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seriousficTitle: Home is the place where it feels right to walk around without Agiels
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,463
Characters/Pairings: Cara/Kahlan
Author’s notes: Betaed by the lovely, talented duo of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ivanolix and susurrusnight
Previous: Part 1
Next: Part 3
Summary: Cara has found herself in a strange alternate reality where she and Kahlan are married. The honeymoon is definitely over.
Cara moved through the woods, hard-pressed to track her elusive prey. The farming clothes she was trapped in made her feel like her skin had been stripped away and replaced with something else. Her boots had a hole in them. But, she had a duty.
Ahead of her, Richard stopped. He turned slowly, holding up his wooden sword. "Who goes there?" he asked, sounding braver than he looked.
She stepped out of the shadows. "Cara," she rolled her eyes, "the blacksmith."
"Are you following me?" He looked her over. "Neat!"
Once more, Cara failed to keep her emotions from her face.
Swinging his arms in an ineffably smug manner, Richard proceeded into a clearing. Six boys were waiting with their own weapons, ranging from wooden swords to walking sticks. Upon seeing Richard, a little dusky-skinned one ran to his side.
"What are we in for, Chase?"
Chase hoisted an axe with no head. "Not good, Seeker. The Imperial Order has us surrounded!"
Richard unsheathed his sword with a self-supplied noise. "Then we'll just have to go over their graves!"
One of the 'Imperial Order' stepped forward. "You shouldn't have burned down our garrison, Seeker! The Imperial Order strikes back!"
Cara stepped between them, brandishing her chair leg. "Stay back or face the wrath of the Mord'Sith!"
The boys exchanged looks. Then they charged.
***
"So, I hear you and Richard had some fun tonight," Kahlan remarked, stirring the soup, her ladle occasionally gonging against the cast-iron sides of the cauldron.
Cara broke off her suspicious glare at the empty soup bowl before her. "It wasn't fun. It was training. And they were poor sparring partners."
Kahlan gestured for her to hold out the bowl, then slopped some soup into it. "Well, Richard would like you to know that the Imperial Order is moving against Fort Brigadon in the morning." Kahlan served herself, then sat down across from Cara. "Honey, it's okay if you're feeling confused. When I had the fever, I spent five days ranting about evil chickens."
Cara forced a spoonful into her mouth. It tasted good. That irritated her. "Kahlan, how long have we been married?"
"Six years. Does it feel longer?" she teased.
"Then why don't you tell me about myself?"
"Alright." Kahlan folded her arms. Such a Mother Confessor pose in such domestic circumstances gave Cara double-vision. "You were born right here in Stowcroft, and to hear your mother tell it, you were quite the tomboy. Your sister lives here too, but you chose a house at the other end of town, probably because you don't get along with her husband."
"He did almost get me executed." Cara didn't add that it had been by Kahlan. It seemed peevish.
"You apprenticed yourself to the blacksmith, and when he died, you took over."
"And why would I want to be a blacksmith?"
"Maybe you like hitting things."
Cara nodded.
"Seven years ago, I came to Stowcroft as part of Queen Dennee's educational campaign. And as soon as I set foot in town, you started courting me."
"I… courted… you?"
"And when I connected the little metal hearts someone kept sending me to the fact that you never charged me for anything, we were married."
"And how's the sex?" Cara asked.
Six years of marriage must've cured Kahlan of her modesty. "You suffered through it. By all the screaming, you must've really hated it. I apologize."
She had made Cara blush.
***
With more time spent with Kahlan threatening to make her crack, Cara went to her forge. There was a growing sense of déjà vu. She picked up the tools and they fit in her hand. Starting the fire in the hearth was automatic, as easy as finding the right place to stick an Agiel. She worked the bellows to blow on the coal and it was as natural as blood flowing in her veins. Grabbing a mass of iron and slag (bloom, it was called a bloom), she went to work on it.
