Father in the Forest, #1

It's been eight years since Colodian won its independence from Emerlia. Yael, like thousands of children after the war, has bounced from foster home to foster home. She has never found a real family, and now with skirmishes along the northern border, the country feels on the brink of war once more. When she hears rumors of a girl with the same distinct eyes as hers in the capital, she sets out on an adventure with a band of four young boys who, like her, lost everything in the last fight but through the chaos managed to find each other. A middle-grade fantasy with steampunk elements, this whimsical tale of found family dips its toe into a much larger story. While the central continent is teetering on a fragile peace with two northern nations set on expanding, the primary focus is not glory or revenge. Kings pursue wars to conquer lands that were never there's, but our cast is concerned with a far greater power.