When Lydia met her Thane she was completely confused. She barely had time to say, "Hello, my Thane, I am your Housecarl," before the Kahjiit stuck her nose against Lydia's and inhaled deeply. Lydia exhaled shakily, but the cat did not move. It was only until she inhaled did the Kahjiit wait a heartbeat longer before pulling away.
The cat smelled of dust and snow, but under that was the complete animal musk, somewhere between the feral smell of the Argonians and the smell of a dog.
The cat gave her a feline grin that seemed vaguely fiendish and said merrily in a husked, growling way, "Faka lo'fa lahi A'tu!" She seemed to wait for the Housecarl to return a greeting.
"Hello…?" Lydia guessed weakly, still shaken. The Dragonborn frowned before shrugging and nodded.
"You are this one's protector?" The husked growl was even more prominent when she was speaking the Nordic language. Lydia nodded and corrected politely, "Housecarl. I am sworn to protect your life, even at the cost of mine."
The Kahjiit seemed pleased, "This one will make sure that there will be no price so high."
Later when they had become better acquainted, Lydia had asked the Kahjiit Dovahkiin about her strange greeting.
"You mean the Hon'ge?"
"When you shoved your face into mine," Lydia replied tartly.
"Tsst! Hon'ge is very important to this one's race, do not disrespect it. It is a way to know your enemies and friends and to memorize your friend's scent so you will always know them."
"You can memorize that many smells?"
"This one would recognize her mother's littermates."
"And what was that thing you said to me?" Lydia asked after a pause, considering the new information.
"Faka lo'fa lahi A'tu?" The cat considered her with a flick of golden eyes.
"…Yeah."
"It has no translation, but if I considered the words, I suppose it would mean…. 'How has your spirit been seeing the world?'"
"How was I supposed to respond?" Lydia asked, remembering the disappointed look of the Kahjiit.
"With either bad or good. When this one meets another Kahjiit in this land, you will see. Or he may greet me differently."
Lydia twitched. "With what?"
"This is cold for my race. One may wish for warm sands for friends."
In the end, Lydia was still completely befuddled by the ever-mysterious cat.
AN: So. Guess what you're not getting unless I get at least one review? Anyway, this is where the Dovahkiin finally talks. (She will forever remain unnamed.) I liked it when I heard some anime characters referring to themselves in the third person, and decided to add it as a little quirk.
Forgot to mention, I own nothing.