Vidan was again reaching out to the stars: sadder and wiser...and cautious, unwilling to repeat the mistakes of the ancestors. The Commonwealth was born, reaching out to lost colonies and establishing new ones, rediscovering lost technology and how to navigate the star-ways. Many of the lost colonies not only survived but thrived--and they remembered their abandonment and the harsh centuries of the Downfall....
Bain's prayers are answered. Captain Lin Fieran wants him to stay on Sunsinger and join her crew for another evacuation trip to Lenga. When they get there, everyone has already been evacuated, so they move to the next world in the path of the Mashrami invasion. There, their task is made more difficult by pirates and people who don't want to leave their homes. To make matters worse, Bain knows Lin wants him to stay on Sunsinger with her and Ganfer, just as much as he wants to stay, but someone in authority is getting in the way. Lin has to keep a secret from him, and if she tells him what it is, he might never be allowed back on board.
