w all too  well  the  kind of
worry that had to be churning beneath the woman's no-nonsense exterior.
     "Verna," Kahlan asked as she rubbed her arms,  "on your way past, could
you throw some more wood on the fire, please?"
     Cara  hopped down off her stool,  where she was  perched, watching over
Kahlan's shoulder. "I'll do it."
     Verna  pulled  a map free and,  on her way back to  the  table, thanked
Cara. "Here it is, Zedd. I think this better shows  the area  you're talking
about."
     Zedd unfurled the new map over the top of  the one already laid out  on
the table before Kahlan. It was a larger scale,  giving a more detailed look
at the southern regions of the Midlands.
     "Yes," Zedd drawled as he peered at the new  map. "See here?" He tapped
the Drun River. "See  how narrow the lowlands are  down south, through here?
That's  what  I  was talking  about. Rough country, with  cliffs  in  places
hemming the river. That's why I don't think they would try to go up the Drun
Valley."
     "I suppose you're right," Verna said.
     "Besides"-Kahlan waggled  a finger  over the  area to the  north on the
first map"up  this way is mostly only Nicobarese. They are rather  isolated,
and so a tempting  target,  but they  aren't a wealthy land. The plunder and
trade  goods would be slim. The Order has much more opportunity for conquest
if they stay over here.  Besides, can you  see how difficult it would be for
them to get their army  back over the Rang'Shada  mountains, if they went up
the  Drun? Strategically, it wouldn't make as much sense for  them to  go up
that way."
     Verna idly twiddled with a button on her blue dress as she  studied the
map. "Yes . . . I see what you mean."
     "But your point is well taken," Kahlan said. "It wouldn't be a bad idea
if you sent a Sister or two to watch that area; just because it doesn't make
as much  logistic sense, that  doesn't  mean Jagang  wouldn't try  it.  Come
spring, he's bound to move on us. We wouldn't want to be surprised  to  find
the Imperial Order storming in the back door to Aydindril."
     Cara answered  the  knock at the door. It was a head scout named Hayes.
Kahlan stood  when she saw  through the  open  door  and  nearby trees  that
Captain Ryan was also making his way toward the lodge.
     Hayes saluted with a fist to his heart.

     "Glad to see you back, Corporal Hayes," Kahlan said.
     "Thank you, Mother Confessor. It's good to be back."
     He looked like  he  could  use a  meal.  After Captain  Ryan rushed  in
through the  door,  Cara pushed  it  shut  against  the  blowing snow. Hayes
stepped to the side, out of the way of the captain.
     Kahlan  was  relieved  to  see  the  young  Galean  officer.  "How  did
everything go, Captain? How is everyone?"
     He pulled off his scarf and wool hat  as he  caught  his  breath; Verna
looked to be holding hers.
     "Good,"  the captain said. "We did well. The Sisters were able  to heal
some of  our wounded. Some needed to be  transported  for a ways  before the
Sisters  could see to them. That slowed us. We had a few losses,  but not as
many as we feared. Warren was a great help."
     "Where is Warren?" Zedd asked.
     As if bidden by his name,  Warren came in through the door, escorted by
a swirling gust of snow. Kahlan  squinted at the slash of bright light until
the door was pushed shut once more. She caught the look on Verna's face, and
recalled  how  lighthearted  she always felt to see Richard back safely when
they  had been  separated. Warren casually kissed Verna  on the cheek with a
quick  peck. Kahlan noticed the look they  shared, even if no one  else did.
She was happy for them,  but still, the reminder was like  a jab at the pain
of her helpless heartache and worry over Richard.
     "Did you tell them?" Warren asked, unbuttoning his cloak.
     "No," Captain Ryan said. "We haven't had a chance yet."
     Zedd's brow drew down. "Tell us what?"
     Warren heaved a  sigh. "Well, Verna's special glass worked better  than
we thought it had. We captured several men  and questioned  them at  length.
The ones we saw dead in the valley were only the ones who died at first."
     Verna helped Warren  shed his heavy, snow-crusted cloak.  She put it on
the floor by the fire, where Captain Ryan had laid his brown coat to dry.
     "It seems," Warren went on, "that there were a great many-maybe another
sixty, seventy thousand-who  didn't  go blind, but who lost the sight in one
eye, or  have impaired  vision.  The Order  couldn't very well abandon them,
because they  can  still see well enough  to stay  with  the rest,  but more
important, it's hoped that maybe those men will heal, and regain full use of
their sight-and their ability to fight."
     "Not likely," Verna said.
     "I don't  think  so, either,"  Warren said,  "but  that's what they are
thinking,  anyway.  Another  goodly  number, maybe  twenty  five  or  thirty
thousand, are sick---their eyes and noses red and horribly infected."
