nicknamed "Nokomis" ("dragonfly"). When Sencho becomes drastically ill, he comes to depend almost solely on Occula's intense caretaking. During a garden party, Occula lures Sencho out of sight and signals her rebel confederates, Zirek and Meris, to stab Sencho to death. Maia and Occula are imprisoned on suspicion of colluding in Sencho's murder. Queen Fornis takes Maia into her household. As Maia fails to satisfy her sexual needs, Fornis gives her to Kembri; Maia seizes on this chance to interest the queen in Occula, hoping to save her friend from execution. Kembri sends Maia to Bayub-Otal with a cover story of having escaped. Bayub-Otal takes her with him as he secretly makes his way back to Suba. Maia learns that one reason for his extraordinary standoffish respect for her is that she looks (and dances) like his dead mother, Nokomis, who is still revered throughout the province. Bayub-Otal hopes to use the resemblance to rally Suban patriotism on behalf of an alliance with Terekenalt. At the rallying site, Maia falls passionately in love with the handsome young Zen-Kurel, an officer of Terekenalt. Zen-Kurel accepts her invitation to bed, but leaves quickly to take part in a surprise attack scheduled for that very night. The River Valderra, the boundary between the two countries, is thought to be uncrossably swift and rocky, but the Terekenalters plan to ford it with heavy ropes and strong men, thus surprising the detachment of Tonildan soldiers guarding the other side. In hopes of saving her fellow Tonildans' lives as well as her lover's, Maia swims the river. Despite serious wounds, she warns the Beklan commander and thwarts the invasion. Part 3: The Serrelinda Maia returns to Bekla, freed and celebrated. She gains an informal title as the "Serrelinda" after Lake Serrelind. Hoping to reunite with Zen-Kurel, she takes no lovers, despite expectations that she will find a rich husband or become an expensive courtesan. Her popularity and single status bring her under threat from Fornis; since the Sacred Queen is chosen periodically by popular acclaim, Maia is an obvious rival despite not wanting the crown. Maia sees her stepfather, Tharrin, dragged into Bekla as a rebel informant. He is condemned to be sacrificed. Maia does her best to free him, and he reveals to her that her real mother was not Morca but a pregnant girl who had fled to Morca's cottage and died there in