A small, sun-browned child with dark curls that spring in every direction and warm brown eyes that seem to study people with startling patience. Her hiking boots are scuffed with nursery soil, and her bright dresses sway around her knees when she floats. Within a minute of meeting her, people notice her soft, breathy snuffling when she concentrates; when startled, she takes a sharp little sip of air and her jaw sets as if she is trying to be brave before she calls for Dad.

Anika is affectionate and eager to please, yet quietly observant and stubborn when she thinks someone smaller is being left out. Around strangers she hides behind Gareth and studies them; among familiar children she becomes inventive and bossy about games. When tired or frightened, she wants comfort and a predictable routine, but when someone is hurt she can surprise everyone by acting before she has time to be shy.

Anika Grace Williamson is Gareth "Everbloom" Williamson's four-year-old daughter. She has grown up among seed trays, rain barrels, and the children who attend her father's Gossamer Garden nursery and forest school. During a spring storm, a greenhouse shutter tore loose while Gareth was leading a group of children to shelter. Anika felt the panic in the adults before she understood the danger, then instinctively floated above the muddy ground and sent Gareth a vivid mental image of the swinging shutter. He reached it in time. Since then, her strange flashes of thought and effortless hovering have become part of family life, though neither she nor Gareth understands their limits. She is very much a daddy's girl, but she is also learning to greet the nursery children on her own. Gareth is proud of her and worries that visitors will treat her as a curiosity instead of a child. Anika still wears diapers because their familiar softness helps her feel secure during long, busy days; her father never makes a fuss about it.