The Maiden and the Squid

In a grand house on a hill, there lived a beautiful maiden by the name of Shísì. She was a very bright and energetic young woman who dreamed of the sea. She couldn't leave the confines of her home, as her father, only known as the Dekapan throughout the land. Her hair donned in her family's treasures as she wore the finest silks. She never knew what was beyond the ornate gate. As far as she knew, her life was to be a leisured one.

Despite her relaxed life, she still had suitors lined up. A red man, a commoner from outside her home, who's said to be the best salesman in her land. He could sell water to fish, along with the price raised so high. There's a blue man, one who's painful and irritating – it's clear he's not of this land. Perhaps it was a political wedding between his country and hers to bring about a false sense of peace. Finally, a green man who mastered the art of pottery, who also came from a rich family himself. He's very high strung and always seemed to have a strange sense of self-awareness. Shísì didn't care about the politics about her land if she wasn't allowed to visit it.

One day, Shísì decided to end her dreams and to just live. She wanted to live outside the confines of her home, at least for one day, to run, to breathe, to walk, to see. She wanted to experience the outside where there were different types of people and different smells. She wanted to explore the village that gave praise to her family. People didn't seem to recognize her, or if they did, she couldn't tell, as she walked around in her casual dress of yellow. It matched not her personality only, but the sun that placed itself by the palace each day. Her curiousness about the world around her fascinated her and she wanted to talk to everyone but not everyone was nice. Some people were quite rude to the princess and called her all sorts of names she didn't recognize – but she still accepted it.

It was part of living! she would constantly think. Her disposition which is in juxtaposition with the moodiness of the common only caused her energy to merely build up.

And yet, somehow…. Shísì made it to the beach. It was quite far away from the palace – there was a splendid view from the bottom. Shísì took off her house shoes and finally felt the warm sand in between her toes. She smiled incredibly wide, her heart could easily be seen her smile was so big. She felt as warm inside as she did outside.

She left her house shoes as they were as there didn't seem to be anyone else at the beach. The surf echoed in her ears as she glanced up to see the clear blue tide come in and out as it did before. Nothing spectacular from the surf was out of the ordinary but to Shísì… this was an incredible thing! She lifted her silky skirt to prevent it from being wet to place a warm toe in the cold water. As expected, the water sent good chills. It was cold but it felt good!

Shísì made certain not to get her dress wet but she couldn't help but tiptoeing in the water and even placed her hands in it to feel how cool it really was. She could see her reflection – her hair ornaments stayed in place, but her makeup has long been gone. Her hair kept tied tight on her – another status symbol Shísì never truly cared about.

She didn't know how long she stayed out there but as long as the sun stayed nigh high, Shísì figured she had all in the time in the world.

Though, as she played by herself, she noticed a big white thing under the water. She reached down and touched it. It felt slimy to the touch and it surprised Shísì so much she yelped as she dropped the slimy thing back in the water. A little water splashed on her dress, but it was okay – it was only a few drops.

"Hey," cried out a strange voice. "Ask before you touch next time." The strange voice was close and it sounded kind of gloomy. There was a sense of defeat behind the tone that Shísì wanted to understand more.

Shísì looked around for the source of the voice but didn't see a single human. There was another splash. And a bit more water got on her dress.

She stepped back to avoid getting any more wet and finally noticed the giant white squid that laid on the beach.

The squid itself was huge and was almost human sized. There seemed to be a purple glaze about it and yet it fit the squid somehow. The squid just lied their as its tentacles somewhat floated in the water. Under normal circumstances, anyone would be scared of not just a giant beached squid, but one who talked as well but Shísì never questioned it – in fact, she'd consider it rude if someone talked and she wouldn't respond. It's bad manners, after all.

"My apologies!" Shísì said as she properly bowed to the beached squid.

"It's no problem, no problem," the gloomy squid responded. He just lied there and felt the waves hit him from the bottom and through his tentacles. "Why aren't you scared?" he then asked. "I am a talking beached squid. A giant one too. Why aren't you frightened? Everyone else is."

Shísì rose up and smiled. "Why should I? You're the first nice creature to ever talk to me today!"

"Ehhh," the squid sighed out. "Well, I'm not planning to live much longer."

"Why?" Shísì asked.

"Because life isn't worth living. You see, I'm a squid and squid are meant to eat and to be eaten. All I do in between meals is swim in the ocean and plan my next meal. All I do other than that is hope I don't get eaten that day but I'm tired of it. I don't want to fight it anymore. I don't want to bother anymore. I'm a talking squid who has no friends."

Shísì then picked up one of his tentacles. "Ichi!" she suddenly said. The squid gave her a confused look. "I'm going to call you Ichi. You can talk, Ichi, and that's really fascinating! I've been cooped up in my house for so long, I don't know what to do now that I'm out here!"

The squid, now dubbed Ichi, continued to stare at this beauty.

"But… I would love to hear about your travels. Surely, you must have something important to say if you could talk! If you're unlike any other squid in the huge ocean, then that's exciting! I would love to hear your stories, your family, your passions! Surely even squids have dreams!"

Taken aback, the squid softly smiled but it slowly went away. "What's your name, dear maiden?"

"Shísì!"

"This is also a first time for me, Shísì, that someone actually cares about what I want."

Shísì left the shallow water and found some dry sand to sit by Ichi. At first, Ichi had thought Shísì was going to leave him behind, as many seemed to, but he seemed surprised, touched even, that Shísì truly did wanted to listen to him.

