A very long time ago, humans had yet to discover that they too, like any other creature on the land, could control the elements. We were just mere slaves and we bowed to what was considered the strongest of the land, the beast men.

For centuries they ruled the land and saught to control everything in their path. Taking what they considered weak and using it any way they liked, because in that time the weak never had a say in what happened to them or the people they loved.

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Before the sun had risen every human that lived under the control of the beast men were awake and preparing themselves for a very hard day of work. Even women that had just given birth had to be up and ready to go no matter the pain that corressed every part of them.

One such woman was Tern, well what was considered a woman at the time. She had only been alive for fifteen years, but she was fertile and as a female slave she had no say. Her husband was chosen for her, they were bonded and then the very day they were forced to mate, as the beast people say. It took some time but when she was proven to be pregnant, her so called mate was given to someone else and she has had to provide and protect herself since then.

She was lucky to survive throughout the entire pregnancy, having to get up each day and work where ever she was told, with little to eat, she was pratically living off of water. With such conditions it was a rare thing for her to conceive a healthy child. The night beofore she had went into labor and the mid wife was surpirsed when the child didn't just slip out as every child hse had helped to bring into the world had.

They had spent hours trying to get the child to come out, she even had to give the girl a piece of cloth to bite down on so she wouldn't wake the master's who had very sensitive hearing. Tern put all of her strength into bringing the child into the world and when she did finally succeed nearly half a day had passed and she could barely keep awake to watch the mid wife stare down at her new daughter with wide eyes.

The mid wife was so surprised she was almost afraid, the child was big, health and didn't carry that strange gray complexion, that the human children normally did. She quickly moved to wash the child off, she quickly dried her and then swaddled her in a gray cloth, before rushing out the room and leaving the girl to tidy herself.

She ran quickly going to the main house where the master and his family slept, it was twelve times the size of Tern's "house". She had to knock and a human woman with red hair  and dead brown eyes opened the door "the master's rest, you must come back another time for I can not let you in."

The mid wife growled, her long tail swished behind her in threat and the woman shifted back a little but didn't move "if you do not let me in I will call out to the master's and wake them and then they will truly hurt you." the woman's eyes widened and she stepped back.

The mid wife nodded and headed into the house, she went straight up to the large room door and knocked a few times before she could hear heavy foot steps making its way to the door. Within a flash the doors shot open and a hand reached out swiping at the air where the woman had stood a second ago.

It was thanks to her heritage that she was not sitting on the banister with the child carefully tucked in her arms as she watched the bear man, who huffed before closing his mouth "why are you here at this late hour Voile, you almost woke my wife and cub?"

The mid wife rolled her eyes "I came this late hour to show you something that will surprise you." The bear man huffed and walked out the room closing the door behind him before he turned and lead her down the stairs  and straight into the sitting room. He lit a lamp and took a seat in his big chair that was built specifically for his kind.

Voile walked over to him and uncovered the child handing her over to the bear man who's eyes also widened with surprise. He held the child and moved her around in his hands checking her weight, he ran his hand over her skin and hummed "It feels as if I'm holding one of my cubs, the slaves children have never come out like this before, this could mean good news for us. I will watch her growth carefully and hopefully in some years time she will be able to produce sons of this same kind."

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The mid wife nodded and collected back the child wrapping her up "yes stronger babe's means stronger slaves and that means more work gets done." The master hummed again as he stroked his chin "anyway I shall take her back to he mother to be fed and I shall be on my way, see you later."

With that she was out the house and returned to the small hut, where the girl was already up and moving about. She had a slight limp but it wouldn't hold her back as she cleaned up the mess and set aside her bed cloth for it to be washed. 

The mid wife handed her the child and left instructions on how to care for her, leaving behind a warning that the master's were watching and then she was out the door. 

Tern sighed and took a seat to nurse the child before she burped her and then swaddled her back. She fixed her clothes and pulled out another cloth, she was quick to create a make shift sling and hook her child to her back. She went out the house with her dirty clothes, grabbed up the small lit lamp and then headed out the house, to go down to the wash circle.

She filled the basin with water and soap before she began her washing, as her child slept peacefully on her back and she came up with a name for a little girl, one that she would only be given when she survived for a year successfully.

She finished her work and returned to her house to eat the little bread she had sitting on the counter and drink some water. When she was finished she grabbed up her tools and headed outside where she could see the other slaves all headed in different directions, most of the men and a few women went to work in the mine.

While the rest of the men and most the women including her went to the fields, the older children went to the part of the land where fruit trees grew to help harvest the ripe fruit. It was some time before she reached the fields and got about to harvesting the wheat that grew twice her height and took over the land for as far as she could see.

She begun her harvest, tossing the wheat into big piles that the men tied with a rope and packed onto their backs to quickly run back with and store in the mill before they had to return. The sun soon rose to the sky and she had to pull a cloth over her child's head so she didn't die from a heat stroke on the same day she was born.

"When she is of age what will you name the babe?" Tern looked back at the older woman that was working her way to her.

Tern turned back to her work and started cutting away "well since it's a girl I was thinking of naming her after one of the sky gods as my mother did me."

The woman hummed "And what will that be?"

"K'ura." Tern found herself smiling as she spoke and thought to herself that maybe there was some joy in bringing a child to the world and becoming a mother.

"What a beautiful name and she looks strong so I'm sure it would suit her well, I'll make sure to name her that when the time comes, so she'll have some piece of you left."

Tern had barely caught on to what she was saying and was able to jump out of the way just as a machete was brought down on the spot where she was just a minute ago, cutting the pony tail she had her hair in straight off. She jumped on her feet and turned to face the woman as she tightened her grip on her machete's handle.

The woman stood up and smiled at her kindly as she swung the machete in her hand "come now little one, you're far too young and foolish to raise such a powerful child and keep her safe. Give her to me and I will raised her into a slave that the masters will always look after. She will never have to fight for food and they would allow her to work in the house, but that is only if you give her to me."

Tern hissed at her and crouched down "I've seen your children, they look like skeletons with flesh still clinging to their bones. You have always given birth to grey sickly looking things, how could you ever know how to raise a strong child like mine without killing her. I brought this babe into the world and only I will raise her."

The woman laughed "fine you can keep her, but only if you live!"

She ran forward slashing her blade aiming at Tern's neck and face, but the new mother evaded every strike as she moved back going further into the filed. The woman's pace started to slow and fern took the chance, she used her left foot to push her as she spun and slammed her right leg into the woman's head sending her flying.

The woman went into unconsciousness and Tern didn't stick around to see if she would wake. She dashed back to the part of the field where many of the other slaves were and ended up running into one of the masters who moved to hit her but she dropped to her feet and clasped her hands closing her eyes.

"What is it that troubles you?" the master growled.

"Another slave just tried to kill me and take my child but I was able to get away and she is somewhere in the field laying unconscious." she spoke quickly as she rubbed her hands together.

The master growled and rushed off into the bush, alloying Tern to let out a sigh and fall onto the ground as tears flowed from her eyes.