The Tale of Cara, the Tenth Divine

Chapter 2

 Chapter 2

Four years after the Tolberts found the infant in the bush.

"Sweetie?! Make sure you have your dolly before we go! We don't want to have to get halfway to Bravil and find out that you left it here!" Celeste called out as she stood in the home's kitchen while pulling a batch of braided breads from the oven. She then transferred them to the heavy wooden counter and put away her paddle. Celeste wiped her brow and looked over toward the small girl who entered the room.

"Mommy? Can I help?" Cara asked hopefully, the four-year-old always wanting to be involved with anything her adopted mother did, especially since she wasn't allowed to socialize with other children or even go outside the home alone. Cara had always been accompanied by her parents, who were careful to keep a cap on her head to conceal her cat's ears and made certain she ran her tail down one of her pants' legs for the same reason.

"No, honey. I've got it. Thank you," Celeste replied to the small catgirl, who at the moment had none of her feline features concealed while at home. Cara exchanged smiles with her, but as soon as the young girl turned to leave the kitchen the pleasant look left Celeste's face. The woman sighed and her hand reached down to gently rub over her belly, feeling where carrying her unborn child was changing her body. She shook her head sadly at the idea behind the "trip to Bravil" they were about to make.

The Tolberts had taken on the task of raising the catgirl and keeping her features a secret from the town at large while also trying to manage their vineyard. Cara was kept at home nearly all the time unless she was taken to the fields to be shown their trade. The people Cara called "Mommy" and "Daddy" kept her strictly by their side in spite of her occasional protest to wish to go and find other children to play with. Knowing the superstitious nature of the rest of the town, the Tolberts thought better than to risk her special features being discovered.

Then one day just after her fourth birthday, Cara was in the market with Celeste when a strong gust of wind blew through, sending the small girl's cap flying off her head. The keeper of the produce stand gasped in alarm at the sight of the two cat's ears perched on top of the little girl's head, who rushed after her cap while believing she would be in trouble with her parents for losing it. Celeste had already begun to plead with the woman to keep the issue quiet, but as Cara chased her cap across the market there were other people who got a clear view of her ears as well. Celeste had quickly taken her home and hoped for the best but that evening a priest from the temple of Julianos came to their home to visit them, accompanied by three city guardsmen. He insisted to examine the young girl and Richor and Celeste relented to allow it. After spending some time with Cara and speaking with her he came to the conclusion that she was cursed, perhaps by the Daedric princes. He advised the family to be rid of the small girl as soon as possible to avoid not only factors of the curse but also repercussions by the now aware community.

This was the worst event the young couple could imagine, as word spread and their budding wine business's sales began to plummet. People stopped purchasing Tolbert wine and even friends stopped coming by to see the couple. It was also at this time that Celeste found out the healer who had diagnosed her as barren was wrong, and that she was pregnant with she and Richor's own baby. All these factors combined in a discussion the couple had one night after the small catgirl had gone to bed and they decided for the best of their family and their unborn child that they had to be rid of Cara. The plan was to take a "trip to Bravil" and find somewhere to abandon her along the way, then return to Skingrad and hopefully reinvigorate their family business while they awaited the birth of their first natural child.

"We have to do it..." Celeste whispered to herself as she continued to rub her belly, not liking the idea of leaving the child that they both admitted they had grown fond of but believing they had to in order to save their family business and perhaps avoid persecution by the townsfolk.