Once upon a hungry time, a childless farm couple find a babe in a basket, and the mischievous Alftas come calling. A golden Nornn prince grows bitter and twisted, a boy loses his twin to a child-eating Nidd, and a wandering mapmaker rides a gilded steed toward a crown he never sought. Every tale is a thread. Every thread pulls, slow and sure, toward one wondrous, peculiar child... Readina.