Summary: Now it is Cara who has to dig something in. (Recycling an old story here.)

.

For some reason that escapes Cara at first, her plan fails.

Spectacularly.

It only seems to make things worse between her and Kahlan.

In fact, the Mother Confessor stops speaking to her after the 'boob-grabbing incident,' which is how she comes to think of it.

Cara's tongue comes out to touch her bottom lip briefly as she remembers. Kahlan's breast had felt nice in her hand for the second or so she was able to touch it. Being the connoisseur that she is on the matter, Cara always knew Kahlan had nice breasts.

But Cara knows that it is different knowing something in an abstract way from knowing it... first-hand (if you will pardon the pun).

It is probably the kind of impractical knowledge she could have lived without.

It only lasted for a moment, though. She thinks with some annoyance. Almost the second she had palmed her breast, Kahlan had turned on her, elbowing her on the face and pinning Cara down on the ground with her own body. Cara had enjoyed the physicality of the moment. Having the Confessor on top of her, hip-to-hip, aggressively imposing her superior body weight like that. She had seen the fury, as well as the confusion, in the blue eyes staring down at her. She had felt the danger of it.

It had felt like the prelims to rather rough, really good, hate sex.

Something Cara could have definitely gotten behind. Or on top. Or underneath, really.

Holding Kahlan's full, soft breast had been worth the black eye, and that was that, as far as she is concerned.

Regret is not something that she does, really.

She scowls.

Or does she. Because she is dedicating too much time to thinking about this.

She should be focusing on the quest and Lord Rahl.

Problem is, Kahlan's silence is throwing her off. Not that Cara has really tried to start a conversation, of course, but as the days pass, it becomes obvious that Kahlan is not speaking to her.

It is one of those annoying things women who are not Mord'Sith apparently do when they are upset.

They give you the silent treatment.

It makes Cara roll her eyes in disbelief. What an absurd, illogical concept.

If you are upset with someone, you simply torture them until they stop annoying you.

.

Initially, Cara does not mind the silence. In fact, she does not really notice for a couple of days. Maybe, she even enjoys it. Not having Kahlan walking next to her, bumping shoulders and rubbing arms, incessantly talking about what she is feeling, or asking Cara why she is doing something, or discussing the changing colours of the sky, or the shapes of the clouds, or the chirping of the birds. It actually feels like a well deserved reprieve.

She decides she can live without the constant nagging of the Mother Confessor.

Until she realizes she cannot.

It annoys her far more than the nagging: the fact that she misses it.

She observes the Mother Confessor, trying to understand what she may want from her, but it is not easy and it does not come to Cara immediately.

It makes her realize though that Kahlan looks her way much more often than she thought she did. It is like she is keeping track of what Cara is doing, checking whether she is all right or something, which is absolutely ludicrous, because Cara can take care of herself and also, of all of them -blind folded, with one hand tied to her back. It is strange behaviour but she shrugs it off as just another thing she does not understand about Kahlan and thinks nothing of it.

Still, it has almost been a week since the boob-grabbing incident (her black eye is almost completely faded) but Kahlan is still avoiding her, so when they have to split from Richard and Zedd, Cara is not sure if it is a good idea.

She tells Richard that it would be better if she accompanies the wizard, which is something she would never suggest if the circumstances were different; after all, her place is by Lord Rahl. If she cannot be with Richard, then, keeping his mate safe is a small indignity. Playing babysitter to Lord Rahl's glutton grandfather, a wizard no less, is humiliating.

When she actually thinks about it, Cara guesses she should be thankful Richard does not keep any of the random animals they seem to spend half of their time saving. Lord Rahl or not, she is not sure she would be strong enough to refrain from agieling someone to death if she had to take care of a stray puppy.

But Richard ignores her suggestion. He looks at the women with that knowing smirk of his that tells Cara he knows exactly what he is doing and also that, in his own way, he is trying to fix whatever is broken between them.

She just glares at him. Arms crossed over her chest.

Kahlan, for her part, does not say anything about the arrangement.

Apparently, ignoring Cara means she also has to ignore that she is ignoring her.

.

Of course, Richard and Zedd alone together can only end up in trouble.

By nightfall, when they meet again, Zedd is on his own.

Richard has been captured. He was trying to save some distressed baby sheep, but the farmer thought he was trying to steal them or worse, poison them. Apparently, they were destined to be the fifth course in Prince Morlang's grand birthday dinner and now, Richard is being held on charges of trying to poison the baby sheep, and thus, the Prince.

Cara just sits in silence whilst Zedd tells the story.

She thinks she might be developing a twitch on her right eye.

A lesser Mord'Sidth would have considered her current position serving the new Lord Rahl as just punishment for abandoning her sisters.

.

It is not long though before she recovers and thinks of a plan.

She turns to Kahlan, who is still refusing to talk to her.

