Wael sat on the floor with his back to the wall, facing the bed. He hadn’t gotten any sleep, or even been able to let his eyes close for too long. The stresses of the morning’s events had worn him down and his weary mind was quick to go from fear to worry. A silvery white shirt, a pair of pants hewn from a dark grey material that he knew must belong to the tall man, as well as his savior’s coat he’d piled on top of himself and one clawed hand grasped at the large bracer on his opposing arm. He didn’t know what to do or think anymore. Freedom was not something he could remember experiencing, though he had been trying. The only clothing he’d actually put on himself in addition to his slave garb was a pair of the pointy-ear’s socks, to warm his cold, formerly bare, feet.
Wael sat still as stone, his developing features locked in an hour-long strain. What would he do now? Again, he looked at his surroundings and
tried to think. He first thought about Master. What would happen if he were to find Wael here? What would happen to Wael? What would happen to the blessed woman who had rescued Wael, should Master find her? Even with how much he distrusted the pointy-ears, Wael also worried about the safety of her companion. The Master had so many ways to punish. The guards had taken Wael from Master, Lady Rynn had saved Wael from the guards.. With the hand that he used to hold onto his slave bracer, Wael reached up to touch the fur over his forehead where Rynn had blessed him with a kiss.
Some of his fears went away then, as he recalled visions of the radiant Lady Rynn and memories of the kindness she’d shown him. He’d been alone since the two had left him here, for hours, and as a result he felt as if he truly were all alone now. No cruel Master, but also no warm-hearted people to keep him company. Ever had he known such a simple, small space to be his 'home' or rather, his cage. He didn’t understand the words of the people in the rooms around his, nor the sounds they made. Even with his shortcomings, the kind and beautiful Lady Rynn had smiled at him. She had given him her precious coat, to keep him warm in the rain. And she had even given him her bed to rest in. He was alone, had been alone and it was something he didn’t know how to handle. Delusions of being abandoned, or somehow tricked by the couple, waned a little but still stayed with him.
That Lady Rynn would return for him, his fear was nearly equal to his hope that he would not be abandoned. That Master would find him was a thought that was much more real, a shudder running through the young Khajiit’s body at yet another recollection of some previous pain the snob Vurner Khiaelln had forced upon him. His hands began to scratch, the clawed fingertips at his forehead starting to pick at the blessed spot that was further causing his caged mind conflict. His other hand found his bracer and with both hands he began to struggle at it. The fabric the blue-man had made him keep over it to disguise the bad, it started to tear as he tried to unlock his bracer.
For several painfully long seconds there was only the bracer, terrifying to him. He pushed at one end of bracer when he could not force the lock to break with his hands, and when this new attempt failed he pushed and scratched at the other end. His eyes grew hazy with his frustration. He tried the lock again, and again it did not give. Wael let out a whimper pitiful enough to be matched with a child. He then raised his arm and, unable to see what he was doing, threw it down upon the wood of the floor. A series of sounds issued then, and the surprised cat scrambled backwards. As his vision de-fuzzed he realized that he’d disturbed a pile of items they’d left behind.
Prize? A shiny bit of metal instantly caught his attention.
It was thin, obviously low-quality and as he continued to eye it up he realized that it wasn’t as shiny as he first believed it to be. Disinterest washed over him, accompanied by a rather moody-looking little frown and his two very large ears, flattened and swiveled to round points behind his tufted head. By eye the Khajiit was able to judge the worthlessness of the twisty thing. And then an idea came to him. He compared the size of the wire to the size of his bracer’s keyhole and with great and sudden joy he realized that the two were a match.
“It will work..?” His large, brown eyes darted between the two and his thick tail started to flick and sway from side to side.
“It will work!” A large, toothy smile sprang out upon his fluffy face and with great zeal he started to work on the lock. Seconds flew by, and blissfully the young cat didn’t notice. He could only see the task before him, a vision of his new life. The large, warm bed, soft pillows, lots of blankets--all his own! He could see them again.
The mechanisms within the bracer shifted in time, with the amateur’s fussy movements, and then finally clicked into place. His bracer split apart, and air rushed to the fur now exposed. Wael held on to the lock-pick in disbelief at first. The cat unclenched his left fist, and watched his sweat-slick fur part with the action. Again, he looked down upon the open bracer, and again to his arm. His disbelief was quickly replaced with supreme bliss! Wael howled with glee and threw his arm into the air.
