Publisher's Synopsis
Excited, yet wary, Henri and Rishii depart for their second journey on the Great Circuit Road around the Seven Cities region. Planning to travel with less baggage than the first time, they nonetheless find more in the forms of Henri's grandfather, Brein, and their giant friend Aldo from The Cask in Hollow's End. These two have invited themselves to travel along as far as the city of Esslen. Henri has new talents after a summer of instruction and practice with his mother, and the promise of even more at the insistence of Brein, wishing to pass down the Du'Aarth and Ae'Eleth heritage shunned by Henri's father. Rishii dreams of a future with Valera, eager to get south to Orlais despite fearing her rejection, while Henri struggles to find an identity amongst his many blood lines, embodied by his long hidden real name, Aien'ieri.