(I remembered after it was too late to change it that slavery is illegal outside of Morrowind...I've played that game too much. ;) Therefore, Sakirra must be some sort of servant, not a slave.)
Soleiya, all of 16, had never met a Khajiit before. Of course, she had heard of the feline people of Elsweyr, but her personal experience was limited to the few immigrants who remained in Valenwood's cities after the secession from the Empire, and they were mostly Imperials and Bretons. So when Sakirra arrived among great aunt Mirrim's retinue of servants, Soleiya found it difficult not to stare.
There was a strange air about the Khajiit....she reminded Soleiya simultaneously of a timid hare, with her servant's submissiveness, and a proud eagle whose head remained unbowed by her lowly station. Something in the way she moved....it seemed to speak of a predator's spirit, a disdainful pride. Soleiya was fascinated.
She began looking for excuses to "run into" Sakirra as she went about her duties. She discovered that great aunt Mirrim was fond of sweetmeats in the morning, and would often send Sakirra out to the kitchens to fetch her particular plate. So she took to loitering in the gardens outside the kitchen door. The first time she greeted Sakirra, the Khajiit seemed about to bolt, her every muscle tense beneath her fur. It took days before the servant would even greet Soleiya back, but then there was a new fascination....that low, mewling growl of a voice.
As the weeks went on, Soleiya gradually overcame the Khajiit's natural mistrust. She brought the servant small tokens from her hunts, and was rewarded when she found her hunting tack freshly polished (yet oddly dusted with fur). Sakirra learned that Soleiya enjoyed climbing a certain tree to watch the sun set in the evenings, and small offerings of food and drink began appearing in one of the forks of the tree, so that Soleiya couldn't help but notice them during her ascent into the branches.
Soleiya gradually coaxed from Sakirra the tale of how she had come to serve great aunt Mirrim, a sad tale of how her family had been killed by an Imperial raiding party while traveling near the confluence of Elsweyr, Valenwood and Cyrodiil. The young Sakirra's cries had been heard by a pair of Bosmer rangers, who brought her to a city and placed her in an Imperial-run orphanage, where she was eventually "adopted" into great aunt Mirrim's household. Sakirra told the story with remarkable poise and indifference. She had, after all, been very young. But she would develop an odd catch in her voice when she would speak of Elsweyr.
The first time Soleiya touched Sakirra's fur was when she finally had an inkling of what she had gotten herself into. All she did was touch the Khajiit's shoulder, but the smooth feel of the stripy fur was electric...suddenly she was having all sorts of thoughts about how that fur would feel in other ways....
Sakirra seemed more aware of the situation than Soleiya. She turned large, liquid gold eyes on the young Bosmer and said in her rich voice, "What does the young mistress wish of me?"
Soleiya stared at her, lost for words. Finally, she blurted, "Are you happy here?" It hadn't been anything like what she wanted to say.
Sakirra gave her a long look that made Soleiya increasingly feel less like a hunter and more like prey. "Would the young mistress be happy away from her trees, her flowers, her strange forest creatures? Would she be content to serve the whims of selfish old women if it meant she could not hunt? Would she be happy to someday be promised to a lecherous lord as concubine, never to see the veldts of her homeland again?" It was the longest speech Sakirra had ever made in Soleiya's presence. "Speak not of happy, young mistress. Speak of survival." And she turned away.
(to be continued)
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