FIC: LOST IN THE VALLEY OF WHEDON (2/?) - MADE FOR EACH OTHER
Title: Lost in the Valley of Whedon/ Chapter 2: Made for Each Other
Length: 2200~
Rating: T (Mild sexual references)
Pairing: Darken/Kahlan, Richard/Kahlan, references to past Darken/Cara
Spoilers: Set Post - "Tears"- Goes AU before the end of "Extinction". Darken never left the Merry Band and stayed with them through the battle against the Keeper.
Summary: Cara is tired of everybody depending on her but never listening to her advice - this time, it's going to be different.
Read Chapter 1
Made for Each Other.
The afternoon sun was sinking below the tree tops when she rejoined Zedd on the far side of the glade. The wizard was surrounded by a pile of persimmon seeds and peach pits, and was so engrossed in chewing that he didn’t notice her approach until she loomed over him. The least he could have done was gather some firewood, but like everything else, that had been left up to her.
‘”Caruh aruhh, arou u goi to hunh fo sooom foo? Raboisteooh woobe goo.”
What was he nattering on about? His mouth was so full of fruit she couldn’t understand a word he was saying, but by the way he gestured toward her bow Cara surmised that he wanted more food.
Raboisteooh - Rabbit stew?
“I’ll get your rabbits for you, Wizard, but I expect you and Richard to have a fire going and the cooking pot prepared when I return.” Ignoring Zedd’s gooey grin, Cara strode into the forest, armed for the hunt. There was little challenge to finding fresh game in these woods, and she knew there would be no need for weapons, but she felt naked without them.
She returned within the hour, a string of rabbits slung over her back, only to find Zedd still chomping away and no firewood in sight. The wizard beamed at her when she tossed the fresh kill at his feet.
“Where’s Richard?” she asked, a knot of unease forming in the pit of her stomach. Surely if one of them had been injured there would be an outcry. ”Why hasn’t he come back to help?” Zedd shrugged his bony shoulders, reaching for another peach. “Don knoo, oor tha wai, I ges” he garbled, biting through the yellow rind.
Over that way, I guess. Cara regarded the gluttony with distaste as she tried to decipher the words.
The Wizard had always loved a good meal, but this was getting ridiculous. “Zedd, you’re going to make yourself sick. Why don’t you stop eating for a few minutes while I prepare the fire and heat some fresh water, or you won’t have any appetite left for hot stew?”
It was like talking to a child.
Why were all of them acting like such children?
He waved her away with a smile. “Don worr, Il sti behhuhhngy.” Shaking her head in defeat, Cara left his side. She would have to make several trips to gather enough wood to last the night.
How had these people ever survived before she came along?
Grousing to herself over the helplessness of her charges, she trekked back and forth between the forest and the clearing, until there was sufficient fuel to see them through to morning.
None of the others had yet returned.
The slope of the land made it impossible to see to the other side of the clearing from the campsite, and Cara pondered whether she should fetch the others. The silence was a little unnerving, but she was tired of being a glorified babysitter. Most evenings, Richard and Kahlan would wander off to spend time alone, but they would not have done so this night, not if it meant leaving Darken to his own devices.
Maybe Darken wasn’t alive.
Maybe he had escaped.
Maybe - she should never have left the three of them alone together.
Cara pushed herself to her feet. “I’m going to find the others and bring them back,” she told Zedd. “It’s getting - “
“ZEEDDD!”
It was Richard, his voice edged with panic.
Something terrible had happened.
Cara knew it.
The Seeker came loping over the hill, panting and disheveled. “Zedd! Cara! Please - hurry! You have to help Kahlan,” he bent over, grabbing his knees, trying to draw in deep gulps of air. “It’s horrible. I couldn’t stop it.” The young man’s features twisted in anguish.
Zedd dropped his half-eaten peach and rushed to his grandson’s side. “Take me to her, son. You know I’ll do anything I can.”
“What is it, Richard?” Cara barked, grabbing her bow, checking her agiels, trying to imagine every dreadful possibility. “Is Kahlan dead? Where is she?”
