Temple 2

**Chapter 2**

Nameless Assassin elaborates that he was sent to give Richard *“the mercy of a quick death,”* and if he's not allowed to do so, Richard will suffer greatly. *“The emperor is a man of compassion, and wishes to avoid any undue suffering.”*

Kahlan thinks that *“To hear him claim the dream walker was compassionate turned her stomach. She knew better.”* Because Terry Goodkind apparently thinks his readers are morons who need everything carefully spelled out for them.

Kahlan and Cara deduce that Nameless Assassin is a wizard (or rather *“commanded the gift,”*) so Kahlan goes to mindrape him. As she does so, we're told that *“No Confessor enjoyed using her power to destroy a person's mind, but unlike some Confessors, Kahlan didn't hate what she did, what she was born to do.”*

She also muses that Richard was the only person to care about her as a person: *“He didn't irrationally fear the unknown, fear what she was.”* Given that her power destroys the personality and free will of whomever she touches, and that she can't always control it, I think fear of Kahlan is a very *rational* thing.

For some reason, Cara shoves Kahlan aside and starts attacking Nameless Assassin, who promptly magicks out the lights. There's a scuffle in the darkness, which ends with Nameless Assassin trying to kill Cara with magic. This of course results in her using her Dominatrix ability to steal his power. As an aside, where does this talent come from? Is it inborn? Is it teachable? If the latter, wouldn't that be a fantastically powerful skill to teach? Shouldn't all the elite soldiers know it? Imagine living in a medieval fantasy world and having an army that's immune to magic.

Anyway, Cara beats up and tortures Nameless Assassin for about a page, in the process learning that his name is Marlin Pickard. Kahlan objects, saying that *“we don't torture people.”* Remember this; it will be important and ironic later.

Cara says that Captain Picard intended to kill Richard, and *“the canon of the spirits says that intent is guilt. Failure to successfully carry out the intent does not absolve the guilt.”* This will be our theme for this book, by the way: wanting to do something is morally identical to actually physically doing it, and should be treated as such. By this logic, I am morally responsible for burning every copy of everything Terry Goodkind has ever written on an altar to St Tolkien.

We also get this peculiar turn of phrase: *“A haunted look passed across Cara's face. Iron quickly repossessed her countenance.”*

I had no idea Cara had leased her face from someone named Iron.

Cara and Kahlan then have a long, uninteresting conversation about Dominatrices and Denna, Richard's torturer/rapist/lover from book 1, during which we learn that a Dominatrix can indeed read the thoughts of her victim. The conversation centers on Richard, as all things must, and both women make sure to remind the reader of how amazingsuperawesome Richard is. \~/

Cara interrogates Captain Picard some more, and he insists that Jagang came to him in a dream and ordered him to travel to Aydindril, announce his presence, and kill Richard and Kahlan. This puzzles Kahlan, and the chapter ends.

Drinks: 1

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