"...yer testing what? This some fancy surface magic?"

… Right.

"Yes, it's a communication spell. I would compose a message for you and cast the spell. I think it takes a few minutes to cast and I need to know who I'm sending to; you wouldn't need to do anything in particular while we wait although I may need your name. And then at the end I'd want to know if the spell told you the message was from me."

She squints, an action which is very much like anyone else squinting but takes place elsewhere on the face. "Will it hurt?"

… She doesn't know for certain but she's also pretty sure that it would have come up if it did.

"No. It won't hurt me, either."

(Hopefully she didn't make a deadly mistake in cracking a joke just now.)

"Then I don't see as how it's my business!" she says with a lopsided grin. "Do what ye like, I'll tell ye what comes of it, seems only neighborly. M'name's Agurdha."

"Thank you."

She takes Finnean in hand.

"All right, let's Send to her: this is a test."

She doesn't see a point in coming up with 21 more words.

It takes her ten minutes. At the end of the ten minutes, the woman startles, her hands going rock-still.

"Well that's something!" she exclaims. "Sounded like ye, sure enough. Didn't tell me yer name, but I'd've knew ye if I knew ye, sure enough."

"Fantastic!"

If she were Dyra, she'd probably pay Agurdha. Instead, she simply bows.

"Thank you. I hope that the rest of your work shift is productive."

"Whatever that means twelve dozen times on ye as well," Agurdha says agreeably.

Miko thanks her again and leaves.

On the way back to the tent, she considers what's most important to tell Hinjo, or anyone who survived. Her status and location, obviously. That she won't be leaving Kenabres until the Deskari situation is resolved, and by the same token doesn't need or expect assistance from the rest of the Guard, particularly given how much they've currently got on their plate.

She should probably mention blowing up the castle, too.

"Send to Lord Hinjo: Undead in unfamiliar city Kenabres. Working on local demon problem. Will return to Azure City when able. Xykon escaped Gate explosion. What's the current plan?"

(She debated including that last part but couldn't think of any better use for the remaining four words.)

"Far be it from me to nitpick," Finnean nitpicks, "but you might want to start with 'raised as'. Undead in city is... ambiguous."

… The sword has a point.

"Thank you."

She takes Finnean's advice, shortening the question at the end to "what's next?"

And now to wait twenty minutes.

Ten minutes pass. The spell... fizzles.

"Hm," Finnean says.

"That's. Bad."

She tries O-Chul next, with the same wording. If anyone could survive that explosion, it'd be him.

Fizzle.

Well.

He was standing right next to the throne.

Somehow this feels worse than when she killed Shojo.

Lien? Thanh? A couple of paladins she didn't see in the throne room and were probably just at the bottom of the pile but might have survived and escaped?

No no no no no.

She buries her face in her hands and groans. She should probably give up, really, it's been over an hour and a half since she first started testing. But if she wants to be a paladin again, she can't give up this easily.

It occurs to her that she knows one person who's certainly alive. Someone with nigh-invincible plot armor who will likely survive no matter what insane situations he throws himself into. He's not someone she wants to talk to, but…

"Send to Roy Greenhilt. The entire Sapphire Guard is dead, the Gate is destroyed, and Xykon escaped."

She still has half her word allowance left. What does she want to spend it on? Yelling at Greenhilt? Blaming him for this? She still can't be sure that he isn't secretly working for Xykon, in which case he already knows all that and is celebrating.

But.

He did stop her from killing Hinjo in the throne room. And accuse her of not caring about the dignity of sentient beings.

"If you care about Azure City's people, at least raise Hinjo. Please."

Ding!

On. The bright side. This is another win. For Miko's unassailable logic.

A couple minutes later comes a faint and fuzzy reply:

You can Send to dead people and you're bothering me? Whatever. Durkon's raising me in the morning. If we find paladins we'll raise them too.