Elma

Elma is a kind woman who loves her family and home. Kale and Bardon stay a night with them on their journey to the Northern Reach. She is proud of her husband, Garmey, for trying to better himself and learn how to read, write, and to follow Wulder. She wishes he would appreciate her kindness more, but Kale explains how Wulder takes it three-fold when others don't consider the kindness worthy, once for giving it, once for not reacting with bitterness, and once for repeating the kindness. Kale also explains how Paladin doesn't accept the Followers as his like Elma wouldn't accept a stranger as her son, though a visitor might believe the stranger to be her son because the stranger says it's so. This worries Elma. Elma then gives Kale a recipe for an ointment that her grandmother used on her grandfather for his stakes, saying that it was the only thing that got rid of the stiffness.

However, when Garmey agrees to go with the Followers, the group takes their two sons to someplace different than the couple, which worries them. They are among the group that Kale, Bardon, and Holt break out of one of the Paladise villages.