The fate of nations lies on an assassin, a princess, an orphan raised by the wrong people, and the biology that would not be denied.
In an Industrial world eerily similar to our own, Princess Omi is faced with the inevitable overcrowding of her tiny island nation, a fate her people, the Alasei, refuse to acknowledge as they pursue traditional artistic endeavors and outsource their labor to human nations. Seeking knowledge and a remedy for imminent stagnation, she embarks on a diplomatic voyage to the home of the KinInshi, a race which, according to legend, “bestows wealth beyond dreaming and dishonor worse than death.”
Dju, a famed assassin of the KinInshi people guards her. In his haste to show Omi the dangers of treating with the KinInshi, he secures passage aboard the Astrella and sets in motion events that may prove fatal for not only himself and the KinInshi cook aboard, but will rewrite history and restructure the known world—for good or ill.