LOTS - CARA/DAHLIA

I Loved You First

stopstartstall

Title: I Loved You First

Author: stopstartstall

Pairing: Cara/Dahlia possibly implied Cara/Kahlan (if you squint a bit).

Rating: PG–13

Summary: Cara is drawn to Dahlia and sees things that aren’t there.

Words: ~2000

Disclaimer: Follows ‘And The History Books Forgot About Us…’ so go and read it if you haven’t already!

I Loved You First

stopstartstall

Cara came awake with a start. Someone was outside the door, and they weren’t doing a very good job of being stealthy. She pushed her hair out of her face quickly and reached for her agiels as the door creaked open.

“Cara?”

Cara rolled her eyes. “Kahlan?”

The other woman nodded and stepped further into the room. “Did I wake you?”

“I heard someone outside my room.” Cara said shortly, “I woke up.”

“Sorry. I just wanted to tell you that we’ll be staying here for a while. Richard wants to help rebuild the town. They were part of the resistance and the D’Harans didn’t leave much standing. Richard feels like he owes it to them to help.” Kahlan smiled faintly when she mentioned Richard’s name now, Cara noticed, and was surprised to find it irritating.

She sighed, Richard felt like he owed it to everyone to help. Still he was her Lord Rahl, and she hadn’t entirely forgotten her training, “Alright. Where do we start?”

Kahlan smiled, “We?”

“Yes, we. I assume that’s why you came to tell me.”

Kahlan shook her head, “Richard said he’d do it alone. I just wanted to tell you we were staying.”

Cara snorted to herself. She wondered how long it’d be until he hit himself with a hammer or some other disaster befell him.

“Tell Richard I’ll be here when he realizes he needs my help.”

Cara sunk back down onto the bed and wondered at the dream she’d been having. In it she’d been a girl, back in her cold cell in the temple where she’d been trained. She hadn’t been alone.

* * * * *

Later, when Cara went down downstairs she was surprised to see Dahlia leaning against the bar as though she hadn’t moved from the night before. She appeared to be arguing with the tavernkeeper but there was a smile on her face and as Cara watched Dahlia began to laugh.

“I don’t know why I keep coming back here with how much you overcharge,” Dahlia’s eyes were warm despite her words, and the tavernkeeper grinned at her as she picked up her purchases and turned to leave. She stopped when she saw Cara and her grin widened.

“Morning.”

Cara nodded her head, “Morning.” Cara had never been good at small talk. She just didn’t understand the point. It was bad enough that Kahlan was always asking her how she felt, now she had to do it with some woman she’d only just met? Dahlia was still staring at her and clearly expecting something else. She fought the urge to roll her eyes, “Are you going hunting?”

Dahlia nodded, “I have an agreement with the butcher and tanner in town.” She hesitated and then glanced away and back quickly, “I’ll be back tonight.”

Cara couldn’t help but hear the question in Dahlia’s words. “Perhaps we’ll see each other later.”

A hopeful expression flickered over Dahlia’s face. “You’re staying? I thought the Seeker was always moving on.”

“He’s helping the townsfolk rebuild what the D’Haran’s destroyed,” Cara replied shortly.

Dahlia stared at her for a long moment then reached out and gripped Cara’s hand. Cara could feel the warmth of it through her leather gloves. She looked down at their hands and when she looked up again she could have sworn Dahlia was wearing the red leather of a Mord’Sith. She blinked and the image was gone, replaced by Dahlia in her brown and green forest garb.

“I’m glad you’ll be staying.”

Before Cara could find the words to answer her, Dahlia had disappeared through the door.

* * * * *

Cara was sitting alone by the fire when the tavern door banged open and Dahlia staggered in. Richard and Kahlan had left Cara to her own devices earlier in the evening after she’d snapped at them one too many times. Kahlan couldn’t understand why Cara was so surly and had finally given up asking. Cara knew it took a lot to exasperate Kahlan, but couldn’t bring herself to care just then.

She couldn’t get Dahlia’s face out of her mind.

Cara looked up when Dahlia entered, and she was halfway across the room before she knew what she was doing. Dahlia staggered and then stumbled, and Cara was there to catch her. She lowered the other woman to the floor and then yelled at the tavernkeeper to get her a clean cloth.

“Dahlia..? Dahlia!” Her face was covered in blood from the wound at her temple. Cara knew from experience that the cut wouldn’t be fatal – it was only shallow but it had bled a lot, and the lack of blood was making Dahlia dizzy. Cara snapped at the shocked tavernkeeper again and he finally brought her a cloth.

Right then, Cara wanted nothing more than to find whoever had done this to the huntress and make them feel the burn of her agiels before they died.

“Cara?” Dahlia tried to reach up to feel her wound but Cara batted her hand away and pressed the cloth to the cut. Dahlia winced. “It was a Shadrin. It surprised me.” She blinked a few times, as if she was trying to clear her head, then said fiercely, “I’m fine, I just need to sit down.” She tried to move but Cara pinned her arms to her side with one arm.

“You won’t be fine until it stops bleeding,” Cara growled. “Stay still. Let me take care of you.” For a moment the room flickered in the firelight, and wooden walls were replaced with cold stone and the eyes looking up at her trustingly were that of a teenager rather than a young woman.

