J’orna Son of F’ord had served his entire life to J’Nira’s family. As tabaxi royalty went, they were at the near top. His father before him had served as a personal body guard to the family and J’orna followed in those footsteps. As children he was constantly punished for playing games with J’Nira, forgetting that he was the servant and she the charge.

“You can’t get close to them. You are there to protect them. Nothing else. Always remember that.”

These were the words that F’ord would tell his son for the rest of his entire life. J’orna never understood this until one day playing hide and seek with J’Nira she fell from a tree and hit her head. His father beat him until he couldn’t sit down. That day changed him. J’Nira went from being his friend, to his watch.

As they grew older, J’orna would always have a soft spot for the long haired Siberain calico and she for him, but he knew his place. He watched her grow up, go away to school, and marry a merchant who many said were beneath her. With the marriage between J’Nira and L’Founds, J’orna took on new responsibilities. While his primary job was to guard and assist the lady of the house, he often was asked to help L’Founds in matters of business.

As the years went on his lady and her husband struggled to conceive and their marriage started to splinter. In this time J’Nira confided in J’orna about her troubles, her dreams, and her desires. Try as he must, J’orna could not stay away and he forgot his place. Things moved quickly and even though he tried to keep the line between close friend and protective charge, they started to see each other in secret.

At first it was just a glance. A joke shared between the tow.

But as time went, so did their feelings. J’orna never understood what she saw in L’Founds, but as his business grew so did her financial security. As a woman who’d never worked a day in her life, the reality of her leaving L’Founds for J’orna would always be a fantasy.

But then it happened. J’Nira had finally become pregnant with her first litter. Though it was a singular birth, the birth of their daughter Z’Nath was shrouded in secret. Only they knew the real truth. L’Founds would never know that this tabaxi was not his daughter.

The birth of Z’Nath changed J’Nira. She almost died in labor and once the child was born, she changed her relationship with J’orna. What they had done was wrong. But she got what she wanted.

J’orna thought to leave. Hurt with the rejection, he excused himself from her detail and became L’Founds right hand man. He knew quitting would cause too much suspicion, so he stayed even though it killed him.

As the little tabaxi girl grew up, he watched the woman he loved deteriorate. More instances of her harsh lashings towards servants got worse and worse. Z’nath couldn’t care less for dresses or the finer things her mother wanted her to be interested in, which caused even further dispair for the tabaxi lady. If ever went missing on the grounds, J’orna could always find Z’nath in the gardens fending of whatever new creature of the day. There was a fighter within this little girl.

His daughter. The fighter.

J’orna made mention to L’Founds that his daughter could use a good teacher and that while most sword play was meant for the riff raff, fencing was a sport of the rich. With L’Founds’ blessing, J’orna started to mentor and coach the girl in the art of sword and dance.

He watched the girl grow up to love what he loved. She was skilled and on her sixteenth birthday he presented her with a black and green gem incrusted handled rapier. While he knew that this was a special gift from father to daughter, Z’Nath would only see it as her mentor presenting his pupil with a well deserved gift.

Just a few short months later the girl would disappear. The girl had had enough of her mother’s explosive episodes towards one of the servants. Except this time the poor maid had been mutilated. J’orna pleaded with L’Founds to get J’Nira help. Z’Nath pleaded with as well, but to no avail the backbone-less tabaxi would not allow the outside world to know what had happened to the poor half elf girl.

The next day his student, disappeared only to leave a note to him saying she couldn’t stay anymore. She could not live in a world where people like her mother would get away with treating others like waste. Or in a world where her father would let it happen. J’orna’s heart shattered into a million pieces.

But he didn’t blame his daughter. But he couldn’t leave.