An important element of the novel is the strong sense of duty felt by both Stalwart and Emerald. Wart is already a competent minstrel, but he feels that it would be far more worthy to defend the King's peace as a knight. Emerald's sense of duty comes more from her training to perceive the balance of the natural elements, and from her father's lingering death while in the care of sorcerers who may have kept him alive until her family was bankrupt.

Multiple motives and choices make each character well-rounded and complex. Wart consents to search for the conspirators who create monsters and threaten the King, even though he knows that he may be killed.

Emerald discovers that she is the bait in the trap after she is expelled and sent home on a slow cart. Her fury is only at being drafted without...