1

Kahlan stood alone on the field, her dark hair blowing in the afternoon wind. The crumpled bodies of countless banelings surrounded her like adoring fans. Some of their hands were outstretched to her, others face down in the grass as if paying reverence to the Mother Confessor. Some were still twitching and croaking as they bled out in the dirt. A sheen of sweat dripped from her forehead down to her temples, the summer air thick and oppressive. Kahlan bent down to clean her daggers in the grass, she did not have the luxury of polishing them properly at the moment.

"Kahlan?" called a voice, and the Mother Confessor turned to see Cara walking up the rise behind her. The setting sun was at her back, framing her in deep orange and purple. Her blonde hair was a windswept, battle-tangled mess, there was a forming bruise on her cheek, and a dreadful cut through her leather armor on her upper arm. If one thing was certain about Cara, it was that she always fought hard and dirty.

"Cara, let me look at your arm," Kahlan offered, crossing the distance between them and taking careful observation of the Mord-Sith's arm. "It didn't cut through your leather, you're all right."

"I could have told you that. You are so insistent on mothering me," Cara told her flatly, no venom in her tone. Kahlan looked over and smirked at Cara. When they first met, she would have taken that to be an insult. Now she understood that Cara did not entirely mean what she said, and some would even call her funny. "We need to get away from here as soon as we can, the Keeper already knows we're here," she said, pointing to the crowding of trees about two miles away.

"I like that, it's getting dark anyhow," Kahlan told her with a nod, taking the pack off her back before Cara held the strap.

"Not here," Cara warned, looking at the green wound in the earth. "He might see."

Kahlan nodded again, shouldered the pack that contained the most important little stone in the world, and headed towards the forest.

It was dark by the time they reached their quickly planned destination. They were close to Oakhurst with about four days to spare. Although Cara was an excellent hunter, the catches had become more and more sparse, threatening to starve them. Cara speculated it was the increasing cracks in the veil, and Kahlan could not find a reason to disagree. It was getting harder and harder to see the end of all this, even if they had the stone with them.

"It never seems to end," Kahlan said as they sat by the pile of tinder which Cara was attempting to turn into a fire.

"What?"

"It never seems to end. The running, the item fetching. It never stops. We found the Stone of Tears and we still have no idea what to do," Kahlan answered, looking at the unlit fire as if entranced. "We haven't heard anything from Zedd, who knows if he even made it to the library. And what if they don't find what we need, what if they spend hours and days pouring over those books and come up with nothing?"

"It's stupid to think of potential," Cara interrupted. "What's the point of worrying about the future when we are in the present."

Kahlan glared at her. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. If it weren't for potential, we wouldn't have Richard."

"That's a prophecy, that's different," Cara said and shook her head. "Prophecy and Fate have their own rules, we're not responsible for that. What we can focus on is what has happened, and what is happening in this moment. I mean, a rock could fall off that cliff and kill us both. What is the point in worrying about that potential? Or we could find the answer to the stone and Panis could betray us. Or he could help us. Or it can only be used by Richard and we are stuck waiting for him to come back."

"Now you sound like me," Kahlan breathed, and Cara smiled.

"Exactly. You sound stupid. But I know you're not." Cara continued to stoke the fire. "You may think that controlling emotions is restricting, but in a way it's a huge freedom. Sometimes, being apathetic is better than caring so much that you explode."

Kahlan looked at Cara and saw her features flicker and fade in the tiny, crackling fire. Their eyes met for a moment and it caught Kahlan by surprise. Cara was always so sure of herself, right to the bitter end. She was the keeper of an unwavering confidence that Kahlan had never encountered before. Even Richard was unsure or indecisive, not knowing what to say or do in the right moment. But not Cara.

It occurred to Cara that she was being watched, but when she lifted her eyes to meet Kahlan, all she could do was stare back. In the months of travelling they had done together, a delicious mixture of fear and desire had been brewing. Once they were completely alone like this, without Zedd or Richard, Cara could not help but get ideas in her head. Every time she touched Kahlan all she wanted was more. It was exhausting to be so insatiable. Cara wished to be near Kahlan, and it pained her when they lost sight of each other. Yes, Kahlan often had the Stone of Tears in her pack, the most important little pebble in the world, but there was more to it than duty. Cara could have the world falling apart around her and still look at Kahlan. But she had no idea what to do with these feelings. Kahlan would kill her with a touch, and not to mention she was deeply enamored with Richard. It was too far to jump and even further to fall, Cara did not want to take the chance. Not unless she was absolutely sure that Kahlan, somehow, felt the exact same way.

