Richard took a purging breath as he acknowledged Jennsen's words with a hand on her shoulder. He walked off a few paces, standing with his hands clasped behind his back as he stared off in the direction of the sunrise, toward the mountains Kahlan had so often seen him studying. It had been on the other side of the range of the smaller, closer mountains, tight in the shadows of those massive peaks thrusting up through the iron gray clouds, where they had found the warning beacon and first encountered the black-tipped races.

The clouds that capped the sky all the way to the wall of those distant peaks hung heavy and dark. For the first time since Kahlan could remember, it looked like a storm might be upon them. The expectant smell of rain quickened the air.

"Where are you from?" Richard asked in a calm voice.

Owen cleared his throat as he straightened his shirt and light coat, as if rearranging his dignity. He remained seated atop the crate.

"I lived in a place of enlightenment, in a civilization of advanced culture… a great empire."

"Where is this noble empire?" Richard asked, still staring off into the distance.

Owen stretched his neck up, looking east. He pointed at the far wall of towering peaks where Richard was looking.

"There. Do you see that notch in the high mountains? I lived past there, in the empire beyond those mountains."

Kahlan remembered asking Richard if he thought they could make it over those mountains. Richard had been doubtful about it.

He looked back over his shoulder. "What's the name of this empire?"

"Bandakar," Owen said in a reverent murmur. He smoothed his blond hair to the side, as if to make himself a respectable representative of his homeland. "I was a citizen of Bandakar, of the Bandakaran Empire."

Richard had turned and was staring at Owen in a most peculiar manner.

"Bandakar. Do you know what that name, Bandakar, means?"

Owen nodded. "Yes. Bandakar is an ancient word from a time long forgotten. It means 'the chosen'-as in, the chosen empire."

Richard seemed to have lost a little of his color. When his eyes met Kahlan's, she could see that he knew very well what the word meant, and Owen had it wrong.

Richard seemed to suddenly remember himself. He rubbed his brow in thought. "Do you-do any of your people-know the language that this ancient word, bandakar, is from?"

Owen gestured dismissively. "We don't know of the language; it's long forgotten. Only the meaning of this word has been passed down, because it is so important to our people to hold on to the heritage of its meaning: chosen empire. We are the chosen people."

Richard's demeanor had changed. His anger seemed to have faded away. He stepped closer to Owen and spoke softly.

"The Bandakaran Empire-why isn't it known? Why does no one know of your people?"

Owen looked away, toward the east, seeing his distant homeland through wet eyes. "It is said that the ancient ones, the ones who gave us this name, wanted to protect us-because we are a special people. They took us to a place where no one could go, because of the mountains all around. Such mountains as only the Creator could impose to close off the land beyond, so that we are protected."

"Except that one place"-Richard gestured east-"that notch in the mountain range, that pass."

"Yes," Owen admitted, still staring off toward his homeland. "That was how we entered the land beyond, our land, but others could enter there as well; it was the one place where we were vulnerable. You see, we are an enlightened people who have risen above violence, but the world is still full of savage races. So, those ancient people, who wanted our advanced culture to survive, to thrive without the brutality of the rest of the world

.. they sealed the pass."

"And your people have been isolated for all this time-for thousands of years."

"Yes. We have a perfect land, a place of an advanced culture that is undisturbed by the violence of the people out here."

"How was the pass, the notch in the mountains, how was it sealed?"

Owen looked at Richard, somewhat startled by the question. He thought it over a moment. "Well. . the pass was sealed. It was a place that no one could enter."

"Because they would die if they entered this boundary."

With an icy wave of understanding, Kahlan suddenly understood what composed the seal to this empire.

"Well, yes," Owen stammered. "But it had to be that way to keep outsiders from invading our empire. We reject violence unconditionally. It's unenlightened behavior. Violence only invites ever more violence, spiraling into a cycle of violence with no end." He fidgeted with the worry of such a trap catching them up in the allure of its wicked spell. "We are an advanced race, above the violence of our ancestors. We have grown beyond. But without the boundary that seals that pass and until the rest of the world rejects violence as we have, our people could be the prey of unenlightened savages."

"And now, that seal is broken."

Owen stared at the ground, swallowing before he spoke. "Yes."

"How long ago did the boundary fail?"

"We aren't sure. It is a dangerous place. No one lives near it, so we can't be positive, but we believe it was close to two years ago."

Kahlan felt the dizzying burden of confirmation of her fears.

When Owen looked up, he was a picture of misery. "Our empire is now naked to unenlightened savages."

"Sometime after the boundary came down, the Imperial Order came in through the pass."

"Yes."

"The land beyond those snowcapped mountains, the Empire of Ban-dakar, is where the black-tipped races are from, isn't it?" Richard said.

Owen looked up, surprised that Richard knew this. "Yes. Those awful creatures, innocent though they are of malice, prey on the people of my homeland. We must stay indoors at night, when they hunt. Even so, people, especially children, are sometimes surprised and caught by those fearsome creatures-"

"Why don't you kill them?" Cara asked, indignantly. "Fight them off?

Shoot them with arrows? Dear spirits, why don't you bash their heads in with a rock if you have to?"

Owen looked shocked by the very suggestion. "I told you, we are above violence. It would be even more wrong to commit violence on such innocent creatures. It is our duty to preserve them, since it is we who entered into their domain. We are the ones who bear the guilt because we entice them into such behavior which is only natural to them. We preserve virtue only by embracing every aspect of the world without the prejudice of our flawed human views."

Richard gave Cara a stealthy gesture to be quiet. "Was everyone in the empire peaceful?" he asked, pulling Owen's attention away from Cara.

"Yes."

"Weren't there occasionally those who… I don't know, misbehaved?

Children, for example. Where I come from, children can sometimes become rowdy. Children where you come from must sometimes become rowdy, too."

Owen shrugged a bit with one shoulder. "Well, yes, I guess so. There were times when children misbehave and become unruly."

"And what do you do with such children?"

Owen cleared his throat, plainly uncomfortable. "Well, they are… put out of their home for a time."

"Put out of their home for a time," Richard repeated. He lifted his arms in a questioning shrug. "The children I know will usually be happy to be put outside. They simply go play."

Owen shook his head emphatically at the serious nature of the matter.

"We are different. From the time we are born, we are together with others.

We are all very close. We depend on one another. We cherish one another. We spend all our waking hours with others. We cook and wash and work together.

We sleep in a sleeping house, together. Ours is an enlightened life of human contact, human closeness. There is no higher value than being together."