Anisven
I was born in the third month of Lirisa the Archer in the Year of the Silver Unicorn,
301, somewhere on the dusty roads of Zoluren.
My father was an artist, a lifesculptor in Leth Deriel, by name Raelesvaan Varanor. I
never knew him - he and my mother met and parted tempestuously and
I was the memento my mother carried away with her. I am his only child.
My mother is an itchy-footed elf named Gaeniad Farsinger, with a taste for wandering and
not much maternal aptitude. The wisest parental decision she ever made was to foster me
with Andiar and Laethorin Rowanburn, Human farmers with a home in the fertile lands north
of the Crossings.
My foster family was not unkind - they raised me well, discharging their duty to the alien
child left like a cuckoo's egg in their comfortable nest. I understand, all these
years later, that my mother tried, but her feckless nature simply wasn't able to cope with
the demands of the small child nature had saddled her with - finding those good farmer
folk, and being in funds (a rare enough occurrence, as I remember), she left coin to pay
for her daughter's upbringing among humans.
That caused problems, in the end - as I grew from child to youth all was well, my height
and elven features making me a bit of a curiosity but never giving rise to any ill
treatment. It was only as I reached adulthood and never changed that my foster family
began to grow cool, uncomfortable with the knowledge of the long lifespan natural to the
elven kind. I began to spend more time wandering, travelling further afield in search of
my own path. Each time I returned, my foster family greeted me with affection tinged more
and more with unease.
In the course of those aimless travels I came across my mother once more, finding her at
that time settled in Stone Clan, the harried wife of a dwarf and mother of a new family.
It was not a happy meeting, and we parted with courtesy but no great regret. I have heard
since that she has left and now wanders the lands once more - I think perhaps this
restlessness is a family trait, the legacy of a Sand Elf lineage. (Some sensible ancestor
decided to take his or her fierce, passionate nature and enjoy it someplace where the sand
didn't blow into every available crevice, and where the long natural lifespan of an elf
might have a chance to flourish. Blessings on that ancestor is all I can say.)
At some time during my own wanderings I found myself in the Crossings, where all travelers
seem to end up sooner or later in their journeys. Amazed by the size and the noise
of the town, I stood gawking like a true country bumpkin, interfering with traffic and
earning a number of harsh words. Fortunately for my continued good health a passing War
Mage took pity on my obvious confusion and took me in hand. Within the space of a couple
of anlaen and at the end of a whirlwind tour of the town, I found myself shang-hai'd into
the War Mage Guild.
I had never once given a thought to joining the War Mage Guild, considering them grim and
dark and much too dour for my taste. This was before I met my casual patron, who flashed
and shone like a flame, dazzling me, enchanting my eyes and then vanishing about her own
business, leaving me with a new weapon by her generosity, and a new profession courtesy of
her force of personality.
Although a War Mage by accident, I soon found that the profession suited my inclinations,
and for the next several years I wandered the lands, learning my art, exploring and
growing stronger and more capable, if not necessarily wiser.
During that time, messengers found me, set on my trail by the father I had not known and
sent to me with the tale of a duty he had laid on me before his death. I went with them to
Leth Deriel, where I met family I'd not dreamed existed, and learned of the promise made
by my father in my name, that I would journey to distant Theren, there to study and learn
with the sons and daughters of fourteen other families of Leth Deriel.
I felt the weight of this dead man's desire like a geas, binding me to his will, and so I
went to Theren, telling myself that one place was as good as another. It was here I met my
fellow students, bound by the will of their families just as I was. We studied and grew to
know one another, learned to work, and to play together. This group became the founding
members of the Order of the Black Fox, and to this day I still owe duty and affection to
the Order, and all who belong to it.
My life has been simple, I admit it - no great events, no enormous tragedies or
overwhelming sorrows. I am blessed - I have friends, family, folk who care for me as I do
for them. And I have work that fills the need to return some of the fortune that has
favored me. I wish you all such favor and fortune - may your paths be fair and open, and
may life give you what you need as much as what you want.
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