"Where are the horses?" Kahlan asked the five women who followed her around the Shrine like puppies.

"Lord R— I mean, Rahl, had us leave them in the second passage that leads out of the Shrine to the other side of the mountain, Mistress," replied the woman Kahlan assumed was the Mord'Sith's leader.

"What about the army he raised with the confession spell?" Cara asked.

"The army should be waiting on the other side of the mountain," the same woman replied.

"What did he intend to do with the army?" Cara asked again.

"He planned to conquer the Midlands village by village, town by town. After that, he wanted to re-take D'Hara and eventually, Westland too."

"I shudder to think he got as close as he did..." Kahlan whispered, perturbed. She turned to look at Cara, apprehension in her eyes. "If the confession spell is anything like confession from a true-born Confessor, then Rahl's death should have released all the soldiers from the spell."

Cara turned towards the Mord'Sith once again.

"See whether the army is still out there," she ordered.

"I take orders only from the Mother Confessor," the woman replied curtly.

"You will take orders from Cara too, from now on," Kahlan replied.

Cara raised a smug eyebrow at the woman, who now bowed her head before her.

"Yes, Mistress," she replied, humbled.

"See whether Rahl's army is still there and also, try to find the horses," Kahlan added.

"Yes, Mistress," the woman obediently replied but did not move from the spot. "However... I believe that I should inform you... Once we leave the Shrine, there will be no way back for us inside the mountain. The entrance is shrouded by magic we do not have the power to undo. And also... Once we step outside of the mountain... Its life-enhancing properties will no longer protect us against confession..."

Kahlan and Cara exchanged glances.

"You will... Die of confession, as Mord'Sith usually do..." Kahlan realised. "The Shrine's powers will no longer be able to counteract the effects of true confession..."

"Yes, Mistress," the woman replied uniformly. "I will now fulfill your order," she added and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Kahlan stopped her with a hand to the shoulder.

The woman turned and looked at her mistress with adoration in her eyes.

"Go as far as the edge of the cave," Kahlan ordered again, "But go no further. See what you can spot beyond the mountain, whether the army is still out there, and bring the horses here if they are still inside the passage. Then return to report back to me. Take the others with you."

"Yes, Mistress," the woman bowed her head. The remaining four Mord'Sith followed suit. Turning on their heels, they walked towards the passage that lay in the opposite direction to the trail that had led Zedd, Kahlan and Cara to the centre of the Shrine.

"If I am not mistaken," Kahlan said in a low voice, once the Mord'Sith had walked off the altar, "Zedd's brother, Thaddicus, lives only a few days' journey from here. I think we owe it to Zedd to return his ashes to his family."

Cara looked at Kahlan with a somber look on her face. It will not be the first time she will have to face someone whose family member she has killed. She nodded in agreement.

"I will gather what I can of his ashes," she replied.

Cara turned and walked away from Kahlan, who remained at the altar with Rahl's, or rather Richard's, body at her feet. She walked to the spot where Zedd's ashes spread thinly over the Shrine's stone ground. Realising that she had no easy task ahead of her, Cara considered how to best go about collecting and preserving the greyish powder. The undertaking seemed a little pointless, considering that it was unlikely she would be able to collect much of the ash, but it was the least she could do, she concluded, feeling profound remorse knowing that it was ultimately she who had brought about Zedd's death.

In a backpack, which she had found discarded not too far from where Zedd had perished, all charred from the battle, Cara discovered a tattered shirt. Kneeling down, the stone floor hard on her knees, Cara removed the leather gloves from her hands and began the tedious task of gathering the ash, by swiping at it with bare fingers, onto the fabric of the shirt. So consumed by this task was she, with her back turned towards the altar, she did not see Kahlan kneel down by the body of her beloved, and cry. Only when an overwhelmed sob escaped from the woman did Cara turn to see the Confessor bending over the body, caressing the dead man's face, kissing him on the lips.

For a moment, Cara froze, then quickly turned away, not feeling right about intruding on such a private moment. Though her own grief at the loss of a friend and comrad hit her hard, hardly being able to believe that Richard was truly gone, her heart broke over Kahlan's anguish more than anything else. However, such an explicit reminder of what real love was, and what it meant to lose it, came as a painful reminder to Cara that Kahlan will never love her the way she loves Richard. Cara's heart sank all over again, though she would never admit it to herself, and she let her grief and ever-growing guilt mask it.

Kahlan, meanwhile, oblivious to Cara's awareness, kissed her love's still lips and spoke tenderly through heavy tears:

"Seeker... Richard... I have failed you... I have failed you... I am so sorry… I am so very sorry... Please forgive me... I love you. I will always love you. Forever..."

Leaning down, she kissed him again, while tears dripped from her eyes and landed on the dead man's face. When she next looked up, Cara was standing at the altar, right in front of her.

Kahlan stood up and hastily wiped the tears off her face. She tried to compose herself for Cara's sake.

