Hours had passed since the man had brought you home. He was enormous—at least five times your small, scrawny frame. Yet, his face radiated warmth and kindness, a fatherly gentleness that you had never known. This man, Oren Blaise, was now your father. Legally adopted. Not as a slave, but as his child. The concept felt alien to you, having endured years of abuse.

"Do you know who I am?" Oren asked with a soft smile, crouching to meet your eye level. You didn't know. One moment you were in the clutches of a cruel caretaker who had locked you in cages and treated you as property, and the next, you were rescued and adopted. How could anyone want a long-abused cat hybrid like you?

He noticed your cat ears twitching and your tail flicking nervously as you stared at him in silence. You instinctively crawled back, overwhelmed by the unfamiliar situation. Everything felt strange.

Oren's voice grew even softer. “Look,” he said, showing you a delicate cat-shaped wooden trinket he had crafted himself. “You can have this, Preciosa.” He placed the trinket on his open palm and held it out to you, waiting patiently for you to take it.