Gifts
Ringkasan alur

The novel begins with Emmon, a lowland runaway, coming to Caspromant when Orrec and Gry are 16. The children tell Emmon of their gifts, though he is somewhat disbelieving of them. Orrec then narrates the history of his family from his childhood. His father Canoc is the brantor of Caspromant; his mother Melle, a woman from the lowlands. Despite living in the Uplands, Melle holds to some of her traditions, and teaches Orrec stories and lays that she had learned as a child. She also teaches him to read, an ability rare among Uplanders. Canoc also begins to instruct Orrec in the use of their power, though Orrec does not manifest any ability as a child. Orrec and Gry, of a similar age, become good friends, and Gry begins to show her power, being able to listen to the speech of cats and mice.
When he is 13, Orrec seemingly becomes able to use his power, striking an adder dead when it was about to bite his father. However, he is troubled by the ability not feeling different from his past unsuccessful efforts at using it. His father asks him to try, suggesting that Orrec has a duty to use his power to protect the domain, but Orrec refuses. A few days later Ogge Drum, the brantor of the neighboring domain of Drummant, comes to Caspromant, inviting the Caspros to his home, and suggesting that Orrec be betrothed to his granddaughter. Although wary of Drum due to their longstanding enmity, Canoc agrees to visit. Melle expresses opposition to the betrothal: Orrec is hurt because he and Gry had assumed they would marry each other. Canoc once again asks Orrec to use his power; Orrec is initially unable, but as his frustration builds, he seemingly turns an entire hillside into desolation. Terrified at his lack of control over his "wild" gift, he blindfolds himself.
The Caspros visit Drummant, but Ogge is rude to them, and the granddaughter Ogge proposed to betroth to Orrec is found to be mentally disabled. After they return, Melle falls ill, and Orrec assumes that Ogge used his gift of setting a wasting sickness on her. As Melle gets slowly weaker, she asks Orrec to retell her stories, leading him to realize he has a gift for storytelling and poetry. Orrec also develops a bond with Coaly, a guide dog trained for him by Gry. On her deathbed, Melle asks to see Orrec's eyes one last time, so he removes his blindfold, and realizes that his love for Melle would never have let him hurt her. Orrec begins to secretly remove his blindfold to read his books, and once looks at Coaly accidentally without hurting her. He realizes that he never had the gift of unmaking; his father had performed all of the acts attributed to him, and had pretended that Orrec had a "wild" gift to frighten people into leaving his domain alone. He confronts his father, and stops wearing a blindfold. Soon after, Ogge leads a raid against Roddmant. Canoc kills Ogge and his son while defending it, thus avenging his wife, and is killed himself. Orrec and Gry decide that there is no future for them in the uplands, because Gry is unwilling to use her gift to call animals to be hunted, and Orrec's gift of poetry is of no use there. They join Caspromant to Roddmant, and leave the uplands to make a new life elsewhere.