Chih is a Cleric of the Singing Hills, a fading order of non-gendered monks whose duty it is to record history. They travel with Almost Brilliant, a bird-like creature who remembers everything back to her ancestors’ memories of the Xun Dynasty. In The Empress of Salt and Fortune, they arrive at the now-deserted palace on Lake Scarlet, that once was the home in exile of the Empress In-yo. There, they catalog the items they find. They are aided by Rabbit, a handmaiden who may be a ghost.

As each precious artifact is revealed, Rabbit reveals a small gem of a story about the lives of the former inhabitants of the palace. The sum is a history of how the exiled Empress arrived at and left Lake Scarlet. Woven through the history is a wrenching but beautiful understanding of exactly what it might cost for the powerless to come into power. It is a history of sorrow and loss and triumph, told by the things left behind.