Their Divine Fires by Wendy Chen

Author:Wendy Chen [CHEN, WENDY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: 2024-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

SOMETIMES, Yonghong and her sister asked Wai Po to tell her stories of their respected and powerful great-uncle, who had often sent them gifts from the capital. He had fought both the Japanese and the Guomindang in his youth, Yonghong knew. He had even gone to the same school—First Normal School in Changsha—as Chairman Mao and learned from the same teachers. He was also the one who had made arrangements for Ma’s education and medical training in Beijing. There, Ma had met Ba, who had been a junior officer working under Great-Uncle.

“Without my elder brother’s doing, you might never have existed,” Wai Po would say sometimes to Yonghong or Hongxing. Her tone was not wonderment, but something more puzzled—almost bewildered.

“What was Great-Uncle like when you were little?” Hongxing would ask, though Wai Po was usually reluctant to answer. Hongxing liked to learn about the beginnings—of people, of places. She was always asking how things got started—perhaps because she had not been conscious for her own start into the world. Yonghong, on the other hand, was more concerned with how things would end, maybe due to the mark on her chest that she shared with Ma and Wai Po. Sometimes, Yonghong was ashamed of the mark, as the difference with her sister was always compounded when she looked at it. Why couldn’t she have unblemished skin like Hongxing?

But Yonghong’s birthmark was also different from the one on Ma’s chest, and Wai Po’s, too. Wai Po’s mark was dark in color, a deep, rich red. Ma’s was twisted and scarred.

Wai Po had always told her it was a mark borne from her bloodline—a mark of the women in the family—but Yonghong remained unconvinced. If what Wai Po said was true, then why was Hongxing missing hers? What did it say about all of them? If they were marked from birth, then how would each of their lives end? Would Hongxing’s have a happy ending? Would Yonghong’s have a sad one? Or would there be perfect harmony—as everyone was always promising?

“Be proud of this mark, Yonghong,” Wai Po insisted. “For it is a mark of your legacy. Proof of where you came from, and your history. Remember this whenever you’re afraid.”

“What about me?” Hongxing asked.

“You’re the version of me that was born without a mark,” Ma said, frowning. “The better one that Wai Po wished for.”

Wai Po’s mouth tightened, and her eyes were sad—but she didn’t refute Ma’s words.

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