Fic: Princess Rahl, The Heir to the Throne, Chapter 11

[hrhrionastar]

Title: Slap on the Wrist (Ch. 11 of The Heir to the Throne)
Pairing: Darken/Kahlan, background Darken/Cara, Richard/Kahlan
Length: 903
Rating: T
Spoilers: Reckoning, mostly, but eventually there'll be a few references to things we learn later.
Summary: Reckoning AU: what if Darken and Kahlan's baby was a girl?

 

Slap on the Wrist

“What? How did this happen?” Darken asked. Why were his children spoiling this most perfect day with a quarrel? And was Mistress Alina really dead? How inconvenient. His lips tightened. “Nicholas. Explain yourself.”

Nicholas pouted. “She wouldn’t let go of my arm. She said I was late for lessons, but I wasn’t!”

“He murdered her!” Nila said strongly, as though to make certain Nicholas didn’t get away with anything.

At the same moment, Mistress Cindi entered, trailed by Jeanna and Dahlia.

“Ah, Cindi,” Darken said distractedly. “Investigate this, will you? Alina should be in the nursery, yes?” He added the last to Nila and Nicholas; the former nodded.

Cindi gestured, and Dahlia and Jeanna left at once. Cindi waited, looking tense. Darken ignored her.

“So he Confessed her,” Nila went on indignantly, “And then she went on for ten minutes about all the horrible things she’d done—mislaying the Seeker, murdering the doubles, murdering lots of other random people—Creator, but it was tedious!”

Darken almost laughed, sympathizing with his daughter’s impatience. But now was clearly a moment to be handled with extreme care.

He frowned, and fished in a pocket. His spare gloves, good. “Put these on,” he told Nicholas disdainfully, “At least until you can control yourself.” He should have realized a Confessor child wouldn’t simply be able to control his powers right away, the way Kahlan did.

Nicholas pouted. “No fair!” He looked on the verge of a tantrum. Darken sighed exasperatedly, and hoisted Nicholas onto his lap, sinking back into his chair. The boy seemed much too small and harmless yet to kill anyone.

Despite the annoyance, Darken rather approved of this evidence of Nicholas’s power. His son would never feel his magic couldn’t measure up—no one was more powerful than a Confessor.

Darken tugged the gloves on and put Nicholas down, patting him on the shoulder not unkindly. “Go on,” he said, “you’re confined to your room until I investigate this.”

Nila crossed her arms. “That’s it? He never gets in trouble!”

Darken smiled and ruffled Nila’s hair. “Here,” he said, and tossed her a cookie from the tray. “Happy now?”

Maybe this would yet all turn out for the best. Nila was a sharp girl—and Nicholas would learn to control his powers. Darken vowed not to let his good mood be too tarnished by the incident.

 

 

Kahlan was horrified. Her entire being had gone numb. It had started—and so soon! Nicholas was only six, but already the dark power of Confession reached to claim his soul. She had no choice—she would have to kill him.

She only prayed Nila would be safe—she’d have to tell Nila what she must do, first. Kahlan wasn’t sure why she kept putting it off. Childhood seemed too sweet, to end it so suddenly, with such a difficult burden.

But as she listened to Darken’s ridiculous idea of precautions (she had a special jolt of horror at Nila’s cavalier description of a tormented soul’s last moments in the Land of the Living as ‘tedious’), Kahlan found herself wavering.

Of course, if Nicholas had turned evil, it would be Kahlan’s duty to kill him—but had he? From Nila’s description, the woman had committed horrific crimes (no doubt upon Darken’s orders). Indeed, unless she was mistaken, it sounded as though this were the same woman who had once taken the false as well as the true Richard and Kahlan into custody. “Lord Rahl will sort it out,” she had said. “He’s very good at that.”

She had been a Mord’Sith. Kahlan had herself executed Mord’Sith—a Confessor’s touch was a painful and thoroughly complete way to kill them. The Breath of Life would not work on a Confessed Mord’Sith.

Nicholas had only been doing a thoroughly unpleasant duty. No doubt his Confessor instincts had warned him of the irredeemable evil in the woman’s soul—he couldn’t even have been said to have much of a choice.

The woman was a Mord’Sith. So that was all right, then.

Feeling much better, Kahlan looked around, once more aware of her surroundings. Darken had sent Nicholas away with a mild scolding and a pair of gloves (Kahlan doubted the latter would have as great an effect as he seemed to expect), and now was giving Nila a cookie.

Kahlan smiled at Nila. “You did right to bring this to our attention, sweetheart,” she said calmly.

Nila shrugged. “Whatever. Can I go play in the attics?”

The attics of the People’s Palace were a perilous place; Kahlan shuddered to think of all the trouble an impressionable young girl might find there.

“Of course,” said Darken distractedly. “Leave the mirror alone.”

Nila pouted. “I won’t break it.”

“I mean it, Nila,” said Darken in a tone that brooked no argument.

As Nila flounced away, Kahlan saw the Mord’Sith (‘C’ something) glaring unreadably after her.

Kahlan frowned.

“You might have given me some assistance,” Darken complained. “How are Confessors usually trained?”

Kahlan was sufficiently distracted that she almost told him the truth; quickly, she gathered her wandering wits, wondering how best to turn the opportunity of Darken allowing her to train her children in the ways of Confessors to good use.

She didn’t look at the Mord’Sith again. She was fast coming to regard them as something in the nature of unpleasant furniture in her home, not of her choosing.

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Comments

[16beckyb.livejournal.com]

After I re-read the chapter again and your comment, I too found Darken's actions with Nila more infuriating than amusing. Actually, it reminded me of the way you would treat a pet - pat the puppy on the head and toss him a treat to make him wag his tail. Very insulting and dismissive.

Darken knows what Kahlan is capable of when she has control over her powers - he saw her go into the Con Dar. Why on earth would he not respect his daughter's abilities? Very troubling.

[meridian_rose]

My guess is he's inherited some of Panis's sexism, and although he knows Kahlan is powerful, he's still dismissive of a girl child, even a Confessor girl child.
I also think he's got his eye on the long game, on his happiness, his control of the world through his son, and he's not paying attention to the details under his nose. We'll have to see what Riona says :D

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

My guess is he's inherited some of Panis's sexism, and although he knows Kahlan is powerful, he's still dismissive of a girl child, even a Confessor girl child.
I also think he's got his eye on the long game, on his happiness, his control of the world through his son, and he's not paying attention to the details under his nose. Yes! This exactly.

(By the way, I kind of adore how this turned into a discussion before I even looked at the comments...:D)

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

Darken knows what Kahlan is capable of when she has control over her powers - he saw her go into the Con Dar. Why on earth would he not respect his daughter's abilities? Very troubling. Darken's not really thinking of his children as threats equivalent with how powerful he expects them to be--kind of a, he raised them so they won't turn against him assumption (the same problem he runs into with Nicholas in canon Reckoning, I think.)

Also, this story definitely highlights some of the sexism inherent in the Rahl system. If nothing else, Nila is the eldest, but Nicholas is the heir.