“Virtually no one anymore knows of the Stone of a Seer. He disdained people who ignored the old knowledge. He mocked his opponents” ignorance by having me wear the Stone openly.

“He also had me keep an eye to the Lady Ordith. It prevented her from succeeding at making herself a widow. So she now contents herself with being absent from the duke’s house whenever she can. She will not be displeased to be rid of me; the duke used his strings of power to keep me employed when the Lady Ordith would have wished it otherwise.”

“Why would she be displeased with your service?” He grinned. “Are you lazy and rude, as she claims?”

Jebra smiled back, the fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes deepening. “No. It’s the visions. Sometimes when I have them, well, you felt some of the hurt when you healed me, though it is not as bad as that for me, I think. But sometimes the hurt keeps me from her service for a time.”

Zedd rubbed his chin. “Well, since you are out of employment, you will be a guest here at the People’s Palace until you are recovered. I have some little influence around here.” He marveled at the sudden truth of that, and pulled a purse from a pocket in his robes. He gave it a jingle. “For your expenses, and wage, if I could convince you to take up a new employer.”

She hefted the purse in her palm, testing its weight. “If this be copper, it is insufficient for any but you.” She smiled and leaned a little closer, her eyes merry and scolding at the same time. “And if it be silver, it is too much.”

Zedd gave her a grave expression. “It’s gold.” Startled, she blinked. “But it is not me, mainly, you will be working for.”

She stared at the purse of gold in her hand, then looked back at him. “Who then?”

“Richard. The new Lord Rahl.”

Jebra paled and shook her head vigorously, her shoulders hunching up. She shoved the purse back in Zedd’s hands. “No.” Even paler, she shook her head again. “No. I’m sorry. I don’t want to work for him. No.”

Zedd frowned. “He is not an evil person. He’s quite kind-hearted, in fact.”

“I know that.”

“You know who he is?”

She looked down at her lap and nodded. “I know. I saw him yesterday. The first day of winter.”

“And you had a vision when you saw him?”

Her voice was weak and filled with fear. “Yes.”

“Jebra, tell me what you saw. Every bit of it. Please? It’s important.”

She looked up at him from under her eyebrows for a long moment, then back down at her lap as she chewed her lower lip.

“It was at the morning devotion, yesterday. When the bell rang, I went to a square, and he was standing there, looking into the pool. I noticed him because he was wearing the sword of the Seeker. And because he was tall and handsome. And he wasn’t kneeling as the others were. He stood there, watching the people gathering, and as I approached, his eyes passed across my sight. Just for an instant. The power coming from him took my breath away.

“A Seer can sense certain kinds of power, like the gift, emanating from a person.” She looked up at Zedd. “I have seen those with the gift before. I have seen their auras. They have all been like yours; there is a warmth to them, a gentleness. Your aura is beautiful. His was different. It had that, but more, too.”

“Violence,” Zedd said in a soft voice. “He is the Seeker.”

She nodded. “It could be. I don’t know; I’ve never seen the like of it before. But I can tell you what it felt like. It felt like having my face pushed into a basin of icy water before I had a chance to get a breath.

“Sometimes I never get a vision from a person. Sometimes I do. I can never tell when it’s going to come. Sometimes when a person is in distress, they throw off auras and visions more strongly. He was throwing off auras like lightning in a thunderstorm. He was in great emotional pain. Like an animal in a trap trying to chew its own leg off. He felt the horror of having to betray his friends to save them. I didn’t understand that. It didn’t make any sense.

There was an image of a woman, a beautiful woman with long hair. Maybe a Confessor, although I don’t know how that could be. The aura flamed so strongly with anguish for her that I felt my face, fearing I would find the skin burned. If I hadn’t been at devotion, I would have fallen to my knees anyway from the agony of the auras.

“I almost rushed to him, to comfort him, when two Mord-Sith approached, and noticed him standing, and not kneeling. He felt no fear, but he went to his knees anyway, out of resignation to the terrible betrayal he had been forced into. I was relieved when he knelt; I thought that would be the end of it. I was thankful I had seen only auras, for the most part, and not true visions. I didn’t want to see any visions from that man.” She stared off, seemingly lost in the memory of it.

“But that wasn’t the end of it?”

Her eyes came back to where she was. “No. I thought the worst of it was over, but what I had seen didn’t touch what was to come.”

Jebra dry-washed her hands for a moment. “We were saying the chant to Father Rahl, and all of a sudden he sprang up He had a smile on his face. He had solved the puzzle that trapped him. The last piece had snapped into place. The woman’s face and his love for her filled the aura.”

She shook her head. “I pity the person who ever puts a finger between those two. They will lose the finger, maybe the hand, and maybe the whole arm before they have the time to think to pull it back.”

“Her name is Kahlan,” Zedd said with a little smile. “And then what happened?”

Jebra crossed her arms across her abdomen. Then the visions started. I saw him killing a man, but I couldn’t tell how. Not with blood, but killing him just the same. And then I saw the man he was going to kill: Darken Rahl. And then I saw that it was his father, but he didn’t know it. That was when I knew who he was: the son of Darken Rahl, the soon to be new Master Rahl. The aura was flashing in terrible conflicts. Commoner to king.”

Zedd put a comforting hand to her shoulder. “darken Rahl wanted to rule the world with a frightful magic. By stopping him, Richard saved a great many from torture or death. Even though killing is terrible, by doing so he has saved the lives of many more. Surely you would not be frightened of Richard because of that.”

She shook her head. “No. It was by what came next. The two Mord-Sith stood, because he was going to leave a devotion. One raised her Agiel, threatening him. I was surprised to see he wore one at his neck, red, just like theirs. He held it out in his fist. He told them that if they didn’t let him pass, he would kill them. The aura of violence around him took my breath away. He wanted them to try. They sensed it and let him pass.”

“As he turned to leave… that was when I saw the other visions.” She put a hand to her heart as tears ran down her cheeks. “Zedd… my visions are not always clear. Sometimes. I don’t know what they mean. Once I saw a farmer’s vision. Birds were pecking at the stomachs of him and his family. I didn’t know what it meant. It turned out that a flock of blackbirds came and ate the seed he had just planted. He was able to replant, and guard the field. But he and his family could have starved if he hadn’t.”

She wiped her fingers at the tears on her cheeks. “sometimes I can’t tell what the visions mean, or if they will turn out to be true; not all of that kind do.” She fussed with her hair. “But sometimes they come to pass exactly as I see them. I can tell when they are true, and will happen without a doubt.”

Zedd patted her shoulder. “I understand, Jebra. Visions are a form of prophecy, and I know how confusing prophecy can be. What kind of vision did you see from Richard? The confusing kind, or the ones that are clear?”

She shared a deep gaze with his eyes. “I saw every kind. I saw every kind of vision I have ever had, from the confusing to clear; from the possible to the certain. They came in a rush. They have never done that before. Mostly I only have a single vision, and I either know what it means and that it is true, or I don’t understand it and can’t tell if it will come to pass. The visions from this man came in a torrent. They rushed past like wind-driven rain. But every one was pain and hurt and danger.