A rooster crowed as the sun spilt its golden light over the horizon of the Isles of Ödon.  A girl of sixteen trudged up the hill with a large tin bucket in her hand.  Her curly hair was dark and her rough skin brown from dirt and exposure to the sun.  She wore boots a size too big and skits gathered above the knee so not to drag in the mud.  Over a plain blouse, she wore her late father’s old traveling jacket and on her hips, she carried a large tool belt.  Her name was Mariella.  Since she had no brothers and her mother was a widow, Mariella did most of the housework.

Climbing up the hill, Mariella struggled in her boots.  Not much further, she groaned.  Over the hill stood the town’s watering well, it was an ancient little well and its bricks were loose.  Mariella tied her bucket to the end of the rope and lowered it down.  She watched as the bucket disappeared in the shadows of the deep well.  The rope pulled a bit as the water filled the bucket and Mariella began to reel it up again.  The bucket was a little heavier than normal, and as she saw it come out of the shadows, a small person came up with it.  Mariella gasped and—thinking the person was a child—she turned the crank faster.  Soon the bucket and the small person were out of the well, and Mariella stared in fear.  The person was a malnourished child with dreadful eyes and a slender tail.  Surely demonic.

With the deep voice of a man, the imp said to Mariella, “You have pulled me from my pit.”

“My deep apologies.  I will lower the bucket and return you, if you so wish.”  Mariella replied.

The imp smiled slyly.  “That is not my wish.”  He and Mariella stared at each other for a moment.  She wasn’t sure if she should drop him back in the well, but before she could decide what to do, the imp spoke again.  “I am called Shrub.  And your name?”

“You honor a stranger by entrusting your name to me… but I cannot do the same, for I know you are a demon.”

The imp frowned.  “Do you think I chose this for myself?” he asked.  “The human who birthed me was raped by a brownie.  When the woman saw that I too was an abomination, she threw me in this well to drown.  I’ve been here for ten years and all that time I’ve contemplated my fate.”  He looked at Mariella with large serious eyes.  “Now I ask you, who is more the demon, the brownie who gave me life or the woman who tried to kill me?”

“I do not know.”  Mariella said.  “But I do see now, whether human, fey, or even demonic, we can’t change what we are… but perhaps we can change who we are.”

“A wise answer.”  Shrub grinned revealing his pointed teeth.  “Now because you’ve answered so honestly, I will tell you a secret.  If you leave right away and travel to the distant village of Olesia, you will discover the life the Fates have prepared for you.”

“How am I to know you aren’t cursing me?”  Mariella asked.

“Trust your heart.”

“Of all things, the heart is most deceitful.”

“You too have heard the voice of the Fates?”

“Who are the Fates?”  Mariella asked.

The imp frowned.  “There is no time.  You’ve been given the opportunity to choose your own destiny, but you must choose now.  If you decide to discover the Fates for yourself, you must leave this moment.”

Without another word, Kirsten started on the road away from town.  She didn’t know the way to Olesia, but surely, someone along the way would.  She didn’t look back and the fact that she had no money or supplies never entered her mind.  There was a pitter-patter beside Mariella, and when she looked down, Shrub walked there.

Late in the afternoon, a woman stepped out from a cottage and peered around.  She called out, “Mariella!” but there was no answer.  “My daughter!

Earcán Loideáin, being a man of twenty, was looking for a bride.  He traveled near and far searching for a woman of extraordinary beauty and circumstances.  He searched all of Southland for this woman, but no damsel was able to capture his affections.  He finally took rest at the small village of Astervail and decided to end his quest.  A week later, after replenishing his supplies for the return home, Earcán Loideáin overheard a conversation between merchants.

“I hear that a girl arrived in Olesia, she claims an imp said she would find her future there.  She left everything at the word of an imp.”

“That’s extraordinary.”

Upon hearing this, Earcán Loideáin regained hope and started towards the sea.  It took him only a week to reach Olesia, and when he did, he met a girl sitting at the town gates.  Though dirty faced, Earcán Loideáin found the girl to be beautiful.  He approached her slowly and offered her his hand; she smiled and took it.

“Are you the girl that spoke to the imp?”

“I am, sir.”  She answered.

“I am Earcán Loideáin … I’ve searched all Southland for my bride and I believe that you are she.”

“You don’t even know my name, sir.”

“Than grace my ears with the sound of your name.”  He pleaded.

“I am Mariella.”

From that point on, Earcán Loideáin and Mariella spent every moment together, learning all they could about each other.  Soon enough, they were wed and Earcán Loideáin took his new bride back to the kingdom of Bethany.