Wizard 4

**Chapter 4**

Richard apologizes to Kahlan for standing by like a stump while she was molested. She responds that she didn't want him to interfere; that this was between her and Michael. Now, I can understand Kahlan's attitude here; she's a strong woman and doesn't need a man to defend her. Nevertheless, it makes me like Richard less that he didn't even try to step in. Michael's conduct was inexcusable, and as his brother, Richard should have at least tried to deal with it. \~/

Richard and Kahlan wander along past *“white-fenced yards.”* This must be the wealthy end of town, since people **did not have yards back then.** Arable land was far too valuable to waste on pretty green grass; it was either plowed into a garden, or supported livestock, or got built on. But since we're just leaving the First Councilor's party perhaps it is the wealthy end of town, so I'll let it go.

Richard asks Kahlan to share her secrets when she's ready, and mentions that he's a *“seeker of truth.”* This freaks Kahlan out, and Richard explains that it was Zedd who gave him that title because Richard always wanted to know things. Hmm, I wonder if this will turn out to be Significant!

We learn that the quad was sent after Kahlan by someone named Darken Rahl. Which is kind of a strange name: “Darken.” It's “dark” with an extra syllable. It's like naming your bad guy Badius, or Evillor. It feels clunky and kind of silly. \~/

Also, I have no idea how to pronounce Rahl. Does it rhyme with ball? Or shall? Tale?

Richard thinks about a tooth he owns, that's *“three fingers wide”* and triangular. It's on a leather thong and he wears it around his neck, although he's not wearing it now. Why not? So we can have the upcoming scene, of course! Anyway, it sounds like a shark's tooth.

Richard is suspicious. Someone has come up the path ahead of them. Richard knows this because there are no spiderwebs across the path; someone has come along and broken them all.

Now, I personally live in a wooded area. I've spent a lot of time wandering the woods, and while it's true that spiders have an irritating habit of spinning webs across the trails at face-height, the absence of webs does not always mean someone has passed by recently. Sometimes the spiders just don't feel like spinning webs just there. Sometimes deer and other animals use the trail. Sometimes high winds tear the webs away. The point is, this is being presented as an absolute when it most definitely is not. No spiderwebs =/= trespassers.

Anyway...Richard and Kahlan sneak up to Richard's house. It's been trashed; the windows are broken, the door is open, Richard's stuff is scattered around the lawn, and there's a burning bag of dog poo on the porch (okay, not that last one). Richard sneaks up to the house to get his shark tooth, which he Must Possess. He reaches through his broken window and gets his backpack and the shark tooth. He hears the squeak of his favorite chair and knows someone is sitting in it. Richard wonders if this could be the same person who killed his father.

“Richard wished he could have confronted him, or a least seen who it was, but something inside him strongly warned him to get away.”

\~/

SOMETHING warned him. Not his keen woodsman's senses. Not some incident from his history. Not seeing, for example, his heavy oak door shattered and wondering what could possibly have done that. SOMETHING. Some unexplained thing.

\~/

Cthulhu save me from lazy writing.

Richard leaves. He and Kahlan head toward a wayward pine, which is apparently where they're going to spend the night. Along the way, Richard is bitten by flies, and Kahlan freaks and orders him to let the flies bite and not squash them. They hide in the bushes as a MONSTA! appears.

The monster has glowing green eyes, a long tail, and big wings. It's humanoid and furry, but with a bare patch on its belly. The biting flies spook a rabbit, which the monster devours, before flying away.

Kahlan informs us that the monster is “a long-tailed gar.” Which...is just plain stupid. If you're going to make a brand-new monster, either give it a classic monster name like “troll” or “gargoyle,” or invent a monstery name. “Gar” is not a monstery name. A gar is a fish. They are fairly freaky-looking fish, but they have about as much to do with the creature described here as my cat has to do with Godzilla. \~/

So, with the Fish safely gone, Kahlan finds a dead fly and explains that Fishes hunt by using blood flies. The flies flush out prey, the Fish kills it and smears some gore on its hairless belly for the flies to eat. While the last bit seems kind of stupid, I admit that the concept of a monster that hunts symbiotically with a swarm of flies is kind of cool. A point for you, Mr. Goodkind.

We learn that this particular Fish was a long-tailed Fish. Kahlan says they were lucky it wasn't a short-tailed Fish, because short-tailed Fish count their flies.

>\_<

There are no words. \~/\~/

Drinks: 7

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