ICK and IND JWY, daughter JIK and son FLIC

The Jwys had a haberdashery and clothing shop, which is why they are always sensibly well-dressed. Mrs Jwy is also a secret writer of romantic adventure fiction and unbeknown to her husband, has provided the island with many a racy romance written under a pseudonym. Everyone reads her books (even those who say they don’t) but Ick would be astonished to learn that his sensible, quiet wife lives an entirely different life through her wildly romantic stories of handsome heroes, intrepid heroines and thrilling adventures of derring-do. One day, she thinks, she will tell him the truth and see where that takes them. It could open-up a whole new chapter in their lives. So Ind was keen to taste a little of the type of adventure she writes about and who knows, perhaps some of the romance too. It could be an interesting journey for Ick in more ways than he’s aware of. But the other reason for their journey is because of their son Flic. I taught him a game that we play in my homeland called Quickhit, which is played with a hard ball and a wooden bat. Well, Flic is the most natural quickhitter I have ever seen! Not only is he an incredible hitter, but he can also toss the ball better than anyone I can ever remember. He begged his family to let him come with me so that he can, maybe, end up as a professional quickhitter. In the end, the whole family, with lots of encouragement from Ind, decided to come as they didn’t want to lose Flic or for him to lose his dream.

FERT and TRC HREW, daughter INK, son BRL, cats HOOLOO and COTTY

Mr Hrew is a teacher (we became good friends when he talked me into taking on a special teaching role at his school) and his wife is a Crazy Cat Lady (according to her husband and children – and the whole village). All the Hrews love to learn, and they want to gain first-hand knowledge about the wider world – a world they didn’t know existed until I arrived (although there have been some scholars who have proposed the possible existence of others based on some of the strange things that have washed up on the beach over time). In particular, young Ink is very keen to study astronomy and mathematics, something I taught in her school but her desire to learn and capability far exceeds my limited STEM abilities. In fact, Ink is my apprentice navigator, as we follow the stars to lead us to my home. Trc was very sad to leave behind her extensive collection of cats. Fert put his foot down and insisted she could only bring two. Contrary as cats always are, Hooloo and Cotty have made friends with the ship rats (every sea vessel must have rats, it’s just a fact of sea-life). The cats thought it best to befriend the rats because, if they ate them at the start of the journey, then they wouldn’t be able to spend pleasant hours stalking, hunting and chasing them throughout the length of the voyage. I think the rats need to re-think the terms of the peace treaty when we get closer to journey’s end. Trc is looking forward to acquiring and breeding new cats hitherto unseen by her.