Cara's gaze softened as she came closer to the Confessor.

"You don't need to hide your love for Richard or pretend otherwise in front of me, Kahlan," she said. "Especially not because of me. I know how much you love him."

The last thing she wanted was to make things even harder for the woman.

"I should go see what's taking the Mord'Sith so long," Kahlan tried to excuse herself. But as she turned to walk away, Cara grabbed her by the wrist.

"Kahlan..."

She stared intently at the girl's sullen face.

Kahlan avoided her look.

"I can try to bring him back, if you want me to..." the blonde's voice was low, gentle. "I can't guarantee that it will work but I can try."

"It may not be Richard who comes back," Kahlan replied in the same instant, as though she had already thought of this possibility. "This was Richard's body but it was Rahl who died inside of it."

Though her words appeared doubtful, guarded, Cara sensed hope within the Confessor. Regardless of her own feelings, she knew that she would never allow them be the reason to deny Kahlan or Richard this chance.

She let go of Kahlan's wrist and knelt down beside Richard's body.

"What are you doing?" Kahlan's heart quickened.

Cara gave no reply. By her glance, it was obvious that she only waited for the word from Kahlan before commencing with the sacred exchange.

Kahlan apprehensively stared at her, speechless.

But at the long last, she nodded.

Wasting not a moment longer, Cara took ahold of the red dagger and pulled it out from Richard's heart. She handed the dagger to Kahlan, who took it and positioned herself in such a way so that she would be ready to strike in case the person who comes back to life turns out not to be Richard. Then, Cara leaned over the man's torso, positioned her lips directly above his, and once again, unleashed the sacred breath from the depths of her being and let it pass from her mouth into his.

She sat back and waited. Both women waited, unblinking, staring at the lifeless body, holding their breath.

Seconds that felt like lifetimes passed, holding them both in suspense as if nothing else mattered or existed.

But ultimately, nothing happened.

The gaping wound in Richard's chest continued to trickle blood.

Cara closed her eyes as her own heart bled in defeat.

I have failed him.

I have utterly failed him in every way... Forgive me, Richard.

She looked towards Kahlan.

"We waited too long," she said, buckling under overwhelming guilt. "I am sorry..."

But the look of utter devastation she saw on the girl's face broke Cara worse than anything... And it was all her fault! If only she hadn't let her feelings cloud her judgement back in the forest...

Kahlan let the dagger slip out of her hands. It clattered against the stone ground, landing next to the corpse. She covered her face with both hands.

Cara closed her eyes and clenched her fists. Her eyes began to sting.

But suddenly, a voice, a voice so faint that Cara thought she had imagined hearing it, croaked next to her.

"Cara..."

Cara didn't look up.

"Cara... What happened...?" the voice spoke again.

Cara opened her eyes. She saw Richard blinking back at her.

"You brought me back... I can't thank you enough."

"Richard...?" Kahlan exclaimed, blinking through tears, astonished, hesitant. "You're alive! Is it really you?!"

The Confessor dropped to her knees by the reclined man. With her and Cara's help he sat up.

"Yes, it's me... It is me!" he replied, equally as astonished.

Flinging her arms about his neck, Kahlan wept tears of joy. He hugged her back and buried his face into her hair. Cara sat back and watched as the two lovebirds embraced in front of her, a bittersweet tear sparkling in the corner of her eye.

"My dearest, dearest Kahlan..." Richard whispered as he hugged the Mother Confessor. "I can't believe I get to see you again."

Kahlan stopped crying and wiped her eyes. She sat back on her heels and stared at the miraculous sight before her.

"Cara..." Richard turned towards the other woman, "I knew you would—"

A sudden thud and sharp pain caused him to look down.

"—Bring me back..."

The dagger pierced straight through his heart once again. But the firm grip on its hilt, this time, belonged to Kahlan. He looked incredulously from her hand, to her face. Kahlan twisted the dagger once, sharply, and watched as the man's eyes turned large, his features shaking under the shock of what was happening once again. Finally, releasing his ultimate breath, she watched him slink backwards as his spirit sank back into the abyss from which it had emerged.

Cara stared at Kahlan incredulously, mouth open in shock.

Forcefully, Kahlan yanked the dagger from the dead man's heart, causing a new torrent of blood to trickle, adding to the previous puddle. Not a single tear nor a hint of remorse affected the stone-cold look on the Mother Confessor's face as she unbuckled the Sword of Truth from the man's waist, stood up and turned to walk away from the gory scene concluded by her.

"It wasn't Richard," she said without looking at Cara as if voicing an afterthought. "Richard would never try to possess me. He knew I loved him but I was never 'his'."

She flung the red dagger across the altar. Droplets of blood splattered on the smooth stone ground as the weapon bounced off it.

"I appreciate you trying to bring him back, though."

With these words, Kahlan walked away from the altar altogether without looking back. Cara stared in shock as the Mother Confessor's figure disappeared down the passage, the Sword of Truth in hand.