“No, she’s still alive, but it’s the worst-.” Richard was almost in tears, his eyes wide with shock. “It’s - Rahl. I can’t even talk about it. He did something - something so terrible I can’t even - “
“What?” Cara grabbed him by the shoulders and started shaking. “What did he do? Tell me.”
She didn’t believe it.
Even if he’d had the inclination, Darken wasn’t stupid enough to assault Kahlan with his brother nearby. Richard would have killed him in a heartbeat.
“Darken wasn’t even armed, Richard. He has no magic. What could he have done to her?” Cara was torn between anger and fear.
“Easy, Cara. Give the boy some room,” the Wizard chided before turning to his grandson. “Take us to Kahlan, my boy. I swear, if that demon has harmed her - “
Richard had finally managed to catch his breath, but was still barely coherent. “Come with me. I’ll show you.”
“Hurry! There’s no time to tarry. If we don’t get there right now it will be too late. Rahl will - ” his voice broke, unable to speak further.
Her heart thudding in her chest, Cara raced ahead of the two men, a blur of red, not halting until she reached the edge of the woods where she had left the trio earlier in the afternoon.
Nothing.
Richard caught up to her, with Zedd lagging close behind.
“There’s no one here, Richard. Where was Kahlan when you saw her last?” Cara was peering about her, trying to see into the deepening shadows. “Was she able to walk? Was Darken carrying her?” She wished he could give her more details.
“She was right here.” Richard looked puzzled. “They couldn’t have gone far.”
The setting sun glinted through the trees and Cara caught a flash of white.
Kahlan’s dress.
“She’s over there,” Cara whispered. “Quiet. We don’t want to give ourselves away.”
As the three skirted the trees, creeping ever closer, soft sounds drifted over to them.
A woman’s voice.
It was Kahlan.
Cara inched nearer, hunched down in the grass, trying to make sense of the words.
“This is all happening so fast, Darken, I can hardly take it in.”
Darken!
Kahlan never called him by his given name.
“I don’t understand it either, Kahlan, but if I’ve learned one thing from being dead and resurrected, it’s that you have to seize the moment.”
Cara felt a painful lurch in under her ribs. She would have known that velvet purr anywhere, but she had never heard it infused with such tenderness, such sincerity.
“I wish I could give you a jewel worthy of your beauty, my love, but I no longer have armies at my command, a treasury, my signet ring or, really, anything more than the filthy clothes on my back, but everything I do have is yours.”
The Mord’Sith wondered if her hearing was amiss. It was Darken’s voice, but speaking words that he would never allow to pass his lips.
“I know what you mean, darling,” Kahlan murmured. “It’s frightening to think that I almost killed the only man I could ever love.”
“Then what’s your answer?”
Kahlan’s laughter was like music wafting through the air. “Yes. Yes! Of course it’s yes, you silly man.”
“No!”
Richard burst out of concealment to push his way over to his lover, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her away from his brother. “No - I won’t let this happen. This isn’t you, Kahlan,” he begged. “Can’t you see the truth? It’s Richard. I’m the man you love, not him.”
There was no point in hiding any longer. Cara and Zedd emerged from the trees to join Richard.
Snarling at Richard’s presumption, Darken stepped between the Seeker and the Confessor. “Release her, brother. If you so much as harm a hair on her head, I swear I’ll -“ he turned to Kahlan, his eyes narrowed in concern. “Are you all right, sweetling? I won’t let him harm you”
Sweetling!
Cara didn’t know whether to laugh, strike both of them with an agiel or throw up.
As Darken shoved Richard away from Kahlan, the Seeker reached for his sword only to be stopped by the Confessor’s cry of protest. “Richard, no! Stop it! You can’t kill the man I love.”
For the second time that day, Richard lowered his sword in confusion. “Kahlan, listen to yourself,” he begged. “Darken must be controlling you with dark magic to make you act this way. Don’t you know me? It’s me - Richard, the Seeker of Truth. It’s me you want, not him.”
“Maybe Rahl’s put you under a spell that makes you see him in my body,” Richard added with pathetic hopefulness.
