Max was raised with a purpose, but her accelerated development had nothing to do with it. She was born to be a Demyani, a Girl Bringer. In a community full of men who could only generate boys, she produced a hormone via her passive presence that tipped the scales and made girl babies enter the families. Her extreme height and immense strength were secondary characteristics to her place in her adoptive family. She brought the girls. Life was routine, but she had a plan for her retirement when her family no longer needed her services. That plan was set on its edge when she meets an investigator from the Cluster Team Project. She is a candidate for Team Eight, but she has to strike a balance between being there for her family and going off-world to be there for everyone else.