Having been born in Iridine you would think I would know everyone.
Yet in reality I spent the bulk of my childhood trying not to be noticed.
My father left my mother, shortly after I was born, to join in the war. While he was away he fell in love with an Altene woman. So, having replaced my mother and I he never returned. My mother awaited his return for eight sleepless years. When finally a scroll came explaining to her that he had remarried and had the son he always wanted. She took to her bed and fell sick deep within her heart. She died of heartbreak just two days later, the parting word on her dying lips, “Grazen.” I wondered for years who Grazen was, his named being etched into my mind by my mothers last breath. So, at the tender age of eight I wandered just out of the city and to the dumps. I survived off the stones left by others and found a short bow dropped by a careless hunter. Although I could not draw the bow back I clung to it, as my father was an archer. I found I could beat back the rats and hounds enough to stay alive. Time passed quickly as I passed my days one after the other the same way. All too soon four years had passed and I was twelve. I pulled my bow back for the first time while watching the sunset from a pile of debris. Oh, how fierce I though I was! *laugh* Now, a “real” hunter Mondan and I became great friends. Yet, as I watched people come and go from the hunt I realized there was more to life than what I had seen. I listened to the bits of conversation as they passed me. Lover’s quarrels, warriors boasts, such stories they told! I wanted so badly to go into town and learn the rest of the stories I had only heard bits of. I had not set foot in town since my mother’s passing. It took me years to get up enough nerve to go back. I knew in my heart, they would see me for the skinny, little dump rat that I was. So, the day I turned sixteen I raised my chin defiantly, and walked resolutely to The Stone Toga Inn. The first person who spoke to me was Phaedro. He called to me “Hello there, youngster. It was like an arrow to my heart. I stood up a little straighter, smiled to Phaedro, thinking, "you will not deter me that easily," and walked into The Toga. There I met Skye and Ki, they noticed immediately I had no armor, and helped to outfit me. I was so unaccustomed to kindness I had no idea how to react. I thanked them and happily walked the streets meeting others and remembering my childhood before my mother’s passing. I walked to the torch shop as night fell, and there it happened. Grazen walked into the torch shop. I gasped, he was younger than I! He was Altene! He was an archer! The realization hit me immediately Grazen was my father’s son, my half brother. I spoke to him of my father only briefly, as he told me how different his life had been from mine. He had parents, he was never hungry…. I could not help but be overjoyed to know I had someone. At last I had someone I could call mine, a family. He pledged to be there for me, to protect me, and most importantly to never leave me. Grazen and I later joined The Bird’s of Prey, the archer’s guild. He and I eventually got matching tattoo’s, A war arrow clutched in the talons of a falcon. My life since finding my brother has been so different. I am truly happy and have made many new friends. I now know almost everyone in Iridine. Some call me Vixen, some call me Kitten, and one calls me Love. Ahh, but there is a story for another time. You see, the story of my love for Morphius has no ending. Or so I thought at one time.