Captive and the Clowns:

Adventurers Gristel Virage, Quayam Srae, and Thristen Alomere set off on a year-long journey to rescue an old friend. They have the whole trip planned out. They will go south across the desert to the Jamsheed conjunction. They will pass through to Solomon Island on the planet Feras. They will sail north to the mainland. They will travel one thousand kilometers overland to the palace in which their friend is being held captive. They will rescue their friend and make haste to the Kenyan conjunction, which will take them home to Clarus. And every day, they will talk through a space bridge to Gristel and Quayam's eleven-year old daughter Romayne, who they must leave behind. That's the plan, anyway. The details have to be worked out along the way, such as how to travel without arousing suspicion when you look nothing like the locals and don't speak the language. As it turns out, the three adventurers get into a big fight that comes near to ending their careers, work as stage performers with a traveling opera, and learn that assuming a false identity carries a higher cost than they could have guessed.