“Long ago, it was a hot summer day on the isle,” Sidra began. “Lady Whin of the Wildflowers walked the hills, searching for one of her sisters, Orenna. Now, Orenna was known to be one of the stealthiest of the earth spirits. She liked to grow her crimson flowers in the most unlikely of places—on hearthstones, in riverbeds, on the high, windy slopes of Tilting Thom—because she liked to eavesdrop on the other spirits, the fire, the water, and the wind. Sometimes she would glean their secrets and share them with her kind, with the alder maidens and the rock families and the elegant bracken of the vales.

“Whin and the Earie Stone had learned of her ways, and after receiving complaints from water and fire and threats from wind, they decided that Orenna must be approached. So Whin found her sister, who was coaxing flowers to bloom along the chimney of a mortal house.

“‘You’ve angered the fire with your stealthy ways,’ Whin explained. ‘As well as the wind and the water, and we must maintain peace with our brethren.’

“Orenna appeared shocked. ‘I only give my beauty to places that need it, such as this drab chimney.’

“‘You are free to bloom in the grass on the hillsides, in the gardens of mortal kind, and among the bracken,’ Whin said. ‘But you must leave these other places alone and let the fire and the water and the wind tend to them.’

“Orenna nodded, but she didn’t like to take correction from Whin, or the Earie Stone. The next day she grew her flowers on the highest summit of the isle, Tilting Thom. And while the mountain is still a subject of the earth, the wind commands that place with a mighty breath. The wind soon learned of her eyes in the cleft of the rock, how she watched their wings blow north and south, east and west. How she stole their secrets. They threatened to bring the mountain down, and Whin once again had to seek her sister.

“She found Orenna by the coast, coaxing flowers to grow at the bottom of gleaming eddies.

“‘I have told you once, now twice,’ Whin began. ‘You can bloom amid the grass of the hillsides, in the gardens of mortal kind, and in the bracken, but nowhere else, sister. Your stealthy ways are causing strife.’”

“Orenna was full of pride. She was also full of knowledge now, having watched the ways of the other spirits. She knew Whin was crowned among the wildflowers, but Orenna thought she could rule better than her sister.

“‘You are simply weak, Whin. And the other spirits know they can command you.’