Work Text:
Dear Mom,
It's me, Vyspyn.
I think about you often. How often do you think of me? Do you believe I'm even still alive? If I were in your shoes, I don't think I would. The situation you put me in was unideal at best. A half-elf sitting in a basket in the woods alone couldn't last a day. Were you confident that no one or nothing would kill me? Did you know Nature would shelter me? Or did you neither know nor care enough to stay with me?
I've never understood why you left me there. You loved me enough to take me away from that war and to write a letter begging on your knees to a stranger, but not enough to leave where you dwelled so you could raise me. It’s a strange feeling, knowing this. It leaves me with so many questions.
I'm not angry with how things turned out. That's why I'm writing this letter. My heart aches to know you. Do I look more like you? Or my biological dad? I've spent so much time picturing you both in my head. What is your life like now? Has the war subsided? Are you together with my biological dad? Do I have brothers or sisters? I wish I knew what my life could have been, as insignificant as it really is. But I can't help it.
I wouldn't change my life for anything, though. My pa has been so good to me. Fudwick is his name—he's the gnome that found me. He raised me, gave me an education, taught me Druidry, and gifted me a life that anyone would be lucky to have. He did all of that for the same little girl you left in that basket. Words can never express how thankful I am for him. He truly raised me as his own, and he's the most selfless person I know. I'm sure he loves me more than you do. He must.
I believe you had a good reason for leaving. What I can tell from the letter you left, it seems like you wanted to stay home instead of uprooting your life for a baby, but I'm guessing things were more complicated than that. I may never know the reason, and I think that's okay.
I'll be 21 soon. I'm going to leave the Forest of Tethir and complete a Rite of Passage for my Druid circle, which I have been a part of for about a decade now. It is a small circle, but there are a few elves in it. None of them look like what I imagine you do—but none of them look like me, and I've always imagined you with hair like mine and a sharper face. I'm glad that none of them remind me of you, though, because they've always been cruel to me. Pa has been with me most of the times I've been around them, and the most they do then is give me nasty looks. It's been worse when I've been alone around them. If I stayed at home, I'm sure it would be a lot worse for me. It's scary to think about how cruel people can be. I’m glad that you are not one of those people, from what I can tell.
I really hope I can meet you someday. I really do. I hope I meet your expectations you had for me.
I love you, Mom.
- Vyspyn Wandermoss