Dalan and Te’Ki are trapped in an alley by a group of thugs who apparently know the cougar quite well. However, before more secrets are revealed, one of them makes the single worst mistake he could ever make:

He dares to hurt the one Dalan loves.

What follows…is a nightmare…

The night before he’s to leave again for another mountain retreat, Dalan decides to take his new love out for a night on the town.

While they’re out, Dalan encounters both an echo of his past, and a dark harbinger of one possible future…

Dalan returns to his dwelling after his mountain retreat. He expects to open the door to a dark, lonely place, but what waits for him is something much, much more…

The time for Dalan’s first mountain retreat has come. Risking the budding relationship between he and Te’Ki, he reveals that he’s training in the forbidden art of the L’au Tari before accompanying Khrasa to the mountains.

Once there, Dalan finally realizes his true place in this game the Clans are playing: the same place in which all the exiles are. Despair creeps in as he’s now apparently lost everything, from his hopes of returning to the Clans to his growing love for Te’Ki.

But redemption may be just a sunrise away…

Dalan’s Grandfather and the Elder of his Clan, Won Ch’ang Kalamar, has broken Clan law by coming to visit his exiled grandson. However, Dalan learns that this isn’t the first time he’s done so. The tale that Won weaves only helps to further Dalan’s growing disgust at the society from which he was cast out.

After Won leaves, Dalan and Te’Ki bed down for the night, but not before Dalan comes to a realization about the sleeping cougar in his arms…

Dalan and Te’Ki spend the night learning about each other’s origins and end up talking through the night. As time progresses, Dalan begins to develop feelings for the cougar, only to have those feelings drive him into a murderous rage as someone dares to threaten her life.

It’s Dalan’s first day on the job as a dock-worker for the Karalla City Port Authority. Under the guise of Darien Kain, he learns the ins and outs of the job, but once again witnesses the darker side of society where exiles are concerned.

Later, he returns home and after an exchange with his house guest, he storms out once more. It seems that no matter where he goes or what he does, everything and everyone around him seems determined to tear him down and force him to accept his fate.

After rescuing the cougar and treating her sickness, Dalan awakens to find his new house guest to be rather ungrateful and dubious of his intentions.

Frustrated, he chooses to continue with the directions laid out by his new teacher, Khrasa, and he works to secure himself a job and through that, the means to become self-sufficient. He also meets with his new master, and his journey toward mastery of a forbidden art begins.

Expecting to return to an empty dwelling, Dalan is surprised to see that his house guest hasn’t left yet, and it appears he won’t be alone for some time.

Dalan awakens the next morning after defying exile dogma and burying the three exiled kittens. Suddenly his dwelling is invaded by a creature of legend, only for him to learn that he’s been watched since he was in the hospital. Now, the voice that encouraged him during his recovery now offers him a chance to become something more than he could have ever imagined.

But before he can, there are a few things he needs to do first…

Dalan arrives at a warehouse where exiles are welcomed. There he meets Silas, who explains the nature of the warehouse and how the life of an exile can be better than one thinks if one is careful.

However, a fatal encounter reminds Dalan very quickly that as comfortable as one can be, exiles are still hated and also hunted.