I was born and grew up in Bastok. What Rhialyn said last night - and it's sadly 
true - is that I don't know who my parents really were.

I have a very, very vague memory of a woman with long dark hair who always 
looked rather sad. I can only guess that she was probably my mother.

Most of my early memories are of an orphanage in the Mines district, primarily 
occupied by children whose parents had been killed in the Great War. When I was 
about four, I was taken in by a woman whom I called Gram, even though she wasn't 
my real grandmother. Her daughter, son-in-law, and their two children had moved 
to San D'Oria before the war started, and she'd grown lonely.

My childhood was pretty good, as these things go. I didn't really miss having 
parents; lots of kids my age didn't. I had Z and Zippie and Jios to play with, 
and Gram to take care of me, so I grew up fairly happy.

I was still curious about who my birth parents were, though, and every so often 
I'd ask Gram if she knew anything. She said when I was old enough, she'd help me 
look.

When I was fifteen, Gram got sick. Fearing the worst, she sent me over to the 
old orphanage in Bastok Mines to talk with the woman who used to run it. By that 
point, all of the children who had been there at the same time as me had either 
been adopted or had gone off to live on their own, although there were still a 
few children there.

The matron, whose name was Ailinna, didn't remember anything about me at first, 
since she'd cared for so many children back then. I'd brought one thing with me 
that I thought might help: a gold and silver ring that I'd had ever since I 
could remember. It was far too big for me to wear, but I thought it might give 
some sort of clue to my past.

That jogged her memory. I can still recall exactly what she told me...

"Aye, dearie, I remember that ring, and the child who had it. You've grown up 
well.

"Now, let's see... the woman who brought you here would have been your mother-"

"Would have been?" I interrupted.

"I'm sorry, child, but most of what I know about your family is something I 
heard from a friend of a friend of hers... In the days after the Great War, 
there were so many families torn apart, so many children left on their own, that 
entire family lines simply vanished in the confusion."

I looked down at my feet, chastened. "I'm sorry for interrupting you. Please go 
on."

"Well, from what I heard, your father was a traveller from a land far away. He 
came to Bastok five years before the war, met your mother, and settled down. 
When the war broke out, he joined the Allied Forces of Altana. He was killed, as 
were so many others, at the Battle of Tavnazia.

"This devastated your mother. She swore he was still alive and she was 
determined to find him. So she left you here. She promised me that once she'd 
brought your father back, she'd return for you as well. She left the ring, which 
apparently your father had received when he enrolled in the Bastokan forces, as 
a sign of that promise."

I was completely stunned. I guess I'd always assumed that my parents had died in 
the war somehow, but... my father wasn't from Bastok? My mother had gone out 
into the world searching for him? She'd left me behind?

Suddenly there were tears on my face, even though I couldn't remember starting 
to cry. Ailinna gave me a comforting hug.

"Thank you," I told her. "This is more than I ever expected to find. But... do 
you remember my parents' names?"

She shook her head.

"And the friend of a friend that you mentioned... could I talk to them?"

"I'm sorry, child, but I lost touch with the woman I knew years ago after she 
moved to Jeuno. For all I know, she could be anywhere."

I sighed, thanked her once more, then headed back home to Gram. I asked her - 
politely, of course - if she had known any of this, and she said that while 
she'd had a fairly strong hunch that my father had been in the army (not too 
surprising for back then), that was it.

Gram died a year later. Since then, I've been... well, not on my own, since I 
had my friends, but I've been taking care of myself. For a long time, I didn't 
really know what I wanted to do with my life, but like I said last time, seeing 
my friends decide to go out into the world helped me make up my mind.

As for my father's ring... after I left the old orphanage, I took it to the 
Goldsmith's Guild to have it resized, and I've worn it ever since.

So that's my story. I still hope that someday I can find out more about what 
really happened to my parents, although I'm afraid I might not like what I find. 
I've heard rumors lately from travelers that the way to Tavnazia is once again 
open, but that it's a long and difficult road... and what waits at the end is 
both beautiful and terrifying.