We got a little bit of Aria/Cara bonding coming up in this chapter:) Being an only child I always wanted a baby sister so I based the relationships of the two women and Aria on what I would be like if I ever got one. I'd love to hear what you think!


Chapter IX A New Dawn

The group had been travelling for nearly three days now. Aidyndril was getting closer, and Samaria's nerves seemed to become more sensitive by the hour. Kahlan believed that it was because she hadn't been there in over ten years. The Confessor wondered if her sister was excited or scared. The closer they got to the city, the more agitated and quiet the girl became. Kahlan noticed a red form approaching her and turned to acknowledge Cara.

"Mother Confessor?" she asked.

"Cara." She saw the troubled look etched across the Mord'Sith's features. "What is it?"

"Samaria," she looked at the woman in white. "She really is-"

"Yes. Samaria Stone is a Confessor." Kahlan knew the news had hit Cara hard and that the woman had struggled not to question when she had first discovered the truth.

"How am I still alive?" she wondered out loud. Kahlan almost laughed.

"Because one of your sisters would have killed her the second you died. I don't believe a temple of Mord'Sith would take kindly to a Confessor trainee."

"You're correct." Cara thought for a second. "That explains how she escaped then."

"What do you mean?"

"Mother Confessor, she's a seventeen year old girl. No amount of training in the world would make her powerful enough to take down that many Mord'Sith and escape with barely a scratch."

"I wouldn't call the state we found her in 'barely a scratch'." Kahlan snapped. Then a thought occurred to her. "Cara, how many Mord'Sith were in that temple?"

"Almost a dozen." Cara locked eyes with the Confessor and glanced back to make sure Samaria could not hear them. "So you see my point then?" Kahlan nodded. Only one thing could cause a Confessor, especially one as young and inexperienced as Samaria, to kill almost a dozen Mord'Sith in less than two hours.

"We should be passing the village of Dawnshire any minute now. We could go in and restock on some supplies. It'll be at least another two days before we reach Aidyndril." Richard's voice halted the women's conversation.

"Dawnshire?" Samaria stopped in her tracks. Kahlan looked at the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. Cara shifted uncomfortably.

"Yes, have you been there?" Richard asked innocently.

"I was raised there." She stated.

"Oh," Richard didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry, we don't have to go in if you're uncomfortable."

"No," Samaria surprised all of them. "It's fine. I doubt anyone will recognize me anyway." Before the war with D'Hara started, there were a select few Confessors who volunteered to leave Aidyndril and live a life amongst the people. While there, the citizens would not know of their identities and they would raise their families while keeping their secret intact. Samaria's family was one of those. The Mother Confessor at that time wanted to know how the people reacted to Confessors and asked for volunteers to give up their luxurious lives in the great city and live as common village folk. Katherine, Samaria's mother, had been one of the first to sign up. When Samaria was born, no one knew what she really was, not even the children she considered to be her friends. She never understood why her mother didn't want her befriending her fellow classmates and why she always had to study extra subjects when she arrived home for school. 'Confessors, Katherine had told her, 'have a duty to the people of the Midlands.' Samaria had asked what that had to do with her not being allowed to make friends. 'Confessors do not have friends, dear one, we have allies and we have enemies.'

"Are you sure?" Cara asked, snapping her out of her obvious trance. "If you want, the Kahlan and I can go in and you can stay with Richard." She tried. "Or whoever you want."

"Seriously, I'm alright." Samaria forced a smile. "It's just a town." The other three smiled in return and nodded. Sometimes Samaria felt babied by her sisters and even by Richard. He was the Seeker and she was a Confessor. He was the Lord Rahl and she was a Mord'Sith. Everything about their relationship pointed towards her doing whatever it took to make him comfortable, not the other way around. She remembered what he had told her almost three days ago that being married to Kahlan made her his sister as well. She remembered feeling awkwardly emotional after the statement.

A few hours later, the town of Dawnshire crept into view.

"We'll be able to stop and get some horses." Kahlan announced.

"What, tired of walking already Mother Confessor?" Cara snipped. Samaria was shocked every time the Mord'Sith antagonized Kahlan or Richard; surprised that she was comfortable enough to do so. Kahlan rolled her eyes.

