Two Moons (island)

"Two Moons, home of the wiliest traders in the Silver Sea..."

- Mab

Two Moons is a small trading island in the Silver Sea, south of Maris, which is mostly covered in treacherous swampland. It was the birthplace of the half-turtle man Tier. The island is shaped like a crescent moon. The island lies relativly far to the south-west of Deltora.

Language
Some people of Two Moons speak a foreign language originally spoken by the turtle people of the island's centre. Some words of the language are goozli, kaja, atta and nak. The word kaja means unusual and interesting, and potentially powerful.

Swamp dwellers
The people living in the swamplands at the island's centre are referred to as "swamp dwellers" and seem to be their own race. Many swamp dwellers speak the turtle people's language almost exclusively. The swamp dwellers are a superstitious people with strange beliefs, for example about the spirits of the dead being strongest and more visible during dawn and dusk than any other time. The most superstitious group of swamp-dwellers are the turtle people who live in the deep heart of the island, and believe that they are the legacy of the half turtle man sorcerer Tier. Their leader is said to be the heir to his magic. The swamp dwellers are the only ones who gather the famous sunrise pearls, as well as make the tuppi sweets from the swamp orchids. They keep most of both the pearls and season's batches of tuppi for themselves, and allow only a few of the town-dwelling traders to purchase the two from them. There are many part swamp dwellers, or "part-swampies" as the town dwellers call them, on the fringes of the town, closer to the swamps inland.

Geography
Two Moons is shaped like a crescent moon. The swamplands at the centre is shrouded in mist rising to the sky. The arc of the island's shore is spangled with small, glowing lanterns at night while the centre lie dark.

Bay
Two Moons' large, calm bay can provide safe harbour for a dozen ships at once.

Trivia

 * The sweet scent of the swamp orchids in the Two Moons swamplands can be smelled from the water; as the Star of Deltora was nearing Two Moons and was embraced by the curved arms of land that is its crescent, Britta described in her mind the scent of the island as 'a mixture of spices, sodden earth and still, dank water, with the faintest trace of something almost unbearably rich and sweet.'
 * The name "Two Moons" may be a reference to Two Moons' crescent moon shape and the fact that at night the real moon is reflected in the water around the island, giving the appearance of twin moons. In Two Moons, when Britta sees this, she thinks of the two words, the name of the island ("Two Moons").