The Meab have lived peacefully in the forest surrounding Lake Feidlimed for millions of centuries. Even when the humans arrived in their silver sky ships, the Meab had stayed strong, if hidden. Now, human technology has taken over the Brinc clan and Cleome, eldest daughter of the Widdershin join, finds she must avenge her slaughtered parents and rescue her captured sister. Getting onto Brinc lands won't be easy. To get there she, and her ragtag band of young peers, must deal with the elementals of nature who try to prevent their passage, as well as trying to blend into a society now as much metal as magic. At the citadel of Signe Ray, Cleome faces her greatest challenge and her greatest grief. Will she take the next, dangerous step and summon the darkest forces of evil to fight at her side? Or will she admit defeat against such overwhelming odds? This story, the first in the Tales of the Meab series, introduces us to the many magical joins of the nature-based Witta clan and the oh-so-rational joins of the machine-based Brinc clan and the ongoing differences between them.words : 39972