Viharra Rhunil

Viharra was born to a middle class family on her species homeplanet, Cathar.  Her father was a commercial pilot whom worked planetside while her mother tended the home and raised their only child.  It was a comfortable life, Cathar hadn't been a part of the Republic before the rise of the Galactic Empire, and it would remain neutral during the ensuing civil war, largely sparing it's people the unforgiving, xenophobic hand of the Imperials.  Right away the little girl made her curious nature known, getting into all sorts of trouble when her mother wasn't paying attention.  Viharra's natural curiosity would also extend to her schooling, and right away proved quite adept at absorbing and retaining information.  Academics came fairly easy to the young Cathar, and very quickly she progressed past the other children.  It was a trend she would maintain all throughout her schooling years, Viharra devoting herself completely to her studies.  Her devotion to learning would pay off over the years, the young girl ending up able to skip a couple of grades and graduate early, and at the top of her class no less.  Suffice to say, Viharra could choose to attend any school of her choice and not pay a single credit thanks to her scholarships.  Despite being only 16 years old, Viharra knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life, and that was help other people.  What better way to do that then becoming a doctor?  It wouldn't be an easy path, but the teen was no stranger to hard work, her record showed that much.

Viharra would end up applying to the prestigious Linus-Medix Medical Academy on Dzass IV, and much to her delight, the university would accept her.  It was a scary thing really, packing up her things and bidding her parents goodbye, something that wasn't done without the shedding of tears from both parties, but Viharra would get over it, excitement for what the future held overriding any sense of fear or hesitation.  Her parents were proud of the woman she was growing into, and Viharra was determined to continue making them proud.  The Cathar would settle into academy life pretty quickly, though homesickness did set in after a couple of weeks.  Viharra would handle it however, her studies kept her busy and the holonet kept her in touch with her parents.  Medical school quickly proved to be quite the challenge for the girl, but Viharra relished in the challenges thrown at her each day.  Nary a word her professors said wouldn't be written down in her notes, and time not spent sleeping, eating, or in class was often spent with her nose in pressed to a data-pad or scouring the academy libraries.  While the Academy proved to be a much tougher challenge than her basic schooling back on Cathar, within the first year it became clear that Viharra was maintaining the trend she had started as a little girl going to her first classes.  If she could continue to progress in her studies at the rate she was going, it wouldn't have surprised most of her professors if the young woman ended up graduating early, if she could keep the pace up anyways.

And so the weeks would turn into months, and the months into years, 4 years to be precise.  Viharra took to medicine quite gracefully, and learned a great deal about many other species and cultures in the process.  Everything was going well for the girl, but on her way back to the Academy after visiting her parents during a 2 week break from her studies, her life would be changed forever.  This change would be facilitated by the notorious Thalassian Slavers, whom happened upon the passenger vessel while it was undergoing some minor repairs to fix a sudden mechanical problem that had occurred to it's hyperdrive.  The lightly armed craft was no matched for the slaver fighters and warship, and was forced to surrender itself and it's organic cargo.  It was the most fear inducing moment Viharra had ever experienced in her life, and there was no escaping the fate about to be pressed upon her and her fellow passengers.  Unfortunately for her, female Cathar were prized as slaves, and the Thalassians planned to make quite the pay check off of their newest capture.  Rather than just selling her off as labor, the Thalassians would take Viharra to one of the many dancing schools found on Ryloth.  The way it was looked at, a properly trained Cathar would fetch a much higher price than a fresh one, enough to be well worth the extra effort and investment.  Viharra of course protested and fought back as much as she could during her internment on the slave transport ship, but physical punishment and threats against her family would inevitably force the young woman to comply, and dissuade her from any further resistance.

Life at the school on Ryloth wasn't much better, calling it a 'school' actually was a bit of a joke, it was more reminiscent of a prison.  Attendees, which were mostly Twi'leks forced into slavery as she was, were constantly monitored, attempts at escape often harshly punished.  Their living conditions weren't to bad at least, and surprisingly Viharra didn't mind learning to dance and entertain, or rather she wouldn't have minded if she'd chosen to do it of her own free will, the fact that it was being forced on her and that she wouldn't amount to much more than a play-thing to someone crushed any enjoyment she could have otherwise derived from the physical act itself.  The only comfort the Cathar found was in the presence of her fellow captives, being stuck together in a situation like this could really make people come together, and Viharra quickly bonded with several of the other girls at the school, truthfully they were likely the only thing that had kept her spirits up for the duration of her time there, a little over half a year.  That time would eventually come to an end however, as the Thalassians had found a buyer for her buy the time her training had ended.  That buyer ended up being a Hutt, albeit a rather lowish ranking one in their Cartel.  It was of no comfort to poor Viharra as she was whisked away from Ryloth to his domain in Hutt space, a Hutt was a Hutt, cruel and uncaring creatures with a low opinion of every other species.  This Hutt, Karvo, was sure to constantly remind Viharra of his superiority, and her place in the world.  Being forced to dance for his pleasure, as well as that of his court, was almost more humiliation than the Cathar could stand, but fear and her will to continue breathing would keep her obedient.  Viharra contributes one major factor of her survival under Karvo to a Twi'lek by the name of Asit'lufa.

She was a few years older than Viharra, and had been a slave herself to the Hutt for nearly a decade.  She was a kind woman, and as the Cathar had with some of the girls back on Ryloth, she quickly bonded to the Twi'lek, coming to view her much like an older sister in time, the older woman referring to her affectionately as 'Kitten', a petname that Viharra would have found rather annoying had anyone else bestowed it on her.  It was Asit'lufa whom kept her spirits up for the next 5 years, Asit'lufa whom stopped the young Cathar from ending her own life to escape the misery she found herself trapped in, Asit'lufa whom would comfort and console her after Karvo would give her up to his guests of honor and loyal henchmen to be 'used' as they saw fit, Asit'lufa whom would keep her sane through years of emotional, physical, and mental abuse.  Viharra was amazed by the Twi'lek's resilience, as she had suffered these same abuses for years already, and would do so again along side the Cathar.  Finally, it was because of Asit'lufa that Viharra would weep when she learned she'd been traded to another Hutt, one by the name of Zonna.  Likely to repeat the past 5 years of her life all over again, but this time she would have no one looking out for her, no one to make her feel safe and loved in a life defined by cruelty and abuse.  Of course the Cathar could do nothing about it, and soon she found herself loaded onto a ship and en-route to her new home, her new master...