The Night Minstrel returns with this warm tale about the nature of gifts and the things we are given.

Leeari Tarkin loves stargazing, but the work in his parent's bakery leaves him little time or opportunity to pursue his beloved passion.  But on the night of Sixth Yule, the strange man who visits their shop daily invites him to a very special gathering at the nearby University. Leeari doesn't want to go; he doesn't like the strange man, and attending would mean giving up a rare opportunity for stargazing on a day when no labor in the bakery required his attention. But his mother is set on his going, and has clearly already given her blessing.

So late that evening, Leeari sets out into a cold and clear winter night that would change his life forever.

It's late and The Crown and Lion is quiet in the wee hours. 

Join the Night Minstrel for this story about Raquel du'Winter and the bright, warm day when she follows her father, uncle, and younger brother to the mysterious, frightful Bog House of legend.  Once in it's nightmare-like grip, Raquel discovers the nature of old wrongs and loss; and finds that it is never too late to defeat the monsters of the past.  

Azzare the Destroyer, the black dragon that had long been thought a myth of the nomadic Riahi people, has brought down the flying ship Teepeevia Bryyn.

The Headmistress Stophi Toki is severely injured and unconscious and it falls to Shokah Levinthian and Aurora Modiri and the other students from the Academy of the Yar'Heyn to save each other and themselves.  In a fight for their lives against an unimaginably powerful creature, Aurora pushes herself to her limits to protect her fallen headmistress and her fellow students; and Shokah discovers a new sort of magic and some startling things about himself.

Stophi Toki, headmistress of the Academy of the Yar'heyn, has a group of young students with her as she travels from Branalath to Iyllpallel aboard the ship Skyseeker's Breeze. The flying ship is attacked by a monster, and she must try to save her students' lives . . .

Ts'auh'choi, Sorlianne, and Agalla Tyell set out to meet Blaicy Greenwild at the southern-coast city of Branalath. As they traverse the hilly forest of Gohya'peth south of Ayreman, they are haunted by the horrifying vision of a burning ship, falling from the sky . . .

Out of the kettle and into the fire. Agalla Tyell and her cellmate Kite have escaped the K'teran prison at Hepet'dara with six young women in tow.  They've fled into the bitter cold of a winter night, and the K'teri are hard in pursuit.  Harried by soldiers and dogs, Agalla and the others are driven ever northward and ever higher into the mountains.  Grievously injured, Agalla finds herself and the others cornered in an ancient shrine.  Time is running out, but she finds help from an unexpected source.

"And Sometimes, she is simply called Vengeance."

No one bears a name like that without good reason. This is part one of the story of Agalla Tyell, a young woman orphaned by the murder of her parents at the hands of the genocidal K'terans.  Not fitting their standard of human purity, Agalla is imprisoned and is suffering through a sentence of one hundred lashes with a cane, dealt out twenty-five at a time. After her second trip to the post, her cell mate--an old woman named Kite-- explains why she is being held--and why they must escape.  It is the depth of winter when they finally get their chance, but Agalla finds herself thrust into the role of protector of a half-dozen girls even younger than she.  But escaping the K'teran garrison is only the beginning, and Agalla's life will never be the same.

Ts'auh'choi Malananx has returned home to the Elven city of Ayreman and his mate, Sorlianne Slyphwood. It has been a year since the forging of the legendary sword Chularda, and he must finally face what that means to him.  Sorlianne is sympathetic, and with her help he begins the process of teaching Nightgaze how to be a sword. During this endeavor, however, an unexpected visitor appears . . .