The ice dragon had always been in her life, glimpsed from afar as she played in the snow long after the other children had fled the cold. In her fourth year she touched it, and in her fifth year she rode upon its broad, chilled back. Then, in her seventh year, on a calm summer day, fiery dragons from the North swooped down upon the peaceful farm that was Adara?s home. And only a winter child ? and the ice dragon who loved her ? could save her world from utter destruction.