As they got closer, the enormous, grand palace seemed to rise like a growing mountain. First they saw the roofs of crystal tile that glinted like the sun on rippling water. Then came the iridescent beams, carved and inlaid with gold and coral. After that were the translucent columns, so lustrous Pinmei could see their gleam from the distance. All of it glowed with an ethereal light, and the sight made Pinmei catch her breath. How many stories had Amah told her about this place?
The sand road now changed to crystal brick, and BaiMa’s hooves made the sound of tinkling bells. They passed white posts carved with grinning dragon faces and followed the mussel toward a long, raised walkway.
The mussel kept rolling forward. Pinmei found it comforting to watch. It was, perhaps, the only thing in the landscape she could truly believe. They passed shining pavilions, pearl-studded doors, and gates with purple-marbled arches. But the plain, humble shell continued to roll, oblivious to the splendor around it.
Even when it reached the grand staircase to the palace, the mussel continued, undaunted. Stone sculptures of sea creatures were stationed all around the bottom of the staircase to the gate of the great hall. As the mussel hopped up each step, Pinmei couldn’t help looking away from their fierce stares. Even after they had passed, Pinmei suspected the stone figures turned their heads to continue their suspicious gazing.
But at the top of the steps, in the open archway of the palace entrance, the mussel stopped.
“I guess we’re officially here,” Yishan said, slipping off the horse and walking toward the door. Pinmei followed, but then BaiMa gave a low, triumphant bellow.
They turned to look at the dragon horse. He walked over to the edge of the entrance platform and, without warning, he leaped over the guard posts.
Yishan and Pinmei raced to the edge of the landing. Below, BaiMa was circling an empty platform next to one of the stone statues. With a graceful leap, he jumped onto it and gave another roar, one of great joy and satisfaction. As if settling in for a well-deserved rest, he folded his scaly legs and sat. A solid stillness covered him, and Pinmei saw his legs meld into the stone platform. BaiMa had turned into a statue.
Pinmei stared, openmouthed. “Do you think Lady Meng knew?” she whispered.
Yishan shrugged, his cocked head making him seem more curious than awed. But before he could say anything, another voice sounded behind them!
“So you’re back, are you?” the voice said. “Have a good trip?”
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Pinmei and Yishan spun around. In the arched entranceway, a figure robed in silver-gray was kneeling and speaking to the mussel.
“No, your parents didn’t miss you,” he was saying to the mussel. “They’re still in their winter sleep, right in their mussel shells, like all the other swallows… Yes, when everyone wakes up in the spring, I’ll tell them you aren’t making it up, it was not just a dream…”
The man looked up and saw the children. He smiled. It was a broad grin, almost as if he had just told them a secret joke. It was so open and warm that Pinmei smiled back.
“Hello!” he said, standing up. As he did, Pinmei saw that he leaned heavily on a coral cane and one of his pant legs hung empty. The hand that clutched the cane had a long, deep scar that went up his arm under his sleeve. His face also had a long scar across it, but his eyes sparkled with such merriment that it was barely noticeable. He rushed over to them eagerly.
“Ah, you’ve come!” he said, grasping their hands with the affection of a long-lost friend. “The Sea King has been quite impatient for you, especially after yesterday. He thought you were being abominably slow, but of course, time is so different up there. A long time for us is a short time for you, or is it the other way around? I think it goes back and forth—like waves of the sea, you know.”
“Do we know you?” Pinmei asked. The man’s disarming manner was so forthcoming she couldn’t help wondering if he had mistaken them for others.
“Maybe!” the man said, laughing. It was such a joyful noise that it seemed to tickle. Pinmei and Yishan couldn’t help laughing too, though Pinmei wasn’t sure what was so funny. “I’ve been called many names up there. Stone Fish, Happy Fish, Not a Dragon, Special Treasure, Gift… Of course, my favorite one was Joy to the Heart. Such a nice girl gave it to me. What was her name… Meizi? Meiyi? No, it was Meiya…”
“Joy to the Heart?” Pinmei repeated, feeling her thoughts beginning to swim.
