"I... I had no idea that the ring didn't belong to Bhidul," the bosmer said with a quivering voice. Before him stood two khajiit mercenaries that were both almost a head taller than him. The khajiit mercenaries flashed him their teeth and he was visibly shivering.
Hiding behind a room splitter of their home was a teenage boy. He heard the commotion and listened to what they were saying, afraid to make any sudden noises or movements.
"Bhidul?" the female khajiit with a black fur asked. "Who is this Bhidul?"
"He... H-he said he was the captain of the ship..."
"The ship that you stole Rethilnith's ring from?" the male khajiit with a white fur asked. His voice hissed as he spoke.
The bosmer nodded hesitantly.
"Y-yes. He said that he knew of the Rite of Theft and paid me hundred golds for it," he said. The male khajiit skewed his ears and pointed his claw at the man who was ready to hide under the dining table.
"A hundred gold? A hundred gold?!" the khajiit yelled. "You think that ring was only worth a hundred gold?!"
"T-that's what he said to me!"
"You're really dumber than you look," the female khajiit spoke in return. "That ring is Rethilnith's family heirloom. It is enchanted with a powerful spell that invigorates the wearer. That ring is said to be touched by Almalexia herself, one of the living gods of the dunmer."
"I... I had no idea of the ring's value, I don't know anything about the living gods of the dunmer, please, I didn't know," the bosmer man said and crouched down to the floor level. He tried to hide behind the table but the khajiits threw it over. It flew over to the boy who covered his mouth.
"Ji'hana thinks that Velyisa doesn't care that you didn't know," the female khajiit said.
"I... I'll tell the Dominion guards that you're dealing with the Pact! They'll imprison you!"
"This one is not working for the Pact, nor the Dominion," the male khajiit said. "Ji'hana and Jotobarri only work for Velyisa Rethilnith... Who is a member of House Telvanni, which isn't a member of the Pact."
"Besides," Ji'hana started as she leaned towards the small man with her sword pointing towards his face, "how is this little one going to tell any guard about Ji'hana and Jotobarri if he is dead, hmm?"
"P-p-please! I'll do anything! Anything!" the bosmer pleaded. "I-I've heard that the dunmer have slaves. I... have a proposal."
"Pff! What would Velyisa do with a pathetic old man like you?" Jotobarri asked.
"Not me. My oldest child is young and capable. He's not even mature yet," the bosmer man said with his head down.
"Hmm," Ji'hana hummed. "An elf slave would be a lifelong servant, would it not?"
"Tell you what, you give him to us and we'll take him to Velyisa. Once we get there, we'll ask if he's going to accept your offer. If not, then, too bad. You're a dead man, unless you get a lot of gold from somewhere really, really fast," Jotobarri said. The bosmer nodded quickly.
"He... He's right there," he said and pointed towards the room divider, a piece of leather providing a bit of privacy to the four beds that were sticking out of the walls of the hut.
"Come out, little one," Ji'hana said. The boy walked to them slowly. His body was shaking but he managed to walk beside his father. He was holding his bow to his chest. The father didn't even look at him.
Jotobarri leaned down towards the boy and took the bow from his hand. He stared deeply into his dark brown eyes before seeing them get watery. Tears were soon sliding down his face and he covered them in fear.
"You really are a terrible person, you know that?" Jotobarri said to the older bosmer who couldn't look anybody in the face anymore. "You would rather give up your child as a slave to a cruel master in a foreign land than pay your debt any other way?"
"At least... At least nobody has to die this way," the older man said.
"You must sign a paper in which you explicitly say that you are going to give up your son's freedom and let him become property of Velyisa Rethilnith," Ji'hana said. "Get to it."
The older bosmer quickly looked for some vellum and ink before writing down what the khajiit told him to. He signed the vellum with his name, Gerphor Pinehollow. Once the paper was finished, he gave it to Ji'hana who made sure that everything was in order. Jotobarri took the boy's hand in his.
"Let's go, Ervirin," Ji'hana said. "We have a long trip ahead of us."
Ervirin looked once behind himself to see his father for the last time, but the old man didn't even look at him. He stood there in complete silence and stared at the ground.
"Should we let him stay in our room?" Jotobarri asked.
It was night. Ervirin was sitting in the cargo hold, on top of a large box and hugging his knees. He heard the khajiits talking to each other. Other than them, there weren't many people on the ship, only a couple more khajiits and some argonians.
Ervirin's father told him to never talk to strangers, especially strangers that weren't bosmer. Now he had little choice.
"Why do you want that child into our room?" Ji'hana asked, hissing. Their voices were slightly muffled coming from the other side of the door.
