Wizard 37

Chapter 37
Morning comes. Zedd eats, and it still isn't funny. Maybe I should add “Zedd eats and it's supposed to be funny” to the drinking game. Richard tells Zedd that Kahlan told him about her telling Zedd about what Shota said.
Zedd demands to know why, and it turns out that this was a trick: Kahlan didn't say any such thing, but Richard just confirmed that it had happened. He used Wizard's First Rule against Zedd. Zedd is impressed, claiming that Richard has passed the first test and could be a Wizard of the First Order. We learn that Giller is a wizard of the Second Order, and the nameless wizards who committed heroic suicide to help Kahlan were wizards of the Third Order. According to Zedd, “They didn't have the gift. Just the calling.” I'm not quite sure what the distinction is, and Zedd doesn't elaborate. I'm also not sure how a bit of verbal trickery proves that someone has “the gift,” but the book says so, so it must be true. Richard insists that he doesn't want to be a wizard.
Zedd muses that Richard must learn to control the gift but, again, doesn't go into detail. It seems that Zedd is past his Zany phase and now into his Irritatingly Mysterious phase. Eventually, I'm sure he'll find a phase that isn't an annoying cliché.
Actually, I lied. I'm not at all sure of that.
Richard complains that wizards are supposed to have beards, which Zedd doesn't, so Zedd magically grows a beard. This pointlessness sets things up for an infodump of magic. We learn that there are two kinds of magic, Additive and Subtractive (I presume that we'll learn about Multiplicational and Divisional magic in a later book). Additive magic, which Richard, Zedd and Kahlan all possess, adds to things. Subtractive magic removes them. Someone without Subtractive magic cannot unmake something, although they can reshape it. Darken Rahl can wield Subtractive magic, naturally.
Back to Rachel, who is thinking about how awesome Richard and Giller are and how horrible Kahlan was. She gets bit by some flies, and then a Fish swoops out of they sky. Cliffhanger!
Drinks: None.
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