Summary
Analysis
Amari and Tzain are still tied up in a tent. There are only a few days left until the solstice. Zu enters the tent and, wordlessly, uses Healer magic to heal Tzain’s wounds. Amari tries to tell her story and again Zu does not believe her. Amari realizes they must be in a settlement of divîners who had their powers awakened by the scroll, and somehow managed not to be killed by Admiral Kaea.
Kaea, like Saran, killed most of the divîners she encountered with the scroll because she believed that they would all use their magic for evil. Zu’s use of magic to heal someone she considers an enemy shows that violence is not the only way to use magic, and that evil is, of course, not the primary characteristic of maji.
Zu says that though she can’t remember the Raid, she can remember the horror of watching her family cut down by Kaea after the scroll resurfaced. Because Amari is a noble, Zu distrusts her. Zu calls Kwame back into the tent to start the interrogation in earnest.
Saran’s violence continues to leave a lasting mark on the citizens of Orïsha, keeping them fearful. Like Zélie, Zu is haunted by the memory of her lost family. But, she also knows the bitter truth that she must sometimes use violence herself for protection and to fight for what she believes in.