A/N: My husky died May 25th in my arms and it hurts no less now than then and let my depression wreck me. I have moved twice. So, that's the hold up thus far. I'd say aside from that, this is the most stability my life has ever had. So, getting caught up and working toward being a chapter ahead on everything. So chapters rolling out for everything.
I appreciate all of you and want to give a big shout out to Guest who checked the story daily. You're so sweet and I'm sorry you've waited so long. Fiche, Michelle, whatever else you're calling yourself these days, thank you for always dropping encouraging reviews. Well, let's see what's up Cara's ass.
"How do you think Cara's fighting style has changed?"
Berdine's finger stilled on the page of her book. It was the first time Raina had spoken in two days. During those days, her posture had begun to relax, as though she could begin to believe she didn't have to bend to someone's will anymore. Berdine hadn't dared break the silence.
"Do you think she's affected the Mother Confessor's?"
Blue eyes finally left her book in favor of Raina, who was carving into the top of the desk in her boredom, or perhaps in her thought. "I'd imagine they've affected each other in a number of ways."
"I wonder which of us is more curious about the differences." Raina made a precise mark in the wood. "What makes you so sure Cara will come? If she's really affected, why would she come? Why return to this?"
Berdine closed her book, frowning at the twist in Raina's tone. "I believe she'll come for a few reasons. Honor. Loyalty." She looked around the simple room of the tavern they shared. They'd been in Ferres Bend for a little over a week after Berdine spent the better half of a day convincing Denna to let them wait for Cara instead of Elias. She'd also had Denna stop one of her pets from following them around, though she'd never mention it to Cara. Being away from the Temple, from Mord'Sith, felt unsettling, but also distinctly more…comfortable.
"Berdine."
She focused on Raina again.
"You disappeared into your mind." Raina brushed some bits of wood from her workspace.
Berdine's lips twitched. "I believe Cara will come because she isn't returning to anything. We are Mord'Sith, but we belong to no one."
The knife paused in the middle of a stroke.
"She'll return because we are Sisters regardless of where we go in life."
Raina set down her knife. "And you? Would you always return?"
"I'd never leave."
Slowly, Raina looked at her.
"Never," Berdine promised.
The Mord'Sith turned back to the desk, picking up her knife again. "As you the sky, and as I but the ground, I stare, perceiving divinity found."
Berdine stared. The perfect recitation of her own words from the other woman left her trying to understand the sensation in her chest.
It almost hurt.
A few hours passed before they heard a knock at the door. "Pet."
Berdine saw Raina's lips twitch just like her own. She went to the door and unlocked it, then stepped back to the window.
With obvious caution, the door opened.
Berdine offered Cara an open smile.
She groaned before looking to someone in the hallway and jerking her head. Cara nodded to Raina as she went straight for a free chair and say in it, leaning it against the wall and kicking her feet up onto a part of the desk Raina hadn't cut into.
"Forgot Elias' name, Cara?"
She crossed her arms without looking at Berdine. "You know I wasn't listening."
Confident in Cara's ease, Kahlan stepped into the doorway. She looked around, finding blue and brown eyes studying her, though she lingered on brown. The piercing stare held a soft curiosity and a fire she could respect, nearly trapping her. Kahlan settled on the other pair of blue eyes.
Berdine pulled off a glove as she crossed the room. "Kahlan Amnell, the Mother Confessor. A pleasure to meet you after hearing so much."
Cara seemed to sense when Kahlan's gaze flicked to her and shrugged a little without looking. "Told you that you'd like her."
"Berdine," Kahlan said with realization. She returned the Mord'Sith's slight smile and, after a moment's surprise, accepted her words that were easier expressed with action. People fled from her touch, but Berdine initiated and requested a contact of skin. A show of respect and trust, of the fact she accepted if Kahlan Confessed her on the spot. It was the promise that if she was enough for Cara, she was enough for Berdine.
A finger poked her cheek. She blinked. Then she blinked down at the finger's owner as Cara sighed and Berdine rolled her eyes. Kahlan cleared her throat. "I would guess that you're Raina."
The Mord'Sith stared up at Kahlan as if trying to dissect her using her eyes alone. "I can now say I've touched the Mother Confessor and lived."
