Chainfire: Chainfire Trilogy Part 1

"But there was more to it that night. The rule most involved down there at the grave site was not the one you quoted. It may have seemed that way to you at the moment, but the rule I made a mistake about was another —the one that says in part that people can be made to believe a lie because they fear that it's true. That's what I was doing. I wasn't believing a contradiction, I was believing a lie because I was so afraid it was true. The rule of noncontradiction is one of the ways I should have checked my assumptions. I didn't, and in that I made a mistake.

"I understand what it must have looked like to you since you weren't aware of everything that's been happening, but that doesn't mean I should have stopped looking for the truth out of a misplaced wish to make you happy, or out of fear of what you would think of me."

He met Nicci's gaze for a brief moment. "Nicci helped me see what I was doing wrong."

He looked back at his grandfather. "I think you meant to show me that the rule you quoted is more, though. It also means you can't hold contradictory values or goals. You can't say, for instance, that honesty is a meaningful value, and at the same time lie to people. You can't say that justice is your goal but refuse to hold the guilty responsible for their actions.

"At the heart of our struggle, the fact that contradictions can't exist is why the Imperial Order's regime is so ruinous. They hold up altruism as their highest purpose. Yet, out of their proclaimed selfless concern for one individual, they sacrifice another, soothing over the bloodletting by proclaiming that such a sacrifice is the moral duty of the sacrificial victim. It's really nothing more than organized looting, a passion for the happiness of thieves and murderers without any concern for their victim. Attempts at goals that depend on such contradiction can only lead to widespread suffering and death. It's the fraudulent advocacy of the right to life by embracing death as a means to achieve it.

"The rule you quoted means I can't, like Jagang's followers, say I want the truth and then, without checking my assumption, willingly believe a lie in its stead, even if out of fear. That's the way I violated the rule you quoted. I should have sorted out what looked like contradictions and found the truth staring me in the face. That's where I let myself down."

"Are you saying that you now don't believe that was Kahlan Amnell?" Zedd asked.

"Who says that corpse has to be the woman you think it is? There were no facts there to contradict my belief that it wasn't her. I only believed there were out of fear that it was true. It wasn't."

Zedd took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "You're stretching things mighty thin, Richard."

"Am I? You wouldn't be too pleased with my rationale if I said that there is no such thing as prophecy and held up the blank books as proof that your belief in the existence of prophecy is wrong. For you to believe that prophecy exists in the face of the fact that the supposed books of prophecy are blank is not a contradiction. It is a perplexing situation with insufficient information to as of yet explain the facts. You have no obligation to reach a conclusion or hold an opinion you don't accept for other reasons without adequate information or before you have finished investigating.

"What kind of Seeker would I be if I did that? After all, it's the mind of the man that makes him the Seeker, not the sword. The sword is merely a tool-you're the one who told me that.

"In the case of Kahlan, there are still too many unanswered questions for me to be convinced that what we saw that rainy night is really the truth. Until it's proved one way or another, I'm going to continue to look for the answers-for the truth-because I believe that what is going on is far more dangerous than anyone but me realizes, to say nothing of needing to find a person I love who needs my help."

Zedd smiled in a grandfatherly way. "Fair enough, Richard, fair enough. But I expect you to prove it to me. I won't take your word for it."

Richard gave his grandfather a firm nod. "For starters, I think you have to admit it's rather suspicious that prophecies revolving around Kahlan's and my lives are missing. The memory of her is gone. Now the prophecies are gone that would have to contain reference to her. In both cases everyone's memory of both real entities-the person and the prophecies referring to that real person-have been wiped away.

"Do you see what I'm getting at?"

Nicci was immeasurably relieved to see that Richard was thinking rationally again. She was also concerned that in a strange way, what he said actually did make some sense.

"Yes, my boy, I do see your point, but do you see that there is a problem with your theory?"

"What's that?"