Word Count: 3,353
A/N1: See the previous chapters for disclaimers.
A/N2: My gratitude to Cloud Auditore Fair, my lovely beta.
A/N3: No, it's not the end yet. Just a Kahlan/Cara interlude or, if you like, a prelude to the final installment. I think they deserved this moment because, considering what is to come, it had to happen now. Be warned, the mystery shall pass, but the angst...
Survivor
- VI -
"I thought we were going out of the forest," Kahlan said breathlessly, jumping off Cara's back as the woman came to a halt in front of an unassuming set of trees.
She was still a little disoriented by the speed with which the Mord'Sith had moved through the woods, but whilst the blonde ran in loops, twisting directions to avoid the thick branches and muddy puddles, the Confessor noticed that Cara was heading to that trail alongside the rocky face, though it seemed farther to the north now, past the area where they had been sheltered before.
"It's dawning," The Mord'Sith said, turning to Kahlan. "I want to show you something," She made a solemn face, offering her hand to the Confessor.
Kahlan bit back a beaming smile as she took Cara's hand in her own; it seemed to be a serious matter for Cara and she didn't want to risk erasing this absurdly charming look of concentration on the blonde's face.
She nodded and let Cara guide her through the trees until they were facing a narrow stretch of the flat stony wall. Kahlan looked at Cara, her nose crinkled as she let out a soft, doubtful noise.
"Look again," The blonde tilted her head and Kahlan did as she said.
And there it was. The wall was, in fact, double-faced, one of the walls being a little farther than the other in just the right measure to cause the illusion that it was an even face.
Her eyebrows arching in surprise, Kahlan turned to the Mord'Sith again. "When did you find it?"
But Cara only gave her an unreadable look as she tugged at the Confessor's hand. "Come inside," Said the woman as she stepped toward the unseen crevice, Kahlan following close behind; she decided she would prod the Mord'Sith to talk about this later, for now she was just too curious to see what the woman had to show her.
At first the vertical opening was indeed narrow and a little low, so that they had to walk with their heads bowed through the humid, rock-strewn tunnel that seemed to delve deeper into the earth itself at each step they took. About ten paces later Cara turned left and Kahlan with her into a smoother corridor. It was still dim, but slightly warmer and wider in there which provided them with the space to walk upright and side by side.
There were speckles of light at the end of the corridor and, as she looked at Cara in quiet amazement, Kahlan caught the blonde's eyes flashing in a darker shade before she gazed onward again, fingers softly squeezing the Confessor's in a sign for Kahlan to continue on.
When they reached the bottom of the passage, Kahlan felt that fluttering feeling inside her belly increasing.
Hand to hand, they walked a little ways down to the bank formed by those same tiny black pebbles that seemed to cover the whole of the grotto's ground, Cara watching as Kahlan's eyes drifted up looking for the source of the light. The fissure on the east section of the high ceiling looked like a big waning moon and the pale streaks of sunlight it filtered danced placidly above the surface of a lagoon of crystal waters that lapped softly near their feet. Though, something else seemed to catch Kahlan's attention as the woman let her gaze wander around the rapturous place. A small content smile curled the corners of the Mord'Sith's lips; she knew the Confessor would recall the view.
"They look like the morons' little heads," She spoke quietly, eyes drifting to the tiny spots that sparkled seemingly everywhere.
'They' happened to be small blue gemstones encrusted in the dark walls of the grotto, speckled among the black pebbles on the ground, shimmering in the bottom of the lagoon.
"It's beautiful," Kahlan breathed as she turned to meet Cara's eyes, staring at the woman in awe for a long moment. Then, she surprised Cara by pressing a languid kiss to her cheek before whispering against the corner of her mouth, "You are beautiful." Drawing back a little, the Confessor saw Cara's eyes closing in rapture and smiled to herself. Her Mord'Sith had a tender heart.
