Taya, the metal-winged icarus whose investigation helped defeat a plot against Ondinium and its populace, is assisting her exalted husband Cristof Forlore on his first ambassadorial mission. They must learn about Mareaux's experiments in airship technology and determine whether the ostensibly scientific vehicles might be used for warfare -- a taboo for Ondiniums, whose domination of the air is tempered by a deep cultural abhorrence toward airborne weapons after the devastation of the Last War a thousand years ago.