Daja is a Trader, a group of people who travel by caravan or ship and buy and sell things; she was fascinated with blacksmiths. She was orphaned at ten due to the sinking of the Third Ship Kisubo, its only survivor. Because of the bad luck associated with a lone survivor, Daja was made "trangshi", an outcast from all Traders. In "Daja's Book", the third book in the "Circle of Magic" quartet, she is reinstated as a Trader in gratitude for rescuing a Trader caravan from a forest fire.