Wizard's First Rule

When she reached Savidlin's house, she went inside and flopped down on the skin that covered the floor, trying unsuccessfully to keep from crying. Just a few minutes, she told herself, that was all she needed to bring herself back under control. Richard was doing what the Mud People demanded, what she herself had promised the Bird Man he would do. She had no right to be angry, none at all; Richard was not hers. She cried with deep pain. She had no right to feel this way, no right to be angry with him. But she was; she was furious.

She remembered what she had told the Bird Man-trouble of her own making, with consequences she must bear, and feared greatly.

Richard was just doing what was necessary to get a gathering, what was necessary to find the box and stop Rahl. Kahlan wiped the tears from her eyes.

But he didn't have to be so delighted about it. He could do it without acting like…

She snatched an apple from his pack. What did it matter. She couldn't change the way things were. But she didn't have to be happy about it. She bit her lip as she stomped out the door, trying to make her face once again show nothing. At least it was dark.

When she had crossed the gauntlet of celebration, she found Richard with his shirt oft. The girls were painting him with Mud People symbols of the hunter. Their fingers were applying the black and white mud in jagged lines across his chest, in rings around his upper arms. They stopped when she stood over them, glaring down.

"Here." She slapped the apple in his hand and sat down in a huff.

"I still haven't been able to decide," he said, polishing the apple on his pants leg, looking from one girl to another. "Kahlan, are you sure you don't have a preference? I could use your help." His voice lowered meaningfully, the hard edge returning. "I'm surprised you didn't just pick one for me in the first place."

Stunned, her eyes came up to his. He knew. He knew this, too, was a commitment she had made on his behalf. "No. Whatever you decide will be fine, I'm sure." She looked away again.

"Kahlan," he asked, waiting until she turned back to him, "are any of these girls related to the elders?"

She looked again at their faces. "The one at your right arm. The Bird Man is her uncle.

"Uncle!" His smile widened as he continued to polish the apple on his leg. "Well, then, I guess I'll pick her. It will be a sign of respect for the elders, that I pick the Bird Man's niece."

He took the girl's head in both of his hands, kissing her on the forehead. She beamed. The Bird Man beamed. The elders beamed. The other girls left.

Kahlan glanced back at the Bird Man, and he gave her a look of sympathy, a look that said he was sorry. She turned, staring absently, painfully, out into the night. So now Richard had picked. So now, she though bleakly, the elders would perform a ceremony and the happy couple would be going off somewhere to make a baby. She watched the other couples walking, hand in hand, happy to be together. Kahlan swallowed back the lump, the tears. She heard the snap as Richard bit into his stupid, stupid apple.

And then she heard a collective gasp from the elders and their wives, then shouts.

The apple! In the Midlands, red fruit was poison! They didn't know what an apple was! They thought Richard was eating poison! She spun around.

Richard was holding his arm back to the elders, commanding silence, and for them to stay put. But he was looking right into her eyes.

"Tell them to sit down," he said in a quiet voice.

Wide-eyed, she looked back at the elders and told them what Richard had said. They lowered themselves uncertainly back in place. He leaned back, turning casually to them, an innocent expression on his face.

"You know, back in Hartland, in Westland, where I am from, we eat these things all the time." He took a couple more bites. Their eyes were wide. "Have for as long as anyone knows. Men and women both eat them. We have healthy children." He snapped off another piece, turning and watching her as she translated. He chewed slowly, prolonging the tension. He looked over his shoulder at the Bird Man. "'Course, it could be that it makes a man's seed poison to any woman other than one of our own. Never been put to the test, far as I know."

He let his gaze settle back on Kahlan as he took another bite, letting his words sink in after she translated. The girl next to him was getting nervous. The elders were getting nervous. The Bird Man showed no emotion. Richard had his arms half folded, one elbow resting in his other hand, so he could hold the apple near his mouth, where everyone could see it. He started to take a bite, then stopped, thinking to offer a bite to the Bird Man's niece. She turned her head away. He looked back at the elders.