-----.Kahlan insisted on walking with Katrina on the way to Hartland. Since the group was no longer in immediate danger, Richard saw this as a decent idea. Katrina had no arguments. Richard led the way while the two females were a good twenty paces behind him. Katrina knew what was coming. Kahlan was going to question her. She didn't hold her breath.
-----."Are you someone very important?" Kahlan asked.
-----.Katrina almost missed a step. She then realized that Kahlan was referring to the length of her hair. Where Kahlan comes from - in the Midlands - the length of a woman's hair denotes her social standing. Scullions and laborers will have short hair no longer than their ears, while queens and councilors will have hair no longer than the center of their back. Kahlan's hair was a bit longer than the center of her back. Then again, she was more than a queen.
-----."No, actually. I'm not from the Midlands. In Westland, a woman can have her hair any length she so desires. I'm not from Westland either, but the same applies," Katrina responded. She kept her eyes forward, watching the trail and keeping an eye on Richard. She could see the wrap still on his left hand. He hadn't messed with it.
-----."Where are you from, then?" Kahlan threw another question at her. "You know a lot more than you're letting on."
-----.Katrina smiled to her. "I'm from another world, Mother Confessor."
-----.Kahlan blanched. Her voice was quiet. "How do you know that?"
-----."I told you: I'm not from here." Katrina put some thought to an idea she was forming. "Kahlan, have you ever read a book? A story that you enjoyed so much that you just read it over and over again?" Kahlan shook her head. "Well, I have. I had just started reading this series of books over again and I wished to become a part of the story. The book sucked me in and now I'm here. I'm so...immersed in lore and beauty. I've never been happier."
-----.Kahlan stopped moving. Katrina stopped one step ahead of her and turned around, waiting.
-----."You don't expect me to believe any of that, do you? That has got to be the most bizarre story anyone has ever told me."
-----.Katrina kept her brown eyes locked on Kahlan's green eyes. "I don't expect you to believe it, but it is the truth." Katrina broke eye contact and started away. She didn't want to lose track of Richard. "Anyway, no. I won't tell Richard your secret. You need a friend and he's going to be there for you no matter what. For the time being, I will be here, too."
-----.After a few minutes of hiking quietly, Kahlan spoke up again. "You and Richard aren't together, are you?"
-----.Katrina laughed. "Oh, haha. No. I appeared in the story when he was first introduced. Don't get me wrong - Richard is an amazing character. I have my own love interest back home, though."
-----.Kahlan felt relieved, but she didn't let it show. She still didn't believe her story because of how outlandish it was, but she trusted her.
-----.Less than an hour later, the group arrived in Hartland. Michael's house was visible from where they stood on the trail. It was a big white stone structure, set a ways off the road. Tall white oaks shaded the pathway to the entrance and symmetrical gardens were on the sides of the house. The rooftop was slate, meeting in complicated junctions and topped with a leaded glass peak that let light into the central hall. The gardens were in full bloom. Since it was so late in the year, Richard knew the flowers would had to have been raised in greenhouses for the event. The event being a party that Richard and company were arriving to late and in dirty, sweat-stained clothes. Despite all of the blood up on Blunt Cliff, there was none on anyone's clothes.
-----.Richard felt out of place in his forest garb. Kahlan and Katrina looked like they fit right in. Both were in need of some hair brushing, but looked just fine. Katrina walked behind them up to the path to the house while Kahlan asked Richard about Westland and what the people were like, and about his house.
-----."Does your house have a fireplace?" She had asked.
-----."It does."
-----."Do you use it?"
-----."I cook on it all the time," he answered. "Why?"
-----.She had merely shrugged as she looked off to the countryside. "I just miss sitting in front of a fire, that's all."
-----.It felt good to have someone to talk to after all of the unsettling events the day had given him, on top of his grief. Katrina patted Richard's shoulder and locked eyes with Kahlan for a moment before taking her leave of them at the party. They both nodded to her after making confused faces. She gave them a smile before disappearing from sight.
-----.Katrina decided to have a little fun. There were food tables that were constantly being tended to. She tapped her fingernails on the bottom of her plate as she looked for little treasures to chow down on. When she was satisfied with all the food on her plate, she walked out to the gardens and socialized. Whenever someone asked where she was from, she would say, "I'm from down south." It was technically true, even though it wasn't exactly applicable for her current world. Kings' Port and Southaven were a ways south here, not Texas.
-----.A lot of the guests were talking to her and she was trying to figure out why. Hair length meant nothing in Westland. Did they see her arrive with Richard and Kahlan? Or maybe it had to be how she was dressed. She looked down at herself, seeing more cleavage than she was used to. Yep. That's it. Her dress had changed again. It was a solid white, similar in design to Kahlan's dress, but instead of being only white, it had cobalt accents in solid bordering. She looked regal. No wonder Richard and Kahlan gave her weird looks earlier. She more than fit in with the crowd. She looked like she was above it.
-----.There were hushed whispers finding their way around. Michael must have stepped out onto the platform. He was waiting for the sun to hit just right. Katrina stepped back outside. She didn't want to be within earshot of his speech, or see what he was going to do to Richard. She leaned on the banister and stared out at the garden, waiting for the speech and the events ensuing to end.
o()xxxx[{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::>
-----.When voices had returned to the volume that they were before the speech, Katrina walked back in, setting her plate on a table for someone else to pick up later. She glimpsed over at Richard and Kahlan just in time to watch the last of the events come to pass. Michael had his hands cupped on Kahlan's rear and Kahlan had a sharp nail pressed just below the hollow at the base of his neck. When he had ignored her demands to release her, she slowly but surely began to run her nail down his chest. His flesh came up with her nail and blood began running down his chest in rivulets. For a moment, Michael didn't move, but then his face could no longer disguise the pain and he staggered back a step.
-----.Katrina walked up and smiled politely. "Perhaps we should go see Zedd now, hm?"
-----.Richard and Kahlan looked at her, shared a slightly confused look, then followed her outside. They left Michael to despair over the gash in his chest and the embarrassment of being humiliated in his own home in front of all of his guests.
This is not an original story. This is a fan-fiction based off of the Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind. I do not own any of the characters or places or anything part of the series. Katrina is my character.
