Summary

In "Prologue: Waiting," it is 1974 and Hirut waits on the Addis Ababa train platform with a box of letters and photographs, spanning from 1935 through 1941. Recalling the letter he sent contacting her, Hirut grows nervous to see Ettore again. Meanwhile a crowd of students protests the emperor's rule. To calm her nerves, Hirut repeats her story to herself.

In Book 1: "Invasion," it is 1935 and Hirut is working for her master and mistress, Kidane and Aster. She and the cook share a small hut. Aster calls frantically for Hirut, demanding to know where her necklace is. Hirut does not know; Aster does not believe her. She storms into Hirut's hut and searches everywhere. She finds Hirut's rifle, a Wujigra, given to her by her father before he died. Kidane enters. Seeing the rifle, he insists on taking it for his army. An impending invasion from...