Princess Onolodia is the fifteen year old niece of Queen Doria and has led a life of luxurious isolation. She has rarely been allowed outside the palace spends most of her time in academic pursuits. Her writings of austerity and personal responsibility are at odds with her aunt's own profligate twenty-year reign. Events thrust the girl into the spotlight and suddenly she is a danger to the throne.
Onolodia heads into the wilderness with the stolen Drawhammer Shield, her friend Sir Avakubia, and a young soldier enamored with her writing. There she finds living a life of struggle is much more difficult than philosophizing about such. Along the way she learns what it means to rely on her own resources and becomes all the better for her journey.
Will she return to the capital with enough support and wisdom to overthrow the corrupt regime of her aunt or will she succumb to the dangers of the wild?