bubble // zhuiling

one

jin ling

jin ling had been wrong. drowning was in fact very painful. fortunately, he would remember nothing of the water filling up his lungs, or the jagged rocks that marked the point of no return.

         it was just silly folklore, but the lan lake of gusu was known for its beauty that concealed hideous aquatic beasts. no one had ventured past the rocks, other than the notorious wei wuxian. not for a hundred years, at least.

it had been the lan clan of gusu that built their home beside the once peaceful lake. everyone knew the lan clan was just an old myth, though. after a battle with the wen clan the entire village was consumed by the current, never to be seen again. conspiracies spread of a giant monster that lay dormant in lake lan, only waking up every hundred years.

         slaying a monster like the one that lay beneath the calm current of lake lan was impossible, said all the village elders.

yet, there he was, sinking to the soft sand, no monster to be found. jin ling had stopped breathing minutes ago. he appeared to be all alone in the lake, except for the schools of fish and seaweed that tickled his ankles.

his last thought was of his family. he had hoped his parents were waiting on the other side. he couldn't wait to meet them for the first time.

•
lan sizhui

"sizhui, when do you think they'll let us go to the surface?" jingyi pouted, staring up longingly at the glow of sunlight that marked the surface of lake lan.

"jingyi, don't you ever listen to lan qiren?" sizhui chuckled. "no one's been up there in a century."

"but what about hanguang jun?" jingyi crossed his arms as he collected pieces of dead coral from the bottom of the lake.

"hanguang jun fell in love. that's not really something our clan does very often," he shrugged. "just don't get any ideas!"

hanguang jun had fallen in love with a surfacer. that was before they added another 3000 rules warning against any contact with their kind at all.

jingyi let out an exasperated sigh. "i wanna be where the people are!"

sizhui smiled to himself. lake lan wasn't much, but it certainly was home. "come on, let's collect the coral quickly and get back to the pavilion!"

"why do we always get stuck with this job? we don't need to build that dumb wall. we're the only clan in this lake, after all."

"just hurry up. it's your fault we always have to pick coral!" sizhui laughed. he was fine with this job, but jingyi needed to stop getting them in trouble.

"how was i supposed to know that lan qiren was bathing in that room? i'm innocent!"

lan sizhui could spend the rest of his life picking coral with jingyi. he was happy just swimming in lake lan, living in a bubble. the days were simple and passed by quickly, the sun dappling the sand at 5 am and then setting at 8 pm. he'd sneak glances at the surface every now and then, and maybe even one day, fall in love.

unfortunately, a certain grumpy heir to the jin clan got in the way.

•

sizhui's seaweed woven basket was almost full of dead coral when he saw him. the silhouette of a boy.

and he had legs.