Chapter 12

By the time they reached the next town Aeryn was back on her feet. She'd woken after a half an hour and had been able to walk after standing for a few moments. Richard had her take some herbs internally to help fight fever and infection. When they stopped for the night in the town they'd take her to the local healer.

"How's your arm?"

"You've asked me that every arn since I woke up, John. I'm fine." She rolled her eyes at him but secretly adored how worried he was. "I've been worse."

"I know, but it doesn't make it less scary for me."

"You just don't want to be left alone on this planet. You need me to help fix the ship."

"You can see right through me, baby, that's all it is, you're my ticket home." He reached out and grabbed her hand as it swung by. His fingers tangled between hers and squeezed. "I wouldn't have any reason to leave if you weren't with me."

He gave her arm a tug and she turned to face him. He inspected the bandaging on the opposite side and it was satisfactory still. Not much blood had seeped through and it looked snug. Then he leaned in and kissed her mouth.

She was surprised when his warm lips touched hers, but quickly recovered and opened for him. His tongue slipped in and she welcomed it with her own. His tongue slid across hers and his hand was on her ribs pulling her closer, tickling her side. She moaned as his fingertips traveled higher and brushed the underside of her breast.

Soon she was rubbing his back with her palm and reaching her hand down to squeeze his backside. They were so lost in the kiss that they didn't hear Richard clear his throat.

"I don't think that they had as satisfying as a night as we did." He looked back to Kahlan, taking his eyes off the couple devouring each other.

"I want you again…" Kahlan touched her fingers to his temple and brushed the hair behind his ear. She blushed a little at her admission but didn't take her eyes off his.

He grabbed her wrist and brought her hand to his mouth where he placed kisses along the lines there.

"Mmm, yes, but we should keep moving. We'll be able to get some horses in the village and then make better time to Aydindril." Horses would cut days off their journey. He let her hand go and leaned in to kiss her cheek. They looked back at John and Aeryn and his hands were holding her tightly against him as the ground their hips against each other.

"We should interrupt them…" Kahlan's arousal wasn't being cooled by watching them touch, in fact she was becoming hotter as they continued to make out in the middle of the path.

Richard cleared his throat again and saw them pause.

"You two need some alone time?" Kahlan giggled as she ducked her head against Richards neck.

"Yes." John smiled at them. "We only need…" He looked at his wrist then back to Aeryn. "Five minutes or so."

She pushed his chest to removed herself from his grasp. The movement aggravated her injury and she hissed.

"Sorry, baby, I wasn't thinking." He held her arm steady and helped her settle it back against her stomach. They started walking to catch up with Richard and Kahlan, the daylight was going to start to fade soon, they should get to town before it got too dark.

"Part of you was thinking…" Aeryn smiled and jogged on ahead leaving John's mouth gaping behind her. She was sure that he needed some time to get his hormones under control. She wasn't going to be a slave to them, at least, not right this second.

Perhaps in a few arns.

The healer was able to flush the wound more effectively and with an anesthetic so there was very little pain. In fact, there was very little feeling at all as the wound was cleansed. Aeryn sat patiently on the table as John held her other hand. The old woman had thought him quite adorable when he refused to leave her alone. Richard and Kahlan had both sympathized knowing that if it was either of them in that position they would be hell bent to not leave the side of the other.

The two of them went to buy a set of horses while John and the healer woman took care of Aeryn.

"They're cute."

"Don't let Aeryn hear you say that." Richard shook his head thinking about what she'd say if she heard Kahlan referring to them as cute.

"She'd like it, even if she didn't show it outwardly."

"Or so you hope…" He slung his arm around her shoulders and held her to his side as they walked to the stables in the village. "You're cute."

"You don't have to work for it. I'm more than willing." She circled his waist with her arms. Walking was becoming short-strided and a little awkward but she liked the closeness.

"I like to tell you that you're beautiful. It makes me feel good to make you feel good about yourself."

"I'm not used to people complimenting my looks. It's never… well It's never mattered before. If I wanted a man there wasn't any need for him to want me back. I would just use my power on him and then he'd want me more than he wanted to breathe." A tear tried to gather in her eye but she rubbed it away on his shoulder. That part of her life was behind her. She had Richard now.

"That's how much I want you." He kissed the top of her head and stopped them in front of the livery. "I want you so much sometimes I can't breathe because my chest is constricted with the love I have for you. I ache with it."

"You say the most beautiful, wonderful, sappy things sometimes." She lifted up on her tip toes to lightly kiss his lips. Then, grabbing his hand, dragged him into the stable office.

