“I should not be surprised that your primary political and religious figure was a slave,” Taigan said.

“We were all slaves, once,” Lilia said.

Taigan said something biting in Saiduan and yanked at the bear’s lead again. With Lilia riding and Taigan walking, they traveled very slowly over the rough terrain.

“Do you want to ride the bear for a while?” Lilia asked.

“No. You’re too slow.”

“If you’re such a great healer, why don’t you fix my foot?”

“A sound idea,” Taigan said. “If you’d like me to chop off your leg and then spend three months legless while it grows back. We have no time for that. It’s an inconvenience, not life-threatening.”

“But you could fix it,” Lilia said. “The tirajistas say they can’t, because the bone is ruined, not just flesh.”

“Most things can be fixed,” Taigan said, “if they’re organic. Perhaps if you’re a better student, I’ll chop your leg off someday.”

“You make everything sound so kind,” Lilia said.

“But there is one thing we should take care of,” Taigan said. He reached up and took her wrist.

“What did I tell you about asking?” she said.

Taigan’s grip was firm. He recited one of the songs he had taught her – the Song of Unmaking. Her skin prickled where he touched her.

“Stop it,” Lilia said.

Her skin burned.

She shrieked.

Taigan released her.

Lilia rubbed her wrist. The burning stopped. Her skin looked the same. “What did you do?”

“I removed your ward,” he said. He squinted up at her. “Yes. You’ll be a bit easier to remember, now. I suspect you had few friends at the temple.” He picked up the bear’s lead again and started walking.

“Roh was my friend,” Lilia said. “He could always see me.”

“Some parajistas have the ability to see through or break wards,” Taigan said. “In truth, it’s impossible to bind a parajista with a ward. The pattern simply will not bind with their blood.”

Lilia considered her wrist again. “How did you do it? You just unraveled it?”

“The ward was created using the same symbol burned onto your skin,” Taigan said. “Any omajista could see it. You could too, if you’d only open yourself to the star’s breath. I suspect she meant for you to unravel it. Your first task. But I fear you’re not as gifted as perhaps she hoped.”

“You mean the trefoil with the tail? That’s the symbol?”

“Yes. The ward was sewn into your skin using that pattern as the base. It was just many trefoils bound together, all hooked by their tails. Wards are easy enough to unravel if you know what symbol was used for the base.”

“This is like being blind,” Lilia said. “I can’t see any of these things.”

“Work harder,” Taigan said.

“Would you tell me to work harder to see if I was blind?”