The Nuture of Highfell Lyleaves, in memory of Hyaffa

In the rural village of Flymrud in the mid-west of Tirwen , locals each pick a sprig of Highfell Lyleaves on the eve of winter. These are planted in a bowl, and nutured through the cold season, before being replanted in a location on the other side of the village to which the original plant was located in the spring.
The tradition began some three hundred years ago, when (as stories tell it), a wicked worshipper of the archdevil Kinorke visited the village and sought shelter in the late autumn. The locals, always aware of their duty to aid strangers an area that made for harsh travel due to aggressive wildlife and scant fresh water, welcomed him in and gave him aid. He had not been there for two days however, when a terrible fever began to sweep the village, starting with the family who sheltered him, and spreading outwards rapidly, till within hours, half the village lay stricken and close to death.
It was only their local wise woman Hyaffa who stood firm against panic and despair. She was not a woman of the gods, but one versed in the magics of nature, both healing and destructive. So she went into the forest and asked for the wisdom of the earth there, and when she emerged she had pinned sprigs of Highfell Lyleaves to her coat, a plant little used due to its bitter taste and stale smell, but which was said to be one of the first plants that began to grow in Senna after the creation of the world. And she entered the house where the evil servant of Kinorke still dwelt, rejoicing in the suffering of the sick about him, and painting evil sigils on the walls to dedicate this place to his evil master.
No one knows for sure what happened. But the daughter of the house remembered, through her fever, seeing Hyaffa stand tall and strong despite her age, and the plants on her coat glowed, and the glow seemed to spread to Hyaffa herself. The terrible enemy cast spell after spell at her, but she only glowed bright and brighter, until the light eclipsed her, the worshipper, and then rippled out rapidly through the village itself.
The next morning, those with the fever awakened, whole and healthy, and all went to the house where the evil began. There they found the family well, the worshipper gone, and Hyaffa vanished. All left of the combatants were two sprigs of Highfell Lyleaves on the floor, which the family planted in memory of Hyaffa, the saviour of them all. The next year, every household in the village similarly planted a sprig, nutured it in her memory, then went to the forest and replanted them.
The tradition has led to a massive overgrowth of the plant, and it has signfiicantly reduced the growth of other, perhaps more useful plants and herbs. But no member of the village will cut them down. As time went on, they began planting the now well-grow sprigs to the other side of the village to reduce the overgrowth in the forest, but now there's a mass there too. And the plant smells of stale bread, which makes already stuffy homes in winter time smell even less pleasant. Visitors to Flymrud criticise the village for keeping up such an old tradition, and overgrowing a plant that has no real medicinal or practical value, and paying extra for dried versions of more useful plants that can be traded for from other villages. But the village values the memory of Hyaffa, and associates Highfell Lyleaves with protection from evil forces, so the tradition is kept to this day.

Primary Related Location

Flymrud