"What?!", she screamed, jumping from her bed. "You're killing Thaj?!" Her mother sighed and sat down on a chair.
"Yes. You see, he knows your secret and we can't risk your life... so killing Thaj is the only way", she explained. "I know you like him, but you have to stay hidden. I will find a new Thaj for you."
"But I don't want a new Thaj! I want my Thaj!", she cried. Thaj was her slave, or at least he had been. Jaht's mother had bought him half a year ago to keep her company in the Tower of Destiny. At first she was anxious of him to discover her secret and avoided him as much as possible. But the days were long in the Tower. Soon after, she was more and more curious about Thaj and befriended him. They had many similarities and about one month ago she had freed him from his chains as a slave. Her mother had hated that, as he was quite precious and expensive. But once free he would never be a slave again.
Jaht and Thaj were, despite their similarities, very much the exact opposite of each other. Jaht was small, only five feet tall, had dark brown skin, black hair and shiny light grey eyes. Thaj was huge, about 7 feet tall, and looked like he had been dipped into milk. Everything about him was white. Only his almond-shaped, sad eyes were black. He never said much, only listened to the never ending flow of words comming from Jaht's lips. She liked that. Her mother had always asked questions, always wanted to know everything and understand it. Thaj just listened. He listened to her worries, to her joy and her pain. He listened at day and at night. He listened while sun, rain and clouds shifted and moved across the sky. Thaj was always listening.
And this way he had discovered their secret. Jaht's curse. The burned, scaly flesh on her back. And just because he knew it existed, he had to die.
And just as always, he wasn't saying a word. He listened, as Jaht's mother raised her dagger. He listened to Jaht's crying and begging and sobbing and screaming. He listened, but was mute.