Lukan Naroiára, a new cadet in the Order of Brim, is not what most would call a star trainee. Though his intellect is very high, his combat abilities are next to non-existent. Yet with the help of his celestial guide Usi and his assigned Cadet Sister Temerity, he may make a soldier yet. Meanwhile, Temerity navigates her own struggles: the hatred of her instructors, which has kept her a trainee far longer than necessary; her relationship with the hated Brimeran emperor Eisna; and the impending dread of nightmares sent by an ancestor whose motivations are unknown.