Five Bingo fics for Legendland - Double Line

[alyse]

Title: Winter's Night
Author: alyse
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Character: Cara/Kahlan/Richard
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 376
Author's Notes: Double line fic written for my legendland bingo card. The two prompts used are: 'they will break you' and 'mistletoe'.

Summary: The shortest day of the year is the longest as far as Cara is concerned.

-o-

The shortest day of the year is the longest as far as Cara is concerned. There's dancing and merrymaking and far too much alcohol, which is still not nearly enough.

She's expected to make nice and Cara doesn't do nice.

Kahlan and Richard are dancing together in the middle of the hall. Kahlan's head is thrown back in laughter, her hair tumbling down her back. Richard's hand is on her waist and he pulls Kahlan closer as Cara watches.

Cara turns away, her heart clenching in her chest.

It's stupid to feel it so deeply. She'd happy for Richard and Kahlan, for the love they can now share, even if she finds their constant declarations irritating. She's happy for them, and yet...

She's not used to wanting what she can't have.

She takes another sip of Winter's Wine, letting the warmth of it sink into her while she watches the other dancers, consciously keeping her eyes away from Richard and Kahlan.

Which is how they manage to take her by surprise.

Kahlan catches hold of her first, spinning her around so that her drink tumbles from her hand. Richard is next, his body pressing up behind her, stopping her from retreating as Kahlan tugs her onto the dance floor.

"Dance with us," Kahlan pleads, laughter still lighting up her face. She spins Cara around again, moving closer and winding her arms around Cara's shoulders.

Richard's hands settle on Cara's hips, his body bracketing hers, hard and warm against her back. She still can't retreat but she's not sure she wants to. Kahlan's eyes are warm and merry when they meet hers, but there's more than simple affection lurking in their depths.

"Good WinterFest," Kahlan says and then turns her gaze to the ceiling above them. When Cara follows Kahlan's look, she spots the verdant greenery adorned with small white berries hanging overhead.

Richard's breath stirs her hair as Kahlan's lips settle over hers, soft and sweet.

"Good WinterFest," Richard murmurs in her ear, turning her around when Kahlan's mouth finally leaves hers. As he kisses her in turn, Cara thinks that maybe she'll reconsider her attitude towards WinterFest. If nothing else, the shortest of days means the longest of nights, and Cara's looking forward to that.

The End

-o-

Title: Ouroboros
Author: alyse
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Character: Cara/Dahlia
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 329
Author's Notes: Double line fic written for my legendland bingo card. The two prompts used are: 'make me feel again' and 'I wanna like you'.

Summary: This is the beginning, and this is the end.

-o-

Dahlia's hand is on her shoulder, pressing Cara down onto the bed. The sheets are soft underneath her and Dahlia's skin gleams in the candlelight.

Cara closes her eyes and Dahlia's fingers trace a line over her skin, down between her breasts. Cara shivers, lost in that simple touch.

It's familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, as though she and Dahlia met in another life, one in which Cara wasn't a Mord'Sith or maybe one in which Dahlia was, but the thought drifts away as Dalia presses her palm flat against the soft swell of Cara's belly.

Dahlia's mouth follows where her fingers have led, training soft, wet kisses over Cara's breasts, her teething catching hold of Cara's nipples, just hard enough to send a shock of pained pleasure surging through her before Dahlia's tongue is there, soothing the small hurt away.

Dahlia's fingers move lower, sliding through Cara's damp curls until they reach where Cara is wet and wanting. Once again, that half-remembered pang shoots through her, familiar and new at the same time. It's like the memory is just there, hanging just out of reach, like the words are on the tip of her tongue, even though Dahlia is unknown to her. Unknown until today, and until today unwanted.

Then Dahlia's fingers slide into her body, pushing into her and stretching her wide. The thought slips away entirely, fading into the feel of Dahlia in the here and now, in the scent of her skin as Cara presses kisses against it, in the taste of Dahlia's mouth and her cunt as Cara moves lower.

She's learning Dahlia's body as she goes, how Dahlia pants when Cara's fingers slip into her the way that Dahlia is touching her, in the sighs and soft cries that Dahlia lets out that match Cara's own.

This is the beginning, she thinks as Dahlia gasps and moans, coming around her fingers. Or maybe it's the end, as she comes apart herself.

The End

-o-

Title: Memories
Author: alyse
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Character: Chase/Emma
Rating: PG
Word Count: 481
Author's Notes: Double line fic written for my legendland bingo card. The two prompts used are: 'your beauty overwhelms me' and 'past and the chase'.

Summary: His Emma had a smile that could light up the world.

-o-

The first time that Chase Brandstone set eyes on his Emma, she was collecting water for her family's evening meal. There were prettier girls in the village - fairer of face, slimmer of hip - but his Emma... Oh, she had a smile that even then could light up the world.

She staggered past him, hips swaying, heaving the bucket up in both hands as water sloshed over the sides, wetting her skirts. There might have been more graceful girls, too, but he was lost as soon as she shot him that sidelong look, ducking her head to hide her pleasure as his eyes lingered.

And when he first saw her dance later that month, her feet flying and her laughter ringing in the air, he knew that for him there'd be no other.

