The Dawsheen come from a world where brutal ice ages descend according to a set schedule. Civilization ends, and then civilization always begins again, carried into the new summer by the Queen. But now tragedy claims the next queen, and two human tourists, Perri and Quee Lee, are thrown into the hunt for justice. "The lane was covered with hard sheets of living wood, turquoise and photosynthetic when the weather was warm, but now turning black and soggy in the cold. No one shared the way with them. Heaps and ridges of hard dirty snow stood to the sides, and behind the snow were vegetable masses, dome-shaped and crenulated where the domes pushed through, their sides punctured with doorways leading into chambers of every size. What passed for leaves had died with the first hard freeze. The masses themselves were dying, choking under the snow while their roots froze with the soil. But the hollow chambers in their wooden hearts remained inhabited. Sheets were draped across the doorways, the heated air inside making the fabric ripple, and the sloppy, half-melted ice on the thresholds was littered with the long, faintly human prints of busy feet." Robert Reed has written quite a few stories and novels about the Great Ship. Quee Lee and Perri are among his most beloved characters.