“You don’t have to keep introducing yourself to me, Richard. I can see both you and Darken quite clearly. Don’t address me as if I were a child.” Kahlan’s tone was gentle but firm. She rested her head against Darken’s shoulder. “And I see the truth more clearly now than I ever have.” Her eyes met Richard’s pleading gaze. “I’ll always care for you, but Darken and I are meant for each other.”
For the first time, Kahlan noticed Cara and Zedd standing behind Richard, their mouths agape in astonishment.
“Zedd, Cara, I have the most wonderful news. Darken’s asked me to marry him, and I’ve said yes.” Kahlan beamed at her friends. Noting their stunned demeanors, she pouted. “I would be nice if you would be just a little bit happy for me. After all, I can finally be with a man without worrying about confessing him.”
“I didn’t plan on this, brother,” Darken was trying to explain. With Kahlan now back safely in his arms he appeared unruffled by Richard’s angry glare. “It just happened. Kahlan and I were arguing one minute, and then - it was like a thunderbolt. She and I both felt it. We suddenly realized that we belonged together.”
Yes - that’s exactly what it was like,” Kahlan wrapped her arms tightly around Darken’s waist. “You have such a way with words, darling,” she said in a teasing voice, nuzzling her face against his neck.
“You bring out the best in me, sweetheart,” Darken breathed into her ear. “That tickles,’ she giggled, gazing at him with a rapt expression. Then threading her slender fingers through his long matted hair, she pulled him into a passionate kiss.
Both Richard and Darken moaned at the same time.
“I told you it was too horrible to believe.” The Seeker looked imploringly at Cara and Zedd, who could only nod numbly in agreement. ‘Please make it stop, Zedd.” Richard beseeched his grandfather. “He’s done something to her.”
Swept by a sudden suspicion, Cara reached into her pocket and touched the amulet, remembering her words during Darken and Kahlan’s earlier confrontation.
You might as well be married even now. Maybe if you were, the rest of us could get some peace.
This was impossible.
Mord’Sith couldn’t wield magic, they repelled it.
They were only words said in anger, nothing more.
“Darken had nothing to do with this, Richard,” Cara said with authority, trying to quell her uneasiness. Richard’s constant blaming was becoming tiresome. “Anybody with eyes in their head can see that both of them are in the grip of these,” she struggled to find the right word, “feelings.”
“She’s right, my boy,” Zedd admitted, sounding reluctant. “If there’s magic involved, it has spelled them both.”
“The only magic at work, Zedd, is the magic of our love.” Kahlan announced, her hand clasped in Darken’s . “I know this is going to be difficult for all of you to accept, but the only thing that matters is that the two of us are going to be together - in every way.”
Richard moaned again.
Now that everything was settled, the Confessor smiled happily at all of them. “We have so much to do - I have to plan the wedding at Aydindril -
“The People’s Palace,” Darken corrected her gently. “They want to kill me at Aydindril - remember?”
“I’ll take care of that little matter, darling.” Kahlan’s smile tightened briefly at the interruption before she continued, “I have to order a new white dress as soon as we arrive.”
“Red. You’ll be wearing a red dress.” Darken’s voice had sharpened. “You’ll be wearing a red dress when we get married - at the People’s Palace.”
“The Mother Confessor always wears white,” she countered, a chill creeping into her tone. “She wears a white dress when she takes a mate - at the Confessor’s Palace.”
“The Queen of D’Hara always wears red,” he refused to budge.
Kahlan laughed a little shakily, giving Darken a quick peck on the cheek. “We can talk about it later, dear. Let’s not argue in front of our friends. It’s been a long day and I’m starving.”
A joyous grin split Zedd’s face at the mention of food . “Dear one, that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day. I’m hungry enough to eat a horse.”
Zedd led the way as the Merry Band trekked back to the comfort of their evening meal while Richard hung back, glowering at the backs of the happy couple..
Cara brought up the rear, plagued by worry. For days she had been brooding over everyone’s shortcomings. Now she was beginning to wonder if she were the problem.
