But now Nicci knew-really knew-that Kahlan was real.

Nicci still had no memory of anything about the woman, but she viscerally knew that Kahlan was real, that she existed. She no longer needed to rely on Richard's word to know it. It was self-evident, almost as if she perceived it directly. It was somewhat like remembering meeting someone in the past but not being able to remember their face. While that person's face would not be recalled, that person's existence was not in doubt.

Nicci knew that, now, because of the connection to the power of Orden, because of what it had done within her, Kahlan would no longer seem to be invisible. Nicci would be able to see her just as she could see everyone else. The Chainfire spell still resided within Nicci, but Orden had at least partially countered the spell, halted the continuing damage, allowing her to be aware of the truth. Her memory of Kahlan was still not vital, but Kahlan was.

Nicci now knew, really knew, that Richard's love was real. Nicci felt an aching joy for Richard's heart, even as her own had broken.

Cara stepped up close beside her and did something Nicci could never have imagined a Mord-Sith doing: she put an arm gently around Nicci's waist, drawing her close.

At least, it was something no Mord-Sith would ever have done until Richard had come along. Richard had changed everything. Cara, like Nicci, had been brought back from the brink of madness by Richard's passion for life. The two of them shared a unique understanding of Richard, a special connection, a perspective that Nicci doubted anyone else, even Zedd, could truly appreciate.

More than that, no one but Cara could grasp all that Nicci had just given up.

"You did good, Nicci," Cara whispered.

Zedd rose. "Yes, she did. I'm sorry, my dear, if I've been unfairly hard on you. I can see now that you did in fact think it through. You did what you thought was right. I must admit that, given the circumstances, you did the only thing that made sense.

"I apologize for jumping to foolish assumptions. I've had reason to know many of the profound dangers surrounding the ilse of the power of Orden-I probably know more about it than anyone alive today. I've even seen the magic of Orden called forth by Darken Rahl. Because of that, I have a somewhat different view than you've presented.

"While I don't necessarily completely agree with you, what you did was an act of great intellect and courage, to say nothing of desperation. I'm familiar, too, with acts of desperation in the face of incredible odds and I can appreciate how they are sometimes necessary.

"I hope you are right in what you've done. Even if it means I am wrong, I would choose for you to be the one who was right.

"But it doesn't matter, now. Done is done. You have put the boxes of Orden in play and named Richard the player. Despite what I may believe, we are all of a mind in our cause. Now that it is done, we must do our best to see to it that this works. We will all need to do our utmost to help Richard. If he fails, we all fail. All life fails."

Nicci couldn't help but feel a certain degree of relief. "Thank you, Zedd. With your help, we will make this work."

He shook his head sadly. "My help? Perhaps I'm merely a hindrance. I just wish you had consulted me first."

"I did," Nicci said. "I asked you if you trusted Richard with your life, with all life. What more consultation could there be than that?"

Zedd smiled through the sadness lingering on his face. "I guess you're right. It could just be that the combination of the Chainfire spell and the contamination of the chimes has already eroded my ability to think."

"I don't believe that for a moment, Zedd. I think it's that you love Richard and are worried for him. I wouldn't have sought your counsel had it not been important. You told me what I needed to know."

"If you get confused again," Cara said to him, "I'll straighten you out."

Zedd scowled at the woman. "How reassuring."

"Well, Nicci made a long story of it," Cara said, "but it's not really all that complicated. Anyone should be able to see it-even you, Zedd."

Zedd frowned. "What do you mean?"

Cara shrugged one shoulder. "We are the steel against steel. Lord Rahl is the magic against magic."

To Cara, it was no more complicated than that. Nicci wondered if the Mord-Sith didn't really grasp that she was only scratching the surface, or if she understood the entire concept better than anyone. Perhaps she was right and it really wasn't any more complicated than that.

Zedd laid a hand gently on Nicci's shoulder. It reminded her of Richard's gentle touch.

"Well, despite what Cara says, this may be the death of us all. If it is to have a chance to work, though, we have a lot of work to do. Richard is going to need our help. You and I know a great deal about magic. Richard knows next to nothing."

Nicci smiled to herself. "He knows more about it than you think he does. It was Richard who deciphered the taint in the Chainfire spell. None of us understood all that business about the language of symbols, but Richard picked it up on his own. By himself he learned to understand ancient drawings, designs, and emblems.

"I could never teach him anything about his gift, but he often surprised me with how much he grasped that was beyond the conventional understanding of magic. He taught me things I could never have imagined."

Zedd was nodding. "He drives me crazy, too."

Rikka, the other Mord-Sith living at the Wizard's Keep, stuck her head in the doorway. "Zedd, I just thought you ought to know about something." She pointed a finger skyward. "I was a few levels up and there must be some kind of broken window or something. The wind is making a strange noise."

Zedd frowned. "What kind of noise?"

Rikka put her hands on her hips and stared at the floor, thinking it over. "I don't know." She looked up again. "It's hard to describe. It reminded me a little of wind blowing through a narrow passage."

"A howling noise?" Zedd asked.

Rikka shook her head. "No. More like the way it sounds out on the ramparts when the wind blows through the crenellations."

Nicci glanced toward the windows. "It's just dawn. I've been casting webs. The wind hasn't come up yet."

Rikka shrugged. "I don't know what it could have been, then."

"The Keep sometimes makes noises when it breathes."

Rikka wrinkled her nose. "Breathes?"

"Yes," the wizard said. "When the temperature changes, like now when the nights are getting colder, the air down in the thousands of rooms will move around. Forced into the constrictions of the passageways it sometimes moans through the halls of the Keep when there is no wind outside."

"Well, I haven't been here long enough to have experienced such a thing, but that must be it, then. The Keep must be breathing." Rikka started away.

"Rikka," Zedd called, waiting for her to halt. "What were you doing up there in that section anyway?"

"Chase is looking for Rachel," Rikka said back over her shoulder. "I was just helping out. You haven't seen her, have you?"

Zedd shook his head. "Not this morning. I saw her last night before she went off to bed."

"All right, I'll tell Chase." Rikka peered into the room a moment and then leaned a hand against the doorway. "What's that thing on the table, anyway? What are you three up to?"

"Trouble," Cara said.

Rikka nodded knowingly. "Magic."

"You have that right," Cara said.

Rikka tapped the palm of her hand against the doorframe. "Well, I'd better go find Rachel before Chase finds her first and gives her a talking-to for going off exploring in such a place."

"That child is a born Keep rat." Zedd sighed. "Sometimes I think she knows the Keep as well as I do."

"I know." Rikka said. "I've been on patrol and have come across her in places I couldn't believe. Once I thought for certain that she had to be lost. She insisted she wasn't. I made her lead me back to prove it. She marched back to her room without ever making a wrong turn, then grinned up at me and said 'See?'"