Linh Hai Song

Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details from the latest book.

Linh Hai Song
Caption	View other art here
Aliases	The Hydrokinetic The Girl of Many Floods The Water Girl
Occupation	Member of the Black Swan, Foxfire student
Foxfire Level	Four as of Stellarlune
Biographical Information
Gender	Female
Age	16 as of Legacy
Special Ability	Hydrokinetic
Status	Alive
Residence	Choralmere (from ages 0-11) Wildwood Colony (from ages 11-15) Ermete's former residence (from mid-Book-4 to end of Book 4) Alluveterre (formerly, in Book 5), Tiergan's residence in the Lost Cities, Solreef (as of Nightfall) Choralmere (as of Legacy)
Physical Description
Eye Color	Silvery blue
Hair Color	Long black with dyed silver tips
Other Information
Important Information	Linh is Tam's twin sister and is the infamous 'Girl of Many Floods'. She received this nickname after flooding Atlantis. She is the only member of Sophie’s close friend group who has not been physically injured by the Neverseen as of yet. She is described by Sophie as a "baby bird" compared to Tam.

This article is part of a series about the Song family

Basic Information
Song

Members
Quan Song • Mai Song • Linh Hai Song • Tam Dai Song

Residence(s)
Choralmere

Linh Hai Song (pronounced Lin Hi Song) is a sixteen-year-old elf and a member of the Black Swan. She is likely one of the youngest elves to manifest in the Lost Cities, having manifested at the age of ten.

At the age of eleven, Linh was banished from the Lost Cities to Exillium for flooding Atlantis, along with her twin brother Tam, who chose to go with her. She lived as a Wayward until the age of fifteen, when she and Tam met Sophie Foster at Exilium. Linh is a Hydrokinetic and is known for being the infamous "Girl of Many Floods" after she flooded Atlantis. As of Legacy, Linh resides in Choralmere with her parents and attends Foxfire Academy.

Even though Linh was dubbed "The Girl of Many Floods", she has taken control of her powers. She flooded the ogre capital, Ravagog, on purpose to help her friends escape after they stole the “cure” for the gnomish plague. Linh also saved many people in Atlantis when the Neverseen tried to flood it.

Linh likes to create figures out of water by using her ability. Sometimes, she loses control and creates water figures in her sleep.

Appearance

Linh has waist-length straight black hair with silver tips to match her brother. She got these silver tips by melting her registry pendant after she was banished to remind her what happens when she loses control of her ability. Linh's twin brother, Tam, also gave himself silver-tipped bangs. Linh also has dramatic silver-blue eyes, soft pink lips, and a creamy complexion. Though elves do not have nationalities, many state that she and her family look Asian as humans. She is implied to be more beautiful than the average elf. She often looks quiet, thoughtful, and serene, although has a feisty side.

Gallery

Nicknames

• Girl of Many Floods
• Water Girl
• Splash
• The Hydrokinetic

Personality and Traits

• Playful

Linh is known to be very playful when it comes to being around animals. She has been also known to give animals unique names. For example, she named her pet murcat Princess Purryfins and has had full-on conversations with her. (This is most likely her way to annoy her brother and get him to say “Princess Purryfins” on a regular basis.)

• Sweet

Linh is very sweet and does things to help others, especially her twin brother, Tam. When he was kidnapped by the Neverseen, she stayed at her parents' house to keep her brother safe. (It should be noted that she isn't exactly fond of her parents.)

• Caring

Linh is very caring and always supports her friends. She even made a tunic based on a joke to cheer Sophie up while Sophie was dealing with her shadowflux echoes.

• Quiet

Linh isn't the type to be very social. Instead, Linh only speaks when she feels the time is right.

• Gentle

Linh is very gentle when it comes to people dealing with issues and is always supportive and kind to others.

• Optimistic

Linh is always optimistic, even when things get challenging. She distracts Tam when he is attempting to send "happy shadow thoughts" to help Sophie's echos, and is always trying to find the good in the bad things that happen.

• Loyal

Linh is very loyal to her friends, and especially her brother. She even flooded Ravagog, the ogre capital, to help her friends escape after Sophie stole the cure for the gnomish plague from King Dimitar's mind.

• Calm

Linh is known to stay calm under pressure, specifically when she saved many lives in Atlantis after the Neverseen attempted to flood the city.

• Determined

Linh is very determined to help defeat the Neverseen. She gets past her fear of living up to her name "The girl of many floods" and learns to fully control her power. Linh even let Sophie enhance her. When Linh is determined, she will stop at nothing.

