This chapter is not particularly eventful, but I thought it fair to post what I had instead of giving a 7,000 word home-run for the Stone of Tears. Thank you to everyone who is reading and leaving reviews, it really brightens my day. The Stone of Tears arc is slowly coming to a close, but I still want to write more about this iteration of Kahlan and Cara. I am unsure if it will become a new fic entirely, or if it will be tacked onto this one, but I am sort of excited to not be tied down to something from the show. I appreciate everyone following along through my haphazard and often times forgetful writing. - Wayward Pine

1

All Richard could do was hold her. He grasped her hands, her shoulders, her face, anything to keep himself tethered to her. It was as if she could be ripped away without his body to anchor her to the earth. Kahlan felt the warm glow of the old times, when they were together and the evils of the world were not so powerful. Even though it had been less than a year they were apart, it was still far too long to be away from him.

"This is Bron and Merri. They escaped the Palace of the Prophets with me," Richard said, introducing the young pair. "How did you find us?"

"Fate smiled upon us today, my boy," Zedd smiled. "We were staying in this town to await destiny. Now that you're back…"

"Now that I'm back, what?"

The one bonded with the blade shall invoke a decade of disaster. He will unleash a hidden evil to take the place of the other.

"I… I…"

"Zedd, are you all right?" Kahlan asked, resting a hand on Zedd's shoulder and looking up at him with an expression of deep concern.

"Yes, yes. Now that you're back, you can help us with—" Zedd froze, an icy chill suddenly overcoming him.

"Zedd!" Richard cried, moving towards his grandfather, but he didn't move an inch. His eyes were facing Kahlan, his mouth open in words he had meant to say. "Merri, Bron, what happened?"

Merri immediately took to her grimoire as Kahlan, Cara, and Richard rotated around the motionless Zedd. Cara poked him in the chest a few times, Richard waved his hand over his face. Nothing roused the wizard. Merri and Bron were hunched over the tome, Bron pointing and Merri whispering to him.

"What's the matter with him?" Richard said, impatient and concerned.

"A wizard's web," Merri said finally. "Cast from far, far away by the looks of it. It disallows movement, freezes someone in time and space."

"Zedd was in the middle of saying something," Cara noted.

"Whatever it was, it was important to someone. Enough for them to cast a spell on him," Richard reasoned, looking at Cara, who simply shrugged. Little had changed with Cara, except for her outfit of course.

"We can't take him with us, how are we supposed to move him?" Kahlan said, motioning to the wizard who towered over them all.

"We need to get to the Pillars by noon tomorrow. I say we leave this town now, before the Keeper sends anything else to bite us in the ass," Cara explained. Richard looked at her as if she were delusional.

"We can't just leave Zedd here! We have to fix him!" Richard protested. He took Zedd's shoulders and shook him.

"Richard— Richard, please stop. Richard, listen to me," Kahlan reasoned. She managed to pull Richard away and grasp his face in her hand. "We have sacrificed everything to get the Stone of Tears and take it to the Pillars. I love Zedd too, but he would want us to go. If we don't go now, there won't be a world to bring Zedd back to." Blue eyes met brown in an icy stalemate. Cara watched on wordlessly, for the first time she was unsure of whose side to take.

"Merri, Bron, could you…"

"Stay behind? Absolutely not! We've gone this far with you, we're going to see it through to the end," Merri protested, with Bron crossing his arms and nodding in agreement. "Plus, it wouldn't be the worst thing to have two wizards on your side."

"I'm sorry… I couldn't help but overhear you," an older woman approached, speaking in a stilted voice. Her gray hair reached down to her knees, and her throat was decorated with a necklace containing a beautiful red stone. "Thank you for saving our home. You did what you could, and we could not be more happy to see the Seeker in such dark times. I would be willing, if you'd allow me, to keep your wizard until you return."

Richard looked at Kahlan like a scared rabbit, and all Kahlan could do was bite back tears and nod. She did not truly want to leave Zedd here, in this strange place, but what other choice was there? "All right. But if we come back and there is even a scratch on him…"

"You can chop me up with that wonderful powerful sword, then," the old woman winked. The group took what little belongings they had left, rounded up what horses they could, and departed for their destiny in the desert with heavy hearts.

Once the band of travelers were shrinking into the horizon, the old woman smiled, and her hair began to turn red.

