Fire Dancer? I think I had/have one or two of those, and wished the series had continued. Nice framework for a series, too, as I recollect - In the first book the heroine (and her companion?) had freed a shipload of slaves, and promised to return them to their homes. These are the stories of those attempts to go home again . . . I may have to dig that out and read it again.
Re: Happens to or happens around?