Stone of Tears

“But the ancestors” spirits do. I have to find out whatever I can to help. We can’t waste the time going to Zedd, only to find out he doesn’t know what to do. I have to find out what I can first, then go to Zedd. Shota said only I could close the veil. Maybe it’s because I am the Seeker. I have to do my job and find the answers. Even if they mean little to me, they might be significant to Zedd, and then he might know what to do, know what I can do.”

“What if we beat Zedd to Aydindril? If we travel on Scarlet, she will get us there in a day; Zedd may not be there yet.”

“If he isn’t there, we know he’s going there, and we’ll find him. He will be able to see Scarlet.”

She watched him a moment. “Your mind is made up about all this, isn’t it?”

He shrugged. “If anyone could poke holes in my idea, it would be you. You have any better ideas?”

She shook her head at last. “I wish I did, but I don’t. I like all of it but the gathering.”

Richard’s face softened with a gentle smile. “I would really like to see you in the wedding dress Weselan is making. Can she have it done that soon? We could spend our wedding night in Aydindril, in your home.”

Kahlan couldn’t keep the smile back. “she can. And there doesn’t have to be a big wedding party. Anyway, there’s not time to prepare, with the banquet for the gathering going on. But the Bird Man will be pleased to marry us without it.” She looked at him coyly. “We would have a real bed, in Aydindril. A big comfortable bed.”

His arm circled around her waist and pulled her against him. He gave her lips a soft kiss. She didn’t want it to end, but she gently pushed back and glanced away.

“Richard… what about the other things Shota said? About a child?”

“Shota was wrong before, about a lot of things. Even the things she was right about didn’t turn out how we expected. I’m not going to give you up on her word. Remember what you said to me one time? About never letting a beautiful woman pick your path for you when there was a man in her line of sight? And besides, we will be able to talk to Zedd first. Confessors and the gift are something he does know a lot about.”

She ran her finger down his chest. “You seem to have an answer for everything. How did you get so smart?”

He pulled her to him and kissed her again, harder this time.

“I will find an answer to anything that tries to keep me from you and your big comfortable bed. I would go to the underworld and fight the Keeper himself to be with you.”

She cuddled against his shoulder. It seemed like forever since he had found her in Westland, being chased by a quad. It seemed a lifetime ago, not a mere few months. They had been through so much. She was so tired of being afraid, and being chased, hunted. It wasn’t fair that just when it was over, it was starting again.

She gave herself a mental shake. That was the wrong way to see things. It was the problem, not the solution. She forced herself to look at the new problem in its own light, and not color it with what had happened in the past.

“Maybe it won’t be so hard this time. Maybe we can do as you say, and find out what needs to be done, and be finished with it.” She kissed his neck. “We’d better get out there; they are waiting. And besides, if I stay here with you any longer, we won’t make it to my big comfortable bed.”

They left the quiet of the spirit house and walked hand in hand through the dark pathways between the buildings of the village. She felt safe holding his hand. From the first day they met, and he offered his hand to her to help her up, she had liked having her hand in his. No one had ever done that before; people were afraid of Confessors. She wanted this over, so they could be together and live in peace. So they could hold hands whenever they wanted, and not ever have to run.

The sound of the people, the dancing, the conversation, and the children grew louder until the two of them passed into the firelit field. Musicians stood on open, grass-roofed platforms, swaying as they drew paddles up and down the carved ripples on the boldas, sending the haunting strains out over the surrounding flat grassland. Arms a blur, men pounded on drums, sending frantic, echoing beats across the village to others who answered or joined in. Dancers in costumes followed one another around in circles, stopping and turning as one, jumping and stomping, acting out stories for the gleeful children and adults who crowded around them. Cooking fires sent sweet-smelling smoke and wonderful aromas drifting to them.