Now, imagine that one of the two girls, the pretty one called Ao, discovers blood between her legs one summer morning. A master’s soldiers are allowed to keep bed retainers—the lowest rank of retainer. It is a reward soldiers demand in exchange for fighting. They’ve all had their eye on this girl. But she’s an atoner, and atoners are off-limits, everyone knows that. Atoners are sacred. Or at least, they’re called sacred because no one wants to touch them, so they’re also called cursed.

However, if an atoner reaches the age of adulthood, it is seen as a sign of the white-haired god’s forgiveness. Such an atoner may ask to be cleansed by holy oil and holy water and thereby be elevated into the ranks of the retainers. An assistant chatelaine, who is in charge of the atoners’ pen, discovers the blood and reports it to the head chatelaine. That evening, the head chatelaine requires the two girls to kneel before her in her office. She tells Ao that the happy day has come. On the Feast Day of the Holy Waters, when the court will be at South Ring, the girl will be declared an adult, cleansed of the burden of atonement, and elevated to the rank of retainer. The girl trembles. She knows what is in store for the likes of her, and she tremblingly tells the head chatelaine she would rather stay an atoner with her sister El.

The chatelaine is shocked by the girl’s defiance but also can’t understand. Who would want to stay an atoner? Anyway, it is already decided. The noble lady has heard about it and will stand as sponsor. It’s an incredible honor for a child whose birth is shrouded in mystery and thus in disgrace. When the two girls are sent back to the atoners’ pen, walking hand in hand as they always do, they see how the household guards stare at Ao. They know what it means.

Imagine one more thing. It’s a lot to take in, but surely not more complicated than palace politics in the heartland.

There is a holy road in this nameless land, one that is said to run north from the shore of the White Sea—what we call Far Boundary Pall—all the way to the seat of the Highmost, on the shore of the Blue Sea, a true ocean. But the girls don’t know for sure. Lady Eleawona’s court has never traveled any farther north than the Haywold Hills. North, far past the Haywold Hills, is where her uncle, the Highmost, resides. North is where the raiders roam the coast, and where the Highmost burns alive the Sea Wolves he captures or, indeed, any outlaw or traitor he wants to make a lesson of, should anyone in the land think to rebel against his authority.