Part II of A Woman Of The Iron People. They are two creatures a civilisation apart: earthborn Lixia, a visitor from a damaged planet eighteen light years away, and Nia, a primitive outcast, exiled from her people for committing a transgression unheard of in her society. United by circumstance, they travel together across a perilous continent, guided by spirits known only to one and fleeing a possible civilisation-shattering future feared by the other. In the quest for peace and understanding between alien cultures, they discover the rewards of experience and dangers of knowledge as they create revolutionary change in a violent world. Cover art by Gary Ruddell.