Scourcers wouldn't be scourcers without chi. The Zagrans wouldn't be Zagrans without scourcers. And Karma, well she wouldn't be Karma without without her father.  After King Karmic proposes that he sends his youngest daughter, Karma's kid sister, off to assassinate the Zagran prince, Karma can't keep herself from stepping up. She uses this moment not only to save her sister from certain death, but to gain an understanding of the creatures that everyone keeps calling beasts. She has six weeks to kill the prince, six weeks to explore things unknown, six weeks to figure out why King Karmic really wants the Zagran lands.