Audible Frontiers, September 2012 (original publication 2002)
The crisis that's been building in secret for decades for Clan Korval and for Liaden as a whole foods s come ng to a head. The Department of the Interior is ready to come out into the open and act directly. Agents of Change have been dispatched to Lytaxin to capture or kill Val Con. Ne'er-do-well cousin Pat Rin yos'Phelium, gambler and sharpshooter, has been approached by another Agent with a most interesting offer aimed directly at his ambition and presumed resentment. And a truly evil trap has been devised for Anthora yos'Galan, the only remaining representative of Clan Korval on Liad.
Unexpected allies appear, also, both long-lost friends and agents of the Juntavas.