     Verna nodded. "The glass will do that."
     "Then  some  more,  maybe  half  that  number,  are  having   breathing
difficulty."
     "So," Kahlan said, "with those killed  and those injured enough to keep
them from being  effective fighters, that makes somewhere  near one  hundred
fifty  thousand  put   out  of  the  way  by  the  glass   dust.   Quite  an
accomplishment, Verna."
     Verna  looked  as  pleased  as Kahlan.  "It  was worth  that horse ride
scaring  the  wits out of me. It wouldn't have worked had you not thought of
doing it that way."
     "What kind of success did you have, Captain?" Cara asked as she came to
stand behind Kahlan.,
     "Captain Zimmer and I had the kind  of success we  hoped for. I'd guess
we took out maybe ten thousand in the time we were down there."

     Zedd let out a slow whistle. "Pretty heavy fighting."
     "Not really. Not the way the Mother Confessor taught us  to do it,  and
not the way Captain Zimmer works, either.  Mostly we  eliminate the enemy as
efficiently as possible, and try to keep from having to fight at all. If you
slit a man's throat in his sleep, you  can accomplish a lot more, and you're
less likely to get hurt yourself."
     Kahlan smiled. "I'm glad you were such a good student."
     Captain Ryan lifted a thumb. "Warren and the Sisters were  a great help
at getting us where we needed to be without being discovered. Any word about
the white cloaks, yet? We could really  use them. I can tell  you for a fact
that they would have enabled us to do more."
     "We just got in our first  load the day before yesterday," Kahlan  told
him. "More than enough for your  men  and Captain Zimmer's. We'll  have more
within a few days."
     Captain Ryan  rubbed  his hands,  warming  his fingers. "Captain Zimmer
will be pleased."
     Zedd gestured to the south. "Did you find out why they  withdrew so far
back over ground they'd taken?"
     Warren nodded. "From the men we questioned, we found out that they have
fever going through their camp. Nothing we did, just your regular fever that
happens in such crowded camp conditions in the field. But they've lost  tens
of thousands  of men  to the  fever.  They  wanted  to withdraw to put  some
distance  between  us,  give themselves  some  breathing  room.  They aren't
concerned about being able to push us out of their way when they wish."
     That made sense. With their numbers, it was only natural for them to be
confident, even cavalier, about dealing with any opposition. Kahlan couldn't
understand why  Warren and  Captain  Ryan looked  so downhearted. She sensed
that, despite their good news, there was something amiss.
     "Dear  spirits," Kahlan said, trying to  give  them  some cheer. "Their
numbers are  dwindling  away like snow  beside  the hearth.  This is  better
than-"
     Warren  held up a hand. "I asked Hayes, here, to  come and give you his
report firsthand. I think you had better hear him out."
     Kahlan motioned the man to  come forward. He stepped smartly up to  her
table and snapped to attention.
     "Let's hear what you have to report, Corporal Hayes."
     His face looked chalky, and despite the cold, he was sweating.
     "Mother Confessor, my  scout team  was down  to the southeast, watching
the routes in from the wilds, and watching,  too in  case the Order tried to
swing wide around us. Well, I guess the short of it is, we  spotted a column
making its way west to resupply and reinforce the Order."
     "They're a big  army," Kahlan said. "They would have supplies sent from
their homeland to augment what they can get as spoils. A supply column would
have men guarding them."
     "I followed them for a week, just to get an accurate count."
     "How many," Kahlan asked.
     "Well over a quarter million, Mother Confessor."
     Kahlan's flesh tingled as if icy needles were dancing over it.
     "How many?" Verna asked.
     "At least two hundred and fifty  thousand men at arms, plus drivers and
civilians with the supplies."

     Everything they had worked for, all the sacrifices, all the struggle to
whittle  down the  Imperial  Order,  had  just  been  nullified. Worse  than
nullified, their work had been  erased,  and nearly that many more  had been
added to the force the enemy had started with.
     "Dear spirits," Kahlan whispered, "how many men does the Old World have
to throw at us?"
     When she met Warren's gaze, she knew that this number, even, was hardly
surprising to him.
     Warren gestured to the  scout. "Hayes saw only the first group. The men
we  captured  told  us about  the reinforcements.  We weren't sure they were
telling us the truth-we thought they might be trying to spook us-but then we
met up with Corporal Hayes, on his way back. We did some further questioning
and scoutingthat's why we were delayed in returning."
     "Another quarter  million  . .  ." Kahlan's words  trailed  off. It all
seemed so hopeless.
     Warren  cleared his throat.  "That is  just the  first column  of fresh
troops. More are coming."
