The fires are out, but the trouble'sjust beginning for thetreecats

On pioneer planetSphinx, ruined lands and the approach of winter force the now Landless Clan toseek new territory. They have one big problem-there's nowhere to go. Worse,their efforts to find a new home awaken the enmity of the closest treecat clan-astronger group who's not giving up a single branch without afight

Stephanie Harrington, thetreecats' greatest advocate, is off to Manticore for extensive training-and upto her ears in challenges there. That leaves only Stephanie's best friends,Jessica and Anders, to save the treecats from themselves. And now a group ofxenoanthropologists is once again after the great secret of the treecats-thatthey are intelligent, empathic telepaths-and their agenda will lead to nothingless that treecatexploitation.

Finally, Jessicaand Anders face problems of their own, including their growing attraction to oneanother. It is an attraction that seems a betrayal of Stephanie Harrington, thebest friend either of them have ever had.