Could someone explain this katakana reading of ＜光る葉っぱ＞ from 鹿の王?

Question

In the first page of the novel Shika no Ou by Uehashi Nahoko, this proper noun/kanji is used with some unusual furigana: <光る葉っぱ> read as ピカ・パル. Since it's a fantasy novel and I know that the author uses non-Japanese derived names in her work, I figured it may be the case here. But, it's my first time reading one of her books and I'm generally confused if this is a given name, a plant name, or something else. How would a Japanese reader interpret this?

Answer 1

Something like this is very common in novels and lyrics, and similar questions have been asked many times:

• Why is 未来 read as あした?
• Why are some lyrics' words written in kanji whose usual reading is not how it is sung?
• Why do some kanji have furigana that are not valid readings?
• Are these furigana wrong?
• Reading 男 or 女 as ひと

In your case, the author want you to read this word as ピカ・バル, but also want you to know the meaning of ピカ・バル is "shining leaf".