Farstand is a place where it's illegal for peasants to bear weapons, read books, worship gods other than Sho, and move beyond life's station. Women are disallowed employment without the sanction of men. Abi's worthless father hopes to kick her out of his peasant holding without a dowry. She beats him by a day, leaving on her own, though forced to do so under threatening calls of witch and murderess. Those aren't the only sins they're likely to burn her for, as she takes up her weapons and book of Goddess-given spells, naively facing the empty world beyond her mother's door. And the Goddess laughs, sending a dream: "A thousand men shall fall before your sword."