For minutes, she lost herself in the repetition of it. Just like breaking someone. You hit it and hit it and waited for it to crack open and present itself to you. It was bracing. No screaming, no pain, no looks from Kahlan. And when Cara abruptly realized how sweaty and sore and contented she was, a little red-hot heart was waiting to be dipped in the slack tub.
Cara did, feeling the steam rise up and break against her face. This could be a problem.
***
The Lord Rahl loved Kahlan. This was not just a fact, it was a great truth of the universe. Water was wet, the sky was blue, Mord'Sith could kill anything, and Richard loved Kahlan. She was all his hopes, dreams, and ambitions built into one idol. And she loved him.
She didn't belong to Cara. Water was not dry. The sky was not red. Mord'Sith were not weak. And Kahlan loved Richard, not Cara.
Cara raised the heart from the water, watched drops fall from its cooling contours. It was good work. The kind of work that came with lots of practice. Not just at smithing, but at this particular shape, for this particular person.
What was this? Had she died and was this the Creator's thanks to her? It seemed a bit meager for all her contributions to the forces of right and good. Didn't she warrant slave girls and cake?
Or maybe this was the underworld, and Darken Rahl was tormenting her in some subtle way. She'd open up to Kahlan, let her guard down, and then the fire would sweep in and she'd be naked and alone. That seemed more likely.
Or it could be just a very, very strange dream. That would probably be it. She'd had to rely on Richard's woodcraft for nutrition too long, and all the shadrin meat and berries had finally taken their toll. She was hallucinating. Zedd was probably chortling over her right now, as she lay in Kahlan's lap, muttering feverishly…
Cara looked up at the sky. "If any of you are listening to my fever dreams, you had better stop right now!"
The sky made no response.
But if it was just a fever dream, then why not partake of circumstances? And Kahlan? After all, the Mother Confessor wasn't unattractive. And judging by her fighting, she could probably keep up with Cara. For long enough, at any rate.
But… the Lord Rahl's mate. It was treacherous to even consider the possibility. And Richard was the kind of Lord Rahl who deserved a Mord'Sith's devotion, as strange a concept as that seemed. It would be easier, much easier, if this entire scenario were a meaningless delusion, not something she wanted enough to take advantage of.
There were things a Mord'Sith could not have. It did no good to dwell on them.
Sweeping the heart in with the rest of the scrap iron, Cara visualized an Agiel in her mind's eye. Even if she couldn't endow it with magic, she could build one of the same weight and heft. And then she'd be one step closer to being back to normal.
***
It was hours before she went back inside, into the smell of flowers and food and a home. The Agiel she left outside, its metal unpainted. Kahlan had set a table. Game hen. One smell and Cara knew it was her favorite.
"Back to work, huh?" Kahlan ran a hand across Cara's cheek, and it came away sooty. "You eat. I'll draw a bath."
For a moment, Cara nearly protested. The thought of sharing a meal with Kahlan was tempting. Then it frightened her as much as a Mord'Sith could be frightened.
She ate heartily, quickly. It wouldn't do to let Kahlan see how much she enjoyed it. At the corner of earshot, she could hear water sloshing in from the town aqueduct, the sizzle as hotstones were dropped in with it. Kahlan would make the Lord Rahl a very good wife someday.
Cara finished, licked her fingers. Kahlan did not see.
"Spirits. Did you work up an appetite!" Kahlan said, returning. She kissed the back of Cara's neck. The Mord'Sith flinched. "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Cara asked as Kahlan pulled her from her chair.
"I told you. Bath. I spent all day getting the linens clean and I am not letting you get your sweat all over them." Kahlan gave Cara a playful shove. "If you want that, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way."
The bath was a gorgeous thing of porcelain, putting the rest of the house to shame. It even had a little dip at the bottom for the hotstones to rest in. And Cara couldn't help but consider that it was big enough for two.
"Thanks for getting it for me," Kahlan said with another kiss delivered to Cara's neck. Did the Lord Rahl have to put up with that? "I know you don't mind being dirty, but I love a good soak." She untucked Cara's tunic. "So, sick girl, you just lie back and I'll—"
"I can bathe myself," Cara said defensively, pressing her tunic to her body.
