Taryn, raised in a pit of squalor, refuses to follow the path of the pickpocket being forced upon her. She sets out on her own, and after an unfortunate run-in finds herself apprenticed to a pallitine knight.

Now, apprentice Pallitine Taryn faces many new challenges as a young pallitine in a world of doubt and frustration where little is as it seems. Guided by her mentor, High Pallitine Thoman, she stumbles on an obscure cult and is betrayed by one of her own kind.

Left to deal with consequences of the betrayal, and thoughts of her own past, she looks to the future with a wary eye.