On Such A Full Sea

Mister Leo greets Quig like they’re old friends and is introduced to Fan and Loreen. Mala brings out champagne for the adults and mango juice for Fan, and Mister Leo takes them on a tour of his art gallery. Fan quickly gets bored and goes off to find Mala, whom she immediately likes and begins to help in the kitchen with the preparation of food. Fan brings the appetizer tray out to the other adults, which delights Mister Leo, and he tells her that she’s welcome to keep Mala company instead of looking at boring art with the adults.

Mala and Fan work on preparing dinner while they talk about their lives. Fan talks about her life in the facility, about how adults there are taxed for their third child and up, and how different Asian ethnicities have been imported to the facility settlements over time. Fan likes Mala, perhaps because she is simple and unassuming, or she reminds Fan of a grand-aunt who used to chew ginger. Fan asks Mala whether she lives in this house all the time; Mala tells her that after every twenty days, she retreats to her home in the counties, where her husband and children reside. They make up a tray of drinks to serve to the adults, and then Mala takes Fan on a tour of the house.

After seeing the other rooms, Mala shows Fan her own chambers. While Mala uses the bathroom, Fan is invited to look at a handscreen containing pictures of Mala’s family. Fan is able to guess Mala’s password, and finds hidden files of pictures of young Asian girls similar to herself. When Mala comes out, there is a tension in the air, and Mala asks Fan how old she is. Fan does not reveal this information, and asks how old Mala thinks she is.

Miss Cathy appears, and seems very maudlin and sad. She takes some pills, barely noticing Fan. Mala introduces them, and Miss Cathy asks Fan if she thinks she will like it at the house. Dinner is about to be served, so they all head to the dining room. Dinner is awkward, with Miss Cathy and Mister Leo seemingly not connecting in their conversations and sitting at opposing ends of the room. Cathy barely eats anything, and takes some more pills. Finally, Leo mentions that she may be tired, and she agrees, preferring to leave the room to finishing dinner.

Fan asks Leo if he has heard of her brother, Bo Liwei. He replies that he has not. Mala is asked the same question, and drops a plate, shattering it. While she nurses her wound, everyone helps clean up the mess. During this cleanup, Leo asks Fan to come with him, and takes her to his office. Once there, he gives her the medicine for Sewey, and also a silver locket containing a diamond, which he tells her to keep a secret and only wear at night when she goes to bed. His touch makes Fan uncomfortable, but she know that her best assurance of getting the medicine and mining equipment to Quig’s compound is to play along. That night, she tries to stay awake as long as possible, but eventually drifts off to sleep. She is awakened when, in the darkness, Mister Leo slips into bed with her and attempts to sexually assault her. Just before anything can happen, however, she feels him slide off her, and hears the voice of Miss Cathy telling him to “get off the bed” (214).

In this chapter, the narrative turns its attention back to B-Mor. The B-Mors feel a collective joy when one of their young people succeeds, and conversely, wail and wring their hands when one of their own does something unsettling or notorious. In the case of Fan, what happened to her after she left the city gate is not fully known, and so the retold stories of what happened to her may have actually grown to overshadow the original tale.

B-Mor’s economy has slowed even more, with not only Charter demand for their fish down, but also demand for their vegetables. This economic strife has led to an increase in violence and suicide. One fellow, who had mortgaged his family home for a stock of jars due to an incredible increase in the canning of vegetables, was found dead after the prices of those jars plummeted and sent him into inescapable debt. It is noticeable, when one goes to the food court underground, or other public places, that people have bruises, scratches, black eyes, and fat lips.

One of the well-known elders of the city is Gordon, and it’s evident that he has been suffering some kind of abuse. On one occasion, he was seen pulling a tooth from his bloodied mouth, root and all. On another, when he had fallen on the lawn and needed help to get back up again, cigarette burns were noticed on his hands. As his confusion and issues pertaining to his age increased, so did the violence done to him. The narrator wonders who might be doing such terrible things, noting that his wife and children and others surrounding him love him and support him. It is here that the dark undercurrent of the societal malaise is made clear, for the narrator admits that sometimes, the rage they feel is directed at the victims instead of the perpetrators:

We can understand better now: how when your hand on his neck means to comfort, when it hopes to assure, its grip only kind, can another impetus breathlessly arise, a strangely related volition that craves witness of the most wretched of sights, the just-crushed human spirit (225).

Some quality arising from Fan’s leaving has corrupted and wounded her society and made it more violent and significantly worse.