Disclaimer: I don't own this show either. Of course, if the lack of job opportunities lands me in the South Pacific next year, I may just own Craig Horner. Or not, but I can dream, yeah?
Author's Note: This is not only slow in coming, it's a slow start too, bu in an attempt to write a Merlin fic (a month late!) I wrote this instead. And no, it's not Richard/Kahlan, thank you very much. Don't you people get enough of that?
Kind of a tag to 'Bounty', but not really spoiler-ish. Unless you haven't seen the episode at all and have no idea what I'm on about, and then why are you reading fic based on the show anyways?
***
It doesn't take Richard long to become adept; a fact for which Zedd and Kahlan are both grateful. For a man born to the woods, he certainly picks up the finer points of sword technique in no time at all.
It's not all Richard's doing, though. The Sword of Truth is almost older then imaginable, and it remembers the hands that have held it before. It remembers how to fight. The process for Richard is as much one of becoming comfortable as it is one of learning to listen to what the Sword tells him.
Zedd's rules may or may not help the situation. The wizard knows that Richard listens more then he lets on, but that doesn't mean he fully grasps all the meaning and situations to which each rule applies. That will take time; more time, perhaps, then truly understanding what the power of the Sword can do. Or what that power can cost.
It is nearly a fortnight before Richard finally calms down enough to sleep through the night. They have left Lily behind with her brother and a town that now, maybe, won't be so quick to sell anyone to the highest bidder. The three of them have found a quiet place to bed down for the night. There has been no further sign of trouble, and the maps are now no more than blank pieces of parchment: their ink once more returned to the pendent around Richard's neck.
They are all tired. Kahlan offers to take first watch and Zedd falls asleep with an ease she can only envy, but it is not until later when she realizes that Richard too, is sleeping. His eyes closed and his face relaxed for the first time since she met him in the woods of Westland. Kahlan is grateful for it. A tired Seeker is a dead Seeker, or something along those lines, she assumes Zedd would say.
In the morning Richard looks almost at peace. Destiny is a hard burden to bear, but he is slowly beginning to accept it nonetheless.
