The demoness Metria has a problem. Having gotten married and received half of her soul, she would have been quite happy, if not for one small “but”: despite all her efforts, she cannot “call the stork” in any way. And of course, her path lies to the information wizard Humphrey... And then strange things begin to happen! The omniscient bird Simurgh, for unknown reasons, is starting a trial of the bird of fate named Roxana; All the inhabitants of Xanth of any significance gather for the trial - you will meet almost all the heroes of the previous books - and a fascinating action unfolds, the outcome of which is not yet clear to anyone...