Legends of Belariath
Isla McKie
Days were growing shorter toward the fall season. Harvest around the corner meant food and money for the young man and his slave. He had captured her after finding the girl lost and alone, wounded and tortured in the woods. She had been nursed back to heath by him and while she fell in love he made plans to bind her to himself. Winter soon come and there was not much do to and he soon found his slave was pregnant. Much to his own delight and dismay the baby came on time, healthy and happy but it was a girl. He had so desperately had hoped for a son but hadn't had one and soon fell into a bit of a depression. He had so badly wanted a son so they tried again, having once again a daughter. He decided not to chance it again and had his slave, 'fixed', so he would not be disappointed anymore.
Isla, the second of the girls was the only one to live through the rough life that they were born into, her sister dying at the age of 4 just after Isla was born. Because of this her father became overprotective of the girl after she was able to be out and about and took her everywhere with him. She grew up in the fields and barns of their family farm, a curious mind she was always asking questions and pushing buttons and envelops that usually ended up being ones she shouldn't have pushed. She was a laughy girl, everyone always seemed to comment on it, no matter what she was doing it seemed as if she would break out in a fit of laughter at a moments notice.
Isla picked up on the art of growing food and acting as a shepherdess when it would come to it. She grew up never really tanning in all the amazing amount of sunshine she received. She would run all over the land, growing all kinds of plants and finding things to occupy herself with. She drew very little attention to herself when she was at home, may times finding that it was easier not to. When she started to reach maturity her father decided that the fields were no place for her when one of his workers commented on her one day. She found herself banished to the home with her mother, learning the ways of keeping a house and mending clothing in the spare time, keeping herself busy. She was angry at being forced out and started to sneak away to work in the fields.
Isla became an apt seamstress but not great, she had managed to start a garden in her families backyard where they had fenced her in and was doing well with reading and writing. She learned a few things about basic business practices and a few things about treating people with love and respect. Her view of her family was quite a bit different than most, her mother one day admitting she was not a willing slave make her all that much more upset and irritated by the circumstances that she was sure were coming toward her as well. She vowed she would never be a slave, she would be the mistress not a pet for a Master. Most laughed her off taking her kindness and compassion for a weakness instead of strength, her politeness as submission instead of acknowledgement of another's station in life. She walked a fine line of love and hate with her life but enjoying each moment of it.
The day came finally when she started to receive the attentions of men within the small village in which she had grown, more attention than was thought right for her to have been given. Her father had taken to making her stay at home, treating her like a common slave now and she grew to hate him for it. He knew her desires and seemed to do all she could to keep herself from her mothers fate is run away.
She packed her things one night, escaping and making it to the next village over, taking a coach from there to another neighboring village. There she managed to eek out a small existence as a shepherdess for a few months before she was found by her Father and a few of his friends. She was taken back to her parents home in shame, told she was nothing more than a common slave like her mother. She was angry, more than that she was angry and hurt. She now was told she was going to be nothing more than a common slave to her family. She soon found out that it was of course an empty threat but the hurt was still raw. Just a bit too raw to be considered healthy.
Two years went by before the girl would even say good morning to her Father. Time started so slip away as days faded into days and so it went with her. She had taken up studying more since there was not much else she could do. She found she enjoyed learning and studying but still missed the open fields. She became determined to have her own farm one day.
She sat by her fathers bedside, her bag packed she said goodbye as he died. Her mother having been free'd as soon as he was dead looked at her daughter and handed her a bag, "You have learned all you can here... you must go out into the world and seek out your way and learn there what I cannot teach ya." Those were the last words she had heard before being handed a handful of coin and pushed out the door. She found a traveler who pointed in a certain direction and pushed her there with the promise of chance at the life she wanted and so she turned her feet in the direction pointed, the only question left for her was what to do when she got there.