While Cara snorted, Berdine shooed away Raina before she decided to add a slap to her bragging rights. She chuckled at the light furrow of Kahlan's brow as she pulled back on her glove. "Confessors and Mord'Sith are naturally enemies, as you very well know. You could say we hold the Mother Confessor in the highest regard as an enemy. However, in the same vein as fighting you, facing your judgment places us above other Mord'Sith. By the logic that, essentially, all Mord'Sith are deemed worthy of death by Confessors, to be deemed worth life by you is unprecedented."
Kahlan nodded once. "Thus of higher prestige. Interesting to learn."
"Well—"
"Berdine," Raina and Cara simultaneously interrupted.
The Mord'Sith coughed into her fist. "Yes. Moving on, I hope you'll forgive my rudeness."
A tired sigh. "I'm really not in the mood to be slapped right now."
"What? No." Berdine glanced at Cara. "I suddenly find it necessary to apologize for the brutish nature of my dear Sister."
"I've been sickeningly polite, if you must know."
"So degrading comments and maybe pulled punches, then," Raina mused.
Cara kicked the brunette's leg from her position on the chair.
Kahlan sighed again, too exasperated to chastise the blonde. "You were saying, Berdine?"
"Oh! Forgive me, but may we speak to Cara alone? Since you're here, I have something to tell you as well, so please don't wander far. We won't be long. I hope."
Though she stared at the woman oddly, Kahlan nodded. She glanced at Cara, but, not finding green eyes, she simply left.
After a minute, Cara dragged her gaze to Berdine. "What's happening? You know I don't care for Denna's schemes."
Raina shook her head. "No schemes for either of us."
"Good."
"However," Berdine pulled over a chair to sit near Cara, "Schemes exist. Denna intends to take D'Hara."
"My heart stutters with shock."
"Yes, well, she wants to ally with the Mother Confessor, though to what end or extent, I am unsure."
Cara quirked an eyebrow, finally looking at Berdine.
"Darken Rahl may be dead, but he still has his hand in the game, which is what forces her to make a move."
Cara uncrossed her arms, hate in her eyes. "What's he done on your end?"
"He wants Grace to kill a general."
"The stupid, ambitious snake one? What's his name?"
"Fenn," Raina supplied.
"I'd heard whispers of him trying to gather loyal men."
Berdine nodded. "He succeeded. A portion of the army is his and he aims for the throne.
"So a race between him and Denna, but what does she want with me?"
"Ah, not quite. And I talked her out of using you for anything."
Green eyes flicked down, the closest to a vocalization of thanks as there would be. Then, "What do you mean about it 'not quite' being a race?"
Berdine chuckled. "I actually must acknowledge the brilliance of her ambition."
"You mean her insanity."
Raina snorted. "Is there a difference?"
Berdine continued smoothly, far too accustomed to their interruptions. "Mord'Sith obey their Lord Rahl."
Understanding hit Cara's eyes. She smirked. "Only Denna."
"I must confess I envy your distance from this endeavor."
"What will she do after?"
"Now that's a question we share. I guess it involves the alliance she desires with the Mother Confessor, but it's just that. A guess."
"Do you seriously think you can do damage control on that scale?"
"Denna's overwhelming, that's for sure. As crazy as it sounds, I think she actually wants me to keep her in check."
"In addition to maintaining the Confessor's approval," Cara drawled. "What of Richard Rahl?"
"A constantly evolving plan."
Raina and Cara rolled their eyes.
"Personally, I'd put him in a dungeon and make him breed." Berdine shrugged.
"So. This alliance she hopes for?"
"Ah." Berdine shifted in her chair.
Cara's eyes narrowed. "I don't care how much I won't like it Spit it out."
Berdine glanced at Raina.
"You lost. You're saying it, not me." Raina moved to the far side of the room.
Looking back at Cara, Berdine squared her shoulders. "That's actually part of why we came to see you instead of letting Elias speak to you. Denna is working on a gesture of, ah, shall we say friendship? Though I use that term loosely. I—"
"What could she have to offer and what does it have to do with me?"
