In the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Cyne Colfre, fifteen year-old Mereddyd-a-Lagan seeks to wield powers reserved, until now, for men. According to some, that rebellion makes her a sorceress. There is only one way to prove she is more: Mereddyd must go on Pilgrimage to the Western Sea, where a mysterious Being called the Meri will decide her fate. She will be the only female in one hundred years to attempt the journey, and she will remember, every step of the way, that the last young woman to challenge tradition never returned. Mereddyd faces her uncertain future torn between resolve and fear. Will she become Caraid-land's first female Osraed, or will she die a heretic in the icy Western Sea like the one who went before her?