Well I guess I should start with telling you that my name is Lillyanna. I have been asked by Archdruidess Celote to put my life into writing.
I am unsure as to why she wishes this done. For me the beginning is not easy to tell but for everything that she has done for me, I can do at least this one small thing for her. I will have to start with what she has told me of the event, it starts on the day of the winter solstice many years ago.
 
As she heads for the meeting grounds, she takes in the beauty of the forest under a fresh blanket of snow. The snow had started at midday the day before forcing her to stop and take shelter with Tika, a female brown bear that has a den close by.
As she gets closer to the meeting grounds she is joined by a few of the other druids from the surrounding area that share the same destination. The greetings that are called out are in a tongue that, any casual listener would have not been able to understand a word that was uttered. As they talked amongst themselves and approached the meeting place, they hear the loud screech of an owl.
 
As they look up perched atop a large flat round stone with a circle hollowed out in the center was the familiar face of Sabine a beautiful white barn owl, and as she stood on the meeting table it almost appears as if she has been waiting for them to arrive. As Celote approaches to great her, Sabine tells her "follow, follow" as she hops around to the other side of the stone table looking back to see if the druidess is following. Once she satisfied that Celote is coming, Sabine takes flight to a nearby tree hollow calling "look, look".
When Celote get close enough to the tree she peeks inside to see a blanket wrapped bundle tucked into the hollow.
As she reaches in to grasp the bundle Sabine happily states "found it, kept it warm, knew you were coming". With that statement she very gently picks the bundle up to see what it is. What she finds shocks her to no end for as she moves the blanket aside she sees that what she holds is an infant, the first thing she does is quickly check to see if the infant is still breathing to her relief it is.
 
She turns quickly goes back over to the stone table that her companions have gathered around as they had watch her and Sabine and proceeds to try to clear the snow away as she tells them what Sabine had found. When enough snow is cleared away one of the other druids produced a blanket to put up on the table so that she may set the infant down. As she places the baby on the blanket and unwraps the one around the baby, she asks the other druids to go to the tree and see if they can find any trace of who may have left the child.
During her inspection she finds that the baby is an elven female about 1 to 2 weeds old and other than being very cold the child seems fine. In an attempt to warm the girl she puts her into her shirt to share her warmth. Once she is finished wiht this she turns to see if anybody has found anything that may shed some light on whom the little girl's parents are and what may have happened.
 
They spent an hour scouring the area but unfortunately do to the recent snowfall nothing was found, they even questioned some of the animals in the area but due to the snow all were in their dens. With nothing more being able to be done in search of the girls parents they turn their attention on preparing the meeting area for the arrival of the others, by starting the fire in the center and clearing of the snow off of the stone table. Over the next few hours the rest of the druids arrived. After sharing news and warnings, discussion turned over to what to do with baby, most were leaning towards picking a village that one of them could take her to on their way home. It was at this point that Celote felt the first movements of the child. She hurried back over to the blankets that has now been warmed by the fire, and proceeds to take the little girl from her shirt. Before the cold could affect the baby again she wraped her back up in the blanket she was found in.
 
With that task complete she looked too the babies face and see bright emerald green eyes staring back at her, her skin is pale as moonlight and she has enough hair to tell that it is the color of snow in the sun. It was at that moment that Celote knew exactly what to do with the baby, turning to look at the others she said " I will keep the child for I am the one who lives closest to here, and we will have Sabine keep an eye on this area to see if anyone ever returns looking for the girl." as the other druids nodded and agreed, some saying that perhaps the parents were in danger and had hidden the infant to protector her.
What Celote did not tell the others was that she had another reason she wanted to keep the baby with her, she had been longing for child of her own but had not found the right mate. But as much as she wanted a baby of her own, if the parents did return and had indeed hidden the child to protect her she would return her to her rightful mother. But no one ever came and after 5 years Celote relieved Sabine from having to watch the site, and began to believe that maybe The Oak Lord had gifted her with the one thing that she wanted most but had never asked for.
 
Life from then on was fairly normal or as normal as it could be with an Archdruidess for a mother, but I would not have traded it for anything in the world.
We lived on the outskirts of a small village named Eilingbrook and while I did spend sometime in the village when my mother was away, but when she was home I spent most of my time in the forest with her or playing by myself. As I grew older it became apparent that I had a natural talent for dealing with animals and a preference for being amongst trees and plants more than other people. On the day that I turn 25 mother had me tested by another druid to see if I had what was needed to become a druid, the next day my training begin. No matter how much I learned, there always seems to be something more that I had yet to discover. And yes I know that she is not my birth mother. That was something that she never hid from me, but she is the woman that raised me and taught me everything that I know, for that she will always be mother to me.
 
The only times that I do not refer to her as mother is when she is in the role of our leader, then she is Archdruidess Celote. There was the time that I never thought I would refer to her as such, but then the war started and many things changed. For 30 years the war raged on and had it not been for the Heroes Of The Vale all would have been lost. For they were able to hold Lorithra forces on the plains giving enough time for King Lorian and a combined army of man, elf, halfling, and dwarfs to scatter the remaining forces. Sadly not all made it through the battle, Liu the Hammer was lost, along with so many others.
 
When the war ended I was given a task by Archdruidess Celote. For the past 30 years I have lived on my own in the forests of landry vale. As I practiced my craft caring for the different animal and plant life of the forest, I soon figured out that there is always something new to learn. But it looks like my solitude is to end for I received a message from my Archdruidess, stating that she needs me to go to Orthon and that she had already arranged an escort for me. When I got to the town at which I am to meet the escort, I'm relieved to find that mother was there too and I got to see her before I left. She was very vague and danced around my questions as to why she wishes me to go to Orthon, but I will do what she asks of me.I must admit I am nervous at the thought of being around so many people, after being mostly alone for all this time.