born to a clan elder and a passing trader, muskrat was the youngest daughter. feral, headstrong, and much beloved, her clan was permissive with her boyish ways and lack of interest in following her mother as elder. only until her grandmother intervened was muskrat's marriage arranged. taken upriver to another clan, she broke away, running off into the forest. there, a young hunter waited, a man who could not be her husband.

they were found together by her family. he was executed, and in disgrace, muskrat was dragged home. escaping again, she ran into the mountains. her avoidance of duty cost her clan valuable hunting grounds in the broken marriage, but muskrat is defiant even as she crosses into a completely unknown world, leaving all she understood behind.