Kaelie
Look gently over your shoulder, Kaelie. For you never know
when the past is sneaking up behind you." I laugh softly as I remember my paddy and
his final words to me. I can recall throwing my arms around his neck and hugging him
tight. I whisper in the ear that has so often heard me laugh and cry, "Da, I will
look gently and always hope that you are treading near." I am no longer laughing
softy. I realize that, as I remember that last hug and our last spoken worldly words that
a tear has fallen, and even now soothes my scarred hand.
My mother had died in giving birth to me. Elven reproduction is often a complicated
matter, or so I've been told. My Da raised me and me alone, for many years. A good man. A
strong man, for an Elf. My ways as a child were given to daydreaming of places that I had
only heard tales of. And soon enough my Da would come to me with more words of soft spoken
wisdom and tell me that I would need to find my "niche" in this world. He handed
me a sack with a map and strange currency that I had never laid eyes on before. He spent a
few nights explaining to me in a way only a Da can to his daughter that his time was short
and I needed to find out if my fantasies of youth could turn into a future of wonder. With
that done, he pointed me towards a path - one, mind you, that I had never seen before,
regardless of the fact that I had known that mountain and those woods better than my own
name, -- and told me to follow it. I learned that soon enough it would lead me to a gate,
and from there the map would serve as my guide.
Mind you, my journey was rather uneventful. I stopped occasionally to rest and speak with
a few other weary travelers. Some headed in my direction, others not. I made no friends at
that time for I was tired myself. And perhaps a little anxious. The strange coins in my
tattered pockets made sounds when they hit each other... I couldn't decide if it was a
pleasant sound or a sound meant by the Gods to mock me.
Now. Upon reaching what I now know as the NE Gates of the Crossing I was terrified. I
could feel my heart beating and hear blood through my ears. I remember swallowing several
times regardless of the fact that my mouth was bone dry. As I stepped through the gates I
recall the urge ... to bail. Run. Never look back. So many people! Races so foreign to me,
I blinked back tears of total awe. My Da sent me here?! My head reeling, I take in a deep
breath and close my eyes and without warning ... I feel the world stop. No noise. No
movement. Silence. I open my eyes and without looking once at the map I begin to move.
When my feet stop and I have adjusted to this sensation of knowing something without
really knowing anything, I realize that I am in front of what looks like a hospital. I
know I am not injured. I realize there are double doors as well. A sign tells me it's an
Empath Guild. Something wanted me here. So, pushing open the massive doors, I step in. It
is right there that I meet Annael Ebeshalek. She speaks to me as if she KNEW me. She
pricks my finger and whispers to me. I learn that my way of life is going to be in the
healing of others. Magic! I know nothing of it. But her words comfort me and my new life
begins.
Sitting in our Guild day in and out. Touching, assessing, and healing others as well as
myself was utter chaos. I made new friends though. Two of them in particular strike me.
One calls himself Unger, and the other Brace. They talk to me and more often than not
laugh either at me or with me. They tell me of their lives as Paladins, and often come in
needing to be healed in so many areas, my mind would freeze just looking at them. But I
loved them both. For some reason it felt like family. (I laugh again at this point.) One
has a tail. A tail! I love it! I learn that his race is S'kra, and regardless what I have
been told as a wee one in the hills ... he assures me with a brief smile, showing fangs
and a lash of a mighty tail, that S'kra do NOT find Elves a delicacy. From this point
these two mentor me when they are in Crossing. They weave tales (not tails) of bravery and
heroism. And
although thinking back in time I don't recall ever being told I was adopted into the
family ... I just remember it being so.
I traveled again soon. I went to Riverhaven. A ferry ride from Crossing, and it's there I
met my husband, Drezzel. I would stand in the Goblin fields and dodge while he hunted. It
was during one of those many trips that I met a Mage. War Mage Mycaell. I felt at first
like a small child near this man, who is also of the S'kra race. And before long I knew
him as one who loves the runestones, often given to me as tips for healing. As by now I am
quite adept at it and have made a nice name for myself, I save the strange magical devices
and on every occasion I can give them to my friend (an unbeknownst to me that time) and
brother. After several of these exchanges he told me of a journey he was sure I would
like. One to yet another Province. Therengia. He and his brothers hunt there and would
love to have the company of an Empath. When I ask him for the names of his brothers he
gives me the names that have already been etched into my heart. Unger and Brace. Is it any
wonder this big amadon, Mycaell, and I are drawn together? No says I. It is family and we
are one.
I find myself smiling here, for the small family that was just Da and I has turned into a
family of many. So many, that at times I cannot remember all of them. My Da whispers in my
ear how much he loves me, and is proud of me, and approves of my choice, for the Gryphon
family has always seen to it that young and weak are protected. He has in fact heard of
them in tales before my time. Unworldly words spoken by a man long gone. but occasionally
I do look gently over my shoulder. and although I cannot see him I always hear him.
I have a family of my own now. Several who call me ma. And myself only just mature for an
Elf. Jiah, my lovely daughter, who takes after her Uncle Mycaell and believes herself to
be a "grand" Mage! Kaethe, another beauty that enjoys skulking in the shadows.
She wanted so much to be like a long ago friend and confidant, Vrulle. And lastly a son,
Lonelyte, a fine cleric. There is another but he was adopted for fear of not having more
of my own and desperately wanting a large family ... I found this wee one. Terrion. I am
as proud of him as any. Into a fine family he belongs, and I know that now and forever we
will stand as one. Fingering the choker made of a black Gryphon feather I feel the need to
find my family again and heal. For truly, perhaps it was not the will of the Gods that
made my world stop on that day long, long ago. but perhaps that of the Gryphon.
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