Celerity's youth:

From a young age, they were hyper aware of their differences compared to their family. Every night spent in the need to claw at their skin in agony as the jewels grew along their body, was a night spent with their mother rubbing them down with a soft cream that cost her an entire silver piece that could have fed the family.

Their brother did not really seek them out as a companion in their youth, happier to play with the other children. Celerity never once complained, much to his later sadness, just watching him and the others play from under a tree.

When their sister arrived, Celerity endeavored to not be near them, not wanting to cause the baby distress with their features. By this point, they were ashamed of their uniqueness. Many of the kids in the area had all but shunned them, with no help from their brother. Another one of his regrets.

But the baby followed Celerity around, grabbing their tail whenever they could, squealing in glee when they were around, teething on the jetstone along the surfaces of their fingers whenever captured. It was the first time Celerity thought they understood love and peace, even if they didn't think they deserved it.

The winter had hit the family hard though. Crops were doing poorly in the town, with not enough food to go around, Celerity knew it was a matter of time before their presence caused blame from the locals. They ate less, giving their family more. Who would bother with giving something like them anything?

They started to leave home when they were old enough, traveling the surrounding woodlands and learning about what was possible to forage through the various animals that lived in the area. More than once they'd come home with an injury or stomach ache in an attempt to gather food.

Their father, a kind and generous man, couldn't bear to see his family suffering. He'd sent out letters to nearby towns, hoping for work of any kind to keep them afloat. When Celerity's brother heard that they might move, though, he was displeased.

Anger getting the better of him, one of his last few regrets, he struck Celerity and blamed them for all of their problems. Yelling, screaming at them, demanding they leave and never come back. Celerity just stood there until their parents dragged him away, not responding to their mother or father any time they tried to get them to talk.

Late one night, a few weeks later, Celerity stood in their father's small study. Watching him pen a letter in the candle light, they whispered if he could send them away. They might not be worth much, but something was worth anything right?

Their father wept. They stood still as their father held them tightly and just wept. They didn't fight it when he took them to his and their mother's room, clinging to Celerity like they were the children.

Celerity held on just as tightly. They loved their parents, they loved their brother and sister. They wished they weren't so cursed and didn't cause them problems. Their family didn't deserve it. They just wanted them to live well and be in peace.

A month later, two men came and met with Celerity's parents. They praised Celerity's uniqueness, and soon were given a price to purchase them. Enough gold to help them move to a better land with better paying jobs. Celerity's parents reluctantly agreed.

Celerity bid their parents and siblings goodbye, ignoring their younger sister's pleas to not go. It was hard. It was so hard. They willed themselves not to cry and instead fell into the numb state they knew very well.

It wasn't so hard to be acclimated to being part of the slave trade. For some reason, despite seeing many others injured, they never were. They understood that, for some reason, they had it better than the other children. It set them apart further, and to avoid getting the others hurt further, they never talked or went near them when they could help it.

Years of watching these horrendous people take and barter other men, women, and children taught Celerity quite a few things. How much certain attributes were worth, what could be haggled, the main idea of worth and beauty to unscrupulous people.

They were always at the top of the price range, for reasons they could not understand.

Until one day, a lesser lord found them amongst the line up and demanded them for himself. The slave traders could smell his deep pockets a mile away and got damn well near 100 pieces of platinum for Celerity. They could hardly believe it.

Taken into this home, they were dressed in gaudy dresses and- when requested- suits and other masculine attires that showed off their "assets" the best. Nothing scandalous for a young teenager, but enough to make others wonder at their worth, the Jetstone along their body.

It infuriated Celerity for some time after learning they literally grew jewels on their body. All the pain they'd gone through, having to feel their nerves die out as they grew up, they could have bought their family anything just by breaking off a chunk of Jetstone from their tail. It would grow back in a matter of weeks.

(The lord and lady hadn't been pleased to find out they'd actually done such a thing and had a maid with them from then on to assure they weren't "harming" themselves.)

Throughout their time with the lord, they were nothing more than a pet to be shown off to various other lesser lords and ladies. It was around this time that Celerity began to understand their purpose in life.

They'd never be worth anything without others. They only mattered when other people thought they did. They weren't a person and never had been. They were just a jeweled necklace- seen, never heard.

Heard of, however, was a different story. The lord crowed about his unmatched skill in possessing such a rare creature like Celerity. It caught many people's attention.

And also the wrong kind of attention.

Celerity had watched that assassin behead the lord from around a pillar in silence. The lady was soon to follow.

Though afraid, absolutely mortified, to have seen someone murdered before their eyes, Celerity had to wonder.

What was that like? Did that… did that person feel free?

Murder wasn't something Celerity gave any mind in doing. Harming others? Why would the punching bag ever strike back?

But to never have to hear that lord call them his "prized pet" ever again…

There was a faint sense of relief in the back of their mind. And a curiousity.

They were found almost immediately by the assassin. They didn't scream in terror or demand what they wanted. They simply… watched… as the woman approached.

The woman carefully knelt down to Celerity's height- tall as she was for an tabaxi. She strangely pocketed her weapon and held out a clean hand, asking them to go quietly without raising a fuss.

"Why?" was Celerity's only question.

The woman answered, "For you are worth something far more than to simply sit on a pillow all day and waste away."

And Celerity left.

Taken in by the Main House, Celerity learned that the tabaxi woman's name- or an alias at the very least- was Sapphire. She had a wife and two kids, both older than Celerity.

Companionship wasn't the correct term when it came to the two. More… that they were just each other's company.

Sapphire had asked about Celerity's life only once. A simple curiousity. But after being told the shortened version of it, Celerity saw what was a fatigue in the older woman's eyes. A fatigue and great sadness.

Being presented to the head of the household was an interesting meeting. Celerity idly wondered if they'd see his head roll the same, but never dared ask it aloud.

They were taught history, maths, maps, languages; tutored endlessly. Never having had much of an education, Celerity ate it all up with a voracious speed that most scholars would be envious of.

Faintly, every so often, their thoughts would turn to their family. Wonder how they were, how they were holding up after getting the money. They wished more than once to know where they were so they could send money or their Jetstone their way, if to help keep them afloat.

But they never heard anything about a tiefling family whenever they listened in on conversations. Tieflings were rare enough on their own, much less one like Celerity.

So eventually they buried those thoughts and feelings, buried themselves in learning, and being tutored by Sapphire after requesting it. Growing stronger, smarter, and if a little wiser, Celerity felt a confidence in themselves they'd never previously known before. It felt good.

That was before the attack.

Sitting, dazed on the floor, feeling blood leaking down their face for the first time and an ache in their horn, Celerity knew that they'd fucked up big time. Someone had stolen the artifact the main house had wanted kept safe and secret and Celerity could do nothing to stop them.

It took a minute for them to find their mask- a precious gift from Sapphire's wife, Laelanna- in their satchel before putting it on and raising alarms that the book had been stolen. Hours later that they stole away a healer and demanded secrecy for their injury.

The inlaid gold that was used to heal their face and horn was far more painful than anticipated. They bore it though, as punishment for their failure, knowing it wouldn't be the last of it.

They withdrew. Confidence fizzled away, their only desperate hope was that they could recover the artifact as soon as they could.

Sapphire had heard of someone being seen fleeing towards the boats. And not long after, Celerity was easily hidden in the lower deck, chasing after what was certainly a fool's hope in redemption.

For what were they worth without someone's need for them?