The woman wept, her tears spotting the floor. She was lying on the floor, remembering of the sweet little nine-year-old girl she had to sell. The woman's husband sat beside her and took her hand.
"I know," he whispered. "It's been five years to this day and it still hurts. I just wished he'd have taken me instead…"
"All of us," the wife sobbed. "But he couldn't afford more, and we were starving."
"I wonder if she's still there..?"
Y/n (the girl in the question) sneezed. She thought of the old story –you sneeze when someone thinks about you -and sighed. She hoped it was her parents. She looked over at Chamu, her constant companion. He sat next to her so she could pet him. Y/n had found Chamu when he was about a month old. He had wandered into a nest of poisonous snakes. His mother had tried to save him, but died in the process. Y/n saw the snakes, turned to the cub and she grabbed the poor thing and ran to her home.
She cared for the cub, whom she dubbed, "Chamu." She had just turned eight.
Halfway to nine, Y/n's family lost it all – money, jobs, home, and health – and had to resort to slavery. The only one interested was a circus and then just in Chamu. When it was clear he wouldn't cooperate with the handler assigned to him, the Ringmaster bought Y/n as well. Her parents were left to fend for themselves.
Five years later, Y/n had matured into a beautiful fourteen-year-old almost-woman. She had been freed at the age of twelve and had stayed on as Chamu's handler.
Suddenly, the ringmaster called for a show. Immediately. "The Prince of the Crescent Moon Kingdom is coming, and we want a good show for him!"
Y/n nodded and got herself, Chamu, and Kikki, the monkey that was part of the act, ready in their show clothes. They all had a long night ahead of them.