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"War wizards aren't like others. They instead tap the core of power within themselves. You don't direct your Han, you direct your feelings. The Sisters teach the "how" of how everything is done. That is irrelevant to your power. For you, results are all that are important, because you draw power from within. That is why the Sisters cannot teach you."
"What do you mean that's why they cannot teach me?"
"Have you ever seen a seamstress miss a pincushion? The Sisters want you to watch you hand, the pin, and the pincushion. That is the way other wizards use their magic. War wizards do not watch, they just do. Their Han acts instinctively."
"Was that... wizard's fire?"
Nathan gave a deep chuckle. "That was to wizard's fire what an annoyed moth is to an enraged bull."
Richard tried again, but the fire would not come. The anger would not come. He could draw the sword's anger, but it was not the same kind he had done with Nathan, from within himself.
"It won't work. Why can't I do it again?"
"Because I was helping you, showing you with my own power what it is like. You are not yet able to do it on your own."
"Why?"
Nathan reached over and tapped Richard's head. "Because it must come from in here. You have yet to accept yourself, who you are. You don't believe. You still fight who you are. Until you accept yourself, until you believe, you won't be able to call forth your Han, your power, except in great anger."
"What of the headaches that came from my gift? The Sisters said they would kill me without the collar."
"The Sisters nibble around the truth like it were gristle in a piece of meat. They only eat it if they're starving. They want us prisoners so they can bring us to their ways.
"What they attempt to do when they train with you is what I have just done. The headaches are dangerous, but only if a young wizard is left alone with his power. When you had the headaches, were you ever able to make them go away?"
"Yes. Sometimes when I concentrated on shooting arrows, or when something inside warned me of danger, or when I was angry and used the magic of the sword, then they went away for a time."
"That is because you were bringing the gift into harmony with your mind. The only thing required to keep the gift from harming you is a bit of instruction—like I just gave you.
"Teaching wizards should be a wizard's business. For a wizard, bringing your mind into harmony with your gift is a simple matter, because it is the male gift teaching the male gift. What I have just done with you is enough to keep the gift from harming you for a good long time—without the Rada'Han.
"In the future, joining with a wizard will take you the next step, and protect you until you reach the following plain. It is only important to have help available when you need it. The Sisters need a hundred years to show you what I have just done.
"They use the collar as an excuse to take us prisoner for their own purposes. They have their own ideas about the training of wizards. Their idea is to control wizards."
"Why?"
"They think wizards are responsible for all the evil that has befallen mankind, and if they collar the power, control it, and indoctrinate it, they will bring the light of their theology to the people. They are zealots who believe they are the only ones who know the true way to eternal reward in the Creator's light. They feel justified in using any means to gain that end."
"You mean that what you have just showed me, with my power, is enough to keep the gift from killing me, without the collar?"
"It's enough to keep the gift from killing you, but it would take many more lessons to teach you to be a real wizard. All I have done is to hold the stallion's bit, so he won't buck you off. It would take much more work to teach you to ride with grace."
Richard could feel the muscles in his face draw tight. "If this is true, then they are kicking the rump of a badger. Thank you, for helping me." Richard rubbed his fingers together. "Nathan, there is great trouble coming. Coming very soon. I need to know a few things. Do you know the Wizard's Second Rule?"
"Of course. But you must learn the first, before you have the second."
"I already know the first. I killed Darken Rahl with the first. It states that people can be made to believe any lie, either because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it's true."
"And the counter to it?"
"The secret is that there is no counter. I must be always vigilant, knowing that I, too, am vulnerable, and never arrogantly believe I am immune. I must always be alert that I can fall prey."
"Very good."
"And the Second Rule?"
Nathan's white eyebrows hooded his azure eyes. "The Second Rule involves unintended results."
"So, what is it?"
"The Second Rule is that the greatest harm can result from the best intentions. It sounds a paradox, but kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong, and can cause harm. The only counter to it is knowledge, wisdom, forethought, and understanding the First Rule. Even then, that is not always enough."
