Title: Privacy, A Series of Scenes
Author: AngelicSinner / VixenRaign
Pairing: Kahlan/Cara (pre-slash for now, but more than that soon), Richard/Kahlan, with appearances by Dahlia
Rating: G - R (PG-13 for now, maybe R later)
Warnings: Contains Femslash, and my rampant reinterpretation of how things may have gone after the end of Season 2. (Also contains reoccurring non-sexy voyeurism (aka “spying”), usually by Kahlan. ‘Cause that Mother Confessor? She’s a snoop!)
Disclaimer: I do not own “Legend of the Seeker”, not do I even own copies of the “Sword of Truth” book series. They belong to Terry Goodkind, ABC and Disney TV. I make no profit, nor would I like to. This is all in good fun.
Author’s Note: I’ve always been fascinated by people, the way they are when they are alone with just one other person; who they allow themselves to be in the company of a trusted friend. The secret parts of themselves they reveal to just one, the way that brings them closer and allows them to understand each other in ways others could not…
Summery: Post “Tears”/Season 2. Life is complicated. So are people. And to quote a great comic book, “The thing about changing the world? Once you do it, the world’s all different.”
Time-Line:
angelicsinner.livejournal.com/9250.html Takes place directly after “Restless Hearts, Sleepless Nights”
A New Life by Morning
Scene Summery: Kahlan awakes, and Cara is there to greet the morning with her. It’s a whole new day, and like a new world.
When Kahlan awoke, it was to a quiet pop from a log in the fireplace. Her eyes opened to find her arm stretched over across the bed, which was empty. Her brows knit together, traces of disappointment and concern swirling to the surface slowly in her still half-asleep mind. As she drew her hand back to herself, she felt that the bed still held a lasting warmth from where Cara had been not too long ago. Sitting up a bit her eyes went to the hearth, where upon sat the blonde herself, suddenly still and staring back.
"Did I wake you?" she asked quietly. Kahlan shook her head gently, feeling her long hair brush her shoulders. She smiled warmly at her friend, who looked relieved. Cara grinned back lightly. "The water is nearly done, if you'd like some tea?" She offered. Kahlan shook her head, and moved to sit up more, pulling the blankets around her shoulders as she rested against the headboard.
The bed and the quilts had a deep, lingering warmth still in them from their sleeping, but the air in the room was crisp with the morning's coolness. Kahlan smiled down into the folds of the blankets tucked under her chin, embarrassed to admit even only to herself that this was what she expected young married couples her age felt most mornings. What I thought the morning after my wedding would be like, she realized bashfully. She giggled to herself even further, reprimanding her mind for thinking such things, we did nothing - only sleep! she reminded. But she was happy, in a very good mood; she felt rested and warm (for what felt like the first time in days), and Cara was smiling at her as though amused.
"Are you always like this when you first wake up?" She asked Kahlan curiously. The brunette shook her head, then shrugged, thinking better of it. Cara lifted an eyebrow at her before chuckling lightly, thoroughly amused. The blonde pulled the copper kettle from off of the fire and poured some water into a cup with a small sieve of leaves in it. She then filled a small bowl with a towel beside it that rested on the short cinder-catch around her hearth. Kahlan blushed slightly, realizing what that was for.
Cara, however, did not appear embarrassed or shy at all. As she stood and turned she pulled the straps of her shift off from her shoulders, and dipping the towel in the steaming water, began to wash her face, her arms, her neck, her shoulders; each small part given diligent attention, but ever efficient... Kahlan watched the Mord'Sith go about this, her back towards the bed, allowing the Confessor to take in this morning ritual with greedy eyes. She felt greedy, anyway, for how much she wanted to watch this, simple an act as it was, for how much she savored the extra inch or so of skin at the blonde's back it revealed. If she knew that I was watching her this way, she probably wouldn't be doing this right in front of me, Kahlan thought guiltily, she might not trust me again.
But then she could tell that the blonde was washing across her chest, and between her breasts, which must have been sensitive, as she gasped as the warm cloth ran over her skin. Kahlan forced her head to turn away, and shut her eyes, as she felt a small bolt of arousal spiral down her spine until she could feel it nestling low in her belly just as she was nestled in the warm covers. She tried to take a deep, even breath through her nose, but the lingering scent of the Mord'Sith hung on the blankets wrapped around her, and she felt trapped. If one could even call it trapped, by such a wonderful (if somewhat overwhelming) feeling. When she let the breath back out, she could feel a tremble in it, and shook her head, wanting to laugh at herself.
