Wed 1st Sep 2021 01:23

An Outsider at Home

by Charlotte Sommer

I was born in Rexxentrum to a single mother. Shortly after I was born, my grandfather arranged a marriage between my mother and my stepfather. He was a Crownsguard trying to work his way up the ranks. A few years into their marriage, they had twins and I began to feel like more of an outsider in my family. The twins had a tendency to exclude me. My mother always showed me love and tried to include me as much as she could, but there was always an unspoken distance between me and my stepfamily.
 
Several years later, my stepfather was transferred to Odessloe, so I spent a large part of my childhood and my teen years living in a fishing village. As one of the only places to stop on the way to Rexxentrum, we had multiples inns and taverns to accommodate the many travelers looking to rest and stock up for the rest of their journey. I spent some of my time working in the taverns, where I loved watching performers and was the most happy when I was surrounded by music.
 
For my birthday one year, my mother bought me a viol, which I still play to this day; it reminds me of her. My mother always loved my music, but my stepfather never felt it was a good use of my time.
 
I often felt like an outsider in my own family, but I did always manage to make friends in the town and I loved talking with travelers about all the things the world outside my town had to offer.
 

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