"My Mord'Sith," She tasted the words, wishing with all her heart that they were true. "Are you yet?" She murmured, her tone somewhat frantic now as her arms encircled Cara's waist and she pressed her forehead to the other woman's.
She felt Cara's long lashes tickling against her skin while they breathed the same air for several charged heartbeats, and then strong hands were grabbing the sides of her face to bring their lips crashing together.
It was raw, feverish and Kahlan wouldn't have had it any other way. This kiss was meant to be a mark; Cara's on her and hers on Cara.
"I am," The blonde husked when they parted after a long moment, her eyes still shut. "I am, but, you mustn't be so near… like this." She didn't know if it was the kiss or this beast inside her, maybe it was both, for she felt like her insides had been torn apart and then melted, just to be remolded once more into the Confessor's arms. Her mind was spinning dangerously out of control and she couldn't do a single thing about it but cling to her damnation – Kahlan's embrace.
"I know," Kahlan breathed, sniffling a bit.
That made Cara's eyes snap open.
"Did I hurt you?" She asked, frowning. The Confessor's lips were reddish, but she didn't taste any–
"I want you to," Kahlan's voice cut through the fog in her mind like a scorching blade would to her flesh, the hoarse tone of it drawing up the Mord'Sith's ravenous eyes.
The darkened irises staring back at her sucked the air right out of Cara's lungs; she swallowed hard the sweet flavor of those words.
"You shouldn't say such things," The Mord'Sith managed after a moment, breathing sharply through her nostrils as she looked back into the pits of black that threatened to wipe away her very existence.
"Cara, I just confessed you."
Her grip on the Confessor's head slackened a bit. Cara looked dumbly at the woman for a stretched silence before mumbling, "No, you didn't."
"But I did," Kahlan reaffirmed softly, a shy smile touching her kiss-bruised lips as a tear rolled down the corner of her eye. Cara caught the tiny drop with the pad of a thumb before it fell.
They stared at each other for yet another draw out silence, then the blonde's voice echoed slyly in the grotto, "You dared."
This time it was the melodious sound of Kahlan's laugher that filled the place. "You deserved it," She chided playfully, her irises fading back to that limpid blue that Cara had come to adore. Briefly, she wondered which version was more enticing; in this moment, she decided it was the blue.
The blue she was about to taint with crimson.
"I did." Cara replied, blinking as if realizing something, her voice almost inaudible as she spoke, "I failed you."
But Kahlan heard it still; she hated it that Cara seemed to always misunderstand her words. Or perhaps it was she who never made herself clear enough.
"Look at me," Kahlan called when she caught the blonde's eyes lowering. As Cara looked back into her eyes, if she found the naked insecurity reflected in those eerie eyes of hers the most endearing thing, she kept it to herself.
Lifting her hands she cupped the sides of the Mord'Sith's face, shivering as the woman let her own slid down her waist to rest just above her hipbones, then spoke with as much seriousness as she could muster, "You did not fail me, Cara. You saved me."
"But I–"
"No buts," Kahlan interrupted her, shaking her head in earnest. "I asked that of you before, just as I am asking you now, because I trust you. I have for a long time." Kahlan said these words with such intensity that it struck the Mord'Sith into silence. She held Cara's dumbfounded gaze, looking deeply into her eyes as she carried on with her admissions, "Since that day with my Father, and after, what happened in Dunshire… I couldn't make myself stop. I slept and woke, walked and fought by your side, always thinking – thinking of you, about impossible things. I've come to realize how much you mean to me, but… I, I didn't understand it then, or maybe I just fooled myself so. I can't ignore these feelings now any less that I can't bear the thought of losing you and I know that you care for me enough not to leave me behind." She paused, smiling knowingly at the Mord'Sith, "So, if this is what it will take for us to be together, then hurt me."
She endured Kahlan's devastating stare until she could no more.
Cara broke.
