DriedUpSnail

You’ve just arrived in a swampy, dim town. As you look around, your gaze is met with shacks and cabins. It smells of rotted wood and wet moss. You duck and step into a tattered tent, illuminated by a series of candles suspended in the air. At the back of the tent, an old hag raises her head, “What brings you to this dingy town? she begins, then pauses to study your face—”Ah, it’s you. I’ve been expecting you. Sit,” she gestures at a cushion, “Tell me your story.”

((How do you respond?))

"My story?" I repeated, taking a seat on the ragged cushion. A cloud of dust surrounded me as I did. I stifled a cough as I squinted my eyes and looked forward at the old woman. "Not much too tell. I was born in the wood, my mother was an elf, my father too. They raised me until I was older, still very young, and left. I hardly remember them. Although I was born of elves, I wasn't raised by them, not even close. I was raised by a human family in a village called Kopanes, that village was destroyed. When my parents abandoned me, I was left without a surname. My human parents were called Flitz and from then on so was I. Whilst I lived with them, my 'mother' would make me clothing from the material they had. These clothes were very different from the ones I had worn before. These were soft, well made, and varied in color. They fed me well, treated me kindly, but it wouldn't last. Soon I would be fourteen, and my village was attacked. Hardly anyone survived, I know for certain the kind people who raised me did not. I traveled to other villages, though not a family took me in. I ended up back in the woods." I paused, glancing at the woman. I offered her a smile, but she seemed to want me to continue. "This is not easy to speak of," I told her. "I loved those people dearly." As a frown began to replace my smile, I went on to say... "I taught myself many things, which of the plants were good to eat, which of them were not. I survived on herbs and fruits and those sorts of things. I couldn't bring myself to harm the animals around me. I washed my clothes in a river near by and lived well in the woods for a while. It soon became lonely, and I found myself longing for humans again. Finally, on my eighteenth birthday, I left the woods. That was a week ago, but I see now people are not so kind toward a girl with pointed ears." I giggled, hoping the old lady would at least spare me a smile. She sat with a straight face, her expression hardly showing amusement. I had nothing more to say, and so I let the silence consume us both.