• Fierce

In Stellarlune, Linh still did not trust Glimmer as at that time, she had not revealed her identity. When Linh was talking to Tam about trusting Glimmer, Sophie said she had never seen Linh look so fierce. Her soft pink cheeks had sharpened with her scowl, and the hair around her face seemed to have extra silver highlights, which shimmered as the wind tossed the silky strands around. “I’m tired of hiding at Choralmere, waiting for you to come to your senses,” Linh told him. “I know you’ve been through a lot- and I can see how the situation might make it easy to form strange bonds with someone and mistake it for friendship. But Glimmer is not your friend.” Everything darkened. Sophie thought it must have been Tam’s shadows, but then she noticed the gray storm clouds gathering over their heads, which was, obviously, Linh’s doing.

Ability

• Hydrokinesis

Hydrokinetics are elves with the ability to control the element of water. Hydrokinetics describe themselves as being drawn to water. Sometimes those who have not yet mastered the ability find it hard to visit Atlantis, as the city is surrounded by water. Hydrokinetics can draw mist from the air and use it to camouflage themselves into their surroundings. Hydrokinetics can also create objects out of the mist in the air, such as water birds, and are able to walk on the surface of water. They can also draw moisture out of someone's clothes. Linh Song was able to stop Atlantis from flooding in Nightfall using her ability.

History

Pre-Keeper

Linh had a more difficult childhood than most elves. Her parents were ashamed that they had twins, which is a rarity in the Lost Cities, and multiple births are seen as a curse and a disgrace. As a result, their parents tried to convince other elves that Tam was actually a year older than Linh. However, both twins bravely refused to go along with this lie.

Linh was banished from the Lost Cities and sent to Exillium after she flooded Atlantis. She was still new to her powers as a Hydrokinetic at the time and was not yet in full control of her powers, as stated by Mr. Forkle. The incident that almost flooded Atlantis was after a few other previous ones, and at that point, her parents (Quan and Mai Song) decided they had to let her go. Tam, Linh's twin brother, disagreed with Quan and Mai's decision and says that "They had a choice, all right." This is why she had difficulty with underwater breathing lessons held in Exillium, even though she is a Hydrokinetic. She kept muttering "I can't, I can't" whenever Tam encouraged her to hold her breath underwater. Tam was not sentenced to Exillium, but chose to be banished with Linh. This is one of the reasons their bond is so strong.

This article is part of a series about Exillium

Main Article and Affiliated Places
Exillium • Arch of Dividing • Healing Tent • Bosk Gorge • Neutral Territories

Hemispheres
Ambi Hemisphere • Left Hemisphere • Right Hemisphere

Skills Taught
Appetite Suppression • Blinking • Body Temperature Regulation • Breath Control • Darkness Vision • Levitating • Outward Channeling • Telekinesis

Staff
Coach Rohana • Coach Wilda • Coach Bora • The Boobrie Dude

Previous Attendees (Waywards)
Biana Vacker • Dex Dizznee • Fitz Vacker • Keefe Sencen • Linh Song • Ruy Ignis • Sophie Foster • Tam Song • Timkin Heks

Tam was angry at their parents, who would have attempted to pass him off as an only child. He went with Linh to Exillium and left their parents. Linh and Tam both melted down the chains of their registry pendants, and they dipped the ends of their hair in the liquefied silver, creating silver-tipped hair. For Tam, it was a sign of rebellion, while Linh wanted a constant reminder of what could happen if she lost control of her hydrokinesis. She states this in her first meeting with Sophie in Neverseen.

Linh

Book 4: Neverseen

Linh and her twin brother Tam are first introduced in Neverseen when the gnomish plague hits Wildwood Colony while Linh and Tam were living there. They see both the Council and the Neverseen come to investigate.

Linh and Tam are students at Exillium, both sorted into the Ambi Hemisphere. When Sophie Foster accidentally burns the Arch of Dividing on her first day, Linh uses her Hydrokinesis to put out the fire. When Sophie sees Linh struggling with breath control during skill sessions, she inflicts positive emotions to help Linh get through the activity. To return the favor, Tam and Linh invite Sophie to Wildwood Colony. There, they introduce themselves and tell Sophie what they know about the plague. Later, Sophie brings her friends to see them, and Mr. Forkle manages to have them stay in an abandoned dwarven house.

Linh is the one who convinces Tam to help the Black Swan break into Ravagog to find a cure for the plague. While escaping, Linh uses her ability to flood the city.

