raised in a rocky valley hugged by the salliñiq glacier, red leaf was an only daughter and doted on by her parents. they lived among the superstitious, but friendly sharadoii caribou hunters, one of three neighboring tribes who inhabit the same secluded land.

red leaf began courting cen not long after the loss of his first wife and the birth of his only son, ghaden. she took him in as her own and cared for cen while he grieved. a hefty dowry brought red leaf across the glacier into the lands of the lanzadoii where she was preparing to live as wife and mother — until ghaden's sudden death rocked the clans. red leaf, being the last to see him alive, was blamed; and cen, determined to get what he paid for, has now taken her into the wilds. only red leaf knows the truth about what happened to ghaden, and she may take this to her grave.