"You're right, Cara. We both care deeply for him. We both have a special bond with him."

"Yes, that's it. A special bond. Different, I think, than other people."

Mystified by what Cara could be getting at, Nicci spread her hands. "So you wish to tell me something?"

Cara looked down at her boots as she nodded. "When Lord Rahl and I shared that togetherness, I felt some of his inner emotions. Inside him he has a terrible, burning loneliness. I think that maybe all the business about this woman-this Kahlan-is because of his lonesomeness."

Nicci took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she wondered at the precise nature of what Cara had sensed in him. "I suppose that may be a part of it."

Cara cleared her throat. "Nicci, when you hold a man in your arms like that, and you have been — well, together in such a personal way, you come to truly feel what's inside him."

Nicci pushed her feelings farther back into the shadows. "I don't doubt that you're right, Cara."

"I mean, I just wanted to hold him forever, to comfort him, to keep him from feeling so alone."

Nicci stole a sidelong glance at the Mord-Sith. She was twisting her mouth as she studiously watched the ground. Nicci didn't say anything, waiting instead for Cara to go on.

"But I just don't think I'm the one to do such a thing for Lord Rahl."

Nicci cautiously framed her question. "You mean, you don't think that you're the woman who can satisfy — his loneliness?"

"I guess not."

"Benjamin?"

The woman shrugged. "That's part of it." She looked up and met Nicci's gaze. "I love Lord Rahl. I'd give my life for him. And I have to admit that lying there and having him in my arms like that made me feel — feel like maybe I could be more than just his bodyguard and friend. As I lay there in that bed, holding him close to me, I imagined what it would be like to be his.» Her voice trailed off.

Nicci swallowed. "I see."

"But I just don't think that I'm the one. I don't know why. I'm not exactly an expert in matters of the heart, but I don't feel like I'm the one he needs. I just don't think I could be. If he were to ask it of me, I would do it in a heartbeat — but not because I wanted it, exactly. Do you understand what I mean?"

"You mean you would do it out of your deep respect and caring for him, not out of your personal wish to be his lover."

"That's it," Cara said with a sigh of relief, apparently at having someone else say it aloud. "Besides, I just don't think that Lord Rahl feels that way about me. When I was sensing his feelings, when we were in each other's arms, I think I would have known if he felt that way about me, but he doesn't. He loves me, I know that much, but not in that way."

Nicci carefully eased out her own breath. "So — that's what you wanted me to know? That you think his loneliness is the source of his fantasy woman?"

Cara nodded. "Yes — but one more thing, too."

Nicci glanced down the street, watching men making their way to the stable. "And what would that be?"

"I think that maybe you could be the one."

Nicci's heart came up in her throat as she turned to see Cara staring right at her. "What?"

"I think you could be the one for Lord Rahl." She held up her hands to forestall any argument. "Don't say anything. I don't want you to be saying that I'm crazy. Don't say anything for now. Just think about it. We'll be leaving shortly and it will be a while until you can come to meet up with us, so you have time and you could think about it. I'm not asking you to sacrifice yourself for him or anything foolish like that.

"I'm just saying that I think Lord Rahl needs someone and you could be that woman-I mean if you felt right about it.

"I'm not the one he needs. I'm Mord-Sith, and Lord Rahl is a wizard. Dear spirits, I hate magic and he is magic. We just aren't right for each other in all kinds of little ways. But you have so much in common with him. You're a sorceress. Who could understand him better than you? Who could help him with every aspect of his life better than you?

"I remember back that night at camp, in the shelter, when the two of you were talking about the creative dimension of magic. I didn't understand half of it, but it struck me then how the two of you could talk so easily to each other and understand each other's thoughts, ideas, and meaning like no one else could. I remember being taken by how the two of you, well, seemed so right together.

"And I remember thinking, too, when we lay down close to him to keep warm, how good you looked close to him like that. Like a woman would be close to a man she cared about. I remember, for some reason, half expecting him to kiss you. It would have seemed natural."

Nicci couldn't make her heart slow down. "Cara, I.» Words failed her.

Cara picked at a strip of pealing paint on the corner board of the building. "Besides, you're about the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Lord Rahl should have a wife who is his match and I can't think of a better match than you."

"Wife —?"

"Don't you see how much sense it makes? It would fill the emptiness I felt inside him. It would bring him joy and happiness to replace his misery. He would have someone to share his gift and his connection to magic. He wouldn't be lonely. Just think about it."

"But, Cara, Richard doesn't love me."

Cara appraised her for a long, uncomfortable moment. Nicci recalled then Richard once telling her how paralyzing it felt to be under the scrutiny of a Mord-Sith when she looked into your eyes, really looked into them. Nicci now understood what he meant.

"Maybe he doesn't feel that way now, but maybe when you come back to join us you could do a little more to let him know you were open to such a notion about the two of you-I mean, if you wanted to, if you were open to the idea. Sometimes people just have to be made aware of something so that they will consider it seriously. That's why I felt I needed to say something to you. Maybe if he thought you might be open to such a thing then he'd get interested and start looking at you in that light.

"You know, people who are in love had to fall in love at some point. They weren't born in love with their mate. Maybe you just have to help him get to that point where he will start to think about you in that light. It could even be he thinks that a beautiful, intelligent woman like you could never care for him seriously. Sometimes men are shy that way about a woman they think is extraordinarily beautiful."

"Cara, I just don't think he.»

Cara leaned in confidentially. "It could even be that he thinks you would never be interested in him and so he dreamed up this other woman to fill the void."

Nicci wet her lips. "I think we had better get over to the stable or he may leave without you. He seems pretty set on leaving."

Cara offered a smile. "You're right. Look, Nicci, if you'd rather, you could just forget I said anything. I can see that I'm making you uncomfortable. I don't exactly feel right about saying anything, anyway."

"Then why did you?"

Cara gazed off wistfully. "I guess because as I was holding him, and I felt the depth of his loneliness, it just broke my heart." Her gaze drifted back to Nicci's. "And Mord-Sith don't get broken hearts all that often."

Nicci almost said that neither did sorceresses.