Asia brought the new kajira home one day, with the simple explanation she'd been found washed ashore and unconscious following a shipwreck that had occured some distance off the shores of Jad. Calico is her name. Or Cali, if something with less syllables is preferable.
I knew from the first moment I laid eyes upon her, that she was destined to inspire music from my inner fount. Melodies that resonate behind my closed eyes, while leaving me to marvel at the inward and introspective sensation of having her in my arms.. of being in her arms, twined in a rhapsody whose lulling chords play out so beautifully inside my head.
Inspired by the divine Muse of passion, it was inevitable that countless works of art would be birthed in a single moment of illicit.. sin. Yet we were caught in the act.. and by Marius, no less. And in a fleeting moment of indecision following an edict that a whip be placed in my own hand with which to strike this jezebel.. I panicked and ran. Straight to Sven.
After an earnest appeal to my friend's charitable good nature, Sven allowed me to stay. Though I think much of the reason behind his decision occured after Rufus had found Cali wandering around their camp. Apparently Cali had run after me when I had fled my master's home. Both men naturally assumed she belonged to me, and I did not refute their error. Especially when Sven wagered his own kajira as well as his tent, in addition to Rufus' shirt.. against my kajira in a harmless little game of drinking paga. He who consumed the most in the least amount of time would win the entirety of all bets placed.
I won the first two rounds! Unfortunately, I do not remember the third round. I awoke the next day a good mile away from Sven's camp, face down in the sand. And with the worst case of nausea and headache I have ever known. Cali was nowhere to be found.
