Phantom pg 103-138

The two women approaching the Wizard's Keeper were Shota and Jerba. Richard, Cara, Rikki, Nicci, Zed, Nathan, and Ann all rushed to the entrance to make check what was happening. Shota informed Richard that Chase was stabbed my Samuel with the Sword of Truth and although he is injured he will survive, but Rachel was taken. Shota also informs Richard that Samuel has been bewitched by another witch women. Nicci believes she knows this woman's name is Six because of the talk among the Sisters of the Dark. They feared Six indicating her power. Shota also believes that she needs to help Richard stop chasing phantoms because according to the flow of time the Order is still going to win the war and she wants to change that by influencing what Richard has to think about. To do that she has taken Jerba, a seer, from Galea who survived the onslaught that they face to explain the horrors to Richard.
Jerba begins to tell what happened after Zed sent her to watch over the Queen of Galea and to help her out of her illness. Cyrilla feared the Order and devoted everything to isolating themselves in a defense she believed could hold out the Order. Anyone who spoke against her was convicted of treason, and when Jerba had a vision of the destruction that would happen if they stayed isolated she was thrown in jail for such thoughts being treasonous against the country. Zed reveals the Wizard's Tenth Rule explaining this action that people will try to avoid their fears even if it means irrational action. The rule is: "Willfully turning aside the truth is treason to one's self." Jerba waited in prison for a long time and then the attack of the Order begun.
We learned that Richard must change his coarse of action if he wants victory. We also learned a new Wizard's Rule. Hiding from the truth does not change it. We must face it and guard against the repercussions that it will lead to. The knowledge of Samuel's bewitchment leads to questions on how attacking for the One Box of Orden and Rachel relate. Rachel originally helped hide on of the boxes from Darken Rahl, but I am unsure of the relation.

Phantom pg 72-103

Kahlan is with the Sisters and walks through one of Galea's cities. It is torn apart from the Order and is a hideous sight. Kahlan is filled with rage for vengeance, but because of forgetting her past she is unsure why. The Sisters quickly move through the city and find Jagang's forces on the other side in the distant. They know they can make it past their slow moving forces to Caska without getting too close to the large encampment, but Arminia is worried that the force will kill Richard and make them vulnerable before they complete their task. Ulicia is unconcerned about that possibility and moves them on.

Nicci wakes up with Richard's watchful eye over her. She is surprised to be alive. She soon learns that Richard undid the web a second time and Zed healed her. Zed wants to know how Richard knew what to do so Richard explains the symbols of a War Wizard he learned. One means movement with iron form. The starburst means be let your vision be open to all that is there neverfocusing on one thing exclusively for doing so can hide what you need to see. The primary edict is "It means only one thing, and everything: cut. Once committed to fight, cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overrides that one. Cut."The lines are a portrayal of the dance. Cut from the void, not from bewilderment. Cut the enemy as quickly and directly as possible. Cut with certainty. Cut decisively, resolutely. Cut into his strength. Flow through the gaps in his guard. Cut him. Cut him down utterly. Don't allow him a breath. Crush Him. Cut him without mercy to the depths of his spirit."It is the balance to life: death. It is the dance with death."

Richard then reveals his belief that the Chainfire being imbued with the chimes is causing it to remove magic slowly along with memory. No one remembers Scarlet the dragon that helped Richard in the first two books, so as magic creatures are erased the memory of them is too. As they are discussing it he realizes 2 women are coming to the Keep.

I like the meaning of the starburst because sometimes we become to focused on elements of something and things function as a whole, so by ignoring part of something you can not be able to understand something right in front of you. The primary edict sticks in my head as something I like although I am not sure how to apply it yet.

March Maddness

I love this time of year because spring is could in less than a week, the weather is warming to perfect temperatures for running, a the basketball tournament is about to begin. It seemed to be a common topic in almost every class today, and it is interesting to hear everyone's different opinions one why one team is better or will beat another. Basketball great to watch and hopefully I will have time to catch some of the good games that will go on. Although I do not expect them to win, I hope Purdue will since I might be going there in a few years and my parents went there I feel obligated to support them.

Phantom pg 1-71

Kahlan reached the meeting place with the three Sisters of the Dark. Tovi was suppose to be there, but they do not know what has happened to her. At the inn they were suppose to meet at someone is able to see Kahlan. The Sisters are infuriated and kill him before he can say address Kahlan as the Mother Confessor allowing her to know that she is more than a slave. Then the Sisters of the Dark force the innkeeper's daughter into telling them that Tovi went to Caska. They departed immediately to catch up.

