From publisher blurb: For centuries, the people of Aldwater have guarded and revered the wooden labyrinth holding the their ancestors' remains. Only the Spiritspeaker ever ventures inside, using an ancient relic to hold council with the dead. The wisdom of the council is vast, but not without fault, and for several years the advice of the ancestral spirits has done nothing to halt Aldwater's increasing plight. Each season, the fishermen and trappers bring back a little less, and the children grow up a little hungrier. In desperation, the Spiritspeaker recently allowed outsiders to petition the ancestors with questions, in return for donations. The influx of strangers in search of answers to lost questions and ancient riddles has brought much needed income to Aldwater, but resentment and anger brews among those who feel their most sacred traditions have been violated.