Harvest Festival, Chapter 4

I still don't own these characters, if I could have one- it would be Kahlan and her sexy lip scar.

Kahlan pondered her situation while walking hand in hand with Richard towards their friend's house. The kiss she had just shared with him aroused her, she knew that's what the sensation was now. She wanted to continue kissing him, but didn't feel right doing so in Chase and Emma's home, especially not knowing when someone may return and walk in on them…again.

"Richard, do you know somewhere…" she trailed off, not wanting to imply that she wanted to lay with him right away. She was so unsure how to initiate anything, sometimes she wished her confessor friends who had taken mates had talked more about what exactly that meant. Surely they would have had to order their mates to their beds, even though the men were always willing. Had those confessors gained any pleasure from conceiving their daughters? Was there touching and kissing or was it simply procreation for them. Some confessors who had not chosen mates yet, did take lovers she knew. Clearly those confessors gained pleasure from the act, why else would they have done it?

Richard watched Kahlan's face as she trailed off mid-sentence. She seemed to be thinking about something, her eyes glazed over as she did so.

"Kahlan?"

Her eyes focused on Richard once again, "Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts for a moment. Is there somewhere we can go to be alone? Just for a little bit?"

"Sure, you don't want to go back to Chase's house? I know of a couple places we might be able to go…" as he talked he shifted their course slightly, taking them towards the woods and off the path to the other end of the town.

"No, I'd rather be just with you for a while. We can return to his house later tonight, is that okay?" she asked. When he nodded and smiled at her, she returned a shy smile and let him lead her to wherever he chose.

After a short walk into the woods, he led them to one of his favorite spots from his childhood, and again as a woods guide. He lifted the boughs of the tree and allowed Kahlan to enter the whispering pine first. Upon entering, he used some supplies still there from the last time he had occupied the tree years ago to start a small fire with which to see each other and keep warm. After the fire was going, he moved to sit next to Kahlan and nudged her shoulder with his own.

"How's this? I used to camp out in this tree all the time."

"This will do nicely, thank you", she smiled and nudged him in return before leaning forward and pressing her lips lightly to his. She used her hand to turn his head more towards her own and moved to deepen the kiss by licking at his bottom lip. She was unsure where her courage had come from, but she didn't want to stop.

After breaking the kiss to gain their breath, Richard could feel how aroused he had become.

"Fiesty indeed, I think the Mother Confessor is in command here" he said teasingly as he continued to nip at her lips and cheeks.

Kahlan leaned back slightly, "Please Richard, tonight I just want to be Kahlan Amnell, the woman. Not Kahlan Amnell, the confessor. Right now I'm just a woman that wants to spend some time with her man." Her shyness had returned as she realized she wasn't sure how to tell him she was ready to go a bit farther than they had in the past. She thought that perhaps if she just acted on a few of the things she had discussed with Cara and Emma, he would take the hint. With that decision made, she leaned back in and kissed him passionately.

Richard was stunned. After months of kisses that always ended abruptly, even with the knowledge that she wouldn't confess him, he wasn't sure what to make of her behavior tonight. He returned her passionate kisses with equal fervor and lightly ran his hands through her hair and up her back. When one of his hands started to rub the side of her neck, she arched against him and moaned quietly. When she broke the kiss to throw her head back, he took advantage of her exposed neck and began kissing and licking her neck and behind her ear, which brought about a rather loud groan from her. Her hand closest to him reached out and grasped his thigh, her fingernails digging into his pants.

"Richard…" she whispered, unconsciously relaxing her hand on his leg and slowly moving it up and down. She felt warm, too warm, like she needed to either put out the fire or remove her clothing. She had no idea her neck was that sensitive. The sensations he was causing while kissing her there were causing all rational thought to leave her. When he sucked her earlobe into his mouth and gently tugged on it with his teeth, she gasped and reached for his chest with her other hand to steady herself. Her heart was beating rapidly and she could feel wetness beginning to gather in her small clothes as well. Oh Spirits how she wanted this man. She arched her back and found her chest rubbing against his vest, the lacing of his leather vest rubbing across her nipples through the thin fabric of the dress she had borrowed.