Book 5: Lodestar

In Lodestar, Linh helps to soothe Wylie's wounds with water using her talent while he is recovering from his interrogation at Foxfire.

Book 6: Nightfall

When the team goes down to Atlantis to look for Vespera's Nightfall, Linh is part of the team and helps fight the Gorgodon.

Book 7: Flashback

Linh helps calm Tam down with the joke "Happy Shadow Thoughts" because he is nervous about making Sophie's echoes worse. She puts that phrase onto a tunic and makes one for both Tam and Sophie.

Book 8: Legacy

Linh, along with Marella and Maruca come to Havenfield to visit Sophie. Linh says she came to support Maruca in her decision to tell Sophie about her newly manifested special ability (as a Psionipath) and request to join the Black Swan. While Maruca is talking to Sophie, Linh is playing with Silveny and Greyfell's baby twin alicorns, Wynn and Luna. After that, she asks Sophie to try and telepathically contact Tam, who is currently being held captive by the Neverseen and is being forced to train. This upsets Tam, and he tells Linh to "stay out of the water", and to "go to Choralmere", which Linh says is code for when she is in trouble. In order to deter suspicions, she, with the guard of Bo, goes to live back at Choralmere.

Later in the book, Linh sneaks into Loamnore with Marella and Keefe (and her dwarven bodyguards). She asks Tam to stop following the Neverseen, but he can't since his hands are bound by Etherine bonds (made by Glimmer). Later on, when Tam is back home in the Lost Cities, Linh mentions that the twins reconciled, but that he is "difficult to read right now".

Book 8.5: Unlocked

Linh decides not to stay with Tam at Tiergan's residence, Solreef, and instead chooses to continue residing at Choralmere with her parents. Tam tells Sophie it is because Linh thinks Solreef has become too crowded, but the truth behind Linh's decision is that she dislikes Glimmer.

Book 9: Stellarlune

In Stellarlune, Linh informs everyone that Glimmer was the one who freed Lady Gisela in Loamnore. She is also fighting with Tam over whether or not to trust Rayni.

Relationships

Official Match Status: Unregistered

Tam Song

• (Twin brother)

Tam and Linh are incredibly close, have a very strong bond, and are protective of each other. Though their parents were originally ashamed of having twins and tried to pretend that their children were a year apart in age, Tam and Linh always told people that they were twins despite the prejudice against multiple births in the Lost Cities. When Linh flooded Atlantis, Tam chose to be banished with her instead of remaining in the Lost Cities. Tam attended Exillium with Linh before the Council lifted their banishment. In Lodestar, both twins join the Black Swan.

Tam and Linh also have a way of discreetly communicating using shadow-whispering and a secret code they invented while they were fleeing the Lost Cities. They chose two "I'm in trouble" phrases in case either of them were in danger, made up of code words so that the Telepaths on the Council wouldn't be a threat. The code for when Tam is in danger is some variant of "ocean", and the code for when Linh is in danger is "Choralmere."

Sophie Foster

• (Friend/Possible love interest)

Sophie first met Linh while they were both students at Exillium, and Sophie later told Mr. Forkle about the twins' situation and convinced him to find them a safer place for them to stay than Wildwood. Sophie and Linh are good friends and have gone on several missions together, most notably when Sophie enhanced Linh so she could save Atlantis in Nightfall.

Fitz Vacker

• (Friend/Possible love interest)

Fitz and Linh are friends. Fitz is often impressed by Linh's Hydrokinesis, and he is quick to help her when Linh is pushing herself and her ability too far.

Dex Dizznee

• (Friend/Possible love interest)

Dex is often impressed by Linh's Hydrokinesis. The two of them are friends and get along well.

Mr. Forkle

• (Benefactor)

Mr. Forkle finds Tam and Linh a safe place to stay in Neverseen, and the twins join the Black Swan officially in Lodestar.

Keefe Sencen

• (Friend/Possible love interest)

Keefe and Linh are friends and are on good terms. At this point in the series, there have been no major interactions between the two of them, and Keefe does not appear to be holding a grudge against Linh for her being "Bangs Boy’s" twin sister.

Wylie Endal

• (Friend/Foster sibling)

Linh and Wylie are close friends and foster siblings, as Tiergan is a guardian to both of them. In Lodestar, Linh helps heal Wylie after he was attacked by the Neverseen, wrapping him in a water cocoon to help with the burns the Neverseen gave him. Wylie often informs Linh of what Team Valiant is up to in Legacy. In Nightfall, it mentions Linh enjoying Wylie’s Elvin music.

