LL fic - Adventures in babysitting
Calming
Cara scowled at the scene before her. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned against a nearby tree trunk. “You do realize that we’re already falling behind. We need to return to the city before word spreads that -“
A loud wail cut Cara’s off and the frown on her face deepened even further. Her eyes followed Kahlan’s form, walking from end of the small clearing to the other.
The small child she was bouncing on her hip didn’t seem to care whether or not they were moving. The crying hadn’t stopped since the moment they’d broken camp earlier in the day.
Somehow Richard and Zedd had managed to get away just in time, claiming to scout ahead. Cara, however, was sure that they’d only offered to do so in order to get away from the unhappy child.
It was a small girl with large blue eyes and dark tufts of hair on her face, and Cara found that she looked a lot like Kahlan, even if there was no blood relation whatsoever.
Another pair of light blue eyes glanced at her. “We need to calm her down first Cara.”
The Mord’Sith rolled her eyes. Kahlan had been trying to soothe the girl for almost an hour now without any success at all. Her jaw was tense and the way she held her shoulders told Cara that even the ever so patient Mother Confessor was nearing her breaking point.
Kahlan rocked the girl gently, swaying back and forth on her feet while murmuring quietly. Still the pitiful screaming didn’t stop.
“Would you hold her for a moment? I need to get some water from the stream,” Kahlan said eventually, taking several steps toward Cara.
Dark eyebrows rose to a smooth forehead. “I should go.”
“Cara, please.”
The Mord’Sith huffed quietly and tilted her head from one side to the other. She didn’t want to hold the girl, or get anywhere near her, but the tired look on Kahlan’s face compelled her to open her arms instead. “Fine, but hurry before I hand her off to the next merchant coming this way.”
It was Kahlan’s turn to roll her eyes as she carefully lifted the child and moved her to Cara’s arms. The screams didn’t stop even as Kahlan whispered to the girl and gently touched her forehead.
Cara held her arms away from her body, uncomfortably cradling the girl so that they weren’t actually touching that much.
“I’ll be right back,” Kahlan said as she left the small clearing with their water skins.
Cara began moving around, not bouncing like Kahlan, but rather walking with purpose from one end of the clearing to the other. She grumbled quietly under her breath, complaining about the situation, the crying child in her arms, the fact that they had to take care of it, the endless noise that would attract enemies, the…
Cara stopped. She looked down and found herself staring into large blue eyes and a tiny happy smile.