Generational Changes of Traditions

When younger members of a community take their place as leaders, they sometimes challenge the culture's long-held beliefs and rituals. Though narrator Emmy Harlow is willing to return to her childhood home and take her place as Arbiter of the Gauntlet, she and others decide it is time to make some real changes to how things are traditionally done.

Emmy is part of the magic community of Thistle Grove. Every 50 years for the past three centuries, one young adult from each of the four founding families competes for the right to govern the community. Emmy left Thistle Grove several years earlier to make a different life in Chicago, leaving the family and community traditions behind. She agrees to return to serve as Arbiter of the Gauntlet – the role always held by a member of the Harlow House. Emmy left because Harlows are viewed...