Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-17114085-20151005194811/@comment-5583506-20151013020842

She was finally there. Solitude... a city overlooking the Sea of Ghost from the most desolate rock one would have the decency of founding a majestic city of stone in the land of the Nords. She needed to make a current stop here. For personal reasons, or so she told herself. Though the thought of rescuing Cat had never left her mind, she felt like there was a couple of things that needed to be done. If she was to be given to Vaermina once all was said and done, she at least wanted some sort of closure with what remained of her family.

As she walked the brick-laid city streets of Solitude she tried to find the right building they said that he would be residing in. She hadn't really paid all that much attention to the details when she had heard of his drunken collapse at the Bee and Barb. He hadn't been worth her attention. The man had after all violently abused her during her upraising, married her off to the lowliest prick who had the right money in his pocket to afford her, and then he had acted like she never really had existed when she fled her wedding night only to "disappeared" into the Underways, seeking cover and protection from her future home with the members of the Thieves' Guild.

And now she was to be reunited with him... Her father...

"RIKKI?!" snarled a voice from upstairs. "WHAT WAS THAT SOUND KHAJIIT HEARD JUST NOW?!"

The girl flinched, looking in shock at the basement door, knowing that within a few moments he would be there... with punishment in hand. There was no way for her to hide it. She stood before the shelf, having only wanted to take down the doll he had put away from her, but instead she had accidentally knocked a jar of blue dyes to the floor, shattering the container and spreading the blue powder all over the floor. Her father, the local carpenter, had paid good money to bring in some fresh dyes from the plantations in Morrowind. Blue was her favourite colour, but now it seemed to stare back at her from the floor with a nasty streak of black, mocking her for the violence that was to come.

The basement door swung wide open, revealing her livid father with a brown bottle in his left hand.

''Empty... Why is it always emptied?''

He snarled in anger as he saw the broken glass jar on the floor, and all the dyes spilled out.

"Rikk...", sobbed the girl. "Rikki is sorry, father! Please..."

"You", he muttered... or rather slurred, as he descended down the staircase, filled with restrained anger. "You spilled Ra'Janro's dyes, didn't you?"

Rikki nodded, trembling due to the uncomfortable situation her father had now arranged. "Please, father", she pleaded, shielding herself with her tiny hands. "Don't hurt poor Rikki."

He dragged her hands to the side forcefully before delivering a massive blow to the left side of her face, sending her flying to the floor. She was crying and her muzzle was bleeding. Drops of tears and blood fell onto her hands buried in the blue powder, forming it into a rather gruesome mix of purple. The girl sniffed and struggled to get up, not realising that she had stuck her hands into the splinters of glass in the blue powder.

"You can stay there and think of what you have done", said her father as he threw the glass bottle against a wall, shattering it into pieces. "You are dead to me."

She stayed down, having learned from past mistakes that getting up too early meant another punch... or even a kick to the stomach. Until she heard him take his drunken rage upstairs, slamming the basement door shut behind him she dared to move once again, wiping the blue dye off her dress. Even though he was drunk, violent, and abusive... she kind of felt some sort of sympathy for him.

Though she was young she had early on learned what she was, and how her father had reacted to it. In fact she knew many things a little girl of ten shouldn't know about. She knew the story of how her father had fallen in love with the most enchanting and beautiful Khajiit he had ever seen. Back then he had been a good man, a hard-working carpenter of Riften. He had courted the woman day and night, up until the point where it seemed that she had completely stolen his soul and his mind. Eventually though, he had earned his price. After a steamy night of passion with the Khajiit woman, he found her gone the very next morning. Heartbroken and still unhappily in love with her, he began to drink... rather heavily... Up until the point where he had almost lost all the respect from his customers and lost some of the sparkle he had from making his otherwise fine craftmanship.

Then one day, approximately nine months later, there had been a knocking on his front door. Struggling to get out of bed, and stumbling in his drunken stupor to reach the entrance, he found a basket and a letter. In the basket there was a sleeping Khajiit cub, a newborn girl. And in the letter the whole story was explained. The Khajiit woman whom he had loved and whom he had made love to had been none other than Nocturnal herself in a mortal guise. She had even explained in the letter of how much she had enjoyed playing her tricks on his feeble mind and how easily she had made him fall from grace. And the baby lying in the basket was the result of their union. A Half-God, the Daughter of Nocturnal. His daughter... whom he was now obliged to care for.

Since that day Ra'Janro was no longer the loving man he had once been. Even though he raised Rikki, he was never kind to her. She expected that his disdain and hatred for her came from the fact that everytime he looked at her he could only remind himself of his own demise and Nocturnal's trickery. In some way she guessed that he was still infatuated with her mother... or rather the person she had claimed herself to be. Rikki became the target for his anger towards himself and Nocturnal, often resulting in bruises and in worse cases broken bones.

"S-sorry", whimpered the girl and got up on two legs, plucking the glass shards buried in her tiny palms.

"His daughter?" said the nurse at the Healers' Home. "I thought he didn't have any living kin? At least that's what he said. He said that he used to have a daughter though."

"This one expected as much", said Rikki with a sigh. "But this one is his daughter. Now let Rikki see him."

The nurse gave the Khajiit a nod. "Fine then. This way."

She guided Rikki into a small chamber containing only a bed, a chair, a nightstand and a wardrobe. It all looked rather grey and dull. In the bed he was lying. An old, brittle Khajiit with grizzled hair. His eyes had gone blind, probably from a severe case of cataract, but there was nothing wrong with his ears.

"Who... who's there?!" he asked sharply. "Nurse? Nurse, is that you?"