     Kahlan went to the hearth  and warmed her hands  as she stared into the
flames. She was standing  beneath the  statue Richard had carved for her, to
make her feel better. Kahlan wished that at that moment she could recall the
defiant feeling Spirit portrayed.  It felt as if  she could only contemplate
death.
     --]----
     The news of the  Imperial Order  reinforcements, just  as the  news  of
departure of the Galeans and Keltans, spread through  the camp faster than a
storm wind. Kahlan, Zedd, Warren, Verna, Adie, General Meiffert, and all the
rest of the officers held nothing back from the  men. Those men were risking
their  lives daily  and had  a  right  to  the truth.  If Kahlan was passing
through the camp, and  a soldier was brave enough  to ask her, she told  him
what she knew. She tried to give them confidence, too, but she didn't lie to
them.
     The men, having struggled for so long, were beyond fear. The bleak mood
was a palpable  pall smothering  the spark  of life out of them.  They  went
about their tasks as if numb, accepting their fate, which now seemed sealed,
resigned to the inevitable. The New World offered no shelter, no safe place,
nowhere to hide from the boundless menace of the Imperial Order.
     Kahlan  showed  the  soldiers  a  determined face. She  had  no choice.
Captain Ryan and his men, having been through such despair before, were less
troubled by the news. They couldn't die; they were already dead. Along  with
Kahlan, the young Galeans had long ago taken an  oath of the dead, and could
only be returned to life when the Order was destroyed.
     None  of it mattered much to Captain Zimmer and his men. They knew what
needed to be done, and they simply kept at it. Each of them now had multiple
strings of ears. They began new strings  at one hundred.  It was a matter of
honor  to  them that they kept only the  right ear, so no  two ears could be
from the same man.
     Representative Theriault  of Herjborgue  was as good  as his  word. The
white wool  cloaks,  hats, and mittens arrived weekly, helping  hide the men
who  regularly went  on missions, while  the weather was in their favor,  to
attack the Imperial Order. With the sickness in the Order's  camp leaving so
many of them weak, along with so

     many  of  the  enemy   having  impaired  vision,  those  missions  were
extraordinarily  successful.  Troops wearing the concealing cloaks were also
sent to  lie in wait  and intercept any supply trains, hoping  to neutralize
the reinforcements before they could join with the enemy's main force.
     Still, the attacks were little more than an annoyance to the Order.
     Kahlan, after a meeting with a group just returned, found Zedd alone in
the lodge, looking over  the latest  information that had been added  to the
maps.
     "Good fortune," she said when he looked up, watching as she removed her
fur mantle. "The men  who just got in had few casualties, and they caught  a
large group out on patrol. They were able to cut them off and  take them all
out, including one of Jagang's Sisters."
     "Then why the long face?"
     She could only lift her hands in a forsaken gesture of futility.
     "Try not to be so disheartened," Zedd told her. "Despair is often war's
handmaiden. I can't tell you how many years  it was, back when I was  young,
that everyone fighting for their lives in that war back then thought that it
was only a matter of time until we were crushed. We went on to win."
     "I know, Zedd. I know." Kahlan  rubbed at the chill  in  her hands. She
almost hated to say it, but she finally  did. "Richard wouldn't come to lead
the army because  he said  that the way things  stand now,  we can't win. He
said  whether or  not  we  fight the Order,  the  world will fall  under its
shadow,  and if we fight,  it  will only result in more death-that  our side
will be destroyed, the Order would still rule the world,  and any chance for
winning in the future would be lost."
     Zedd peered at her with one eye. "Then what are you doing here?"
     "Richard said  we  can't win, but,  dear  spirits,  I  can't let myself
believe that. I would rather die fighting to be free, to help keep my people
free, than to live the death of a slave. Yet, I know I'm violating Richard's
wishes, his advice, and his orders. I gave him my word .... I feel as if I'm
treading the quicksand of betrayal, and taking everyone with me."
     She searched his face for some sign that Richard might have been wrong.
"You said that he had figured out the Wizard's Sixth Rule on his own-that we
must use our minds to see the reality of the way  things are. I had hopes. I
thought he had to be wrong about the futility of this war, but now. . ."
     Zedd  smiled to himself, as if finding fancy  in something she  saw  as
only horrifying.
     "This is going to be a long war. It is far from beyond  hope, much less
decided. This is the agony of leadership in such a struggle-the doubts,  the
fears, the  feelings  of hopelessness.  Those are  feelings-not  necessarily
reality. Not yet. We have much yet to bring to bear.
     "Richard  said  what he believed  based on the way matters stood at the
time  he said them. Who is to  say that the people  are not now prepared  to
prove themselves to him? Prove themselves ready to reject the Order? Perhaps
what Richard needed  in  order for him to commit to the  battle, has already
come about."
