Like Helva, The Ship Who Sang (and Nancia from PartnerShip, Tia from The Ship Who Searched, and Simeon, who runs The City Who Fought), Carialle was born so physically disadvantaged that her only chance for life was as a shellperson. And again like those other, Carialle decided she would strap on a spaceship. Her brawn is a guy named Keff. Their mission: to search the galaxy for intelligent beings.

Alas, intelligent life is thin on the galactic ground, so when Carialle and Keff arrive on a very nice little world with very nice little aliens, fuzzy and polite and eager to please, they are overjoyed. But their joy does not last. The aliens aren't aliens at all but some sort of devolved human, virtual slaves to a race of sorcerers who (as Keff discovers when he crosses them) really do seem to possess magical powers of frightening potency.

But nothing is as it seems on Ozran. That "magic is power" turns out to be true not just in the metaphorical but also in the literal sense, and while there may not be any real magic, there are aliens, aliens who are neither fuzzy, nor polite, nor the least bit eager to please . . .