"Those who try to change Form without likewise shifting Function are doomed to a lifetime of agony and mediocrity--or they make the best assassins." -Auld Wynfor Ganlin An orphan with unique powers not seen in a thousand years, trapped in a world only she can see, her life a waking nightmare.  A boy long ago lost to his family, forced to masquerade as the enemy by one of his own, his continued facade his people's only hope of salvation.  An immortal trapped in the flesh of a man, a prisoner for something he has not yet done, fleeing something he thought he had killed.  A girl abandoned in the mountains, without memories or a note, her people the stuff of legends, but whose villages have never been found.  Meet these and many more incredible characters as they engage in a complex struggle for survival in a realm about to plunge in a downward spiral of politics, death, and treachery.