For the peoplespalace 12 Prompts of Rahlmas, third 3 fills
Title: Secret Ingredient
Characters: Cara, Dahlia, Darken Rahl
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 416
Prompt: Cookies and Milk

Milk and cookies were a fine winter tradition. Rahl, not oft given to sentimentality, had confessed to Cara that one memory above all stood out regarding his mother. Once, on the eve of the Solstice, she had dismissed the cooks and she, herself, had baked the most wonderful cookies. He'd never tasted their like since.

Cara was determined to help Rahl experience this delight once again. So far she was having no luck. This year, five cooks had given him their best offerings. None were right and Rahl's fury had meant none had been given a second chance.

Cara scoured the library, hoping to find some clue as what the recipe might have included. She visited the area Rahl's mother had grown up in and after some inquiries returned with a probable recipe, one that had been a favourite in the woman's household.
Problem was, it was exactly the same as the first recipe that had failed to please Lord Rahl - a record had been kept of all the attempts. Cara frowned.

"Maybe it's magic," Dahlia suggested, eating one of the last of the previous batch of cookies. The Mord'Sith weren't so picky about the baked goods.

"Unlikely."

Dahlia shrugged. "A secret ingredient then. One that was never written down."

At the back of her mind, Cara felt a nagging memory of her own mother. The secret ingredient of her baking was always love.

Cara sighed. It was her duty to love Lord Rahl. She wasn't sure it was enough.

Nevertheless she cooked up a batch of cookies, alternately helped and hindered by an enthusiastic Dahlia. The kitchen was covered in batter when they'd finished and there was flour in Cara's hair and egg on Dahlia's leathers.

Cara put the still warm cookies on a tray along with a glass of warm milk topped with cinnamon. It was one day before Solstice Eve. She presented her offering to Rahl.

The moment he tasted the cookie his eyes lit up.

"This is it!" He ate the rest of the cookie. "Tell me, who is the wonderful cook who has so perfectly recreated my mother's recipe?"

Cara looked at the floor. "She would remain anonymous, my Lord. Let her serve you in secret rather than boast of her accomplishment."

Rahl lifted one eyebrow. "Very well. But keep an eye on her, Cara. The woman who can bake like this is very dear to me."

Cara fought the blush from her cheeks. "Yes, my lord. As you say."

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Title: Snowballs
Characters: Denna, Cara, Dahlia, Trianna
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 250
Prompt: Snowmen

The snow was thick and deep. Even the Mord'Sith pulled velvet cloaks over their leathers. Their sturdy boots and gloves were welcome protection from the cold.

"Let's have some fun," Dahlia suggested mischievously. She bent down and began gathering up the snow into a pile.

"Snow balls," Denna said, affecting boredom.

"No."

Denna, Trianna, and Cara watched as Dahlia patted the snow into an oval shape and added more snow to it, building it up. Cara nodded and went to help. Trianna shook her head.

"You're doing it wrong." She began to make her own heap of snow and, in a moment of competitiveness against Cara and Dahlia, Denna went to help her.

Soon, two snowy figures were completed. Dahlia had draped her cloak about their figure, which had branches for arms, a pine cone for a nose, and stones for eyes. Denna and Trianna had used their agiels to melt deep eye sockets in the head of their snow person, and used bits of a fir tree to give it green hair. The mouth was a line of holly berries.

Cara rubbed her gloves together, dislodging the snow from them, and put one arm around a shivering Dahlia.

"They're very nice snowmen," she said.

"Why are they snowmen?" Trianna asked.

"We could make made snow Mord'Sith, with icicle agiels," Dahlia said.

"Yes, we could, but these are snowmen," Denna said, making a few adjustments to the figures and displaying her artistry with a grin. "As I said. Snow balls."

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Title: Reindeer
Characters: Cara, Dahlia
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 127
Prompt: Reindeer

"What is it?" Dahlia asked.

"A reindeer," Cara said.

The creature huffed through its nose at them, the expelled air clearly visible in the chilly air.

"Is it like a normal deer?" Dahlia wondered. "They're good eating."

Cara wasn't certain. She knew only a few things about reindeers and one of them was that they were only seen in D'Hara during winter as the herds migrated. Another thing was that a powerfully built male reindeer was the steed of the Winter Father, he who delivered gifts to good children at the solstice.

It was just a silly myth, she knew, but Cara felt a prickle of doubt.

"Let's leave it alone," she said.

The reindeer nodded its head approvingly at her and wandered off into the forest.

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