Ten years ago, Arekhon sus-Khalgath sus-Peledaen abandoned his native planet for a new life on the far side of the Gap Between-the starless rift separating the Eraasian worlds from the rest of the galaxy. On the planet Entibor, he found shelter and domestic tranquility with his old love, Elaeli Inadi, at the price of what he had left behind: a dispersed and shattered Mage-Circle, an estranged brother who had tried to kill him, and a homeworld on the cusp of massive cultural upheaval.