Stone 51

Chapter 51
Richard wanders through Tanimura, which apparently has quite a night life. He is accosted by vendors and prostitutes, all of whom know by his collar that he has an endless supply of cash. Eventually he leaves the city, heading...we're not told what direction. He reaches "a satisfactory spot," which is near a "swale," which dictionary.com informs me is "a low place in a tract of land, usually moister and often having ranker vegetation than the adjacent higher land." It's a perfectly fine word but it seems kind of obscure to be, and smacks of thesaurus abuse.
Richard glares into the Grove Woods for a while, feeling that "Something in 'him hungered to go in there..." Tiring of glaring at some unresponsive trees, he builds a fire and cooks rice and beans. While dinner is cooking, Gratch the short-tailed Fish comes flying in, and he and Richard have an emotional reunion. It's a decent scene, showing that Richard and Gratch care about each other instead of just telling us (although I keep finding it weird that Gratch understands English perfectly). I tell you, it's disturbing finding these nuggets of competent writing in the midst of...all the rest.
Richard and Gratch sleep for a while, and when they wake up it's close to dawn. Richard tells Gratch not to come visit him in the city, not to eat people, and not to ever go into the Grove Woods. Gratch reluctantly agrees, and Richard then heads into the Grove Woods himself. Apparently he has a Plan!
After walking into the Grove Woods for an hour or so, Richard stops to angst about Kahlan for a bit. \~/ Apparently this self-pity is "seeking peace within himself, seeking his [Force]," which is sure news to me. It brings him peace...you know, as wallowing in self-pity usually does. \~/ Richard meditates (and that word is used this time), concentrating on the image of the Sword of the Homicidal Hobo. Wait; I thought he wasn't doing that any more, after the horrible vision last time he tried it? Eh, whatever. While meditating, Richard draws his sword. "He wasn't quite sure why, except that it felt like the right thing to do." \~/ "The magic danced within him in the place of peace." The magic which, I remind you again, is pure rage.
"Rage danced within him in the place of peace."
\~/
While he's sitting there in his state of peaceful rage, Richard somehow clairvoyantly sees something sneaking up on him. Yes really. "In his mind, he saw the dark shape behind him." \~/ Richard turns and attacks, but the Dark Something dodges and attacks him with claws. There's a short fight scene as Richard uses the sword's rage and "dances with the spirits," wanting them to teach him how to fight. So, wait; I thought this was the sword's Majeek Powar. Didn't we just learn that the sword carried the magical impressions of ever move used by every Seeker ever? Now, it seems we're being told that the sword calls up the Ghosts of Seekers Past. Which is it? \~/
Then this happens: "[Richard] became not the user of the sword, the magic, the spirits, but their master. The blade, the magic, the spirits, and the man were one." 
Point One: If you master something, you aren't one with it. \~/
Point Two: This is only the second time Richard has used his new Dance with Spirits power (the first being when he learned it existed). From novice to master in one easy step. How...um...satisfying. \~/ Yeah.
Anyway, Richard bisects the Dark Something and the fight ends.
It's now a couple of hours after dawn and Richard hears She coming. She turns out to be, not Sue Nun, but Pasha. Pasha insists that Richard return to the Big Stone Witch House; Richard retorts that he's not moving until Verna is restored to Nun status. Apparently he's decided he's willing to die (or murder Pasha) rather than let Verna be punished for his misdeeds. Heroic sacrifice or teenage melodrama; you decide! \~/
Pasha complains that only Sister Maren, mistress of novices, can reverse Verna's demotion, and Richard says she'd better get going then. He lectures her about acting without thinking, which I personally find hilarious given that his defining power is pure rage. 
Pasha insists that the Grove Woods is dangerous, so Richard points out the corpse of the Dark Something he killed last night. It turns out to be a reptilian humanoid with a face that's "a picture of wickedness itself." Someday I want to read a story about the heroic reptilians who come to the aid of mankind...but of course, Reptiles Are Abhorrent. The lizardman wears hides and a hooded black cape, and the "claws" turn out to be three-bladed knives, with the blades protruding between its fingers. That's got to make parrying annoying as hell.
We get an infodump from Pasha on the creature, which is known as a "mriswith." Well...better than "gar" or "namble," but just try to pronounce it. I'm changing it to Mister. Apparently no one has ever killed a Mister, but there have been a few reports over "the last few thousand years." \~/ What is it with fantasy authors casually tossing around huge epoches of time? Anyway, Misters can change their coloration like chameleons, explaining their mad stealth skillz. Misters live in the Grove Woods, but they occasionally come out to hunt people. Pasha notes that they never eat their victims, and "seem simply to kill for the sake of killing." 
The Misters wear clothes and use weapons. They are clearly sentient. Maybe they aren't killing for food; maybe they're killing to protect their territory, or for religious, social, or other obscure reasons. You know, just like humans do?
Pasha notes that Misters have killed wizards and Nuns, none of whom could sense the Mister coming until they were gutted. Richard is Just That Speshul! \~/
And the chapter ends with Richard and Pasha bickering some more.
Drinks: 11
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