Kahlan took a step back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean… I just thought, since you were feverish, I could… take care of you."
Was she going to cry? Cara could not make the Lord Rahl's mate cry. "You haven't eaten. You should. I'll be fine. I didn't mean to snap at you."
***
The warmth stole into her, eating away the pain of the forge, and that was bad. It was a good pain, a noble pain, a worthy approximation of her Agiel. But… the bathwater and the oils and the soap and the shampoo, they were Kahlan. Sweet. Cloying. Honey. Candy. The kind that stuck to your teeth, but tasted so good on your tongue.
Cara could do with being clean. She could do with smelling pretty. She could do with Kahlan looking at her like she was a human being instead of a Mord'Sith bitch. Not that Kahlan had ever looked at her like that. She had a way of seeing the best in people. Even if she had to make it up.
Cara had a brief vision of Kahlan seeing the strength in her, the violence, the pain to be given or taken, the sheer willingness… and then…
She got out of the bath. She'd been right the first time. It was bad.
***
Kahlan had made her thoughts known on Cara's dirty clothes, which stunk of hard work. She'd wrinkled her nose and given Cara a shake of her head, but Cara could tell she enjoyed the musk of it. It was secondhand knowledge, like her mastery of smithing.
So Cara dressed in the nightgown Kahlan had delicately folded for her beside the wash basin. The towel was soft fluff on her skin. The nightgown soothed over her like lotion. Kahlan…
Outside, Kahlan was doing the dishes. A Mother Confessor, a mate of Lord Rahl, a warrior… dishes.
Cara moved her aside, gently but firmly. "I'll do them."
"Cara, you're sick."
"Not that sick," Cara replied, resolutely eradicating all remnants of dinner from the cutlery. "Go to bed. You're tired. I'll stand watch."
"Stand watch?"
Cara closed her eyes. "Figure of speech."
In the real world, if Kahlan had asked her to do dishes, Cara would have a remark dripping with acid, a prod from her Agiel. Here, all she had was this thing compelling her to step between Kahlan and… dishonor. The dream was disarming her. It was like being broken, only she couldn't resist. It would grow and grow inside her until.
Kahlan.
Leaving the dishes undone, Cara went to the bedroom. Kahlan was curled up within the sheets, her hair caressing the pillow. It looked like another part of the bedspread, another form of satin. One more comfort to ease sleep.
Weak. Vulnerable. Delicate.
Why couldn't Cara hate her?
She got into the other side of the bed, under the covers and Kahlan's warmth.
Came to her.
Like the light off the moon, just when things should be darkest. Cara could feel herself pressed against Kahlan, warm and safe as her leathers, overwhelming the missing pain of her Agiels. Giving her balance. Making her normal. Secondhand knowledge? Or her imagination. Maybe really doing it would be better. Maybe she could put her hand to Kahlan's body. Just a touch. Just a taste.
Just once.
Everything was jagged and shattered and nothing hurt. She needed her Agiel. She needed a mission. She needed her Sisters, or her father and her mother and a home. She needed to stop crying.
"Hey." Kahlan was getting closer, her arms warm and white. In the darkness, they gleamed. "You okay?"
"Why me?" Cara asked. Her eyes hurt. "Even in this nightmare, you can do better than me. You can find someone who deserves you. Why do you have to torture me with… Why can't you just let me be what I am!"
There was a kind of hurt when Kahlan put her arms around her. And then it stopped hurting.
"I've never really felt. At home." Kahlan's voice was slow and halting. Cara had never heard her like that. Not when she wasn't talking about Richard. "I liked my parents. I liked my sister. But when I went away, I didn't feel homesick. I traveled, learning, and I never felt it. Then I came here. And I saw you. And you brought me home." Kahlan was touching her, protecting her. Cara was going to break. She was going to break open and she didn't know what would come out. Lips pressed against her collarbone, her clavicle, her throat, her heart. "This is my home." And having nothing left to take, Kahlan pressed herself to Cara's breast and stopped.
