Chapter 2 — Reef Keeper

The next morning, Khue woke up before sunrise, following the habits of a seafarer even though she had lived on land most of her adult life. She brewed a pot of tea, sat on the porch and watched the sky gradually change from gray to pale pink, then bright yellow, while the sound of roosters crowing in the distance mixed with the crisp sound of the ship's engine on the wharf. Today is the day she has to report to the representative office of the Marine Protected Area Management Board located in the island commune, which will be the focal point for coordination of the entire coral reef restoration project over the next year.

The office is located in a level four building painted faded blue, next to the commune committee headquarters, the corrugated iron roof rattles every time a strong wind blows. Khue arrived half an hour earlier than the scheduled time. Standing in front of the door, looking at the rusty sign with the words "Vong Ngu Marine Conservation Station", a feeling of both nervousness and determination arose in her heart. This is where she will stay throughout the coming months, where all her efforts will be measured by each branch of coral that survives, each fish that returns to reproduce.

"Are you sure it's Ms. Khue?" A youthful voice rang out from behind, causing Khue to turn around in surprise. A young girl, about twenty-four years old, wearing a T-shirt with the logo of a fisheries college, her hair tied up neatly, was standing smiling brightly, holding a stack of documents.

"That's right, I'm Khue." Khue nodded, a bit surprised to be recognized immediately.

"I'm Hoang Kim Thao, assigned to be a field assistant for your project. Mr. Vinh from the hospital called in advance to advise me, I've been waiting for you these past few days!" Thao spoke at once, her excitement undisguised. "I read all the documents you sent via email, I'm so fascinated, I've never seen anyone do such detailed work on coral nursery frames."

Thao's enthusiasm made Khue laugh, the feeling of tension in her heart eased somewhat. "Thank you, I'm also looking forward to having someone to work with. Let's go inside and talk, I still have to meet the guys at the station."

Inside the office, a middle-aged man wearing a faded green fisherman's uniform was poring over a desk filled with papers and coastal maps. He looked up when he saw two people entering, his sun-tanned face showing a gentle smile.

"Miss Khue, right? I'm the Captain of the fishery surveillance team here, you guys still call me Uncle Tam." He shook Khue's hand tightly. "I heard that the project you worked on was properly approved by the Institute and the whole province. We are very happy. Silver Reef has been in serious decline in recent years. Our force is thin and we can't run."

All morning, Khue sat with Mr. Tam to review all legal documents of the project: the licensed area for coral transplants, the scope of the temporary exploitation restriction buffer zone around the nursery, and the process of coordinating reports with the fishery inspection station when violations are detected. Everything on paper was clear and coherent, but Khue also realized right away from Uncle Tam's cautious words that the actual implementation would not be as simple as the words in the document.

"You have to prepare yourself." Uncle Tam said, his voice low. "The buffer zone restricted from exploitation is small, but it is right in the area where young people in the neighborhood often set nets and fish for squid at night. When people heard that there was a new restricted zone, they have been buzzing for a week now."

"I understand, Uncle Tam. I don't intend to ban it completely, I just need an area quiet enough for the newly transplanted coral to have time to take root. After a few years when the reef recovers, more fish and shrimp will return, people will benefit in the long run." Khue explained that her words had been carefully prepared in advance, but when she said them in the middle of this small room, she suddenly realized that they sounded somewhat textbook, foreign to what the islanders were really worried about: today's meal, school fees for her children, the unpaid debt to buy fishing gear.

At noon, Thao took Khue around the fishing village to get acquainted with the area, visit a few families with large boats, and introduce the project. Most people greeted politely but cautiously, nodding their heads and then moving on to other things. Some people are more straightforward, speaking out their worries.

"It's good that you come here to do science, but can science support my wife and children?" A middle-aged man was repairing the net in front of his yard and asked directly when Thao introduced Khue. "From my father's time until now on Da Bac Reef, the squid fish there feed hundreds of households in this hamlet. If you ban one area, we will lose another area that needs to be fished for food."

Khue intended to explain more, but the man turned his back on the house, not wanting to hear more. Thao looked at Khue, embarrassed. "Don't be sad, Uncle Bon thinks like that, he doesn't have any bad intentions. Everyone here is the same, the fear of losing their job is the biggest fear."

At that moment, a group of young men sitting and mending nets under the shade of a nearby almond tree began chatting, their voices loud enough for Khue to hear. The leader was a young man in his late thirties, with bulging shoulders and muscles, black skin shiny from the sun and wind, quickly holding a needle to mend the net without taking his eyes off Khue.

