Isavel died, so why isn't she dead? That question smoulders in the ashes of a life lost, buffeted by the winds of a war she doesn't understand. By whose will but the gods' could these strange lights have found their way into her blood? If she can walk a path laid before her by elusive higher powers, there may yet be answers. There may yet be peace.
But peace is not for everyone - especially not Ada, exiled for heresy and burning with a need to see the world change. And to be the one that changes it, from its oldest law on upwards. But she soon discovers that she is living in a time of more wondrous and terrible change than she could have imagined.
These two young women must navigate a world being ground to dust by time and encroaching wilderness, each only slowly becoming aware of the other's existence. Between them they have two chances to light a fire to change the world - if they can become the people they need to be.