A/N: Thank you for the lovely comments, I'm glad you enjoy it :) (btw: Cara and Denna are a match made in heaven, aren't they? I love them so much :) And mostly all of the questions will be answered!)

The following morning Denna awoke to the loud chirping of birds outside, announcing the beginning of a new day. In the weeks prior to Cara's arrival, Denna had started loathing the little devilish creatures, preventing her from sleeping in. In the years in the Mord'Sith temple she had been an early riser, but there had been no other choice given. But now, free like one of these birds, she could do whatever she wanted, but she had made, however, the calculation without the persistent little demons. Sighing, she entangled herself reluctantly from the warmth of Cara's body, on which she obviously had curled up to during the night and her gaze flickered to Cara's face. For a moment she was too stunned to speak, as she realized, that Cara was staring back at her, only this time not in the haze of fever.

"You're awake," Denna finally managed, rising from the bed.

"It seems." Cara said carefully, watching Denna's every movement. "Why am I here?"

"Humor me", Denna said, her voice sounding suddenly hard as steel, a perplexing contrast to her unruly hair and the soft nightgown she was wearing, "and make a guess."

"I don't know, Denna," Cara replied in an even but cautions tone. "Maybe you only brought me here to still your thirst for revenge!"

Denna's eyes met Cara's, "and you would deserve it no less." Denna held her gaze for a moment longer, then turned and walked into the adjuring bathroom; the door was left ajar, and Cara could still hear her.

"But you can relax Cara," Denna called from the room, her tone had lost its sharp quality, "you're of no interest to me. I saw the opportunity to put an end to Rahl's plans, whether you live or die now does not concern me in the slightest." Denna came out of the small room, now wearing dark slacks and a cream button-up shirt. Her hair was held in place in a loose bun, draped over her shoulder. The platinum blonde sat down in one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace, lacing up her boots.

"That doesn't explain, why you took all the effort to bring me here", Cara drawled, "you could have cut my throat outside the temple, the only thing you d have needed to do was to make sure that I couldn t be revived." Cara titled her head to the side "I d have done it."

"Let's just say, I felt generous." Denna smirked, "but to avoid any misunderstanding, as soon as you're fit to leave - you will."

Cara snorted, "as if I would want to stay."

"Well since this is clarified," Denna said moving to door, "I'll be outside, call me if you need anything, maybe if I feel generous again, I'll hear it." With that Denna was gone and the door fell shut with a soft click. Cara lay awake for some time, chaotic memories of the past days running through her mind until a restless sleep finally claimed her.

"Zedd!" Cara woke with a start, choking on the word, her green eyes frantically looking around the cottage. Her heart was racing and she gasped for breath. "I can't leave him there." Still a bit dizzy, Cara swung her legs out of the bed and stood, only to crash down to her knees as her legs refused to hold her weight. Cara ground her teeth at the searing pain, which shot up her right leg, as soon as she had put her weight on it. The still throbbing wound on her thigh was driving her insane. On all fours, she crawled into the direction of the door, grabbing a thin cotton jacket which was draped over the armrest of the chair she passed by. Cara pulled it over her shoulders, then stubbornly continued her path slowly forcing one knee at a time forwards.

Denna watched the display with restrained amusement as she leaned casually against the kitchen counter. "You can't even walk, yet," she said, not entirely unfriendly.

"I won't need to walk, when I'm on a horse!" Cara huffed and paused. Her eyes found Denna's. "I just can't leave him there. Rahl will torture and kill him."

Denna raised a brow, "I would never have thought that you're so fond of the old wizard!"

"I am not," Cara said, "but Richard is. He would stop at nothing to save his life."

Denna held her gaze for a moment longer, but then busied herself again with washing the dishes, what she had done before Cara had woken. "The wizard can take care of himself."

Cara stared at her. "He could, were it not for the Rada'Han around his neck," she huffed, and then continued moving carefully forwards. After a while she had reached the door and was about to turn the knob, when Denna's voice made her halt once again.

"Who said, he had a Rada'Han around his neck when we left the temple?"

Cara looked incredulously at Denna, unsure if Denna was implying what she thought she was.

