Chapter 8: The Names Behind the Chart

That night they spread out the old sea chart her father had left behind.

On its back were crowded unfamiliar names, each followed by a tiny wind mark. The old man knew that kind of sign: not a sailor's wind, but the crease left on a page when a letter was carried away.

At the center of the map lay a blank place where salt water had washed the ink away. Only a faint golden ring remained.

Chaoyin said it marked the place from which her father had last sailed.