Chapter 12

When You Came In The Air Went Out

She was angry, so angry. With Laura for telling the story, with Richard, who was too interested in it, with Zedd for not being able to provide them with a way out, with Cara for being too cocky, with herself for not holding her emotions at bay… She paced around the room, waiting for him to return, hoping that he would just ignore the story and tell her that everything was going to be fine. When he returned, later on, it took her once glance to learn the truth: he was already readying, in his mind, to take part in this madness. She wanted to rush out at him and yell. Instead, she just side stepped him and stormed away. She found herself on the terrace. And she realized she was not alone there. Laura was leaning over the balustrade. For a one wild heartbeat she felt a powerful urge to push her over. And then it passed and she all she felt was sorrow. The redhead didn't even acknowledge her presence. Kahlan cautiously walked towards her and leaned against the balustrade.

'I'm sorry' the redhead muttered after a short while 'that I got you dragged into this shit.'

'It's not your fault.' She exhaled 'You gave us a fair choice.'

'Nonetheless. It's not a nice story. And it's not the best of times to arrive here.'

'Well, that's no one's fault.' Kahlan had to admit this, mostly to herself 'No one should be feeling guilty. Unless' she made a feeble attempt to joke 'you're Bhaal in disguise.'

The joke worked the contrary. Laura flinched so hard, it looked as if she was actually trying to jump over the balustrade.

'Talk to Richard.' She said and looked over at Kahlan 'Convince him to drop the idea.'

'What idea?'

'The idea to help us. It's our mess. Don't get involved.' The redhead's gaze was calm and her green eyes shone oddly in the darkness. They resembled cat's eyes, Kahlan observed at random. The girl was, somehow, perturbing her, but not always in the worst manner.

'Why' she found herself asking 'did you react so strongly when you heard about the city?'

'My sister…' the next words came out excruciatingly slow 'is there. My half-sister, to be exact.'

'I'm so sorry!' Kahlan truly felt horrible at the moment. She wanted to reach out and touch the girl, tell her that the Seeker will see to that and then bit her tongue. The Seeker was not going to make it any better. Because even the Seeker was powerless here.

'Yeah.' Laura nodded. 'You know… Richard was right, nonetheless. Someone has to put an end to this madness.'

'I don't know.' She said. She sighed 'I truly don't know. I don't even know who any of you truly are.'

'I think I've introduced myself?'

'That's so not the point.' Despite her current mood, she smirked at her.

'So what is the point?'

'Tell me about yourself.'

'Well' the girl hesitated 'I'm twenty one. My name's Laura. My hair's red an my eyes are green. I used to get sunburnt after just few hours in the sun. Then I had to spend more time in the sun and eventually my skin got used to it. Yeah, that's about it.'

'What a lovely way to summarize one's life.' Kahlan burst out laughing. 'Are you and Coran related in some way?'

'Do we look alike?'

'No, not really.'

'We're not related. I was doing some other stuff, back on the Sword Coast and I sort of bumped into him. We ran an errand together and that went well. He decided to stick up with me for some time.'

'So you've known each other for some time?'

'Yeah. We split ways, however. Then got reacquainted in Athkatla. End of story.'

'I think you're an interesting person, you know.' Kahlan was feeling slightly lightheaded and the words flew freely from her mouth.

'I make a good first impression.' The girl's response was a light one too. 'Have you ever?' she stopped speaking and shook her head 'You haven't. Would you like to see the Temples District? It's quite picturesque at nighttime.'

'Of course.'

XXX

It was her first night out after a rather long time. She reveled in it. The air in the Government District was much nicer than she had thought it would be. She could smell the warm stones and flowers. They were walking down a very wide street. There were tall and monumental edifices flanking it. She admired their ornamented facades. There were statues and reliefs adorning the main entrances. Before each of the buildings, guard stood. Depending on which building they were guarding, they wore different colors. As Laura explained, each of the noble houses was legally entitled to private guards. Their numbers, however, were not allowed to exceed five hundred. It was still amazing. As they walked on, the mansions grew even more extraordinary. They passed a small and very neatly groomed park and stepped onto a large square. There was a gigantic building facing it. The guard there was very heavy indeed. Some of the guardsmen exceeded the others with finery of their outfits.

'It's the building where the Council of Six resides. The authority. Those guys in full plate are the Knights of the Order of The Radiant Heart, the elite.' Laura explained briefly 'That's where we found Ithinia.'

'What?' Kahlan looked at her in disbelief 'You're saying you attacked this?' she pointed at the building with an incredulous look on her face.

'No, of course not!' she grinned 'You see, the Cowled Wizards-'

'Oh, now that we're at that!' Kahlan cut in 'I keep hearing the name. What's that?'

'The Cowled Wizards are an organization of mages. They've banned the unauthorized use of magic in Athkatla and now, when someone starts casting spells at random, these guys arrive and arrest them. They're up to more than this, however. I don't know much, though. You ought to ask Ithinia for the details. Besides' the redhead looked at her pointedly 'they're sort of operating beside the Council.'

'Meaning under their noses and illegally?'

'Well… this way now… Well I'd rather put it that way: the Council's turning a blind eye as long as they're reasonable.'

'What a bizarre world!' she couldn't help but giggle. She kept hearing new and different names. It seemed that this world was simply swarming with secret organizations, thriving in terrible plots and, somehow, it hasn't yet tumbled over the edge and into ultimate chaos. She wanted to tell that to Laura, but didn't find the right words. She just felt fine. Fine and happy to be walking down the streets of an absolutely foreign city with someone like Laura. This thought caught her off balance. She still couldn't make her mind about the girl. She was intimidating in some abnormal manner, yet inviting at the same time.

