Homeseeking

by Karissa Chen

Despite her mother’s disapproval of Haiwen, in the end, she had wished for his safe return, if not for his own sake, then for her daughter’s happiness. This quiet love was something Suchi had been too young and impatient to see. Suchi wondered now if M’ma had continued to light that lantern once the girls were gone. Maybe she kept that light burning to lead her own daughters home. And Suchi was almost home. Or, rather, she was almost with her mother. Haiwen’s niece would be waiting for them at the airport when they landed; she had promised to take them straight to the place where M’ma lived. Xuenong had warned them that while the woman had been told about Suchi’s impending arrival, it was unclear how much she understood. Suchi knew now that home wasn’t a place. It wasn’t moments that could be pinned down. It was people, people who shared the same ghosts as you, of folks long gone, places long disappeared. People who knew you, saw you, loved you. When those people were far-flung, your home was too. And when those people were gone, home lived on inside you.