When he was spotted with a collar, Richard drew women the same as Perry and Isaac did. Richard was beginning to see in a new light what Sister Verna meant about him soon finding another pair of pretty legs. The other two men thought Richard was mad to turn down all the offers. Sometimes, Richard wondered if they might not be right.
Richard asked Perry and Isaac if they weren't afraid of a woman's father cracking their skulls. They laughed and said that fathers sometimes brought their daughters to them. Richard threw his arms up and asked if they weren't concerned about getting some woman they didn't even know pregnant. They explained that if a woman 'got herself' pregnant, the palace would provide for her and the child, even her whole family.
When Richard had asked Pasha what was behind such a bizarre convention, she folded her arms across her breasts and presented her back to him while she explained that men had uncontrollable urges, and those urges would be a distraction to learning to use their Han, so the Sisters encouraged the men to satisfy their needs. That was why she didn't go to the city with him at night. She was restricted from interfering with his ... needs.
She had turned back to him and begged him to come to her with his needs, saying she would see to it that he had no desire to go to other women, or if he did go to the city, to at least allow her to be one of the women he slept with. She told him that she could satisfy him better than any other woman, and offered to prove it.
Richard was dumbfounded by such talk, to say nothing of the behavior. He told Pasha that he only went to the city to see the sights. Having grown up in the woods, he had never roamed around in a city before. He told her that where he came from it wasn't right to treat women in such a way.
He promised that if he was ever overcome with need, he would come to her first. She was so happy to hear this that she didn't mind when he reminded her that he wasn't ready yet. She had no idea that there were times when he felt so lonely that he was sorely tempted to give in to her. She was unquestionably alluring, and it was sometimes difficult for him to make himself keep her at arm's length.
Richard had Pasha show him everything she could of the palace. He had her show him some of the city, and take him on a tour of the docks, to see the big boats. She said they were called ships, because they went to sea. Richard had never seen anything that large afloat. She told him that they brought trade from cities of the Old World farther down the coast.
Pasha went with him to the sea, and they sat for hours, watching the waves, or explored the tide pools. Richard was astounded to learn that the sea went up and down, with tides, all by itself. She assured him that it was not the magic of the palace, but did such a thing everywhere. Richard was spellbound by the ocean. Pasha was content to simply sit with him. But Richard couldn't afford to sit and watch the ocean too often. He had things to do.
Pasha wasn't permitted to go with him to the city in the evening, in case he chose to be with a woman. He had to constantly reassure her that that was not why he went out at night. Since it was the truth that he wasn't sleeping with any of the women, he had no difficulty being sincere and convincing her. He did not tell her the truth, however, about what he really was doing.
Richard decided that as long as the palace wanted to provide him with money, he was going to allow them to finance their own undoing. He spent the palace's money wherever it would help him. He became a regular at the taverns and inns the palace guards frequented. Whenever he was around, they never paid for a drink.
Richard made an effort to learn all their names. At night, he would write down the name of any new guard he had met, and everything he could discover about him or any of the other guards. He paid the most attention to those who guarded the Prelate's compound, and any other place he discovered he was forbidden access. He stopped by their posts whenever he was at the palace, and inquired idly about their lives, their girlfriends, their wives, their parents, their children, their food, their problems.
Richard bought Kevin special expensive chocolates that his girlfriend favored, but which Kevin could ill afford on his wages. The chocolates earned Kevin favors from his girlfriend. Kevin always brightened at Richard's approach, even when he looked tired from the favors.
Richard loaned money to any guard who asked, knowing it would never be repaid. When a few made excuses as to why they didn't have the money to pay back, Richard would not hear their reasons, telling them that he understood and that he would feel bad if they were to worry about it.
Two of the toughest, who guarded a restricted area on the west side of the palace, would let him buy their ale, but wouldn't warm to him. Richard took it as a challenge. He finally struck on the idea of hiring them the services of four prostitutes - two each, just to get their attention. They wanted to know why. Richard told them how the palace provided him with money and he didn't see why only he should enjoy it. He told them that since they had to stand up all day guarding the palace, he thought it only fair for the palace to pay to put a lady under them when they lay down.
The offer was too much for them to resist. They were soon giving him surreptitious winks when he passed. Once they became amenable to his offers, he saw to it that they had reason to give him the winks on a more frequent basis.
As Richard knew they would, the two guards began bragging about their romps. When some of the other men found out that Richard had been willing to provide those two with the services of ladies, they pointed out to Richard that it wasn't fair to the others that they should be excluded. Richard conceded that he saw the logic of their argument. He soon discovered that he didn't have the time to handle individual requests, so he struck on an idea.
He found a mistress of a brothel open to an inventive business arrangement. He put the establishment on retainer, open only to his 'friends.' He calculated that in this manner he was actually saving the palace money, over a piecemeal arrangement.
