Prologue
"Mama! Mama!" A young girl with copper-colored hair and eyes to match ran up to her mother, a youthful woman with curly blonde hair and red eyes. "Guess what!"
"I don't know, darling," the mother said, squatting so that she was at eye-level with her daughter. "What?"
The girl grinned, showing off the gap where one of her baby teeth had fallen out. "I made a new friend!"
The mother gasped in an exaggerated manner, as one does with young children. "I bet that was fun! Who is this new friend? How did you meet them?"
"Well," the young girl said, adopting a thoughtful pose, "he was in Papa's side of the field. I thought that was weird, 'cause this is our land, but he said he's been here waaaaay longer than Papa's papa. He was wearing a green coat and a funny green hat."
"He seems interesting. Did you get his name?"
She shook her head. "No, I forgot. He had to leave. He said he lives in the big tree near the Goddess Spring. I said, 'nuh-uh, people can't live in trees,' and he said, 'I'm not a person, I'm a Harvest Sprite.' Just like out of Gramma's stories! Mama, isn't that cool?"
"That's very cool, Molly," her mother said. "You should go tell Chelsea and Kevin!"
The girl nodded enthusiastically. "Okay!" She pecked her mother on the cheek and ran off to find her twin and her cousin.