* * * * *

The tavern was deserted when Kahlan came downstairs the next morning. Or at least she thought it was. When she looked again she could see a hunched figure sitting by the dying embers from the fire. She stopped dead when she realized who it was.

Cara was sitting on the floor leaning back against the hearth with her arms wrapped protectively around a bloody woman in front of her. They were both sound asleep.

Kahlan stared then stepped closer. “Cara?” She couldn’t keep the wonder out of her voice. As Kahlan watched, Cara twitched in her sleep and then nuzzled into the other woman’s neck. “Cara?” Kahlan said it a little louder.

Cara twitched again then came awake with a shout, “Mistress, don’t take her from me again.” Her voice broke over the last word: “Please.” She clutched the other woman to her tighter then seemed to realize where she was. Her eyes focused on Kahlan and the colour drained from her face.

“Kahlan.”

Her shout had woken the woman in her arms. She blinked blearily a few times and then her eyes found Kahlan. “Hello.” She didn’t seem at all embarrassed to have woken in the embrace of a Mord’Sith.

“Kahlan.” Cara said her name again but didn’t seem to be able to say anything else. She hastily untangled herself from the other woman and drew herself up. “Do you need me for something?” Her voice was carefully neutral and she avoided meeting the Confessor’s eyes.

Cara had stepped between her and the woman on the floor, Kahlan noticed, although whether to protect her or hide her she wasn’t sure. She looked down at the woman again and then back to Cara. When she saw the fierce look in Cara’s eyes the question died on her lips. Kahlan knew that look. She shook her head in answer to Cara’s question. “I’m going to find Richard.” With another quizzical glance she left the two women alone.

Cara stared after her for a long time before Dahlia broke the silence. “Friend of yours?”

Cara turned to look down at her and ignored the question. She examined the Dahlia’s wound, “You should rest today. You lost a lot of blood. I have a room upstairs.” She pressed her fingers carefully to the cut at Dahlia’s temple.

Dahlia smirked, “You have a room and you made me sleep down here?”

Cara snorted, “I didn’t make you do anything. You fell asleep.”

Dahlia laughed, “So you say.” She met Cara’s eyes, “So you have a room?”

Cara liked the challenge in Dahlia’s eyes. She offered her a hand up, “I’ll show you.”

* * * * *

After much arguing, Cara had left Dahlia alone in her room and headed to where Dahlia had been hunting the day before. Dahlia had wanted to go with her but Cara had refused. She had to do this herself.

She crouched low in some bushes and heard the growl of a Shadrin nearby. She’d been tracking it for an hour now, biding her time. She was waiting for the perfect shot.

She ran her fingers down the feather fletching of an arrow and then raised it to the bow. In one fluid movement, she stepped out of her hiding place and sighted down the arrow before letting it loose. The Shadrin didn’t stand a chance. It slumped to the ground with a roar and Cara grinned in satisfaction.

She pulled the hunting knife she had borrowed from Dahlia from her belt and set to work.

* * * * *

Cara got back to the tavern at sunset. She ignored everyone as she headed for the stairs to her room, though for one brief moment she thought she saw Kahlan’s concerned face in the crowd. She took the stairs two at a time and then paused before the door to her room with her hand on the handle.

She took a breath to steady herself, pulled the Shadrin’s head from where it was stuffed in her pack and then stepped inside. She was tensed as though ready for battle. “Dahlia?”

The room was dark and it took Cara’s eyes a moment to adjust. When they did she nearly dropped the Shadrin’s head in shock. Every ounce of discipline she had ever possessed seemed to desert her in a moment and she found herself speechless.

“I was waiting for you.”

Cara swallowed, then wordlessly lifted the Shadrin’s head slightly.

“You killed it.”

Cara swallowed again. “Yes.” She let the head drop to the floor and took a step closer to the bed. “Dahlia…” Even she was shocked by the suppressed emotion in her voice.

“Take those off.”

Cara could have sworn that Dahlia’s hair was braided like a Mord’Sith but when she looked again it was loose around her shoulders as it had always been. Cara was surprised to find herself trembling as she fumbled to undo the laces that held her leather together.

With an effort, Cara held herself tall and straight under Dahlia’s hungry gaze, the way a proper Mord’Sith should. She didn’t know what it was about the other woman that undid her so. She seemed to have awoken something in her that she hadn’t known was there until this moment.

She met Dahlia’s eyes in the darkness and was amazed at all the things she saw there.

They stayed like that for a long time, until finally Dahlia said, “Come here,” in a husky voice and Cara lowered herself onto the bed fiercely, finding Dahlia’s lips with her own.

It seemed to Cara as though every time she opened her eyes they were in a different room: the wooden tavern, a cold stone cell, a bare room at a temple, and as she ran her fingers over Dahlia’s lean body they seemed to know exactly where to go of their own accord. They melted together as though they’d never been apart.

In the darkness Cara cupped Dahlia’s face in her hands and met the huntress’ eyes and when Dahlia arched up underneath her to meet her lips she felt like she had come home.

~ ~ ~