"You can go back to sleep if you wish," Cara told her as she pulled her shift back over her shoulders, wringing the towel out and hanging it over her grate to dry. "I will make sure you have enough time to sneak back into your chambers before Sparrow wakes up." she reassured.
"Did my sleeping here bother you?" Kahlan asked. Cara frowned, shaking her head as she approached.
"No. Why?" she asked, sitting down beside the Confessor at the edge of the bed.
"Then why are you up this early?"
Cara just smirked. "I am always up this early, Mother Confessor." Kahlan just shook her head, bemused.
"I'm sorry, I forgot; you're inhuman." Kahlan muttered dryly. Cara just laughed, reaching under her bed and retrieving her boots from beneath.
"It has become easier to lose sight of that fact recently, hasn't it?" She joked back. Kahlan just chuckled. "Did you sleep well enough?" Cara asked curiously. "Well, once you managed at actually fall asleep?" she teased. Kahlan blushed.
"Yes, thank you, I slept very well." She murmured in a small voice.
"Well I am glad, Confessor. You already work hard enough to make the average person sick. You may be the most powerful Mother Confessor in about a thousand years, but (unlike myself) you are still human. You should take better care of yourself, Kahlan." She couldn't help but smile at the concern, that her hard work ethic was appreciated by someone she knew as a friend, and not just some sniveling politician. "Do you think you've caught up enough on your sleep?" Kahlan just nodded.
"Yes. Enough to get through today just fine, certainly better than the last few."
"Your rooms are freezing, Kahlan. I can't believe you hadn't told me sooner."
"I'm glad to know it isn't all in my mind," the brunette admitted, "A part of me wondered if it was just some strange manifestation of loneliness, or some seasonal depression taking hold of me year after year." Cara shook her head.
"I think it is your windows,” the blonde said simply. Kahlan raised an eyebrow. "And your ceilings." her brow rose higher, and she blinked slowly, silently conveying her confusion. "The high ceilings make the rooms significantly bigger, and as heat rises, not much of it lingers where you need it. Added into that, your rooms are stone floors and stone walls, which retain cold a lot better than heat, and while your large windows provide hansom views and light no doubt, they are also easily letting out what little warmth you do have through the thin panes of glass." Kahlan blinked as she thought about this, realizing the woman was probably right.
"By the same logic, the reasons your room is so warm by comparison would be-"
"Smaller, shorter, one narrow window, wood floors and plaster walls, yes." Cara interrupted, nodding. Kahlan smirked.
"So sometimes economy really does pay." she chuckled.
"Practicality." the Mord'Sith corrected, almost prideful. "One does not need such a large bed, or a large room or large windows. What may seem like a luxury in one season is actually a burden in another. One must think of all seasons." Cara scoffed, smiling. "And considering Aydindril is so high in the mountains, you'd think the architect of the Confessor's Palace would have given it more consideration."
Kahlan found herself wanting to defend her city and her home and her fellow Confessors, but Cara had some valid points that she'd suffered through enough to know how right the other woman was. But a part of her couldn't help being amused by how their being Mord'Sith and Confessor had somehow turned into a playful rivalry rather than the sworn blood-enemies they were created by wizards to be. She supposed, given enough time, anything could change.
"You may sleep here whenever you like," Cara offered, though Kahlan noticed how her eyes drifted down to the boots in her hands as she'd said it, as though she were embarrassed. "Or, if you like, I can see what I might be able to do to correct it." The Confessor shook her head.
"I enjoyed it," she insisted, though somewhat bashfully, "I even liked having someone to speak to at night, even if just until I fell asleep." Cara looked back at her, and slowly her smile returned. She nodded.
"No one has even received a second invitation to my bed before, Mother Confessor." She offered playfully, her voice thick with innuendo. Kahlan laughed heartily.
"And no one's ever survived a night with me while retaining their free will." She joked back. Cara chuckled, shaking her head. "Strange how we are each others' firsts in so many things." The Mord'Sith nodded as she moved to get back up.
"Rest, at least," Cara insisted as she sat on her cinder-catch and got out her boot polish. "You needn't be up for a little while longer." Kahlan decided she would try and sleep some more, and scooted back down the bed until her head found a pillow again. She turned her face into it, to hide a grin she couldn't seem to shake.
~ AngelicSinner / VixenRaign
(Sorry again! Only about 1800-words... But (I think?) I have all of the next chapter written! So the two-day-delay pattern might be fully back on track! Woohoo!)