“I know it’s a bit of a mouthful, but—” the man started.
“I do know you!” Pinmei interrupted. “You’re in the stories! You are the fish that was given to the first king of the City of Bright Moonlight!”
“Ah! I am remembered!” the man said, pleased. “It’s been a while since I’ve been up top. I was sure I’d be forgotten by now. Fame is so fleeting, you know.”
“But, you’re not a fish anymore?” Pinmei asked. “You’re a man now?”
“Oh,” he said. “We only take on these forms in honor of the Sea King. He used to be a mortal man, so he’s most comfortable like that. So since he’s most often in human form, all who live at Sea Bottom do the same while we’re here.”
Pinmei scarcely heard him. “If you were the stone fish,” she said, still thinking hard, “that means you were also the statue for the magistrate that broke…”
“Yes,” Joy to the Heart said, making a face and lifting his cane. “That’s when I lost part of my tail and cracked my fin. Not a big deal when I’m in fish form, but it’s a bit inconvenient here at Sea Bottom.”
“Couldn’t you just be half fish or something?” Yishan asked. “You could just have a fish tail.”
“Oh no!” Joy to the Heart said, looking shocked. “I would never dream of that! For me to have a fish tail in this form would be an insult to the fish-tail goddess, Nuwa! The only one who is allowed to take on a form like that is the princess.”
“Why?” Yishan asked.
“Because she was born that way,” Joy to the Heart said with pride. “It was a great blessing to His Majesty! His child born in Nuwa’s likeness! That was an occasion, I can tell you!”
“It’s because the Sea King swallowed the red stone,” Pinmei said, her thoughts now leaping and diving. “The red stone was Nuwa’s last drop of blood. Some of Nuwa’s blood must be in the princess, which is why she has a fish tail.”
Joy to the Heart wasn’t listening. Instead he was leaning against the terrace railing. “What a celebration that was!” he said, lost in the memory. “They painted the whole sky with colored water. A picture would form and melt away into another! And what pictures! Pictures of the king shaping the tear into a pearl, of Nuwa fixing the sky!” he said, stretching out his arm. “And, of course, of the princess.” His smile waned slightly as he placed his hand on the railing. “Poor princess,” he said softly. “I hope she’s doing well.”
“Why?” Yishan asked. “Why wouldn’t she be?”
“She left some time ago… When was it…?” Joy to the Heart said. “The last time I saw her was when I gave her that needle from the treasury… What’s that?”
“What?” Pinmei and Yishan said in unison, looking around. Joy to the Heart raised his cane and pointed at BaiMa.
“There’s a new longma!” he said with excitement, and then with even more excitement said, “Why, it’s BaiMa! He finally got his immortal form!”
“You know him?” Pinmei asked, surprised.
“Well, I knew him as a stone,” Joy to the Heart said. “He was like me, a stone that dreams of becoming something else. Here at Sea Bottom, we can look almost any way we want, but to actually become something else forever, we need the help of someone up there.”
“Why?” Pinmei asked.
“Why?” Joy to the Heart looked puzzled, as if he had never thought about it before. “I don’t know. Mortals are the only ones who can give immortality. It has always been that way.”
“What do you mean?” Pinmei asked
. His words made her thoughts twist and snarl as if they were a tangle of seaweed.
Joy to the Heart looked even more perplexed, his smile transforming into a frown. “Well, I guess it’s because it’s the mortals who create the memories that last,” he said, scratching his head. “Without those, immortals forget. They can even forget who they are. Right?”
He looked at Yishan, who only shrugged back at him. “There’s a lot of stuff I don’t remember, but I know who I am,” Yishan said. He grinned. “How about you, Pinmei?”
She made a face at him while Joy to the Heart frowned again in confusion. Finally, he shook his head. “Anyway, how do you know BaiMa?”
“Actually,” Yishan said, “we rode him here.”
“Did you now?” Joy to the Heart said, his smile returning. “Well, why not? Shall we go?”
“Where?” said Pinmei.
