Berdine was searching other libraries, along with Verna and nearly all of her Sisters. Anything deemed to be of possible help was brought to Nicci. She personally checked everything brought in to see if it was something Richard needed to concern himself with. Some of the more experienced Sisters were proving quite valuable at ferreting out important sources of relevant information.
Nicci also kept people away from Richard so he could concentrate on reading and on the wide array of things she was teaching him. In some ways he felt like a recluse. But it also left the mood in the quiet retreat focused, which was just what Richard needed.
Low bookshelves in the private sanctuary were placed near the richly paneled walls, leaving the center open for couches and chairs. It made the room look more like a quiet study than a library. Small statues decorated the tops of some of the shelves, helping them to appear to be display stands rather than bookshelves.
Richard hadn't yet ventured up the narrow, iron spiral stairs to the small balcony on the opposite wall, but Nicci had. As he read, she'd brought books that she thought were important down to add to the stacks awaiting his attention. Although the room didn't have the look of one of the typical libraries filled with row upon row of books, the discreet shelves in the room still had to contain thousands of volumes. The ones they were interested in, though, were somewhat rare, even for this place.
Still, the heavy mahogany table he sat before was piled high with books Nicci had laid out. From within the library there was no way to tell if it was day or night. The heavy, dark blue velvet draperies were closed. Opening them wouldn't have helped since there was only wood paneling behind. The curtains were only meant to give the illusion of windows and to quiet the room. There were ample lamps, though, along with a fireplace. They gave the place a warm glow, making it look cozy and inviting. Richard felt neither.
They worked without pause as much as possible. Food was brought in so they wouldn't have to stop. When they could keep their eyes open no longer, they slept for a time on the couches.
Nicci, never far from him, paced through the shadows and shafts of light from the reflector lamps hung on the polished, dark brown, white-veined marble pillars standing at uniform intervals throughout the library. She scanned yet another book, seeing if it was something he needed to read, only to walk back to the shelves and replace it.
Richard's burning urge was to act. He desperately wanted to go after Kahlan. He knew, though, that it wasn't that simple. To really go after her he had to learn how to use the power of Orden before it was too late to ever get her back. He knew that it would be impossible for him to do such a thing on his own. Nicci had, without hesitation, agreed to be his teacher.
The first thing she had done had been to explain the complexities of sterile fields. She wanted him to fully understand the implications. Richard was no expert in magic, and he certainly didn't know how to use his ability at will, but Nicci had made the principles understandable to him. At first, he found it hard to grasp. He couldn't understand what harm such foreknowledge could really do.
Nicci insisted that the wizards who had created Orden to counter a Chainfire event were convinced that foreknowledge of a certain emotional nature would taint the magic they were creating and thus taint Orden itself. Richard had been dubious.
She told him how Zedd was the one who had explained to her that foreknowledge tainting magic was no theory, but that it was true. He had told her that Richard himself had proven it by falling in love with Kahlan without her Confessor's power harming him. Any foreknowledge that it could be done would have destroyed Richard's ability to overcome the problem because her magic, when she first unleashed it on him even without intending to, would have taken him. While he never revealed the solution to Nicci, Zedd did tell her that Richard had to be totally unaware of a solution even existing, or that solution would not have worked, so she was sworn to secrecy on even that small part of it.
Zedd had told Nicci that Richard himself had proven the central question of Ordenic theory-that foreknowledge can affect the functioning of magic. He had proven it with Kahlan.
Richard knew all too well what Nicci was talking about, even if she was in the dark about parts of it. Because of experiencing such a thing firsthand, he recognized the true gravity of the situation. He knew that, just as his foreknowledge of a solution to loving a Confessor would have made that solution fail, Kahlan having foreknowledge of his profound emotional connection to her would make Orden fail.
It was no theory, as the wizards who created Orden had thought. It was true: foreknowledge tainted a sterile field. Richard, of all people, grasped that concept on a visceral level.