Kaleyl's Original Background
I was born into a world of prejudice. My mother, a human, and my father, an elf, were very much in love, and loved me dearly. But the humans were furious at the union of my mother and father, and my birth only seemed to fuel their fires. Realizing they would never live a peaceful existence in the land of my birth, they fled the forest my father loved so dearly.
The trip was long and difficult, especially with a small child. We soon ran out of food, and my father had to leave my mother and me to hunt. In his absence, a pair of orcs happened upon us. Terrified, she placed me in a tree, and took her stance against the orcs. But being just a peasant woman armed only with a small dagger, she was no match for the orcs. She died before my father, hearing her cries, could return to save her.
As he approached, the orcs turned their sights on me. Seeing my father, one ran, but the other, preoccupied with me, soon fell to my father's blade. As my father retrieved me from the tree, the second orc returned. With me in his arms, there was no empty hand for a weapon. As the orcs blade fell, my father turned his back to absorb the blow, desperate to save my life. My father dropped to his knees, blood flowing from his ruined shoulder, sheltering me.
Suddenly, as my father awaited the blow that would end his life, the whiz of an arrow permeated the silence, and imbedded itself deep into the orc's heart. The old elven ranger who's arrow saved me from certain death bandaged my father's wound as best he could, and lifted him to the back of his grey mare. He placed me in his backpack, and took us both to his home. Although the elder elf did all that he knew how for my father, his wounds would not heal, and he died a few days later.
Malinoi cared for me as if I were his own. As I grew, he taught me the ways of the forest, and respect for it's inhabitants. He always told me, "Kaleyl, there is only one worthy of your trust, and that is yourself. Things are not always as they seem, and even your friend may be your enemy. Remember this."
Malinoi died only recently. Without his presence, I had no desire to stay at his home. He would have wanted me to seek my own life - my own adventures. And so... I set out...