V[n is a scholar from a poor background, eking out a living in the orbitals of the Scattered Pearls Belt as a tutor to a rich family, while hiding the illegal artificial mem-implant she manufactured as a student. Sunless Woods is a mindship"€"and not just any mindship, but a notorious thief and a master of disguise. She's come to the Belt to retire, but is drawn to V[n's resolute integrity.
When a mysterious corpse is found in the quarters of V[n's student, V[n and Sunless Woods find themselves following a trail of greed and murder that will lead them from teahouses and ascetic havens to the wreck of a mindship"€"and to the devastating secrets they've kept from each other.