Fond Memories

Some of my fondest memories are from my childhood. I remember growing up in the most wonderful place in the world, a small forest village known as Hilflangin. Very few know of it by name though since it is not on any maps that I know of. I now know it lies between what is known as Liberty and Gwidry. The village was hardly more than a small collection of huts, nestled deep within the forest, too far for most merchants or outsiders to travel frequently. The village was composed of several Halfling extended families and was mostly a hunting and gathering community. I remember a small grove we used to play in as children, it was near a small set of stones with a creek running through it. The creek was always so cold since it ran right off the mountains nearby. We were a simple group, very quiet and we kept to ourselves for the most part and most of my village still does. My father is a hunter and he knew the lands better than anyone else in the village. He was the one that taught all the other hunters how to hunt. He learned from his father and before that from his father's father as far back as I can remember. Our village elders always told these stories of how we came to live there in the forest and made sure we knew the importance of our heritage. Our village was part of the forest, we lived off the land and we were one with the lands. More recently I have come to learn that my village is very similar to most common elven forest settlements. We protected our lands in much the same way an elven tribe might. We all knew how to use a bow and spears to hunt and for protection. Thankfully the latter was a rarity other than the occasional grumpy, old bear, of course. Bears are generally harmless anyway, just leave them be. Perhaps some of my best memories were about my mum, she was the kindest, greatest, best mum anyone could ever have growing up. I remember she always had a small garden near our house, it was on the sunny side, of course where things grow the best. The community did not need to grow many things since the forest provided all we needed but mum always had a simple garden for herbs. She was a fantastic cook but she also was a bit of a healer, she used many of the herbs to help with illness in the village. I always remember everyone being so happy to see my mum when they were sick. I am not sure if it was the healing or the fact that she always brought the sick folks her famous apple crumble. The crumble helped the medicine go down I am sure, at least for me it always worked wonders! Another fond memory was always around bed time growing up, my father made it a point to tell us stories of our family and friends, most of these stories served as lessons and of course our family history. We sat by the fire, me and my three sisters and my mother, of course my father as well since he was telling the stories! I remember this one time he told us all about the time when some goblins tried to raid our village, oh those nasty goblins, they thought we were an easy prize. They were not so smart and quickly found out we were fierce on the battle field. Goblins are terrible beasts and should be killed whenever the opportunity arises. Fortunately our village has not seen any significant goblin intrusions since that last great battle those many years ago. One of my dad's favorite stories was actually passed down several generations. I never met my great, great grandfather but he was very well known within the village. My great, great grandfather actually travelled the world, much like I do now as a young adult. He was known to be a great fighter and often competed in tournaments with other fighters. He spent a lot of his time in great cities and travelling with merchants between cities. Between his duels he often spent time training in the ways of many weapons. He apparently knew how to use weapons I have never even heard of. The fondest parts of this story my dad told were always around my great, great grandfather's close friends. He had several friends from an organization known for dueling and fighting incredibly strong foes like dragons for instance. I hope to slay a dragon one day myself. Those stories about him and his friends were always the most entertaining ones growing up. Once I turned seventeen I decided to head to the great city of Seringale. As a child growing up we never ventured farther than the closest town, usually Liberty for supplies. Usually we would only go once in the spring and again just before the winter. Those trips were always great adventures because we got to spend time in the city and experience the excitment there. I remember listening to grand tales sung by all kinds of entertainers and I remember my father always haggling shrewdly with the merchants, he was great at bartering for the villages' needs. We usually traded furs since we hunted so often. I think that is why I decided to travel to the big city of Serngale once I was old enough. Gromchi Daggleburt - Fond Memories