Source fanpop.com

The Wishing Map is a full-length fantasy that is being posted episodically at this site. To read the previous episode, click here. To read the entire novel, begin here.

Naims (gnomes) had chosen Zack as their new Storysmith and carted him away. Deciding the only way to escape was to teach them how to be storysmiths themselves, he invited the best “pretenders” to meet with him.

Zack found over 200 of them gathered in the Great Mushroom Chamber. He immediately pointed at an un-carved rainbowwood panel in the twelve-foot-high ceiling, and asked, What’s that?” It was as if he’d asked, “What’s the square root of pigeon?” A naim youth replied,

“Why, it’s nothing, Master Zaggyzim, because its story hasn’t been told yet.”

Zack sighed. He pointed at an aqua-colored streak in the rainbowwood grain and asked, “Do you see the overflowing river?”

“Oh, yes, Master Storysmith, plain as your toes, now that yer tells it!”

“I sees it too!” shouted a mop-haired girl.

“Aye, there it is!”

“Look at it raging!”

Dozens of naims stepped back, trying to avoid the dangerous waves. They could all see it. More than see it, they were in the midst of it! “Oooooooooo!” someone squealed in the delicious way that pretending you’re in danger while knowing you’re safe makes you squeal. “Look! There’s a boat adrift!” There was, in fact, a boat-shaped splotch of grayish-brown in the midst of the “river.”

Some began to sway with the current, holding onto the sides of the boat and to one another. A few fell overboard and had to be rescued. Others grabbed oars and attempted to row ashore. One stood on the shoulders of two comrades and became a masthead; a moment later an imaginary sail was raised on his outstretched arms.

“Who said that?” Zack shouted.

The chamber froze.

“I mean, who said there was a boat?”

The naims turned toward him, shame-faced, their round ears drooping. Zack felt like he’d yelled into a box of puppies. “No, no, it’s not a bad thing. It’s good. Really. So who said the part about the boat?”

A tiny female named Reetie was pushed into the middle of the chamber. Her eyes closed, she reached out and patted Zack’s kneecap, which was higher than the top of her head. “I did, Master Zaggy.”

“Hey-fah!” Zack cheered as he hoisted her up onto his shoulder.

“Hey-fah!” the naims cautiously rejoiced.

“And who said the part about the rocks?”

An old fellow stepped forward, his bald head splotched with liver spots.

“Tuber! How did you know they were there?”

“Because yer showed ‘em ter me, Master Zaggyzim. When yer speaks, I sees what I ne’er seen a’fore!”

“But I didn’t mention any rocks.”

“Once yer showed me the river, I seen t’other bits.”

Zack grinned. “Hey-fah for Tuber Root-Rigger the Storysmith!”

“I a storysmith?” the old naim spluttered…

With a mix of joy and terror.

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Thoughts: Helping someone discover a gift they didn’t know they had is both exhilarating and terrifying. You may be changing their world forever.

To read the next episode, click here.