"Good intentions, or doing right, can cause harm? Such as?"
Nathan shrugged. "It would seem kind to give candy to a small child, because they like it so. Knowledge, wisdom, and forethought tell us that it would make the child sick if we continued this "kindness" at the expense of good food."
"That's obvious. Anyone would know that."
"Say a person hurts their leg, and you bring them food while they heal, but after time they still don't wish to get up, because it hurts at first. So, you continue to be kind and bring them food. Over time, their legs will shrivel, and it will be even more painful to get up, so you are kind and continue bringing food. In the end, they will be bedridden, unable to ever walk again, because of your kindness. Your good intentions have brought harm."
"I don't think that happens often enough to be a problem."
"I am trying to give you obvious examples, Richard, so you will be better able to extrapolate to more difficult problems, and understand an obscure principle.
"Good intentions, being kind, can encourage the lazy, and motivate sound minds to become indolent. The more help you give them, the more help they need. As long as your kindness is open-ended, they never gain discipline, dignity, or self-reliance. Your kindness impoverishes their humanity.
"If you give a coin to a begger because he says his family is hungry, and he uses it to get drunk, and then kills someone, is it your fault? No. He did the killing, but had you given him food instead, or gone and given his family food, the killing would not have happened. It was a a good intention that resulted in harm.
"Wizard's Second Rule: the greatest harm can result from the best intentions. Violation can cause anything from discomfort, to disaster, to death.
"Some leaders have preached peace, saying that even self-defense is wrong. It seems the best of intentions to shun violence. In the end, it often leads to a slaughter, where their threat of violence in the beginning would have prevented attack, and resulted in no violence. They put their good intentions above the realities of life. They accuse warriors of being bloodthirsty, when the warriors would have actually prevented bloodshed.
"Are you trying to say I should feel no shame at being a war wizard?"
"It does the sheep no good to preach the goodness of a diet of grass, if the wolves are of a different mind."
Richard felt like he were having a conversation with Zedd. "But kindness can't always be wrong."
"Of course not. That is where wisdom comes in. You must be wise enough to foresee the consequences of your actions.
"But the problem with the Second Rule is that you can't always tell for sure whether you are violating it, or simply doing right. Worse, magic is dangerou
s. When you add magic to the good intentions, violation of the Second Rule can lead to catastrophe.
"Using magic is easy. Knowing when to use magic is the hard part. Every time you use it, you can bring unexpected ruin.
"Do you know, Richard, that it is the weight of one flake of snow that is one too many, and causes an avalanche? Without that one, last flake, the catastrophe would not happen. When using magic, you must know which is the one snowflake too many before you add its weight. The avalanche will be out of all proportion to what you think the weight of that flake could invoke."
Richard rubbed his thumb on the hilt of his sword. "Nathan, I think I may have torn the veil because I violated the Wizard's Second Rule."
"You did."
"What did I do?"
"You used your magic, through the Wizard's First Rule, to win. In so doing, you fed magic to the boxes, the gateway, tearing the veil. You did it through ignorance. You didn't know that the unintended results of doing what seemed right could be the destruction of all life. One snowflake indeed. Magic is dangerous."
"How can I fix it?"
"The Stone of Tears must be put back on the Keeper. The lock, the seal, must be restored. The Stone of Tears must be sent back to its rightful place, in the underworld, where it will serve to restrain the Keeper's power in this world. To do that requires both powers.
"The key must then be turned in the lock, so to speak, by closing the gateway. This also requires both Magics. Doing any of this with only one side of the magic would rip the veil, so a wizard with the gift for only the Additive, such as myself, would be of no help. Only one such as you can accomplish the task.
"Until it is done, we are in terrible danger. If you act wrongly, use the stone for your own reasons, you have the power to destroy the balance and tear the veil the rest of the way, sending us all into eternal night."
Richard stared at the table while he thought. "Do you know what an 'agent' is?"