"You will have to confess the Prince on the dinner table." Cara crosses her arms over her ample chest... If Kahlan appears to be staring at how the movement makes her breasts press together it is only because there is a rare butterfly on Cara's leathers.

If they want to free Richard, they need to have Prince Morlang under their control. It is a simple, fool-proof plan really: Kahlan confesses the Prince and then, he orders him to free Richard.

Their chance will be during dinner. It should be easy for Kahlan to be invited. After all, she is the Mother Confessor, she can demand to be a guest of honour at any celebration in the Midlands, and thus, sit right next to the Prince.

Cara will sit next to Kahlan. This last part may not be automatic, but Cara is quite confident that she will be able to convince whoever is supposed to sit next to Kahlan to swap places with her.

After all, she can be passably convincing when she wants to.

"Cara, I cannot just grab him by the neck in front of all the other guests!" Kahlan exclaims indignantly. "They will be on top of us before I have a chance to command him. It would be a diplomatic nightmare!"

Zedd only nods in agreement, but he looks curiously at Cara. He can tell she has a plan.

"Of course you cannot confess him like that." Cara frowns. "Don't be ridiculous. You have to be stealthier." She huffs.

It is entirely obvious to Cara what needs to be done, but she does not want to be crass. She knows from past experience that the Mother Confessor does not really approve of her... straightforward approach: she does not find it ~compassionate~.

Cara just wishes they weren't all so prudish and that they would finally start working around the inconveniences of confession, rather than against them.

Kahlan looks at Zedd for a moment in exasperation and then, back at Cara.

"And how do you suggest I confess him, then? If I am sitting at the table, between you and him, having dinner? How can I stealthily go about this? Please, enlighten me." She also crosses her arms, staring at the Mord'Sith in challenge.

It is obvious that she is still upset about the boob-grabbing.

Whatever.

Cara only raises her eyebrows meaningfully.

Kahlan stares back, face blank.

Cara uncrosses her arms, hands going to her hips and rolling her eyes at the other woman's naïveté. "Kahlan, think. How else can you confess people?"

The answer comes to Zedd only a moment before it comes to Kahlan.

He coughs loudly and tries to hide a smile behind his hand.

When it finally hits Kahlan, she flushes a ridiculously bright shade of red.

"Cara!" it comes out as a gasp. "You are not suggesting that I-, that I-" Kahlan cannot even say it.

"That you have an orgasm, Kahlan." Cara adds helpfully.

Kahlan is just too mortified. Her eyes go comically round, "not in front of everyone!" she says in a breathless whisper.

Cara nods thoughtfully, then, she turns to look at the wizard. "Zedd just needs to enchant a leather pouch so that it vibrates. I can help place it in the right spot once we are all seated at the table, if you want. And then, when you... release the magic, you can reach over and touch him under the table."

Cara nods to herself, pleased. It is an excellent plan and she has used mostly compassionate words to explain it. "Nobody will suspect."

Both Kahlan and Zedd stare at her with varying degrees of horror. Well, to be fair, Zedd's is mixed up with amusement. Kahlan, just horrified.

"But-, no! no way, Cara! I couldn't!" Kahlan turns pleading eyes towards the wizard, who is scratching his chin.

He nods to Cara as he speaks. "I know of a spell that could work. I have never used it for such... amusements, but yes. Yes. It could be done." He says, already getting excited about trying some new magic.

He turns towards his backpack. "I think I have the right ingredients with me."

He smiles at the women toothily. "My brother and I used the vibratae spell when we were young, to make the fruit shake and drop from high branches, but, yes, it should also work for this," he winks at Cara as he turns again back to his backpack.

He sounds really on board with the idea, much to Kahlan's indignation.

Kahlan watches him as he rummages around his backpack. Then, she turns to Cara. "Cara, I am not going to do it."

Cara just shrugs her shoulders. "It is our best chance to save Lord Rahl," she says in a flat voice.

It is a challenge, Kahlan knows. Obviously, Cara knows the Mother Confessor much better than she lets on.

They stare at each other in silence for a long moment.

They are interrupted by Zedd's voice. "I knew I had everything here." He comes back with a couple of leather pouches, moving closer to the Mord'Sith.

"How should we do this, Cara?" he asks almost eagerly.

Kahlan only watches as Cara takes off one of her gloves and touches the pouches thoughtfully. Almost… caressing them.

It makes Kahlan blush again and she has to look away.

"This one," Cara says. Then, she moves closer to Kahlan, crouching down to release one of her knives from her thigh. Once she has the dagger, she uses it to cut a small corner of her blanket and fill the pouch with some strips of cloth. She tries it for texture a couple of times until she is satisfied.

"Why that one?" Zedd asks curiously as she watches Cara twisting a knot at the end of the pouch so that the front bit is now rounded, about the size of a small plum.

"It'll wash easier." She gives the pouch back to Zedd and ignores the brightly blushing Mother Confessor.

.

Cara insists on trying the device herself before they use it on Kahlan that night.

Kahlan, for her part, insists she try it away from camp.

