 The three Folcharts, Meggie, Resa, and Mortimer, along with an unborn Folchart child, reside at a peaceful abandoned farm that has long been forgotten by others.Farid, who has given up his fire after the death of Dustfinger, works for an increasingly wealthy Orpheus.Orpheus treats him like a slave while promising that he will read a dead Dustfinger back to life.