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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.

In returning to the magical world of Ismara, Gina and Zack Dore had nearly drowned, but been saved by a man and woman in heavy sealskin coats.

Completely dry and able to stand again, brother and sister stumbled over slick round stones toward the cobbled square, aided by the two fisher folk. At least that was what Zack and Gina assumed they were, since the bay was full of fishing sloops with upturned bows and seal-tailed sterns.

It was only as they drew nearer to town that Gina and Zack got a clear view of the man and woman who’d rescued them. Far from being leathery old trollers, they were young and graceful.

The man was nearly seven feet tall. There was an angularity to his face that was unconventional, and yet strangely appealing. His indigo hair hung in ringlets around the edges of his hood. His almond eyes were lantern yellow — kind, Gina noted, but unlike any she’d ever seen in a man.

“’Shelcor’ is as folk call me,” said he, “an’ she the wife a’ my heart.”

She of his heart was singularly striking, with coppery hair that sprouted like a harvest from beneath her hood, and meadow-green eyes that, like her husband’s, were full of kindness. “It’s Maerith as I’m called.” Well past six feet tall herself, Maerith reached over Gina’s head and stroked her husband’s face. “An’ this one, apart from Uol, is all my hope an’ happiness.”

“Nay gift I, but the receiver,” said Shelcor, caressing her hand. “But see now how yer cheldings quail. Yer must come and soak up the fire at The Screaming Spiffwit.”

“P-p-please, that would be terrific!” replied Gina in Kellish, her teeth clattering as she spoke.

Shelcor reacted with concern: “Nay cause for ‘terror,’ chelding. Tis but a lee hearth of which I spake.”

“Oh, right,” said Gina, realizing English transliterated poorly into Kellish, “I meant that it would be wonderful.”

“Traith,” Maerith said. “When yer’ve the heart ter see, the world is full a’ wonder.”

“Traith!” echoed Shelcor.

Maerith and Shelcor peeled off their thick, fine-grained coats (it was hard to imagine these gentle giants killing seals or otters) and placed them beneath a low wall that separated the beach from the town square. They carefully covered them with rocks, leaving no signs of their presence, and then strode brusquely toward the town.

Gina and Zack hesitated. Were they supposed to follow? “Not exactly verbose, are they?”

Zack shrugged. “Never mind that,” he said,

“What’s a ‘Screaming Spiffwit?’”

φ

Thoughts: Have you ever met someone so unique that they forced you to revise your mental list of “types of people”?

To read the next episode, click here.