"Elirka, what are you up to?" the man calmly asked his wife.

"Oh hush, Kosin, I'm just going to see if they need a bit of help with the baby. I may be old but I still know a thing or two about caring for the little ones."

Elirka raised her hand to knock on the door, but as her hand came down, the door just pushed open before her. The woman raised her eyebrow and stroked thoughtfully on her beard as she considered why the door would be ajar. She poked her head in and called out to whomever might be inside, "Hello? Your door was open and I was just passing by and heard the baby. Could you use a bit of help?"

Moments passed and all was silence except for the cry of the baby. Elirka made a decision and passed through the door to look for the parents. She found them almost immediately, lying on the floor in the kitchen. They were both obviously dead and had been for some time. The horrified older woman ran out the door to her husband and told him what she'd found. She asked him to see to the poor couple before returning to the house herself and searching for the lone baby. She found her in her bassinet -- just a wee thing, tiny enough to look lost even in the bassinet.

Elirka lifted the child into her arms, soothing her slightly by her gentle touch. She quickly realized that the poor thing must be starving. Rather than bring her into the kitchen with all its carnage, chose to call out to her husband to meet her at home and brought the baby there to feed her. Elirka gave a silent prayer of thanks to Kertigen that she'd saved all the things from her grandbabies.

Kosin returned home to find his wife rocking the infant and singing to her with the voice he still found beautiful after all the years of marriage. He smiled on the scene and quietly walked to his wife to kiss her on the cheek.

"I haven't seen you this happy in quite some time." He looked down at the sleeping baby then back into his wife's eyes.

"Oh Kosin, she has no one anymore. We need to care for her. She needs a home and a family."

Kosin took only a moment before nodding his ascent and leaving his wife and their newest daughter in silence. He couldn't help but wonder how the rest of their nine children would take this new sibling.

As events turned out, he needn't have been concerned at all. His children loved the new baby, and after much discussion they all decided to name her Tenasia. It was a name based in a human tongue but still quite appropriate to the stubborn little girl who had won their hearts.

Years past and the little baby grew in the loving comfort of her new family, never realizing that those who'd raised her were not her natural parents. This changed one fateful day when Tenasia was a young adult. The Dwarves she'd come to know as her parents died peacefully in their sleep one night and Tenasia was the one to find them. She tearfully rounded up her siblings to tell them the sorrowful news of their parents passing. As she was speaking, one of her siblings came over and hugged her saying how terrible it must be for Tenasia to have lost two sets of parents in her life.

Tenasia stepped back, dumbfounded. "TWO sets of parents?" she asked in total confusion.

Her sister stared at her, aghast and blushing furiously. "Oh gods! You didn't know!"

The oldest brother hugged Tenasia and gently took her hand to lead her to sit on a rug by the fireplace. He quietly told her the story of how she came to be a part of their family in the gentlest way he could, then simply hugged her tightly while she cried.

It was then that Tenasia became determined to find out who her real parents were and what had happened to them. She dearly loved her new family, but the need to find her roots overwhelmed her. Several weeks after the death of Elirka and Kosin, she again gathered her siblings, and told them of her plan to leave the clan and venture to the city known as the Crossing, where she'd begin her search.

They tried to convince her to wait a while longer, but her need was far too great. She left for the Crossing the next day and began her search. She didn't know where to start or what to do, but she had to try! In the midst of her wanderings, she came upon the Cleric's guild and went inside to see what she might learn. A kind young Cleric by the name of Tamastara took her to meet the guild leader, Tallis. As Tallis spoke, Tenasia slowly became aware that this was her calling in life. To teach others about the gods and heal them spiritually.

She worked very hard in her new profession and was granted the privilege of raising the newly dead. Her work consumes much of her time now, but she has never abandoned her search and never will.