I'm awoken the next day by the sound of chains rattling and Aela hissing curses in a low grumble. I open my eyes into a darkness thick enough that it would blind anyone without night eye to find Aela adjusting the chains binding my arms to the bedframe. My right hand is still pulled taunt and tight while the left has been given enough slack and looped in such a way that, while I now have more control over it and can move it to about my midsection, I don't think I'll be able to bring it up to free my other wrist. I give my left hand an experimental tug only to have it slapped by Aela as she keeps trying to find the perfect length to satisfy her.
Finally, Aela stops fiddling with the chain, grabs my hand, and pulls it this way and that to see the maximum range I have to work with. Sure enough, my theory is right, and the chain stops my left hand just short of being able to touch the chain on my right. I pull on the other chains and find my right hand is as I remember it while my feet have been loosened enough that I can swing them around freely. I can't tell the exact range, but I'd guess the feet and left arm are both given enough slack I could my lower half off the bed while still remaining trapped by my right hand. I'm pulled from my experiments with the chains by Aela dropping a heavy sack beside my left side.
I lift my head up enough to see the sack is halfway open to show its large supply of food. Before I can question why Aela has dropped a bag of food beside me, a few waterskins filled to bursting land beside the bag of food. A tight, hot knot has formed in my gut, and I feel a lump in my throat threatening to choke me as I struggle to swallow. A thump causes me to look and see where Aela has dropped a bucket beside the bed. It suddenly makes sense why I'm now able to swing my lower body off the bed. My eyes find Aela and see the woman is already turning from me in favor of going over to the table where her bow, a quiver of arrows, and her bulging backpack are waiting for her. A thin, whispering voice speaks and I barely realize it's my own.
"Aela?". My captor doesn't stop and instead swings her backpack over her shoulder while gathering her bow and arrows.
"Aela, where are you going?". Silence is my answer as Aela stalks towards the door. My chains rattle and the bed creaks as I uselessly fight to free myself.
"Aela, please!". Even I don't know what I'm begging for as Aela leaves me.
"Aela!". I keep screaming for her long after I know she's out of hearing range on the small chance she's just torturing me and is in fact just outside waiting until I've cried enough to her liking. My whining does little besides get my throat sore.
...
The crack under the cabin door alerts me to both a new dawn and, much later, a new dusk. The first day I'm left alone is uneventful and mind-numbing. My left hand is free enough I can pull food from the sack and eat when I need to and use the waterskins Aela left me while also tightening and restricting my reach whenever I go to see if I can't free my other wrist. My feet are just loose enough I can swing myself off the bed a little bit to awkwardly relieve myself into the bucket Aela left without ever being able to fully rise or stand in order to better get loose.
Soon enough, the familiar ache in my joints as I'm left restricted settles in. Aela would at least let me go unshackled whenever she was feeding, bathing, or fucking me. Now, I'm left entirely confined to the bed with only my thoughts for company. The idea of escape once again works its way into my mind without any real consequence. Being thoroughly chained up limits my options and any escape is made more dangerous by the idea I have no idea where Aela went or when she'll return. Even with the fact it's been a full day, I wouldn't put it past Aela to be sitting outside waiting for me to walk out the door and right into her trap.
...
The second day alone is much, much worse than the first. The entirety of the first day was spent rattling my chains, whimpering and crying for Aela, and going over in my head again and again how I imagined I'd escape or what I could say to convince Aela to come inside if she was truly outside waiting for me. The second day has made me realize that Aela is indeed gone on some trip somewhere for some undisclosed amount of time. It's also made me realize that the huge sack of food and multiple skins of water indicate it's going to be a while. After coming to that horrifying conclusion, the ache in my joints and the boredom in my mind seem to increase tenfold.
Shockingly, lying chained to a bed with nothing to do besides eat, drink, and use the bucket leaves me with nothing to do besides daydream and sleep. The sleeping gets me through quite a bit of the day with the daydreaming having to do the rest. The only issue is that all my daydreams are impossible scenarios where I somehow manage to get away from Aela. Even in these impossible fantasies, Aela's influence sours them in one way or another. Every sweet, imagined scenario of fleeing ends in defeat for me regardless of how I try to push myself towards a more positive outcome. In truth, even my daydreams have given in to Aela's poisonous influence.