     "But I know how strongly he warned  me  against joining this battle. He
meant what  he  said. Still  .  . .  I don't  have  Richard's strength,  the
strength to turn my back and let it happen." Kahlan gestured to her inkstand
on the table. "I've sent letters asking that more troops be sent down here."
     He smiled again, as if to say that proved it could be done.
     "It will  take continual effort to grind  down  the enemy's numbers.  I
think we

     have yet  to  deal the Order a  truly  serious  blow, but we  will. The
Sisters and I will come up with something. You never know in matters of this
kind. It could  be that we will  suddenly do something  that will send  them
reeling."
     Kahlan smiled and rubbed his  shoulder. "Thanks, Zedd. I'm  so thankful
to have you with  us." Her  gaze wandered to  Spirit, standing proudly above
the hearth. She  stepped over to the mantel, as if to an altar that held the
sacred carving. "Dear spirits, I miss him."
     It was  a question without the words, hoping he would surprise her with
something that he had thought of to help get Richard back.
     "I  know,  dear  one.  I  miss  him,  too. He's  alive-that's  the most
important thing."
     Kahlan could only nod.
     Zedd  clapped his hands together,  as if taken with a gleeful  thought.
"What we need, more than  anything, is something  to get everyone's mind off
of the task at hand for  a while. Something  to give them  a reason to cheer
together for a while. It would do them more good than anything."
     Kahlan  frowned over  her shoulder. "Like what? You mean some  kind  of
game, or something?"
     His face was all screwed up in musing.  "I don't know. Something happy.
Something to  show them that the Order can't stop us from living  our lives.
Can't stop us  from the enjoyment of life-of what life is really all about."
He stroked a thumb along the sharp line of his jaw. "Any ideas?"
     "Well, I can't really think of-"
     Just  then, Warren strode  in. "Just got a report from over in the Drun
Valley. Our lucky day-no activity, as we expected."
     He stopped dead in  his tracks,  his hand still holding the door lever,
looking from Kahlan to Zedd and back again.
     "What's the matter? What's going on? Why are you two looking at me like
that?"
     Verna  came up behind Warren and gave him a shove  into  the lodge. "Go
on, go  on, get in there. Close  the door. What's the matter with  you? It's
freezing out there."
     Verna huffed and shut the  door herself. When she turned around and saw
Zedd and Kahlan, she backed a step.
     "Vema, Warren," Zedd said in a honeyed voice, "come on in, won't you?"
     Verna scowled. "What are you two scheming and grinning at?"
     "Well," Zedd drawled as he winked at Kahlan, "the Mother  Confessor and
I were just discussing the big event."
     Verna's scowl darkened as she  leaned in. "What big  event? I've  heard
nothing about any big event."
     Even Warren, rarely given to scowling, was scowling now. "That's right.
What big event?"
     "Your wedding," Zedd said.
     Both  Verna  and Warren's scowls evaporated  as they straightened. They
were overcome with surprised, silly, radiant grins.
     "Really?" Warren asked.
     "Really?" Verna asked.
     "Yes, really," Kahlan said.


        CHAPTER 43

     It took more than two weeks to prepare for Verna  and Warren's wedding.
It wasn't that it couldn't have been done more quickly, but  rather, as Zedd
had explained to Kahlan, he wanted-to "drag out the whole affair." He wanted
to give everyone ample time to ponder it and to dream up lavish doings; time
to organize,  to  make decorations, to cook special  foods,  to get the camp
ready for a grand party; time to have a stretch where  everyone could gossip
about it as they eagerly looked forward to the big event.
     The soldiers, at first merely pleased, soon got caught up in the spirit
of the occasion. It became a grand diversion.
     They all liked  Warren. He  was  the sort of  man that  everyone felt a
little sorry for, a bit protective of-the awkward shy type. Most didn't have
the  foggiest understanding of  many  of  the things  he babbled about. They
thought  that  he just wasn't the  type who would  ever win a woman. That he
had, to them seemingly against all odds, gave the men an inner pride that he
was one  of  theirs,  and he had done  it: he'd won a woman's heart. It gave
them hope that they might one day have a wedding, a wife, and a family, even
if they were afraid that they, too, were often awkward and shy.
     The men even openly expressed happiness for Verna. She was a woman they
respected, but had never exactly felt warmly toward.  Their bold well-wishes
flummoxed her.
     The entire camp was caught up in the spirit of the event even more than
Kahlan had hoped.  After a brief pause in the beginning,  while it  sank in,
the  men,  so weary not  only  of fighting against such odds,  the  loss  of
friends, and being in  the field away from their homes and loved ones for so
long,  but also the harsh,  difficult, dreary weather, took to the diversion
with gusto.