Judging from the look on Cara's face when she comes back and the really short time she stays away, it is safe to say it works.

.

Cara hides the device inside her left glove. It creates a pleasant tingle up her arm as it vibrates against her palm.

She only needs to wait until everyone is distracted and then, slip it inside the Mother Confessor's undergarments. Which is really an unnecessary complication, if you ask Cara. But when Cara asked Kahlan to go without for the night, she received only a cold stare as an answer. It made Cara scowl and wonder how long could a reasonable woman be upset about a single boob-grabbing incident.

Once the dinner gets started, Cara sits back in her chair, observing everyone like a hawk.

She can tell Kahlan is tense, but also, that she starts to relax as the dinner advances. After a while, she notices Kahlan looking her way, signalling that she is ready.

Cara makes her move between the forth and fifth courses. Everyone around them is drunk out of their minds already and barely paying attention. She takes off her right glove and reaches for Kahlan's thigh.

The skin of the Mother Confessor's thigh is warm and soft to the touch and she notices her leg trembles slightly as Cara lets her fingers slide inwards, first around her thigh, and then, upwards and closer to Kahlan's centre.

She holds a small blade between her fingers, and when she finally reaches the cloth covering the Mother Confessor's sex, she simply slices through it with a quick flick of her wrist.

She feels Kahlan jump slightly against her as she does it, a hand suddenly reaching to press against her forearm under the table.

Cara looks at Kahlan, making eye contact as she retracts her hand and moves it to the table, placing the small blade nonchalantly on the table top, as if she hadn't just used it to cut through Kahlan's underwear.

Kahlan looks away first. She tries to relax. She nods slightly as she takes a deep breath. Her arms move to lay on either side of her plate, her body leaning forward slightly, closer to the table, clearly in a attempt to better hide what is about to happen. She opens her legs wider under the table, her ass sliding closer to the end of the chair. She feels exposed, wanton, sitting like this: legs spread wide open, the night air cool on her uncovered sex.

She is wet.

She has been wet since Cara's little trip to the woods. The knowledge makes her blush deeply, but thankfully, she does not need to wait long. Her movement is all the invitation Cara needs.

Cara reaches again under the table, through Kahlan's skirts, moving directly to Kahlan's centre. She caresses the hair at the apex of Kahlan's legs for a moment before she slides her middle finger carefully between Kahlan's lips. Her hand shakes a bit at the amount of wetness she finds.

Carefully, she slides her finger up and down a few times, getting familiar with Kahlan's sex so that she may put the device on exactly the right spot.

After a few lazy strokes, she lets her forefinger slide into the wetness too, joining her middle finger and rubbing a few times over the length of the Mother's Confessor clitoris, pressing slightly and watching over Kahlan's reactions.

She tells herself she is only gathering information to make sure that she will be accurate when she places the vibrating leather pouch on Kahlan, but the truth is, she found Kahlan's clitoris on her very first sweep; she is just indulging herself now: rubbing Kahlan's sex, slowly moving her fingers into her warm wetness.

Teasing her.

Kahlan starts to pant, her corseted breasts rising and falling quickly, in a nearly hypnotizing rhythm.

If Cara lets her middle finger slide down and inside just once, it is entirely accidental. She blames it on how slippery Kahlan's sex is right now.

Kahlan tightens around her finger, sucking it in to the knuckle, the walls of her sex clenching in reaction.

Something like a sob escapes Kahlan's lips.

On hearing it, Cara slides out and presses down on Kahlan's clitoris, and then, starts to really rub. Her movements quick and firm. She is no longer teasing. For her own sanity, Cara tries not to listen to the sounds Kahlan is making, but she does feel the deep tremble that moves over Kahlan's body.

"Cara." It comes out as a strained whisper.

Cara turns her eyes, casually looking back at the Mother Confessor. Kahlan's eyes are turning black.

Cara stops immediately. She slips her hand out quickly. It should come as no surprise that she has absolutely no endurance, she thinks. The Mother Confessor is coiled tighter than a spring. All that sexual frustration. She judges it probably would take about three more strokes to make her come.

Cara gives her a knowing nod as she gives Kahlan a second to compose herself. Then, she slides her hand back between Kahlan's legs. This time, she holds the soft leather device between her fingers. She lets it caress Kahlan's inner thigh, letting her feel the vibration as she moves it upwards and then, places it exactly where Kahlan needs it.

.

In the end, it is all for nothing.

Kahlan clamps her legs around the pouch and comes almost immediately, shaking violently.

She very nearly confesses Cara, it all goes so fast. Plus, she forgets to touch Prince Morlang as she releases her magic. And then, they have to come up with a completely absurd explanation as to why Kahlan shouted Cara's name in the middle of a formal dinner.

Worst of all, Kahlan gets all upset when she notices Cara licking her fingers, and for some reason that she refuses to discuss with the blonde, she declares, in no uncertain terms, that the device has been confiscated.

.