Kira is lucky to be alive. Babies born with deformities such as Kira's crooked leg are almost always taken away from the mother and left in the field outside the village to die; it is the Way of her people. The Way is harsh and impersonal. The Way is their law. It demands that everyone in the village be able to work, to contribute, to earn the right to live. Those that can not are weeded out and disposed of. However, due partly to a stubborn mother, partly to an influential grandfather, and partly to her own stubborn refusal to be separated from her mother, Kira survives to grow into an intelligent and talented young woman. Both Kira's grandfather and her mother are respected people in the village. Kira's grandfather had once been a member of the Council of Guardians, the ruling body of the village...