Cara was on her way home from the market, a basket of various fruits and vegetables in her arms. It was early summer, and Cara, now eighteen years old, had just finished her last year of school. She had always been a good student, and in the fall she was to begin teaching.
She thought she heard something in the woods behind her, and paused. She looked carefully through the trees around her, and when she saw nothing, she continued walking, deciding that she had imagined it. A few minutes later, she heard the noise again. She whirled around, positive now that she had not imagined it. Again she saw nothing behind her. She sighed in frustration and turned back toward her home again. Standing in front of her was a tall, fierce-looking man. His brown hair was barely half an inch long, and he had a long scar running from his forehead, across his right eye and down to his chin. Cara recognized him as a thief and murderer who had been hiding out in the woods around Stowecroft for the past month or so. She had often been cautioned by her parents not to be in the woods around or after dark, as that had been when most people had gone missing. But it was only just past noon, and she hadn't expected to encounter him this early in the day.
The man held a long curved knife to her throat, and Cara involuntarily took a step back, only to find herself backed into a large tree. She carefully analyzed her situation, and thought it didn't look good. There was no possible way she could get away from this man. He was much larger than her, and the knife at her throat definitely wasn't doing anything in her favour. However grim her predicament, she decided she would not show this man any fear. If she was going to die, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing how scared she was. She carefully pushed away her fear, and let a disdainful glare descend over her face.
"Don't even think about screaming," the man said in a threatening voice.
"I wasn't planning on it," Cara replied in a voice to match her glare.
"Good," the man said. He watched her face carefully, trying to detect any hint of fear.
Cara was trying hard to keep herself from shaking. When the man didn't say anything else, she raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. She noted with satisfaction that he began to look a bit flustered.
"You're not even going to beg me to spare your life?" the man asked menacingly.
"I have much more interesting things I could be doing with my time," Cara said, trying to sound bored.
"I'm going to kill you," he said in the same menacing voice. "doesn't that scare you at all?"
"Not really," Cara said, leaning against the tree and still trying to look and sound bored.
"I'm going to kill you slowly," the man said, the frustration apparent in his voice. "You won't die for a long time. You'll lay here slowly bleeding out for hours, and no one will find you until it's too late."
"What are you going to do, talk me to death?" Cara taunted him, smirking again. She noticed that he was loosening his grip on the knife, obviously trying to concentrate on scaring her with his threats.
"No," he said, "I'm going to –"
Before he could finish, Cara grabbed the knife away from him and held it to his chest.
"You know what your problem is?" she asked, pushing the top of his shirt open with the knife and dragging it slowly down the center of his chest so it left a deep cut there. "You're all talk." She smirked again. "I bet you couldn't hurt me if you tried. You're pathetic," she continued. "Don't you have anything better to do than terrorize helpless girls? Are you too scared to pick on someone your own size? Afraid that they might get the best of you?" With her free hand she slapped him as hard as she could across the face. "You make me sick," she spat scornfully.
Cara's insults seemed to enrage him, making him forget about the danger of the knife which she now held at his throat. He seized her wrist, forcing the knife away from him, then hit her hard in the face with his fist, causing her to fall to the ground. When she was on the ground, he kicked her hard in the side. Cara knew it was over, there was nothing else she could do, but still she refused to show her fear. As the man raised the knife to finish her off, he suddenly screamed in pain and turned around. Behind him Cara saw a tall woman with reddish-brown hair which was back in a tight braid. Cara recognized her crimson leather immediately. She was a Mord'Sith.
Cara watched as the Mord'Sith hit the man hard with her agiel, then jabbed it into his chest. He fell to the ground, dead. She gave him a disgusted look and put her agiel away.
"That was impressive," the woman said to Cara.
Cara couldn't hold her fear back anymore. She lay shaking on the ground, tears leaking from her eyes. The Mord'Sith walked over to her, and knelt down next to her.
"Are you okay?" she asked, helping Cara sit up. When she got no answer, she put a finger under Cara's chin and gently lifted her face.
"Cara, are you alright?" she asked again. She gently wiped the blood off Cara's lip with her thumb.
Cara quickly looked up, slightly alarmed. "How do you know my name?" she asked.
"You didn't think I'd forget you, did you?" the Mord'Sith said, smiling slightly.
"Dahlia…?" Cara whispered, finally recognizing the woman who had been her best friend when they were children.
Dahlia smiled and nodded. "You still didn't answer my question," she said.
"I'm fine," Cara said.
"Are you sure?" Dahlia asked, looking doubtful, Cara's shaking not going unnoticed.
"Yes, I'll be fine," Cara answered. She hesitantly lifted a hand to stroke Dahlia's cheek. "It's really you," she said quietly. "I thought I'd never see you again."
"I've missed you, Cara," Dahlia said, smiling.
"I missed you too," Cara answered. She was silent for a moment, then voiced the question that was on her mind. "Why are you here?"
"I wanted to see you," Dahlia answered.
Cara threw her arms around Dahlia's neck and hugged her tightly. Dahlia hugged her back, then helped her stand up.
"Come on," Dahlia said, starting to gather up the food Cara had dropped. "I'll walk you home."
A while later Cara and Dahlia reached the edge of the woods by the house where Cara lived with her family. Cara didn't want to say goodbye so soon, but she knew that she couldn't bring a Mord'Sith into the village in broad daylight. She turned to Dahlia and hugger her tightly.
"Come back after dark," she said. "Please?" she added, looking hopeful.
Dahlia smiled slightly at the hopeful expression on Cara's face. "Yes, I'll come back," she said.
Cara smiled happily at this, and Dahlia couldn't help but think how adorable she looked when she smiled.
"Come to that window, and I'll let you in," Cara said, pointing to her bedroom window. "And I'll have to give you something else to wear, you'll be arrested if people find out you're a Mord'Sith."
Dahlia hugged Cara and handed her the basket of food which she had carried back for her. "I'll see you tonight, then," she said.
"Promise you'll come?" Cara asked.
"I Promise," Dahlia said.
Dahlia watched as Cara walked back to the house. Cara paused before opening the door to turn around and wave at Dahlia, smiling. Dahlia waved back. 'My god, she's cute,' Dahlia thought as she turned and walked back into the woods.