Asvi’s husband dies in the middle of the night. Feloa, Asvi’s servant, informs Asvi’s son. Asvi’s son is going to return to the house with the priest-magistrate. In the meantime, Asvi prepares food for the people who will come to pay their respects. Elilas, Asvi’s son, appears in the kitchen. Asvi allows her servants to take over the cooking as she and her son go to discuss the ceremony of Crossing with the priest-magistrate. Widows were to be killed at the temple and buried with their husbands if they were not able to make a specific payment to the Temple.

The priest-magistrate goes to look at the body. Elilas and his wife speak to Asvi. Due to the death of Asvi’s husband, Elilas is now the head of the household. As the family is well-off, they can pay the walk tithe and keep Asvi living with them. Thus, Asvi can avoid being forced to partake in the long walk.

Elilas argues with his wife, Danis, about how much money he had to give the magistrate to spare his mom from being sacrificed in the long walk. Danis argues that Elilas should want to save his mother and essentially that women are mistreated. Elilas and his wife give Asvi an expensive bracelet to signify that they will care for her even though she can no longer bear sons.

Asvi receives a visit from her brother. She remembers how her father did not have enough money to pay the tithe for his mother. Thus, Asvi’s grandmother was sent as a sacrifice. She was sent on the long walk and was an offering to the dragons who are all that stand between human settlements and the demons.

Asvi is considered legally dead since her husband died, thus no one who came to pay their respect greets her. She must wear brown to signify that she is a widow.

Asvi leaves the gathering. She puts on a cloak and ventures into town. No one in town knows that her husband, Meklos, is dead. Thus, they all treat her normally. Near the gate, Asvi sees young girls rush by. A bell rings to signify the weekly call for the long walk.

Seven death wagons waited near the gat escorted by priest-guards. The last wagon holds widows. Eight other women stood adjacent to the wagons. They were going to be sacrificed at the end of the long walk. The young girls approach one of the women. They cry as they exclaim that they cannot pay her tithe. Asvi approaches them. She gives the woman her bracelet and cloak. She takes the woman’s place on the long walk.

During the long walk, Asvi becomes a cook for the women and priests.

They eventually reach the end of the walk and arrive at a gate. A priest explains that the dragons protect the city in return for a tithe. This tithe is the women’s sacrifice. The women enter through the gate and into the forest. The priests discreetly offer to spare Asvi's life if she agrees to become their secret and private cook. Asvi declines and is disgusted by their offer.

The women continue through the forest alone. There was a bright light at the end of the path. They approach it. They emerge at the edge of a cliff. There were demons down in the crevices of the cliff. The women are perplexed. A dragon flies up to greet the women. All the women bow and are afraid—except for Asvi. The temple was at the edge of the chasm. There were multiple Temples lining the chasm. Beyond the cliff’s edge, Asvi could see a village. The rest of the women see the village and assume it is a refuge made by women who survived the walk. The dragon tells Asvi that this place is just the resting place on a very long journey. Asvi wants to continue the journey.

Asvi speaks to the dragon. The dragon takes Asvi upon her wings. She is flown over the village. She sees a watchtower with women who were working and also female hunters. The dragon says the women are their sisters. The dragon lands on a mountain and turns into a woman. The dragon tells Asvi about the ancestral history of the land. The dragon reveals that they do not eat humans. The dragon explains that the sands are the resting place of the ancestors. These sands allow people to be reborn as dragons.

The dragon tells Asvi that she was once a weaver named Merea. She was eventually sent on the long walk until she arrived at the sands, chose to be reborn in the sands, and became a dragon. Merea explains that the women may live out their lives peacefully or choose the sands and be reborn as dragons. If the women do not choose the sands, the village is the end of their journey.

Asvi asks what would happen if she wanted wings. Merea explains that she has always had them and just needs to return to them when she is ready.