     A large central area was cleared-tents moved,  and  the area cleaned of
snow down to the bare ground. At the head  of the cleared area, they built a
platform-laid  across  anchored supply wagonsatop which  the wedding was  to
take place. The  platform  was needed so that the  men would have  a  better
chance to see the ceremony. A dance area was set aside  and  those  men with
musical  instruments, and not out on duty, spent night and day practicing. A
choir was  formed and went  off to a secluded ravine to  rehearse.  Wherever
Kahlan went, she could  hear  pipes and drums, or the  piercing  notes  of a
shawm, or the melodic  chords of strings.  Men came to fear  playing off-key
more than they feared the Imperial Order.
     With over a  hundred Sisters  available, it was  suggested  that  there
could be dancing after the ceremony.  The Sisters liked the idea, until they
started doing the math and realized  how many men there were to  each woman,
and how much dancing they would be doing. Still, they were titillated at the
prospect of having attention lavished

     on  them at a  dance,  and  approved the idea. Women centuries old were
blushing like girls again  at all  the requests from men  in their teens and
twenties for the promise of a turn with them at the wedding dance.
     As the wedding approached  the men made streets, of sorts, in a winding
course through the camp, so that after the ceremony, the wedding party could
pass in review through the entire  camp. All the men wanted a chance to be a
part in greeting the newly married couple and wishing them well.
     Kahlan  had the idea that,  after the wedding, Warren and  Verna should
have the lodge. It was  to be her  wedding  gift to them,  so, for  the most
part, she kept it a secret.  Kahlan had  Cara direct  the public pretense of
having a tent  set aside  and  reserved for  the newly  married couple. Cara
moved Verna's things  in the tent, and freshened it up with herbs and frozen
sprigs  with wild berries. The diversion worked; Verna believed the tent was
to be hers and Warren's, and wouldn't let  him into it until after they were
married.
     The day of the wedding dawned with sparkling  blue skies, and wasn't so
cold that people were likely  to get frostbite. The fresh snow  of  the  day
before was quickly cleared out of the central area  so that  the festivities
could  take place without the Sisters getting snow down their boots  as they
danced. Some of the Sisters came out  to inspect the dance floor, sauntering
around, giving  the men a look at who they  might get to have a turn with-if
they were lucky. It was all done with much humor and good cheer.
     While Verna spent the early afternoon in her tent, submitting to having
her hair fussed over, her face painted, and her wedding dress tended to by a
gaggle of Sisters, Kahlan was finally able to have the secrecy she needed in
order to decorate the lodge.  Inside, she secured fragrant, feathery, balsam
boughs to a  cord and draped it in  swags around the top of every  wall. She
tied red berries-as that was all she could come by-into  the  boughs to give
them some color.
     One of the Sisters had given Kahlan some plain weave fabric that Kahlan
had  made into  a curtain for  the window.  She  had  worked on  it when she
retired to the lodge at night, stitching designs to give the simple material
a lacy look. She kept it under her bed so that when they  came in to go over
battlefield strategy,  Verna and  Warren  wouldn't know what she  was doing.
Kahlan  was  finally  able to put the  scented candles, donated by different
Sisters as gifts,  all around the  room, and at last  hang  the curtain on a
straight limb she stripped of bark.
     The one thing Kahlan wouldn't leave to brighten the lodge for the newly
wedded couple was Spirit. That, she would take to her new tent.
     As Kahlan was  making up the bed with  fresh bedding, Cara came in with
an armload of something blue.
     Kahlan  folded the blanket under the foot  of the straw-filled mattress
as she watched Cara shut the door.
     "What have you got there?"
     "You won't believe it," Cara  said with a grin. "Wide blue silk ribbon.
The Sisters have Verna  tied to a  chair while they're fussing over her, and
Zedd has Warren off doing  something, so I thought you and  I could use  the
ribbon to  decorate  the  place  a little. Drape  it  around.  Make it  look
pretty."  She pointed. "Like up there-we could wind it around the balsam you
hung to give it a fancy look."
     Kahlan blinked in surprise. "What a good idea."
     She didn't  know what was more astonishing, actually  seeing  Cara with
blue  silk ribbon, or hearing her say  "decorate" and "pretty" in  the  same
breath. She smiled

     to herself, happy to have heard such a thing. Zedd was more of a wizard
than he knew.
     Kahlan and Cara each stood  on a log round, working their way along the
wall as  they wove the ribbon through and  around the swagged balsam boughs.
It  was so beautiful  seeing the first wall  completed that  Kahlan couldn't
stop gazing  and grinning. They started in  on the second wall, opposite the
door, using extra ribbon for best effect when Verna and Warren first entered
and saw their new place.
     "Where  did you ever get all this ribbon, away?" Kahlan  asked around a
mouthful of pins.
