With the ejection of the "demon-haters" from the settlement and the recovery of the most powerful of the Bete (shapeshifters), the group seemed in excellent shape for survival. There was just one little thing...the "natives" that had been watching and plotting against them. They had power of their own, the help of the exiled haters, and a poison that could purge the Bete powers from them all.

Facing new enemies, old prejudices, surprising friends, tricky alliances, and a litter of shipkittens, Rem and the Bete will have to survive without the powers that make them Bete. Cil will have to open his heart and mind if he's to help save his own people, while Darma will have to call on their former foes if they want to survive...

And all before nightfall...