“’Ello? You still in there, lad?” A voice shouted from the other side of the room’s door, followed with a fast and hard knocking.
Wael froze, ears and head snapping in the direction of the voice. Tentatively, Wael’s hands touched the floor and the cat began to back away from the noises. His ears pressed against his head, all happy thoughts gone as some new presence was trying to make contact with him. 'Still' was about the only word he really understood, and from memory he knew that it was not a good word. Recollections of past beatings, complaints, shouting voices and the strange and wicked things Master could make appear were attached to that word. The tone of the speaker, gentle and cautious as would be obvious to any normal person, had little meaning to him. Past experiences had taught him that one could sound gentle or kind and still be as violent and unforgiving as a Daedra.
“Boy?” The innkeeper asked before he knocked on the door once more.
“Are you in there?”Wael backed into the bed, and jumped another series of noises issued behind him. The sound of metal sliding against metal, painfully slow moving to the cat-on-edge, followed quickly by a loud bang as whatever the object was fell to the floor. A quick glance awarded Wael the answer to his question of what he’d knocked loose. He didn’t have time to think about what he’d (accidentally) done, though. The noise had made the inn keeper on the other side to become a little more persistent.
“Boy? Are you alright?!” The man banged on the door with his one free hand, heavily. When again there was no answer, he reached down to his belt to find a copy of the room’s key.
Wael’s ears strained to hear what was going on behind the door. A different kind of metal had jingled against itself, Wael knew the sound to be that of many keys. However the noise has stopped, a new voice had appeared. It was very low, very quiet, and it took some discipline for him to concentrate on the voices over the loud pounding of his frightened heart.
“..is my dear…asked…bring a special…for his..” Wael did not understand much of what the new, quiet, voice said but he was able to identify it as belonging to a woman. Wael’s fears started to overcome him once more as it became increasingly obvious to him that the woman that threatened to enter his sanctuary was not Lady Rynn.
Hide! Wael’s head whipped around as he searched for a good place to hide himself. He first considered hiding in the bathroom, guessing that the woman wouldn’t need or want to check there. He quickly realized the flaw in that idea and instead pulled a blanket from the bed. He slid underneath the bed and pulled the blanket over himself completely, just in time to hear a key slide into the lock of the door.
He heard the workings of the lock click, the scraping of the doorknob as it turned, and the squeaking the floorboards made to being walked upon. Wael pressed his face against the floor and raised one edge slightly to look out upon the room. He could see one pair of feet walking into the room first. They were dressed in white slipper-shoes with fine beading detailed along the length from heel to toe. The legs that extended out of them were pale blue, Wael did not know what to think about them. He’d never seen blue flesh before, he could only come to the conclusion that the color came from some kind of stocking or maybe even a special dye. He heard the woman speak again, and saw the feet walk closer to the bed.
“That’s a mystery, if I ever did see one meself.” The man’s voice spoke out, Wael could make no sense of his words.
“What meaning is there in a mystery..” The woman’s feet turned from facing the bed, towards the door as she responded to the man.
“I can see that my friends are not here.. at the moment.” She grew quiet for a while, before walking up to the door to prevent the man’s from advancing any further.
“That’s the durndest thing, I couldda sworn that I heard somethin’ in here.” The man spoke, Wael could see his feet shift as if he were trying to stand on the tips of his toes to see around something.
“You’re a nice guy, I’m sure you won’t mind if I stayed here to wait for them. Your business is full downstairs and after all, you own the place.” The female voice then laughed. Wael rejoiced a little bit, he could understand laughter, but then quickly chastised himself for letting his guard down.
“I won’t disturb anything, mage’s honor.” Wael heard the sound of more metal, small objects… He watched the woman’s feet carefully and observed her shifting her weight forward. The objects were transferred to the man, and Wael realized that these new metal objects were coins.
“Ah.. alright.” The pair of feet belonging to the male turned and he started to walk away. Wael heard a few of the things he said before the voice became too far away for him to hear.