"What do you mean by that?", she asked. Denna let her hands rest in the sink and turned her head to face Cara.

"I mean what I said. The wizard didn't have a Rada'Han around his neck, when I left the temple with you."

"How?" Cara demanded, growing impatient at Denna's slow pace of offering information.

"As time stood still, I relieved him of it while you were taking a nap at the end of the staircase." Denna looked pointedly at her, obviously being reminded that while Cara slept more or less peacefully the whole time, Denna had carried her all the way out of the temple. "But when the wheels of time started to turn again, I'm sure the old fool found a way to free himself, " she said slightly nodding, then added, "with all his powerful magic."

Cara eyed her suspiciously, but could hardly suppress the smile, tugging at her lips, as Denna demonstrated, how big Zedd's powerful magic was with her small, delicate hands.

"You did?"

Denna rolled her eyes, "was your hearing damaged as well? Do we need to check up on that?" Cara ignored her sarcastic tone and moved slowly back to the chair and forced herself up.

"If that what you say is true," she raised a brow, "Zedd would already be with us by now."

Denna returned her attention to her task and started to dry the dishes with a cotton towel.

"He wouldn't." Denna said without looking up. "There is no reason for him to believe that you're still alive or not broken and bound to Darken Rahl's will. He would have gone back to Richard," Denna paused for a moment, looking at nothing in particular, thinking, "and even if he knew that you're still alive and escaped, there is no way for him to find us here. The cottage is hidden by magic." Denna shot her a sideway glance, "Now rest. This display shows only too well, that you're not supposed to wal- crawl around." She did not even try to hide the smirk that settled on her lips and Cara snorted at Denna's obvious amusement.

Cara felt herself growing tired by the physical exhaustion and eventually forced herself up, resting her weight on both arms, as she gripped the armrests firmly and willed her legs to walk back to the bed. It did not matter to her, that it only had been three steps. The important thing was that she had walked them all by herself.

Denna watched Cara closely as she stood on shaking legs, her own body tense. Anticipating a fall, Denna found herself prepared to stride forwards, should Cara's legs threaten to fail.

Not that she believed that Cara would let her catch her; not that Denna would actually try.

In the days that followed Cara started slowly moving around, learning to walk practically anew. The deep wound on her right thigh had closed eventually, but she still felt it prominently even at the smallest movement. A comfortable rhythm had settled between them; Denna would gather additional foods, since her stock only occupied enough for one person. Cara on the other hand helped Denna with the preparations and occasionally cleaned up. It was a habit to have everything clean and perfectly shiny, it had been beaten into them both and no time in the world or the weirdest circumstances seemed able to break it.

"You have changed."

Cara sat on the bed, as she watched Denna preparing food for dinner. Denna looked up from the knife in her hand and stopped cutting vegetables, her expression unreadable.

"Everyone changes eventually." She said, returning her attention back to the food in front of her, you have.

There was something about the way Denna said it, something Cara could not quite grasp.

"What happened to you Denna?" Cara asked, noticing that Denna did not meet her eyes this time. Denna never would and never answered. Days had passed and turned into weeks since the day Denna had carried her through the old, creaking door of the cottage, bleeding and almost beaten to death. But still Denna remained silent about what had happened to her after she'd last felt Cara's arrow piece her very heart.

Cara chuckled darkly as a thought crossed her mind. At the sound Denna looked up, the 'what is it?' clearly written all over her face.

"Did you fall in love?" Cara asked with feigned seriousness, well knowing that it would be the last thing Denna would ever admit openly, especially to her, but wanted to see Denna's reaction anyway - not that she believed Denna actually to fall in love. "Is this maybe the reason you gave up your dreams about ruling the empire? To live a decent life with love and family?

Denna held her questioning gaze and for a moment and Cara thought she could see tears well up in her bright blue eyes, but then Denna blinked and the impression was gone.

"Who would dare to love someone who is broken?"

The amusement Cara had felt only seconds ago vanished in the blink of an eye at Denna's response as she stared up in the other woman's empty blue eyes. Denna cleared her throat and looked away.

"Dinner will be ready in about half a candle-mark. Make yourself useful and set the table.

