Certainty Bulrush wants to be useful --- to the Guild of Mages that took her in as a novice and to the little brother who depends on her. Unfortunately, her tepid magic hasn’t proven much use to anyone. When Certainty has the chance to earn her magehood via a seemingly straightforward assignment, she takes it. She and Mage Aurelia --- the brilliant, unfairly attractive overachiever who’s managed to alienate everyone around her --- must transport minorly magical artifacts somewhere safe: Shpelling, the dullest, least magical village around. The Guild’s uneasy relationship with citizens is at a tipping point, and the last thing needed is a magical incident. Still, as mage and novice come to know Shpelling’s residents --- and each other --- they realize the Guild’s hoarded magic might do more good being shared. But magic is fickle. Add attraction, and it might spell trouble.

Tao is an immigrant fortune teller, traveling between villages with just her trusty mule for company. She only tells "small" fortunes, knowing from bitter experience that big fortunes come with big consequences. Even if it’s a lonely life, it’s better than the one she left behind. But a small fortune unexpectedly becomes something more when a (semi) reformed thief and an ex-mercenary recruit her into their desperate search for a lost child. Soon, they’re joined by a baker with a "knead" for adventure, and --- of course --- a slightly magical cat. Tao starts down a new path with companions as big-hearted as her fortunes are small. But as she lowers her walls, the shadows of her past close in --- and she’ll have to decide whether or not to risk everything to preserve the family she never thought she could have.