green grow the rushes
Whit's beloved sister, Hraga, is engaged to be married. Voyaging ahead of her to the Mornhalle, the homeland of her future husband, he expects an uneventful journey. But when the nuptial celebration is threatened by delay, he agrees to stand in for Hraga at a proxy wedding — and finds her betrothed, Osfrid, to be handsome, quick to laugh, and eager to offer Whit his friendship.
Twenty-five years have passed since then. When sudden tragedy reunites him with Osfrid, and an irresistible invitation compels him to stay in the verdant mountains for the summer, Whit finds himself in a land of warm welcome and strange customs, in the company of a man as inscrutable as he is beautiful.
Here, with Osfrid, Whit could begin to finally understand himself and his deepest feelings — if only he had the time. Summer is not so long, and soon he must depart from Osfrid forever.