"No, Cara, but last time I checked, horses are much faster than people."

"Their also animals and should not be trusted with people's lives." Cara declared. Richard laughed.

"How many times has a horse saved all of our backsides Cara?" he asked.

"Yours? Plenty, I'm sure. The Mother Confessor's? A few times, perhaps. Mine? Never." Cara scoffed.

"Don't you mean 'buy'?" Samaria chimed in. Kahlan looked at, not understand what she meant. "Buy the horses." Kahlan chuckled.

"The last time I bought something Samaria, was when I was pretending to be a certain someone's abandoned wife." She glanced at Richard who threw his hands in defense.

"It was not my idea." He added quickly. "You hit me. Hard."

"You called me a wentch." Samaria's eyes grew and Kahlan noticed and laughed wholeheartedly.

"It was pretend." She bumped the girl on the shoulder. "Richard here was pretending to be an archer in the D'Haran army so we could steal a crate of Whisperers and I had to rush in and save him by playing the part of the wife he abandoned."

"With three kids." Cara called from behind, obviously having heard the story before.

"Yes, how are the dears?" Richard put his arm over Kahlan's shoulders. She smiled and poked him in the ribs causing him to giggle.

"Quite well actually." She played along. "Young Nicholas already looks like his father, while Jane has my spirit and baby Emma, my eyes."

Samaria continued walking, a bit shocked at the turn the conversation had taken. She had never seen adults being playful. Serious, composed, angry, violent, and annoyed, yes. Playful? Never. She heard Cara chuckle in the background.

"You've name our children?" Richard asked lovingly.

"Considering the fact that one of those was boy, no I haven't." Kahlan replied. Samaria felt confused for a moment, curious as to why Kahlan rejected the idea of having son. Another boy in the world with Richard's looks didn't bother the teenager at all. Then she remembered, ashamed to have forgotten all the lessons her mother had taught her over the years. She remembered what was done to male Confessors the second they were born and immediately dropped her head.

"What's wrong?" Cara trotted up next to her, seeing the couple engrossed in their pretend family.

"I forgot."

"What did you forget?" Cara frowned.

"I was about to ask Kahlan what was wrong with having a boy." Samaria admitted. "Then I remembered. Sometimes, I forget the simplest things, Cara. It's so strange. Things I had burned into my brain since I was born, things I should never, ever, ever forget have a way of vanishing."

"I know." Cara responded. "It happens sometimes. The life you had before your…training will sometimes blur and you'll forget if a memory really happened or not. Sometimes I forget what my mother and father look like." The Mord'Sith admitted.

"Me too." An uncomfortable silence fell over the two as Kahlan and Richard's laughter filled the woods. "They're rather loud aren't they?"

"They'll wake up the whole forest the way they're going." Cara said angrily. "Hey!" she called up to them. "Do you mind not churning every creature within 100 leagues? I'm not in the mood to fight off some flying demon that decided dinner would be a little late tonight." Samaria chuckled as Kahlan and Richard shot their protector a glare.

"Sometimes they just need a firm hand." Cara joked. The pair continued to walk in silence, scanning the forest every few seconds for anything suspicious. Cara caught a side glance at Samaria and wondered what the girl was thinking so deeply about. "It's the village, isn't it?"

"What?" Samaria pretended not to have heard Cara's question.

"You can't hind those feelings of yours. Not from me." Cara fixed her piercing blue eyes on the teen. Samaria sighed.

"I don't know what going back is going to do to me." She admitted. "I'm afraid." Cara was surprised at the young girl's sudden confession and stopped walking. She placed her hands on the girls shoulders and said,

"So am I." Samaria looked up at the woman. "The last time I was there, let's just say I don't like to think about it." She took a breath. "We need to face our fears, Samaria. We cannot let them define us. No matter what or who is in that village, I need you to know that Kahlan, Richard, and I will be there for you every step of the way. Do you understand?" Samaria nodded, still trying to comprehend where the Mistress Cara she knew had gone. "Good. Now let's catch up to those lovebirds before they trip over a root." The pair took off simultaneously.


A little bit of fluff for now but I promise the action will pick up again soon:) Remember, the more reviews, the faster I post the next two chapters!