To Find Their Fate - Part 1

To Find Their Fate - Part 1

Kyrai-Jhun opened her eyes to a misty dawn. The grass was wet with dew around her face, and it made her hair stick to her cheeks. She gently pulled her plaits away from her fur as she stared at the clouded sky, thinking about sleep. Suddenly, a tuft of fur tickled her pointed ear, followed by a nuzzling snout. She bolted upright to see a young deer a few feet away, back turned, looking warily over its shoulder. She let out a giggle at the same time as a relieved sigh, and smiled apologetically at the deer.

“Did I scare you?” she asked, and instantly regretted it.

Her throat was dry, and she hadn’t eaten for two days. Her stomach rumbled as if to remind her, and she looked up at the deer. Her eyes flickered with golden magicka, and the power of fear bubbled in her chest. Then her piercing yellow eyes met with the deer’s, and her heart sank. She looked down guiltily. Her Eye of Fear was what made her a monster.

It was then that the surrounding area caught her attention. She was lying in the thick green grass beneath a tree, looking out across the sloping hills of the Great Forest down to Lake Rumare. It was a beautiful view, one she saw almost every day and never grew tired of. The white and lilac flowers dotted through the countryside looked strangely untamed. She felt so wild and free. This was her home.

She thought about where she was headed. Chorrol. It was pretty there, with its stone houses and the Great Oak. One of the nicer cities. Kyrai-Jhun still couldn’t imagine living inside a wall. She pulled herself to her feet, dusting down the back of her leather greaves, and began to make her way further up the hillside. As she passed countless toadstools and flowers, butterflies and deer herds, she thought about fate. Her fate. The Thief and the ja-Kha’jay, everything that made her what she was. She knew that she understood none of it, and this made her excited. Her pace turned to a jog, to a run, to a sprint, until she was leaping at full speed along the Black Road towards the gates of Chorrol.

***

“Excuse me, is there a tavern here?” Kyrai-Jhun asked a beggar by the gate.

“Sure there is,” he replied in a gravelly voice. “The Grey Mare is round the corner, service with a smile. You won’t want the other place. Dodgy business.”

Kyrai-Jhun looked over at what appeared to be a large shack on the corner, and smiled at the irony. The Grey Mare looked like the ‘dodgiest business’ in Cyrodiil. Just the place she was looking for. She threw a coin to the beggar and walked to the run-down tavern as he cried blessings after her.

She pushed open the broken door, and it swung shut noisily behind her. Inside the tavern a fire was burning, and it was strangely cosy. A young barmaid called her inside to offer drinks and food and beds. She accepted some venison and thanked the kind girl. Service with a smile. As she turned to find a seat, she realised how busy it was. Every table was taken by weary workers and drunken husbands. Her eyes lingered on a table in the back corner, where an older Khajiit sat, staring at her. It was good to see one of her own, and she hurriedly joined him.

“Kyrai-Jhun,” she introduced herself as she sat down. “Pleased to meet you.”

“S’Zharr is pleased more to see you,” he replied with a nod. His deep voice made the Khajiiti tongue sound rather comical.

“I am a traveller,” she continued. “And more, to which we are suited.”

S’Zharr grinned. He understood. “Kyrai-Jhun speaks differently, why?”

“I do not forget my roots, but I allow new ones to grow. I was on a slave ship and taken to be sold, but after the abolition I was worthless and imprisoned. But I escaped.” Kyrai-Jhun didn’t like to boast, but she was very proud of this fact. “Now I have no home but the land.”

“Kyrai-Jhun does have a home,” S’Zharr disagreed, shaking his head but never taking his eyes away from her face. “S’Zharr is also a thief.”

Kyrai-Jhun’s eyes widened with her mouth. “The Guild is here?”

“The Guild is everywhere!” he laughed. “You just have to ask for it.”

He continued to tell her secrets of the Thieves Guild, welcoming her to their family. They had countless questions for each other, and the minutes turned into hours. They lost track of time and men arrived and left around them, until a thin, clawed hand clutched the back of the chair beside S’Zharr. Both Khajiit looked up.

“Ah, sit down, sit down!” S’Zharr hissed. “Kyrai-Jhun, this is a friend of S’Zharr, young Ear-Wings. Say, ja, Ear-Wings has seen no more phases? Kyrai-Jhun is 19?”

“I’ve seen a year’s more, actually,” whispered a soft voice, as the clawed hand pulled down the cloak’s hood. A pointed Argonian snout was facing her, with a crown of large webbed spines on either side of its head, and glowing green eyes. His scales were dark blue, with lime green patches across his cheekbones and lips, so it looked like he was constantly blushing. He was bizarrely cute. “Hello, Kyrai-Jhun. You can call me Wings.”

“Greetings, Wings. Are you in the Guild too?”

“Oh, no,” he replied awkwardly as S’Zharr finished his ale. “I want to be. I mean, I am a thief. But I am not allowed.”

“Not allowed?” Kyrai-Jhun repeated, puzzled.

“He’s a shadowscale,” said a husky voice from the wall behind her. She turned to see a female Khajiit younger than herself, also wearing a cloak, with a smug grin on her face.

“Shut up, fool!” hissed Ear-Wings, baring his teeth.

“Ma’Khij!” scorned S’Zharr disapprovingly, backing the lizard.

“She’s a ma in more than one way…” Ear-Wings muttered, and Kyrai-Jhun suppressed a giggle. It was obvious that he spent all of his time around Khajiit.

“Let us go to S’Zharr’s house,” suggested the old cat-man, standing up. “We attract less attention there.”