"Because... this one feels bad," Jotobarri said. "Velyisa is not a good man. You know that. You have seen how he treats Shahrava..."
"Ji'hana is sure that Velyisa will be kinder to Ervirin, he is a child, after all," Ji'hana said. "And he reminds Velyisa of his own kind. Surely his fatherly instincts will come out."
"Jotobarri wouldn't be so sure that Velyisa has any such instincts..."
"The boy can sleep in your bed, if you sleep on the floor," Ji'hana said.
"Of course, of course... As long as the boy is alright," Jotobarri said. After that, the door to the cargo hold opened up. The room was cold and pitch black, Ervirin had to squint when the light shone into the room.
Ervirin turned to look at the khajiit slowly. Jotobarri wasn't wearing his heavy armor anymore, but simple, comfortable clothes. He had a gentle smile on his face.
"You... probably heard what we were talking about, yes?" he asked. Ervirin nodded slowly. "Come. It's getting cold."
Ervirin jumped down from the box he was sitting on and made his way to the khajiits. Jotobarri and Ji'hana walked him to their room where there were two beds and a desk as well as one chest for each khajiit. There was a lamp sitting on the desk. Inside it were some fireflies.
Jotobarri pointed at his bed. It was made and the sheets were freshly changed. Ervirin looked at it and the khajiit alternatively, making the older one laugh.
"You can sleep in here tonight. And probably for your entire stay. Jotobarri will get himself a bedroll... or something," he said and left the room. Ervirin went to the bed and made himself as comfortable as he could. He faced the wall and felt the ship rocking from side to side. It reminded him of the way his father used to rock him in his arms when he was little. Instead of comforting, it now made him recall the moment when his father signed the vellum that said he was to be property of some man he didn't know, in a land that he had never even heard of.
Sailing all the way to Sadrith Mora in Vvardenfell took months. Ervirin couldn't feel the land under his feet before finally arriving in the foreign land. He wasn't let on the deck for his own safety, he was to be in Ji'hana and Jotobarri's quarters at all times. In all those months, he hardly spoke to either of them despite the two being generous and kind towards him.
There were giant mushrooms rising high into the sky. People lived in those. There were many slaves working the fields and attending all kinds of work. Most of them were argonian. In the distance Ervirin could see wooden cages in which were argonians and khajiits.
Some of the dark elf masters were yelling at or even whipping their slaves. When Ervirin heard the sound of a whip lashing and the scream that followed, a chill went down his spine. He wanted to run right back into Ji'hana and Jotobarri's quarters on the ship.
Before he even realized it, he was crying again. He was facing the ship, standing between the two khajiits. The rest of the crew was unloading the cargo. It was night, but he saw ash coming from the volcano and the giant mushrooms on the opposite shore.
Jotobarri leaned towards the little bosmer and wiped his tears. Ervirin was startled by it.
"There, there. We will visit when we can, okay? To make sure Velyisa is treating you well," Jotobarri said. Ervirin wasn't convinced - he shut his eyes tight and put his face into his hands. The two khajiits looked at each other and shrugged. "You can always look for us at the docks."
Jotobarri took the boy's hand in his while Ji'hana was holding the vellum in her hands. They saw Velyisa Rethilnith approaching them with an intrigued look on his face. The wooden boards of the docks creaked as he walked all the way to the three, hands behind his back and chin up.
"It's good to see you again, Velyisa," Jotobarri said when the man reached them.
"Where is my ring?" Velyisa asked with an irritated tone in his voice.
"There was a... complication," Ji'hana said. "The bosmer that had stolen it sold it off to somebody else. At a very cheap price."
Velyisa furrowed his eyebrows and stroked his long white beard to calm himself down. He was quiet for a long time, looking at the boy in front of him. Ervirin could feel his gaze upon him, though their eyes didn't meet.
"Why do you have this... child... with you?" he asked. Jotobarri forcefully turned the boy around and grabbed his hand. Ervirin took a deep breath before looking up at the eyes of his new master. Velyisa had long white hair, piercing red eyes and dark gray skin with a tint of blue. Ervirin's body shook from just looking at him, but he couldn't avert his eyes from the older one's. He looked like what Ervirin imagined the daedra looked like.
"He offered his oldest child as a slave in exchange," Jotobarri said.
"Here is the writ," Ji'hana said and offered the vellum to Velyisa. The man accepted it and read it through, his eyebrows knitting closer together.
"Hmm... I should have his head and all of his family as my slaves for what he did, but I guess... he can thank my charitable soul for forgiving him," Velyisa said. "Very well. Ervirin shall become my slave."