"I heard this girl came back from studying abroad. She must be used to living with air conditioning. Now she's coming here to teach us how to fish?" The young man spoke with a sarcastic tone, deliberately letting Khue hear.

"Vu, just say it." Another person in the group gently warned, but the person named Vu still did not stop.

"I'm telling the truth. That Da Bac reef, our grandparents have been exploiting it for hundreds of years, it's okay, now suddenly someone comes back and says we have to ban this place and that place to save the coral. Are the corals okay for us to eat?" Vu stood up, took a few steps towards Khue, his eyes challenging. "Do you know how to dive? Do you know how hard it is to set nets one night? Or do you just know how to sit in a cold room and write reports?"

Khue felt hot blood rush to her face, but she tried to stay calm. "I know how to dive. I've been diving since I was little, in this same sea, with my father." She said, her voice firm. "And I understand very well the value of a trip to sea for a fishing family. My father was also a fisherman here."

That statement made the group of young men pause for a few seconds. Someone whispered something, perhaps trying to remember whose son Khue was. Vu squinted his eyes and looked at her more closely, his expression slightly confused but still refused to go into the water.

"That's even more strange. The fisherman now comes back and forbids people from fishing." Vu said, his voice was still stiff, but less harsh than before. "Okay, just do what you want to do. We also have to worry about food and clothing, we don't have time to argue with you."

Having finished speaking, he turned and walked away, his group of friends followed, leaving Khue standing there with a feeling of resentment that was hard to name. Thao patted her shoulder, comforting her. "That's just Mr. Vu, he's not mean, sister. He and his family are the most difficult in the neighborhood, the boat is small, only relying on the fish channels near the shore. There's a reason why he's afraid of losing his job."

Late in the afternoon, after completing administrative procedures and surveying the situation in the village, Khue and Thao went to the wharf to check the diving equipment and coral nurseries that had been sent in advance by freight train. Hexagonal metal frames, specially designed to attach young coral branches, are stacked in a corner of the warehouse near the fishing wharf, along with oxygen tanks, protective gear, and devices to measure water environmental indicators.

Khue stood in the middle of a pile of equipment, her hands running through each frame, a feeling of both excitement and anxiety rising in her heart. This is the result of nearly two years of her diligently researching, writing projects, applying for funding, and convincing the scientific council. Now, it was all right before her eyes, just waiting to be taken into the water.

"Sister, can we go to the reef to survey first?" Thao asked, her voice still full of enthusiasm even though it had been a long and tiring day. "I want to see the actual situation before starting to install the frame."

"Okay, let's go early tomorrow morning." Khue nodded, looking out to sea, where the sun was slowly setting, dyeing the sky into a bright red orange strip. "I also want to see what Da Bac reef is like now. It's been a long time since I dived there."

On the way home, Khue passed by the area near Mom Vong, the highest cliff on the island, where ancient people used to stand and wait for fishing boats to return after a storm. She stopped, climbed a few stone steps, and stood looking out at the vast ocean that was gradually turning dark purple as dusk fell. The wind blew her hair, bringing with it a familiar salty breeze.

Standing here, she suddenly remembered an afternoon long ago, when her father took her to this very cliff, pointed out to sea and said: "The sea is like a difficult friend, child. If you love it, take care of it, it will let you live. If you are greedy, destroy it, one day it will take back everything you gave it." At that time, Khue was still young, just nodded his head, not fully understanding the deep meaning of his father's words. Now, standing alone in the sea breeze, she can absorb every word.

She looked down below, where the fishing boats were returning to the dock one by one, the oil lamps flickering on the darkening water surface. Among those boats, maybe there is the boat of the man named Vu who was harsh with her that afternoon, or of other families who are counting on today's catch of fish to have a full meal. Khue understands that the road ahead will not be easy, that she will have to prove with actions, not just words, that what she is doing is not to fight them, but to save the very source of life that both she and they depend on.

That night, when returning to the old house, Khue opened her father's diary and turned to pages of notes about Da Bac Reef from many years ago. Her father wrote, in scribbled but enthusiastic handwriting, about schools of colorful butterfly fish swimming around staghorn coral branches, about mornings where the water was so clear that the sea floor could be seen from the boat. Those words are like a timeless message, urging Khue to believe more firmly in the path he has chosen.

She closed the notebook, put it on the table, then walked out to the porch one more time before going to bed. The moonlight is rising, spreading a strip of silver light on the calm sea surface. Tomorrow, she will dive to Silver Rock Reef for the first time in twelve years. She didn't know what she would find under the water — a dying coral reef in need of rescue, or fragments of her dead father's memories, or perhaps, both.