Karda

From Reader's Favorite Gold Medal Award and B.R.A.G Medallion winning author Sherrill Nilson:
On the beautiful world Adalta, an ancient alien threat emerges.
Young Marta is dropped to the planet for her first secret mission alone. How will she succeed when she must open up to magic she doesn't believe in.
On this planet where the only weapons allowed are arrows and swords, Marta discovers a high-tech weapon she knows could only come from her ship. Someone is smuggling them to use in the bitter power struggle between two noble brothers. She knows she must stop this threat, and reluctantly joins forces with the handsome but arrogant Altan. As their connection grows, Marta struggles to keep her secret, and to keep the rule of not getting attached.
As tensions rise and the ancient threat grows, will Marta accept the frightening elemental magic powers Adalta wants to give her to save the planet she loves?
***** "The Karda have joined the Dragons of Pern and the Companions of Valdemar as some of my all time favorite 'characters''!"
***** "I did not want to leave the world the author created. I am off to get the second book."
***** "This is an amazing road movie of a book, where the heroine sets of on a voyage of discovery across a fantastic new world, and in discovering the world she also discovers something of herself."
***** "I want to ride a Karda."