Shaeli of Purple Leaf has been left behind when her family's Trader flies to Cave for the Wintering. She is apprenticed to a master of skylights and lives in the city where Great Court looms over all. Queen Virrisian's guard cover the Land like a stain, and the lives of the People grow darker as the brutality of the guard increases with every decree the queen sends out. Rebels begin to retaliate and harrow the guard whenever they can, returning goods and coin to the People and living the lives of fugitives. Shaeli sees this dark stain only on the periphery of her vision; her time is spent...