Misha' s Uncle Sergei is rumored to be the strongest man in the Seven Kingdoms, and she has finally found him, aging but still powerful, performing in a backwater circus on the edge of a plague-ravaged and frozen world. Sergei lost everything as a boy when rampaging horsemen destroyed his village; he even lost contact with his younger sister. When Sergei agrees to travel with Misha to be reunited with his sister, he tells her the tale of how he became the strongest man in the Seven Kingdoms, and that Misha will learn the secrets of strength.