After a their meal and a heavy silent evening, Denna prepared for the night. She had changed into her usual, simple white cotton-gown, that left her arms bare and stopped short above her knees. In the front, it had tiny buttons, which she neatly closed, except for two on the top. Cara watched her silently from the bed, as the other woman sat down in the old armchair in front of the fireplace and removed the loop that held her hair in a bun. Denna did not braid her hair in the usual Mord'Sith way anymore, Cara had noticed, but the platinum blonde tresses were still long enough to dress it that way, should Denna choose to.

With the soft nightgown hugging her fragile form in all the right places and the unbraided hair falling over her shoulder, as she run the brush through it, Denna looked nothing like the deadly Mord'Sith every one pictured when thinking about her. The sight of Denna like this made Cara uneasy and she found herself wishing for Denna to be back in her leathers and to behave like she always had. At least Cara would know what to expect from her then.

Coming out of her thoughts, Cara found Denna staring back at her, watching Cara being watched herself. The platinum blonde said nothing, but her hand had stopped the brushing movement and the item now rested in her lap.

"What are you thinking about?" Denna asked softly, Cara was surprised, that the words were even carried through the air to where she sat, half propped up in the bed, her back resting against the headboard. Cara's first reaction to shut Denna down, to tell her that she wasn't thinking about anything of Denna's concern, was instantly on her tongue, but she held it back. Denna's expression remained open, curious even, as she waited patiently for Cara to answer.

"What are you going to do now?" Cara asked instead of answering Denna's question, holding her gaze.

"I haven't thought about that yet." Denna said after a moment of silence.

"You could come with me." The words were out of Cara's mouth before she had even made a conscious decision of saying them or even before she knew if she wanted Denna by her side. More importantly she didn t know if Denna could be trusted. Cara had wondered a lot about Denna's motives to save her life and risk her own in the attempt, but until now she hadn't come up with a reason or how the blonde may use it to her advantage.

The only thing Cara had come up with, were reasons for Denna to kill her instead of rescuing her. Still, a small part of her doubted Denna's actions to the core, even when her former Sister had given her no reason to. But it was never wise to underestimate a woman like Denna, she was one of the most manipulative and self-centered persons Cara had ever known. Even if Denna seemed to have changed, Cara could not be sure how much and to what end.

"I believe neither Richard nor the Confessor would be fond of that idea." Denna said dismissively and Cara felt relief at her answer, accompanied by a pang of - was that hurt? - that left a somewhat bitter taste in her mouth.

With the turn of time, they would tolerate your presence. Cara said. Why was she trying to convince Denna when she herself didn t know if she could be trusted?

"Maybe." Denna allowed, picking up the brush and running it through her in the firelight shining tresses for a last time. She then stood and placed it back on the shelf before blowing out the several candles in the room. When they were encompassed by semi-darkness Denna moved to the bed and laid herself down.

The dying flames in the fireplace bathed the room in dim light and Cara could only make out the contours of Denna's face as the blonde settled in next to her. Denna lay on her back and was obviously staring at the ceiling, while Cara lay on her side, still watching her. Due to the small bed, that clearly was made to occupy only one person, space between them was a limited affair. Denna's gown brushed against Cara's skin and she could feel the blonde's body heat seeping through the light fabric almost instantly. Denna had pulled the sheets up and they lay in silence for quite some time until Denna spoke,

"Are you naked?"

"I do not sleep with nightwear - never have."

"But I gave you one!"

"But I don't like it!"

Cara watched Denna turning her head in her direction, a slightly disbelieving expression on her features, the dim light making it only more dramatic.

"But since we're sharing these small confines, also known as my bed," Denna took a breath and her voice had dropped significantly as she continued, "and if you don't want to sleep on the floor, I suggest that you'll wear it from now on whether you like it or not."

