Temple 6

Chapter 6
“Richard gripped Cara's jaw and lifted her face. He turned her head so he could better see the oozing cut on her cheek.”
Without asking her permission, I might add. Way to manhandle the traumatized victim of sexual abuse, O Wise and Merciful Lord Rahl. \~/
Richard wants to know what's up, and somehow intuits that there's a prisoner in the Rape Pit of Rapiness. Kahlan thinks that she “had told Cara not to mention Marlin because she feared he might somehow hurt Richard.” Because your lord and ruler, your warleader, not to mention your fiance, doesn't need to know about an assassin who has been sent to kill him. \~/ Kahlan, you are as dumb as a toadstool.
She decided to tell him, though, once she learned there was a Bad Nun loose in the city. So she and Cara explain matters, and Richard starts snapping off questions, wanting to know how long the Assassins Two have been in town, what they talked about, if Captain Picard met anyone else, etc, etc. To all this, Kahlan can only answer dumbly that she didn't think to ask.
I am of two minds here. The questions Richard raises are legitimate ones and should be asked, but Kahlan is not a professional interrogator. Cara is, but this scene is clearly meant to showcase the Seeker's . . . Seekerness, I guess. As such, it comes across as more Richard-worship than anything else.
Kahlan says that they feared Nadine might be the Bad Nun, and Richard pats her on the head and says she's been a good little waifu. Richard then “turned his raptor gaze on Cara” and tells her he doesn't want her or Kahlan anywhere near Captain Picard. Cara bristles at this, reminding Richard of when Denna the Noble Torturer had him as her slave/pet, which seems like a brilliant strategy. Also, didn't Richard figure out a way to escape, killing Denna in the process?
Blah blah blah, unimportant chatter. Richard blows off a meeting with ambassadors from at least five nations, two of which “have huge standing armies,” all of whom want to surrender to him, because he's the only person in the whole damn city who knows what “quench oaks” look like. Yes Richard, insult your potential allies because you don't have any damn herbalists; that's a brilliant strategy. \~/ Richard decides to take Berdine and one of the Aryan Boys with him.
Nadine finally reminds us that she's been standing right here the whole time, and “turns a haughty look on Richard,” wanting to know if he's “going to tell me what to do, like you seem to enjoy doing to everyone else?”
Nadine is clearly brain-damaged. I'm not sure if we're supposed to interpret her behavior that way – I suspect not – but if she insists on treating Richard like her submissive teenage boyfriend after seeing him ordering soldiers around and seeing dozens of people defer to him and call him “Lord Rahl,” I'm not sure what other conclusion can be reached. In any case, I hope you enjoy Nadine's characterization, because it doesn't get any better.
Richard gives Nadine a rather pompous speech about how he doesn't like being in charge but they're fighting for freedom, etc. He finishes by asserting that she is neither an enemy nor loyal to him, because those are the only two classes of people Richard cares about: people he needs to kill, and people who will do what he says. You may note a conspicuous lack of friends, allies, and equals there. That is not an accident.
In any case, Richard tells Nadine “do as you wish.”
Richard and Kahlan head to “an empty side hall,” where Kahlan teases Richard about Nadine being an old girlfriend. This leads to some wangst about how Kahlan was a poor lonely Mindrapist, never to know the touch of love, wah wah wah. \~/ Nope, still not feeling it. The Mindrapists were all horrible people and I'm glad they're dead, and Kahlan is about as sympathetic as a herpes infection.
We also get a (very brief) infodump on Nadine. Her father used to buy rare herbs from Richard, and she would tag along with Richard to learn about plants. Fair enough.
Then Richard and Kahlan french kiss for a bit, because that's something we all needed described. They talk about getting married (specifically, by the Mud People, because Kahlan has suddenly decided to pretend she has a conscience). Richard, in a rare moment of humanity asks Kahlan to make sure Nadine has supplies to get back home. I briefly ponder what this series could have been like if the characters behaved like this all the time.
Kahlan says that Shota scares her, and she wants Richard to promise to marry her. Richard replies thusly:
“I love you more than I could ever tell you. There is no one else, not Nadine, not anyone; I swear an oath on my gift. You are the only one I will ever love. I promise.”
Kahlan realizes that “that was not the promise she had asked for,” and I have a question: why? Why didn't Richard just say “I promise I will marry you?” He clearly loves her. He clearly wants to spend the rest of his life with her. They were discussing marriage on the previous page. So why not? Why not make your fiance the promise she is asking you to make, to do the thing you already want to do, Richard?
Actually, I know the answer having already read this book, but it still makes no sense for Richard, given who he is and what he knows, to evade this rather simple request. It only makes sense if he suspects he won't be able to marry Kahlan, which is completely stupid. Once again, Terry Goodkind is trying to seem clever and subtle, as he's heard other writers can be, but his characters' actions are at odds with their personalities and their knowledge.
\~/\~/
Drinks: 6
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