“To see the Sea King, of course! Isn’t that why you are here?” Joy to the Heart said, laughing, “Come along. I’m sure he’s waiting.”
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Pinmei and Yishan followed Joy to the Heart through the crystal-paved entranceway and the courtyard to the palace’s great hall. At the doorway, two guards stood. The guards were so similar in appearance Pinmei had to check and make sure one was not just a reflection. Both of them had beady eyes and long, thin whiskers that sprouted from their noses and chins.
“Hello, my laughing fellows!” Joy to the Heart said cheerfully. The two guards did not smile back. “Some guests to see His Majesty! They’re from up there!”
Joy to the Heart pointed his cane upward, narrowly missing one of the guard’s feather helmets.
“Hey, watch it!” the guard said. After making sure his helmet was straight, he asked, “It’s been tense around here since yesterday’s visitor. Is one of these the one he called for?”
“Must be,” Joy to the Heart said, winking at the children. “They rode in on a longma.”
“They are kind of small,” the other guard said. “Aren’t they usually bigger?”
“Come, now,” Joy to the Heart said in answer. “You of all creatures should know how little size matters.”
Pinmei caught Yishan’s grin. “They’re really shrimp,” he mouthed to her.
“Good point,” the other guard said, and he pushed open the door. “Come along.”
When they entered, Pinmei felt as if they had stepped inside a pearl. Everything was illuminated with a soft white light. Beautiful women and men glided around the room, their flowing robes waving a dance of color as they moved.
“Visitors from above!” the guard hollered.
All went silent and Pinmei knew what a fish in a bowl felt like, for hundreds of large eyes stared at her. She flinched, but one pair of eyes fixed a gaze so piercing upon her that she could not look away. They were, of course, the eyes of the Sea King.
A thin silver mist emanated from him, and his beard fell like a cascading waterfall. The deep ridge of his forehead was finished with two branched dragon horns, one on each side of his head, and the broad nostrils of his nose flared. As he stood, his robes shimmered, the purple shifting until it was the same deep blue of his jasper scepter.
“Come!” he roared.
The shrimp guard pushed them forward. Pinmei stumbled, pulling Yishan with her so they both ended up in the humblest of kowtows. The king sat back slowly in his water-jade throne, his eyes still fastened on them as his jaw stiffened with displeasure. He motioned for them to rise, allowing Yishan to fix his hat before addressing him.
“You are children!” the Sea King said, the frown on his face darkening. “You cannot be…”
“I am Yishan.” He motioned to Pinmei. “And this is the Storyteller’s granddaughter.”
“Pinmei,” she said, lifting her head. Her voice thinned in the air as she flushed. “I’m Pinmei.”
“Yes,” Yishan said, a smile teasing his mouth. “Pinmei is the Storyteller’s granddaughter.” His shoulders lifted and his face straightened. “What did you call for?”
Pinmei sneaked a glance at Yishan. He was staring intently at the Sea King, who was looking back at him, the brow above his blank eyes creased in a cavernous fold. Perhaps Yishan thought it best just to act as if he understood what the Sea King was talking about. Pinmei pressed her lips together.
Finally, the Sea King snorted. He lifted his fingers at the guard. “Bring yesterday’s visitor,” he ordered.
As the guard clattered away, the Sea King turned to them.
“I called about the winter,” the king said. “The upper waters are starting to freeze.”
“We know,” Yishan said.
“When I realized even my royal powers could only unfreeze the water for a moment,” the king continued, raising an eyebrow, “I knew I had to alert those above, which is why I lit the beacons.”
The Sea King stopped and looked at them dubiously.
“Yes?” Yishan said, and Pinmei was surprised at his tone of impatience.
“The breath of the Black Tortoise is overpowering everything,” the king said. “He has been here too long.”
“It is not for us to dictate his stay,” Yishan said. “He has his mandate.”
Pinmei felt her mouth falling open as she stared at Yishan. He could not just be pretending. Yishan seemed to be standing taller, his face unusually serious and authoritative. What had happened to him? And what was he talking about?