The amulet burned against her skin.
Chapter 1
Next chapter here
Length: 2200~
Rating: T (Mild sexual references)
Pairing: Darken/Kahlan, Richard/Kahlan, references to past Darken/Cara
Spoilers: Set Post - "Tears"- Goes AU before the end of "Extinction". Darken never left the Merry Band and stayed with them through the battle against the Keeper.
Summary: Cara is tired of everybody depending on her but never listening to her advice - this time, it's going to be different.
Read Chapter 1
Made for Each Other.
The afternoon sun was sinking below the tree tops when she rejoined Zedd on the far side of the glade. The wizard was surrounded by a pile of persimmon seeds and peach pits, and was so engrossed in chewing that he didn’t notice her approach until she loomed over him. The least he could have done was gather some firewood, but like everything else, that had been left up to her.
‘”Caruh aruhh, arou u goi to hunh fo sooom foo? Raboisteooh woobe goo.”
What was he nattering on about? His mouth was so full of fruit she couldn’t understand a word he was saying, but by the way he gestured toward her bow Cara surmised that he wanted more food.
Raboisteooh - Rabbit stew?
“I’ll get your rabbits for you, Wizard, but I expect you and Richard to have a fire going and the cooking pot prepared when I return.” Ignoring Zedd’s gooey grin, Cara strode into the forest, armed for the hunt. There was little challenge to finding fresh game in these woods, and she knew there would be no need for weapons, but she felt naked without them.
She returned within the hour, a string of rabbits slung over her back, only to find Zedd still chomping away and no firewood in sight. The wizard beamed at her when she tossed the fresh kill at his feet.
“Where’s Richard?” she asked, a knot of unease forming in the pit of her stomach. Surely if one of them had been injured there would be an outcry. ”Why hasn’t he come back to help?” Zedd shrugged his bony shoulders, reaching for another peach. “Don knoo, oor tha wai, I ges” he garbled, biting through the yellow rind.
Over that way, I guess. Cara regarded the gluttony with distaste as she tried to decipher the words.
The Wizard had always loved a good meal, but this was getting ridiculous. “Zedd, you’re going to make yourself sick. Why don’t you stop eating for a few minutes while I prepare the fire and heat some fresh water, or you won’t have any appetite left for hot stew?”
It was like talking to a child.
Why were all of them acting like such children?
He waved her away with a smile. “Don worr, Il sti behhuhhngy.” Shaking her head in defeat, Cara left his side. She would have to make several trips to gather enough wood to last the night.
How had these people ever survived before she came along?
Grousing to herself over the helplessness of her charges, she trekked back and forth between the forest and the clearing, until there was sufficient fuel to see them through to morning.
None of the others had yet returned.
The slope of the land made it impossible to see to the other side of the clearing from the campsite, and Cara pondered whether she should fetch the others. The silence was a little unnerving, but she was tired of being a glorified babysitter. Most evenings, Richard and Kahlan would wander off to spend time alone, but they would not have done so this night, not if it meant leaving Darken to his own devices.
Maybe Darken wasn’t alive.
Maybe he had escaped.
Maybe - she should never have left the three of them alone together.
Cara pushed herself to her feet. “I’m going to find the others and bring them back,” she told Zedd. “It’s getting - “
“ZEEDDD!”
It was Richard, his voice edged with panic.
Something terrible had happened.
Cara knew it.
The Seeker came loping over the hill, panting and disheveled. “Zedd! Cara! Please - hurry! You have to help Kahlan,” he bent over, grabbing his knees, trying to draw in deep gulps of air. “It’s horrible. I couldn’t stop it.” The young man’s features twisted in anguish.
Zedd dropped his half-eaten peach and rushed to his grandson’s side. “Take me to her, son. You know I’ll do anything I can.”
“What is it, Richard?” Cara barked, grabbing her bow, checking her agiels, trying to imagine every dreadful possibility. “Is Kahlan dead? Where is she?”