"You need to have her take this twice a day. With food." The old healer dug threw her bags tossing a bunch of things onto the floor and table. "Don't let her take it without eating something. Her stomach will cramp up and she'll be…"

"I get it. With food. What else?"

"Pack it with this herb mix and boiled, but chilled water, every night. If it's looking swollen and there is a lot of yellowish gooey puss coming out than do it twice a day." She looked at John to make sure he was understanding her. His language wasn't quite the same as hers and while he seemed to be getting every word some of his retorts weren't quite working for her. "It's important that you boil it to kill anything that's living in the water and then make it cold to help soothe any irritation."

"Okay. That's not so hard." He looked over at Aeryn. She wasn't quite all there yet but the sleeping and numbing effects seemed to be wearing off nicely.

"Arrow wounds can go badly fast. It's close to her heart. Keep up with it." She then turned to Aeryn. "Young lady, if it starts to throb and pain you more than it is right after all this stuff fades then you tell them right away." She turned back to John. "I can tell she likes to play a tough one. But this isn't the time to be a hero…"

She mumbled something else about women doing more when a perfectly handsome, strong man was there to do it for them, while she walked to her back room. It made John chuckle and Aeryn just glared.

"Handsome? I don't know about that…"

"Ouch! You would wound me too after I spent all evening in here holding your hand?"

"You liked holding my hand. It made you feel like a strong, handsome man…"

He leaned over and kissed her. She responded sleepily the after effect of the medication still lingering.

"Can we go now, Healer?" John wanted to take her to bed, not that they could do much, but she'd had a long day and she needed to sleep.

"Yes, I'm just getting you a bag for the medicine. I don't want them getting lost…"

She came out of the back room and saw them cuddled up together their mouths close from sharing a kiss.

"Will you be needing something to prevent conception as well? I know couples don't usually want to conceive on a…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… just a minute." John looked at Aeryn's wide-eyed expression and attempted to choke back his laughter. Unfortunately for his shoulder it didn't completely work and her fist hit him as he tried to stop the old woman's thoughts about them together… naked. "We're actually already expecting."

"John Crichton!" Aeryn hadn't expected that. Of all the responses that was the one he picked. The fact that it was the truth didn't make her any less irritated.

"What? It's true. No reasons to lie."

"Oh congratulations. When is the blessed event? Must be more than seven months her stomach looks nice and flat still."

"It's complicated…" John hadn't thought about explaining the situation before blurting out that she was pregnant. No one here would understand the Peacekeeper pregnancy stasis. "But we are in no need of your preventative herbs. If that's everything we can leave?"

"Yes. Here is your bag of medicine." She waved at the couple as they left to meet up with their traveling companions. They were quite the pair and to be accompanying the Seeker and the Mother Confessor across the Midlands, they had to be important.

She wished them a safe and happy journey and then pointed them towards the livery. The old healer smiled as they left arm in arm. There wasn't enough young love around these days. After the tyrant Darken Rahl was deposed she hoped to see more and more of it blooming in the future. Perhaps the wedding between Richard and Kahlan would make things easier on people.

They weren't quite as lucky at the Inn this time. There was only one room to be had. It contained two beds of decent size, however. Kahlan and Richard let the other two have the larger of the two beds. They slept much more compactly and with Aeryn's arm healing they wanted to let them have more space.

Everyone was tired and the silence in the room was peaceful. Kahlan helped Aeryn dress and checked her arm before stripping down to her corset and black shorts. The men had agreed to wait in the hall for her to call them back in. When she did both of them tossed their shirts over the back of the chair and climbed into bed with their respective mate.

The four of them fell asleep quickly and by first light everyone seemed to awaken more chipper and rested then they had any of the other nights they'd been journeying as a group.

John tended to Aeryn's arm, teaching Kahlan the steps as he went in case something was to happen he needed to make sure that another person was able to care for her properly.

"Once we reach Aydindril Zedd will be able to heal you." Kahlan casually remarked as she secured the bandage over the cleanly packed wound.

"I've already been to a healer…"

"No he'll be able to make the muscle and flesh mend, magically." Kahlan looked at her as if she couldn't comprehend not knowing magic. Then she remembered that Richard was raised in the same manner. He hadn't known anything about it until she'd met up with him.

"Powerful magic!" Richard leaned over her shoulder to look at her handy work, kissed her temple then stood up. "Everything is packed, you ladies ready?"

"Yes. Lets go ride."

