Her mother named her the soul of summer – such a delicate little name that holds so many other meanings beneath the surface. She is also the intelligent child born in sweltering heat of July, screaming with enough strength to rival the roars of the Ten Rings her father once wore upon his arms; she burst into the world with spirit wild that can only to be tamed by the soft hands of her mother teaching her to guide the qi through her body, to allow the calmness that can only be found at the centre of every storm to engulf her and carry her as she learns what a delicate summer girl must face in a tempestuous world ruled by men.
Her mother dies, and it is her father’s rage that burns in her heart, forcing her to put one foot in front of the other and pass each day seemingly darker than the last in expectation of some retribution at the end of it all (against the murderers? against her father for bringing the murderers upon them? against herself and her brother for standing by and letting it happen? which of those she expects, she really does not know), but in the darkest of moments, Xialing closes her eyes, and it is Mama’s spirit that whispers to her, reminding her that she is the sun and she shines through it all.
(LISTEN, there really is SO MUCH to parse about the individual characters used in Shangqi and Xialing's names, how the characters work separately and together in their own names, how their names mirror and complement each other. But for the sake of this little bit: xia 夏 = summer, ling 灵 can have a variety of meanings/connotations related to spirituality, but also refers to intelligence.)
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Her mother dies, and it is her father’s rage that burns in her heart, forcing her to put one foot in front of the other and pass each day seemingly darker than the last in expectation of some retribution at the end of it all (against the murderers? against her father for bringing the murderers upon them? against herself and her brother for standing by and letting it happen? which of those she expects, she really does not know), but in the darkest of moments, Xialing closes her eyes, and it is Mama’s spirit that whispers to her, reminding her that she is the sun and she shines through it all.
(LISTEN, there really is SO MUCH to parse about the individual characters used in Shangqi and Xialing's names, how the characters work separately and together in their own names, how their names mirror and complement each other. But for the sake of this little bit: xia 夏 = summer, ling 灵 can have a variety of meanings/connotations related to spirituality, but also refers to intelligence.)