Jotobarri pushed Ervirin slightly forward towards Velyisa. Velyisa looked cold and his eyebrows seemed to be in constant frown. He was unlike Ji'hana and Jotobarri, who looked warm despite invading his home and trying to kill his father. Just looking into Velyisa's eyes was like watching all of Nirn shift to oblivion.
"You are dismissed," Velyisa said to the two khajiits before turning around and starting to walk. "Follow me."
Ervirin did as he was told. He took small steps forward and kept looking around himself. It didn't take long until he had fallen behind from his master and Velyisa had to stop and wait for him.
"Do not, I repeat, do not make me wait," Velyisa said with a firm tone. "If I tell you to walk faster and stop looking at the scenery, you will do as I command. Are we clear about that?"
Ervirin nodded. Velyisa let out a distasteful smack of his lips, shook his head and sighed.
"You say: yes, master. I repeat. Are we clear?" Velyisa asked and stared deeply into Ervirin's eyes. He opened his mouth and spoke with a quiet, shaky voice.
"Y-yes... master."
"Good. Now, try to keep up," Velyisa said. They walked through what appeared to be a marketplace. The shopkeepers were settling down for the night, closing their shops. The mushroom house that's garden they walked into was right next to the marketplace. Ervirin wondered what they were doing here until Velyisa said with a stern voice, "Take off your shirt and kneel on the ground with your back facing me."
Ervirin's heart began to beat heavier. He slowly took his shirt off and kept it in his hands. He got down on his knees, unaware of what Velyisa was doing behind him.
He felt a sharp pain on his back, a whipping sound echoing through the air followed by his startled cry. He gripped the shirt tighter in his hands as Velyisa struck him again - and again, and again... Until he hardly felt anything on his back anymore. He screamed and cried but that almost made Velyisa hit harder.
After what felt like an eternity, Ervirin was expecting another hit on his back but instead he was startled by Velyisa's stern voice.
"Get up," he said. Ervirin tried to catch his breath. He was shaking and hardly knew how his legs were supposed to work anymore. Another lash on his back motivated him enough to learn how to walk again. "Get up!"
Ervirin did as his master told. He was panting, feeling his tears run down his face. He was startled by a drop of blood entering his pants and absorbed by the fabric.
"Put your shirt on and follow me," Velyisa instructed. Ervirin did as was told. He could hardly move his arms that high after the previous experience, but somehow he managed. They walked to the front of the house and went in through the door.
It took a while for Ervirin to take in his surroundings. The walls were of fungi, just like the outside, and the floor appeared to be wooden but it must not have been, it must have also been mushroom.
"This is your new home," Velyisa said. "Take it in."
Ervirin looked around himself for a moment, but he didn't have long until Velyisa told him to follow him again. They walked into a small room with a bed and a drawer inside.
"You will be staying here with Shahrava," he said. Ervirin noticed that there was only one bed. "Shahrava will get you a place to sleep. Where is it? Shahrava!"
An Argonian woman quickly rushed to the room. She glanced at Ervirin but didn't mind him more than that. Ervirin, on the other hand, was staring at her. Her scales looked dry and eyes tired.
"Yes, master, you need me?" she asked with a raspy voice.
"Get Ervirin some place to sleep."
"Of course, master. I will find him a suitable bed once I am done making your evening meal."
"Good. Show him around while you're at it, will you? I have to do some paperwork before I can relax for the day," Velyisa said.
"Yes, master," Shahrava said with her head low. Velyisa walked up the stairs without saying anything more.
She quickly rushed back to the kitchen. Ervirin followed her slowly, observing what she was doing. She seemed to be preparing soup of some kind. Ervirin couldn't name any of the ingredients that she put into the pot, he only knew that some of it was meat. His heart almost skipped a beat when he saw her cutting some weeds into the soup.
Shahrava didn't say anything. She was busy at the cauldron. Ervirin looked around the kitchen. He hadn't even seen a kitchen before - all they had at their little hut was a cauldron on a fireplace.
When the soup seemed to be done, she poured some into a cup. She put it onto a tray with a cup of water and a piece of bread. When noticing that he was staring, she quickly told him, "Don't follow me. Master will be very displeased with you if you go upstairs without his permission."
With those words she hurried upstairs with the tray in her hands. Ervirin was left alone in the warm kitchen where he walked closer to the stove just to feel any warmth in this place. He felt as though the tears had stopped for a little while and the burning on his back just got more intense.
Then he heard the front door. Another dunmer entered the building quietly, looking all around himself. He looked smaller than Velyisa, but his hair was just as white. His hair was down to his chin and in a mess.
