Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-25828117-20190911184542/@comment-5583506-20190916001011

12 years ago...

"Kashya!" The captain of the guard said sternly. "Stay close!"

"Coming papa!" the girl chirped, brushing past civilians at the bazaar, eager to clutch at her father's side.

The grizzled Khajiit glared at the girl with a mix of contempt and embarrassment as her small feet finally caught up with his own steady pacing. "And don't call me that in public. This one thought he told you so? That only goes for home. Out here this one is Captain Ka'rin. Understood?"

The girl froze up for a brief moment as her ears began to droop. "Yes ... sir."

Ka'rin scoffed. "Just typical of you to forget it like that. You have too much of your mother in you. Bad blood."

Every word from her father was like a sting to the heart, but she knew better than to argue. He was an adult, which meant that he was right. He more often than not chastised her. She was not allowed to look at him for too long as he found her gaze unsettling, another trait she had apparently inherited from her mother. He had often told her that her mother had died after childbirth, and she couldn't help but wonder if that was the reason he lashed out at her. Almost as if he blamed her for causing her death. But the more he likened her to her mother in a negative light, it became all the more transparent to her that maybe that wasn't the case. Maybe he had been glad that her mother had passed away and now only lamented the fact that he was left with a miniature version of her just when he thought that he was free. Sometimes she wondered if she truly was dead, and that he only told her so out of spite. But would he really do that? He was her father after all. And a parent was supposed to love their children.

She clutched hard to his leg, causing him to flinch and step back, resulting in her collapsing headlong to the ground with a pained grunt.

"Don't touch this one!" he growled.

She began to sob. The fall hurt her knees, and as she began to cry bypassers began to take notice. They glanced over at the situation with damning stares at the captain of the guard and the wailing child in front of him.

Captain Ka'rin swallowed hard and cleared his throat, offering a hand to the girl. "Stand up", he told her.

It was not as much an offering as it was a command.

She sniffed and weakly fumbled with her hand around, looking for his.

"Stand", he told her sternly, clenching his teeth hard together.

She stumbled and wiped the tears on her hand off on her dress.

"Now, you will come with Khajiit quietly", he told her with a hissing whisper. "You are not going to cry all the way home. Understand? If this one as much as hears a sniffle from you, there will be no supper. Are we clear?"

"Huh?" she whimpered, her voice still choked up with sobs.

"Are we clear?" he repeated, raising his voice steadily.

She whined and just nodded, fearing what other punishment he had in store for her otherwise. Though he had never laid a hand on her, his anger was more than enough for her to serve as good as any lashes of the belt. Her friend Kiro had told her that his own father treated him as such whenever he misbehaved, but that there never was any animosity between them. If he got punished, he knew the reason as to why he was being punished, and he would learn to do better. That wasn't the case with Captain Ka'rin, her father. He had always seen her as something of a nuisance, and more often than not tried to ignore the fact that she was even there. They didn't even eat together. He prepared her a meal three times a day and then left it in the dining area, whenever he had finished his own, actively trying to spend as little time with her as possible.

The thought had of course occurred to her that she could just slip away, elope into the night, but then where would she go? She had never really been outside of Senchal or further beyond its neighboring nature. And she had no gold. As terrible as she felt, living under the same roof as a man who seemed to despise her, despite being her father, it was better than starving to death in the streets. Or at least that's what she believed.

"You will behave when we get back home, you hear? Khajiit doesn't want to hear any sniveling from you. That's quite enough for one day."

"Y-yes, papa." He tugged at her arm violently, causing her to let out a pained whimper. "Yes sir."

He nodded. "There is someone waiting for us back home. Someone Ka'rin would like you to meet before ..." His eyes shifted as if he had to make something up on the spot. She had seen that look before plenty of times with Kiro, and usually it meant that he was lying. "... well, you will meet her in any case. Whether you like it or not."

"Who is she?"

"This one will introduce you to her, but do not embarrass me again, as you did out there. I only allowed you to follow me on my pass at the market because Baijan wasn't available to babysit you again."

Kashya didn't mind as she didn't particularly like Baijan. The old cat reeked of strong spices and onion. And she used to pinch and rub at Kashya's week violently, calling her "her little cub".

Finally they arrived back home at their district. Several houses in sandstone stacked upon each other and sharing staircases for each entry on either side. The top building was their own. Only the best for the captain of the guard, so that he could overlook the district and make sure that there were no foul deals in the night at his own front yard.

He wandered up the stairs, not even bothering to look over his shoulder to see if his daughter caught up. "Well, hurry up then", he sighed.

Kashya did as she was told, though the steps were steep and high to the point where she almost had to walk on all four in order to reach the next step.

"And remember behave", he said, putting emphasis on the last word with a condemning stare. He then opened the door and suddenly lit up in his behavior like a night lamp. "There she is", he smiled.

"Oh, this one has been waiting for you", said a flirtatious voice from within.

Kashya curiously peeked around the opening to find out just what was going on on the side as she had never heard her father speak like that to anyone before. Inside, there was a beautiful Khajiit woman, dressed in the finest silk and jewelry. She mistook her for a queen, like one of the ancient sand queens she had read about in the books.

"Kashya", her father said, non-threatingly as he motioned for her to approach. "This one would like you to meet Tsavirra."

Kashya just stood their dumb-foundedly, looking at the tall woman in front of her. She had a kind, yet seductive smile, and a pair of slit eyes like almonds. The color of her pattern was spotted in black upon yellowish-brown. A sand queen...

"Well, are you just going to stand there?" her father told her. "You should know better."

"Oh", Kashya mumbled. "S-sorry." She made a clumsy curtsy. "How do you do, ma'am? This one is Kashya."

Tsavirra smiled at her and touched Ka'rin by his cheek. "No need to be so rough on her, sweetness", she cooed. "She is only a child." She then approached Kashya and cupped her small chin and looked deep into her eyes. "This one hopes that we can make good friends", she said warmly. "After all, with your father's recent proposal it seems as if Khajiit is to become your new mother."

Kashya blinked. "M-mother?"