Berdine watched the blonde's fingers curl into a fist. "Ah, well, the," she stopped, clearing her throat. Rahl had only made her stutter once in life, yet here she was preferring to throw herself out the window rather than speak to Cara. "Uhm, the gesture requires you set aside your honor and, you see, it's quite important you remain at the Mother Confessor's side and it'd be compromised if—"
"Berdine," Cara growled.
"I—"
"You can't tell her you killed her sister," Raina cut in.
The silence fell like a body as Cara stopped breathing.
Berdine glanced at Raina, who raised her eyebrows and shrugged. Blue eyes turned back to Cara, waiting for her fist to swing. "You seem to have, ah, found her to be a comrade of yours and, knowing you, it would be dishonorable to neglect to inform her of Dennee Amnell's death."
Cara's voice came out hoarse, as if she hadn't swallowed in some time. "I have to tell her."
"Yes, well, we need you not to."
Green eyes burned into Berdine.
"You have to stay with her. Besides, with what Denna has planned, it won't make a difference if—"
"She is not Mord'Sith. We are not and will never be the same. It will make a difference to her."
Berdine leaned back into her chair. "Denna managed—"
"Nothing will change the fact I murdered her sister," Cara hissed.
"Well, yes," Berdine admitted, "But it more or less evens out."
Cara's fist twitched. Berdine stiffened. Eyes burning, the blonde made a frustrated noise and rubbed her temple. "I still have to tell her."
"I'm not asking, I'm begging, Cara."
"She should know that she's the only Confessor that still lives."
Berdine bit her lip.
Raina studied the floor.
Cara grabbed Berdine's collar and yanked her to her feet. The intensity of her stare spoke for her.
"Please trust me."
"Tell me."
Berdine shook her head, something horribly close to regret drawing lines in her face.
The blonde shoved her back into her chair. "Why do you insist I continue with her?"
"I trusted my fate with you when I spoke treason. You didn't believe me when I said you could bring him down, but you didn't condemn me either."
A slow, heavy sigh left Cara as her glare drifted to a wall.
Berdine shared a look with Raina before turning back to Cara. "What say you?"
Her jaw clenched. Unclenched. Clenched again. "I trust you, but you cannot sway me from this."
"Stubborn mule."
"Shut up, Raina." Berdine stood, grasping Cara's shoulders. "This matters more than your pride or your honor."
She shook her head slightly.
Exasperation stole a short noise from Berdine and she tightened her grip. "Your confession could damn her!"
Heavy footsteps beat down the hall, heralding Kahlan's sudden entrance.
Blue met green.
A panted word broke the silence. "Banelings!"
Kahlan burst out the tavern, Cara hardly a step behind her. Some men outnumbered a few desperate banelings, easily dispatching them, but down the street, more approached. She stopped in the middle of the street, drawing her daggers. "Any plans?"
"Twenty-five minimum," came Raina's crisp voice.
"Choke point?"
"Time," Raina countered. "Valstead?"
"Buildings too tall." Cara drew her agiels and stepped up to Kahlan's side as two more agiels joined the sound of hers.
Even with open sores and peeling flesh, the group slowed. The grips on their weapons spoke of experience, so it surprised Kahlan that they hesitated, especially the ones who looked ready to simply drop. And then she realized. Three Mord'Sith flanked her—flanked the Mother Confessor. Not only was it a jarring sight, but it held a fierce promise of unforgiving violence.
"Sixty." Cara paused long enough to receive two affirmative grunts. "Confessor, we don't move."
"What?"
"They come to us. I defend, you attack. Lethal only."
Though it sounded positively insane, Kahlan rolled her shoulders, steeling herself. Cara shifted slightly in front of her while the other Mord'Sith mirrored them on their right side. Raina grinned, a light at last in her sharp eyes and a small smile played about Berdine's lips. When Cara chuckled, Kahlan couldn't help laughing.
More hesitation broke out amongst the banelings, but still they approached. They had no choice, after all.
The men in an earlier scuffle joined the women as a few others arrived.
"Expand down the street to funnel them here. At 'break,' fight however. Disobey and I'll kill your family myself."
The fact the Mother Confessor didn't argue the Mord'Sith's words only made the men move faster down the street in pairs. Some brought their swords up, meeting brave banelings head-on.