Cara laid awake a long time, feeling nice things and not worrying about them being taken away. Wondering if she could go back to being Kahlan's friend when she knew Kahlan could make her feel like this. Knowing how Kahlan would bruise and blacken and burn if Cara ever tried to touch her.
But it was nice, regardless. It was nice.
She went to sleep…
And woke up. The bed was different, harder. She was naked, the air harsher on her than the gown had been. And Kahlan was gone.
Cara threw herself to her feet. Hair tickled her back. Her own. It had grown over the night. And her Agiel was in her hand, flooding her with sweet, familiar pain. It actually stung a bit, after all this time without.
She recognized where she was. The bed, the floor. Herself. She was in the Mord'Sith temple. She was home.
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,463
Characters/Pairings: Cara/Kahlan
Author’s notes: Betaed by the lovely, talented duo of
ivanolix and susurrusnight Previous: Part 1
Next: Part 3
Summary: Cara has found herself in a strange alternate reality where she and Kahlan are married. The honeymoon is definitely over.
Cara moved through the woods, hard-pressed to track her elusive prey. The farming clothes she was trapped in made her feel like her skin had been stripped away and replaced with something else. Her boots had a hole in them. But, she had a duty.
Ahead of her, Richard stopped. He turned slowly, holding up his wooden sword. "Who goes there?" he asked, sounding braver than he looked.
She stepped out of the shadows. "Cara," she rolled her eyes, "the blacksmith."
"Are you following me?" He looked her over. "Neat!"
Once more, Cara failed to keep her emotions from her face.
Swinging his arms in an ineffably smug manner, Richard proceeded into a clearing. Six boys were waiting with their own weapons, ranging from wooden swords to walking sticks. Upon seeing Richard, a little dusky-skinned one ran to his side.
"What are we in for, Chase?"
Chase hoisted an axe with no head. "Not good, Seeker. The Imperial Order has us surrounded!"
Richard unsheathed his sword with a self-supplied noise. "Then we'll just have to go over their graves!"
One of the 'Imperial Order' stepped forward. "You shouldn't have burned down our garrison, Seeker! The Imperial Order strikes back!"
Cara stepped between them, brandishing her chair leg. "Stay back or face the wrath of the Mord'Sith!"
The boys exchanged looks. Then they charged.
***
"So, I hear you and Richard had some fun tonight," Kahlan remarked, stirring the soup, her ladle occasionally gonging against the cast-iron sides of the cauldron.
Cara broke off her suspicious glare at the empty soup bowl before her. "It wasn't fun. It was training. And they were poor sparring partners."
Kahlan gestured for her to hold out the bowl, then slopped some soup into it. "Well, Richard would like you to know that the Imperial Order is moving against Fort Brigadon in the morning." Kahlan served herself, then sat down across from Cara. "Honey, it's okay if you're feeling confused. When I had the fever, I spent five days ranting about evil chickens."
Cara forced a spoonful into her mouth. It tasted good. That irritated her. "Kahlan, how long have we been married?"
"Six years. Does it feel longer?" she teased.
"Then why don't you tell me about myself?"
"Alright." Kahlan folded her arms. Such a Mother Confessor pose in such domestic circumstances gave Cara double-vision. "You were born right here in Stowcroft, and to hear your mother tell it, you were quite the tomboy. Your sister lives here too, but you chose a house at the other end of town, probably because you don't get along with her husband."
"He did almost get me executed." Cara didn't add that it had been by Kahlan. It seemed peevish.
"You apprenticed yourself to the blacksmith, and when he died, you took over."
"And why would I want to be a blacksmith?"
"Maybe you like hitting things."
Cara nodded.
"Seven years ago, I came to Stowcroft as part of Queen Dennee's educational campaign. And as soon as I set foot in town, you started courting me."
"I… courted… you?"
"And when I connected the little metal hearts someone kept sending me to the fact that you never charged me for anything, we were married."