Rikki lowered her eyebrows and sat down on the chair, deciding not to reply. She wanted to observe him for a while. To learn... To learn whether or not he had in the end made himself worthy of her first and last visit or not.

His dead eyes flickered across the room, a physical reaction that seemed to linger even though they couldn't see. "Huh", he murmured. "This one could have sworn..."

"Here", said Rikki. "Would you like some comfort, sir?"

"Comfort? Huh..." shrugged the Khajiit. "Aye, that wouldn't be all that bad. There is a pile of pillows in that wardrobe over there. Go there and bring Ra'Janro another pillow, yes?"

Rikki did as she was told, deciding to go along with her act. This man was unfortunately the last kin she had left in this world, and if she had to give her body and mind to Vaermina in order to save Cat, then she wanted at least to have some closure before she left. She opened the wardrobe and brought forth a pillow.

"Huh", shrugged the Khajiit as he heard the wardrobe doors open. "At least you are making yourself more useful than that useless Rikki of mine."

Rikki froze up with the pillow in hands upon hearing her name.

"Have Ra'Janro ever told you about her, nurse? This one doesn't believe he has."

This was getting interesting... Rikki turned around and slowly approached the bed to hear what he had to say.

"A blubbering little beast", he said with a twisted grimace. "The little demon kept this one up by nights with her infernal crying. Khajiit believes she was just another mockery of Nocturnal, a tool made in order to torture this one further. As if it wasn't enough that Ra'Janro fell into depression, into rage... as if it wasn't enough that the Daedric Prince bitch let this one slip into the bottle, to watch as his talents of carpentry slowly faded away into nothingness where no one would hire him... Rikki... Don't even know why Khajiit bothered to name her. This one should have taken the basket and thrown it back into the shadows from whence it was spawned!"

Rikki felt her heart sink into her chest, and as her clutches around the pillow tightened.

"Heh", shrugged her father. "That girl was a mystery alright. She was so bloody clumsy! She always got in the way! This one even believes she did so on purpose! As an order by her bitch of a mother, just to make Khajiit fall from grace and down into the lowliest pits not even fit for the scum of Nirn."

Rikki drew for breath. A mix of thoughts all crossed her mind at the same time and she slowly raised the pillow over his blind eyes. She wanted to end him then and there. Here she had expected some sort of closure, a family reunion. But maybe this was the closure she needed? An end in which one of the men responsible for her being the one she was fell into the dreamless sleep?

He chuckled cruelly. "And this one was so happy when the day finally came... The day when that Ma'Draro gave Ra'Janro gold in plenty to marry her off. To finally be rid off her for good without having to spill a single drop of blood. The best thing was that this one even knew that the little trollop didn't want anything to do with someone of the male gender. But Khajiit married her off either way. The gold this one received would let this one drink until the end of his days with a smile on his face."

Just when Rikki was close by with the pillow, eager to cut his mocking speech off, she heard him sob.

"This... this one sold her... This one sold his... his little girl..."

Rikki lowered the pillow. Tears had begun to run from the blind eyes.

"Can you imagine, nurse? Can you imagine the monster you are tending to? This one... hated her... This one hated his own blood... His own child... His own little girl... His own little Rikki. The dumb girl probably didn't even knew what ailed this one. She couldn't help Khajiit. Only Ra'Janro could help himself, but he was too preoccupied hating on his only child, because..." He choked on his own sob. "... because he could only see her mother in her place... and the trickery she put Khajiit through..."

He covered his face in his palm, blubbering like a little child. "Do not pity Khajiit, nurse. He doesn't deserve it. And neither should he. He was... he is a terrible man. A monster. He hated his only child, he beat her and then sold her off like an old dog... for more booze to drink until he had all but forgotten about his sin. And now this one will never see her again..."

Rikki said nothing. No words could describe how she felt. This man, her father, whom she had recently planned to end, was fittingly giving him a last confession. The turn of events couldn't have gone any better. This was what she needed to hear.

"Khajiit wanted to love her", he said. "No. This one loved her. He still loves her. He is sure of it. Despite his flawed way and despite his blindness by hate against her mother, he loved her. But now when the real blindness have claimed Khajiit there is no redemption for what Khajiit has done. There can be no forgiveness. This one married her off... to a terrible man. If she is alive or if she is dead, this one cannot tell... and it breaks this one's heart not to know. If she is dead, then... then it is because this one killed her the moment he sold her..."

He started to cry again. Rikki leaned in on the old Khajiit with the pillow. She came closer, and closer, ultimately putting the pillow behind the back of his head.

"It seems that you are suffering with all right then, sir?" she asked as she sat down by the chair.

"This one does", he sniffed, nodding in confirmation. "This one knows that he won't be leaving this Healers' Home. This is the purgatory this one must suffer. The purgatory he built from his own sins..."

He sighed heavily, letting his head fall to the side. For a moment it seemed that his grey eyes stared directly at her. "Khajiit is sorry, Rikki", he said. "Rest in peace, wherever you are..."

She watched as he closed his eyes, breathing heavily and eager to rest in this... hell of his. She came closer and placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Rest easy, father", she whispered in his ear.

He opened his eyes. "Ri-Rikki?" he asked out in the open.

She didn't reply, but left the room.

"Rikki?!" he exclaimed and sat up in the bed. "Rikki, my child?! Come back! Where are you, girl? Come back!" He fell out of bed, crawling out on the stone floor, crying out after her. "RIKKI!"

As she walked through the hallways, she could still hear him crying out after her; summoning nearby healers to come to his room to put the reluctant Khajiit back into the bed where he belonged. She couldn't say if this was the closure she had been hoping for, but she couldn't deny that it had ultimately made her feel a lot better...