"I used to have a wall up too," Kahlan said, which broke Cara's fast whirling thought spiral. "Right before I met Richard, my sister died trying to cross the boundary with me. It took everything from me. Richard was the one to pull the woman out of me. Even before then I always knew how to partition parts of myself, lock away the real me and put forth the Mother Confessor. People don't want to see a woman, they want to see a monster. A soulless dispenser of the justice they are too afraid to give."

"Men have created magical means to absolve them of responsibility," Cara said simply. She got up from fanning the crackling flames of the fire and sat beside Kahlan on the ground. The small distance between them was painful. "Mord-Sith and Confessors were both created to do the most heinous of deeds— torture, and as you said, dispense justice."

Kahlan stared at Cara, she had never thought of her existence that way. "I didn't know Mord-Sith thought so much about what it means to be in this world. I thought you hated it."

"I do, but I do have a bit of free time in between breaking femurs and dislocating shoulders," Cara smirked as if remembering it fondly. "If I hated the world still, would I be trying so desperately to save it? Team up with a Confessor, alone, to do so?"

"Are you still afraid of me, Cara?"

"Afraid… of you? No. I never was. Not distrustful either. We're friends," Cara returned. In that moment all she wanted was to reach out to Kahlan, even if it were across the growing flames. She would let the skin on her arm bubble into a crisp for Kahlan. The thought frightened her more than the Confessor's Touch.

"Not even when I invoked the Con Dar?" Kahlan asked. Her eyes stared straight into Cara's.

"You may find this to be an insult, but I have seen more frightening things," Cara said. Kahlan laughed unexpectedly. She got up from the ground and went to sit beside Cara.

"Good. We are friends. I am happy to have you here with me, at the end of all things. Now, let's cook some dinner." For a moment, Kahlan forgot about the heavy weight in her chest that had come about with Richard's departure. She squeezed Cara's hand. Cara squeezed back.

Cara took the early morning watch so Kahlan could sleep uninterrupted. It took all her willpower to refrain from glances back at Kahlan's sleeping form. The way her body sunk into the ground, soft and warm, was agony. Cara always knew it would come to this eventually, and it was one of the reasons she did not get close to most people. The only way Cara knew how to connect was violence, servile loyalty, or sex. In her past she had either been fighting, torturing, or fucking, there was rarely a grey area. If two Mord-Sith were in a relationship, one could be reassigned to a different, far away temple. A few of Cara's lovers had gotten such treatment, and although she acted like it did not wound her, she often thought of those girls and where they were now. If they had survived the hard path to adult womanhood, or if they had died valiantly.

Cara heard the flap of wings behind her and spun around, her agiels already in hand. She was met with the large, circular eyes of a blue, waifish being. It wasn't any taller than a small child, with dinner plates for eyes that took up its entire face. It stared at Cara for a long time before taking a finger and drawing shapes on the ground. Confused, Cara held her agiel close to its chest, but the creature continued.

"What is that, what do you want?" Cara asked angrily, but the creature paid her no mind. It kept dragging its long, slender finger into the ground and creating more shapes until most of the dirt around Cara was covered in them. It occurred to her that this being did not mean her any harm, but she was confused nonetheless.

"What is this? Who are you?" Cara said again, but the creature simply scampered up a tree, turned back to wave, and then dissipated into the morning air.

"Cara, what's going on?" Kahlan asked. She was behind Cara with daggers in hand. "What is this?"

"I don't know, shapes? I didn't draw them," Cara answered. Kahlan raised a brow.

"What do you mean, shapes? This is a message, in the Common Tongue," Kahlan said, crouching down and looking past Cara's feet for the words.

"I knew that," Cara scoffed, stepping carefully in between the letters to escape. "A… thing was here. It was a gross, skinny thing. With bulging eyes. It had blue skin too."