“I know!” the Sea King said, annoyed. “But this is different! The Black Tortoise is in trouble!”
“The Black Tortoise is invincible,” Yishan scoffed. “What could harm him?”
“I don’t know,” the Sea King said. “But he needs help.”
“The Black Tortoise needs help?” Yishan said, and it was his voice that was full of doubt this time. “How do you know that?”
As if in response, there was a clatter of the guard returning.
“Here!” the guard bellowed.
The group of watching nobles, their robes swaying, parted to make a path. All were silent, and Pinmei squinted, for she could not see what person they were shifting for.
But then she saw. It was not a person at all. Instead, slithering toward them like a twisting piece of black string, was a snake.
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“Come,” the Sea King said to the snake, waving his hand. “Tell these children what you told me.”
The black snake slunk forward, and Pinmei saw it slide through the air, only an inch or so above the floor. The snake turned and looked at them with tiny eyes like knotted black threads.
“The Black Tortoise needs help,” hissed the snake, its voice like the wind through pine needles.
“What kind of help?” Yishan asked. “What has happened to him?”
The snake turned back to the Sea King, stretching its neck as if pleading. “The Black Tortoise needs help,” it hissed again.
“Yes, but…” Yishan began.
“It says nothing else,” the Sea King interrupted. The snake moved to coil itself next to the Sea King’s throne. “I do not think it can. But you see, do you not? The Black Tortoise is in trouble.”
Yishan nodded. Pinmei raised her eyebrows at him to try to get his attention, but he continued to look directly at the Sea King.
“You are right when you said nothing could harm the Black Tortoise,” the Sea King said. “But something must be keeping him from leaving. I know little of your world these days, but I do know it is in your world that the tortoise is trapped. You”—the Sea King hesitated, obviously skeptical—“or someone up there must free him.”
Yishan nodded, and Pinmei finally felt she could not let him continue. What was he doing? Why was Yishan talking to the Sea King about the Black Tortoise and winter? Were they even going to ask about the stone? With a surreptitious glance at the king, she jabbed Yishan sharply with her elbow.
He yelped and looked guiltily at her glare.
“Actually, we’re here for a
nother reason too,” Pinmei said, hoping her voice did not squeak as much as it did in her ears. “We’d like to ask about a Luminous Stone That Lights the Night.”
“A Luminous Stone That Lights the Night?” the Sea King said in surprise. “It has been a long time since I have heard Nuwa’s tear called that.”
“Nuwa’s tear?” Pinmei said, frowning.
“Yes,” the Sea King said. “When Nuwa, the great goddess with the fish tail, sacrificed herself to save the sky, the earth, and the seas, she left behind three things. Do you remember what they are, Storyteller’s granddaughter?”
Pinmei looked up at the Sea King, but his eyes were as unreadable as black waves of water. She nodded.
“Her husband pulled out a strand of hair as Nuwa transformed,” Pinmei said.
“The Iron Rod,” the Sea King said.
“When he pulled the hair, there was a drop of blood,” Pinmei continued.
“The Red Stone,” the king said, and he touched his chest.
“But, before that,” Pinmei said slowly, “Nuwa shed a single tear in sorrow.”
“A Luminous Stone That Lights the Night,” the Sea King finished. He drew himself up proudly. “I am honored to have all three of these items in my dominion.”
“Y-you do?” Pinmei stuttered. “You have the Luminous Stone?”
“A stone rests in my kingdom,” the Sea King said. “At least, partly.”
“Can we see it?” Pinmei asked. All her irritation and confusion disappeared in her eagerness. The Luminous Stone was here! They were so close! “Please!”
“That is easy enough,” the Sea King said, and without warning he stood up. All the attendants and nobles sprang up in a flurry, rippling out like waves in the water. “Come,” he said. “Let us go see the Luminous Stone That Lights the Night.”
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The Sea King waved away his servants and attendants with a flick of his hand and motioned for the children to follow. The black snake silently uncoiled itself and slithered alongside.