" hmmmm.... Tavi is 2 years at the academy, also training to be a Cursor under Killian; one early scene has Tavi, Max, Gaelle, and Ehren are in the tunnels with Killian for a cursor test - there are 3 'battle' tests, and Tavi goes first - criticized for ducking a shoulder, or not keeping his eye on the something... and apparently failed the tests; he stays after the others leave and Killian complements him, saying did you notice Max remembered not to duck his shoulder, and Gaelle did not - Killian was using Tavi to remind the others how to avoid giving into their weakness... He is picked on by some of the boys, especially as he does not have any fury power so he continues to use his wits to overcome them and his friends... Max is a strong ally, and they protect Ehren, intelligent but weak furycrafter - and Tavi is Gauis' aide (along with full time student)... one night he goes to Gauis when he is in his meditation chamber - and Gauis has been trying to furycraft aid a village by the ocean overcome with storms and he yells as Tavi and passes out, becoming comotose - and Tavi's quick thinking has him calling Killian and Sir Miles to strategize - and pull in Max to furycraft looking like Gaius to make it look like Gaius is healthy during the festival, to prevent (funny scene when Max as Gaius has finished with a delegation, and Gaius' young wife comes in angry that he never called for her, and Max flirts with her, distracting her - and when Gaius is finally awake, she goes to him in his bath, surprising the real Gaius).
In the meantime, Doroga goes to Amara, Bernard, and Isana to tell them that he has lost 2/3rds of his people to the Vord - an enemy his people has dealt with before. The Vord queen(woken by Tavi in the last story) and the Others will want to take over the world - the queen has 2 more queens, and they split to conquor - they Take over individuals - taking their souls and living in their bodies, making it difficult to fight as they are their friends. The steadholders join Doroga in trying to track down one of the queens (1 is dead, 1 is after Tavi, and 1 is in tghe steadhold)... so their battle is 1/3rd of the book - as they fail to save one of the steadholds (except for the children that had been protected in an earthcrafted hole - and then try to withstand the queen's attacks while waiting for reinforcements. It is harrowing, they keep loosing people, but keep fighting - Amara and Bernard marry (though Amara knows they should not marry as she cannot give Bernard children, part of his commitment to his position) and on their last ditch assault to try to kill the Vord queen, Aqualaine's mercenary's get there to help.
Isana is sent with Serai (a cursor / cortesan) on Gaius' request during festival... she cannot get to Gaius (as he is in a coma, and Tavi et al are turning all away) when her retenue is killed and she is injured, she is saved by Fidelius, by request of Lady Aqualaine, who wants an alliance with her & ultimately against Gaius. Isana agrees with the concession that aid is sent to her brother (it gets there at the end). Isana hates Aquataine and Gaius, and lets both know. at the very end we find out for sure that she is Tavi's mother, though she doesn't tell Tavi.
In the town there is a theif who is stealing by bypassing the furies, and not using fury... when Tavi needs to break Max out of the Grey Tower which is imprenatable to furycrafting, he tracks down the theif - and it ends up to be Kitai - Kitai;s first words to him are something like, darn - dad was right, you did grow. Kitai helps Tavi from this point on - at a quiet time, he asks her why she is in the town, and starts to better understand their mating bond (though it isn't discussed directly) and he tells her that her people go to the tribe where they are or will be mated to observe and learn about them - she is there to study his people - and she has some very perceptive insights, in both the positives and negatives of the Alerians - and finds much to admire inspite of seeing both the bad and good.
and Tavi - is finding his voice of authority, when he simply must act... he has a quick grasp of situations and options, and implements the right response, guided byhis heart of goodness and rightness. He accepts Kitai (and they get to do some making out once everything is better)... and the Vord's Taken, Others, and queen do not harm him when there is fighting - hmmmm I think because of the drop of blood that he spilled on the queen's body in the first book. "
— Kathy, 2/7/2014