2

It was a race against time, but they could not afford to make mistakes. The Pillars of Creation were less than a day's ride, but the village was no longer safe. Richard and Kahlan rode on one horse, Bron and Merri on the second, and Cara on her own. She had tried for a brief moment to ride with Kahlan, but Richard had pulled the Confessor up onto his horse and away they had gone. Something about Richard being back pulled at Cara in a tense way. She couldn't get the night at the waterfall out of her head, the way her lips pressed against Kahlan's, how the Confessor had kissed her back. The way Kahlan's careful fingers had laced her trousers, so close to grazing the place that longed to be touched.

Focus, Cara. You're Mord-Sith, not a bard.

"What are those?" Merri asked, suddenly her horse was riding beside Cara's. "On your belt."

Cara looked perplexed. "My weapons," she answered plainly.

"Those little rods are your weapons?" Merri said, confused.

"They are no ordinary rods, little girl," Cara told her, to which Merri laughed lightly.

"I am much older than you," she smiled, and Cara didn't know how to pose a follow up question in order to ask for clarification. The mute boy stared at her with wide green eyes.

"What is wrong with him, why doesn't he speak?" Cara asked, nodding her head to Bron.

"He has no tongue," Merri told her, which made Cara raise an eyebrow. She had certainly cut out a few tongues in her 23 summers, but someone that young? "He speaks in other ways. If we go further with you, you will learn them."

"For your sake, I hope you don't go much further," Cara told her. "Where is your home?"

"Somewhere I am sure has a different name now," Merri answered. Cara looked at the girl and noticed a lesion forming on the back of her hand. She caught Merri's eyes and then turned her gaze back ahead. "I can see you worrying, but don't. There were a few fights on the way here, especially with Richard Rahl on our path."

"You sure look like warriors," Cara said flatly, and Merri didn't catch on. Up ahead, Cara couldn't help but stare at the back of Kahlan's head as she and Richard rode on the same horse. All of their touches, their lingering glances… were those memories now?

"You've been quiet," Richard noted, comforted by the weight of Kahlan resting on his back. "Tell me what you're thinking."

I have feelings for Cara.

"I'm happy you came back. I'm sorry we were so close to the end… we got your message and had every intention of meeting you, I'm surprised we didn't meet later," Kahlan said.

"Message? What are you talking about?" Richard asked.

"The Mist Ephemer. It told Cara and I to meet you in Aydindril. That wasn't…"

"No, I don't even know what a Mist Ephemer is," Richard answered. They were silent for a moment, and a wave of fear washed over Kahlan. Something was wrong, but they were so far from Aydindril. Kahlan would have to be chained to duty once again.

"I suppose if there's an after, we should go to Aydindril then. See who really sent the message," Kahlan said, earning a chuckle from Richard. "What?"

"I can't imagine anything I'd want to do more, after the journey I've had, than to travel this world with you."

The Pillars came to them large and looming. They were grand, spiraled towers. Some tall and almost reaching to the sky, most cut down to barely higher than a horse. One had been buried deep in a sand dune, only the top visible. Still, the presence of the beginning of the world was soaked into the very ground on which they stood. A sanctified place, where only the most holy could go.

Cara felt a chill run down her spine, and just as Kahlan turned to look back at her, she felt her throat begin to close up. As if someone's hand was squeezing her neck. Cara stared at Kahlan, her aquamarine eyes widening, and Kahlan's eyes frantically searched for an answer.

"Richard, Richard stop!" Kahlan shouted, jumping off the horse mid-trot and running to Cara. The Mord-Sith was struggling to breathe, but her horse kept going. Just as she began to slide off the horse, Kahlan was there to catch her. Immediately, Kahlan felt that pushing pressure again, as if her insides would burst out should she hold Cara a second more. But the feeling was no match for Kahlan's compassion.

"What's wrong with her?" Richard asked, standing behind Kahlan. He had never seen the two women so close, and it was a surprise to him that Kahlan had come to Cara's aid so quickly and without thought. "She's choking."

"She wasn't eating anything," Merri said, and Bron shook his head in agreement. "It's a spell of some kind, older than I. It almost looks like…" Merri trailed off, watching purple veins crack across Cara's neck. The Mord-Sith silently writhed in Kahlan's arms, her hand moving to squeeze the Confessor's. Kahlan and Cara locked eyes and could not stop, there was a swelling in Kahlan's chest that she couldn't describe. Cara was dying.

