Viscountess Mercedes Lackey-Edgerton-Smythe has had a rose, a dahlia and a tulip named for her. A neck-or-nothing rider, she was the first ever female to be named Master of the Derbyshire Hunt. She raises peafowl and swans and is a notable expert on 11th-century incunabula. And if you believe any of this, perhaps your copy of Burke’s Peerage is not what it should be. She is the author of several fantasy series, including the Elemental Masters series in which this story is set.