Despite the headmaster's insistence on Almark's great potential for magic, the Norkh Institute's promising new arrival has never so much as cast a spell--an inadequacy his newfound rival, nobleblooded Tohrk Shifei, is keen to remind him of. The sin of being a talentless Northern barbarian puts Almark at odds with Tohrk and the other prideful, highborn students. As the rift between nobles and commoners is made clear, Almark finds friendship among those who share his kind humility. After all, he traveled here to become a great mage, not bicker with Southern elites. So, together, Almark and his new friends endure. For a warrior's pride is much like the Northern ice: frigid, unyielding...but also deadlier than the sharpest of swords when it cracks...