For Ninianee and Erianthee, their magical talents are mixed blessings until their father, Duz Nimuar, disappears. Taking up the hunt, each uses her unique gifts to pursue the few illusive clues that indicate where their father has gone, and why. Aided by their suitors, the sisters encounter unexpected perils in what had seemed to be a fairly regular search, but a malign brotherhood of magical priests is determined to see that the girls do not succeed in their quests, throwing everything from conjure-storms to ambiguous oracles at them as they strive to rescue their father from his foes, pushing their talents to their limits, but all the while having to remember that, in their world, magic works - at a price.