DAJA'S BOOK (Tamora Pierce)

Synopsis of "Daja's Book", third book of "Circle of Magic" by Tamora Pierce: While at Gold Ridge castle to the north of Winding Circle, Daja and the three other mages-in-training who have become her friends develop their unique magical talents as they try to prevent a devastating forest fire from consuming everything in its path.

Daja has a way with fire. She uses this gift as a blacksmith, and at the story's start she finds herself mysteriously making a plant of living iron. How this creation helps Daja to overcome the blight of her young life-being an outcast from her trader clan-is the grist of the tale.

Outcast Trader Daja, along with her fellow mages-in-training, journeys from Winding Circle to the Gold Ridge Mountains, where drought threatens widespread famine. There, Daja creates an astonishing object: a living metal vine. A caravan of Traders covets the vine, and Daja's dealings with her former people reawaken a longing for familiar ways.
Daja must choose--should she return to the Traders or remain with the Winding Circle folk who have become her family?