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The morning was warm and sunny, it was the middle of the winter, but the small apartment was filled with shiny rays of sunshine like it was one of those beautiful summer days. But it wasn’t the sunlight, creeping out through the small window, that woke Kahlan up, it was the light sobbing and absence of the person she loved beside her. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and opened them.
„Cara?” She called out barely audible. No response. She was just about to lay down to sleep when she heard the cries again, remembering why she woke up in the first place. Kahlan stood up, her tiredness completely forgotten. Cara was nowhere in the bedroom, she opened the door and almost tripped on something placed on the other side of it. She cursed under her breath and looked down. A set of packed suitcases, one of them opened when she kicked it. „Wha-? Cara, where are you? What’s going on?” Kahlan tried to not jump into any conclusions, but her eyes started to fill with tears, worst scenarios already building up in her head. She heard another sob coming from the bathroom. „Cara, are you in there? Can I come in?” She asked, leaning against the cold white door.
„Please, go back to sleep Kahlan.” Cara whimpered through the crying. Kahlan felt like she was going to cry as well. What was going on?
„I’m not going anywhere until you’ll explain what’s going on. Why are there packed suitcases with your stuff in it in the hallway?” Kahlan waited for an answer but got none. „I’m coming in.” She waited a moment, then pushed the door open.
Cara was sitting on the floor, holding Kahlan’s towel to her chest. Kahlan came closer to her and knelt beside her. “Cara?” She whispered, the blonde woman wasn’t looking at her, as if she was invisible. Kahlan reached out to her and placed her palm on the other woman’s shoulder. Cara burst into tears, the brunette embraced her immediately, holding her as close to her as possible. She was whispering to Cara to calm her down, but the woman couldn’t stop crying. Fifteen long minutes later she stopped and sat silently in Kahlan’s embrace. The brunette took the towel from Cara’s grip and wiped off the rest of her tears. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Cara swallowed and tried to build a proper sentence, but she couldn’t say anything understandable. “I’m… I’m so sorry, Kahlan, I… I didn’t wanted to… I was going to… You… You just...”
Kahlan took her face in both of her palms, forcing Cara to look at her. “Hey, calm down. Just tell me-” She stumbled onto her words, eyes burning with new unshed tears. “Did you wanted to leave?”
Cara wanted to turn her head away, but Kahlan was holding her in place. She nodded.
Kahlan couldn’t keep her tears anymore. “Why?” She asked quietly, scared of the answer.
Cara was silent for a moment, thinking about what she was going to say. “Because you deserve so much better.” Kahlan was about to interrupt her, but decided to let Cara finish. “You’re the most wonderful person I know and I’m nothing compared to you. And the things I did? I don’t understand how can you be still beside me. So I came to the conclusion, that it’s going to be easier for both of us if I’d disappear.”
Kahlan was confused and angry. “What the hell are you talking about? Is this about that reincarnation thing? The Confessor and the Mord’Sith?” Cara looked away. “Because I don’t care about that! I don’t care what you have or haven’t done in your previous life or what we used to be then! I only care about us now and nothing can change that, you understand?” Cara avoided her eyes, but Kahlan wasn’t going to let this go, she lifted her girlfriend’s head up and repeated. “Do you understand?!”
Cara nodded and Kahlan embraced her tightly once again. “Don’t try to run away from me again, okay? Nothing can change how I feel about you, especially not something like this. So don’t try to leave me, because I wouldn’t know what to do without you in my life.”
Cara sobbed, only this time from relief, smiling for the first time this morning. “I promise.” She replied, burying her face in the crook of Kahlan’s shoulder, feeling as if a huge rock has been just lifted from her heart.