"Father?" a young Khajiit boy asked with a soft voice, cracking the silent night atmosphere around him.

"Yes, my kitty boy?" an adult Khajiit who sat on the horseback behind the boy answered with a smile.

"Where are we going now? I miss home." The boy pouted a little.

"We're going to the far north, Leonardo. Father has business to attend to."

"But when will we go home, Father? Why is Mother not coming with us?"

The boy's father was a bit hesitant to answer those particular questions. "Just a few weeks, my dear. We'll go home and Kara will be waiting for us." He knew he was bad at lying, but it was enough to convince his twelve years old son. He was too young to comprehend the real situation. But he knew that they must go, for his son's safety.

Then he heard a warring cry from behind, a trembling roar he hoped he would not hear anymore. Dozens of footsteps marching closer to their wagon, sounds of steel boots hitting the rocky road. Torches and swords lunging to the sky, thirsted of their blood.

He grabbed his own sword from his belt, the sword which he himself cursed for bringing the mess his family was facing right now. The blade was made from pure ebony steel, shining metallic black color from the moonlight. But he knew that it was dirtied with a lot of men and mer blood, and some of them was the wrong blood to be drenched onto.

"Hiya!" the boy's father kicked the horse a bit harder, and the horse ran faster.

Unknowingly, arrows start raining on them. It was too late for the Khajiit to react, a few of the arrows already pinned their horse down. Both the adult Khajiit and his son were thrown away, rolling down a hill. Fortunately the young Khajiit boy landed on a snow pile and it broke his fall. The same could not be said for the father, who crashed straight to the less snowy surface.

"Skyrim… we're finally here…" the Khajiit thought when he felt the cold crystals soaking into his fur together with his blood.

"Father, wake up! They are coming!" the Khajiit boy shook his father's body, but the father was wounded heavily. Every shake he received only made him threw up blood.

"Leo…"

"I'm scared, Father…" The boy was sobbing. The father tried to comfort him by reaching him with all strength he had left and pulled him into a hug.

"Please don't forget that you are strong…" He coughed up more blood. "You are strong because you are my boy… From the day you were born I never doubted you… And I love you… as much as I love your mother…" Every word felt like it took away his breath little by little, but he was smiling.

"Take my sword…" He reached the ebony sword from his hip and handed it to the young boy. The boy hesitantly took it; tears were still flowing from his glowing emerald eyes.

"I love you, Leonardo…"

His eyes were closed, and his breath was never heard again. The smile persists on his face.

"I love you, Father…"Leonardo the Khajiit boy hugged his father's body tightly and cried silently. He was trembling, afraid and lost in a land unknown to him. He was alone.

"Hey, I found them!" Leonardo was startled by that voice. He looked up and saw two men with torches and swords approached him. They wore dark cloaks which covered most of their faces. He quickly stood with the black sword in hand and prepared his stance.

"The kitten got some fangs, huh?" One of them mocked him and reached his own sword.

SLASH!

Before he even had the chance to unsheathe it, his head were sent rolling down. Leonardo stepped backward and returned to his stance, fresh blood bathed his sword. He drew a heavy breath. To decapitate a man twice his size took a lot of strength.

"How dare you, you little…!" the other man quickly drew his longsword. Leonardo could not help but notice that his blade was pristine white, on the contrast with his dark blade.

The cloaked man thrusted his sword forward, which are deflected just in time. He kept doing thrust attacks, using the advantage of having a longer sword. Leonardo kept up the pace by jumping and sidestepping while sometimes deflecting the attack, until one moment Leonardo deflected one attack with a stronger force. The white sword were sent flying and lost to the darkness. Before the cloaked man could react, Leonardo thrusted his own blade to his chest and pulled it back. Blood were spurting out of the hole on his chest and then he fell.

Leonardo did not take any longer to run away to the mountain. His hands were shaking uncontrollably. It could be a sign of fatigue, or – which Leonardo wished he did not have to feel it – a sensation of taking one's life. His cheeks were covered in warm liquid that are not entirely tears, with a smell he could not forget for maybe his entire life.

He ran and ran until his legs gave up. Leonardo laid wasted and tired on the snowy surface. He could not tell how long he kept running through the mountain. He did not care about anything anymore.

"Survive… Anyone… Help…" Leonardo faintly whispered. Even his fur did not help much against the extreme cold. But no one would hear a whisper, not in the middle of snow plains. His vision now blurry, Leonardo prayed silently and accepted his fate.

"…Lucan! Come here!"

A feminine sound could be heard faintly. Then he heard footsteps, two pairs of them.

"By the Divines… He's a little boy." The female voice spoke again. A pair of soft hands caressed his face, giving him a slight warming comfort.

"Is he… a Khajiit? Why is he here by himself?" A male voice spoke to the woman, Leonardo thought.

"We must bring him to the village!" The woman picked Leonardo up and carried him on her back.

"Are you sure, Camilla?" The male – which Leonardo recognized as Lucan – tried to reason with her. "Not everyone in the village trusts a Khajiit."

"He's a child, for Divine's sake! I will not leave him in the middle of the nowhere!" The woman named Camilla strode away angrily.

Leonardo could not hear the rest of the conversation clearly. He fell asleep on Camilla's back.

Inside the Sleeping Giant Inn of Riverwood, Lucan, Camilla, and Delphine the innkeeper had gathered a number of the villagers in the hall, while the Khajiit boy was sleeping in Lucan and Camilla's house. Every one of them was sitting around the fireplace. Lucan and Camilla tried to convince them to let the Khajiit boy stay, despite of his race. Surprisingly – considering that most Men and Mer were a bit racist for the beast-men – all of them took it quite well.

"We understand, Ms. Valerius. We will keep our mouth shut about him." Delphine was the first to respond.

"He may be a Khajiit, but I believe he would not be a trouble for us." Alvor the blacksmith gave his opinion. His wife Sigrid nodded silently beside him, and then she spoke, "I agree with my husband. He is still a little boy. No children are evil because of their race alone."

"Are you sure about this, Camilla?" Sven the bard spoke his concern. "You know that having a child in your house is a lot of work."

"I might be young Sven, but I am also a woman. Motherly instinct is natural for me. I believe I'll manage, though I have no idea how to raise a kitten." Camilla giggled at her own words, while Lucan beside him shook his head.

"Thank you for all of your understanding. We're sorry to trouble you at the middle of the night." Lucan stood up and bowed respectfully.

"Nah, it's okay." Alvor dismissed him. "We are glad to have the boy around. The more the merrier." He laughed and left with his wife, followed by the rest until only Lucan, Camilla, and Delphine was the only people who were still circling the fire.

"Well," Delphine once again broke the silence. "You better go and stay with the boy. He might be unscathed but he is scared. Even worse, he is traumatized." Delphine sighed, and then she continued, "By looking at him I know he just killed someone – Divines know why he did. It was his first experience."

"You're right. I'll go check him." Camilla stood up from the bench.

"Go first. I need a drink." Lucan dismissed her. Delphine – being the innkeeper – instinctively went behind the counter and grabbed a few bottle of ales.

It was a clear, starry night when Camilla went out of the Sleeping Giant Inn. She stared the sky for a minute, and then she went to the building next to the inn, the Riverwood Trading Post. Surprisingly, she found the Khajiit boy sitting on the stairs in front of the door, staring at beautiful night.

"Hello. How are you now?" Camilla approached him and sat beside him.

"I'm fine now, are you the one who helped me?" Leonardo turned to look at her eyes. Camilla could not help to find that his emerald eyes were pretty, but sharp like it stares into one's soul. She also noticed that he was far from her image of a Khajiit. She met a few Khajiits before, and she thought that their way of speech was weird, their behaviour was rude, and she felt uncomfortable around them. But this boy was different. He spoke and acted normally, even a bit too formal. She imagined that his family was a noble or from a higher social class.

"Yeah, my brother Lucan and I found you in the middle of the road. Thank the Divines you're okay." Camilla smiled and patted his head. The fur was soft and fluffy. She almost could not hold the urge to scratch his head and pointy ears. "Oh, and my name is Camilla. What's yours?"

"Thank you, Aunt Camilla. My name is Leonardo."

"Aunt?" She laughed silently at his naïve statement. Being called an 'aunt' made her feel old. She was still twenty-two, but he could not be more than twelve. So she decided to shrug it off and asked another question, "Why did you out there alone? Do you have a family here in Whiterun?"

The question seemed to pierce Leonardo's heart, because his eyes dimmed and his expression looked very sad. Camilla was sure he would cry any time now and she felt sorry for asking.

"My father…" Leonardo clutched the black sword in his hand – which Camilla did not notice at first. "I lost my father, and he never told me where my mother is. But I know… deep down that Mother was already gone from this world too." His words were almost unclear. Leonardo thought he had enough crying, but he shed a drop of tear anyway.

Camilla was taken aback by his words and stared at him silently. Losing parents at such a young age, she could not relate to him. So she gently held his shoulder and let him lean on her, hoping that she could give all the comfort she had.

"My father is a swordsman, and he taught me how to swordfight." Leonardo showed her the blade of the sword. Camilla did not know much about weapons other than selling them, but she knew it was specially made and it meant a lot to him.

"He usually beats me when we spared. Father is a harsh teacher." Leonardo let out a bitter laugh. "But there was one time I disarmed and kicked him down. I thought he would be angry… but he got up and quickly hugged me. When I saw his eyes and his wide smile, I knew he was so proud of me…" He sobbed uncontrollably when he finished that last sentence. "Now he would not be proud of me anymore… He's…"

Camilla's heart sank even deeper. She was speechless, and the only thing she could do was hug him tightly. Leonardo hugged her back even tighter. He was holding back the tears but he failed. Warm tears wetted her clothes but she did not mind, because she knew he needed somebody to comfort him, to love him and be proud of him.

"Cry it out, Leo." She whispered to him. "But you must know that I care about you. So don't be sad anymore, okay?"

Leonardo sniffed and nodded while still in her embrace. He was comfortable in this position and did not want to let go. But eventually he released himself from her. His crying had stopped and he smiled gratefully to her. "Thank you so much, Aunt Camilla. I will be a good boy."

Camilla replied his smile with a grin. He was so adorable and she could not hold herself to scratch his ears, and so she did. Leonardo was a bit surprised, but he laughed from the contact.

"Hahaha, it tickles, Aunty!" Leonardo protested playfully. But instead Camilla tried harder to tickles inside his pointy ear while grinning widely. Their laughter echoed in the peaceful night.

And so, Leonardo's day in Skyrim began.

Author's Note:

It's been awhile since I played Skyrim, but I love playing as a Khajiit. It was interesting that Khajiits are victims to racism and forbidden to enter any city, while the Khajiit Dragonborn can freely roam inside out. So in this fiction, racism is one issue Leonardo would face when he travels the Skyrim.

The name Leonardo came to mind when I was choosing the name of my Khajiit Dragonborn in one of my playthrough. If you read some web comics about cats, you should know who I am referencing too. If not, Leonardo is quite a familiar name and it sounds cool.

Please leave any suggestions in the review. I'm not native English so please correct me if I made any mistakes.

See you next time!