Confessor (Sword of Truth 11)
He scratched his head of blond hair as he grinned. “Things are coming up, Jenn. Can you believe it? I’m growing things—me, Tom Rahl. I’m finding it more than agreeable.
“And I think the sow is going to have her litter any time now. I tell you, Betty is beside herself. The way her tail is wagging, I have the feeling that she thinks the piglets are going to be hers.”
Betty, Jennsen’s brown goat, loved her new home. She got to be near Tom and Jennsen all the time and she could rule the roost. Betty had a couple of horses she was in love with, a mule she tolerated, and chickens that were beneath her. She would soon have her own kids.
Tom leaned his shoulders back against the wall and folded his arms as he gazed out appreciatively at the beautiful spring countryside. “I think we’ll do just fine, Jenn.”
She rose up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Good, because I’m going to have a baby.”
He looked thunderstruck for a moment; then he leaped in the air with a wild hoot.
“You are! Jennsen, that’s wonderful! We’re bringing a new little Rahl into the new world? Really?”
Jennsen laughed, nodding at his enthusiasm.
She wished that Richard and Kahlan knew, that they could come visit once she eventually had her baby.
But Richard and Kahlan were in another world.
She had come to love the broad sunlit fields, the trees, the beautiful mountains beyond, and the cozy house they had built. It was home. A home filled with love and life. She wished that her mother could see her place in the world. She wished Richard and Kahlan could see her new home, the place Tom and she had built out of nothing. She knew how proud Richard would be.
Jennsen knew that Richard was real, but to the rest of her friends in the new world, Richard and all that he embodied, all that he represented, everything they once had known…was passing into the shrouded realm of legend and myth.
CHAPTER 65
Kahlan stopped every step, it seemed, to greet people. She rose up on her toes to gaze out over the crowd, trying to see people she was looking for, people she was excited about seeing again. It seemed like the entire world was assembled in the expansive corridors of the People’s Palace. She couldn’t ever recall seeing so many people come out for anything.
But then, this was a special event, something no one had ever seen before. No one wanted to miss it.
The world was a different place. With so many people devoted to hatred vanished out of this world and into their own, there was a rebirth, it seemed, of spirit. With fewer people to produce by the toil of labor, the need for food and other goods had spurred labor-saving innovation and inventions. Every day she heard of accomplishments, of new things being developed. The opportunities for individuals to create and prosper were no longer restrained. It seemed the world was in flower.
Kahlan stopped when someone caught her arm. She turned to see Jillian, with her grandfather. Kahlan hugged the girl tightly and told her grandfather what a brave young woman she had been, and how she had helped to save them all by casting dreams. Her grandfather beamed with pride.
Kahlan was besieged by people all wanting to take her hand, to tell her how beautiful she looked, to ask if she and Richard were well. The crowds seemed to float her along. It was a delight to see such celebration, such joy and goodwill come together like this.
Several members of the crypt staff stopped her to express their excitement at being invited. She hugged one of the women to stop her from talking. Since Richard had unleashed the power of Orden and grown them their tongues back, Kahlan didn’t think that any of the crypt staff had stopped talking.
Kahlan spotted Nathan strolling through the hallway. His full head of straight white hair hung to broad shoulders holding a blue velvet cape over a ruffled white shirt. He was wearing an elegant sword at his hip—he said that it made him look dashing. He had an attractive woman on each arm, so she guessed that it worked. Kahlan hoped that Richard was as ruggedly handsome wearing his sword when he was a thousand years old.
She waved at Nathan across a sea of people. He pointed, to signify that he would see her with Richard. She headed in that direction. When she spotted Verna, Kahlan caught the prelate’s arm.
“Verna, you came!”
Verna smiled like the sunshine. “I wouldn’t think of missing such a thing.”
“How is life at the Wizard’s Keep? Are your Sisters happy there?”
Verna’s smile widened. “Kahlan, I can’t begin to tell you.
We’ve found a few new gifted boys. They’ve come to join us and we’ve been teaching them. It’s so much different than before, so much better. It’s all so new and exciting with a First Wizard to help. Seeing such young boys coming to know their gift is wondrous.”
“And life with Zedd at the Keep?”
“Zedd has never seemed so happy. With a Keep full of people you would think he would be grumpy, but I tell you, Kahlan, the man has come alive. He’s like a child himself again to have Chase and Emma living there now, with all their children, and the boys learning their gift. The place is full of life again.”
Kahlan was getting choked up just hearing about it. “That sounds wonderful, Verna.”
“When are you coming for a visit? Everyone wants to see you and Richard again. Zedd has seen to it that people have come in to repair the damage to the Confessors’ Palace. It’s looking majestic again. It’s ready for you to come back to visit your home whenever you wish. You won’t believe all the staff who have returned and are hoping you and Richard will spend some time there.”
It was such a joy for Kahlan to know that so many people were sincere in their desire to have her around. She had grown up a Confessor, a woman feared by all. Now, because of Richard and all that had happened, she was loved as herself, and as the Mother Confessor.
