Milly Wood wears her brown hair long, parted and tucked under a signature tan cap. Her eyes are blue, her smile discerning; you have to earn it. She is an artist and Taiko drummer who wants to study Romanian. She has one best friend, and a dry sense of humor.

"I'm no good at sculpting," she says, "and I don't think anybody should trust me with a saw."

But Legos? Legos are a different story entirely.

Milly, who just completed seventh grade at Crosswinds Arts and Science School in Woodbury, has been commissioned to build a funeral urn out of Legos. It's for a 6-year-old Illinois boy who is dying from brain cancer.

"Of course I know what an urn is," Milly says. "I've read enough books and seen enough movies."

By age 2 or 3, Milly was already constructing stories in her head with an elaborate cast of characters. She later took pencil to paper to create her own drawings. "My thought processes go a lot like that ... Samurai, Ninja, Japanese mythology," said Milly, whose family splits its residences between St. Paul and Spring Valley, Wis. Her father, Ned Wood, runs an online bookstore, www.wisbooks.com. Her 14-year-old sister, Andie, is also artistic, but practical. She wants to go to Harvard Medical School.

By fourth grade, Milly discovered Legos and couldn't get enough of them.

Milly's mom, Diane Wood, is co-owner of epicurns.com, which markets more than 30 extraordinary burial urns crafted by Midwestern artists. For a two-week gallery show opening Saturday in St. Paul, (epicurns.com/coseeurju12s.html) Milly decided she, too, would like to create something inspiring.

Every day after school for two weeks, Milly spent hours crafting her Rainbow Castle urn, ultimately using 1,000 Lego bricks, topped off with five tiny soldiers. Lime green, orange, red, blue, yellow. Repeat. "There is kind of a pattern in it," says Milly. "I love it."

When the castle was complete, Diane added it to her website. A week or two later, in stunning serendipity, a heartbroken young mother in Nashville typed two words into Google: "Lego urns."

Only one website came up.

Meg Parks, 34, is a trade show planner and mother of two children, ages 7 and 4. Last October, her sister called with horrible news. Parks' 6-year-old nephew, Max, whose family lives outside Chicago, had inoperable brain cancer.

"What can I do for you?" Parks asked her sister, feeling helpless. "She told me, 'There is one thing I can't deal with right now.'"

Max's favorite thing, Parks said, is to play with Legos. "He has every Lego set in the world," she said. "Especially during chemo, when he couldn't play a lot, he could do that. His other favorite thing is to watch 'Star Wars.'"

Max is "definitely aware" that he is very sick, his aunt said. His parents, who frequently relocate due to work, know they will have to move again. They would never leave their son behind.

Parks e-mailed Diane, asking about Milly's availability to create another Lego urn. "I would have gone with her castle," Parks said. But Diane quickly e-mailed back: "No, no. Milly loves Star Wars, too. She can make it."

Last week, Milly and her Mom went to Legoland at the Mall of America and bought 1,500 mostly white Legos, with black, gray and blue accents, to make a replica of R2D2, plus "one spot of red for his eye," Milly said. Then she set to work, for Max. She's about halfway done and plans to finish within a week or two. The Wood family hopes to hand-deliver the work to Max's family this summer. They had plans to go to Mount Rushmore in August, but, Diane said, "I think this trip to Chicago is way more important."

"They have been so caring," said Parks, who broke down several times over the phone when talking about her nephew. "Milly has really taken this to heart for Max, and she doesn't even know him."

Milly admits that thinking too hard about what she is doing, "is kinda scary. But it's honoring him in a way," she said. "They'll be able to look at this forever."

Gail Rosenblum • 612-673-7350 • gail.rosenblum@startribune.com