House of SunsSix million years ago, at the very dawn of the starfaring era, Abigail Gentian fractured herself into a thousand male and female clones: the shatterlings. Sent out into the galaxy, these shatterlings have stood aloof as they document the rise and fall of countless human empires. They meet every two hundred thousand years to exchange news and memories of their travels with their siblings. Campion and Purslane are not only late for their thirty second