The epigraph is a short prose poem where each line repeats the same structure, except the last one. Each of the first five lines is said by one of the characters during the course of the story (see Important Quote #1).

The map depicts the country of Arawiya, where the story takes place. Five caliphates—Alderamin, Sarasin, Demenhur, Zaram, and Pelusia—and the city of Sultan’s Keep surround an inland sea. At the center of the body of water, the Baransea, lies an island called Sharr. The map is framed with ornate Middle Eastern-style engravings that depict the Six Sisters of Old: Anadil, Abal, Alhena, Azraa, Afya, and Asma.

Zafira bint Iskandar is returning from a hunt in the Arz, a forest with a dark sentient presence. She lives in Demenhur, one of Arawiya’s five caliphates, which are ruled by Sultan Ghameq. The young woman is familiar with the dangers of the forest but is nonetheless relieved to be able to leave it unharmed, a feat that seemingly no one else has ever achieved. She’s been hunting in the Arz as a man known in her village as the Hunter because women aren’t allowed to hunt.