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“Zara. You look well. How are you settling in?”

“Fine,” she said, watching Tahir begin cleaning the wound. “You called Naika a Witch-Paladin. I thought that meant she was a mage.”

Theron nodded. “She is.”

“But she did not heal you?”

“Indeed not. Witch-Paladin Naika knows I don’t take magical healing.”

Only a person with no sense would intentionally forego healing. “Why not?”

“Ah. I forget that there’s so much you don’t know.” Theron sat up straighter in his chair. “It is not Paladius’s will for us to use magic. Not unless absolutely necessary. It is a power not meant for mortals. It leads to corruption and evil.” He gestured to Naika. “Witch-Paladin Naika knows well the dangers of magic. Witch-Paladins are reformed mages who use their magic for good, under the careful guidance of the other Paladins.”

Zara was stunned. “Do all Ardanians believe magic is evil?”

“Not all. Not yet. People are all too easily swayed by the seductive nature of magic. But we hope that in time, more will come to understand the dangers magic and mages pose to Ardani.”

Zara glanced up at Naika, who didn’t seem to be listening. She collapsed into a chair with a soft sigh, her armor clanking.

“Do you feel that way too, Naika?” Zara asked.

Naika’s dark eyes flicked up to meet hers. She looked annoyed by the question.

“No voice, remember?” Theron said.

“Can she sign?” Zara asked, accompanying the words with hand motions.

The Paladins visibly stiffened. “What was that?” Theron said.

“What?”

“Your hands. Was that a spell?”

From his tone, she got the impression that he would have been very displeased if it had been. Zara was so startled by the notion that she laughed a little uncomfortably. “No, it is hand sign. A language of hand movements. The people in Kuda Varai who have lost their voices to The Withering use it.” She signed again, slowing the motions down.

Naika watched her dispassionately, showing no recognition of the signs. Everyone, Zara realized, was staring at her. She lowered her hands to her sides.

“How bizarre,” one of the Paladins commented. “You look just like Naika does when she’s casting, with all the hand waving.”

“I promise, it is not magic,” Zara said. “I did not mean to upset anyone.”

“That’s all right,” Theron said. “You didn’t know. I’m sure it will take time for you to unlearn all the strange customs you learned among the night elves.”

“Paladin Theron, we’ve captured one of the night elves,” the old man at the table said suddenly, as if unable to hold it in any longer.

Theron’s normally jovial face grew serious. “You took one alive?” He was so enthused by this news that he apparently forgot where he was and moved to stand up, but Tahir firmly pulled him back down, shooting him a disapproving look.

“They attacked in the night,” Basira said.

“We heard as much on our way in. It must be by Paladius’s blessing that no one was hurt. I’m shocked you managed to capture one.”

“He made the mistake of attacking Zara,” Basira said. “She wasn’t as weak an opponent as he thought she’d be.”

“He did not attack me,” Zara corrected her. “Actually, I attacked him first.”

Theron laughed, clapping. “Well done, girl!”

Zara pressed her lips together. “What will you do with him?”