There was a woman.
She had long hair, black as the night's sky. Her legs made strong men trimble. Her eyes were as bright as the stars. Her voice was deep and melodic as the sea. Her skin made old men cry. Her breasts rivaled the crescent moon. And her values were set in stone.
Her father was a just man. He loved the sea and smelt of it. She learned to swim before riding. She learned to dive before sword-play. She learned to fight before dancing. At five she could hold her breath. No small feat for any child, for it was scary.
At seven the boys and girls would tease her for having large feet. At eight she vowed to never read again, one she held onto for her whole life. At nine her hands became large enough to grip a harpoon. At ten the boys, even the farm boys, were scared of her. At eleven her shoulders became strong as mountains. Mainly because her father was a hard working man, requiring many hours of her precious childhood time. He had her routinely carry "the smaller" sharks from their boat to the local shop in Liyue harbor. For that was his specialty, hunting the kings of fish. And damn was he good at it! "Humans are puny my little girl, compared to the king of fish. If ye can tackle a shark then you can tackle any man."
At twelve he started to regularly bring her on his hunting adventures. His oldest son fell ill and was buried with their grandparents. But "Beidou" as that is what he officially nick-named her: Queen of The Sea; after seeing her on the ship's bow embracing the might of a storm. He loved his daughter, she reminded him of her mother. Who he missed dearly.
At twelve the boys stopped teasing her, and instead chased after her. All the girls hated her because of this. At thirteen she picked up the sword. And at fourteen our story begins.