Friend, the gentle, loving, and ferocious in defense of her eggs, changeling that we met in DARING DO and The Gryphon’s Quest! Is helping Daring Do to recover from an assassination attempt by poison suffered near the end of DD and the Gryphon's Quest.

Because the Throne of the Empire is busy with the aftermath of civil war which has underscored the need to ensure the succession, Friend is offered the chance to tend their eggs and raise the Imperial Clutch.

Baron Yoksonu, the infamous collector of eggs figures in somewhere …

There are more ways to hunt than simply going out and pouncing on prey.