• Once, a long time ago in a city that time had forgotten, there lived a girl named Corrila. She was very beautiful and also very kind. There was just one problem. She was extremely poor and had been alone ever since her parents had died three years ago. Most of the villagers came to seek her counsel whenever they had a problem. She was known far and wide as a gifted healer.
    Her beauty was known all around the village, but she was very modest about it. She may have been diminutive in nature but she was hard to miss. Her eyes were the richest emerald color and could see right through you while her raven black hair was so long and lustrous that every woman wished to be like her. Her nose was turned up at the end like the beak of a tiny bird. Corrila’s lips were full and crimson. Many of the boys loved her for just that quality alone.
    Since she had no relatives she was on her own. She was only fifteen years old, but knew enough to take over the healing business. Her house was among the smallest in town, but it was also the most well known. When others could not see a way or find a cure Corrila with luck, and some said a little magic could fix many a medical malady.
    One day she found to her dismay that she had run out of mudflowers. The mudflower, a rather ugly stubby brown and well muddy looking flower was very important. This was very bad indeed because mudflowers, ugly as they are, are the only cure for the horrible fire sickness. This sickness was ghastly because its victims would turn bright red and then their body temperature would rise. The disease came to an end after three days when the person just burned from within. The nearest place where mudflower grew was the practically deserted Walnon Province.
    Corrila thought that everything would be all right because her supplier was expected to arrive shortly. Then the town received a letter. It said that Sir Calus in a revolt had taken over Walnon Province and that no more mudflowers were to be taken from the area. The flowers would be sold for 500,000 pounds each. There was quite an uproar going on throughout the entire village as people talked about this and the fact that the fire sickness was getting closer everyday.
    Corrila knew what she had to do. She had to get those mudflowers away from Sir Calus. Now she just had to gather the courage and resources that she needed. She got permission and the thanks and blessings of the head councilman of the village. She was going over her plan and knew what she had to do but was still a little hesitant about leaving when her best friend Rilla came to see her. Rilla was a couple years older then Corrila and was like an older sister to her.
    When Rilla came in, Corrila burst into tears because her friend was showing the early signs of the fire sickness. Rilla's face was blotchy and red and her eyes had a slight haze to them. Corrila kept her composure somehow and asked Rilla when she had first started to feel the effects. Corrila made Rilla lie down on the cot and then got a special herb poultice that would cool her down and just maybe give her more time. She then quickly blurted out her plan. Corrila planned to make her way through the forest on horseback to the Walnon Province and get the mudflowers that the town needed because the epidemic was now here and would spread like wildfire. Rilla told her that she had great confidence in Corrila’s skills and that she knew Corrila wouldn’t let her down.
    Corrila's still had fears and uncertainties but she knew what she had to do. As soon as darkness descended she got on the mare that she had borrowed from the council and rode off. It was about a quarter of a days ride to Walnon Province. The thought of losing her best friend tore at her mind and she didn’t stop her horse all through the night.
    The next morning she saw the Walnon Province less than half a mile away. She heard a rustling sound off in the woods and then saw a strange green flash of light. That was the last thing she saw for the next two hours. When she woke up, there was a strange man looking over her so she feigned sleep and watched him out of the corner of her eye. She observed him for maybe a full minute, and then realized that she was seeing a wood elf. He had the thin figure, pale skin, oh and the very noticeable blonde hair that Corilla had only heard about. He realized that she was awake and backed away.
    He then went on to apologize and said that he thought that she was a threat to his people but after looking through her bags while she slept he determined that she was not a threat. Mesmerized Corrila stood up and the wood elf introduced himself. This wood elf said that his name was Elmroy Willowbranch. Elmroy told her to sit and tell him her story, after listening to her berate him for attacking her in the first place. Corrila told her story and explained that she had to get into the Walnon Province.
    Since this was not exactly a legal mission under the new leadership there she asked Elmroy if he knew how to get in without being noticed. He did know a way; he showed her how to use the power of vanishing which of course all elves know how to do. All she had to do was eat the plant called rosebush ragweed. She tried the plant just to make sure that it would actually work. It was surprising how fast it did work. As she chewed on the plant her body slowly became completely invisible. She could disappear almost at will when she had this mysterious plant. After listening to her story Elmroy said that he could not let her go alone, he wanted to help.
    They went to Sir Calus’s camp and saw along the way that Calus’s camp had been ravaging the countryside. Homes had been abandoned and stables had been burned, the smell of smoke was heavy in the air. They got right up to the outskirts and went unnoticed. While they were there, they decided to start some trouble. Shrieking and wailing like demons from below the two wove there way through the camp tormenting the soldiers, collapsing the tents and freeing the horses. Calus’s men were scared by the “ghosts.” Corilla, knowing many old stories along with healing had heard the legends of the Walnon Province. It was believed that the place was haunted because of the uncanny weather and the fact that sometimes people just seemed to disappear. Thus the men’s fear was fueled and they ran like each step might be their last. Thanks to Corrila and Elmroy the legends were spread anew with each and every man who ran away and told his story.
    Sir Calus was left with no one to protect him and feared for his life because he was not popular at all after all the horrible things that he had done. The revolt had not been easy to plan and in his heart Calus was more a coward then a commander. This was to be his last failure. After that day at the camp Sir Calus disappeared and no one knows what ever became of him.
    It wasn’t hard to find the mudflower fields that Calus had been zealously guarding because they were right at the center of the camp. They gathered as many as they could possibly carry. Elmroy and Corrila went as fast as they could back to the village. By the time they got there almost three days had passed. Rilla was in the last stages of the disease and death was closing in. But the mudflowers worked there wondrous powers once Corrila mashed them into a paste. The paste was the easiest way to administer the cure and Rilla was better almost instantly.
    The three of them stayed in the house and Corrila asked Elmroy if he would tell her his story. They sat and listened to what Elmroy had to say about why he had helped her and what had led him to meet her in the first place. He told them the story of how Calus had set up this camp and was threatening the forest which was the home of Elmroy's people. The wood elves had not just been worried about the forest they had heard through their sources that the fire sickness was spreading out of control. Knowing that the mudflower was the only cure they knew that Calus had to be taken care of. There was an old legend that that the mudflowers would play an important role in the lives of elf and man.
    Calus was destroying the great forest more and more everyday. Elmroy himself was to find out how to get rid of Calus and then use his powers to transform the mudflowers into sunflowers and then spread them through the land. But then he had run into Corrila and saw that they had the same mission. For listening to his troubles and the promise that their sharing of knowledge would continue Elmroy told her the magic that he was going to use to help the mudflowers transform into sunflowers and then spread.
    Elmroy told Corrila and Rilla how to turn mudflowers into sunflowers. These sunflowers could cure the fire sickness and many other ills, plus they were pretty and a lot nicer looking then the mudflowers. These flowers became known all over and were spread everywhere thanks to Elmroy and Corrila along with help from Rilla. The sunflower was a much more potent cure for the fire sickness and as they began to grow wild the fire sickness became a thing of the past. Corrila became the best healer in the land and now sunflowers can be seen almost everywhere you go.