"Rich….arrrrmmmm" she couldn't complete his name as his other hand began stroking her side and his thumb grazed the side of her breast.

Richard was aroused, excited and confused. Whatever had been making Kahlan hesitate earlier was gone now. She was so responsive to every little touch. He knew that she had no experience except what they had done already, but he thought she would still be shy and hesitant. He wasn't sure why he was so surprised though, Kahlan was determined and when she decided something, which clearly she had, she was steadfast in her convictions. He would have to be sure to stop things before they went too far to make sure it was what she wanted. He knew he would be able to keep going right now if she wanted, nobody could see them and he didn't think anybody would be able to hear them. He continued to run his hand up and down her side as he supported her with his other hand. He could feel the heat of her through the fabric of the dress and leaned down to kiss the area of her chest exposed by the dress. That garnered a loud gasp as her hand on his thigh gripped him harder. When she relaxed her grip and moved it up towards where his legs met, he looked down to see how far she would go with it. It was his turn to gasp as she ran her hand over his hardness and then gripped it through the pants. He could no longer hold her up and gently laid her on the floor of the pine tree. He laid down beside her and ran his hands soothingly over her hair as he smiled at her, noticing she was lightly panting.

"Hey there" he said with a grin.

"Hey…there…" she said between breaths with a smile of her own.

"Wow Kahlan…just, wow."

Kahlan quickly made the decision in her head. She wanted to use this opportunity, she wanted to feel his flesh rubbing against her own, she wanted to try stroking him with her hands and have him do the same to her. She rolled to her side to face him and kissed him again while taking his erection into her hand again. After several stokes over his pants, she used both hands to begin undoing the lacing.

Richard reached down gently and set his hand atop hers as she worked to undo his pants.

"Kahlan, are you sure? I want to, believe me I want to," he added upon seeing the look in her eyes.

"Not everything Richard, not everything, but I'm ready for more Richard, I am" she reassured him while kissing him repeatedly.

At seeing the sincere look in her eyes, he removed his hand from atop hers and slowly ran it up her arm to her shoulder. She continued to unlace his pants and when they were finally undone she gently pulled down the front of his pants and reached a hand inside. He had to think of Zedd in order to not climax immediately at the feel of her hands on him. She grasped him lightly, then a bit more forcefully, watching to see what he liked.

"Kahlan…oh…oh, Kahlan…" he groaned, unable to say much of anything aside from her name. She was exploring his hardness as if she had never seen a penis before, which he supposed she hadn't, not like this anyway.

"So hard, but so soft," she whispered. "Like velvet." She ran the tip of one finger from the base all the way up to the tip of his shaft, then circled her fingers around the tip, making him unable to process words at all. He knew he would have to atop her soon before he exploded all over the dress she would have to give back to Emma. He reached down and lightly grabbed her hands. The look on his face was pained as he waited for his brain to allow the function of speech to return.

"Slow down Kahlan, or I won't last long at all," he said. "Besides", he added in a seductive tone, "I want to touch you too…can I?"

For a brief moment he saw nervousness, but it was quickly replaced with a look of yearning. She reached for his hand and brought it to her own body, just below her breast and lightly used her hand to guide his hand onto her breast. He could feel that her nipple was hard, even through the dress and corset beneath. She removed her hand and leaned for more kisses, gasping through the kiss when he gently squeezed her breast. He thought he would never tire of touching her this way.

"So beautiful" he whispered in her ear as he ran his thumb in circles around the hard nipple without actually touching it. She arched her back, pressing her breast more fully into his hand and whimpered when he still didn't touch her nipple. He positioned her on her back once more and used both hands to cup both of her breasts simultaneously. When he lightly squeezed her breasts she arched further and let loose what could only be described as a keening sound.

"Please Richard…" she pleaded, already lost to the sensations she was feeling. She could feel that her small clothes were now soaked through she was so aroused. She felt like she would beg him, do anything he asked, if only he would touch her nipples. She wanted to feel his mouth kissing her breasts too, like Emma and Cara had described.

