  We present a triangulation--independent area--ordering prescription which
naturally generalizes the well known path ordering one. For such a prescription
it is natural that the two--form ``connection'' should carry three ``color''
indices rather than two as it is in the case of the ordinary one--form gauge
connection. To define the prescription in question we have to define how to
{\it exponentiate} a matrix with three indices. The definition uses the fusion
rule structure constants.