"Those are from the Old World… It sounds like a Mist Ephemer. Messengers of wizards. So this message, it must be from Richard," Kahlan said. She began to walk around. "They write the messages backwards and in the dirt so they are difficult to get a hold of. Read that side for me, Cara."

"I can't," Cara answered plainly.

"Come on Cara, please be helpful. This is no time for jokes."

"I'm serious. I don't know how to read," Cara said, a little quieter this time. "You have to do this yourself."

Kahlan looked at her and nodded. "Okay. I am sure this is from Richard," she said, deep in thought.

"What did he say?" Cara asked.

"'The Palace is not what it seems. Wait for me on the rock beneath your tree.'"

"What in the Creator's blue ocean is that supposed to mean? That makes no sense," Cara said angrily. "He reads about wizards for a few months and starts talking like one? I didn't think I would ever have to travel with not one, but two wizards."

"The crest of Aydindril has a tree on it's field. The palace is sometimes called Ildulaph, 'the rock'."

"So Richard is going to meet us all the way in Aydindril?" Cara asked in a puzzled tone. "That is hundreds of leagues from where he is. Doesn't he want help escaping the palace?"

"I don't know. I don't even know how he would know all this. He's from Westland, he has never even been to Aydindril."

"Maybe they taught him a thing or two there," Cara shrugged. She walked over to the quiet remains of the cooking fire to bundle up her blanket into her pack.

"What are you doing?" Kahlan asked. As she turned around, the message swept away into the wind.

"We're going to Aydindril, aren't we? Richard just said—"

"As much as I want that to be Richard… it might not be. How would he summon a Mist Ephemer as an acolyte? And why wouldn't he send a message the ordinary way?" It seemed to pain Kahlan to even consider that this message was not from Richard. "We have to be careful, Cara. We are carrying the stone, and Zedd and Panis are going to be waiting for us."

"But it's Richard," Cara said. Kahlan felt her heart stop in her chest.

Of course, it was Richard. These past two months had made her forget that he wasn't just a figment of the future. The man who was everything to her. How could she abandon him?

"I know, Cara. But we have to be logical. We can't sacrifice the fate of the world for one person. Even if it is Richard," Kahlan told her. Her eyes began to well up with tears. "I miss him, and I know you do too. But we can't allow that to cloud our judgement. We are going to meet Zedd and Panis in Oakhurst, we're going to close the rift to the Underworld, and then we are going to find Richard. If he can escape a palace full of sorceresses, he can find his way to Aydindril."

Cara nodded, her hand clasping Kahlan's to comfort her. The touches between the two travel companions were becoming a more frequent occurrence, and they felt more familiar with each moment.

"Let's go, then. We don't have much time to meet Zedd," Cara nodded, packing her things and putting them over her shoulder.

2

It was the start of summer, and it had taken them nearly the entire remaining week to reach the small village of Oakhurst. A stalwart resistance fortress in the recent Wars of D'Haran Occupation, Oakhurst was littered with upturned ground, battered walls and buildings, and a large graveyard just outside the village limits. Many of the graves were fresh, as Cara noted in a bemused tone.

"This is a small village, we should find them quickly," Cara said. Her red leather was garnering some attention, but Kahlan had worn her white dress for that exact reason. In the presence of the Mother Confessor, a rogue Mord-Sith seemed inconsequential.

"With any luck, we will find Zedd at the tavern— speak of the wind and so it shall blow," Kahlan smiled. She pointed to the bustling tavern at the clear image of Zedd performing magic tricks for small children. He was using a vocal spell to make his voice sound like different animals to the utmost delight of the local children. Kahlan nearly dropped her pack as she ran towards Zedd, enveloping him in a warm embrace. Although Cara would have promptly hit her in the gut for that, it didn't stop the unexpected smile from creeping across her face. Kahlan's compassion was infectious to even the most skeptical souls.

"Thank the Spirits you both made it," Zedd smiled. He rested one hand on Kahlan's shoulder and the other on Cara's as he looked between them. "We can only stay for the night, I got Panis and I a room, but I will get you both one as well. And a bath," he teased, which made Cara roll her eyes. "We have much to discuss, but first we will sup together. Come, come," Zedd told them, ushering the women into the crowded tavern hall.