The unraveling of the countries of B'idrarb AraDi is Ravier's first goal. The plan began with the attempted assassination of the RI of Enshi Guo's youngest daughter, Nu Baihe Neta. All five countries of B'idrarb AraDi are under attack from the 'Itm-Dilim Jaish or 'Riders' as they are called. Enshi and Rhensburg are linked in ways their current rulers do not know. Khel Quadahar has yet to feel the real sting of Ravier's intentions while the traitor in the house of the Carnloughian Imperium hides well. To the far north, Videbaek has already suffered a grievous loss. Death has been doled out and for Enshi it is almost too much to bear. The RI's eldest son, Chand, is doing his utmost to have these riders track and captured. He is having no success. Since his failure to rescue his brother Kenji, he has been at the Chengbao acting as RI, while his Father has gone to Nacier for a summit of the 5 ruling households. Chand sent his former Yi-Captain, Katri, on a mission to locate a group of women; with one in particular that has caught his attention. But another woman is being offered by Darazhia in Sharq Talamh across the Cuan Maras as a peace offering to Enshi in lieu of the attack on the Chengbao. Katri meanwhile sets off at his Chujun's bidding only to find more questions than answers. He will find the woman but he will lose himself just as surely as if he stepped off a cliff. The next son, Santhi, is in exile in the town of Gientes, located in the Carnloughian Imperium. There with his little half sister, Baihe, he is doing what he can to protect her from any further assassination attempts. He is also a monk and fulfilling his obligations to his congregation has not been an easy matter. His marriage to Elati, although wonderful, is also a burden for he does not wish to leave them unattended while he goes out to tend to his flock. Elati's true nature is still masked, but her core has not changed. She loves and will fight to keep Ba-as Baihe is now known-from being taken. Anand, the third son, does not know that his betrothal to the Dama, Nu Zehra, will never take place as he watched over his sister Emli. He and Captain Feabani receive word that the Huang and his little half sister are dead. They are commanded to join the RI at Nacier, but to leave Emli behind at school. It will be a journey that will not inspire confidence in Feabani as to how his Liege Lord's son behaves. This journey will also bring them into contact with the most extraordinary woman either man has ever met. The fourth son of the RI, Kenji, has been kidnapped and has become the physical form for Ravier. He is being taken to Hensa'el Azhur along with Prince Herbert of Rhensburg. For Herbert, this journey will cause a change in him, under the careful alteration of Dr. Marak's expertise with drugs. But Marak himself will find that it isn't only drugs that can change a person. Emli almost died defending her half sister Baihe, and since hearing of her brother, Kenji's disappearance, she has returned to school. Yet, she finds no peace there once she hears of her stepmother and half sister's deaths. When she hears of Nu Zehra's demise, this drastic news will set Emli on a path through the SaHra Omak. Only the aboriginal tribes live around the sahra, or so Emli thought, but she will encounter a woman who looks and sounds so familiar yet Emli does not know her. Finder's Daughter will teach Emli the ways of the tribes, and she herself, shall come to understand and accept what her purpose has been all along. Little Baihe is now living with her older half brother Santhi. The visions are becoming more acute and occurring more often. How is she to be protected, not only from injury but from being locked up for many years by Santhi's own order; if they find out she is a one who can see the past, present and the future, a Dauwar'ala.