'What?' she realized she was staring at her. Laura was now rising her eyebrows and looking at her with a bemused expression. 'Is there anything wrong?'

'No, I'm sorry.' She felt herself blush, she didn't mean to pry.

'That's fine.' The girl nodded 'Now, see that gate?'

They have reached the end of the district. It was encircled with a thick wall. There was a guarded gate ahead of them. There were small fires burning in iron cages alongside it. Some of the guardsmen were tossing firewood into the flames.

'Identify yourselves.' One the guardsmen, an elderly soldier, probably a retired lieutenant of the City Corps, walked forward. He held a halberd with an efortlesness of someone who's been doing this for many years.

Laura walked forward with the air of someone who didn't actually need to respond to such questions. The guardsman relented to this. He stepped aside and saluted, albeit a little uncertainly. Kahlan followed in her wake. She couldn't help but wonder who the girl was. There were so many sides to her personality that she couldn't figure anything out. At first, when Laura had introduced herself as a mercenary, she believed that, but then it wasn't plausible anymore. She spoke like someone educated, she walked in a manner of a commander of an army. Most of the time, her eyes were hard and unreadable, but they could also become infinitely sad and then, in an instant, sparkle with mischief.

And then she stopped thinking and stared in marvel. The view was absolutely astounding. They were standing on a small platform, looking at the Temple District that lay below them. The whole district consisted of spectacular palaces, wide alleys and canals. The entire area was illuminated by crystals. Kahlan felt her breath hitch. She had no words to vocalize her reaction. Instead, she turned at looked at Laura, who was smiling at her knowingly.

'If you want a short tour, allow me to assist you.' She said shrewdly. 'You see this one?' she pointed towards the first palace on the left. 'This is the temple of Helm. He's the watchgod. Neutral but righteous. This one' she pointed the opposite direction, at a building across the canal 'is the temple of Talos. He's evil. Lord of storms and chaos.'

Kahlan enjoyed listening to her. Her voice was clear and soft, her intonation rich and her accent lovely melodic. She also enjoyed the view. The air was very fresh and carried some unknown scent. She smiled to herself and to the world.

'Do you know any of the priests?' she asked once Laura finished talking.

'From here or in general?'

'Here and in general.'

'Well I met some of the Helm's priests, they were nice, albeit a little stiff. And I've managed to befriend, or so I believe, a priestess of Shar. Right now she's residing outside the city, in the Keep.'

'A Keep?'

'Long story.' The girl smiled delicately 'The main idea is that I accidentally became a lord.'

'A lord?'

'It's a legal fiction. The whole thing was about not letting one family take this Keep over.'

'I'm not sure I'm following your logic.' Kahlan sniggered.

'Let's say a girl hired me, oh' Kahlan sniggered once again and she broke off and snorted 'not to marry her, of course! I was broke and she hired me because her Keep was overrun by trolls.'

'Trolls?' Kahlan's smirk was growing.

'Stinking, ugly, man-eating buggers.' The girl didn't seem to mind her attitude, on contrary, she was now grinning herself 'It didn't work out too great as in the process of saving the world, the girl's father got killed.'

'That's not very professional.' Kahlan was feeling more and more lightheaded.

'Uh-oh.' The girl shook her head in a fake defiance 'Anyway, the girl wasn't too pleased with the result, especially that she had to, in current circumstances, marry a rather disgusting fellow, who'd overtake her Keep. In the end, I became the lord, she got her Keep and I've got a perfect summer residence.'

'I see. What an ingenious creature you are.' Kahlan laughed out and suddenly, in the heat of the moment, reached out and touched Laura's arm. The redhead never balked. She just smiled back and looked away, licking her lips.

'I'm thirsty.'

'There are no inns here, are there?' Kahlan withdrew her hand, her heart pounding madly within her chest as if trying to tear outside.

'Alcohol in the Temple District?' the redhead rolled her eyes 'Please.'

XXX

In the end, they spend few more hours just walking the city. Laura showed her Waukeen's Promenade and the famous Adventurer's Mart. She informed her in mock scandalized voice of the ridiculous steepness of the prices there and Kahlan shook her head, feigning indigence. Then they went for a quick drink in the Mithrest Inn, which, as Laura explained, was an extremely snobbish place. The bartender, however, seemed infinitely thick. Hearing that, Laura snickered and agreed with her. Whatever the place was like in spirit, in liquors it was divine. Kahlan found herself drinking more than she should have drunk. A little tipsy, she began telling Laura her stories, not entirely sure, how many of them had she told her before. Regardless, the redhead was listening to her intently, from time to time asking additional questions. Then suddenly the doors to the inn flew open and Kahlan saw a very drunk Coran stagger inside. She started giggling and watched Laura run over to him and drag him to their table. He made a feeble attempt to kiss her hand and ended up kneeling before her on the floor.

Coran and Laura started bantering about random topics. He accused her of leaving a girl named Safana in the middle of a forest with nothing more than a dagger and she retorted by informing him that she had been robbing the entire party for over two weeks. Then she reminded him that he was the one, who ran away upon seeing a wyvern he so desperately wanted to hunt. At this point, he got annoyed and started explaining that he was merely checking on the mage, Edwin, who seemed drunk. Kahlan burst into a fit of giggles, making him glare at her with outrage.

Then the topics changed. They were talking about fallen comrades. Kahlan felt her heart clench. Subconsciously, she reached across the table and grabbed Laura's hand. The redhead gave it a gentle squeeze and changed the topic. Everything was alright, until Coran unfortunately mentioned a prank somebody by the name Imoen, had pulled. Suddenly there was silence.

'Let's head back, shall we?' Laura asked in a forcedly casual voice.