And as she did, everything fell into place; fitting as their bodies did, making sense of all the chaos that she had suddenly found herself thrown into. Never before in her life had Cara pictured such a scene, a Mord'Sith crumbling into the arms of a Confessor. But it was easy with Kahlan, this woman who was holding her for dear life, one arm around her shoulders and the other pulling her head to her while she cried onto her shoulder.
Kahlan could feel the viselike grip on her waist pulling their bodies together in a tight embrace, at the same time as if trying to keep that smallest, necessary space between them.
"I brought you here so you could bathe while I went out to find you something to eat," Cara grumbled after a time, voice tickling on her skin, "And here I am, weeping like a helpless infant," She finished lamely.
Kahlan couldn't help but find it peculiarly endearing that Cara thought she was the one who needed a bath.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone that the fearsome future head of my army has the softest of the hearts, especially when she's weeping all over me in the most inappropriate times," She whispered close to Cara's ear, the mischief barely veiled in the undertones of her voice.
Cara chuckled despite herself, though she pinched Kahlan on the side not so lightly, making the brunette loose a yelp followed by a delightful fit of laughter. She wiped at her face, mulling over the Confessor's words in her head and, when she thought she was at least presentable, the Mord'Sith lifted her head to look intently into blue eyes as she said, "Nothing in this world would make me more honored and proud than to serve you, Mother Confessor."
With that, she backed away from Kahlan's arms, watching as the woman parted her lips as if to say something, her forehead crinkling in confusion.
"I'll be right back," Cara spoke before the woman had the chance.
Then she was gone.
Kahlan sat on a smoothed rock near the grotto's wall, still frowning upon the sudden change of the Mord'Sith's attitude. They'd shared an intense moment, it was true, and then things sobered, if only a bit, but clearly something else was troubling the other woman. Kahlan felt as if she couldn't quite grasp it, even though she had an idea as to what. The thing was that she didn't know what to do to help Cara with this. She couldn't even begin to understand what it was like to Cara to be suffering this... transformation. Yes, it was noticeably a transformation, though to what exactly they were still to discover. It seemed she was becoming one of those creatures that had attacked them yesterday afternoon in the meadow and again in the forest, but it didn't quite make sense.
The Wizard was likely to know what was happening to Cara, she mused with a sigh, tugging off her second boot.
Things had taken in an unexpected turn since the Pillars of Creation, but Kahlan didn't regret any of it. Her feelings for Richard had been changing since before she first got in touch with her odd thoughts toward their Mord'Sith companion, who seemed to always be watching her with naked curiosity, and lately with an almost sadness in her green eyes. To Kahlan, time had changed her suspicions into something even more dangerous, a disconcerting and constant need to be near the blonde; that was when she knew there was no turning back.
Kahlan wasn't afraid to acknowledge this, not anymore. Her duty to Richard would remain the same if so he accepted her, just as it had been from the start when she and her sister had left the safety of their home in order to find the one true Seeker, prepared to be his protectors and advisors. Thinking of Dennee troubled Kahlan more; it wasn't going to be easy to explain this to her little sister, but the Creator knew she would not relinquish Cara, even more so in this moment when the woman needed her the most.
But that conversation would come in time. Standing up, the Confessor began to unlace her front, her thoughts drifting back to their shared moment. Kahlan could still feel the aftereffects, the warmth pooling low in her belly, between her thighs. The way her body reacted to Cara's touch, even now, amazed her. And then, there was the way Cara's body reacted to her touch; Kahlan just couldn't find the words to describe how this made her feel and, even if she could, they would be needless anyway. It was simply too powerful, like the strike of lightning in the stormy skies, yet it felt deeply peaceful like the waters of the lagoon she was staring at.
She smiled at the thought of Cara being so attentive as to grant her this gift. Bringing her to this place had been a way the gruff woman found to appease Kahlan's fondness for romantic gestures, even if she hadn't acknowledged it with words. Then again, she learned long ago that the Mord'Sith had a different way to demonstrate affection. Cara would do so by offering a hand in unexpected times and tasks, insisting on taking her watch when Kahlan wasn't even that tired, bringing her more berries than she could eat for the morning.
