Temple of the Winds

"She thought that once before, and she turned out to be wrong. Remember? If Shota had had her way, we wouldn't have been able to stop Darken Rahl. He would rule us all right now, if we had given in to her reading of the future. Prophecy is no different." Richard gripped her shoulders and held her at arm's length so that he could look into her eyes. "Do you love me?"

His grip on her wounded shoulder made it sing with pain, but she refused to pull away from his touch. "More than life itself."

"Then trust in me. I won't let it destroy us. I promise. It will all fall into place for the best in the end. You'll see. We can't think of the solution if we're focused on the problem."

She wiped at her eyes. He sounded so sure of himself. His confidence calmed her and bolstered her spirits. "You're right. I'm sorry." "Do you want to marry me?"

"Of course, but I don't see how we can leave our responsibility for such a long time to travel-" "The sliph." She blinked. "What?"

"The sliph, up in the Wizard's Keep. I've been thinking about it; we traveled all the way to the Old World and back in her, with her magic, and it took less than a day each way. I can wake the sliph, and we can travel in her."

"But she would take us to the Old World, to the city of Tanimura. Jagang is somewhere near Tanimura."

"That's still a lot closer to the Mud People than Aydindril is. Besides, I think the sliph can go other places, too. She asked me where I wished to travel. That means she can go other places. Maybe she can get us a lot closer than Tanimura."

Kahlan, her tears forgotten at the prospect of their wedding being possible, glanced up at the Keep. "We might be able to go to the Mud People, be married, and be back in a matter of a few days. We could be gone that long, surely." Richard smiled as his arms circled her from behind. "Surely." Kahlan wiped the last of the tears away as she turned in his arms. "How do you always manage to figure things out?"

He nodded toward her bed. "I had a great deal of motivation." Kahlan, a grin spreading on her face, was just about to reward him with something positively indecent, when there was a knock at the door. It immediately opened without benefit of an answer. Nancy stuck her head in.

"Are you all right, Mother Confessor?" She glanced meaningfully to Richard. "Yes. What is it?" "Lady Nadine is asking if she could change the poultice."

"Is she now?" Kahlan said in a dark tone.

"Yes, Mother Confessor. But if you are. . indisposed, I could ask her to wait until-"

"Send her in. then," Richard said.

Nancy hesitated. "We will have to take the top of your dress down. Mother Confessor. To get at the bandage."

"It's all right," Richard whispered in Kahlan's ear. "I have to go talk to Berdine. I have some work for her." "I hope it doesn't involve horse manure." Richard smiled. "No. I want her to work on Kolo's journal." "Why?"

He kissed the top of her head. "Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed." He glanced to Nancy. "Need me to help with her dress?" Nancy managed to scowl and turn red at the same time. "I guess that means you will manage. ' At the door, he turned back to Kahlan. "I'll wait until Nadine's finished with you, and then we better go see this Drefan fellow. I have a task for him. I'd. . like you to be with me."

When he had closed the door, Nancy brushed back her short brown hair and moved around behind Kahlan to help with her dress. "Your Mother Confessor's dress, the one you were wearing yesterday, was ruined beyond repair."

"I expected as much." Confessors had a collection of dresses, all the same. Confessors all wore black dresses; only the Mother Confessor wore white. She thought about the blue wedding dress she would wear. "Nancy, do you remember when your husband was courting you?" Nancy paused. "Yes, Mother Confessor."

"Then you must know how it would have made you feel if someone were to keep popping in on you when you were alone with him."

Nancy eased the dress over Kahlan's shoulder. "Mother Confessor, I was never allowed to be alone with him until we were married. I was young, and ignorant. My parents were right to watch over me and the impulses of youth."

"Nancy, I'm a grown woman. I'm the Mother Confessor. I can't have you and the other women popping your heads into my room whenever Richard is with me. Ow!"

"Sorry. That was my fault. It isn't proper. Mother Confessor." "That's for me to decide." "If you say so. Mother Confessor."

Kahlan held her arm out as Nancy slipped the sleeve over her hand. "I say so." Nancy glanced to the bed. "You were conceived in that bed. Who knows how many Mother Confessors before you conceived their daughters in that bed. It holds a legacy of tradition. Only wedded Mother Confessors took their men to that bed to conceive a child."

''And not one of them because of love. I was not conceived through love, Nancy. My child, if I have one, will be."

"All the more reason that it should be by the grace of the good spirits-in the sanctity of marriage."