Esra Dragon lives in her own house with a separate life from her family. She does this by choice. It gives her the control and autonomy she craves. She ignores her doubts, and focuses on daily tasks of exercise and recreation. But there is someone she longs to add to her household. Esra wishes to finally seal the deal with Laura and carry her over the threshold. She decides that the Yuletide celebration will be the perfect time for it.But then Shahdra Zahs son appears at her front doorstep in a state of distress, and all begins to go astray. Esras carefully managed world shifts before her eyes, as she faces Lauras fierce independence and elements of her past. Denthors arrival signals that the Northern Reaches are once again on the brink of civil war, and this time Esra finds herself at the very center of it.