Accused of causing Qevar's drought, a young woman—reborn as the Smiths' eldest daughter—is handed over by her father and a rival who wants to rise. The rival has her burned as a sacrifice to the Moon Goddess to force rain. As she dies she curses the land; rain arrives and the rival claims the crown prince's position and becomes crown princess. Back in the celestial realm, the woman reveals she is the deity who aided a boy eighty years ago and remembers the betrayal. She vows to descend in divine form and make sure Qevar gets a new emperor.