Requiem

Chapter 3

Kahlan woke up the next morning to the popping cinders of the fire. She felt the warmth of the fire's remnants on her face as well as the warmth of Richard's large body curled up behind her, his muscled arm draped over her petite form. She snuggled into the warmth just a little bit more, closing her eyes at the sensation of his arm protectively tightening his grip on her waist. She turned in his grasp, facing him; when she opened her eyes she was met by his chiseled features free of stress, all calm and tranquil. When he opened his eyes, they stared into each other's for a moment before interrupted by Cara pointedly clearing her throat.

When the two lovers looked up at her they were met by her hard face and a single lifted eyebrow. "We should get moving," Cara turned to look at Zedd, though the statement was meant for the two on the ground. "We're wasting daylight. The sun has already been up for two hours, and if we want to be at the inn before sundown we need to go."

The two sat up from their lying positions just as the two men came back, the smaller one, Jude, had two rabbits slung over his shoulder while the larger one, Faldy, had a bowl of what seemed to be berries and nuts. The group turned their heads at the rustling of leaves beneath the soldiers' feet. That's when Zedd piped in, "We can leave as soon as we've eaten." Richard and Kahlan gave each other knowing smiles and Cara rolled her eyes, all of them knowing that if they didn't give Zedd the satisfaction of a full stomach they'd never hear the end of it.

Richard began stoking the fire, Cara was skinning the game, and Kahlan was getting out the plates and rinsing them with her water skin. Zedd was separating the nuts from the berries - separating half of the berries, some to be eaten raw, some to be crushed up and made as juice – and the two of Kahlan's Confessed were crushing the berries. After was all the food was made and eaten the group packed up the dishes and bed rolls and put out the fire, ready to get moving.

As they were walking on the path, Kahlan turned to the new installments in the group and asked them why their party ambushed them. "Our General, Brinson, he wants to…" Faldy trailed off. The two hung their heads in shame, not wanting to speak of what their General had in mind.

Kahlan stopped, as did everyone else. "What?" She asked. "What did he order you to do?"

Richard came up beside Faldy and spat him, "Answer the Mother Confessor!"

"Richard, please," Kahlan put a calming hand on his chest. "We're never going to get anything out of them if you scare them to death." Richard gave her an apologetic look and backed off. She tried to meet the two men's eyes, "What were you ordered to do?" Silence. "It's alright. You can tell me."

Jude lifted his head and looked at the Mother Confessor. "We were ordered to kill the last Confessor. Extinguish the line… and the Seeker's only wanted mate to reproduce." Richard and Kahlan's face went white. Richard's jaw clenched in anger, but he knew to suppress it. It wasn't their fault, even if they wanted to in the first place, it's like Kahlan said, they were ordered to.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence, not even Richard and Kahlan thought of looking at each other. The thought of not being able to be with each other because of Kahlan's power made their hearts grow cold, when they thought of not being together because one, or both of them were dead… their hearts shattered in their chests. When they finally got to the inn the group purchased four room – one for Zedd, one for Cara, one for Jude and Faldy, and one for Richard and Kahlan, since it seemed that they would have less time together than they expected. And if they saved money off it, all the better in Cara's thinking.

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Reveiws make me HAPPY... and you'd like to see me happy... right???

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