In Breaking Inlands, volume one of the Elised Cycle, Dorris Nuddle’s only solace is her moments of escape at the river’s edge—a river of live, unbroken water. Every Inlander knows that to touch unbroken water means contamination and imprisonment. So why does she love it so much? When she finds a young man standing in the dangerous river, she doesn’t report him. Instead they join forces. He renames her Rilki and teaches her about gifts—innate abilities to connect with something’s essence and empower it to act outside the laws of nature. They begin to unravel a shadowy web of control that is leaving people missing or dead. Unfortunately, she attracts the attention of powerful enemies. One of the Inlander variety and another far more ancient. Rilki must uncover deadly secrets and stop a murderer before she is locked away and all she’s learned to love is destroyed.