Cast in Silence by Michelle Sagara

Kaylin Neya is a Hawk, one of the three forces that patrol the city of Elantra in an effort to keep the peace. But even though now she lives in the city proper, she once lived in the Fiefs, the lands controlled by Fief Lords. There is little Peace or Justice in the Fiefs, which is why Kaylin left the fiefs for the city proper.

But now, with all that has happened to her, it's time for her to go home. But at least this time she won't be going it alone. But can she stand to have other see where she came from and what happened to her before she became the Officer of the Law that she is?

It all starts when she is summoned to the Elani Temple by its Keeper, a man named Evanston. Normally, the Garden is calm and quiet, but something has the elements, especially the element of water, in an uproar. The ferals, the strange, unnatural things which are attacking the Barrens, are getting worse, and this is what draws Kaylin into the Fiefs. But to do that, she will have to confess to several others in the guard exactly how she joined, and why, something she is not comfortable with doing.

Before she knows, though, the Dragons take an interest in the situation, because only the fiefs lie between them and the source of the ferals plaguing the city. The fiefs are, essentially, Elantra's first line of defense. But while most Fiefs are named after their masters, the Ruler of the Fief where Kaylin grew up, Barren, doesn't seem to be as well-run as some of the other fiefs, including the fief run by Nightshade, the Barrani Lord with more than a passing interest in Kaylin Neya. Is Barren truly ruler over his fief, or is he ruler in name only, a front for someone else who has stopped doing the hard work of protecting the fief from the Ferals?

But when they cross over to determine the answer, they are sucked into the past, to the very creation of the castles at the heart of the fiefs, and Kaylin meets the spirit of one which she names "Tara", after her mother. But her naming of the fief causes unexpected problems when she and her companions return to their normal time. For she and she alone may be responsible for the problems that plague the Fief of Barren. But will Kaylin be forced to claim the Fief from its current Lord to undo the damage she unwittingly caused? And will Tara have survived their time apart in anything like a sane fashion, that will allow her to recognize Kaylin once again?

In this story, we get to learn more about the Fiefs, the Fief Lords, and the Castles that they rule and which represent their hold over the fief. We get to see how at least one of them was made, and named, and also how a fief lord claims his/her/their territory. It affords us another look into a very different part of Elantra, and to see how very different Kaylin Neya is from the other inhabitants of the Fiefs.

But is it the strange glyphs on her skin that make her so different? Or do they merely reflect something inside her, something that runs deeper than the Glyphs. Strange as it may seem, as we learn more about Elantra, we also learn more about Kaylin. And while we may understand the different parts of Elantra, it is Kaylin herself that remains the real mystery of the books. We've learned things about her, and about her history, but the mystery Kaylin represents and is carried in her skin? Of that, we know very little indeed.

Still, so much interesting things go on around her that I still want to know, to unravel the Mystery of Kaylin and what she really is. Is she a reflection of the city of Elantra- the whole city, not just the city proper, but the fiefs as well? Was she born this way, or did the marks she bears on her skin come out of something she did? Or is it linked to something she is? It's this mystery that keeps drawing me back to the books of this series- and will continue to do so as long as the mystery continues. I hope for lots of things for Kaylin, and suspect several more, but this series will keep you guessing, and reading. Recommended.