Cara's Apartment, MHA 9, Sunday

[harpy_daughter]

Cara and Richard had been... dispatched. It had happened so fast that Surreal didn't know the details of it, or care, but she was now alone in the apartment with Cara's Priestess and acutely aware of it

Comments

[not_objective]

"They're getting food, so hopefully more than long enough." Kahlan had hoped to ease into this, but she couldn't fault Cara for liking someone sharp in more ways than the immediately obvious.

[harpy_daughter]

Sorry, Kahlan, but the only day Surreal made anything easy for anyone was probably going to be the day she died.

"Well, we did just get the small talk out of the way, so you don't have to waste time on pretending to care about other things," Surreal offered helpfully, and if she was just going to pin her garrote back into her hair, well, that's because she was done with the cleaning and that's where it belonged and it wasn't a deliberate threat. Mostly. "So now you've saved an hour."

[not_objective]

"I don't pretend to care about those other things." She mightn't have reached the heights of Richard's earnestness, but Kahlan was that sincere. "Despite what Cara say, we do care about her for more than her ability to glare at people."

[harpy_daughter]

"Obviously. Otherwise why bother to come visit and not just drag her back to your Realm to glare at people for you?" Really, now, Kahlan. "But what are you caring so carefully that you have to get her out of the building to ask me a question?"

[not_objective]

Oh, because it was Kahlan's fault Cara liked glaring at people when she visited.

"You may have noticed Cara doesn't like to talk about things upsetting her." Though it was a very subtle character trait, easy to miss. "Even when it's obvious they are."

[harpy_daughter]

"Most people don't like to talk about things that upset them. Because they are things that are upsetting." Shocking, really. "Besides, talking doesn't fix things, it just pisses people off and makes them tell you to stop whining or bitching."

"If you're asking what bee crawled up her butt lately, it has to do with landing naked in a duck pond." Surreal shrugged and kept sorting through her daggers. "I calculated her fall wrong."

[not_objective]

Uh-huh. And Cara had no doubt given her the impression that neither Kahlan nor Richard liked hearing people talk about their feelings.

"I'm sure her dignity suffered greatly," Kahlan said, and if she wasn't concerned, she'd be trying not to laugh. "But a bruised ego didn't have her ready to draw a weapon on anyone who looked at us wrong, or refusing to sleep to the point Richard had to order her to share our bed."

If Surreal thought the sleeping arrangements the last few days had been awkward...

[harpy_daughter]

Surreal looked up from her daggers long enough just to quirk an eyebrow at Kahlan and smirk. She remained silent juuuuuust long enough for it to get uncomfortable before giving a one-shouldered shrug. "And when doesn't Cara draw a weapon on people who look at her wrong?"

She was... going to step around the not-sleeping bit for just a moment, because Surreal was going to need to take Cara to task for that later.

[not_objective]

Cara would protest she was sleeping perfectly fine...now...sometimes...enough to cope. There was a reason this conversation was happening with Surreal.

"I didn't say they were looking at her wrong." Kahlan had actually given up caring if people who ignored the Mother Confessor's orders not to start things with her got a bit bruised, not that she was telling Cara that. "Her hand barely left her agiel even when it was just the three of us. Don't pretend you think that's normal, even for her."

[harpy_daughter]

Surreal sighed and set down her blades, laying her hands flat on the floor. "Look," she said, looking Kahlan directly in the eyes. "Cara would not be thanking you for poking about like this behind her back, and you know it. Vigilance brings her comfort. The agiels bring her comfort. As long as she's started sleeping again, let it go. She'll wind-down once she feels safe."

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair absently. "Sometimes the island is cruel and nightmares become real; she's just making sure she's not trapped dreaming again. She'll feel better and sleep harder once she's kicked my ass around a sparring arena a few times."

[not_objective]

Kahlan wouldn't be going behind Cara's back if she hadn't had to deal with her being willing to die rather than ask for help. Literally. On more than one occasion.

Still she didn't need to be a Confessor (though it helped) to see she wasn't going to get more detail than that out of Surreal.

"So naked in a duckpond, you say?"

[harpy_daughter]

"She had to jump. From an airship," Surreal said, miming it with her hands. "I caught her with magic, but misjudged how fast she was going and her weight..."

Surreal wasn't smirking, really. "We ended up in the duck pond. Luckily the onsen was open."

[not_objective]

"I can imagine how much she enjoyed that." Kahlan was also not smirking. "Why did she need to jump in the first place?"

She wanted to know why Cara was on this ship, but she suspected she'd just hit another stone wall if she asked.

[harpy_daughter]

"It was an airship; it was up in the air," Surreal repeated cheerfully. "They weren't exactly wanting to dock and let their captives off, now were they?"

That was about as much as a hint as she was going to give on this. Surreal took Cara's trust seriously, and didn't want to betray it. Not even to her Priestess.

"I caught the damsel and was quite the dashing hero, up until the duck pond."

[not_objective]

It was enough of one for Kahlan, and despite her current frustration, that Surreal wouldn't betray Cara's trust was far preferable to the alternative. That... hadn't ended well for anyone.

Also...

"Awwww." Had Cara pointed out that someone was ridiculously romantic?