Princess Issalla doesn't want to be a princess. Nearly every day, she goes off with her friends Tyrius and Eredor to the outer lands. She is a skilled huntress, and she knows she could handle herself were she to run away. She knows she'll have to be Queen of Yaernam in only two years. She knows she must start thinking of what the perfect dress for her first public appeal as Queen would be. She knows she must start answering letters for a suitor. But she doesn't want a prince, or to be a Queen, or to have to sneak out. No, she wants a regular man, to be a peasant, to live among the wild. But can she even work up the nerve to try?