Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 196

Mat-Su summoned a flame to dance upon her palm and illuminate the room. Ngendo heard a sharp intake
of breath from Mat-Su. This was no treasure junk—it was a graveyard. Skeletons of animals and men lay
scattered across the confines of the junk, their flesh long since rotten away, consumed by the corroding
strengths of nature. Death clung to these walls. These sailors who venerated Mat-su, who once prayed to
her daily for their safety, were now bones, collateral of the much more archaeologically-valued ship. Mat-
Su felt Ngendo tug her robe. The girl had buried her head in Mat-Su’s robes to avoid looking at the
centuries-old corpses. Mat-Su covered the young girl’s eyes as they made their way through the junk.
Mat-Su picked up a bone: a sailor’s finger, dry and coarse. Grains of granite-like powder flaked off upon
contact, until the bone disintegrated into a pile of simple dust, slipping through her fingers like sand through
an hourglass.
It made sense now. Her worshippers were no more, as they had been for centuries. The Ming Empire was
no more—it had perished as all empires do. The Ming treasure voyages were ages past. Left behind, the
lonely Goddess no longer had anyone to protect.
Mat-Su fell to her knees. Her already shaky willpower finally went out for good. She let the flame in her
palm fall to the wooden surface. It came into contact and combusted the powder-like remains of the
skeletal finger, imbuing it with life. The finger began to reassemble.
"What –" Ngendo, who noticed the flame first, was wholly unprepared for this morbid spectacle. Mat-Su
turned to look. She summoned her powers, to use all her arcane knowledge –
***
Time stopped and began to reverse.
The treasure junk's broken floorboards were restored to fine oaken planks. Torches lined the walls again,
illuminating delicate ornaments, their amber hue passing through stained glass to create a rainbow of hues
throughout the junk.
"This was how the Qinghe looked like when Admiral Zheng first gave her to me."
Mat-Su turned to see an aged man stroking his snow-white beard. He was clad in silken robes and a
mandarin's cap, while a bejeweled sword hung to his waist. Clenching that sword was a skeletal hand.
"Are you..." the goddess began.
"'Were you' would certainly be more accurate. But yes. I was."
Mat-Su hung her head. She let out a shaky sigh – the tears were returning. "I failed you, captain, and the
entire crew of the Qinghe. The faith you had in me to bring you home was misplaced…"
"Be that as it may –", the captain placed his skeletal hand upon Mat-Su's shoulder, "–I've long since made
my way home myself: heaven, to meet my ancestors. Admiral Zheng asked me to greet you when you make
your way back someday. I don't blame you anymore, Mat-Su – it was but a small mistake. The Admiral
invites you to join the rest of the fleet in the other world. The crew, their families, the Emperor himself--
they're all there on the other side." The captain, smiling, motioned to a small statuette, "and you can be
too."
The statuette was elegantly constructed. It was a young lady in flowing robes, her lips illuminated by red
coral, her robes a soothing jade, her fair hair braided with a string of black pearls. Mat-Su drew close to
touch the statuette. She knew what this was – forgiveness.
"No", Mat-Su whispered.
"What?"
"No. I don't want forgiveness. I want redemption. I have failed in my duty to bring my people home. I
will join you only when I've done my part."
"I – we understand," The captain withdrew his skeletal hand. "I'll see you in due course."
The torches faded, and with them the splendor and the captain, his skeletal hand crumbling into grains of
fine, ground bone.
***
"Mat-Su, I want to go home."
Mat-Su turned to find Ngendo by her side. She knelt down to embrace the child. With a snap of her
fingers, Mat-Su's flowing hair was knit into dreadlocks, her jade robe became a dazzling Kenyan dress and a
beaded necklace wrapped around her neck. She looks like Mother , Ngendo mused.
"I'll get you home. I promise. I'll get you all home."