The Allied Interstellar Community first contact team on the planet Kailazh is faced with even more challenges than most. But dealing with an alien culture is t only difficult for those who arrive on a foreign world. What of the inhabitants of the planet, who w have to deal with realities so strange to their way of thinking, it will have an impact on everything they believe? Kislan is a factor in his family's shipping company, a man who has seen many ships arrive at the docks of Edaru from many different cities, who deals with foreign goods from all over the kwn world. But the ship that arrives from the stars brings more than exotic invations, it brings ideas that will change his life. And it brings the beautiful ambassador from the stars, Toni Donato.
Ruth Nestvold has published widely in science fiction and fantasy, her fiction appearing in such markets as Asimov's, F&SF, Baen's Universe, Strange Horizons, Realms of Fantasy, and Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Nebula, Tiptree, and Sturgeon Awards. In 2007, the Italian translation of her novella Looking Through Lace won the Premio Italia award for best international work.