They made eye contact. The dunmer boy raised his finger on his lips and closed the door as slowly as possible. When he locked the door, it made a clicking noise that was followed by a scream, "Varovil!"
Velyisa hurried downstairs with Shahrava behind him. Upon reaching the boy, he smacked him. Ervirin gasped and looked down, just like Shahrava.
"Where have you been?! You should have been home hours ago!"
"I got a little excited fighting the alit..." the boy said while holding his cheek.
"A little excited?! How can you be so excited about chasing creatures in the wilderness that you completely forget to come home?!" Velyisa yelled. "I know that you're lying."
"I'm not lying!" the boy yelled back but the older man took out his whip, successfully silencing him. The boy got seemingly tense.
"Don't talk back to me. I taught you better than that," he said. "Now tell me. Where were you?"
The boy sighed and said, "I was... practicing enchanting."
"And... where did you get the runestones?" Velyisa asked.
"...From Galar..."
"...And... where did you get the money to pay for those runestones?"
The boy didn't answer. He kept hanging his head. Velyisa was seemingly fuming and hit his son's stomach with the whip. The boy dropped on the floor while holding his stomach.
"I should have you learn the true meaning of coin by throwing you out, you-"
"I sold the glyphs I made. I got money for it," the boy said and started to frantically search his pockets. He found a bag of gold. "Here. You can have all of it."
Velyisa looked shocked but accepted the bag of coins.
"Hmm... Maybe you have learned something," he said. "Very well. Just make sure that you don't stay outside for so long in the future. Oh, and you're grounded for two weeks. Shahrava will make sure of that. And if I hear from any of the guards that you've snuck out, your punishment will be severe. Have I made myself clear?"
"...Yes, Father," the boy said. Velyisa didn't say anything in return, only turned around and walked upstairs. Ervirin raised his head now to see Shahrava rubbing the boy's shoulders on the ground. He seemed down for a moment before lifting his chin up and smiling a little to Shahrava.
Shahrava stood up and pulled the boy up with him before pushing him towards the kitchen. The boys made eye contact again.
"Your father brought a new... servant," Shahrava said.
"You're... small," the dunmer boy said and looked at Ervirin from head to toe. The other boy was almost a head taller than him.
"Now, now, Varovil. Let's be kind to the little one. He's had a long way... I presume," Shahrava said with a quiet voice. "My name is Shahrava. I have been working for master Velyisa for... a long time."
"I'm Varovil. And that grumpy old man is my father," Varovil said. "Just don't be like I am and he won't hurt you. Be like Shahrava."
Shahrava glared at Varovil and wrapped her arms on her chest. Varovil chuckled lightly. Despite just being hit by his father, he was still smiling. Ervirin saw his eyes glistening, though.
"What's your name? Where are you from? How'd you get here?" Varovil asked, and would have asked more, if Shahrava didn't elbow him to signal him to stop.
"...Ervirin," the smaller boy said. "I'm... from Elden Root."
"That's a long way," Varovil said. "...Why are you here, exactly?"
"Now, Varovil, you know that when one is captured and sold into slavery, they don't necessarily like to talk about how that happened," Shahrava said. "The master told me to get him a bed."
"I have an extra blanket. It's not much, but it will do for the meantime. I could go to the market and look for a bed for you," Varovil said. Shahrava cleared her throat. "...Right. I'm grounded. Maybe I won't get you a bed for now."
"Could you get us the blanket?" Shahrava asked.
"Of course. I have an extra pillow, too. And a mattress. I have two in my bed. It's not much, but it'll be fine," he said and walked to the stairs. "Be right back."
Varovil ran upstairs with slightly too heavy steps. His father yelled his name again and he slowed his pace.
"Come, little one," Shahrava said and walked to the small room where they were supposed to be sleeping together. "I've had this room for myself for decades. I was not expecting to share it with someone in all my life. I hope you don't snore."
Varovil came back with the mattress, the blanket and the pillow. He laid them on the floor.
"It's a little tight in here," Varovil said when scratching his head. "I'd invite you to my room if my father wasn't so strict about who goes upstairs and who doesn't."
Ervirin laid down on the mattress on the ground and covered himself with the blanket. He had to lie on his stomach or his side because his back was aching. He faced the wall. At least it was warm. Varovil and Shahrava silently watched him for a moment.
"Let's... talk outside," Shahrava said. "He needs to rest."
"Okay," Varovil said. The two left the room, closed the door and gave Ervirin some privacy. In his lonesome he turned his face into the pillow and cried himself to sleep.