1D4+1 in 1D4+1

I am Katrixa, a half elven ranger. I grew up with two elven parents. Before I was born my mother had cheated on my father with a human whilst my father had been away as he often took long diplomatic trips. I have no real idea who my actual father is.

Once when I was 12 my father started teaching me things about the woods, travel, and survival. I was happy to get to spend time with him because he had shown very little interest in me for as long as I can remember. When he had company I was referred to as a “child taken in” and was not to talk without being spoken to. When i had been allowed to leave the house it was in cover, so the elves could not see my red hair and my green eyes. I had no real idea why my father had suddenly taken an interest in my learning the ways of travel. I only knew that he was to leave again on a long journey very soon and that this time I was going with him! I was so excited I hung on his every word when he was showing me things. My head would be so tired that I barely heard the sounds of my parents fighting. A sound unlike that of any other race as they fight with words that sting the heart and not so much the ears.

When it came time to travel mother seemed very sad though I was sure she had seemed sad many times when father had gone alone. I assumed it was doubly so because I was going as well. Father had returned many times unscathed so I assumed it wouldn’t be any different for us together.

We traveled both off and on roads by horseback. We stopped each night to take rest in some tavern or making camp. I paid no attention to location at first only that we were getting further from home and closer to wherever father was going. We hunted food here and there. He was a good hunter, me not so much.

One day upon the trail and after a particularly large dinner I woke in camp to find I was the only one there. My father had left me alone in the woods. I was left with 3 days worth of rations, a dagger, and a sealed letter. I cried like the child I was. How could my father just leave me here? I was just the child taken in after all and discarded like a broken toy. He made no real effort to hide his shame for me and looking back I could recall., more times than not he looked at me with disgust. More times than not my mother had hidden me when he was home from his trips. They only fought when he discovered me. Finally, I recall through my excitement while he was teaching me the constant phrase “You will need this someday soon” and a never before felt gentleness and understanding. In the end he knew. He knew he would leave me out here. My mother all the while believing as she had told me, that he was “preparing me for the future”. I don’t know if she knew or not.

After, the first 5 days were over I managed to kill a rabbit. It was not easy, they hear you if you have to jump them with a dagger. So, I used the dagger to fashion a bow out of a stick and a bow string from a vine. Sharpening some sticks I taught myself archery. I needed to eat after all. Many of the skills my father was so kind to teach me came in handy. Some things he neglected to teach me I had to learn on my own, mostly the hard way.

There are many things you can not get from the woods. I was not raise to live that way before so when I would find a town I would beg and find work doing whatever I could to earn money for cloths and things I eventually become bored of the town or feel the need to move on. I think I’ve managed pretty good.

I have what it takes to survive but I would like to get enough gold to live and find home again.
I have yet to open the letter. For 10 years now I have kept it safe a symbol of my mothers love or my fathers shame. I know not what it says I imagine it at times. I believe it’s a letter saying he’s sent me on a hero’s quest. That all I need to do is find my way home to prove I am worth calling his daughter. Other times I like to believe it’s a letter telling me who my real father is and how to find him. I could not bare it if it were a letter from my mother telling me farewell. So it remains sealed. I do know where home is, I came upon it some years ago but I have not sought my family. I don’t have anything to offer them. I would only bring heartbreak to my mother and I could be my fathers downfall. He left me in the woods for a reason and I aim to find it but first I must earn my own place in the world.

I have recently started work for a mercenary company called The Cleansing Flame. I have been paired up with a half elven rouge named Faewren. She says she left her village because people distrusted her so she chose to leave in search of adventure. I sure hope this job goes well.