He wanted the men to remember to whom they owed their gratitude, so required they give the mistress the code phrase 'a friend of Richard Cypher' before they would be granted admittance. There were no other restrictions. Richard gave the mistress a healthy raise in the retainer when she complained to him that business was steadier than she had anticipated.
Richard soothed his conscience about the morals of what he was doing by reminding himself that he couldn't change what people chose to do, and it might save him from having to kill the guards when the time came. In that light, it made sense.
One day when Pasha was with him, and a man gave him a wink, she asked why. He told her it was because he was with the most attractive woman at the palace. She smiled for an hour.
Richard accustomed the guards to seeing him in the black cape of the mriswith. He kept Pasha happy when he was with her by frequently wearing the red coat she liked best. Sometimes he wore the others: the black, the dark blue, the brown, or the green. Pasha most liked taking him to the city, but she went for hikes in the surrounding countryside to try to be a part of his interests.
Richard learned that the guards were soldiers in the Imperial Order, on special detachment to the palace. The Imperial Order ruled all of the Old World, but seemed to have a nonintervention policy with the Palace of the Prophets. They never interfered with any Sister, or any man wearing a Rada'Han.
The guards were stationed at the palace to handle all the people who came to Halsband Island. Every day, people poured over the bridges to come to the palace. Sisters saw petitioners of every want. Some requested charity, some intervention in disputes, and some wished to be guided in the Creator's wisdom. Others came to worship in the courtyards scattered throughout the island. They viewed the place where Sisters of the Light lived as hallowed.
Richard learned that the city of Tanimura, vast though it was, was merely an outpost of the Old World, at the fringe of the empire. Apparently, the emperor of the Imperial Order had an arrangement with the palace to provide guards, but not law. Richard suspected that the guards were the emperor's eyes in an area of his empire where he was denied dominion
. Richard wondered what the emperor received in return for this arrangement.
Richard also learned that in at least one of the restricted areas, the Sisters had a 'special guest' who never came out, but he was unable to discover any more.
Richard began testing the guards' loyalty to him with simple, innocuous requests. He told Kevin that he wanted a special rose for Pasha that grew only in the Prelate's compound. Richard made a point of parading Pasha, wearing the yellow rose, past Kevin. Kevin smiled with pride.
At other restricted areas, Richard used the flower excuse, or said that he wanted to get a view of the sea from atop a particular wall. He made sure to remain in sight at all times, to reassure the guards and dull their sense of caution.
It wasn't long before he had all the guards accustomed to his forays. After a time, he was coming and going almost as he pleased. He was their friend - a trusted and valuable friend.
Since he was collecting so many rare flowers from the restricted areas, he used them to an advantage - he presented them to the Sisters who practiced with him. They were puzzled as to why he would give them flowers from restricted areas. He explained that he considered the Sisters who trained him to be special, and he therefore didn't want them to have just any flowers, but those that were special, and artfully obtained. Besides making them blush, this explanation also disarmed an otherwise inevitable suspicion if he frequented restricted areas.
Though, as near as Richard could tell, there were close to two hundred Sisters, only six worked with him.
Sisters Tovi and Cecilia were older, and as kind as doting grandmothers. Tovi always brought cookies or some other treat to their sessions. Cecilia insisted on combing his hair back off his forehead with her fingers and planting a kiss there before she left. Both blushed furiously when he gave them rare flowers. Richard had difficulty thinking of either as potential enemies.
The first time Sister Merissa showed up at his door, Richard almost swallowed his tongue. Her dark hair and the way she filled her red dress made him stumble over his words like a fool. Sister Nicci, who never wore any color but black, had the same effect on him. When Sister Nicci locked her blue eyes on his, he had trouble remembering how to breathe.
Sisters Merissa and Nicci were older than Pasha - his age, or maybe at most a couple of years older. They carried themselves with confidence and slow grace. Though Merissa was dark, and Nicci blonde, they seemed to be cut from the same rare cloth.
The power of their Han radiated from each, making them almost seem to glow. Richard sometimes thought he could almost hear the air crackle around them. Neither walked. Both glided - like swans, serene and cool. Yet he was sure either could smelt iron ore with their placid glances.
Neither ever grinned. They bestowed small, subdued smiles. And only while looking him in the eye. Richard could feel his heart thumping faster when they did.
Once, he offered Sister Nicci one of his rare flowers from a restricted area. His explanation of where it had come from and the story of why he was giving it to her flew right out of his head. She took the white rose gingerly between a finger and thumb, as if it might soil her hand, and while her gaze held his, she gave him one of her subdued smiles and said in an indifferent tone, 'Why, thank you, Richard.' What Pasha had told him about boys bringing Sisters frogs came to his mind. He never gave either Sister Nicci or Merissa a flower again. Anything less than priceless jewels seemed an insult.
