“Instantly, Radiant One,” I replied. “Even though my heart would pine for her every waking moment, and my dreams would be full only of her.”

Then she turned to Sally, who had not followed more than a word or two of this questioning, and said in perfect English, “I am wroth with thy husband, woman. Yet you may save him. Would you enter my service, come under the mountain with me, and never see him again in order to so save him?”

Tears started up in my dear one’s eyes, but she said, immediately and steadfastly, “I have crossed wide oceans and left my parents on the other side of the world to be with him. How could I do less than that to save him?”

Even knowing only that this was some powerful Earth Spirit, perhaps the equal or superior to any of the Great Spirits we had encountered here, she said that! Oh, my beloved brave one, what did I ever do to deserve you?

But of course, it was exactly the right answer, because at last, Hozjajka Mednoj Gory smiled, as if the sun had broken out from behind the clouds. “I see you are of no use to me, Pavel Lebedev. Prosper here in your new home, with your new allies. You may see me from time to time, for all Mountains are the same to me, and I can be here or back in Rossiya in less time than it takes to blink.”

Well, that explained how she had made the journey. The Great Ones have powers that are astonishing, to be sure!

And with that, she began to walk off—only to turn back to me.

“There is a mine here, which interests me,” she said. “So I may be nearer than you think, more often than you guess, and you may see me in places you do not expect. If you do see me, in the future do not call me Hozjajka Mednoj Gory.”

“I hear you and obey, Radiant One,” I said obediently, because obviously, there was no other answer to be made. “But what shall I call you?”

“Jolene.”

At that, Anna nearly dropped the book. What?

She picked it back up again.

“Jolene,” she said. “I saw it on a tombstone. I like it.”

And with that, she turned and vanished.

“Aunt Jinny,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “What does Hozjajka Mednoj Gory mean?” She stumbled over the unfamiliar syllables, and her aunt looked at her in puzzlement for a very long moment. “What Great-Granpappy called Jolene,” she added, when Jinny continued to stare.

“Oh! So, y’all got t’ thet part, hmm?” she replied. “I cain’t wrap my mouth ’round thet palaver, but it means The Queen of Copper Mountain.” She shrugged. “Now y’all unnerstand why I said don’t get twixt her an’ what she wants?”

“Great-Granpappy didn’ say, ’xactly . . .” But he certainly had implied more than enough. Anna sucked on her lower lip. “He reckoned she’s purt powerful.” And she remembered that forest spirit that Jolene had ordered about, the one bigger than a house, and shivered.