The Legend of Ajira
By Madame Ergoth
Chapter 2: Ajira Swhen
Authors Note: This chapter is set many years back, to when the day Ajira Swhen was first born. Ajira's parents are Estella and Darq Swhen, her father Darq a talented warrior, and her mother Estella a gifted mage. Let's see how the story begins...
The barren Ashlands, covered infinitely with dry soil, stretched as far and wide as the eye could see. All was quiet, except for the distant screams of Cliff Racers, and the rustle of the dry wind as it blew relentlessly over the arid landscape, stirring the loose sand, carrying it across the Ashlands in the wind, and settling it, at least until the next time. But yet...something was happening, the wind carried news of it in the air. The few residents of the Ashlands could feel that something was going on, but no one could identify what it was. Far off across the Ashlander plains, something was happening that would one day change Morrowind forever.
"Look at her, Stella," Darq Swhen cooed, cradling a tiny Khajiit babe in his furry arms. He stroked the baby's head lovingly. "Isn't she beautiful?" The Khajiit child was small, and had her mother warm face, but her father's long pointed ears. She giggled softly, and hiccupped. A tall woman Khajiit with bright eyes and a soft, graceful face looked down on her child. She grinned broadly, glowing in the thought that she was now a mother.
"What shall we name her, Darq?" She looked at her husband, who was cradling the baby. Darq stayed silent for a moment, and slowly lifted his head to the sky. Khajiits are very fond of night, and they know all the lore of the stars and the heavens. The moon is their symbol, in fact, the two parents both had a silver glistening moon emblazoned across their forehead, as a sort of birthmark. The new child did not have one yet, but the stars had told Estella that one would appear when she was ready. Darq searched the heavens for the perfect star, the perfect constellation to name his beautiful daughter after. A sharp, pulsating one caught his eye. It was right above the horizon, and glowing strangely with green light. At once, he recognized the constellation it came from: Ajira, the queen mother of all living things in Khajiit lore, the goddess of nature and of healing. Darq Swhen smiled, his eyes twinkling excitedly. He looked at Stella, smiled, and said, "Ajira. We shall name her Ajira."
"Mommy, mommy! Get up!" A young female Khajiit yelled and shook her moms hammock frantically. A muffled groan came from under the blanket. "Mommy!" she yelled with as much energy as ever. "Don't you remember? It's my birthday today!" A huge furry lump rolled out of the hammock, and landed with a shump! on the dirt floor of their hut.
"Ajira..." it moaned, "couldn't you wait until it was at least daylight?"
Ajira laughed. "No, no! I wannit to be my birthday right now!"
"Of course it is, honey." The lump was found to be Ajira's mother, and she was still half-asleep, because she kept mumbling incoherently with her eyes closed.
Ajira's father, Darq, entered the hut, sheathing his long claymore and carrying a small dead guar in the other.
"Ohhhh..." cooed Stella, eyeing the dead guar, "It looks like it was only a baby."
"Yes, but at least we will have some good meat now," He eyed the corpse hungrily.
"Couldn't you have just picked some berries or roots?" Stella protested, "They're edible too!"
"That sissy stuff will never put any meat on your bones! What you need is meat!" He plopped the dead guar on the table.
Ajira just stood there, quietly watching the argument.
The row continued to rage on, so Ajira stepped outside to get away from the fighting and to have a bit of fresh air.
She sighed and looked around outside her hut. The three moons glowed brightly in the night sky, and the stars all twinkled with magical light. A warm fire was glowing in the yard. Ajira sat beside it, warming her paws and listening to the screaming going on in her parents house. She was used to it by now. Darq and Stella were never really meant to be, it seemed. They were just too different from each other. Yes, they had loved at first, but now it was all quarreling and bickering over the simplest things, and it happened all the time.
Estella was a mage, and a very gifted one at that. She was born into the Balmora Temple, but was apprenticed to the magical arts at a very young age. Nelani Githne had been her instructor, and her Temple beliefs mixed with her magical learning had decided that it was wrong to kill or harm anything, even just for food. Therefore, she was very skinny, and lived on a diet of edible plants and berries.
Darq, on the other hand, was born into the Fighter's Guild, and was trained from birth as a warrior. Though he did not like to kill, he understood it was sometimes necessary, so he had no problem hunting for food.
There seemed to be a lull in the fighting, everything had gone silent inside the hut. Ajira looked at the door. She heard the rustle of movement, and a short muffled groan. "What's going on in there?" Ajira called into the house. "Everything all right?"
She stepped through the cloth door.
Suddenly, a gloved hand wrapped around her neck and covered her mouth. She tried to scream, but no words came out. "Shut your mouth, n'wah!" A cruel voice came from behind her. Ajira frantically looked around and spotted two wriggling burlap sacks in the corner. That could only be her parents. She desperately tried to wriggle away, but the elf's hold on her was powerful. Feeling a striking blow to her head, she moaned, sunk to the ground, and saw no more.