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Aliya disappeared into the woods, but as soon as Adonai led Cindy into the woods as well she reappeared and beckoned for them to follow her.

"It's a long way," she told them, her tone urgent. "Hurry!"

Adonai tripped and fell to his hands and knees, then stood and brushed himself off quickly.

"Huwwy!" he repeated to Cindy, scampering ahead a bit.

Ulani stepped up silently behind Cindy and fell into step beside her.

"They know the way," she smiled down at the girl. "I'll stick with you, you're pretty much guaranteed that they're going to run ahead. They know this area like the back of their hands, they'd leave you behind and not realize it."

"To be honest," Ulani smiled, "it's something to be excited about. They're quite possibly the most beautiful flower in the Four Lands, though the plant itself, when not in bloom, is nothing special to look at."

Scratch that, it was actually fairly ugly.

"But it's not as far as Aliya makes it sound," she added softly. "Really it's just over this ridge." She nodded towards a hill that rose out of the ground ahead of them.

"By the end of the night," Ulani sighed, smiling, "they shrivel and die. At the first light of the sun. Watching them bloom, however, seeing them in bloom ... is ... beyond words."

She laughed. "Ulrich doesn't care one way or the other about it, he's seen it all too many times. I dragged him out here I think every year for a century or more after I discovered them - quite accidentally, at that."

"They're not really the ... pressing type," Ulani replied in a murmur. "Drying, yes, but pressing, no."

She sighed and looked up at the moon. "It was just a night when I was missing Ruwen - my elder daughter, she's been gone for a long time now - particularly fiercely. I went for a ... long walk one night and stumbled across them. I had seen the plant many times before, but I had never seen it in bloom ... when I returned the next morning it was bare again, and I returned almost every night for a year until I learned how rarely it bloomed."

"Chance," Ulani smiled. "And yet chance can be the most wonderful force in this world. These flowers are more than just something beautiful to me, they're a reminder of my daughter and her family, that she's in a better place, and that I needn't worry about her anymore."

Ulani smiled and nodded. "Yes," she murmured, "it is wonderful."

Of course that peace came only once a year ... or had at least until Aliya and Adonai had come along. Now Ulani felt at peace almost all the time.

"Just beyond here," she murmured, "there's a large rock ... the children should be there already."

Ulani laughed softly. "Ah ... no," she replied, giggling. "I'm sorry, I should have explained better. The plant itself is growing on the rock. It's sort of like a vine of ivy, I suppose, but ... different. You'll see."

Sure enough, within moments the rock came into view. Aliya was sitting beside it (the stillest she ever was), and Adonai was perched on her shoulders, leaning close to the vines.

The plant itself was, just as Ulani said, nothing special. It looked like nothing more than a brownish green rope slung haphazardly around the rock; but there were several tiny green things on it that looked like tiny buds. They were closed tightly at the moment, but Aliya and Adonai were staring at them eagerly.