The Legend of Ajira
By Madame Ergoth
Chapter 3: Life with the Zainab
Ajira woke to the sound of drum. Slow and rhythmic, they calmed her and made her want to fall asleep again. She looked around groggily. She was no longer in her hut. Where was she? She saw a lot of little tents scattered everywhere, Best she could tell, she was still in the Ashlands.
The face of a Dark Elf looked down upon her. He had the characteristic red eyes of the Dunmer and a weird tattoo slathered across his cold grey skin. "Get up, sera," he said. Ajira slowly got up onto her feet, realizing that she was extremely sore. "What happened?" she asked, still looking around at her new and different surroundings.
"That doesn't matter right now," said the dark elf in his deep voice. "You will know when the time is right."
"What do you mean?" pleaded Ajira. "Where am I? Where's my parents?"
"Come with me," was all the dark elf said.
She was led across the camp into a particularly large yurt. "Inside," said the elf, gesturing into the tent. Ajira reluctantly stepped through the cloth door. Another dark elf was seated inside, bearing the same face markings as the other elf. He had a long, jagged scar running down his face. Probably from battle, thought Ajira silently.
"Good evening," said the elf, bowing to her politely, "and welcome to Zainab Camp. You may've heard. We are the nomadic Dunmer people of the Ashlands. There are several other Ashlander tribes, but we have nothing to do with them. My name is Falyron Byx, and I am the Ashkhan, or leader, of this Ashlander tribe. If you have any questions, please direct them to me."
Ajira had a good deal of questions, but she was afraid and confused. She was afraid to ask this frightening elf anything, and she was so confused about what was going on. Quietly she murmured, "Where's my parents, sir?"
"Ah, Estella and Darq. Never fear, they are safe here in camp, and you may see them later. Let me assure you, no harm will come to them whilst they are here. And let me apologize...Ajira, is it? For breaking into your house like that and kidnapping you. You must be terribly frightened."
Ajira was, in truth, very frightened, but she was not going to tell this "Ashkhan", as he called himself.
"You have to understand that we took you for a very good reason. It may not be known to you, but rest assured, we did not take you hostage out of pure spite. When the right time comes, you will know. For now, however, you will be living with us. You are free to trek across the country as you wish, so long as you can always come back here before sundown. Understood?"
Ajira nodded numbly. It was taking her a while to digest all of this information.
"By the way, you and your parents' hut is the third on the left. You are dismissed."
Ajira nodded and bowed to him, then stepped out of the cloth door in a daze. She had heard of the Ashlander peoples, but she had never thought that she would be taken hostage by them. She counted down the tents three to the left and found hers. It was particularly small compared to many of the other yurts, but she was thankful to have one at all.
She stepped inside and was met with lavish hugs and apologies by her two parents, clearly overjoyed to see her again. "Are you OK?" asked Stella, brushing dirt off her daughters clothes.
"Yes, mom, I'm fine."
"What did they do to you?" asked Darq.
"Nothing, they just told me we'd be staying here for a while. I'm...really tired. I need to go to bed." Ajira felt nothing like discussing this with her parents. Not now. Maybe not ever. She crawled into a cramped hammock and tried to fall asleep. But too many questions were buzzing around in her mind to sleep, even a little.
When you are ready...when the time is right...Everyone kept keeping all the answers from her. She couldn't get any information about why she was here or what she was supposed to be doing. No one would tell her anything until "the time was right". When would the time be right? Three days? Three years? She wished that everyone would stop treating her like a baby. Ajira knew in her heart that she was still very young, but she felt that she had the right to know why she had been taken hostage by the strange Ashlanders. What did they want with her? Ajira groaned, half-asleep, and wished silently in her head that she was back home, in her comfy hut on the edge of the Ashlander plains. Sure, she was free to travel around, but she would be bound to this place forever. There was no sense in trying to escape; the Ashlanders were the best trackers around.
Finally, Ajira rolled over on her lumpy pillow and fell into an uncomfortable but well-deserved sleep.