“You be lettin’ me know if you come across any trouble, Ma’am.” But, again, he couldn’t understand much of it. Wael strained to understand what that meant, growing increasingly worried as he saw that the female remained even as the door was shut. Suddenly, the female began to move. Wael tensed and lowered the edge of the blanket a little. He could see the outline of her feet as she moved, and he started to panic a little as she walked towards the bed.
Then, she stopped. Wael blinked once and then a second time. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? He hoped so. The woman was still, and she was turned in his direction. Seconds ticked by, the woman did not move. Wael struggled to keep himself still, he was so frightened by this new presence that he wanted to flee! To squirm out of his hiding place, throw the blanket at the woman and make his escape out of the door. But, he knew that such attempts had failed him in the past. He stayed under the concealing protection of his blanket.
“You there… Boy.” The woman spoke as if she were looking directly at him.
Wael curled his fingers into his palms, large brown eyes darting from the woman to the door. Something in him still wanted to run.
“I can see you.. There’s no use hiding.” The woman spoke slowly, with a cool air to her voice that she must’ve meant to be soothing. It only stirred the cat up a little more. When the Khajiit, so poorly hidden beneath the bed, remained quiet and did not move..
“Come.”The command was directed at him and Wael understood the meaning of that word
very well. Still, Wael decided to stay under the bed. Maybe she was talking to someone else? The room had a window, after all.
The window is shut and locked, Wael did not hear it open. “Khajiit.” The woman’s tone had changed, it was obvious that she was very upset with him.
“I told you to come, why do you hide from me?”“…” Wael closed his eyes tightly and covered his ears.
Please leave Wael alone! The cat didn’t notice how loud his breathing was becoming or that the blanket was no longer covering his head. Seconds ticked by before Wael had gathered enough courage to open one of his eyes. He could see much more of the woman now. She was wearing a long-sleeved white dress with a wispy pattern around the collar that matched the design on her shoes. Wael recognized the wealth it took to have such a costume, and just as quickly knew that the woman must be evil. As he looked up, he saw the bed hovering near the ceiling above him. One of her arms was stretched out infront of her, and Wael could see a mana mist surrounding what he could see of her hand.
“Move.” She commanded and very quickly Wael scurried over to cower below the window. She lowered her arm, and with it the bed slowly fell until it touched the floor again. With the threat of a floating object being used to hit him gone, Wael looked up at the woman’s face and then found himself very confused. Her face was the same pale blue color as he legs, and so too were her hands. Her hair was pale blonde, her slanted eyes and smiling lips as red as blood.
Lady Rynn. Wael thought, realizing that both Rynn and this woman had eyes of the same color.
“I now know who you are, Khajiit.” The woman spoke with a cruel, unpleasant tone that Wael was very familiar with. He didn’t have to understand her words to know what she wanted from him.
“You will come with me now..” A smile to match the malice in her voice painted itself upon her dark lips and she held out a hand as if to help him stand up.
Wael stared back at her, ears back, tail wrapped around one of his legs, his terrible fear of the woman very clear in his eyes. When he did nothing, immediately the smile turned into a frown. Her offered hand turned palm-up and started to smoke. Flames ignited and licked along the length of her hand and wrist. She moved closer, so that her hand would be just close enough to his face to singe the ends of his whiskers.
Then, the flames vanished and her smile returned. She offered to him her hand once more, and Wael quickly grabbed onto it with both of his. She squinted at him, her smile widened, and she pulled him to his feet. Wael then tried to pull his hands away, and the woman reacted by tugging him forward by them. Her other hand went below his large, fluffy chin, touching it gently at first. Then her fingers dug into his fur and she pulled his face to be just infront of hers.
“Do not think for a moment of running.” Wael was horrified, he knew that he shouldn’t be able to but somehow he was able to understand her.
Her white-blonde eyebrows arched wickedly and she made her arm tremble to give the impression of great rage.
“Obey me...” She commanded, shaking the cat’s head by his chin as he tried to look away.
“…Follow me...” Wael was now helpless to do anything but stare unblinkingly back into her venomous blood-colored eyes.
“…And you will live.” She smirked and let free his hands and face. She danced back a few steps, never turning her back to him, and then tossed a bundle into his face.
“We’re going. Get ready.” 
