Naked Empire pg 689-725

Richard told everyone at the camp he had a plan and would reveal it in 2 hours and that in the mean time he needed to sleep. He used this as a distraction to make Nicholas stop watching him for about an hour, so he could sneak into Nicholas's room when the 2 hours ran up. When Nicholas used his soul to visit the camp again to learn the plan Richard went into his room about kill him before he realized what was happening to his body. Since Richard finally understood the problem his gift was back and he used it to return Kahlan to her body. Shortly after they opened the gate to the city from the inside, and eliminated the remained Imperial Order forces. Richard on the verge of death from the poison had his gift take over which told others how the make the antidote to save him. They were successful, and Richard survived. At the end Kahlan, Cara, and Richard resume on their way to Nicci, but Jennsen and Tom stay in Owen's land to help organize it and protect it for a while.

Zed in the New World has recaptured the Wizard's Keep with the help of Chase and Rikka. He plans to get the has some boundary wardens to protect the keep along with him because of his inability to deal with pristinely ungifted, and to get the Wizard's Keep more lively as it once was when the gift was a common trait.

Richard's gift began to fail because he held reservations on his actions. His perception of believing in his values were being questioned by himself, and it was creating the imbalance inflicting him.

The main theme of this book was to "Deserve Victory". This means two different things. It means that we cannot wait for things to be given to us, but must work for what is important for us. We cannot expect others to be our saviors, but we need to take our goals and fight for them ourselves. The other idea is we must not hold reservations in what we fight for because a little doubt can grow beyond control. That reservation can cause hesitation which means defeat. We must be determined and convicted in our actions and fight for them the best we can.