As if conjured by her thoughts, the echoes of steps made Kahlan's smile widen. True to her word, the Mord'Sith was back soon. Too soon, indeed.
She had her back to Cara when the woman entered the grotto, light steps sounding as if she had been running and just then coming to a halt. Her jacket was on the ground and she was on the process of unbuckling the large belt around her waist as she turned to Cara. Her smile faltered when the blonde met her eyes with that sad glint in her own. But just as she saw it, the Mord'Sith averted her gaze and crouched, digging some contents from Kahlan's pack as she did.
Cara cleared her throat, casting her eyes to the small bundle in her hands before speaking, "The plums and bread are good, not the cheese. And I found some berries." Then, still avoiding the Confessor's eyes, she placed the package on the ground before she rose with a water skin in one hand, sallow eyes looking for her own pack which she found lying near Kahlan's boots by the wall.
Kahlan watched as the woman retrieved the other water skin from her pack and then went to the margin to refill them, not a single moment looking towards her while the Confessor freed herself from her underclothes. Once Cara was done with her self-imposed task, she rose but kept her back to Kahlan, eyeing the clear waters as if she was trying to heat them by force of will alone, so intense was her stare.
Cara heard the woman's approach and didn't dare look back.
"Did you find my bath soap in there?" Came the voice from behind her shoulder, too near and yet so far.
"Yes." Cara replied curtly, hands clutching the dripping water skins. She then spun around, eyes casting about as she circled Kahlan and went to pick the blasted thing. Her hands were trembling as she fumbled with the pack. Get a hold of herself, for Keeper's sake.
"Here's your– Kahlan!" Cara barked, one hand flying up to cover her eyes as she stuck the other towards the brunette. She heard a chuckle and huffed, annoyed by Kahlan's blatant teasing. "You're doing this on purpose," She groused, then felt as slender fingers wrapped around her thrusting wrist, before more fingers did the same to the one across her face.
"As if you haven't seen me naked before," Kahlan goaded her, tugging at the blonde's wrists, but Cara was nothing if not stubborn.
Feigning resignation, she let out a long-suffering sigh before snatching the soap from Cara's splayed hand.
Well, it had been too easy.
Cara peered through her fingers, suspicious; that was her mistake.
But, really, who would know that the Mother Confessor was this devious?
Sitting with one knee slightly lifted, her other leg extended on the ground being lapped by the languid waters as she leaned back on her elbows, Kahlan tilted her head back and closed her eyes under the warm rays of sunlight. All fair skin, muscled thighs, round breasts, luscious hair. Just… breathtaking.
Momentarily robbed of her ability to form coherent thoughts, Cara could barely suppress a moan at the sight of Kahlan like this.
"Shouldn't you get deeper inside the water?" She meant it to be an offhanded comment, but the roughness in her voice told Kahlan the exact opposite.
The Confessor turned idle eyes to meet hers, blue irises sparkling under the natural light as she drawled, "Surely I'm not the one who's in need of a cold bath right now."
Cara's nostrils flared as a jolt of arousal shot through her body. The woman was asking for it? Damn, she was going to give it to her.
She yanked and tugged at torn leathers and dirtied laces, eyes locked with the woman's laid on the ground three paces from her. It was too far a distance.
One moment she was watching the Mord'Sith struggling to relieve her feet from the boots, the other Kahlan found herself looking into hungry yellow eyes. The blonde hovered over her body, having appeared out of the sudden on top of hers. Yet Cara didn't lay a single finger on her, just settled herself between the Confessor's legs, staring the breath out of Kahlan for what felt like an eternity of skipped heartbeats.
"You're sure?"
She admired the Mord'Sith's restraint, but in this moment Kahlan wished nothing more but to lose herself to Cara's passion.
"Make me yours, Cara." She breathed, and then lips were on hers.
Taking and giving.
To be continued…