Stone 55

**Chapter 55**

The Mysterious Intruder turns out to be Verna, who wants to speak with Richard. After Pasha leaves, there's a pointless bit about how *"lying seems to have become infectious since [Richard] arrived here."*

The Sword of "TRUTH," I say again. \~/

The real reason for Verna's visit is that she thinks Richard had to have used his Force to kill the Mister, her logic being that that's the only way he would have seen it coming. She then asks why Richard went to the Grove Woods at all. He explains that it was a display of teenage melodrama - wait; my mistake. He says *"It was like something drew me in. It was a need. A hunger. It was like I needed to pound my fist against a wall, and that was the way to do it."*

Verna says that *"there is reason to believe that the Hagen Woods were placed there specifically for certain wizards."* Why, how, or by whom she doesn't say. She then gives Richard an extremely vague warning, and cautions him not to trust all the Nuns. Richard says he trusts none of them, and Verna smiles and leaves.

Pasha returns, wearing a *"plain, brownish gray dress with small, pink cloth buttons up the front, all the way up to her neck. Though it didn't show the expanse of flesh the green dress had, it was tailored so that it revealed nearly every detail of her shape."* I guess Pasha has a whole wardrobe full of hooker-quality clothing.

Pasha and Richard sit facing each other, the idea being that Richard will seek his Force and Pasha will use her Force through the collar to help him. Pasha comments on how warm it is, and unbuttons the top five buttons of her dress.

Richard and Pasha meditate for about two hours with no results. Pasha unbuttons a lot more buttons. *"More of her was showing then had shown in the green dress."* \~/ I'm beginning to think Pasha is an exhibitionist.

Pasha kisses Richard, then practically throws herself at him as Richard protests rather feebly. This goes on for two pages before Richard says *"It's simply too soon...Could you just give me some time?"* At this point we learn that Pasha has passed by Stockholm syndrome and launched headlong into obsession: *"I knew, yesterday...that I would never want another. Since I'll be yours forever, I can wait."* Yes, having known Richard for almost two whole days - much of which time was taken up with Richard threatening to violently murder her - Pasha has decided that she and Richard are Twu Wuvs. \~/

This makes Richard's week-long courtship of Kahlan seem positively lethargic.

One might be tempted to write this off as teenage hormones and impetuosity, since Pasha is a novice on the verge of becoming a Nun. However, I am not so forgiving, for reasons which will become clear soon enough. If you don't know already, just wait for it.

Alone now, Richard wonders *"How shallow could Pasha's understanding of people be, for her to think that one could win love by invoking lust?"* I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment of a significant percentage of people in the world. Richard thinks about how awesome Kahlan is, and how useless and unworthy Pasha is by comparison.

This done, Richard tries on his newly-acquired Mister cape, and we learn that when he wears it and concentrates on the wall behind him, the cape assumes the color of the wall. It's a camouflage cape. Effectively, Richard now has a *cloak of invisibility.*

Drinks: 3

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