     "Benjamin  got  it  for me." Cara chuckled as  she threaded the  ribbon
around the  cord. "Can you believe it?  He made  me promise  not to  ask him
where he got it from."
     Kahlan took the pins from her mouth. "Who?"
     "Who what?" Cara mumbled before she stuck  her tongue out the corner of
her mouth while wiggling a pin into a tight place.
     "Who did you say got you the ribbon?"
     Cara  lifted another  length  of  blue silk  to  the ceiling.  "General
Meiffert. I don't have a clue where he-"
     "You said Benjamin."
     Cara lowered the ribbon and stared at Kahlan. "No I didn't."
     "Yes, you did. You said Benjamin."
     "I said General Meiffert. You only thought-"
     "I never knew that General Meiffert's first name was Benjamin."
     "Well..."
     "Is `Benjamin' General Meiffert's first name?"
     Had Cara been wearing her red leather, her face would  have matched it.
As it was, her dark scowl matched the brown leather she had on.
     "You know it is."
     A smile grew on Kahlan's lips. "I do now."
     --]----
     Kahlan wore her white Mother Confessor's dress. She was a bit surprised
to  notice  that it fit a  little loosely,  but all  things considered,  she
supposed it was to be expected. Because of the cold, she also wore the  wolf
fur mantle Richard had made for her, but draped it around her shoulders more
like  a  stole. She  stood  with  her  back  straight  and  chin  held high,
overseeing the  ceremony  and gazing out at the tens of  thousands of  quiet
faces.  Behind her  was  a rich verdant wall of  woven boughs  that  enabled
distant  spectators to  more  easily  pick  out  the  six people up  on  the
platform.  An ethereal mist  of  silent breath lifted  in the still, golden,
lateafternoon air.
     As he conducted the wedding  ceremony,  Zedd's  back was to her. Kahlan
was fascinated to  see his wavy  white  hair, perpetually  in  disarray, now
brushed and smoothed down. He wore his fine  maroon robes with black sleeves
and cowled shoulders. Silver  brocade circled the cuffs,  while gold brocade
ran around  the neck and down  the  front.  A red satin belt set with a gold
buckle gathered the  outfit at his waist. Adie stood beside him, wearing her
simple sorceress's robes  with their yellow and  red beads at  the neckline.
Somehow, the contrast looked as grand.
     Verna  wore a rich  violet dress  done up with gold  stitching  at  the
square neckline.

     The intricate gold needlework ran down  the tight sleeves showing under
slashed  sham sleeves  tied  at the  elbow with  gold  ribbon.  The delicate
smocking over  the midriff extending in  a  funnel  shape down  into a gored
skirt flaring nearly to the floor. Vema's wavy brown hair was festooned with
blue, gold,  and crimson  flowers the sisters had made from little pieces of
silk. With her serene smile, she  made a beautiful sorceress  bride standing
beside the handsome blond groom in his violet wizard's robes.
     Everyone seemed to lean in a little as the ceremony reached the climax.
     "Do you, Vema, take this wizard to be your husband for life," Zedd went
on in a clear tone that carried out over the crowd, "mindful of his gift and
duty to it, and swear to both love and honor  him without  pause for as long
as you live?"
     "I do," Vema said in a silken voice.
     "Do you, Warren,"  Adie  said, her voice all the more raspy in contrast
to  Vema's, "take this sorceress to be your  wife  for life, mindful  of her
gift  and duty to it, and swear to both love and honor her without pause for
as long as you live?
     "I do," Warren said in a confident tone.
     "Then, it being of your  free will, I accept  you, sorceress,  as being
agreeable  and  give  my  joyful  blessing  to  this  union."  Zedd   raised
outstretched arms up into the air. "I ask the good spirits to  smile on this
woman's oath."
     "Then, it  being  of  your  free  will, I accept  you, wizard, as being
agreeable  and  give  my  joyful  blessing  to  this  union."  Adie   raised
outstretched arms up into the air. "I ask the good  spirits to smile on this
man's oath."
     The four of them crossed their arms and joined hands. With heads bowed,
the air in the center of their circle glowed with a living  light shining on
the union. The brilliant flare sent a golden ray skyward, as if carrying the
oath to the good spirits.
     Together, Zedd and Adie  said, "From this time forward, you are forever
joined as husband and wife, both by oath, by love, and now by gift."
     The magical  light  dissolved from the  bottom up until it  was  but  a
solitary star directly above them in an empty, late-afternoon sky.
     In the silent winter air tens of thousands of spellbound eyes watched a
trembling  Vema meet Warren's kiss  to seal a  wedding unlike any  they were
likely to ever see again: the marriage of a sorceress and a wizard, bound by
more than any mere oath-bound also by a covenant of magic.