“Soon, Verna, soon. Richard has been talking about wanting to get out. The palace is driving him nuts. He is surrounded by marble and the man wants to go look at trees.”
Verna kissed Kahlan’s cheek before Kahlan started on her way again. She had gone only a short distance when the square-jawed Captain Zimmer saw her and tapped his fist to his chest in salute.
“Have any ears to show me, Captain?”
He smiled knowingly. “Sorry, Mother Confessor. Haven’t needed to collect any, lately—thanks to you and Lord Rahl.”
She gave his shoulder a squeeze as she moved on.
She finally spotted Richard through the crowd. He turned to look at her, almost as if he could sense her presence. She didn’t doubt that he could.
The sight of him, as it always did, made her weak with joy. He looked magnificent in his black war-wizard outfit, fitting attire for the occasion.
When she reached him, and he circled an arm gently around her waist, drawing her close to kiss her, the rest of the world, the thousands of people, most of them no doubt watching, vanished from her mind.
“I love you,” he whispered in her ear. “You are the most beautiful woman here.”
“I don’t know, Lord Rahl,” she said with a playful smile, “some more might show up. Better not judge too quickly.”
Richard saw Victor Cascella, with his wolfish grin, tap his fist to his heart in salute. Richard, smiling at the blacksmith, returned the salute in kind.
Kahlan spotted Zedd, then. She threw her arms around the old man. “Zedd!”
“Don’t squeeze the life out of me.”
She pulled back, gripping his arms. “I’m so glad you came!”
His grin was infectious. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, dear one.”
“Are you enjoying yourself? Have you had anything to eat?”
“I would be enjoying it more if Richard would leave me be so I could sample a few of the delightful-looking treats.”
Richard made a face. “Zedd, the kitchen staff run when they see you.”
“Well, if they don’t like to cook, they shouldn’t have become cooks.”
Kahlan felt someone grab her hand
. “Rachel!” She bent and hugged the girl. “How are you?”
“Wonderful. Zedd has been teaching me to draw. When he’s not eating.”
Kahlan laughed. “Do you like living at the Keep?”
Rachel beamed. “It’s the most fun ever. I have brothers and sisters and friends. And Chase and Emma, of course. I think Chase really likes being a Keep warden.”
“I bet he does,” Richard said.
“And someday,” Rachel added, “we may move to Tamarang to live in the castle. But Zedd says that I’m a long way from ready for that.”
Rachel had been born with royal blood that carried the ability to draw spells in the sacred caves. She was, technically, the queen of Tamarang. Someday, she was going to make a grand queen and draw wonderful things.
“Zedd,” Kahlan said, “have you seen Adie?”
“Yes.” Zedd smiled to himself. “Friedrich Gilder makes her happy. If ever there was a woman who deserved to find happiness, I think it’s Adie. Lucky for her she traveled to the Keep back when the palace was under siege and ran into Friedrich. The two of them just seemed to hit it off. Now that Aydindril is back full of life, Friedrich has more work gilding than he can handle. I can hardly get him to do any work for us at the Keep.”
“And you’re all right?” Kahlan asked.
His brows lifted. “Well I will be when you and Richard come and stay for a while.” He shook a finger at Richard. “I tell you, Richard, sometimes I feel like you’ve gone off to the underworld, to live at the Temple of the Winds.”
Richard leveled an even look at his grandfather. “The Temple of the Winds isn’t in the underworld.”
“Of course it is. It was banished there during—”
“I brought it back.”
Zedd stiffened. “What?”
Richard nodded with the slightest smile. “When I went to the underworld before I opened the power of Orden, I did a few little things. While the gateway of Orden was open I was able to put the temple back where it belongs—in this world. It was designed, created, and built by the mind of man. The things in it were the creations of the mind of man. It belongs to man. I brought it back to those of us who value such genius.”
Zedd still hadn’t blinked. “But it’s dangerous.”
“I know. I made sure that for now no one but me can get in. I figured that when you’re not busy, you and I can go visit it. It’s quite a remarkable place, actually. In the Hall of Sky the ceiling of stone is like a window showing the sky across its surface. It’s so beautiful. I’d love to be the one to show you a place that no one else has seen in three thousand years.”
Zedd’s jaw was hanging. He held up a finger. “Richard, did you do anything else while the gateway of Orden was open?”
Richard shrugged. “A few things.”
“Like what?”
“Well, for one thing, I fixed it so that red fruit in the Midlands is no longer poison, just like I promised you I would a long time ago.”
“What else?”
“Well, I—oh, look, it’s time to start. I have to go. We’ll talk later.”
Zedd’s brow drew down. “You had better believe we will.”
Taking Kahlan’s hand, Richard ascended the steps to the platform of the devotion square. Egan and Ulic stood with their hands casually clasped, waiting for the Lord Rahl. Richard took his place, Kahlan at his side.