They picked up the four horses and put Aeryn on the calmest of the group. She'd never really ridden but they all assured her that her horse would be more than willing to just walk with the others. Richard gave her tips as they headed out of town. Ways to calm a startled or spooked horse, how to turn and stop and ask for more speed. Eventually they had her worked up to a trot, then a canter. The pace was nice and steadily fast and they made good time. It wouldn't be too many days now until they arrived in Aydindril.

Kahlan was looking forward to their arrival more than she could express without seeming ungrateful. She was eager to marry Richard and begin their life together. She also missed Zedd and Cara more than she care to admit. While being alone with Richard was marvelous she enjoyed Cara's sarcastic replies and Zedd's stomach providing them with directions to the next place. She'd been with them all so long they were a big part of who she was.

They rode on through many towns. They'd break for camp when the sun began to set and rise early in the morning to continue the long ride. Aydindril drew closer with each passing day.

"How much further do you think?" John moaned as he dismounted. His muscles unused to riding for hours on end. He was sure that Aeryn wasn't much better off.

"A couple days at most, perhaps tomorrow if we're lucky and the pass isn't already too snowed over. It gets snow there early but it cuts almost a whole day off the journey from this direction." Kahlan prepared a fire to boil the water for Aeryn's wound care as she spoke.

"My ass might not make it."

"And such a nice ass it is. I'd like it preserved, if at all possible, selfish reasons." Aeryn smiled as she unwrapped her arm for treatment.

"We'll do what we can to make sure that everyone arrives intact and unharmed." Richard glanced around the makeshift campsite. "So far we are doing quite poorly at this…"

They all found amusement in their misfortunes then and had a good laugh before settling in for the night.

The morning brought more riding ahead of them. After Aeryn's arm was well cared for they mounted up. The ride wasn't as treacherous as the day before the land was flat grassland instead of sand and woods. It was a nice respite before they reached the mountains outside Aydindril. Kahlan had told them about people becoming trapped there too late in the year. They'd died without any means to get food and water. People traveling the pass would find the bodies. The path was lined with memorials to the friends and family that had perished on the trail.

The two visitors were aching by the time that they reached the mountain pass. The prospect of traversing the steep hills and narrow ridges made them both groan with discomfort. Just the entrance to the trail send a shiver of pain up John's back.

"Is there any way we can rest for a bit before we start?" John glanced at Aeryn and saw she was relieved he'd asked. She'd never complain on her own but needed to pause.

Richard looked up at the sky then to Kahlan. His eyes asking her what she thought. Rarely did they require words to have a conversation. She made a face back at him and he sighed.

"We can rest for a half and hour." Everyone quickly dismounted and let the horses to graze. "We can't wait any longer to go than that though. I can feel weather coming in and we need every bit of daylight we can muster."

They all agreed and John went over the check on Aeryn's arm. The bandaging was holding nicely and he couldn't see any reason to change it just yet.

"You going to be alright?"

"I might need a massage after this trek…" She rubbed at her lower back and bottom for emphasis.

"Some hot oil, jazz music, incense in the air, you and me naked… yeah sounds like my kind of night." John rubbed at his own posterior, wincing as his hands pressed the sore muscles.

"I got the naked part and the oil part. The rest I'm going to chalk up to the fact that it's coming from your mouth." She smiled at him as he kissed her nose. His arm came around her back and he squeezed her shoulder. His hand worked along her upper back and neck as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I just want to lay down in a hot as I can stand bath and let the water pull these aches out of me. I'm not as young as I look." John gave her one last squeeze before they parted ways.

"Young?" Aeryn grinned. "Who said anything about you looking young?" The hand that swatted her backside made her giggle then grunt in pain. "Watch the tender parts, Crichton!"

"I'll explore all your 'tender parts' later, baby, don't you worry."

"Do you two ever stop?" Richard laughed at their banter. They were so at ease with each other it was fun to watch them interact.

"She started it…"

"Did not!" Aeryn swatted back at him as he dodged her hand.

All four of them were chuckling now. It was a good rest before the seriousness of navigating trough the mountains.

Richard looked up at the sky and called for them all to mount back up. He heard the grumbles of protest but they couldn't afford to delay any longer.

"Was that really a half an hour?" John couldn't believe it had flown by so speedily.

"It was. Even if it wasn't you'd rather be sore than dead."

"The man has a point." John mumbled to Aeryn.

She just gave a small smile back. The pain in her ass for once wasn't only John. The saddle felt like a rock under her butt and she knew it would be chafed and raw when they got across.