     When Vema and Warren parted, both wearing broad smiles,  the crowd went
wild. Cheers, along with hats, rose into the air.
     Both beaming,  Vema  and  Warren joined hands after  they  tumed to the
soldiers. They waved with their free arms high in the air. Soldiers cheered,
applauded, and whistled as if it were their own  sister  or best  friend who
was just married.
     The  voices  of  the   choir  then  built  in  an  extended  note  that
reverberated through the trees all around. It made Kahlan's skin tingle with
the quality of its  haunting tone. The  sound brought a reverent hush to the
valley.
     Cara  leaned close  to Kahlan and  whispered  in astonishment that  the
choir was singing an ancient D'Haran wedding ceremonial song,  the origin of
which went back thousands  of years. Since the men  had gone off to practice
alone, Kahlan  hadn't heard  it before the  wedding. It was  so  powerful it
swept her  emotions away with the rise  and fall  of the joined voices. Vema
and  Warren stood  on  the  edge of  the platform,  likewise  gripped by the
achingly beautiful song to their union.

     Flutes joined in, and  then drums. The soldiers, mostly D'Haran, smiled
as they listened  to the  music they knew well. It struck Kahlan then, since
she had  so  long thought  of D'Hara  as  an enemy  land, that she had never
really thought of D'Harans as having traditions that could be meaningful, or
stirring, or beloved.
     Kahlan glanced over at Cara, standing beside her, smiling distantly  as
she  listened  to  the  music. There  was an  entire land of D'Hara that was
largely a mystery  to Kahlan; she  had only seen  their  soldiers. She  knew
nothing  of  their  womenother than  the  Mord-Sith,  and  they  were hardly
typical-or their children, or their homes, or their customs. She had come to
think  of  them  as joined together  at last, but she now realized that they
were a people she didn't know, a people with their own heritage.
     "It's beautiful," Kahlan whispered to Cara.
     Cara  nodded blissfully, carried away  on the strains of music that was
an old acquaintance to her,-and a exotic wonder to Kahlan.
     As  the  choir came  to the  end  of their tribute to the  newly wedded
couple, Verna reached back and squeezed Kahlan's hand. It was  an apology of
sorts-an acknowledgment of how difficult this ceremony must be for Kahlan.
     Refusing  to let  that hurt tarnish this joyous event, Kahlan beamed at
Verna's  quick glance. She came forward, standing  behind  Warren  and Verna
with an arm around each. The  noise of the crowd trailed off so Kahlan could
speak.
     "These  two  people belong together. Perhaps they always have. Now they
forever shall be. May the good spirits be with them always."
     With one voice, the entire crowd repeated the prayer.
     "I want to thank Verna and Warren from  the bottom of my heart," Kahlan
said  as  she  gazed out at the  tens of thousands  of faces  watching, "for
reminding  us  what  life  is  really  about.  There  is  no  more  eloquent
demonstration of the simple yet deep meaning of our cause than  this wedding
today."
     Heads as far as she could see bobbed in agreement.
     "Now," Kahlan called out,  "who wants  to see these  two have the first
dance?"
     The men cheered and hooted as they spread back  to open up  the central
area. Musicians lined up along the benches at the sides.
     As they waited for Verna and Warren to make their way down to the dance
area, Kahlan draped an arm over Zedd's shoulder and kissed his cheek.
     "This is the best idea you ever had, wizard."
     He  took her  in  with hazel eyes that seemed to  see all the way  to a
person's soul.
     "Are you all right, dear one? I know this has to be hard."
     Kahlan nodded, holding her  grin  firmly in place. "I'm fine. It has to
be hard on you, twice over."
     A smile  took him unexpectedly.  "There you go again, Mother Confessor.
Worrying about others."
     Kahlan watched a laughing Verna and Warren, arm in arm, dancing lightly
across the open area ringed by applauding soldiers.
     "When  they're done,"  Kahlan asked, "and after you've given your first
to Adie, would you dance with me, sir? Stand in for  him? I'm sure he  would
want that."
     Kahlan couldn't bring herself to say his name at  that  moment, or  the
spell of the joyful celebration would have been broken.
     Zedd lifted an eyebrow with playful delight. "What  makes  you think  I
can dance?"

     Kahlan laughed. "Because there isn't anything you can't do."
     "I be able to name a  number of  things this skinny old  man can't do,"
Adie said with a smile as she shuffled up behind him.
     When the  dance was done,  and others began  joining  in  as the  newly
married couple began the second, Zedd  and Adie went out in the ring to have
a dance and show the young people how it was done.  Kahlan stood at the edge
of the circle  with  Cara  close at her side. General Meiffert, laughing and
shaking men's hands, slapping others on the back, made his way over.