"And how's the sex?" Cara asked.
Six years of marriage must've cured Kahlan of her modesty. "You suffered through it. By all the screaming, you must've really hated it. I apologize."
She had made Cara blush.
***
With more time spent with Kahlan threatening to make her crack, Cara went to her forge. There was a growing sense of déjà vu. She picked up the tools and they fit in her hand. Starting the fire in the hearth was automatic, as easy as finding the right place to stick an Agiel. She worked the bellows to blow on the coal and it was as natural as blood flowing in her veins. Grabbing a mass of iron and slag (bloom, it was called a bloom), she went to work on it.
For minutes, she lost herself in the repetition of it. Just like breaking someone. You hit it and hit it and waited for it to crack open and present itself to you. It was bracing. No screaming, no pain, no looks from Kahlan. And when Cara abruptly realized how sweaty and sore and contented she was, a little red-hot heart was waiting to be dipped in the slack tub.
Cara did, feeling the steam rise up and break against her face. This could be a problem.
***
The Lord Rahl loved Kahlan. This was not just a fact, it was a great truth of the universe. Water was wet, the sky was blue, Mord'Sith could kill anything, and Richard loved Kahlan. She was all his hopes, dreams, and ambitions built into one idol. And she loved him.
She didn't belong to Cara. Water was not dry. The sky was not red. Mord'Sith were not weak. And Kahlan loved Richard, not Cara.
Cara raised the heart from the water, watched drops fall from its cooling contours. It was good work. The kind of work that came with lots of practice. Not just at smithing, but at this particular shape, for this particular person.
What was this? Had she died and was this the Creator's thanks to her? It seemed a bit meager for all her contributions to the forces of right and good. Didn't she warrant slave girls and cake?
Or maybe this was the underworld, and Darken Rahl was tormenting her in some subtle way. She'd open up to Kahlan, let her guard down, and then the fire would sweep in and she'd be naked and alone. That seemed more likely.
Or it could be just a very, very strange dream. That would probably be it. She'd had to rely on Richard's woodcraft for nutrition too long, and all the shadrin meat and berries had finally taken their toll. She was hallucinating. Zedd was probably chortling over her right now, as she lay in Kahlan's lap, muttering feverishly…
Cara looked up at the sky. "If any of you are listening to my fever dreams, you had better stop right now!"
The sky made no response.
But if it was just a fever dream, then why not partake of circumstances? And Kahlan? After all, the Mother Confessor wasn't unattractive. And judging by her fighting, she could probably keep up with Cara. For long enough, at any rate.
But… the Lord Rahl's mate. It was treacherous to even consider the possibility. And Richard was the kind of Lord Rahl who deserved a Mord'Sith's devotion, as strange a concept as that seemed. It would be easier, much easier, if this entire scenario were a meaningless delusion, not something she wanted enough to take advantage of.
There were things a Mord'Sith could not have. It did no good to dwell on them.
Sweeping the heart in with the rest of the scrap iron, Cara visualized an Agiel in her mind's eye. Even if she couldn't endow it with magic, she could build one of the same weight and heft. And then she'd be one step closer to being back to normal.
***
It was hours before she went back inside, into the smell of flowers and food and a home. The Agiel she left outside, its metal unpainted. Kahlan had set a table. Game hen. One smell and Cara knew it was her favorite.
"Back to work, huh?" Kahlan ran a hand across Cara's cheek, and it came away sooty. "You eat. I'll draw a bath."
For a moment, Cara nearly protested. The thought of sharing a meal with Kahlan was tempting. Then it frightened her as much as a Mord'Sith could be frightened.
She ate heartily, quickly. It wouldn't do to let Kahlan see how much she enjoyed it. At the corner of earshot, she could hear water sloshing in from the town aqueduct, the sizzle as hotstones were dropped in with it. Kahlan would make the Lord Rahl a very good wife someday.
Cara finished, licked her fingers. Kahlan did not see.
"Spirits. Did you work up an appetite!" Kahlan said, returning. She kissed the back of Cara's neck. The Mord'Sith flinched. "Come on."
"Where are we going?" Cara asked as Kahlan pulled her from her chair.
"I told you. Bath. I spent all day getting the linens clean and I am not letting you get your sweat all over them." Kahlan gave Cara a playful shove. "If you want that, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way."
The bath was a gorgeous thing of porcelain, putting the rest of the house to shame. It even had a little dip at the bottom for the hotstones to rest in. And Cara couldn't help but consider that it was big enough for two.
"Thanks for getting it for me," Kahlan said with another kiss delivered to Cara's neck. Did the Lord Rahl have to put up with that? "I know you don't mind being dirty, but I love a good soak." She untucked Cara's tunic. "So, sick girl, you just lie back and I'll—"
"I can bathe myself," Cara said defensively, pressing her tunic to her body.
Kahlan took a step back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean… I just thought, since you were feverish, I could… take care of you."
Was she going to cry? Cara could not make the Lord Rahl's mate cry. "You haven't eaten. You should. I'll be fine. I didn't mean to snap at you."
***
The warmth stole into her, eating away the pain of the forge, and that was bad. It was a good pain, a noble pain, a worthy approximation of her Agiel. But… the bathwater and the oils and the soap and the shampoo, they were Kahlan. Sweet. Cloying. Honey. Candy. The kind that stuck to your teeth, but tasted so good on your tongue.
Cara could do with being clean. She could do with smelling pretty. She could do with Kahlan looking at her like she was a human being instead of a Mord'Sith bitch. Not that Kahlan had ever looked at her like that. She had a way of seeing the best in people. Even if she had to make it up.
Cara had a brief vision of Kahlan seeing the strength in her, the violence, the pain to be given or taken, the sheer willingness… and then…
She got out of the bath. She'd been right the first time. It was bad.
***
Kahlan had made her thoughts known on Cara's dirty clothes, which stunk of hard work. She'd wrinkled her nose and given Cara a shake of her head, but Cara could tell she enjoyed the musk of it. It was secondhand knowledge, like her mastery of smithing.
So Cara dressed in the nightgown Kahlan had delicately folded for her beside the wash basin. The towel was soft fluff on her skin. The nightgown soothed over her like lotion. Kahlan…
Outside, Kahlan was doing the dishes. A Mother Confessor, a mate of Lord Rahl, a warrior… dishes.
Cara moved her aside, gently but firmly. "I'll do them."
"Cara, you're sick."
"Not that sick," Cara replied, resolutely eradicating all remnants of dinner from the cutlery. "Go to bed. You're tired. I'll stand watch."
"Stand watch?"
Cara closed her eyes. "Figure of speech."
In the real world, if Kahlan had asked her to do dishes, Cara would have a remark dripping with acid, a prod from her Agiel. Here, all she had was this thing compelling her to step between Kahlan and… dishonor. The dream was disarming her. It was like being broken, only she couldn't resist. It would grow and grow inside her until.
Kahlan.
Leaving the dishes undone, Cara went to the bedroom. Kahlan was curled up within the sheets, her hair caressing the pillow. It looked like another part of the bedspread, another form of satin. One more comfort to ease sleep.
Weak. Vulnerable. Delicate.
Why couldn't Cara hate her?
She got into the other side of the bed, under the covers and Kahlan's warmth.
Came to her.
Like the light off the moon, just when things should be darkest. Cara could feel herself pressed against Kahlan, warm and safe as her leathers, overwhelming the missing pain of her Agiels. Giving her balance. Making her normal. Secondhand knowledge? Or her imagination. Maybe really doing it would be better. Maybe she could put her hand to Kahlan's body. Just a touch. Just a taste.
Just once.
Everything was jagged and shattered and nothing hurt. She needed her Agiel. She needed a mission. She needed her Sisters, or her father and her mother and a home. She needed to stop crying.
"Hey." Kahlan was getting closer, her arms warm and white. In the darkness, they gleamed. "You okay?"
