One of the realms most outspoken conservatives, Wyldon of Cavall, insists that Kel is put on a year of probation to determine her fitness for the program.
While Kel is bitterly resentful of this additional burden atop the many other challenges that she has to face as the only girl in the entire training program, she is determined to prove to him that she is as good as any boy.
Thanks to her only friend Nealan (Neal) of Queenscove and with the assistance of a mysterious benefactor who occasionally sends her useful "gifts", Kel slowly finds her way.
His unspoken antagonism takes physical form when Kel declares an unofficial war against the hazing of the first-year pages, something that Joren and his gang revel in.
At the summer camp for pages which takes place at the end of the year, Kel and her friends assist Lord Raoul[8] and the King's Own on a Spidren hunt.
Over the course of the book, Kel's prowess with the lance, staff and bow is refined, and her knowledge of battle strategy is developed through mock fights.
Despite the overwhelming odds, Kel keeps a cool head and leads her friends to safety until Lord Wyldon and his troops can arrive, once again demonstrating natural leadership abilities.
Though Lord Wyldon attempts to force her to face her fears by assigning height related chores/punishments, she remains terrified until the day of her page examinations.
An hour before the exams, she gets an anonymous message that Lalasa has been kidnapped and left atop Balor's Needle – the highest tower in Tortall.
Even though Kel is determined to save her, she knows this means both potentially missing the exams – the punishment for which is repeating the last four years of study – and confronting her own shortcomings.
Kel soon comes to realize that these refugees are her responsibility and she is able to be a hero, even off the battlefield, and demonstrates her abilities as a leader independent of any mentors or knight masters.
In her work, she receives help in the shape of her old friends Neal and Merric, the horses Peachblossom and Hoshi, the dog Jump, and her personal sparrow flock.
Before the war began, she was given a task by the Chamber of the Ordeal: to find and destroy the mage who is using foul, evil magic to create the rat-like, swift-moving, deadly metallic things known as "killing devices."