The people of the Scaur live under the strict rule of King Zandelkar or face punishment at the hands of the King’s enforcers, the ululaku.  When the mother of twins, Adera and Kif, disobeys the King’s Law, justice comes swiftly, leaving the young twins alone in an unkind world.  They grow up navigating injustice while having to fight the wrongness that robbed Adera and Kif of their family.