She still doesn't believe him when he tells her he knew from the first she'd be his bride. She scoffs even as her eyes shine, softening when she turns to look at him, just as they'd softened that first time.

She swats at his hand when he tells her that her beauty struck him dumb, that he was lovelorn and love-lost, desperate for her looks, her touch, her time. But her laughter rings out again as he catches hold of her, pulling her closer and silencing her arguments with a kiss.

These are childbearing hips, she tells him, and that much is true. She's borne him children, each one loved as much as the last and he finds the echo of that love written on her body each time he touches her, in the stretch marks he kisses when the two of them are alone.

Her hands are made for housework, she says, for cooking and cleaning and the sewing of clothes. They weren't made to be kissed by gallants or to pick flowers in golden fields, nor were they made for the weaving of garlands or dainty embroidery. But Chase doesn't want delicate - he loves the strength in Emma's hands, the way they tend to their children, the soothing of hurts and the cooling of fevered brows. And as for flowers, he makes sure to bring her blossoms from the forests each time he comes home, and tells her none can compare to his Emma, his heart, his wife.

She scoffs at that, too. She is no addle-pated girl, she tells him. She's never waited for her prince, never pined, never swooned over a boy in her life.

That he knows to be a lie. He still remembers the first time he kissed her, how she sighed, how she melted into him, those strong, sure hands cupping his face and drawing him closer until he didn't know where he ended and she began, and didn't want to know it either.

She still sighs when he kisses her, still melts into his touch, his Emma, his beloved.

His wife.

The End

-o-

Title: Black and White
Author: alyse
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Character: Cara, implied Cara/Kahlan
Rating: PG
Word Count: 209
Author's Notes: Double line fic written for my legendland bingo card. The two prompts used are: 'enjoying the scenery' and 'lace and leather'.

Summary: Some time after Cara joins in Richard's quest, she notices that the Mother Confessor's dress sense starts to change.

-o-

Some time after Cara joins in Richard's quest, she notices that the Mother Confessor's dress sense starts to change.

At first, Kahlan seemed content to remain in the traditional Confessors' garb, the white dress that's recognisable across the Midlands and beyond. Maybe that was because, with Darken Rahl dead, she no longer needed to hide who she was or the Order to which she belonged. Cara cares little either way. There's no escaping Kahlan's calling, and she knows enough to stay out of Kahlan's way. Kahlan may no longer wish her dead to pay for her sister Dennee's life, but theirs is an uneasy truce at best.

But time brings changes. Just as their relationship slowly thaws, growing closer and closer to true friendship, so does Kahlan's dress sense change. Most of the time these days she sets aside the long, white dress, settling for something more practical instead, something more in keeping with the task before them and a hell of a lot easier to keep clean.

Not that Cara's at all interested in Kahlan's laundry, not if she's not the one who has to do it.

No. She's just enjoying the sight of Kahlan in tight black and red leather. It beats chaste white lace any day.

The End

-o-

Title: Thaw
Author: alyse
Fandom: Legend of the Seeker
Character: Zedd, gen
Rating: PG
Word Count: 393
Author's Notes: Double line fic written for my legendland bingo card. The two prompts used are: 'echoes in the wind' and 'winter's night and day'.

Summary: The wind howls down from the mountain, bringing with it the fresh scent of newly fallen snow.

-o-

The wind howls down from the mountain, bringing with it the fresh scent of newly fallen snow.

Zedd can feel the chill of it in his bones, bones that are older than they should be and older than they look. He's seen more winters than he cares to recall, ones that have been as harsh as this one and some harsher still. But those winters were in the Midlands, where he had his magic and could use it openly.

Things are different in the Westlands, and he can't use magic here.

He keeps it hidden instead, hidden as his grandson is hidden, and that's the harshest blow of all. Knowing that Richard is near and being unable to see him. He has to trust in George and Mary Cypher to watch over the boy.

The wind brings the snow, blanketing the landscape, leaving Zedd with nought but his chickens for company. None venture this deep into the woods at the best of times, and winter is never the best. It is safer, now, to use a few small spells, but still Zedd resists. Slip now and he'll slip in summer, when folks are around to see.

He owes his grandson his restraint, his sacrifice. Magic for Richard's safety is a small price to pay.

The boy will be growing steadily now, past the toddler stage, when he'd be all seriousness and unsteady legs, if Zedd remembers his daughter's childhood clearly. Richard will be four now, almost five, his feet still faster than his legs can keep up with, but old enough to sled with George's boy - Michael is his name, Zedd recalls. He closes his eyes sometimes, imagines where Richard is, what he's doing, how he grows. Perhaps today, he and Michael are making snowmen, or building snow forts where they can battle each other in peace before Mary calls them, soaking and cold, in for supper. Perhaps Richard is learning to skate on the frozen river, the way Zedd himself did as a boy, spinning around and around until he's dizzy with it.

If only he could see it - it would make this self-imposed exile just that little bit more bearable, but the risk, Zedd knows, is too great.

The wind howls down from the mountain, bringing the winter's chill, while Zedd longs for spring thaws and the sound of a child.

The End

All done!