"Ready?"

Kahlan felt her body slowly loose its tension. Her chest filled with air slowly, held it, then released it. Tingles started in her jaw, but she kept her face loose, her teeth unclenched. Her head felt cleared of the fog and the pain of a small headache subsided, forced out of her concisions by sheer willpower.

Already, there was a new force cursing through her blood. A surge of fresh adrenaline massaging her muscles until there the energy was ready to burst. The sweet, calming effect it had never failed to please her.

There was no question that she could hold her own. Her body was well trained, an acute machine that would obey her instincts and intellect. Its arsenal ranged wide, her arms and legs worn to the bone with memory.

Her nostrils flared as she breathed in and looked not at the person in front of her, but at a new opponent. Her eyes were not focused on one specific part of the body, but her view seemed to widen to include all of her opponents strengths and weaknesses. Her slightly smaller height, her thin build so much like Kahlan's,

Cara favored her right side. She leaned on her right leg, her hands down by her sides, ready to grab the agiels strapped to her leather. Her fingers moved, the hand clenching in and out in a manor that Kahlan knew was only to make her distracted from Cara's eyes.

Kahlan wondered if she should have started off with Cara's central stance, but she shook that thought away.

No, it was better to do what was more comfortable. And she preferred having her body turned slightly to the side, as to expose less of her vital areas.

Breath in, breath out. Breath in, breath out.

They eyed each other, not moving. Just waiting to see who's patience would run out first.

Cara hadn't wiped the smirk off her face. It was a tactic, she knew, just as Kahlan's straight face was. Everything Cara did now was a tactic, from her hands to her smile. It was all just to distract Kahlan and throw her off so that she wouldn't know where the first attack would come from.

And Kahlan couldn't wait to smile right back at her.

The forest clearing around them seemed to mirror the moment between the two fighters. Everything was still, not a bird or rabbit was making a sound, no wind or rain to disturb. It was silent. No Richard, no Rahl, to distract them.

Finally, Kahlan had enough.

"Let's go," she said.

Her knives were already in her hands as she flung herself forward by the balls of her feet. The first strike was a high thrust with her right knife and coupled with a low counter swipe of her left aimed directly for Cara's stomach.

Cara didn't take the bait. She waited until the last moment before she pulled away, ducking her body to one slide. The two agiels were closing in on Kahlan's arms that had missed their target. Whipping her head around, she twisted the knife in her hand so that it rested along her forearm as she spun. The knife came close to Cara but it wasn't enough.

She had Cara on the defensive, but that wasn't going to last for long.

Cara seemed to know this, for she blocked Kahlan's next knife thrust. With her own agiel, she punched forward toward Kahlan's stomach. The attack was too obvious and Kahlan's body was in mid-turn before the agiel could reach her. She jumped backwards out of reached and struck at the agiel with a cross block of her knives.

The agiel rang out its song, her knives vibrating from its magic. From above an agiel was coming toward her forehead. Kahlan reached up and blocked it with her forearm which caused the blinding pain to shoot up to her shoulder. Instantly, her hand released the knife it was holding. Her eyes clouded momentarily with tears. "Ah!"

With her midsection open, Cara took the chance to move within Kahlan's defense. She cocked her hips to one side, loading up the power to send to her arm. She bent her arm, readying for an elbow strike. With one agiel still being blocked by a knife, Cara released her hips, letting her arm do the rest. It smashed into Kahlan's chest and sent Kahlan flying back a few paces.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?" Cara looked into Kahlan's eyes. Her elbow had an effect, she was glad to see.

Kahlan shook her head to clear the tears from her eyes. There would be a bruise there, for certain, but Cara had lost a lot of her momentum before the elbow hit Kahlan, so at least it wasn't a bone breaking strike.

"Nothing more than a little punch. Sad," Now it was her turn to grin, "I expected much more from a Mord'Sith, something other than a simple punch,"

"Well, we can't all have your pretty knives and twirly moves," She glanced down at Kahlan's hands. "One knife, to be exact,"

"At least I don't look like a bar girl who just learned how to fight,"

"I look like a what?"

That sent Cara flying toward Kahlan. With a flash of punches and agiels turning around in her hands, she aimed for Kahlan's midsection and the hand with her knife. Kahlan backed up to get ready and blocked a double jab with her arms. She returned with a jab as she took another step back. Cara dodged the jab, and took a wide side step.

Kahlan saw her opportunity. She baited Cara with a fake strike to her left shoulder, which Cara took. In that moment, Kahlan stepped into Cara and planted her weight down, at the same time reached up with her hands and gripped Cara's outstretched arm. She bent her knees and then pulled Cara's arm down across her own chest as she lifted.

Cara flew over her head and landed on her back. Her agiels were knocked out of her hands as her body slammed on the hard ground. Kahlan took that instant to fling her remaining knife out. Cara rolled over just as the blade neared her body. It wasn't quick enough though, and still the blade made a small cut in her arm. Bright red blood dripped on her leather.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I cut you?"

"Nice, Confessor. So the counts one to one,"

The feeling of the fight was elevating every other emotion by the tenfold.