And such, Ichi spun tales of his life. It wasn't anything too spectacular but if what Shísì said was true… Eventually his tongue danced of dreams walking amongst humans and seeing the strange four-legged creatures who mewled and pawed at the sight of fish. Even though, Ichi was merely a squid, a certain feeling started to spurn for Shísì. She was only as kind as she was beautiful. Attentive, and creative, as her jokes usually weren't very good. They seemed more in fashion of the older folk Ichi would see beyond the shore.

Shísì could also feel attachment to this giant squid. She would occasionally a tentacle and stroked it despite its slimy texture. Images of Ichi and Shísì started to dance in their tales as they imagined what it'd be like if Ichi could survive as a human. Thoughts became ideas became discussion became dreams between the young couple.

"I may be giant, but I'm considered a small young adult in my family," Ichi pointed, now bolder. Shísì was surprised by this fact and revealed that she only was a young woman as well. Ichi couldn't help but want to touch Shísì and to feel her skin with the appendages she had – or if she could become a giant squid with him. However, no matter what the two became in the next life, Ichi hoped he would be close to Shísì forevermore.

As the two talked, joked, and dreamed, Shísì never kept track of the time. She never realized how it happened but eventually she was caught by the Dekapan's guards when she walked away from Ichi for a moment to grab something to eat. She struggled but because she never built any strength she was unable to overpower them.

Heartbroken, she wanted to return to the beached squid to at least give a proper farewell but she was unable to. The guards both guarded her door and the windows.

Defeated, she cried. She cried out her feelings that she didn't realized she had until that moment. Even though she spent so little time with Ichi, she knew truly what she felt for the squid. She wanted to save him. She wanted to hear the words, "I want to live" with her very own ears. She hoped and prayed to whoever listened to protect Ichi from any hunters from the night and she'd find a way to escape from this stronghold.

The night was long as it was torturous. Shísì couldn't sleep as she was afraid any time would be the moment Ichi would be caught; and yet she still had so much energy.

Finally, she decided to just do it. She needed to rescue him, somehow. Shísì couldn't just leave Ichi like that – he deserved to live! Even squids had dreams!

She put on the same dress she had on earlier in order to make sure Ichi recognized her and she waited patiently for the guards to change shifts. Usually they liked to joke around or even talk to each other about the latest gossip – this was her chance!

Shísì was somehow able to escape freely but she had to go through the stables of cows and horses. It was there where she bumped into one and it yelled at her.

"Hey! Don't bump into me!" he said. His voice was light and somewhat feminine but it somehow fits the cow. The cow had a great pink bow on his neck and it did look somewhat cute…

Shísì looked towards the cow and recognized the talking cow. "Totty!" she said. "I'm so sorry! Please be quiet, okay?"

The cow, named Totty, didn't seem to hear her so he started to moo and make a lot of noise. Shísì tried to shush him but to no avail. Eventually, the guards were alerted and Shísì was caught… Quickly, she was escorted back to her room but with even more eyes on it.

Completely defeated, Shísì cried. Her cries echoed in the empty hall and in the filled rooms that had nothing that carried her heart. The only one who carried her heart may have been picked up by a desperate fisherman or the red man to sell to some unfortunate soul. Ichi probably wondered where Shísì went and Shísì herself wondered if he thought she abandoned them. Dreams became nightmares as she imagined all sorts of awful things that could've happened to the talkative squid.

The day soon came and Shísì managed to get a few hours of sleep due to her body being exhausted from the previous day. She heard the door open and saw the Dekapan above her.

His underwear clad self didn't seem too pleased but there seemed to be something underneath the anger.

"Shísì," he started. "I'm not happy you left the palace to wander around the village. You could've been kidnapped! You could have gotten killed!" His lectures continued but Shísì didn't care. She just felt really numb. She ignored the rest of his lectures until he clapped his hands; that usually meant he had a set of good news to share. At this point, Shísì didn't care anymore. She just wanted to escape back to the beach… to be with Ichi….

"Ah, my dear Shísì! We're going to have a feast tonight! One of your suitors, I believe Kara, has captured a giant squid when he strolled out on the beach last night!"

This grabbed Shísì's attention.

"What did you say?" she asked but she was the one who was ignored this time. He clapped his hands, which signaled the guards to follow him out as her handmaidens to change her out of her now dirty gown.

Shísì couldn't focus. She couldn't believe she was too late. She could feel the tears drip down her face even when she sat at the table and faced the men her father chose for her. She truly didn't have any interest in any of them anymore. She knew she couldn't have the same conversations as she did with Ichi. She couldn't joke around and have someone look at her the way Ichi did.

She prayed to the goddess of the lotus that if they were to be reborn, they would be closer than lovers but would be able show each other their passions without judgement. She prayed that she could run with Ichi and she hoped she could talk more to him.

Even though she thought she cried her tears out, when they brought the squid to the table, everything about the carcass was familiar to her. Shísì wept. She wept as hard as she could for the lost lover she never could have.

After she was excused without a single bite, she wept more. She wept for Ichi's lost life – his real life. Not the one he claimed to have lived but the one he did with Shísì. No one was able to understand Shísì's tears after that. She refused to eat any more squid even after she was forcibly married and longer after she was lied to that squid was luck for the child.

Despite that, Shísì lived her life. She lived her life for both Ichi and herself. As painful as it was, Shísì eventually realized that even with the pain, it was best that Ichi found love within Shísì and her with him than to have never know what love truly was.