Galen, a Mephitian (skunk) healer who operates in the Bazaar, finds himself dreaming of being Hilarion, a hero from one of the many novels he enjoys reading, riding on the back of a dragon by the name of Gameliel, flying toward the distant Citadel of Dagh. He dreams of a skunk woman in peril … and then he wakes. He is tended to by a Zelak servant by the name of Zago, and though his clinic is not open yet, there is a woman at the doorstep – another Mephitian, who has an infant in her arms. The infant is ill, and Galen offers his help, inwardly wondering at some sort of great import to this development.