‧͙⁺˚*･ A Father's Love ･*˚⁺‧͙
The walk home was a silent one, Mirani followed her sister, face blank of any emotion; she wanted to cry but couldn't. She couldn't even remember the walk home, images of the blade, taken so quickly from its sheath, the choking gasps of her sister struggling for breath. The smooth feeling of metal sliding through flesh, cutting through bits of Jaraleet's rib cage as it hit and punctured his kidney - like stabbing a soft apple.
Suddenly they were back in their bedroom, her sister undressing before her and quickly throwing on her nightgown.
"Come on! You need to get back into your nightgown - otherwise, Father will know we were out."
Malira watched as her sister remained motionless, staring blankly down at the floor, hugging tight her stuffed toy.
Malira pursed her lips and began slowly undressing her sister; something clunked heavily onto the wooden floor.
Leaning down to pick it up, Malira gasped almost dropping it.
"Mirani! Why? Why did you keep Jaraleet's dagger?" She held the silver dagger, turning it over in her grasp.
Blood remained on the tip, its colour now gone a dark colour.
Mirani suddenly snatched the dagger, holding it to her chest.
"It belongs to this one now. Mirani will keep it."
Malira clasped her paws together, looking sadly at her sister. How was she supposed to make this better?
She always knew what to do, what could she do now?
"Well, you must hide it. No one can know we were anywhere near Jaraleet on this night. No one saw us. Everyone thinks we were in bed asleep - it's best we let everyone continue thinking that."
Mirani slowly looked up to her sister, worry plastered upon her face.
"Is this one going to be taken away?" Malira quickly hugged her sister, pulling her tight.
"No!" Holding her by the shoulders, she slightly shook her, "No - because no one is going to know. Ok?" She nodded back, shuddering a sigh of relief.
"Now. Go hide that somewhere, somewhere parents won't find it."
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"How are you going to pay him, Airul? We've already sold him our horse." Chirrharri whispered, hoping her cubs wouldn't hear.
"This one will think of something, husband always does - yes?" Wrapping his large muscular arms around his wife's waist, he leaned in, placing his forehead softly upon hers.
"This one will look after his family."
"It scares me this one. Chirrharri saw him in the market this morning. He's here in Leyawiin."
Airul stiffened, slowly pulling himself away, "He's… Here?"
That bit of information was enough to stop his breath for a few seconds. "This one will sort things out." His eyes shot about the room, his mind spinning.
"Father seems scared," Malira whispered.
The cubs, of course, had overheard everything, Malira sat hiding around a corner that led into the kitchen.
"Scared? Nothing scares father." Mirani whispered more to herself than to her sister. "Should we be scared too?"
Malira looked back to her sister, that was a good question. She had never seen her father show fear for anything before, what was making him so afraid? Who did their mother see?
"This one does not know, sister." She could hear her father's heavy footsteps coming their way. "Come."
Quickly they both hurried out the back door of their house.
Outside, Malira quickly made it seem like they had both been picking flowers, pretending not to have overheard their parent's conversation.
"There you two are."
Mirani ran to her father's side, pulling playfully on his shirt, wanting to her father to hold her.
"Hello little one, how about you and your sister come for a long walk outside of the city?" They both looked at each other, faces alight.
Very rarely did their father ever take them out on little adventures and it was even rarer to take them outside of the walls of Leyawiin.
"Outside! Outside!" Mirani said, excitedly jumping up and down.
Excited to be part of something, she was rarely ever invited to go along with her father, always being left behind with her mother.
"Yes. Outside." Airul placed her down, his eyes quickly shifting to the shed then back again.
Malira could sense something odd about her father but couldn't quite place what it was, too excited she quickly pushed it aside.
"We go now?" Mirani asked as she continued to bounce up and down.
"Yes, little one. We go now." He petted Mirani on the head, smiling innocently down at her. "Father needs to grab a few things first. Go, wait."
Malira watched as her father slowly turned and entered back inside, Malira felt a thrill of excitement run down her spine right to the tip of her tail but her stomach felt heavy like it was full of cold stones.
Turning to the yard's shack, she tilted her head - what was inside?
"Sister come too!" Mirani squealed, pouncing on the back of her sister. "Going on adventures with daddy!"
It seemed like her sister had all but forgotten about the dark dealings of last night, maybe this outing would be good for her? Good for all of them.
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"Wow! It is so big outside!" Mirani's eyes sparkled.
Sitting atop her father's shoulders made her feel as though she was on top of the whole of nirn, held as high as the heavens.
Malira smiled up at her sister, holding tight to her father's paw, he looked down to her grinning ear to ear.
"Yes, nirn is a big and most beautiful place, little one." He paused, eyes narrowing. "But it can also be a very dark and dangerous place."
Malira pulled her father's paw closer to her chest, holding tight with both her paws.
"Father will be there to protect us, yes?" Malira said, an air of worry heavy in her voice.