A boundary spell, thought Bron, aloud in Richard and Merri's minds. Merri looked at Cara and nodded.

"You're right. We have to move her back to where we came," Merri said quickly, pulling Kahlan up by the arm. "Come on, Kahlan. We have to move her."

Kahlan nodded and stood up, Cara hanging limply in her arms. She ran as fast as she could, but Cara weighed almost as much as she did. The sand ate up her legs the farther she ran. However, the color on Cara's face returned. The breath arrived in her lungs, and the tight feeling in her throat was nearly a memory.

"Kahlan… Kahlan stop," Cara wheezed, cupping her hand to Kahlan's cheek. Richard was not far behind, watching on as he could have sworn he was seeing the touch of lovers. "I'm all right. Put me down."

"Fuck, Cara," Kahlan laughed, letting Cara stand up on her own. "I thought—"

"Think no further. It will take a lot more to kill me," Cara smirked, squeezing Kahlan's hand. Feeling a rising bile in her throat, Cara spit into the sand. She looked up to see Richard staring aimlessly at Kahlan's back. "Richard is watching us."

"I know."

"Did you…"

"Tell him? Of course not. I've been with him for less than a day," Kahlan remarked, rolling her eyes. "Besides, I'm not sure if we even know what this is."

"This?"

"Us. What we are to each other."

Cara raised an eyebrow in confusion. The Mord-Sith was so used to taking what she wanted without having to answer to anyone. She couldn't really be sure she had ever quantified a relationship in her life, save for her friendship with Kahlan. "Do we need to name our feelings, Kahlan?"

"I…" Kahlan started, but she was thankfully interrupted by Merri, Bron, and Richard.

"For some reason, a boundary spell was invoked," Merri told them, looking between Kahlan and Cara as the two women dropped their joined hands. "But who would do such a thing?"

"The Pillars of Creation are said to be the purest place in the world, where the Creator birthed the Old World, so long ago that its name is lost. The pillars themselves were erected as part of a sprawling palace, where all peoples lived. It was only when the Creator and the Keeper fell out of love that this place became a sanctified space," Merri rattled off effortlessly.

"So what does that have to do with a boundary spell? And why did it only attack Cara?" Richard asked, still confused.

"Probably because I have tortured and killed hundreds of innocent people," Cara said, to the concerned expressions of Merri and Bron. They had never encountered a Mord-Sith, but now they were growing worried having met one. "What are we supposed to do now? Am I to wait out here, pacing like a dog?"

"There's not much time left," Richard said, holding Cara by the shoulders. "Go back to the town, make sure Zedd is all right. We will be able to handle it."

The thought of leaving Kahlan alone was ruthless to her heart. How could Richard, after all she had done, cast her away? It pierced Cara's core in a way nothing else had.

"What do you mean? I can't leave," Cara said coldly. "I'm staying here. I'm not going anywhere."

Part of Kahlan's heart swelled, but she could feel the electricity in the air between Richard and Cara. Something was wrong.

"Cara, as your Lord Rahl…"

"Don't," Cara spat, stepping towards Richard so that she was mere inches from his face. She looked into his wildcat eyes, dry from roving the desert for water, the skin on his cheeks peeling from the sun. This was not the Seeker they had left on their quest some moons ago. He was there, but not on the surface. "I will stay here, and that is final. Things have changed here, Lord Rahl."

Richard stared at Cara for a moment, then closed his eyes. "You're right," he admitted. Richard rested his hand on Cara's shoulder and breathed in. "You're right. We need you. Stay here. I'm sorry, Cara."

No one had ever apologized to Cara before, especially not a Lord Rahl, and it took her aback. She stood there, eyes locked onto Richard, before she mustered a nod.

"I will stay here, in case. The Stone is all that matters. You'll need all the help you can get," Cara told him. Richard squeezed her shoulder and nodded.

"We'll set up camp here, with Cara. It will be safer that way," Richard smiled, turning around to delegate camp tasks to the group. Cara ignored her task, instead she was looking beyond Richard to Kahlan, who hadn't taken her eyes off the Mord-Sith the entire time.

Kahlan didn't know what she would have done if Richard had sent Cara away. It would hurt too much, and now Kahlan knew why.