“No, she’s still alive, but it’s the worst-.” Richard was almost in tears, his eyes wide with shock. “It’s - Rahl. I can’t even talk about it. He did something - something so terrible I can’t even - “
“What?” Cara grabbed him by the shoulders and started shaking. “What did he do? Tell me.”
She didn’t believe it.
Even if he’d had the inclination, Darken wasn’t stupid enough to assault Kahlan with his brother nearby. Richard would have killed him in a heartbeat.
“Darken wasn’t even armed, Richard. He has no magic. What could he have done to her?” Cara was torn between anger and fear.
“Easy, Cara. Give the boy some room,” the Wizard chided before turning to his grandson. “Take us to Kahlan, my boy. I swear, if that demon has harmed her - “
Richard had finally managed to catch his breath, but was still barely coherent. “Come with me. I’ll show you.”
“Hurry! There’s no time to tarry. If we don’t get there right now it will be too late. Rahl will - ” his voice broke, unable to speak further.
Her heart thudding in her chest, Cara raced ahead of the two men, a blur of red, not halting until she reached the edge of the woods where she had left the trio earlier in the afternoon.
Nothing.
Richard caught up to her, with Zedd lagging close behind.
“There’s no one here, Richard. Where was Kahlan when you saw her last?” Cara was peering about her, trying to see into the deepening shadows. “Was she able to walk? Was Darken carrying her?” She wished he could give her more details.
“She was right here.” Richard looked puzzled. “They couldn’t have gone far.”
The setting sun glinted through the trees and Cara caught a flash of white.
Kahlan’s dress.
“She’s over there,” Cara whispered. “Quiet. We don’t want to give ourselves away.”
As the three skirted the trees, creeping ever closer, soft sounds drifted over to them.
A woman’s voice.
It was Kahlan.
Cara inched nearer, hunched down in the grass, trying to make sense of the words.
“This is all happening so fast, Darken, I can hardly take it in.”
Darken!
Kahlan never called him by his given name.
“I don’t understand it either, Kahlan, but if I’ve learned one thing from being dead and resurrected, it’s that you have to seize the moment.”
Cara felt a painful lurch in under her ribs. She would have known that velvet purr anywhere, but she had never heard it infused with such tenderness, such sincerity.
“I wish I could give you a jewel worthy of your beauty, my love, but I no longer have armies at my command, a treasury, my signet ring or, really, anything more than the filthy clothes on my back, but everything I do have is yours.”
The Mord’Sith wondered if her hearing was amiss. It was Darken’s voice, but speaking words that he would never allow to pass his lips.
“I know what you mean, darling,” Kahlan murmured. “It’s frightening to think that I almost killed the only man I could ever love.”
“Then what’s your answer?”
Kahlan’s laughter was like music wafting through the air. “Yes. Yes! Of course it’s yes, you silly man.”
“No!”
Richard burst out of concealment to push his way over to his lover, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her away from his brother. “No - I won’t let this happen. This isn’t you, Kahlan,” he begged. “Can’t you see the truth? It’s Richard. I’m the man you love, not him.”
There was no point in hiding any longer. Cara and Zedd emerged from the trees to join Richard.
Snarling at Richard’s presumption, Darken stepped between the Seeker and the Confessor. “Release her, brother. If you so much as harm a hair on her head, I swear I’ll -“ he turned to Kahlan, his eyes narrowed in concern. “Are you all right, sweetling? I won’t let him harm you”
Sweetling!
Cara didn’t know whether to laugh, strike both of them with an agiel or throw up.
As Darken shoved Richard away from Kahlan, the Seeker reached for his sword only to be stopped by the Confessor’s cry of protest. “Richard, no! Stop it! You can’t kill the man I love.”
For the second time that day, Richard lowered his sword in confusion. “Kahlan, listen to yourself,” he begged. “Darken must be controlling you with dark magic to make you act this way. Don’t you know me? It’s me - Richard, the Seeker of Truth. It’s me you want, not him.”
“Maybe Rahl’s put you under a spell that makes you see him in my body,” Richard added with pathetic hopefulness.
