Martin is a normal child of the covenant. Like others he entered into an apprenticeship at the age of 10 and now, six years later, as he enters into adulthood at sixteen, he prepares his Journeyman piece, his ticket to independence and hopefully the first step to his life as an adult, and to courting Jenny. But plans change as the magi of the Covenant invite him in, offer him a new apprenticeship, and to step into the world of the ascended. To become the first mage-smith.