From publisher blurb:
AN EPISODE FOR FOUR TO SIX IN THE ESPAMENA SETTING
Ever since his death, Captain Artas Windseeker has been looking to take revenge on the man who backstabbed him, turning him into a banthan, and ruining his life and his family. His quest for vengeance has made him withdrawn, somber and bitter, and barely able to bond with his current crew, that looks up to him regardless, and has a lot to lose by leaving his side or falling out of his good graces.
One of these crew members happens to be Ishidar Almeida, daughter of the man who killed him. Ishidar's father was a pirate, who confessed his crimes to her very recently on his deathbed. Ishidar's strong sense of justice leading her to bring retribution to her father's victim, she reveals the truth to Artas–along with the fact that her father is already dead.
But Artas, unable to accomplish his vengeance, feels cheated: he decides that since Ishidar's father broke his family, so should he destroy the man's family, and Ishidar will pay for her father's crimes.
Thanks to her fellow crew member Elvin Telos, with whom she's in a forbidden relationship, Ishidar escapes. Elvin flees with her, as their relationship was forbidden by Artas for fear that his crew members would be more loyal to one another than to him, and that although he's saving the life of the woman he loves, he's effectively betrayed his captain in doing this.
Both fugitives, panicked and hardly trained for fleeing a wrathful sea captain, bounce from island to island until they land in the little port of Sigilia, where Artas finally loses their trace. It is common knowledge that Sigilia houses criminals and their activities, and the people that hide Ishidar and Elvin know better than answering the questioning of crew members working for a House ship.
It is in these circumstances that Artas recruits our Wanderers, counting on their lack of association with him, his crew and his house, to help him get back on the fugitives' trail.