Long ago, before the creation of kingdoms and countries, four sisters lived on the top of a mountain which was called Cnoc Sliabh. Though they did often go into the village at the base of the mountain, they mostly kept to themselves in the cabin that they shared on the mountain cliffs.
Among the villagers, the four sisters each had a nickname, which they were called if one did not know their name or could not remember. When someone new came through the village, the villagers would in quick succession list the four sisters, their nicknames, and their appearances, so one might not be shocked when they came across any of the sisters.
The first of the sisters was called Fionnula, but to the villagers she was 'The Eldest.' She was shockingly pale, skin whiter than paper, with pale yellow hair to match. Her sparkling blue eyes seemed to be the only bit of natural color about her. She was tall and thin, and meaner villagers joked that she would be right at home in a field of birch trees. She was polite, but very cold and quiet, and many found her unpleasant to be around, as she had a distaste for beating around the bush. Even so, many villagers turned to her as a source of help when they were sick, as she was a master healer, and had been born with a strong control over all kinds of magick.
The second of the sisters was called Alannah, but the villagers knew her as 'The Gentlest.' She was much shorter than Fionnula, with a healthy skin tone and brown hair which she often tied back. She was known for her caring attitude, and she seemed always ready to lend a hand to those in need. She was strong, but soft, in a way that drew children to her like bees to honey. The villagers loved Alannah for her warm and jovial demeanor, a sharp contrast to her elder sister.
The third sister was called Niamh, but most villagers called her 'The Fiercest.' Unlike her two elder sisters, who often conceded to others wants at the expense of themselves, Niamh was known to stick up for herself and her sisters in a way that most villagers admired, but some found irritating. However, like Alannah, Niamh was known for always being ready to lend a helping hand, though she was often stubborn when it came to fully bending to the wills of others. Women and children attempting to hide from abusive family members often came to Nimah in search of help, which she always readily gave.
The fourth and final sister was called Eithne, but to the villagers she was 'The Youngest.' She was known not only for her long red hair, which brushed along the cobbles if not tied up, but also for her perpetual anxiety over the smallest things. Those in need of testing for buildings or new inventions often went to Eithne, as she was the one who could always quickly spot what things might go wrong in any situation. Eithne was also known to complain quite a lot to village elders for things she thought were dangerous around the village, but for good reason, as every item or practice she complained about shortly proved itself to be inaffectual or dangerous.
While considered odd and out-of-place within the village, the four sisters were much beloved by many villagers for their kind attitudes and willingness to help. Despite their distance from the village, those in need were willing to make the trek up the cliffs of Cnoc Sliabh to talk to whichever sister could help them.
Though the people of the village were accustomed to the bitter Winters of the area, as were the four sisters, one year came a Winter so bitter that many in the village began to succumb to the pain of the frost. The sisters, all four feeling as if they were unable to help the villagers, shrunk away into their cabin, blocking the paths so they could not be called upon to assist in what all felt was a futile attempt to survive Winter.
The four sisters despaired in their cabin, burning one log at a time to save fuel, and stuffing the windows and doors with blankets to keep out the draft. But the cold turned freezing, and their attempts at survival seemed less and less useful. Even the spells that Fionnula cast to protect her younger sisters from the cold did nothing to keep the frost from them.
Soon enough, Eithne announced that she felt their attempts at surviving the cold futile. She saw no end to Winter. Her anxiety had overwhelmed her, to the point that she was now at peace with her death. In the night, she passed, her fingers and toes blue from the cold. Her sisters, unable to break through the solid frozen earth, wrapped her in a sheet and laid her under the oak tree next to their cabin.
A week after they laid Eithne under the oak tree, Alannah, too, resigned herself to death. She told her sisters that, in order for them to survive, she would have to give up her own life, so that they might have more resources to live through the bitter Winter. The next day passed, and the following morning Niamh and Fionnula found her frozen to death, curled up under a thin blanket on the ground next to Eithne, under the oak tree.
The deaths of their sisters caused Fionnula and Niamh much grief, and the two found it difficult to continue on with their lives. Niamh could no longer lift the heavy logs with the same strength as she had, and Fionnula struggled to cook their meager meals of stew made with preserved meat and pickled vegetables.
Two weeks of the grief became too much for Niamh, and she died with no preamble like her sisters. Fionnula simply walked outside one day and found Niamh sat up by the log pile, frozen solid. Emotionless, she wrapped Niamh in a blanket and laid her to rest with Eithne and Alannah under the oak tree.
Alone and depressed in her cabin, Fionnula turned to her only surviving companion through Winter, her spellbook. She was desparate, slowly being destroyed by the grief of losing her sisters, and the futility of surviving the bitter cold. And there, in her spellbook, she found the solution to her grief, a way to bring her frozen sisters back from Mag Mell, so that they might all live on together, not separated by the death which the Gentlest, the Fiercest, and the Youngest had all suffered.
Collecting candles and offerings, Fionnula went to the oak tree and began her spell, wrapping her sisters in ribbons and runes, placing a lit candle at their feet, burning offerings so their souls might be energized. Chanting aloud, Fionnula called upon her three sisters, who she had pledged to protect as their elder sister, the invited them to make home within her body, the four sisters sharing space as one, never to be parted again
And from Mag Mell came Alanna, then Niamh, then Eithne, who had all died so that Fionnula might live, and the four became one, living together now as Four-Faced Fionnula. When Winter ended and Spring began, she had no bodies to bury, for when the sisters became one, their corpses too were absorbed into Fionnula, and their energy allowed her to continue living on for many moons past what was expected.
As Winter changed to Spring, so too did Fionnula change. For, at the marker of each sister's birthday, their body did change to reflect the face of the sister, who controlled their body for that season, until the next sister's birthday. This was not to say that each season came a different person, as they were still the one Four-Faced Fionnula, yet they had all the knowledge and memories of all four sisters, and the personalities changed with each season with the face.
And for many years they lived like this, and the villagers began to refer to her as a Goddess, because it seemed she could not die. Each Face, referred to by her name, became a season, and each season was controlled by the corresponding Face. Though against her will, soon the Goddess had a cult around her, which erected a temple in her honor in the village where they praised all four sisters which lived within the Goddess.