"Don't be ridiculous."
Cara's face was the very picture of indignant rage and Kahlan struggled to keep her composure. They were returning to camp after gathering berries in a forest which appeared to contain no game. They'd left Richard and Zedd to get a fire going and set up the campsite.
Recently, Kahlan was finding that she enjoyed the time she spent alone with the Mord'Sith more and more. So much so that she often found excuses for the two of them to go off together, just so that she could see the person that Cara was when they were alone. Kahlan wasn't sure when or how she became the only one that Cara felt at ease enough with to drop her guard a little. But she certainly wasn't going to complain about it if it allowed her to have fun at the other woman's expense as she was currently doing.
She searched her companion's face, her own expression serious, before nodding.
"No, it's true. You're definitely getting laughter lines." She reached up to brush a thumb over the soft skin at the corner of Cara's eye only to have it batted away almost immediately.
Cara narrowed her eyes. "If I am developing lines of any sort, it's because I am constantly deep in thought about how to keep you three out of trouble."
"Ah," Kahlan said, biting back a grin. "So they're worry lines." She knew that this would be just as unacceptable to Cara.
"No they are no-" Cara began, but cut herself short. She poked Kahlan in the side, none too gently. "You're teasing me."
"Ow!" Kahlan protested, rubbing her ribs and bumping Cara's hip with her own as they walked. It wasn't an eternity ago that Cara would not have recognised this as teasing, and the poke would have been with an agiel. "Yes, I'm teasing you. Your face is as perfect and unblemished as it has always been. Though if you keep up that scowling, it won't be for long."
Cara broke out into a huge, and incredibly fake, smile. Kahlan laughed and shook her head.
"You should smile more often," she said. "It suits you."
Cara rolled her eyes. "Perhaps when we find the Stone of Tears and seal this blasted tear in the veil, I'll smile."
"Well, that will make it even more worthwhile," Kahlan told her.
The walked on in companionable silence for a bit, until Kahlan had a thought that made her frown.
"What will you do…after we've sealed the veil?" she asked, turning to view Cara's profile.
"After I've finished smiling, you mean?" Cara asked, with mischievous glance at Kahlan.
"Yes, after all the smiling," Kahlan agreed with a smile of her own.
Cara walked on a little, looking straight ahead. Kahlan wondered if she was going to reply at all.
"I'll do as Richard instructs me," she said, finally. She didn't look at Kahlan as she spoke. "I expect he will send me to D'Hara to establish order there while you and he settle in Aydindril."
Kahlan felt panic grip her chest at the answer, though it was not completely unexpected.
"And what if Richard instructed you to stay in Aydindril. With us?"
A few months ago, she would have been met with a look of complete bafflement at such a question. But Cara looked at the ground, letting her hair fall over her face.
"What would be the purpose of such an instruction?" she asked, quietly. "You will have no need of me there. Aydindril has an army of guards whose sole purpose is to protect the Mother Confessor."
Kahlan did not miss the melancholy in Cara's voice, nor the deep insecurity she'd glimpsed on a number of occasions in the proud, strong woman. She let her arm brush against Cara as they walked, heartened when Cara didn't move away.
"That's true," she agreed. "But I'd sooner trust you with my life than I would all of them put together."
Cara turned to look at her sharply, likely to see if she was teasing again. Kahlan made sure to meet her eyes to show that she was completely serious. She was speaking the truth. She trusted Cara completely and without question. Something she had thought she would never do. This woman had killed her sister. But she'd also tried to put a knife through her own heart to give Kahlan a better chance of survival in an airless tomb.
Cara inclined her head, accepting the compliment. Her lips slid into a half smile as she cocked her head in curiosity. "Are you saying you want to employ me as your personal bodyguard, Mother Confessor?"
Kahlan laughed at the image, but stored it away as a possibility. "I'm saying that I want you in Aydindril with me. Or wherever I end up. And that I plan to make sure that happens, by whatever means necessary."
The frank admission was not something Cara was prepared for and she looked down at the ground again, her hair covering her expression. Kahlan bit her lip, wondering if perhaps she'd gone too far. Though Cara was far more open than she had been when they'd first met, she still didn't respond well to overt discussions of feelings. Kahlan hadn't actually planned to reveal this particular thought. She hadn't been aware of having such a thought. But confronted by the possibility of being separated from Cara, her mind had cleared and she had known that she wouldn't let it happen. Cara surprised her by speaking up.
"You and Richard will be busy getting married and having a brood of little confessors. Can you picture me there in amongst that?"
Kahlan closed her eyes and tried to imagine Cara with a baby on her hip and a couple of toddlers clinging to her legs. She smiled at the image because she could picture Cara's long suffering expression perfectly. What she didn't picture was the first part of what Cara had said. Her feelings for Richard had changed of late. They'd become cloudier, less sure than before. When she looked at him, she no longer felt the rush of love she once had. Her insides didn't somersault as they once had when he touched her. His kisses left her strangely unsatisfied. But that wasn't Cara's problem.
Turning to her companion, she nodded.
"I can imagine it, actually. I think you'd be an adorable aunt. Auntie Cara."
Cara's mouth went slack and her eyes went wide. "You're not serious."
"I'm absolutely serious," Kahlan said. She leaned a little closer and softened her voice. "You forget, fearsome Mistress Cara, that I was with you after the birth of the baby night wisps. I know you have a softer side."
She waited for the inevitable explosion, hoping that an angry tirade would lift the tension that had settled between them after Kahlan had expressed her wish for Cara to remain with them. But it didn't come. Instead, Cara narrowed her eyes again, the beginnings of a smile tugging at her lips.
"So, it's not so much a bodyguard you want as a babysitter, is that right?"
The joke made Kahlan laugh in delight, she linked her arm through Cara's and turned so that her nose brushed against blonde hair as she whispered into Cara's ear.
"Let's just settle for you being there for the moment. We'll find something to keep you occupied later."
Cara's head dipped, looking at the position they were in, before bringing her eyes up to meet Kahlan's. Their faces were close enough that Kahlan could feel Cara's breath on her lips. She tried to ignore the strange sensation in her belly that had begun to happen whenever she was close to Cara. She was not successful at all.
"Yes, I'm sure you'll find something to occupy me, Kahlan," Cara said, her voice low.
Their proximity meant that Kahlan felt the words rumble in Cara's chest as much as she heard them. She closed her eyes and turned away slightly. There was very little time to think about her reaction, because a shout went up from the direction of the campsite, stopping them in their tracks. Kahlan's head whipped around to meet Cara's eyes. They spoke in unison.
"Richard."