He quickly looked down to her with a startled look on his face. Seeing his daughter's face tugged at his heart, his throat bobbing painfully.
"Yes, of course, this one will always be with you - with both of you." He quickly looked away, eyes beginning to sting.
"Father?" Malira asked softly.
"Yes, my first?"
"Is father, ok?" Malira kept her eyes low, watching the random passing rock.
"Look, we're here." Mirani's excited voice quickly ended the seriousness of the conversation.
Placing her down, he pointed to a nearby lake, a large tree stood idly by, waving slowly in the wind.
"This is where mother and this one first felt love for one another. It was here your life began."
Mirani sprinted off ahead, excited to see any fish that might be hiding amongst the rock pools.
Waiting for Mirani to be out of earshot, Airul quickly kneeled to Malira's level, placing his paws lightly on her shoulders.
"My firstborn. There's something this one must tell you, something father must say."
His face began to crack, eyes welling up. Malira had never seen her father in such an emotional way; seeing him slowly fall apart made her want to cry.
"Daddy? What's wrong?" She asked again.
"Know that this one is proud - proud of both his daughters. Father has always been proud and loves his daughters very much for Mara has blessed this one with such beautiful girls." Pulling her close, he shuddered softly into her shoulder.
"Look! Mirani found a gold coin-." She stopped, suddenly seeing her whipping tears from his eyes. "Why is daddy crying?"
Airul slowly held out his massive paw waiting for Mirani to take it. Dropping the small coin, she took hold of her father's paw.
"You are young, but Mirani is special, like a Nirnroot she glows within the darkness. Look after your sister, for she may get lost."
Mirani looked to her sister, not sure why her father was saying such things.
"Daddy?" She asked, confused tears stinging her eyes.
He then picked her up and held her very close.
"Now! Let's go hunting for flowers to bring home to mother? Yes?"
Airul spent most of their time out just simply watching his daughters play by the river, happily splashing each other and skipping rocks off the water's surface.
He wanted this moment to last forever, but like everything, it soon had to come to an end.
Looking up at the sky, he smiled to himself.
"Not yet." He sighed sadly, "If only this one had more time."
Their outing was almost over, and soon he would have to return them home, he wished he had done this more often, how quick his daughters grew, it only felt like yesterday that his eldest was born. Both being of the cathay breed, it surprised them both when their cubs were born under the same lunar phase. Chirrharri was also cathay, most the khajiit in Cyrodiil was, but Airul was born a cathay-raht, standing bigger and stronger than most, even than that of the Altmer.
Malira was quite the night she was born, her ears folded back as Khajiit cubs' ears usually are when firstborn.
Completely black like her mother, the first time she opened her eyes, he thought he had seen all the beauty there was to see in the world, he was wrong, those eyes - those beautiful emerald eyes.
Coloured like her mother's eyes but slightly lighter, the memory still took his breath away.
And little Mirani, she was almost the opposite, she came screaming into this world, letting everyone know within four houses that she had arrived, angrily clawing at the air for her mother's breast.
She opened her eyes a little earlier than her older sister, revealing the lightest of blue eyes, like her father's but almost white. Mirani also never developed any stripes. Both girls had beautiful manes like their mother, Malira having a slightly thicker one then her sister. Both were more beautiful then Dibella herself, and he loved them with all of the love Mara could instil upon nirn.
Tears streamed down his cheeks, dripping off the ends of his whiskers, what would they look like when they were fully grown? Who would they become? What would they achieve? Wiping the tears away, he smiled softly to himself.
"They will be what they will be, and this one will love them for it." Looking back at her father, Malira waved to him, receiving a soft wave back.
He looked now to his Khajiit Gods, never taught to his daughters for fear of not fitting in.
"S'rendarr, please have mercy upon them."
"Something is wrong," Malira said as she attempted skipping another rock off of the lake's surface - failing the small stone plopped making her sister giggle.
Huffing, she passed a rock to her sister, plopping down onto the ground.
She grabbed a stick, slowly drawing in the dirt four whiskered stick figures, loosely representing her family.
"Why?" Mirani asked, clumsily flinging the rock up high for it to come hurtling down, making a large splash.
"This one is unsure, but this one feels something is wrong, like a shadow with eyes is watching."
Mirani's ears folded back in fear, slowly looking around she quickly looked down to her sister.
"Is it because of what this one did last night?"
Malira slowly shook her head, "No - this is something else, something serious… Something dangerous. Not because of Mirani, this one thinks it is… Coming."
Terrified, Mirani stared at her sister, watching her blank emerald eyes unblinking.
"Ok! Time to go back home to mother! It will be dark soon!" Their father called out, their father's shouts made them both jump slightly.
They looked at each other, a weary look upon their faces.
"Daddy will protect us. And Mummy, she will protect us too!" Mirani dusted off her paws, skipping back to her father.
Before Malira left the side of the lake, she slowly looked around, the eerie feeling of being watched still hung in the air like a thick poison.