“You don’t have to keep introducing yourself to me, Richard. I can see both you and Darken quite clearly. Don’t address me as if I were a child.” Kahlan’s tone was gentle but firm. She rested her head against Darken’s shoulder. “And I see the truth more clearly now than I ever have.” Her eyes met Richard’s pleading gaze. “I’ll always care for you, but Darken and I are meant for each other.”
For the first time, Kahlan noticed Cara and Zedd standing behind Richard, their mouths agape in astonishment.
“Zedd, Cara, I have the most wonderful news. Darken’s asked me to marry him, and I’ve said yes.” Kahlan beamed at her friends. Noting their stunned demeanors, she pouted. “I would be nice if you would be just a little bit happy for me. After all, I can finally be with a man without worrying about confessing him.”
“I didn’t plan on this, brother,” Darken was trying to explain. With Kahlan now back safely in his arms he appeared unruffled by Richard’s angry glare. “It just happened. Kahlan and I were arguing one minute, and then - it was like a thunderbolt. She and I both felt it. We suddenly realized that we belonged together.”
Yes - that’s exactly what it was like,” Kahlan wrapped her arms tightly around Darken’s waist. “You have such a way with words, darling,” she said in a teasing voice, nuzzling her face against his neck.
“You bring out the best in me, sweetheart,” Darken breathed into her ear. “That tickles,’ she giggled, gazing at him with a rapt expression. Then threading her slender fingers through his long matted hair, she pulled him into a passionate kiss.
Both Richard and Darken moaned at the same time.
“I told you it was too horrible to believe.” The Seeker looked imploringly at Cara and Zedd, who could only nod numbly in agreement. ‘Please make it stop, Zedd.” Richard beseeched his grandfather. “He’s done something to her.”
Swept by a sudden suspicion, Cara reached into her pocket and touched the amulet, remembering her words during Darken and Kahlan’s earlier confrontation.
You might as well be married even now. Maybe if you were, the rest of us could get some peace.
This was impossible.
Mord’Sith couldn’t wield magic, they repelled it.
They were only words said in anger, nothing more.
“Darken had nothing to do with this, Richard,” Cara said with authority, trying to quell her uneasiness. Richard’s constant blaming was becoming tiresome. “Anybody with eyes in their head can see that both of them are in the grip of these,” she struggled to find the right word, “feelings.”
“She’s right, my boy,” Zedd admitted, sounding reluctant. “If there’s magic involved, it has spelled them both.”
“The only magic at work, Zedd, is the magic of our love.” Kahlan announced, her hand clasped in Darken’s . “I know this is going to be difficult for all of you to accept, but the only thing that matters is that the two of us are going to be together - in every way.”
Richard moaned again.
Now that everything was settled, the Confessor smiled happily at all of them. “We have so much to do - I have to plan the wedding at Aydindril -
“The People’s Palace,” Darken corrected her gently. “They want to kill me at Aydindril - remember?”
“I’ll take care of that little matter, darling.” Kahlan’s smile tightened briefly at the interruption before she continued, “I have to order a new white dress as soon as we arrive.”
“Red. You’ll be wearing a red dress.” Darken’s voice had sharpened. “You’ll be wearing a red dress when we get married - at the People’s Palace.”
“The Mother Confessor always wears white,” she countered, a chill creeping into her tone. “She wears a white dress when she takes a mate - at the Confessor’s Palace.”
“The Queen of D’Hara always wears red,” he refused to budge.
Kahlan laughed a little shakily, giving Darken a quick peck on the cheek. “We can talk about it later, dear. Let’s not argue in front of our friends. It’s been a long day and I’m starving.”
A joyous grin split Zedd’s face at the mention of food . “Dear one, that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day. I’m hungry enough to eat a horse.”
Zedd led the way as the Merry Band trekked back to the comfort of their evening meal while Richard hung back, glowering at the backs of the happy couple..
Cara brought up the rear, plagued by worry. For days she had been brooding over everyone’s shortcomings. Now she was beginning to wonder if she were the problem.
The amulet burned against her skin.
Chapter 1
Next chapter here