Book excerpt: Zaia is a gifted and willful girl who goes to the Temple of Kernoss to become a dancer in spite of her mother's strong opposition. There, her considerable skill is shaped and Zaia becomes the best Dancer in her city. When Zaia is of age she takes a five-year pledge to go on the road, dancing in towns and villages too small to have a Dance Temple of their own. In leaving, Zaia parts with everything she has ever known and embarks on a journey that will change her forever. Zaia lives in a society where women are respected and revered and the Goddess is worshipped. But a shadow hangs over that world. Patriarchal invasions from the north have already begun to make incursions and threaten everything that Zaia holds sacred. Author Diana Rivers is a Lambda Literary Awards finalist and a winner of the Golden Crown Literary Award for Speculative Fiction.