In the process of discovering just what is going on in Alanda, Nightingale joins forces with T'fyrr, a birdman with the visage of a raptor and the voice of an angel. And before the King--and through him the gypsies, Free Bards and non-humans of the 20 kingdoms--is saved, they, the Eagle and the Nightingale, will have become less than lovers but far more than friends.