Shasha, an erotic dancer, finds a dying dog in the sands. It turns out to be an agurid spy from the House of the Shapeshifters, Lord Garron Cessir. The observant dog quickly realizes that her rescuer isn’t only serving King of Sand Hyurbata—she’s involved in quite dangerous business. Betrayal forces Shasha to seek shelter in the Magic Academy. While the first-year student is trying on a new image and a new name, Ron suffers, thinking how to tell his father—the head of intelligence—that he made two fatal mistakes: he failed to turn into a human, and, being a dog, he managed to marry the king’s enslaved person.