Chamuhua Goldblossom, or Cham as she was known to her loved ones and friends, stood on a crate and surveyed her small Temple, as a big goofy grin spread across her halfling features. It needed much in the way of repair and expansion if it was going to meet her expectations and It wasn’t in the most prestigious of locations, being on the outskirts of Koln, a small mountain village where people raised goats as their main source of income. However, Cham minded none of this and only saw the peace and quiet she had been looking for ever since the Dead War had ended six years ago. While she had enjoyed teaching the classes at the bigger Temple for the last year, she was even more excited to be in charge here as the smaller size would allow her to be more involved in her ward’s lives. Besides, she was going to enjoy the quiet of this remote location as running an orphanage out in the sticks like this was as close as a SIster ever got to retirement with the Oath being what it was. She sighed contentedly thinking of all the hard work that was ahead of her. Hard work that didn’t involve fighting the undead, which she was very much looking forward to. She even had her first ward to mind, looking at the little girl sleeping on a pallet in the sun. She was a small thing to be sure. Cham felt her heart ache as she watched her clutch the messenger satchel that she refused to take off. Apparently, it belonged to her father before he died in some pointless border skirmish with the Magocracy.

Thanking the Divine once more that her position and fame awarded her some perks when her superiors were deciding what to do with her as if it had been anyone they probably would have been denied. She silently watched the laborers that had she had hired on their journey patch the roof and start raising the walls for a dormitory to house the children that were on their way. Staring vacantly at the frame of the new building she contemplated how the last decade had been really hard on the population. There were no shortage of orphans in any part of the land, especially since the Kingdom liked to conscript anyone who they thought would be useful in their almost constant border skirmishes. It was a wonder that any farming got done at all.

Still, she was happy to have a peacetime purpose and vowed that the orphans in her care would get the best of everything that she could provide. Starting with this one right here. Jumping off her vantage point and walking over to the girl, she gently shook her awake. “Child, wake up. I would be a poor guardian if I let you sleep the day away. I know that the circumstances of you coming into my care were a little on the abnormal side, normally you would have stayed in that orphanage until you were properly processed, but luckily you were dropped off right as I was leaving which allowed me to take guardianship of you with minimal paperwork. Which is ideal, as paperwork is the pits! I also know that neither of us got much of a chance to speak on the journey here due to the rapid pace at which we moved. So come, let us make introductions.”

Cham kneeled onto the blanket and gave her warmest smile “I am Chamuhua Goldblossom, Sister in the service of the Divine, taker of the Oath, Mother of this Temple, and your guardian until you reach the age of majority. You may call me Mother Cham. Now, who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

The small little girl smiled nervously while clutched her satchel in one hand and a small metal locket in the other and said “My name is Rosalyn… Rosalyn Edders. Uhh… Mother Cham. Uhh… Ma’am.”

“Excellent! Now, can you tell me what kind of schooling you have received? I must know where you stand if we are to get you a proper education! I do hope that we will get along.”

Janie was hopeful. She had been scared after her mother abandoned her. She had declared that Janie was bad for business and had unceremoniously dropped her five year old daughter on the side of the road with nothing but the clothes on her back. Whether it was a kindness or a cruelty, she had told Janie her father’s name and his location in the Elvish capital of Menemir. Janie had thought she would never finish the seemingly never ending walk, but she had surprised herself and done something any rational adult would have said was impossible. She had traveled from a small border village in the Kingdom to the heart of the Elvish Federation chasing her birth father. It had taken her nearly a year of travel to get here, but she had made it.

Of course, she had done things she wasn’t proud of to get here, but it would all be worth it when she met her father. She had stolen a lot and abused the kindness of strangers on more than one occasion. She felt especially bad when she had stolen the money from that nice man that gave her that delicious meat pie. Hopefully he would forgive her one day.

She was stalling and she knew it. All Janie had to do is walk into the tavern and ask for her father. He was supposedly a regular, hopefully he would be there tonight. Grabbing her nerve and choking it until it did what she wanted it to do, Janie pushed the swinging doors open and marched in.

Everyone in the bar immediately took one look at the malnourished orphan that brazenly walked into one of the swankiest alehouses in the Elvish capital. Shrinking under all of the attention, Janie hunched over and walked up to the bar. The bartender, dressed smartly in a dark jacket with a pristine white apron, looked at her and frowned. “We do not give handouts to urchins.”

Janie gave the bartender what she hoped was a confident smile and replied “No sir, I am here looking for my father. His name is Adrian Amakeer. Do you think you could point me in his direction?”

Eyeing Janie suspiciously he pointed to another set of swinging bar doors leading into a private side room. Raucous laughter could be heard and smoke was wafting through into the main common area. Strangling her nerve again she pushed open another set of doors and came face to face with a very, very fat elf. In fact, he was the first truly fat elf she had met since she coming to the Federation. He had more than a few female elves in various states of modestly clinging to him. Janie recognized a prostitute when she saw one, after all her mother had been one.

Stepping into the room the fat elf looked at her and said “You aren’t exactly my taste, a little too young. Also, you seem to be a half breed. What do you want, thing?”

Fidgeting slightly Janie replies, “Uhh… I am… Uhh… looking for my father… his name is Adrian Amakeer…” The fat elf stared at Janie for a long moment before snorting and taking a long drag on a hookah. “That would be me child, but I do not recognize you as my offspring. Begone.”

“But… you are my father…?” Janie cried. Adrian Amakeer sneered and hissed “I said begone! As far as I am concerned, you got everything you needed from me when I provided my superior elven blood! Cara, get rid of the girl before I have her fed to my hounds. Oh, and take her out of the back door. I don’t want word of me having a half breed child spreading anymore than it has already.”

A tall blonde elf wearing large round spectacles stepped out of the shadows and walked toward Janie. Grabbing her by the arm she led the panicking little girl out a side door meant for servers to slip in and out quietly.

“Do not fear child, I will not hurt you. However, you cannot stay here as Milord was quite serious about feeding you to his hounds.” Janie’s eyes grew wide at that. The elf known as Cara continued “You are quite lucky girl. Milord must have been in a good mood to not have you killed. I am thankful for that, I do detest killing children and selling you into slavery just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. You do have Elven blood in you after all. Now, what to do with you? Ahh, I have it. There is a Temple caravan stopped in the city currently and they have live cargo for the Temple. Orphans, just like you, that are being transferred from the orphanages in the larger cities to smaller rural ones. I think I can get you on.”

Janie was confused and disappointed, “What is going to happen to me?” The bespectacled elf looked down and shrugged “Not my problem. I am really only doing this much on a whim, as by Elvish law you aren’t even a real person. Now hush before I change my mind about the whole slavery thing.”