A young man without a name lives in a tower at the edge of the world. He is content with the orderly rituals and freedom to study wild magic that is his lot--or he was content, until one day he spies something in a bird's nest outside the tower window. He's never left the tower before, but curiosity can be stronger even than enchantments ... A standalone novella set before the Fall of the Empire of Astandalas, in the quiet beginnings before the coming of the Red Company.