Songs of Sea, Sand, and Sky: A Collection of Short Stories

The Astronomer:

Shizhu lay on her stomach on the edge of the wooden walkway, her long black hair nearly skimming the water an arms-length below. Sunlight sparkled on the peaks of little ripples, dappled by the trees overhead -- finally coming to a rest on the ocean floor five feet below, where it illuminated little pink crabs and brown water-lizards and tan walkfish scuttling and scrambling and flailing around on the sandy bed.

She leaned downward a bit to get a better view, resting her chin on the edge of the board, the tips of her hair dipping in and out of the waves. If she timed it right and used her chin as lever, how close could she get her hair to the water without it going in? Up, down, no, not quite, up, whoops, it went in a bit there, up, then down quite a bit, up, up...

Dear gods she was bored.

Of course her parents had to leave her here to "watch the Gui." Pfft. As if the turtle couldn't take care of itself. And so she was stuck here, lying on its back, bored out of her skull, like she did every day, the one time she could have actually done something different for a change! They only visited the mangroves for a few weeks every year! And here she was at the edge of the forest stuck on the back of a stupid reptile too big to fit between the trees, while her brothers and parents kayaked and fished and swam and climbed trees and picked fruit...

The boards below her jerked, and she swore as she rolled across the platform. The stupid turtle was snapping at a nearby dolphin, which was clearly much more intent on messing with the Gui than allowing itself to be eaten.

Of course, her parents hadn't left her here because of her bad leg, despite what they claimed. They both knew that she could still swim and kayak better than either of her brothers. No, this was clearly still about...