A nice daydream about managing to get loose from my chains and get out of the cabin ends with me freezing to death in the wilderness as I get hopelessly lost trying to get back to civilization. Another where I tell Danica Pure-Spring what's going on so she can alert Whiterun guards ends with Aela tearing the woman apart and devouring her in front of me. Even daydreams where I wait until Whiterun and tell the guards myself ends with Aela smooth-talking the guards into believing her over me and promptly beating me within an inch of my life again as soon as we're alone together. Even the most fantastical of daydreams where I somehow manage to slit Aela's throat and make it back to civilization ends in tragedy: I give birth to a Nord babe who looks just like the rapist who sired her.
Each end just reminds me of the truth of my situation with the last being particularly painful. Regardless of whether I escape or remain trapped, I most likely have Aela's bastard growing inside me. Even if I escaped right now and found civilization within an hour or two, there's no guarantee I could find someone with the potions and concoctions required to cleanse me of an unwanted pregnancy. Given the timeframe, it might not even make a difference if I took them. If I'm too far gone for potions to cleanse me, then my only choice is finding a healer willing to remove the babe or, if that's not possible, I'll have to carry Aela's bastard to term.
Considering Skyrim is in the middle of a civil war, every healer and surgeon who could remove a babe before they quicken is likely on the front lines or too busy tending to those injured by the war. Healers of Danica Pure-Spring's level of competence are more common across Skyrim and, sadly for me, they aren't the kind of people who have training in removing unwanted babes. By the time I find a surgeon or experienced healer who can help me, there's a good chance I'll be too far along to the point of quickening where nobody will remove it. The sad reality is that no matter how things end for me, there's most likely a babe at the end of it I'll need to decide what to do with.
The image of a Nord babe with hair as fiery as Aela's suckling at my breast gives me chills and renews my energy in attempting to escape. My renewed efforts are as fruitless as the first and I spend the rest of the second day of my isolation haunted by the reality facing me. Even a few snacks I don't need grabbed from my food sack do little to distract my thoughts and only serve to make my stomach cramp and my jaw sore. I soon find myself wishing that Aela had left me with a skin of wine or ale to numb myself a little from her absence. Even some Sleeping Tree Sap would be a welcome draught at this point.
...
The days after the second blur and swirl together. All I know in waking is eating, drinking, and relieving myself until the bucket is near threatening to overflow. It's impossible for me to discern days from one another as I'm left alone in a torture worse than any I've been through before. My joints and muscles scream for a relief that will never come as I grow closer and closer to the edge of insanity. I'm soon talking nonsense aloud to myself just to hear a voice. My waking mind and sleeping mind join together in making me suffer as nightmares of Aela haunt my dreams and idle daydreams of Aela consume my day. Soon, without even realizing it, the sack of food is down to a few scraps of fruit and a loaf of bread.
Even the wineskins, which I've been drinking out of at random, are close to empty. A part of me perks up at realizing it means Aela will have to come back soon. Still, another part of me is all too aware Aela might have simply misjudged the supplies she left for me, and I might have a few more days to go. The thought of spending any more time alone, this time without food or water, is making me long for Aela's return in a way I never have before. Truly, even a stranger coming through the door would be a welcome relief from my isolation.
...
I don't know how many days it's been, but I know the food and water have only been gone for a little bit when the door opens.
"Aela!". I'd already be off the bed and charging at the woman in a confused joy if I wasn't chained to the bed. Instead, I rattle my bonds and call her name like a prayer as she carries multiple sacks into the cabin filled with food, bottles, and all kinds of supplies. I'm both terrified about why Aela is so thoroughly stocking us up on supplies and overjoyed she's back. Finally, after the last bag has been brought in, Aela turns her attention towards me. The smile that overcomes Aela's face is akin to a fox that's corner a mouse. I feel all the part of her helpless prey as she releases me only for my limbs to immediately contract and leave me a writhing, whining mess on the bed.
The bucket I've been using is tossed outside while the sacks and wineskins are stored with the rest of our supplies by Aela as I'm left to whimper and try to rub some feeling back into my limbs. Finally, Aela returns and climbs into bed with me without another word. I find myself turning to face her with a burning desire for some form of conversation or communication with another person. Aela's hand comes to rest on my cheek and her lips capture mine in a kiss. For reasons unknown to me, I push myself into the kiss and savor the feeling of human contact after so long stuck in a prison of isolation. Aela hums her approval as she pulls back, and I once again try to speak with her.
"Aela, what-". The Nord flips me to face away from her in favor of spooning me.
"Later.". The single word, spoken like a command coupled with Aela's strong embrace, is enough to bring me to tears as I hear the first words spoken by another in who knows how long. I fall asleep pressed tight against Aela and dreaming of tomorrow when I can hear her voice again.