Offshore
Epilogue: Even Tide
Anqien gazed out from the edge of the jetty into the breezy golden afternoon. Cloudy foam swirled on the gentle water, around the barnacle-crusted piers, like it had for all that time before. The wind rustled their hair.
A patter of familiar footsteps, and unfamiliar ones. They turned. Jinai stood on the shore, beaming at them across the gap. And beside her—the youth who had gotten lost on the way from the parking lots.
They had known him up till now as Shen Wuqi—the current Helfi junior champion from an academy up northwest.
Now, Anqien saw their new teammate for the first time: messy mop, shaved on the sides, rings on his ears, face adamantly focused, as if trying to stave off nerves.
“Hey!” they called out, dashing to meet them mid-jetty. “How was the trip here?”
“Good,” Wuqi said with a nod. “It’s a ten-minute taxi ride from work.” He shifted his weight from one foot to another.
“Thanks for coming,” Jinai replied, clapping his shoulder, as Anqien came up beside her. “We just wanted to say hi! You won’t start sailing with the team till next week.”
Anqien glanced between the two—their old teammate and their new, face to face in the sunlight. They could not be more different. Sailing with him would be different.
“So, you just got out of work for the day?” they said. “Where at?”
The trio sat down on the edge of the jetty and watched the waves roll, threading a conversation amongst themselves. They learned that Wuqi was working as a filograph network operator, that his family owned birds, that he was freaking out—in the best way—being here with them.
“I'm still…losing my mind a little bit,” he chuckled, hugging his knees to his chest. “I thought I was a good sailor for my age class…but getting signed by Cloud Connectors? I thought I was dreaming. Dropped everything to be here.” He laughed.
Jinai’s gaze shifted to Anqien. “So did your teammate, you know,” she said with a quirked eyebrow, a tender smile.
They nodded. “I’ve been there. This team is amazing.”
His eyes brightened, then sank a touch. “Can’t help but feel like I’m filling the biggest pair of shoes in the world.”
Jinai shook her head. “And that’s normal. I felt it too. When I arrived here, I thought I was making the stupidest decision of my life.”
“I still feel like I’m fumbling through everything,” Anqien laughed. “But you put in the work, and it’s all you really have to do.” Wuqi’s shoulders slackened as he nodded, the dusk light glowing in his brown eyes.
“Sometimes you don’t realise you’re making headway until you look back and see it,” Jinai said.
Anqien sighed, as slow as the tide drawing in. “But sometimes,” they said, “it feels like flying.”
Thank you thank you thank you for reading the story to the end! 🫶 it has been my pleasure bringing it to you and hope you enjoyed it.
What now?
- You can vote on this bulletin poll to be authorised to view Offshore spoiler art :p
- You can read my Postscript, which outlines all my pertinent but spoilery thoughts about the story as a whole that I couldn't share prior to this. It's just the next chapter, so you can click next to view it!