supersedes sysadmin. Support for Nevil's leadership begins to falter as the medical advances he promised fail to bear fruit. Ravna conspires with Johanna Olsndot and the pack Pilgrim to force Nevil to compromise. Before that can happen, three of the youngest Children are kidnapped, ostensibly by Tines from the Tropics. Nevil uses the opportunity to leverage more power. Later, while Johanna and Pilgrim travel to investigate the Tropics, Ravna is kidnapped herself, and Johanna and Pilgrim crash into Tycoon's Reservation in the Tropics. It is revealed that Nevil was behind all three incidents and for several years has been allied with Tycoon and Vendacious to undermine Ravna and Woodcarver. In the Tropics, Pilgrim is lost to the Choir and Johanna escapes aboard a Tropical trade convoy bound for Woodcarver's Domain. Ravna, with the help of Jefri Olsndot, his friend pack Amdiranifani, and the pack Screwfloss (a rehabilitated Lord Steel), escapes her captors and attempts to return to Woodcarver's Domain to stop Nevil's tyranny. On the way, however, the four are re-captured and taken to the Tropics aboard two of Tycoon's airships. Back on Oobii, now under Nevil's control, Nevil's second-in-command Bili Yngva witnesses a massive Zone shift recorded by the ship's sensors. For a few minutes, Tines World is part of the Beyond and the "rescue party" fleet is estimated to close to within 20 light-years. Ravna and company arrive at Tycoon's Reservation, where they learn that Tycoon, under Vendacious' influence, is on the verge of forcing Woodcarver to accede to an alliance, thereby removing Woodcarver's Domain as a threat to Tycoon's rapidly growing business empire. Later, when the meeting that Nevil had coordinated to force the "alliance" on Woodcarver and solidify his control over the Children occurs, it ends disastrously for him. Ravna regains control of Oobii with her Command Privilege, Vendacious is killed by a mutiny of his airship's crew, and Tycoon flees to the Tropics with Johanna (whom Tycoon believes to have killed his brother-pack, Scriber Jacqeramaphan) as an apparent hostage. Nevil and his fellow Disaster Study Group members (nearly half of all the Children) depart and establish their own settlement, "Best Hope", in a distant valley. Sometime later, Nevil announces that he remains allied with Tycoon, and Tycoon will soon return several hostages taken over the years: the two survivors among the Children kidnapped earlier, and the packs Amdiranifani and Screwfloss. Ravna and Jefri are disappointed