Join us for a weekly blog party in Six Sentence Stories, hosted by Denise and attended by some mighty fine, fun folk. Prompt word=BALLOON. Read, write and come back for more SIX SENTENCE STORIES.  (Link goes active Wed night).

Esme passes her hand over her scrying pool, attempting to clear the blurred images and connect with her sister, Maeve; she sees multiple snatches of plastics-littered fields and horizon and dead vegetation, smoky ill-colored skies, a bright blue button dropping from a crone’s hand, the edge of a purple cape undulating with the hand’s motion, followed by the view of a wild-haired troll woman, tail whipping, groaning over her ballooning belly as the words of a restorative spell barely come through distorted audio.

“Maeve,” calls Esme, recognizing the spell-caster’s voice, “I can almost hear you, but what is going on?”

Sharp click of a mechanical device, a brilliant spread of blue, so broad in its passage that it appears pixelated with tiny flowers, followed by another click that resolves into a moving image of the troll, a young harried-looking woman in a pink and orange flowered tunic and white pants smiling brightly and holding a cell phone high above the group of three, and Maeve, with a fierce forced smile, crouched next to the troll, her arm thrown out to draw attention to the bluebells rolling along and over the horizon, covering the trashed landscape.

“Just saving this world, Esme, that is…” and Maeve turned to scowl at the young woman “if Grace hasn’t messed up on the selfie!”

“I got it and I’m posting it n…,” Grace grumbled before being interrupted by a howl from the troll woman.

“I’m a little busy right now, Esme,” Maeve cackled in delight, adding, “This troll woman is about to give birth.”    

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2026)

To get to another side to this story, please tap here:  https://valleyofthetrolls.blog/2014/06/16/writing-essentials-sat-sci-fi-miracles-and-madness-and-hjordis/