Blood 5

**Chapter 5**

*“Sister Verna stood transfixed by the flames, their depths loosing translucent whorls of glittering colors and shimmering rays alive with swaying movement, fingers twisting in a dance, luring in air that flapped their clothes in passing, and casting forth heat that would have driven them all back, if not for their shields.”*

I want a hit of whatever Verna's smoking while she stares at that fire. It might make this book less painful.

So we're back at the Big Stone Witch House and over a hundred young wizards and twice as many Nuns are attending a funeral. Whose funeral? Ann's and Nathan's, apparently; it seems they died off-camera between the end of the last book and now. Now their bodies are being torched in a magic bonfire, which is the prescribed manner for disposing of dead Popettes. It's a big deal to burn anyone else up this way, but the Nuns voted unanimously that Nathan deserved the honor.

There's a page of Verna thinking about Ann and Nathan, and then Richard. She hopes Kahlan hasn't died in *”the climax of that terrible prophecy,”* although I thought it was established that if Kahlan didn't die (or seem to), Satan would get to eat the world. The world's continued existence would seems to indicate that Kahlan *did* die. Eh, maybe it's just a nice thought on Verna's part and I'm being petty. This book has that effect on me.

Warren shows up, and he and Verna chat for a bit about how awesomesauce Richard was, OMG he was teh awesummest, IKR? \~/ Then Verna suggests that, with Nathan dead, Warren might become the Big Stone Witch House's prophet (ooh, he could be locked away for a thousand years and kept totally isolated from all other humans!). Astoundingly, Warren isn't thrilled with this idea but says he'll think about it. We also learn, randomly, that Verna had a crush on Warren 100 years ago.

There's some more chat about the process of choosing a new Popette (papal politics! Yay!) and then Warren starts in with the cloak-and-dagger talk, suggesting that there might still be Bad Nuns lurking about the Big Stone Witch House. Verna tries to talk down to him, but Warren stands up for himself, noting that *“Part of the reason you took the Rada'Han from around my neck is because you know it's wrong to hold someone captive.”*

No . . . no, that's not true at all. Verna took Warren's collar off because he had *passed the test of pain,* and thus proven himself as a wizard. \~/ None of the other wizardlings got their collars off early. Furthermore, it's **not** necessarily wrong to hold someone captive, and nothing in the first two books of this series has indicated that it is (and if I was supposed to have gotten that impression, that's another failure on Goodkind's part). What are you going to do with someone who's a threat to society, but hasn't committed crimes severe enough to warrant maiming or execution? What about someone who's a danger to themselves? \~/

Verna acknowledges that there might still be Ban Nuns about, or even non-Nun Satanists like Jed the Satanic Wizard. The two of the gush over Richard some more \~/ and then they head off through the city of Tanimura.

We learn that there are drummers stationed here and there throughout the city, and they beat their huge kettledrums in shifts so the beat never falters. This started three days before Pope Ann's funeral, and will continue until the emperor, Jagang, arrives. There's a brief infodump on Jagang, who apparently rose to power ten or fifteen years ago and has been absorbing the kingdoms of Europe into the Imperial Order ever since. Now he's visiting Tanimura for whatever reason. We also learn that when the emperor visited a city called Breaston (tee-hee, breast) the drums beat continuously for six months before he arrived.

Wow.

That is a whole new level of stupid. \~/

There's some more random wandering and chatter, and then we learn that, back when she was a novice and he was an apprentice, Warren had the hots for Verna. I swear, this is turning into a bad romantic comedy. If Warren's wacky high school friend shows up to crash at his pad, I am changing the channel.

Suddenly, Kevin the guard (you may remember him as the one Richard bribed with chocolate) shows up, insisting that Verna is needed back at the Big Stone Witch House. After some random psychological torture, they all head back and the chapter ends.

Drinks: 5

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