"Please…I want…I want…" she tried to convey her desires but couldn't think clearly as he continued to fondle her, touching her breasts everywhere except where she wanted him to.

"What do you want Kahlan, what do you need?" he asked her quietly, not wanting to break the mood.

Instead of responding verbally, she reached for laces at the front of the blue dress and undid them, pulling the dress apart to reveal the soft breast cups of her corset. He could see her nipples straining the fabric of the cups and licked his lips.

"please" she whispered again, "touch them". Richard watched as she slowly writhed on the floor, her hips beginning to pump rhythmically and her legs rubbed against each other. He wondered if she was even aware she was doing it. Richard decided to honor her request. He grasped the edge of each cup and pulled down until each breast was released. He was greeted by erect pink nipples and increased writhing from Kahlan. Her back arched up towards him, offering herself to him, pleading with him to touch her breasts with her eyes. He slowly leaned down and licked her left nipple, not expecting the immediate reaction from Kahlan. Her entire body arched sharply and her head slammed backwards with a short scream. Although her eyes were clenched closed, he knew had they been open he would be seeing them swirl to black. He felt the release of her powers flow through him and blow dirt around the floor inside the tree before the small fire was blown out and they were plunged into darkness. Kahlan's body began jerking and he realized he had brought her to orgasm just from licking her nipple. Wanting to keep touching her and to prolong her pleasure, he leaned down and found her other nipple in the dark and took it into his mouth. As he began suckling her breast, she kept shuddering, it seemed to last a long time before her body went completely limp and he heard her breathing return to panting and then gradually a heavy sigh.

"Richard…" she whispered.

When he didn't hear anything else from her he asked, "Kahlan? Are you okay?"

When she didn't respond, he listened to her breathing and realized she had fallen asleep, probably from the combination of what appeared to be an intense orgasm, her first sexual experience and the release of her powers- which always left her drained anyway. He repositioned her corset and laced her dress as best he could in the dark before relighting the fire and then scooting as close to her as he could. He figured they would be in the tree for a bit until she could recover and manage the trek back to Chase's house. He laid there listening to the breathes of the woman he loved, finding himself relaxing as well, eventually drifting off as well.

As Chase, Emma, Zedd and Cara walked along the path leading towards the home they would be spending the night in, the conversation was light. They had all enjoyed their time at the festival. Zedd was going on about all the marvelous food he had sampled when they heard a scream coming from the woods to their left. They all froze, Cara and Chase reaching for weapons. The barely audible, from their distance, sounds of pleasure following the scream had them returning their weapons however. When they all felt the sudden wind and thunder without sound, Zedd and Cara looked astonished and looked to each other to verify what they thought that was.

"Was that…?" Cara asked the wizard.

Zedd peered into the forest, "Indeed it was…"

Cara looked surprised but then starting walking on as if nothing had been heard, trying to get the rest of the group moving as well.

"What was that?" Emma asked. Chase and Emma both turned to Zedd for an answer, wanting to make sure there wasn't a woman that needed help in the woods.

Cara reached for Emma's arm and drew her away from the men as they all walked along the path, still headed for Chase's home. She whispered, feeling as if this was a confidential conversation, even though Kahlan herself was not here to be embarrassed.

"That, was Kahlan." At Emma's ponderous look, Cara expanded only as much as necessary so Emma wouldn't think there was need to go into the woods to rescue their friend.

"That was her power being released…" she hoped Emma would get what she was saying.

She did. "Oh! Oh…I guess our chat helped." Emma said to conspiratorily with a smile. Cara simply nodded her head with a smirk and the women kept walking. Cara wondered how Zedd was explaining what they had heard in order to keep Chase from barging into the woods to save a damsel in distress. Cara knew Kahlan would be mortified if she knew they could all feel her powers being released during her passion. At the same time, Cara would tell her about it, so that she would know in the future should she want to go out further into the woods so nobody would hear her.