Neither ever offered to sit on the floor for their sessions. In fact, the very idea of Sisters Merissa ar Nicci sitting on the floor seemed ludicrous to him. The older Sisters, Tovi and Cecilia, sat on the floor, the same as Pasha, and it seemed perfectly natural. Sisters Merissa and Nicci sat in chairs, and held his hands across a small table. It somehow seemed an erotic experience. It made him sweat.
They both spoke with a quiet economy of words that added an air of nobility to their bearing. While neither ever made a clear offer, they managed to somehow leave no doubt in Richard's mind that they were available to spend the night with him. Richard could never pin down anything specific in what they said to confirm the impression, but he had no doubt. Their oblique words left him room to feign missing their intent, and neither ever deigned to clarify what she had said.
He prayed that they would never make the offer any more explicit, because if they did, he knew he would have to bite his tongue in half to keep from saying yes. Both brought to mind what Pasha had told him about men having uncontrollable urges. He had never been around anyone who could make him stammer and fumble and in general make himself appear a fool as those two did. Sisters Merissa and Nicci were the embodiment of pure, unadulterated lust.
When Pasha found out that Sisters Merissa and Nicci were two of his teachers, she gave a small shrug, and said that they were very talented Sisters, and she was sure they would help him reach his Han. But her cheeks broke out in red blotches.
When Perry and Isaac found out about Sisters Merissa and Nicci, they both nearly succumbed to apoplexy. They said they would give up all the women in the city, forever, just to have one night with either. They said that if Richard was ever offered the opportunity, he had to take it, and tell them every detail. Richard assured them that women the likes of those two would never be interested in a woods guide like him.
He dared not say out loud that the offer had been made.
The fifth Sister, Armina, was older, a mature woman who was pleasant enough, but all business. When he had no more luck finding his Han with her than any of the others, she told him that it would come with time, and not to feel disappointed, but perhaps he should try to put more effort into it. Over time, she warmed to him, and smiled more. She was surprised and flattered by the special flowers. She blushed at her own blushes. Richard liked her straightforward personality.
The last Sister, Liliana, was Richard's favorite. Her easy smile was disarming, her plain, bony looks somehow alluring because of her open, friendly nature. She treated Richard like a confidant. Richard felt relaxed with her, sometimes spending more time than he could afford, talking with her late into the night, simply because he enjoyed her company. Though he had no friends among his captors, she came closer than any.
When Richard gave her the special flower, she hooked some of her brown hair behind an ear and leaned in. Her eyes were wide with mischief, wanting to know how he had gotten past the guards. She giggled when he told the story he invented of sneaking behind their backs. She stuck each rose proudly through a buttonhole, and wore it until it wilted or he gave her another.
When she touched him in a friendly way, it somehow seemed the natural thing to do. He found himself laying a hand on her arm in the same manner when he told her funny stories about when he had been a guide. They roared with laughter together, holding their ribs and getting tears.
Sister Liliana told him how she had grown up on a farm, and loved the country. Several times Richard invited her on a picnic out in the hills. She was comfortable and happy in the countryside. She didn't care if she got her dress dirty. Richard couldn't imagine either Sister Merissa or Nicci setting a foot to dirt, but Sister Liliana would flop right down on the ground with him.
She never made an offer to sleep with him. That in itself put him at ease. She never displayed any pretense; she seemed to genuinely enjoy her time with him. When he opened his eyes after a session with her and admitted he felt no Han, she would squeeze his hands and tell him that it was all right, and that she would try harder the next time to help him.
Richard found himself telling her things he told none of the others. When he confided how much he wanted the Rada'Han off, she put a hand to his arm as she gave him a wink, and told him that she would see to it that he had his wish, that when the time came, she would do it herself. She said she could understand his feelings, and for him to have faith.
She promised that if one day he was at the end of his tolerance, and he truly could stand it no longer, she would help him, she would remove the collar. But she wanted him to know that sh
e had faith in him, and wanted him to put in his best effort to learn to control his Han before she even considered it.
She said that other young men tried to forget their collar by bedding every woman willing. She told him that she could understand urges, but she hoped that if he chose to sleep with a woman it would be because he liked her, and not because he was trying to forget the collar. She told him not to go to the prostitutes because they were dirty and he would catch something.
Richard told her that he was in love with someone, and didn't want to be unfaithful to her. She grinned and clapped him on the back and said she was proud of him. Richard didn't tell her that Kahlan had sent him away, but he wanted to. He knew that someday, if he could stand it no longer, he could tell Liliana and she would listen, and understand.
Because he was so comfortable around her, he felt that if anyone could help him find his Han, it would be her. He hoped it would be her. Richard had had only a brother, and didn't know what it would be like to have a sister, but he imagined that if he did have one, she would be like Liliana. The name Sister Liliana had a different meaning to him than was intended. She seemed his soulmate.
2 - Stone of Tears Page 99