"Why me?" Cara asked. Her eyes hurt. "Even in this nightmare, you can do better than me. You can find someone who deserves you. Why do you have to torture me with… Why can't you just let me be what I am!"
There was a kind of hurt when Kahlan put her arms around her. And then it stopped hurting.
"I've never really felt. At home." Kahlan's voice was slow and halting. Cara had never heard her like that. Not when she wasn't talking about Richard. "I liked my parents. I liked my sister. But when I went away, I didn't feel homesick. I traveled, learning, and I never felt it. Then I came here. And I saw you. And you brought me home." Kahlan was touching her, protecting her. Cara was going to break. She was going to break open and she didn't know what would come out. Lips pressed against her collarbone, her clavicle, her throat, her heart. "This is my home." And having nothing left to take, Kahlan pressed herself to Cara's breast and stopped.
Cara laid awake a long time, feeling nice things and not worrying about them being taken away. Wondering if she could go back to being Kahlan's friend when she knew Kahlan could make her feel like this. Knowing how Kahlan would bruise and blacken and burn if Cara ever tried to touch her.
But it was nice, regardless. It was nice.
She went to sleep…
And woke up. The bed was different, harder. She was naked, the air harsher on her than the gown had been. And Kahlan was gone.
Cara threw herself to her feet. Hair tickled her back. Her own. It had grown over the night. And her Agiel was in her hand, flooding her with sweet, familiar pain. It actually stung a bit, after all this time without.
She recognized where she was. The bed, the floor. Herself. She was in the Mord'Sith temple. She was home.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 07:59 pm (UTC)[flails]
...I really don't have much more to day than that. And lots of flailing. Enthusiastically.
This is what you've reduced me to. That and some odd exhalation of 'omfgnoitcantendthereyoubastard-inonlythebestway-gaaaaah' and back with the flailing.
Gah!
Just...GAH!
Yeah, 'gah' about covers my feelings on this subject.
Well, that and 'I am oh so not patiently awaiting the next two chapters of this very wonderful tale that has me completely and utterly hooked. Thank you very much for sharing this with all of us, as it has made my night...er morning, fantastic.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 04:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-14 08:24 pm (UTC)She had made Cara blush.
Awesome line.
And generally thoroughly enjoying this!! : )
no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 08:10 pm (UTC)Lots of laugh-out-loud hilarious lines, but this one crushed me a little:
"Why me?" Cara asked. Her eyes hurt. "Even in this nightmare, you can do better than me. You can find someone who deserves you. Why do you have to torture me with… Why can't you just let me be what I am!"
no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 08:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 09:38 pm (UTC)This is terrific. I'm loving it.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 09:42 pm (UTC)OMG & FYI - I love this!
Looking forward to part number 3.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 09:57 pm (UTC)<3 <3 <3 I love Kahlan's sense of humor. And this:
"This is my home." And having nothing left to take, Kahlan pressed herself to Cara's breast and stopped.
Oh Kahlan...she is a lot more vulnerable than she seems, sometimes. I love the way you write her.
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Date: 2010-06-09 10:52 pm (UTC)there is not even a word for it yet.
Gods! When I read the first part,
and I ached and was joyful at the same time.
Ached coz I miss them so much but joyful at the same time coz in this alternate reality you created,
they are married. With golden bands! :)
And now this part? (particularly the famous Cara one-liner: And how's the sex?) Girl, you will be the end of me. In a good way. So, please, continue. Because I know for a fact that I am not the only one who will be sitting right here, waiting for part 3 and 4 (and 5 and 6 and 7 and 8... you get the picture).
Still sitting and patiently waiting,
Xam
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Date: 2010-06-11 11:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-09 11:40 pm (UTC)Love this story so much.
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Date: 2010-06-09 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-11 11:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 12:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 01:06 am (UTC)Really looking forward to the next part (and the image of Cara the blacksmith is ridiculously attractive)
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Date: 2010-06-11 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 01:28 am (UTC)"And when I connected the little metal hearts someone kept sending me to the fact that you never charged me for anything, we were married."
