Her keeper, Kossil, is suspicious of her motives so she has to rescue Ged in the end. Arha is fascinated by the wizard, spying on him through trapdoors and peepholes in the tunnels, and gradually decides that she should not let him die. His powers are dimmed in the Labyrinth, and he comes close to perishing without food or water. She is able to locks the door the Labyrinth with Ged inside. It is Ged who has come to needs to steal the magical ring of Erreth-Akbe, a charm to keep the peace in Earthsea. One evening in winter she goes into the labyrinth to be alone from her duties, and spies a light, where light is never permitted.

She is the only person who can penetrate the labyrinth, and has to do so by relying on the memory of twists and pathways, counting openings and turns. Her teachers are stern, and the training is harsh, until she is finally accepted, and rules them all as the high priestess, though still a young girl. She is the girl born at the hour of the previous priestess' death, trained and destined to be the new priestess. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.This tale is told from the point of view of Arha, the priestess of the Tombs of Atuan. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as 'Solitude' and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. She was known for her treatment of gender ( The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems ( The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc.

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin