Heads throughout the room bobbed knowingly.

Richard cast a sidelong glance at Kahlan.

One of the speakers knelt before the platform and bowed his bald "Wise One, we must ask your knowing guidance. Some of our wish to begin a war."

"War solves nothing," the Wise One said in a pious voice.

"Perhaps you would like to hear his reasons."

"There are no valid reasons for fighting. War is never a solution. War is an admission of failure."

The people in the room shrank back, looking ill at ease to have brought such crude inquiries before the Wise One, inquiries he had no trouble untangling with simple wisdom that laid bare obvious immorality.

"Very wise. You have shown us wisdom in its true, simple perfection.

All men would do well to heed such truth." The man bowed his head again. "We have tried to tell-"

"Why are you wearing a blindfold?" Richard asked, cutting off the speaker kneeling before the platform.

"I hear anger in your voice," the Wise One said. "Nothing can be accomplished until you shed your hate. If you search with your heart, you can find the good in everyone."

Richard put a hand on Owen's back, urging him ahead. He reached back into the crowd of men and grabbed a pinch of Anson's shirt, pulling him forward as well. The three men moved up to the Wise One's platform. Only Richard stood tall. With his foot, he forced the kneeling speaker aside.

"I asked why you're wearing a blindfold," Richard said.

"Knowledge must be denied so as to make room for faith. It is only through faith that real truth can be reached," the Wise One said. "You must believe before you can see."

"If you believe, without seeing the truth of what is," Richard said, "then you're simply being willfully blind, not wise. You must see, first, in order to learn and understand."

The men around Kahlan looked uncomfortable that Richard was speaking in this way to their Wise One.

"Stop the hate, or you reap only hate."

"We were talking about knowledge. I haven't asked you about hate."

The Wise One put his hands together prayerfully before himself, bowing his head slightly. "Wisdom is all around us, but our eyes blind us, our hearing deafens us, our minds think and so make us ignorant. Our senses only trick us; the world can tell us nothing of the nature of reality. To be at one with the greater essence of the true meaning of life, you must first stare blindly inward to discover truth."

Richard folded his arms over his chest. "I have eyes, so I can't see. I have ears, so I can't hear. I have a mind, so I can't know anything."

"The first step to wisdom is to accept that we are inadequate to know the nature of reality, and so nothing we think we know can be real."

"We must eat to live. How is one to track a deer in the woods so you can eat? Blindfold yourself? Stuff wax in your ears? Do it while you're asleep so your mind won't contribute any thinking to the task at hand?"

"We do not eat meat. It is wrong to harm animals just so that we might eat. We have no more right to live than an animal."

"So you eat only plants, eggs, cheese-things like that."

"Of course."

"How do you make cheese?"

In the awkward silence, someone in the back of the room coughed.

"I am the Wise One. I have not been called upon to do this work. Others make cheese for us to eat."

"I see; you don't know how to make cheese for your dinner because no one has ever taught you. That's perfect. Here you are, then, blindfolded and with a clear mind not all clogged up with troublesome knowledge on the subject. So, how do you make cheese? Is it coming to you? Is the method of making cheese being sent to you through your blindfolded divine introspection?"

"Reality cannot be tested-"

"Tell me how, if you were to wear a blindfold so you couldn't see, put wax in your ears so you couldn't hear, and put on heavy mittens so you couldn't feel anything, how you would even do something as simple as picking a radish to eat. Tell you what, you can leave the wax out of your ears, and not bother with the mittens. Just leave that blindfold on and show me how you can pick a radish so you have something to eat. I'll even help you find the door, first; then you're on your own. Come on, then. Off you go."

The Wise One licked his lips. "Well, I…"

"If you deny yourself sight, hearing, touch. . how will you plant food to sustain your life, or how can you even hunt for berries and nuts? If nothing is real, then how long until you starve to death while you wait for some inner voice of 'truth' to feed you?"

One of the speakers rushed forward, trying to push Richard back.

Richard shoved the man so hard that it sat him on the ground. The speakers cowered back a few paces. Richard put one boot up on the platform, laid his arm across his knee, and leaned close to the Wise One.

"Answer my questions, 'Wise One. Tell me what staring blindly inwardly has so far revealed to you about making cheese. Come on; let's hear it."

"But… it's not a fair question."

"Oh? A question regarding the pursuit of a value is not fair? Life requires all living things to successfully pursue values if they are to continue to live. A bird dies if it can't succeed at catching a worm. It's basic. People are no different."

"Stop the hate."

"You already have on a blindfold. Why don't you plug your ears and hum a tune to yourself so you won't be thinking about anything"- Richard leaned in and lowered his voice dangerously-"and in your state of infinite wisdom, Wise One, just try to guess what I'm about to do to you."

The boy squealed in fright and scooted back.

Kahlan pushed her way between Richard and Anson and sat back on the platform. She put an arm around the terrified boy and pulled him close to comfort him. He pressed himself into her sheltering protection.

"Richard, you're scaring the poor boy. Look at him. He's shaking like a leaf."

Richard pulled the blindfold off the boy's head. In confused dismay, he peered fearfully up at Richard.

"Why did you go to her?" Richard asked in a gentle tone.

"Because, you were about to hurt me."

"You mean, then, that you were hoping she would protect you?"

"Of course-you're bigger than me."

Richard smiled. "Do you see what you're saying? You were frightened and you hoped to be protected from danger. That wasn't wrong of you. was it? To want to be safe? To fear aggression? To seek help from someone you thought might be big enough to stop the threat?"

The boy looked confused. "No, I guess not."

"And what if I held a knife to you? Wouldn't you want to have someone prevent me from cutting you? Wouldn't you want to live?"

The boy nodded. "Yes."

"That's the value we're talking about, here."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Life," Richard said. "You want to live. That is noble. You don't want someone else to take your life. That is just.

"All creatures want to live. A rabbit will run if threatened; that's why he has strong legs. He doesn't need the strong legs or big ears to find and eat tender shoots. He has the big ears to listen for threats, and the strong legs to escape.

"A buck will snort in warning if threatened. A snake may shake a rattle to ward off threats. A wolf growls a warning. But if the danger keeps coming and they can't escape, a buck may trample it, the snake may strike, and the wolf may attack. None of them will go looking for a fight, but they will protect themselves.

"Man is the only creature who willingly submits to the fangs of a predator. Only man, through continual indoctrination such as you've been given, will reject the values that sustain life. Yet, you instinctively did the right thing in going to my wife."

"I did?"

"Yes. Your ways couldn't protect you, so you acted on the chance that she might. If I really were someone intent on harming you, she would have fought to stop me."