After a hard night, everyone is having a late breakfast. Aaron explains that their ride with Kensington is on hold until the Port Authority are satisfied his ship isn't engaged in smuggling or piracy. As the group starts to discuss options, an out of breath Spring Meadow arrives with shocking news: Caroban is sending an expedition to Abaddon with Latania in charge, and she's about to arrive in Abu Dhabi to pick up Meadow and some other mages and supplies. But in a secret message, she asked Meadow to bring the Karnors along if they were still around.

This rouses everyone's suspicion, since the true origin of the Karnors is a big secret (which Latania was paid quite a bit to keep). They agree to hear her though, to find out what's going on. Layth's worry is that something they've done with the Sifran artifacts has caused something to happen on Abaddon.

Latania arrives and examines the Karnors right away to make sure they're still healthy. She explains that magic is working on Abaddon now, and some sort of magical disaster has fallen the Celestial Empire's life dome. To make things worse, the first representative of Caroban on the scene was Ra Shrikendune, who proceeded to get on the bad side of just about everyone. So Latania is charged with mending fences, creating a hospital and showing that Caroban is a valuable ally in a world new to magic. To this end, the Karnors are impromptu ambassadors, being living proof of what medical magic can accomplish.

The others agree to go along, and go to meet The Wandering Sylph, Caroban's flagship. To Spring Meadow's dismay, they all seem a bit critical of what she considers to be a marvel – a magically powered airship. The take off is rough, but at least they're all finally on their way to Abaddon.