JК
Faith of the Fallen :: Goodkind Terry
Страница: 579 из 617She had given her masters their only real weapon againsther; she had surrendered to their twisted lies by putting the crippling chains of guilt around her own neck for them, giving herself freely into slavery to the whims and wishes of others instead of living her life as she should have-for herself. She had never asked why it was right for her to be a slave to another's desires, but not evil for them to enslave her. She was not contributing to the betterment of mankind, but was merely a servant to countless puling little tyrants. Evil was not one large entity, but a ceaseless torrent of small wrongs left unchallenged, until they festered into monsters.
She had lived her whole life on shifting quicksand, where reason and the intellect were not to be trusted, where only faith was valid, and blind faith was sacred. She, herself, had enforced mindless conformity to that empty evil.
She had helped bring everyone together, so they might have one collective neck around which the worst among men, in the name of good, could put their leash.
Richard had answered their tower of empty lies in one righteously beautiful statement for all to see, and had punctuated it with the simple words on the back of the bronze sundial.
Her life was hers to live by right. She belonged to no one.
Freedom exists first and foremost in the mind of the rational, thinking individual-that was what Richard's statue had shown her. That he had carved it, proved it. A captive of her and the Order, his ideals had risen above both.
Nicci realized only now that she had always known her father held this same value-she had seen it in his eyes-even though he could never rationalize it. His values were expressed through the integrity of his work; that was why, from a young age, she had wanted to be an armorer like him. It was his vision of life she had always loved and admired, but suppressed, because of Mother and her ilk. It was that same look in Richard's eyes, that same value for life held dear, that had drawn Nicci to him.
Nicci knew now that she had worn black ever since her mother's death in an endless, shapeless longing to bury not just her mother's hold over her, but, more important, her mother's evil ideals.
She was so sorry Richard wasn't home. She wanted to tell him that he had given her the answer she had sought. She could never ask his forgiveness, though. What she had done to him was beyond forgiveness. She saw that now.
The only thing she could do now was to reverse the wrong she had done.
As soon as she found him, they would leave. They would go back to the New World. They would find Kahlan. Then, Nicci would set things right.
She had lived her whole life on shifting quicksand, where reason and the intellect were not to be trusted, where only faith was valid, and blind faith was sacred. She, herself, had enforced mindless conformity to that empty evil.
She had helped bring everyone together, so they might have one collective neck around which the worst among men, in the name of good, could put their leash.
Richard had answered their tower of empty lies in one righteously beautiful statement for all to see, and had punctuated it with the simple words on the back of the bronze sundial.
Her life was hers to live by right. She belonged to no one.
Freedom exists first and foremost in the mind of the rational, thinking individual-that was what Richard's statue had shown her. That he had carved it, proved it. A captive of her and the Order, his ideals had risen above both.
Nicci realized only now that she had always known her father held this same value-she had seen it in his eyes-even though he could never rationalize it. His values were expressed through the integrity of his work; that was why, from a young age, she had wanted to be an armorer like him. It was his vision of life she had always loved and admired, but suppressed, because of Mother and her ilk. It was that same look in Richard's eyes, that same value for life held dear, that had drawn Nicci to him.
Nicci knew now that she had worn black ever since her mother's death in an endless, shapeless longing to bury not just her mother's hold over her, but, more important, her mother's evil ideals.
She was so sorry Richard wasn't home. She wanted to tell him that he had given her the answer she had sought. She could never ask his forgiveness, though. What she had done to him was beyond forgiveness. She saw that now.
The only thing she could do now was to reverse the wrong she had done.
As soon as she found him, they would leave. They would go back to the New World. They would find Kahlan. Then, Nicci would set things right.