‘And I like these two,’ Grace said, pointing to one of a streetscape along the Royal Mile with the cobbled streets and shop windows, and one Elle had drawn of the harbour just this morning.

‘Good,’ Grace said with a definitive nod. ‘If it’s okay with you, I can get these framed by a framer I use a few doors down and we’ll add the cost into the price we’ll sell it for. Then we can work on a commission basis.’

‘Um … I guess so,’ Elle stammered, still shocked that they were actually discussing the possibility of selling her artwork. ‘Whatever you think works best.’

‘Let’s see how they go and we can re-evaluate if need be later.’ The phone rang and Aila went to answer it, then stuck her head around the corner to say it was her mum and that Elle was invited to dinner tonight.

‘Oh, I don’t want to intrude,’ Elle said.

‘I’m sorry, did you think it was a question?’ She grinned. ‘There’s no point arguing, Mum’s expecting you.’

‘Okay,’ Elle laughed. ‘Then I’d love to.’

Elle left the shop a little later, wondering what on earth had just happened.

‘Can you believe it, Gran? My sketches are for sale.’

Elle’s pencil skimmed across the page in light strokes, outlining the stone bridge in front of her and the little creek that ran underneath it. The ferns and trees and undergrowth that grew along the banks made it look like a scene from a storybook, and she could almost picture being lost in the deep, dark forest beyond.

So they should be, Gran said with a note of pride. They deserve to be up where everyone can see them.

Elle studied the page before her critically, feeling like something was missing, before smiling as she sketched in a tiny fairy fluttering around the ferns and another at the top of the page, closer and in more detail.

They’re in your blood, Gran said with a wistfulness Elle had only ever heard when she told Elle stories of Scotland. You see them too.

‘See them? No,’ Elle said. ‘But I feel like this is exactly the kind of place you would find them if they were around.’ Look harder, Gran urged, and Elle frowned as she looked up from her picture and into the forest grove below.

Surely she wasn’t seriously looking for fairies?

Wheesht, Gran hushed. Stop thinking and just look.