The Everland, home of the Eld-Folk since time immemorial, a deep green world of ancient mystery and sacred shadow. A thousand years have passed since the world of Men and the world of the Folk collided in catastrophe. The wyr-powers of the Kyn and the other Folk have preserved their verdant homeland from the ravenous greed of Humanity since the Melding, but those powers are now under siege. As the hunger of Men turns once more to the Everland and its rich bounty, the leaders of the seven nations of the Folk gather in Sheynadwiin, the Kyn capital, to seek a way of surviving the growing storm. Born into a town dominated by the creeds of the accommodationist Shields, Tarsa'deshae, a headstrong Kyn warrior, awakens to the long-suppressed wyr-ways after an act of courage goes horribly awry. Exiled from the only home she's ever known, and struggling to understand her new calling as a Wielder, Tarsa is swept into a dangerous world of political and spiritual intrigue, where the old ways of the Greenwalkers clash with those who would surrender to the new ways of Men. As the Everland faces the ever-encroaching threat of Humanity, the Redthorn warrior arrives at the Sevenfold Council in Sheynadwiin to help find a way to heal the ravages of her wounded world....