Twenty-odd years ago, I was born to Auri parents of the Raen clan – white horns and scales, and usually pale skin, both of these becoming what would set me apart from my peers in my later life. My eyes are the other thing that set me apart, which are what they call “heterochromic”: the left a light purple-pink, the right a soft green. I know little about my family and clan of origin, as my parents were killed when I was young.
You see, my Auri family (or “clan” as they call it) were traders, an uncommon profession for the white-scaled Raen. They traveled the seas in ships to Doma and even Kugane at times. From what I’ve been told, they were quite adept at it, but I don’t know for sure because the sea is what claimed my family. As my parents (my adoptive ones, which I’ll get to soon) tell me, they were making a trek that few Raen ever had – a trip to Eorzea. Limsa Lominsa was their destination; they never made it. The wreckage of their vessel washed ashore at Costa Del Sol, not terribly far from their destination. No survivors were found, with the exception of a baby, swaddled in blankets, floating on a piece of driftwood, clutching a silver-and-pearl necklace in her hand. That’s me!
Some traders in Costa Del Sol rescued me, and conveyed me with them in their travels to their next destination, which was Gridania, a city in the forests. A place far from my native land and climate. That’s where they found a more permanent home for me. A bunch of gruff sailors and traders were no place for a baby, that much they knew. So they reached out to Kan-E-Senna, leader of the Gridanian people, to find a home for me. That she did, placing me in the loving care of my Midlander Hyur parents – Alaric and Liora Ashenhawke. The traders named me “Elli,” which they said is a term from a far-off land they’d sailed to, meaning “Blessing.” I haven’t found out whose dialect it’s from, but someday maybe I will?
I was a young Auri girl, raised in the forest very far away from any semblance of her young life.
