Daja and Frostpine spend the winter in Kugisko, in Namorn, with Frostpine's friends, the Bancanor couple. Daja discovers that Bancanor's twin daughters have ambient magic - carpentry (for Nia) and cooking (for Jori). Daja begins to look for mentors for them, since magicians of the appropriate type are easy to find. In addition, she meets a local hero, Ben Ladradun, who trains Kugisko fire brigades and, without possessing any magic, bravely enters burning huts to save people. While Daja hatches plans to use her art to help Ben in his dangerous calling, fires begin to break out in the city one after another, and in the end Daja realizes that this is not an accident.