It's finally time for Jyothky and eight other misfit adolescent dragons to go off to an unexplored, dragon-free universe and decide who will marry whom. They're astral dragons, mighty and arrogant, with devastating breath weapons and vast magical powers, and they're not even there to conquer the place. What kind of trouble could the natives possibly be—even civilized and technologically sophisticated natives? Or the mind-controlling parasite worms, or the undead god, or any of Hove's other surprises? …Maybe quite a lot of trouble, but not as much as they will bring upon themselves.

Jyothky and her fellow dragons were supposed to have a nice simple mating flight on Hove. Instead they got tangled up in everything—accidentally conquering a sophisticated, unwilling country, unleashing an undead god upon an innocent city, discovering horrible mind-controlling parasites, an invasion by some of their older and more powerful friends, and massive violations of draconic etiquette. How can they possibly get out of this with their honor or even their hides intact?