 "Protector of the Small" is set in the Tortallan world of Pierce's "Song of the Lioness" and "The Immortals" quartets.The protagonist is Keladry of Mindelan, a young girl who becomes the first female to train as a knight ten years after King Jonathan first declared it legal.The novel tracks the first year of Keladry's training, during which she is only accepted on a probationary basis.