Cara did not know, if she was only reacting on instinct to the threat swinging in Denna's voice, but as she suddenly rolled over and pinned Denna down, she could clearly say that she had taken Denna by surprise. She was most intimately aware of how Denna's nightgown had ridden up, when her leg pressed between the blonde's thighs, how her own body naturally seemed to melt into Denna's and how fast and with so much vigor Denna's heart was instantly pounding that Cara could feel it as strongly as her own. She lowered her voice to the tone Denna had used only moments ago, only to feel Denna shiver beneath her as she spoke, "don't even try to tell me, that you don't like the way I dress." Cara practically breathed the words on Denna's lips, pressing her body for good measure in a long sensual movement tighter against Denna, earning a small whimper that she hadn't expected to sound so utterly delicious. As Denna failed to answer, Cara lowered her mouth to Denna's ear, her lips grazing faintly over the sensitive skin, "I thought as much."

Cara chuckled throatily as Denna pushed her off and Cara let her. Settling in her former sleeping position, Cara heard Denna murmuring something indecipherable, as the blonde turned her back to Cara. "You're are far too sure about yourself." Denna said after a moment.

Cara only chuckled in response, sleep claiming her already. She didn't notice that Denna lay awake for some considerable time until her heartbeat had returned to its normal pace, before she also drifted into a dreamless sleep.

"My place is at Richard's side, I ve been here too long already."

Denna regarded Cara distantly for a moment, before she eventually spoke, "take the horse, you ll need it." Cara's head whipped around in surprise, there was no particular reason why, but she definitely hadn't expected Denna to react to her statement the way she did.

"You ll have to take care of that wound," Denna said, waving her hand in the direction of Cara's thigh. "It ll open again, if you move too much and if you don't take care of this properly, you'll be spending more time recovering than actually being any help for Richard." Denna cocked a brow playfully, "and who needs a protector, who can't even defend herself?"

"I'm most capable of defending myself." Cara shot back, "a minor scratch won't stop me from anything." Denna could hear the challenge in Cara's tone, but her expression stayed rather unimpressed, "if you say so," Denna drawled darkly, then turned to the door, "I'll tend to the horse and make it ready for your departure then."

It took not long for Denna to prepare the horse, she even handed Cara a small pack with food, bread, cheese and dried meat, and also a thick blanket for the cold nights. As they parted, the need to say words of gratitude to Denna for saving her life, grew stronger, but the mere thought made Cara feel uneasy. She was still not on common ground with all the emotions Kahlan was so fond of and tried on many occasions to teach Cara 'to express them'. However, Denna seemed to notice Cara's uneasiness and pressed the backpack unceremoniously into Cara's arms. "Don't get yourself killed too soon; all my efforts to save your life would have been for nothing." Denna said over her shoulder, already walking back to the cottage, without looking back. "Good journey, Cara."

With that, Denna disappeared through the door and left Cara standing only with the raven horse keeping her company. The last time she had heard these words fall from Denna's lips, the platinum blonde Mord'Sith had brought Kahlan's dead sister back to the living and sent the Confessor bend on revenge after her. Denna hadn't expected Cara to come out of it alive. Days later, Denna had been toppling over the edge of a cliff, an arrow piercing her heart, placed there by Cara's hand. Cara as well had been certain, that she wouldn't see or hear anything of Denna ever again. She wasn't exactly sure, what to expect from their parting now, but couldn't stop herself from checking her surroundings ever so often.

The pack was quickly fastened and Cara moved carefully to mount her horse, however, as she tried to swing her leg over the saddle, she wasn't at all prepared for the searing pain that shot through her leg. Cara gasped sharply, as it felt like somebody was tearing her wound open again with a small razor sharp knife. Pain, hot like a sea of flames, spread through her limps, robbing the last strength from the muscles in her leg. Only as she grasped the injured limp by the knee, Cara was able to guide it slowly over the horseback.

Several minutes passed in which Cara willed the white-hot pain to subside, but it didn't. After a while and few deep gulps of air later, her impatience got the better of her and she spurred the meanwhile lazy grazing horse. Even when it was a slow and even pace, the wound on her upper thigh started throbbing painfully with each step the horse made. It was not long before Cara felt blood running down her leg, gathering in the boots Denna had given to her. Cara knew it would be the best course to return to the cottage at once, but she stubbornly refused to acknowledge it yet. The steady blood loss however, made her dizzy and tired. The trees and landscape around her slowly began to blur and dance in a multitude of colors, and then, eventually, her world suddenly turned black.