Decades before the shattering of the empire of Aiar and hundreds of years before the time of the Sons of Destiny, Tava Ell Var, a female shapeshifter, became the leader of the people of the Shifting Plains. An enigmatic figure, Tava never knew her mother, apart from the brutal story of her life as told by her father. Her family history served as a warning about the dangers of the Shifting Plains, the land Tava now leads. When her father is murdered, she encounters Kodan, a warrior who recognises the power that emboldens the strange, beautiful and resilient Tava.