What Happens Tomorrow?
The soft roaring waves were only just audible from their campsite. The sun was slowly setting, elongating their shadows further eastwards, as the shimmering flames of their campfire licked at the driftwood they'd gathered in the afternoon. Everyone was sitting quietly, contently staring into the flames. Zedd sat on a rock, his lips sometimes almost moving, seemingly deep in conversation with himself. The lines on his face were outlined by the lighting, but his pose was relaxed, more so than ever. Next to him, Richard and Kahlan were glued to each other. Both sitting on the same log, Kahlans' head was on his shoulder as Richard idly carressed her hair. They had been inseperable all day, in quiet celebration of their newfound intimacy. Cara was sitting on the ground, arms gathering her knees, motionless except for her eyes. Her expression was uncharacteristically peacefull as she sometimes stole a glance at the happy couple and the wizard. None of them wanted to break the silence, and it was deep in the night before all of them had gone to bed. Zedd was the last to go in. Warming his hands over the fire, he took one last look at these sleeping people he considered his family. Soon, they would have to face other trials, and more evil to be defeated would come their way, but this day had been spent utterly without worry and so would this night be. It made him smile.
They had all the time in the world, and in an unspoken agreement they leasurely decided to make use of it as best they could. They were on their way back to the Midlands, to Aydindril, but at ever so slow a pace. Zedd was grateful for it. Waking up every morning on some forest floor for the past years had taken its' toll on him. He could feel his bones aching a little more each day. He was tired of it and, secretly, he longed for the steady home the Wizards Keep would be. There, he would indulge himself in his books and spells and, glancing at his grandson and his soon-to-be wife, maybe a few great-granddaughters.
Richard and Kahlan were a little ahead, whispering things to each other that Cara would have called redundant lovebabbling, had she not been tired of saying it already. She was looking at the forest on their left. There were tracks of some small creature along the road they were traveling, but she didn't recognize them. An image of fierce chipmunks tore through her peacefull train of thoughts. She gritted her teeth, when images of Leo folllowed it. Leo, with his happy-to-a-fault attitude to life, Leo with his hand on her neck, Leo... Stop. Silently breathing out, she forced herself to stop thinking. Her hand was on her agiel, and it made her focus. On anything but that. Next to her Zedd chose that moment to breath in deeply, and say with more drama than necessary. "It's beautiful here, don't you think, Cara?" Cara gave him an irritated look, that Zedd answered with glinting eyes. "No." Zedd's lips shaked with laughter, but he was wise enough not to give in. "That's a pity." He sighed dramatically, but did away the effect by whistling a happy tune seconds after, annoying Cara to no end. They walked on.
Richard walked passed Cara and said over his shoulder: "Come on, let's go gather some firewood." They had just stopped for the night, and Kahlan and Zedd were preparing diner. Cara dropped her backpack and strolled after Richard. It had rained in this area, so most of the wood was soaked. Cara was just checking a branch, when Richard straightened from picking up sticks. "Hey, Cara. I need to talk to you." Cara lifted an eyebrow at him. He continued. "Now that the rift is sealed, me and Kahlan are going to Aydendril to put things in order. Zed is going to the Wizards Keep for the same reason, I imagine. I just..." Richard hesitated, trying to formulate his thoughts. He looked at her seriously. "You're not obligated to come with us. If you want to go somewhere else, I don't know, to Stowcroft maybe, you should." Cara breathed out slowly. "Are you telling me to leave?" Richard smiled a little. "No. I'm telling you that you can, and that you should, if you want to." Cara went back to studying her branch and said, with just a little more force than necessary: "A Mord'Siths' place is at the side of the Lord Rahl." From the corners of her eyes, she could see that Richard shook his head at that. "No, Cara." He waited untill she looked up. "I don't want you to keep following me around out of a misplaced sense of duty. You're not in the service of the Lord Rahl anymore. You grew past that." Cara was silent for a while, her jaw moving sometimes as if she wanted to say something. Eventually she did, softer than before. "I'm not obliged to you because you're the Lord Rahl, Richard." He studied the woman before him, who was looking back at him with a defensive stance that he had learned to see through. "I know. But that doesn't make what I said any less true." When she didn't respond, he continued. "You're more than welcome to come with us. You know that. But it has to be your choice, Cara." With that, he started back for the camp. He silently wondered what she would think of what he had said. She'd rather die than admitting it, but he knew she was pretty insecure about her place in everything. The whole 'I serve the true Lord Rahl' might have been true in the beginning, but now... Things were different. He, Kahlan and Zedd all had their roles and duties to fulfill, but Cara didn't. Richard was honest enough to admit that he hoped she would come with them. Kahlan and Zedd would have to stay in Aydendrill for the forseeable future, to restore some semblance of order there. His final destination, however, was D'Hara. Richard Rahl was going to take his rightful place on the throne in the People's Palace, he thought with some irony. Being utterly unfamiliar with D'Haran rule, he could seriously use an ally there, and Cara was perfect for the job. But she had to make that choice for herself, in a way that she never had all her life. He almost stumbled on the campsite by accident, and smiled when he saw his grandfather showing Kahlan the finesses of making stew. His future wife, his stomach jolted pleasently at that, looked at the wizard with a half-smile as he boasted about the Keeps' kitchen in its days of glory. She looked up when Richard entered the open spot in the trees and smiled at him. He grinned back the stupid grin he could never wipe of his face when he saw her.
Cara saw Richard strolling of towards the camp. He was giving her time to think, being his considerate self. She leaned against the tree beside her, trying to clear her mind. Her hand went to the agiel automatically. She grabbed the rod, pulled it out and held it before her face. The sting of it barely registered. Is this what I want? She had meant what she said. The past months, she hadn't been with them because the Lord Rahl wished it so. Richard wás the true Lord Rahl, that wasn't the point. It was clear as day to every D'Haran in Richards' vicinity that the old magic flowed through his veins. His pull over them was different from Darkens', less forcefull, but definitely present. She sometimes wondered if he was aware of that part of his lineage. But whatever the case, that wasn't the reason Cara followed him. I follow him because I owe him everything.Her life, her sanity, a reason to live. Everything. And nothing she could ever do would repay him for that. The same way nothing she could ever do would make up for the things she did before Richard came along.