It was a method for Kahlan to release all of her pent up energy, and she reveled in the thrilled afterglow of the moment. Her hands twitched, and she felt her power spiking. Danger was never more fun then with a good opponent to fight.


"Are you sure its just an exercise for them?" Richard asked with a tint of worry in his voice. "Because they seemed to be really going at each other, I think Cara's bleeding,"

Zedd let out a snort, "Good for Kahlan," He patted the horses and gave them a reassuring shush. "Just let them be, Richard,"

Richard walked back from where he was watching to Zedd. "They have to stop before we said we'd be back, right?"

"I'm certain that is their plan," Zedd said. He dove his hand into one of the horses' bags and came up with an apple. He settled himself down, folding his long legs up into a sitting position. "And since they're so busy, we can take this time to enjoy ourselves a little snack,"

"I can't believe you're thinking about food when Kahlan and Cara are at each other's throats,"

"Literally, not figuratively, which is a big difference. I'd rather let them work off their anger in this manner than in another squabble in a day or so,"

Richard felt he needed to defend them. "They aren't like that. Not always. Maybe if I just talked to them--"

Zedd bit into the apple and looked up at him. "Boy, that is the last thing you should do. Remember rule number 18?"

"Always have a second plan?"

"Never let a woman's wrath be turned on you, if you can avoid it," A large chunk of apple rolled around in his mouth, making his speech muffled. "I learned that one from our nice friend Shota,"

Richard frowned. He stood by the horses, patting their soft noses.

"Face it, Richard. Of the two women you could have had on this mission, you have two of the most headstrong women I have ever known. And if you think you can step into their fight without having their anger turning towards you then you, my boy, are an idiot,"

It wasn't something he was going to admit, but he hadn't actually considered of stepping into their fight. He knew exactly how deadly that could turn out, and he wasn't willing to test it. Really, he was more worried about what had caused this, and if it had anything to do with him.

"I doubt that,"

Richard turned to him. "What?" Those keen eyes laughed at him. "How did you know…?"

"You are plainly obvious when it comes to those two. But don't worry, this has nothing to do with you." Half of the apple was slowly turning around in midair and was joined by some floating raisins from the pack. "I think its their own pride that makes them want to spar each other. Simply to see who can best the other. It's a game to them,"

"A game." He remembered how Kahlan had once attacked him randomly in the forest, simply because she was bored. The grin she had on her face as she surprised him was one of joy. "So they're just playing…"

"Yes, a game. Nothing more then something to do, to waste time and energy till we got back with fresh horses. Which, when you think about it, is a good thing. They're learning each others fighting strengths and weaknesses, and are the better for it,"

Though not entirely satisfied, Richard figured that was the most he would understand of this.

When they finally came back to the camp ground, Kahlan and Cara were on opposite logs, tending to their own weapons. Occasionally, they would glance at each other, seizing the other one up, but then return to their normal states. But Richard did notice that both of them seemed more at ease. Cara was willing to go on a small hunt before darkness completely took over and Kahlan smiled at Richard more and let her humor amuse Zedd.

Later, Richard would wonder who had won, but he never found out. And he figured it was better that way.


Disclaimer: I do not own LOTS characters.

Author's note: Well, that was a fun little experiment!

I am unsure as to why I haven't done this earilier, but the only sad excuse I can offer is that I didn't think I was ready.

My idea for this "fic" was more selfish then anything else. In a nutshell, I only really wanted to do one thing; To actually write something, anything, each day of the week between episodes. I figure a least a 1000 words a day was a good start, and so that exactly what I did. Even when I had no ideas, I wrote and wrote until I had at least three pages of something, and then I edited the crap out of it till it was trimmed down fit my goal. I ended up with 6 one shots, each between 1000 and 2500 words. Now, I didn't post everything up because half of what I wrote during the week ended up to be crap by the end, so I figured I would only post three up, and I chose the best three.

Reviewers: My Chisis, you sure did work hard! But how is it that you ended up with all Kahlan oneshots? Don't you like Richard, huh huh, do ya? Well, do ya? You crazy, Chisis!

It wasn't my original intention to concentrate on Kahlan this week, and I actually had a decent fic concerning purely Cara that I wanted to post, but it just wasn't to the point where I thought it should be.

The Kahlan centric stories, on the other hand, were my most complete ideas and therefore made the cut. I think she came out nicely, though I did try and add a more selfish touch to her, which I believe came out a bit more in the second and (especially) the third chapter. I really did try and concentrate each chapter on some hook; the first one was family, and her need to protect her sister, even when it clearly did not work; the second was a fluff romance with an angsty bent; and the third was probably the most fun and difficult to write and concentrated on her power as a fighter. With each of these I tried to get her to be more realistic, more rounded character. She wasn't perfect, and my fluff was probably the worst, but at least I got some of her.

Reviewers: Wow, cool, Chisis! You actually followed through on your word! That, like, never happens!

Yes, I know. Have faith in me, reviewers. But this experiement worked out way better than I thought it would. I actually learned more about myself as a writer than I thought. So, I might try it again for next week, after this weekend's new episode. IF I do, the new one shots will be up starting either on Tuesday or Wednesday. Thank you to people who reviewed this story. Cheers.