Richard is reading in the keep to learn more about what to do when he notices something strange in the air. By following it too its source, he found Zed, Ann and Nathan around Nicci who was levitating in the air. Richard soon learned that they were doing an internal verification web on Chainfire so that Nicci could see how the spell worked and try and reverse it. Richard notices that something is out of place though. A line is missing. He figures out that the Chainfire spell has been contaminated by the chimes, and because of that the spell was killing Nicci. He used he understanding of the symbols to release Nicci from the spell, but in doing so the Beast found him through his gift. They had to once again try to fight the Beast, but nothing they did seemed to harm it until Nicci used the grace they had drawn for the verification web along with her gift to cast one powerful burst not intending to harm it but to send it away. In doing so, Nicci had once again trapped herself in the web, and expected death to follow.

Caska is the Deep Nothing, so something in the Sisters of the Dark's plan involves the use of the central sites. The motivation of Samuel's attack on Tovi is still unknown, but did give them time. The contamination of the chimes is no longer speculation. It's verification indicates that there will be severe repercussions to magic in the future. Richard has once again shown innate ability to understand magic in ways that those who have studied could not. The beast still stalking him is troubling because it lost focus near the end of the last book after he escaped it in the keep the first time. The book has moved into events quickly which is different than previous books.

Rock-Paper-Scissors

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/science/rock-paper-scissors.html

Above is the website to a computer that is suppose to be able to find patterns in our seemingly random behavior in rock paper scissors to win by a significant measure in the long run. Personally I was able to use the describing statement to change my evident behaviors it would key to constantly allowing me to have a lead of one game at the end of about 30 matches, but this tactic might fail in the end too. Other people around me were facing more difficulties with very few winning more than the computer.

Weekend Blog Assignment: Spellbound

Neil is constantly practicing words even right before the competition. I think he uses the practicing to distract himself from the anxiety of the competition and to give himself confidence that with all of the words he knows he does not have to worry about getting something unexpected or missing something. Ashley, on the other hand, does not deal with the pressure well. The first time she goes up to the pedestal for a word she froze. To get through these stress she said she prayed to God before the spelling bee and seemed to be driven by a desire to represent herself well. When she froze on the first word, she broke through the fears and answered it correctly, so although she did not begin the competition dealing with the stress well, she was able to degrade her fears through her drive.

Chainfire pg 608-667

Richard appeared in the Deep Nothing along with Cara and Nicci in an instant. The priestess of the bones who had fled to the temple to wait for Richard is there and had just been caught by Imperial Order scouts. Richard and Nicci quickly dispense of them, and learn what is happening to the village he. Richard sends Nicci and Cara to end the attack from the Imperial Order, and he stays with the priestess of the bones to look among the ruins for what he needs. Eventually, they find a hidden chamber full of books, and one of the books is named Chainfire.

Nicci and Cara having successfully defended the village returned to the sliph about the before Richard found the book. When he returned to them, he showed Nicci, who through skimming it say that it was the idea of casting a spell to erase someone similar to what happened to Kahlan, but had dire consequences.

As Nicci was reading Richard saw a snake vine, knowing the meaning of such an event he immediately went through the sliph to the People's Palace to check on the Boxes of Orden. His suspicious were confirmed, and he found that the boxes were stolen. From General Trimack, he learned that Tovi was injuried by someone wielding the Sword of Truth and captured by General Meiffert. Richard went there to learn what she knew. Nicci went in to interrogate her because Tovi did not know whose side Nicci was on. From talking to Tovi she learned that Richard was right about everything. Kahlan was capture by the 4 sisters, Richard was protected from the spell they cast on her from the Sword of Truth, all evidence suggesting Kahlan was not real had been planted by them, the Boxes of Orden is the counter to Chainfire, and that they have maintained there bond to Richard throughout this time by granting granting him immortality if they succeed, the Sister of the Dark put the Boxes of Orden in play with only 2 because Samuel stole one.

With the information acquired, Richard went back to the Wizard's Keep through the sliph. He presented Zed, Ann and Nathan with all of the information he had acquired and asked for them to help him stop the Sisters of the Dark because this was the final battle that they had kept trying to force onto him through prophecy.

Richard's instincts once again found the answers necessary. The Final Battle that was referanced in the prophecies is not about to happen. Now that he has convinced everyone to help him and that he is thinking clearly he can make progression towards solving the real problems. These last chapters showed some forgiveness which refers to the Wizard's Fourth Rule: There is magic in true forgiveness. Richard forgave everyone for not believing him specifically Nicci who felt in need of such forgiveness and Cara for something she had done in her past that he had hoped Richard would never know. Forgiveness allows us to progress from the past which gives use insight into hope to prevent mistakes, but is not a place that dwelling on can fix or change.