Once, Rhajat's parents had folded one thousand paper cranes, one thousand wishes for safe passage for the ragtag company they called an army. Left to her own devices in her little corner of the Deeprealms, Rhajat is quick to pick up the hobby, folding talisman paper into wishes; it's only one thousand, she thinks, only that, and then they'll come home.

But one thousand soon becomes two, then three, then four: wishes become curses as home becomes a cage.