As a shipment from Earth is being cross-checked at the Terran Embassy on the Iskandran world Zalaisk, news of the imminent failure of the Hyaisos/X'chartai truce among the Badgers arrives.This truce is all that prevents retaliation for denying proper medical treatment for K'hythri, a Badgeress with the birth defect of radiation sensitivity. In spite of every single aristocratic Badger in power, in her city, conspiring to maintain the truce, forecasts indicate the truce is about to fail.