Outcast Trader Daja and her friends journey from Winding Circle to the Gold Ridge Mountains, where drought threatens widespread famine. There, Daja creates an astonishing object: a living metal vine. A caravan of Traders covets the vine, and Daja's dealing with her former people reawaken a longing for familiar ways. Now Daja must choose--should she return to the Traders or remain with the Winding Circle folk who have become her family?