Mesheela is a four-legged, four-eyed spider with magical powers. She is Chief Royal Investigator for the kingdom of Lumeenia, on the planet Magdiilia, but her life feels meaningless. J.P. Sharpe is a recently divorced psychology professor facing the choice between a big payday and being able to look at himself in the mirror. J.P.'s self-medication with cigarettes parallels Mesheela's addiction to the potion Culeedai. Darria Praywell's fantasy sci fi novella "On Shifting Sands Nothing Stands: Book I Magically Finding Purpose" turns Mesheela's and J.P.'s grieving and hopelessness into an accelerating adventure of recovery, power politics, late coming of age, and renewed Spiritual Love.