The Arbiter

Maria served dutifully until the star fell.

The order of the arbiters had been the only life she’d known, bound together in the service of Christ. The first woman ever on the cusp of ordination, only for the world to fall in pieces around her. A scholar in prison, speculating on the nature of God. A mysterious stranger, offering help that leads to as much tragedy as enlightenment. A bizarre illness, slowly spreading across the Spanish city of Alghuruba. All emerged with a falling star, burning its way down towards the earth.

Now her duties clash with knowledge mortals were never meant to understand, and Maria must ask herself a potentially disastrous question:

Is her justice and its truth worth the abandonment of everything she’s strived for?