Focusing on breathing kept her calm. The Mord'Sith resembled statues, all traces of amusement gone. Regular people without options fought for their lives not even fifty feet from her, yet she made no move. Decay tainted the air, yet she stood still.
Kahlan's grip on her daggers tightened as two banelings came toward them, distinct caution in their movements, fear in their quick eyes. However, they decided to try the Mord'Sith instead. The taller one charged forward.
The women moved as one. Raina's agiel snapped to his wrist, Berdine crushed his throat. Before he could fall, the other baneling was rushing Berdine. But a gloved hand caught his arm and used his momentum to send him to his knees. Berdine finished him.
"Don't embarrass me, Confessor."
She glanced at the blonde statue and nodded even as a group came. This time, she couldn't admire the pair's ruthless efficiency. Her eyes darted between Cara and their attackers.
Instinct screamed to move.
Muscle rippled under leather as Cara moved with a precise speed Mord'Sith were known for. She met two of them bodily, crushing a woman's knee with her boot as she ducked under an errant blade. As Kahlan plunged her dagger into the baneling's throat, in the back of her mind, she marveled at Cara's easy deflections. She didn't slow as she followed Cara, her dagger going from the woman's throat to a man's chest, to under the last one's jaw.
Worried blue met unconcerned green.
They shifted back, forcing the next wave to step over corpses. Again, Cara deflected attacks and manipulated bodies for Kahlan to finish them. Adrenaline in her veins, her eyes kept jumping toward the townsmen—at least one had fallen—to Raina and Berdine, to Cara, to the dwindling banelings. Her gaze paused when green eyes caught hers, sparkling.
Her power bristled inside of her.
Cara dashed forward and plowed straight into the small herd of banelings, the screams of her agiels nearly continuous. Kahlan rushed after her, heart pumping without fear in spite of the stupid, reckless action. Daggers left corpses in her wake as she tore through them with Cara. A gloved hand pushed her away from a swinging fist. She ducked under a blade, rising to deliver a fatal blow in return. As she feinted with another baneling, one crashed into her and she barely avoided falling with him. Kahlan darted back to reorient herself, catching sight of Cara for a moment with pursed lips and a frown on her brow.
The Confessor took down the one who'd been shoved into her by Cara before killing her original enemy. An agiel screamed just beside her and she whirled around, gutting the baneling the blonde had distracted behind her.
Her power hummed in her chest, pressed against its cage.
Another baneling fell to her.
Death and blood and decay surrounded her, but she felt alive.
The remaining banelings hardly had hopes of fleeing as the pair pressed them against the townsmen and Mord'Sith. With a slashed arm, one managed to break free, but an arrow caught them in the back. A man's sword ran through another, and it was over.
Chest heaving, Kahlan gave orders to ensure the proper disposal of the bodies as the other Mord'Sith joined them.
"You're a bitch, Cara."
The woman only grinned at the accusation.
Kahlan tried to calm the excited pulse of her power as she turned to them. She frowned at the cut on Berdine's jaw. "Are you alright?"
Disappointment lurked in her voice. "A miscalculation."
"And so we win."
"Win?" Kahlan echoed.
Raina narrowed her eyes, jabbing a finger at Cara. "You breaking formation distracted her. Your smug move should forfeit your ability to participate."
The blonde's shoulders jerked in a careless shrug. "Confessor doesn't have a scratch."
"Yet she almost lost her head when you shoved that one guy at her," Berdine quipped.
Cara scoffed, though she crossed her arms. "The Confessor's a liability, I know. Even with that disadvantage, we still won."
"I'm sorry, is this a game?"
When the three Mord'Sith stared at her as if she'd dropped to the ground and started chittering like a squirrel, Kahlan sighed.
A/N: Quite a thing up Cara's ass. Quite a thing.
I made notes on all typos and whatnot to fix, just need to unpack it and implement it. Uhm... I guess yay for Leo coming in? I don't want him here. So yeah, we'll see Leo, Nicci, Richard, Denna and Darken Rahl next time. Maybe a God if that's not too long. And of course, Cara and Kahlan, though on what terms?
I love this ship.