Chapter 1

Fourteen-year-old Ssebe is Osai Village's most gifted herbalist apprentice, known for his skill, compassion, and uncanny understanding of the plants that heal his people. But on the day of the first rains, his future is placed in the hands of three elders who have come to negotiate his marriage. Bound by custom to sit in silence while the adults decide his fate, Ssebe can only watch as his carefully ordered life begins to slip beyond his control. And when the secrets behind his gift as a healer begin to surface, he must choose between the future his village has chosen for him and the path his gift is calling him to follow.