This is the Third Demeter Chronicle and you are strongly advised to read the other two first (Hunting the Thingle and The Battle for Demeter) After the Battle for Demeter the Non-Existents combined with the Existents to run Demeter together as a planet that was fair, a planet that was just, a planet with no oppression and no wrong. Control, the Non-Existents’ intelligent machine, had made Mermasali, Ishali’s Mother, the new Leader of Demeter, together with a new intelligent machine called Control Two whom he had created with settings to limit its persona l power so that it could never become another Daibol. Control ‘promoted’ Ishali’s half Uncle Merbilux from being the Quester to being Head of Religions on Demeter. So Ishali became the Quester, a job she had always longed to do, and returned to live in the Quester’s House in her own beloved home village of Here, high in the mountains, together with Margrot and their twin sons. Margrot was unconscious due to an attack in the Battle by Daibol, the Existents’ intelligent machine, whom he destroyed. But Control expected Margrot to recover very soon once he was rested. Ishali was full of hope for a bright and happy future. We return to Here to see what happened next.