     "Mother Confessor!" He was  pushed up close  by the press of the crowd.
"Mother Confessor, this is a wonderful day, isn't it? Have you ever seen the
likes of it?"
     Kahlan  couldn't  help  but  to  smile  at  his delight.  "No,  General
Meiffert, I don't think I have."
     He glanced briefly at Cara. He stood awkwardly a moment, then turned to
watch the dancing. Despite how well the men had come to know her, Kahlan was
still a Confessor-a woman people feared to be near, much less  touch. No one
was likely to ask a Confessor to dance.
     Or a Mord-Sith.
     "General?"  Kahlan  asked,  tapping  him on  the back of  his shoulder.
"General, could you do me a great personal favor?"
     "Well, of course, Mother Confessor,"  he stammered. "Anything.  What is
it I can do?"
     Kahlan  gestured out  at  the dance area and  the  soldiers and Sisters
ringing  it. "Would you  please dance? I know we're  supposed to be on guard
for  any mischief, but I  think  it would let  the men  see the true festive
nature of this party, were their general to go out there and dance."
     "Dance?"
     "Yes. Please?"
     "But, I-that is, I don't know who. . ."
     "Oh, do  please  stop  trying  to get out  of it." Kahlan turned, as if
suddenly  struck with a  thought. "Cara. Would you go out there with him and
dance so his men will see that it's all right to join in?"
     Cara's blue eyes shifted between Kahlan and the general. "Well, I don't
see how-"
     "Do  it for me?  Please,  Cara?" Kahlan turned back to  the general. "I
believe I heard someone mention that your given name is Benjamin?"
     He scratched his temple. "That's right, Mother Confessor."
     Kahlan turned back to Cara. "Cara, Benjamin, here,  needs a-partner for
a dance. How about you? Please? Do it for me?"
     Cara  cleared  her  throat.  "Well,  all  right. For you, then,  Mother
Confessor."
     "And don't break his ribs, or anything. We have need of his talents."
     Cara scowled back over her shoulder as a smiling Benjamin led her away.
     Kahlan folded her arms and grinned as she watched the  man take Cara in
his arms. It was just about a perfect day. Just about.
     Kahlan was watching Benjamin gracefully  swirl Cara around,  and  other
soldiers  pulling suddenly shy Sisters out  of the line  at the edge of  the
dance area, when Captain Ryan stumbled up.
     He straightened before her. "Mother  Confessor  . . .  uh, well,  we've
been through a lot together and, if  I'm  not being too forward, could I ask
you to . . . you know, dance?"

     Kahlan blinked in surprise at the tall, young, broad Galean.
     "Why, yes,  Bradley, I would love to dance  with you. I would love  it.
But  only if you promise not to hold me like I'm made of glass. I don't want
to look foolish out there."
     He grinned and nodded. "All right."
     She placed one  hand in  his, and laid  the other over his shoulder. He
put his big  hand to the side of  her waist, under her open  fur mantle, and
twirled  her  out amid  the  merrymakers. Kahlan  smiled and laughed as  she
endured it. She thought of Spirit,  and willed herself to remember that kind
of strength, and she  was able to relax, and take the party for what it was,
and not think about what was missing as another man held her in his arms, if
timidly.
     "Bradley, you're a wonderful dancer."
     Pride  shined in his eyes.  She felt him loosen up, and  let  the music
flow  more  smoothly through his movements. Kahlan caught sight of Cara  and
Benjamin, not far away, doing their best  to  dance  and  not  look  at each
other. When he whirled her around  him, his arm securely  holding her waist,
Cara's long blond braid sailed out behind her. Then Kahlan actually saw Cara
look up into Benjamin's blue eyes and smile.
     Kahlan was relieved  when the song ended  and Captain Ryan was replaced
for the next dance by Zedd. She held him close as she moved to a slower tune
with him.
     "I'm proud of  you,  Mother  Confessor. You gave  a  wonderful thing to
these men."
     "And what is that?"
     "Your heart." He tilted his head. "See  them watching you? You've given
them courage. You've given them a reason to believe in what they're doing."
     Kahlan lifted an eyebrow. "You trickster, you. You may fool others, but
not me. It is you who has given me heart."
     Zedd only smiled. "You know, not since the very  first Confessor  has a
man ever  again  figured  out  how  to love such a woman  without  her power
destroying  him.  I'm  glad it  was my grandson  who  accomplished  such  an
exploit, and that it was for his love of you. I love you as a granddaughter,
Kahlan, and look forward to the day when you are back with my grandson."
     Kahlan held Zedd close, resting her head against  his shoulder, as they
both danced on with their memories.
     As the  dancing went on, the golden setting sun was finally replaced by
torches and warm fires. Sisters cha