Akila's home is being invaded, and she is determined to get herself and her twin brother out alive—even if she has to turn into a sword to do it. (Note: this story later became the beginning of the novel Changing Fate.)

"Will attract fans of Anne McCaffrey and Andre Norton... A sparkling addition to any fantasy collection. Four stars!" -Mercedes Lackey Akila uses her wits and her shape-changing abilities to save her brother Briam when their home is besieged. But that leaves them both on the run, with Akila trying to keep them safe, while Briam finds more trouble to get into. When he is chosen as year-king in the city of Diadem, Akila struggles to save his life, finding help in the most unexpected places.

Druscilla is very surprised when her daughter changes into a cat. But the child is only eight months old, and shape-changing cannot be undone by outside force. Now Druscilla will have to persuade her daughter to change back or learn to live with a cat for a daughter. Note: This story originally appeared in the anthology MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY'S FANTASY WORLDS, Aug 1998.

Seventeen year-old shape-changer Zora lives at the isolated estate Eagle's Rest, where she has spent her entire life being trained to be the next priestess of the Earth Mother. But when the old priestess dies, the Goddess chooses her cousin Kassie instead, leaving Zora hurt, bewildered, and wondering what to do with the rest of her life. She takes Kassie's place on the annual search for more shape-changers for the school Lord Ranulf runs, and an additional errand at the end of the trip sends her and her cousin Kyril to a matriarchal city-state named Diadem. There both of them are chosen by the Goddess, for very different roles, and Zora learns that much of what she knew about herself and her parents wasn't quite the truth...