Fuck, *I* fell in love with Cara after reading that.
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Date: 2010-06-11 11:30 pm (UTC)without Leo?no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 02:13 am (UTC)O, Cara, so confused, enjoying and loathing this situation. Little metal hearts- oooh, sweet, and "And how's the sex?"- hahaha.
And that, I don’t know, I just liked it a lot - "Like the light off the moon, just when things should be darkest. Cara could feel herself pressed against Kahlan, warm and safe as her leathers, overwhelming the missing pain of her Agiels. Giving her balance. Making her normal. Secondhand knowledge? Or her imagination. Maybe really doing it would be better. Maybe she could put her hand to Kahlan's body. Just a touch. Just a taste.Just once.Everything was jagged and shattered and nothing hurt. She needed her Agiel. She needed a mission. She needed her Sisters, or her father and her mother and a home. She needed to stop crying."
And then - "Why me?" Cara asked. Her eyes hurt. "Even in this nightmare, you can do better than me. You can find someone who deserves you. Why do you have to torture me with… Why can't you just let me be what I am!"
It was so good. Thank you for sharing and I am eagerly waiting for the next part.
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Date: 2010-06-10 02:56 am (UTC)The beginning of this update is so adorbs...in my just-woke-up haze, I thought I was reading about the adventures of Little Richard and Cara lolz!
"And how's the sex?" Cara asked.
Oh, Cara *dreamy sigh*. I would've loved to see more on how she courted Kahlan!
Can't wait for the next update!
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Date: 2010-06-11 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-10 02:59 am (UTC)(At least I would died with fresh breath and a huge smile on my face.)
One moment you have me covering my mouth full of giggles and the next, I’m clutching my heart at the aching sweetness of Cara: …a little red-hot heart was waiting to be dipped in the slack tub. And this: Was she going to cry? Cara could not make the Lord Rahl's mate cry. "You haven't eaten. You should. I'll be fine. I didn't mean to snap at you."
I “little red-hot heart” Cara, Kahlan and you!
Happiness is this story of yours!!
Austin
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Date: 2010-06-10 03:25 am (UTC)can't wait for more! =D
poor cara, no wonder she's always so wary of good things... it seems they just don't REALLY happen to her... u_u
but hey, i'm hoping for a happy ending for our wary dear mord'sith. she most certainly deserves one.
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Date: 2010-06-10 05:26 am (UTC)I love Cara's wariness and how she knows something's not right and, yet, the moment she gives in to this new reality it's swept out from under her.
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Date: 2010-06-11 11:36 pm (UTC)That's not what I'd assume you were talking about...
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Date: 2010-06-10 06:44 am (UTC)And this
"Wondering if she could go back to being Kahlan's friend when she knew Kahlan could make her feel like this. Knowing how Kahlan would bruise and blacken and burn if Cara ever tried to touch her."
Awwww!!!
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Date: 2010-06-10 06:41 pm (UTC)Cara is so cute playing with Richard and the kids.
Richard is so squishy: "Are you following me?" He looked her over. "Neat!"
Awesome: "And how's the sex?" Cara asked.
Six years of marriage must've cured Kahlan of her modesty. "You suffered through it. By all the screaming, you must've really hated it. I apologize."
She had made Cara blush."
I hope Cara maintains her blacksmith skills in the real world.
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Date: 2010-06-11 05:30 am (UTC)No! Hey! What??? Where'd Kahlan go?? Just when Cara was starting to get um, comfortable!
Well, you have my attention. More. ;)
(Cara "playing" with kid Richard has got to be the cutest damn thing ever. But don't tell Cara I noticed)
Can't wait to see where you're going with this!
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Date: 2010-07-20 05:59 am (UTC)ok, first, i am totally late in reading this.
second, I love the 'wtf is going on' ness of it all.
third I fraking LOVE chapter endings like this. You are my hero!
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Date: 2010-09-04 08:47 pm (UTC)