Story:
Nur had been awaiting judgment. She had been summoned to the Sultan for a reason she knew not, and though she could not see, she could hear the conversation between her pride's leader and two of his closest advisers.
"She's blind, not to mention disfigured. Of what use is an ugly, blind Kajira to any of our males, my lord?" one of the Viziers spoke, a sneer in his voice.
"She was not born blind, her sister struck out at her it is no fault of hers. She can still bear healthy cubs, besides she has been Kajira long enough, it is time for one of the Pad's to take her."
The Sultan had been right. Nur hadn't been born blind, or disfigured. She had been born beautiful, to one of the pride's slaves. She had no other littermates beside her near-twin sister Layla and so the pair were virtually inseparable. They had grown up as slaves together, never being chosen by a male because of their father. While most of their appearance was a gift from their sweet-tempered mother, the mark had been the gift from their father, a lion who had eventually been consumed by a madness that had been displayed in not only his father, but also his two young sons. No male wanted a female that might one day go insane, didn't want to have sons that might be tainted. So, instead, the sisters were used simply for hunting.
They had promised one another when their mother died that they would never leave each other, that they would always be together, as if they were one creature rather than two. And their pact stayed strong.
Until he came.
He had been a handsome lion, charming and strong. He said he came from a far away land where the sands stretched as far as one could see without a tree in sight. He had brought two females with him as was the usual custom, but the moment he set eyes on Nur, he had to have her. She was powerless to stop him, and not simply because in her pride the males took what they wanted from the slaves. No, it was because he didn't know her past. He treated her like his other females, not without fear or trepidation like the other males, even after he knew of her father's madness. He had simply laughed arrogantly over the tale and said that he had enough madness in his own family to be able to deal with it.
Nur had been overjoyed at his acceptance, had decided to devote herself to the male who wanted her.
But it was not meant to be.
When she went to Layla to tell her the good news, her sister turned on her, clawing at her face and eyes, blinding her and scarring her beautiful face. Layla shrieked at Nur for breaking her promise, for turning to someone else. It took a number of the other slaves to separate the sisters.
"No Pad will want a female who cannot even see to hunt, and the other Banu would not welcome a useless member into the harem."
The slave who knew some healing remedies did the best she could, but the damage was done. When Nur was brought before the male who had wanted her, he sneered at her offensive appearance and told the others that he didn't want to see her again.
She returned to being a slave, but because she could no longer hunt, she became near useless. The only thing she was capable of doing was aiding those slaves that had cubs, helping to take care of the females that had been born and kept within the slave ranks.
"Then I will take her, let it be an example to the others. A Kajira that has been loyal since her birth will be rewarded. All my females are excellent huntress, she can perform some other duty."
"What duty could a blind female perform my lord?" the negative male snorted. Finally the second Vizier and half-brother to the Sultan spoke, his tone casual and yet mildly amused.
"Even a blind female can perform the basest of duties allotted to her gender. You forget that too easily, it's no wonder you don't have any sons."
Nur would later be told that she would from then on be a part of the Sultan's harem. She was treated as a doll, as a pet, unable to do many things more than sit or lie at the ruler's side and to bear him cubs.
Layla was given to the greatest of three evils, the cruelest of the three Viziers, for her crime against her sister. As her torment at the paws of the lion went on, so grew the bitter hatred she now had for the one creature in this world she should have been able to count on. It was, after all, all Nur's fault. She had been the betrayer, so why should she be pampered while Layla was abused? She vowed one day to repay her sister for what she had done.
