The next morning was spent attending services at the gorgeous Havenwing cathedral, after which we returned home and were joined for lunch by a few of Uncle Oruc and Aunt Monria's friends.

Even that 'casual' gathering made me nervous with its pomp and opulence, but I hoped it might prepare me for my first Havenwing ball, which Aunt Monria had informed me the day before, was taking place in three weeks' time.

I don’t know precisely how to introduce myself. My name is Grant. I am nearing my seventeenth birthday. Oh, that’s not the way to do it at all. I know it’s not. I’ll just tell my story and you can draw your conclusions from that. The place where I live is rather dull. Rules, regulations, can-and-can’t-do’s, the like. The funny thing is, for this entire adventure, I don’t think I followed a single rule, and I went wrong with everything, and yet everything worked out.