Biana Vacker

• (Friend/Possible love interest)

Biana and Linh met in Neverseen. They are friends and are on good terms. When the team goes down to Atlantis to look for Vespera's Nightfall, Biana trusts Linh to go under the water, even though she is known for flooding half of the city.

Marella Redek

• (Best friend/Possible love interest)

Marella and Linh are good friends. They often do ability training together, as both of their abilities, Pyrokinesis and Hydrokinesis, are elemental. The two of them are trying to find a way to merge their abilities.

Quan Song

• (Father)

Quan is Linh's father. He was very embarrassed to have twins and often tried to make the twins tell people that they were a year apart. When Quan was in the Tribunal because Linh had flooded Atlantis and she was being sent to Exillium, he didn't argue, which led Linh and Tam to believe that he wanted her gone, so he could have the appearance that he has one child.

Mai Song

• (Mother)

Mai is the softer of the parents. She didn't protest against the banishment and let Tam follow Linh to Exillium, but in Nightfall, when Alvar was found and Tam, Linh, Biana, and Sophie dropped him off at Choralmere (where Quan and Mai lived), and it was revealed that Mai missed the twins, and had a painting with Linh on one side and had Tam on another.

Jensi Babblos

• (Acquaintance)

Jensi meets Linh in Lodestar. He is very energetic and friendly to her.

Glimmer/Rayni Aria

• (Former enemy/Ally/Frenemy)

Linh meets Glimmer in Legacy. Linh seems to hold a grudge against her and does not trust her. She acts cold and mean in front of Glimmer, possibly because she is worried for her twin brother, Tam, who seems to trust her, and Linh knows that Tam does not trust people easily. It is also possible that Linh does not like Glimmer because she was the one who put the bonds on Tam in the first place. The other reason could be that Glimmer was their enemy in the Neverseen and could have influenced Tam, causing Linh to feel suspicious of her.

In Stellarlune, Linh still did not trust Glimmer as at that time, she had not revealed her identity. When Linh was talking to Tam about trusting Glimmer, Sophie said she had never seen Linh look so fierce. Her soft pink cheeks had sharpened with her scowl, and the hair around her face seemed to have extra silver highlights, which shimmered as the wind tossed the silky strands around. “I’m tired of hiding at Choralmere, waiting for you to come to your senses,” Linh told him. “I know you’ve been through a lot- and I can see how the situation might make it easy to form strange bonds with someone and mistake it for friendship. But Glimmer is not your friend.” Everything darkened. Sophie thought it must have been Tam’s shadows, but then she noticed the gray storm clouds gathering over their heads, which was, obviously, Linh’s doing. But after that, Glimmer revealed her identity as Rayni, so it is possible that Linh would then learn to trust her more.

Lady Song

• (Family member)

Lady Song is Tam and Linh’s great (X9) grandmother. She was the family member who changed their surname from Tong to Song.

Quotes

“The water doesn't get to command me anymore. Only I command it. And I think I can save the city.”

—Linh Hai Song, in Book 6: Nightfall

“This is fun-- I never get to see Tam blush!”

—Linh Hai Song, in Book 7: Flashback

“Actions never tell the whole story. Good can be done for the wrong reason. And bad can be misunderstood.”

—Linh Hai Song, in Book 5: Lodestar

“What’s it about her, Tam? Is she, like, the light to your darkness?”

—Linh Hai Song, in Book 9: Stellarlune

Trivia

• The name "Linh" is a Vietnamese name, along with her brother's name, "Tam" and her parents' names. It means "spirit" or "soul." "Hai," (Chinese character: 海) her middle name, means "ocean" or "sea" in Chinese— a fitting name for a Hydrokinetic.
• The family's last name was originally Tong (in Vietnamese, it's spelled Tống"), but her great-great-grandmother changed it to Song in honor of her profession. Song is the Chinese variation of "Tống".
• Linh has two bodyguards named Urre (dwarf) and Timur (dwarf).
• In Nightfall it was mentioned that she likes listening to Wylie's Elvin Music.

Character Bio by Shannon Messenger

Linh may be the soft-spoken, easily blushing counterpart to her twin brother’s surly moods—but that doesn’t make her any less of a force to be reckoned with. In fact, she’s one of the most powerful characters in the series—which sometimes causes problems for her. But she’s moved beyond her days of being the Girl of Many Floods and is ready and willing to prove her incredible control whenever the need arises, whether it be with awe-inspiring tricks or life-saving rescues.