Why did she feel like this? What was wrong? The whole day felt wrong, was it because of what happened last night? Were the divines planning on punishing them? Or was it merely just guilt?
"Malira! Come!" Her father yelled impatiently.
Standing up, she dropped the stick.
She took one last look at the drawing; she had accidentally stood on the picture, smudging out both her parents.
She stared at it blankly then returned to her father.
The feeling did not go away.
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They returned home just as the 6 o'clock church bells rang out over Leyawiin, the smell of cooked fish and steamed vegetables welcomed them home along with affectionate head bumps from their mother.
"Did daughters have a good time with father?" Their mother asked as she sat down to eat.
"Oh, yes! This one found a gold coin-." She paused, searching for the coin, then remembered, "oh… Mirani dropped it." Her ears drooped suddenly saddened.
"It's alright, little one. This one saw it, it's true. Mirani found a very shiny septum." Airul grinned at his wife.
"Oh! What luck! Stendarr must have blessed Mirani with a bit of luck today." Smiled widely, Chirrharri placed a large piece of fried fish upon Mirani's plate.
"And then took it away, making this one drop it?" This made everyone laugh, Mirani though didn't realise the humour.
Looking around the table, she slowly smiled, joining in on the laughter.
"Did you have a good time?" She asked, placing another bit of fish onto Malira's plate.
Malira smiled softly, looking to her father, she quickly looked back to her mother.
She wanted to ask what was wrong, even at the dinner table, she could sense an air of unease but didn't want to upset anyone - especially her sister.
"Yes, this one enjoyed herself very much. Thank you, mother."
Chirrharri tilted her head, noticing her daughter's slightly toned answer.
"Father will take daughters out again sometime, maybe next time we all will go, yes? Maybe a little further north and camp for the night." Airul beamed, looking at his youngest, Mirani's eyes shining dreamily.
"Oh! This one would like that very much! Wouldn't that be exciting, sister?" Mirani said as she bobbed up and down in her seat.
"Yes," Malira whispered as she held herself, a small chill settling on the back of her neck. "Mother, this one is not hungry. Can Malira go to her room?"
Her mother looked concerned, pressing a paw to her forehead she checked for a fever.
"You do not feel hot. Does your stomach hurt?"
Malira shook her head, "No. This one is just not feeling well."
"Oh… Well ok. Maybe have an early night. This one will be up soon to tuck daughter in."
Malira slowly made her way upstairs to her room. Ears drooped, she didn't understand. Why couldn't she shake this awful feeling? She crawled into bed, leaving room for her sister, she held tight the little Senchie doll. She hadn't hugged a toy in years but something about how she felt made her feel very vulnerable.
After a while she could hear the heavy footsteps of her father, walking through the kitchen to the staircase, expecting him to walk up the stairs she sat up in bed waiting, but the continued footsteps never came, they continued passed the stairs and to the front door.
Was he going out? Why so late? Malira hopped out of bed, hearing a loud bang she stopped cold.
"Upstairs! Hide!" Her father roared. "Chirrharri! Take her!"
Malira heard the panicked steps of her mother almost tripping up the stairs, arriving at her door she flung Mirani into their bedroom, paused and looked at them both, eyes wide with fear suddenly stricken with sadness.
"Hide." Her eyes quickly turned to a very protective motherly stare as she slammed the door closed and remained outside.
Mirani started to cry, not knowing what to do. She held herself shivering with fear.
Grabbing Senchie, she shoved it into her sister's hands then dashed to the cupboard, pried up a loose wooden panel, receiving the dagger her sister had put there the night before.
"Open up, Airul!" The front door slammed, shaking up the inside of the house. "Times - UP!"
A massive explosion shook the house, shaking both khajiit cubs off their feet. Mirani screamed, hugging her sister.
"Daddy! I want Daddy!" Malira stood before her sister, terrified her paws shook around the dagger.
Airul's roars could be heard, followed by the crashing of furniture and the smashing of plates and glasses.
"Chirrharri! Run-." Their father's words suddenly cut short sent a cold shiver up Malira's spine. Their mother screams cut coldly through the air as her shadow left beneath their doorway. A loud static boom could be heard, followed by a large flash of light that spilled in under their bedroom door.
Mirani sniffled, too afraid to cry anymore. Malira held tight to her sister's paw, pulling her further away from the door.
The doorknob slowly turned, clicking as it opened, revealing a tall black-robed figure, his face covered in shadow.
"Ah. So the thief had kittens. So - where did the thief hide them?"
Malira hissed angrily at the man. Her tail bristled in fear. The man simply laughed, forming a small ball of fire that floated within his hand.
"Would you two like to join your parents? I'm sure they will miss you otherwise." The cloaked man mocked, laughing softly.
Malira saw the ball, pulled Mirani hard and ran for the window.
The man threw the ball, hitting the middle of their room it erupted in a large ball of flames, violently sending both sister's crashing through their window.