Conflict (Legend of the Seeker, Kahlan ---> Cara, r)
Title: Conflict
Author/Artist: shiegra
Rating: r
Word count: 404
Summary: She cannot lie to herself.
Prompt: Legend of the Seeker - Kahlan/Cara - jealousy of Dahlia - "...I don't trust her"
Kahlan rubbed her thumb, gently, along the hilt of her knife.
It wasn't just Dahlia's presence that bothered her to this extent. She didn't trust the Mord'Sith, but Richard was forgiving; it was his nature. He might keep a sharp eye on her -- he'd learned that much -- but he was always the first to offer a second chance. And she loved him for it, even if it sometimes made their lives more difficult than was strictly necessary.
It was Cara.
Dahlia didn't approve of them. It was not a novel thing, to be disapproved of by a Mord'Sith -- compared to the usual attempted murder, it was positively refreshing. But Dahlia meant something to Cara -- and what she said changed the way Cara looked at them.
Small changes. Tiny ways that the skin flinched around her eyes, or her mouth settled into a hard line, or nuances in her tone that shifted, uncomfortable, unanswerable.
Kahlan didn't like it.
Kahlan wasn't blind. She saw the way they moved together, the way they looked at each other -- the way they retreated from the fire at night together. She could make a good guess as to what they did together.
And was that the problem?
Kahlan was a Confessor. She sought the truth in everything, even her own heart. Was that the problem? The fact that she could imagine what they did to one another, Cara's bare skin bared, her wet hungry mouth, the sound of deep satisfaction Dahlia made occasionally after a hard and satisfying victory.
Was it jealousy -- a possessiveness unbecoming of the Mother Confessor?
If Richard felt the same way, he kept it to himself the same way Kahlan did. And Kahlan could not bear to ask, and bare this particular vulnerability, this human weakness, to even his forgiving scrutiny.
She hated this unsurety. But she couldn't help but feel it, because sometimes when she closed her eyes at night she watched Cara bend over Dahlia's breast, her fingers sure and beautifully cruel on her skin, her teeth setting against her throat, her nipple, her belly. And all the shame and frustration Kahlan felt didn't stop her wayward thoughts.
No, Kahlan didn't trust Dahlia. She did't know her, and her wariness of the Mord'Sith was as natural as breathing. But she knew, in her heart, that her lack of trust was the least of her problems with Dahlia's presence.
Author/Artist: shiegra
Rating: r
Word count: 404
Summary: She cannot lie to herself.
Prompt: Legend of the Seeker - Kahlan/Cara - jealousy of Dahlia - "...I don't trust her"
Kahlan rubbed her thumb, gently, along the hilt of her knife.
It wasn't just Dahlia's presence that bothered her to this extent. She didn't trust the Mord'Sith, but Richard was forgiving; it was his nature. He might keep a sharp eye on her -- he'd learned that much -- but he was always the first to offer a second chance. And she loved him for it, even if it sometimes made their lives more difficult than was strictly necessary.
It was Cara.
Dahlia didn't approve of them. It was not a novel thing, to be disapproved of by a Mord'Sith -- compared to the usual attempted murder, it was positively refreshing. But Dahlia meant something to Cara -- and what she said changed the way Cara looked at them.
Small changes. Tiny ways that the skin flinched around her eyes, or her mouth settled into a hard line, or nuances in her tone that shifted, uncomfortable, unanswerable.
Kahlan didn't like it.
Kahlan wasn't blind. She saw the way they moved together, the way they looked at each other -- the way they retreated from the fire at night together. She could make a good guess as to what they did together.
And was that the problem?
Kahlan was a Confessor. She sought the truth in everything, even her own heart. Was that the problem? The fact that she could imagine what they did to one another, Cara's bare skin bared, her wet hungry mouth, the sound of deep satisfaction Dahlia made occasionally after a hard and satisfying victory.
Was it jealousy -- a possessiveness unbecoming of the Mother Confessor?
If Richard felt the same way, he kept it to himself the same way Kahlan did. And Kahlan could not bear to ask, and bare this particular vulnerability, this human weakness, to even his forgiving scrutiny.
She hated this unsurety. But she couldn't help but feel it, because sometimes when she closed her eyes at night she watched Cara bend over Dahlia's breast, her fingers sure and beautifully cruel on her skin, her teeth setting against her throat, her nipple, her belly. And all the shame and frustration Kahlan felt didn't stop her wayward thoughts.
No, Kahlan didn't trust Dahlia. She did't know her, and her wariness of the Mord'Sith was as natural as breathing. But she knew, in her heart, that her lack of trust was the least of her problems with Dahlia's presence.