[3] Tale of Neshka: I learned the Name

This is the backstory of my tabletop RPG character. In it, Neshka recounts her tragic past in the world of Pathfinder. Part 3: I learned the name [Intro: Cold medieval folk] [Sparse lute, low cello, distant frame drum] [Soft female vocal, intimate and weary] Five years. [Short pause] That is how long I wandered. Five years beneath the trees. Five years beneath the rain. Five years hiding from the world... [Pause] ...and from myself. [Verse 1: Quiet, melancholic] I learned to walk where no one looked, To sleep where no one stayed. I learned the paths between the trees, The alleys and the shade. When night came down on little towns, I'd search for scraps to eat. Then disappear before the dawn, Before they saw my face. I spoke to no one. [Short pause] I trusted no one. And every day I felt a little less like the girl I used to be. [Chorus: Gentle, sorrowful] [Soft harmonies, cello slowly rising] Five years of running, five years alone, Five years believing I had no home. They called me monster, so I learned the name, And every night I whispered it again. I was the lost one, The thing they feared to see. Five years of darkness... [Softly] ...and nowhere left for me. [Verse 2: Darker, restrained] My skin was gray. My eyes were strange. My fingers ended in claws. I stopped looking into mirrors. There was nothing there I wanted to see. [Pause] Sometimes I still heard the whisper. The voice from my dreams. The thing that had followed me since I was a child. [Long pause] And I began to wonder... Maybe they were right. Maybe there really was something wrong with me. Maybe I was Luethjan. A changeling. [Pause] Valjunesh. Hagspawn. [Very quiet] A monster. [Chorus: Darker, more emotional] Five years of running, five years alone, Five years believing I had no home. They called me monster, so I learned the name, And every night I whispered it again. I was the lost one, The thing they feared to see. Five years of darkness... [Long pause] ...and nothing left of me. [Bridge: Almost spoken, music nearly disappears] There were nights when I stopped looking for shelter. Nights when I simply lay down beneath the trees. I thought about the village. About Ilorien. About the little girl I had been. [Pause] And I wondered if she was still somewhere inside me. [Long pause] I didn't think she was. [Music begins to change: warmer lute, soft harp] Then one night... I found myself in a little village. I was cold. Hungry. Too tired to run anymore. [Pause] I don't remember falling asleep. I only remember waking to someone standing over me. [Short pause] I couldn't see her face. I didn't know her name. I only knew... she hadn't walked away. [Final Chorus: Warm, emotional, hopeful] [Harp and warm cello bloom, gentle frame drum returns] Five years of running, five years alone, Five years believing I had no home. Then someone looked into my eyes and saw a girl beneath the scars. I was the lost one, But I was not forgotten. I had forgotten what kindness looked like... [Pause] ...until that night. [Outro: Soft lute and harp] [Spoken, intimate and quietly amazed] I didn't know it then... but that night, someone had finally found me. [Soft instrumental resolution] [Silence]