Valentine, for as long as she can remember, has adored mushrooms. As a little girl she would crawl on her hands and knees through the forest underbrush in search of toadstools- much to her mother's dismay and the detriment of her tattered skirts. In order to appease the child and keep a closer eye on her, her mother cleared a space in the greenhouse for Valentine to grow her own mushrooms in. Overjoyed, Valentine spent weeks tending her little plot until, to her delight, mushrooms began to spring up in delightful patches. She was an only child, living a happy childhood with just her mother.
Val, content in her kingdom of mushrooms- which slowly spread through the greenhouse- took an interest in book learning, as well. She didn't have many friends growing up- being an odd little girl- but she genuinely didn't seem to notice the lack of companionship of children her own age. When she was beginning to grow into her teenage years, she awoke one morning to find a rather fat little bullfrog hiding in her toadstool garden. Instead of sweeping him away, she adopted the overgrown toad as part of the family.
It wasn't until she was entering her mid teen years that Valentine realized her mother was growing weaker. The reasons her mushrooms had taken over the greenhouse is that her mother no longer had the strength to care for the plants she loved. Val spent the next few years learning from healers as they came and went from the house, looking for a cure to her mother's sickness. She studied well, taking notes on their treatments and learning what she could- but there wasn't anything to be done. Her mother passed quietly in the night, leaving their happy cottage much colder than it used to be.
Valentine spent all of her time tucked away in the library after that. She was rarely within the empty cottage, but it was as if some sort of tether kept her tied to the land around her childhood home. One night, she discovered a box of letters tucked away under her mother's bed. She read through them, one at at time, and found that the letters were written by her mother to Val, when she knew the end was near. The letters contained words of love, the desire for Valentine to move on, the hope that she'd pursue her dreams, the wish that she'd never lose her cheerful nature.
Keeping the bundle of letters close, Valentine packed up her things and set off to explore the world on the morning of her 18th birthday. Unburdened with shadows of her past, filled with hope for a new future, and driven by a passion to live and learn. Perhaps, if she's lucky, she'll be able to find happiness and comfort in the arms of people who love her again.
