. Just packed what things she had while my father begged her not to go and I looked on, and then left."

He raised a soaked sleeve, to wipe the blood from his still bleeding nose. "After she left, my father drank. He drank too much, and too fast, for us to pay off his debts. Eventually we had nothing, but he did not stop. Instead he borrowed money to pay for his drink. And then one day he did not come home."

The girl had said nothing, had not moved, but he sensed her listening intently.

"They found him washed up on the beach. They said he must have fallen from the cliffs, on his way home. But I always wonder."

Hao Min tried not to recall, the bloated body, the white fingers and purple eyes of the man that he had once called father.

"To be honest, I think he was already dead. I think he died the day my mother left. From that moment, there was only one way things would end."

He took a deep breath. "Anyway, after he died I was saddled with his debt. I have been paying since I was a boy. That is why I went to the brothel this morning. I just met Hai- my friend there by coincidence. Her husband had fallen on hard times, so I helped. I did not want to see her suffer. That is all, I swear."

The girl was still looking away, across the waves. Finally she said "I am sorry, that I got angry. It is not you I was truly angry at."

I know, thought Hao Min.

The girl paused again. "I like being with you, fisherman. You calm me. Like the sea."

For some reason, her words warmed him more than all the touches and kisses he had received the night before. He could no longer easily give this warmth up.

"Then stay," said Hao Min simply.

The girl smiled slowly, eyes still on the waves, but did not answer. Finally she asked "Why do you think your mother left?"

Hao Min sighed, and looked back out at sea. "I suppose... she simply did not love my father anymore. They married for love, and when that ran out there was nothing left."

The girl laughed bitterly. "I do not believe in love."

"I do," said Hao Min, slowly. "I believe it is the most terrible thing you can do. It is like throwing yourself into the sea, in a storm, and knowing only one person can save you."

The girl swallowed, but kept her eyes on the ocean. "And if that person chooses not to?"

"Then I will surely drown."

*~*~*~*~*~*

That evening when they returned to the cottage the girl helped him clean his nose, dabbing away the blood so forcefully he winced.

"What?" she asked, confused. "Is it broken?"

"I don't think so," Hao Min said. "Just sensitive."

"Oh. I will be more careful," slightly more carefully, the girl started to wipe away the blood, and Hao Min did his best to stay still.

"Why do you call me Xiao Chuan, fisherman?" she asked, as she dabbed along the bridge of his nose.

"Because you would not give me another name to call you by," he replied. "And because you are like a little ship, always sailing the way you want to. Never caring about what goes on around you."

The girl finished wiping the bridge and moved on to his upper lip. "I see. I suppose you may keep calling me that, if you like."

"Why do you not call me by my name?" Hao Min asked.

The girl did not answer right away. "It is... inconvenient, to get too close."

"I see." Hao Min did not see at all.

"But, if it is important to you, I will try. I think fisherman suits you better though."

"There are many other fisherman in this world, Xiao Chuan."

"Then I will call them something else." She stood, moving to wash the now bloodstained rag in the sink. "There, all done."

Hao Min rose and followed her. Placing both hands on either side of her on the sink, he bent to lay a kiss to the back of her neck.

The girl sighed. "Are you not tired? You almost drowned."

"Not tired at all," said Hao Min. "Remember, I have impressive stamina. You said so yourself."

The girl freed herself from his arms. "Well, perhaps you are ready, but I need something else right now. We have not eaten all day."

"Oh," said Hao Min. "I will make us something to eat then."

And so he did, a simple meal, of millet cakes and dried fish soup. But the girl ate so heartily, to Hao Min it felt like the best meal he had ever eaten.

Then, after cleaning up and washing, the girl beckoned him over to his own bed.

"Are you really going to sleep in that thing again?" she asked, nodding at the wilted hammock on the floor. "Or is your strength all used up, and you are too ashamed to say so?"

Grinning at her taunt he joined her.

Afterwards, the girl nestled beside him. "Why will you not tell me your name?"

"It is nice sometimes, to be someone else," she said. Then she yawned.

"Why would you want to be someone else? You are perfect as you are, Little Ship."

The girl smiled sleepily. "You are a fool. The most foolish man in the world, Hao Min."

But Hao Min did not feel like a fool. As he fell asleep, to the sound of the waves and the girl's soft breathing beside him, he felt like the luckiest man in the world.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning he woke to the distant crowing of a cock as the sun cleared the eastern horizon.

The fisherman rose, amazed to find the girl lying beside him, still naked beneath the blankets.

"I really must be the luckiest man in the world, to find such a treasure," he said quietly to himself.

He tucked the blanket around her carefully, and bent to kiss the girl's forehead, then dressed, determined to go out and catch her fresh fish for her breakfast.

He gathered together his things, and, humming, he went to his door and threw it open, ready for the newly risen sun in the east to warm his skin.

Instead, a rat-like face greeted him.

"Why, good morning Ren Hao Min."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 2913
Total: 19,322