Four elements of power, four mages-in-training learning to control them. In Book 3 of the Circle of Magic Quartet, 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?