When emissaries of the Stone Moon arrive in het Narel, Keshul, the charlatan seer of House Akkadin, is suspicious. Who are these prosperous, well-fed people, and why do they care whether the Houses of het Narel have better wells and healthier crops? It doesn't take long for Keshul to see the breadth of their ambitions and to know they must be fought. But in that battle he discovers that bringing about the downfall of the Stone Moon may undo everything its emperor has planned for the species... including its survival. Is freedom the price the Jokka must pay to stave off extinction? And what price will Keshul be forced to personally pay to see his mission to its end? Book 2 of the Stone Moon Trilogy (following The Worth of a Shell). One of the stories of the Jokka.About the Author: Daughter of two Cuban political exiles, M.C.A. Hogarth was born a foreigner in the American melting pot and has had a fascination for the gaps in cultures and the bridges that span them ever since. She has been many things---web database architect, product manager, technical writer and massage therapist---but is currently a full-time parent, artist, writer and anthropologist to aliens, both human and otherwise. Her fiction has variously been recommended for a Nebula, a finalist for the Spectrum, placed on the secondary Tiptree reading list and chosen for two best-of anthologies; her art has appeared in RPGs, magazines and on book covers.