Salinda of Havenel is the daughter of the Great Warrior Gregoire and niece of the King Roark. Being a noblewoman there were certain things expected of her, she was to be dainty, proper, and once she reached of age, to be married off to a neighboring country to form relations. However, Salinda was far from the normal noblewoman. She liked archery, horseback riding, sword play, and rough housing. By the time Sal turned age 10, the age other nobleborns could become pages, she wanted to join the path to Knighthood. However, no other girls in two centuries had been a knight, and there were those, in the kingdom of Carlika, who thought it should remain that way, but Sal was determined to break that old fashion thought.