Saving her fiancé showed Gralial's people what a freak she was and they punished her accordingly by removing her soul. Left with only intelligence and her talent, Gray must start a new life in the Alliance as the Sector Guardsman Hard Hearted. She is assigned to Teklan base as their healer and physician and partnered with a being that she never even heard of. As a Nilshan Animorph, Mist has spent his time as an enforcer for the Alliance. When he was offered this position, and Gralial as a partner, he jumped at the chance to protect the woman whose lack of a soul keeps her from caution, fear, or passion.