The Story of Rachi

[Rachi]

I'm not really sure this is where this is supposed to go, but I've created a back story for my character. It's not finished yet, but I'm working on that. Ish.

Table of Contents:

Name: Rachi
Mother: Hinaree
Father: Unknown
Nation: San d'Oria

Back Story:
I-The Departure
II-Family Business
III-The new recruit
IV-The wayside adventurer
V-Adventures in cooking and gardening
VI-Love at last
VII-A fall from grace
VIII-Revelations from a life long lost
IX-Recollections of a happier time

[Rachi]

Chapter 1: The Departure

Rachi and her parents lived in the Count's Manor in the southern end of San d'Oria. Even though she was an only child, her parents never paid her much attention. She was very lonely and always looking for any attention her parents would give her. They were always busy though, and wouldn't give her the time of day. It made them feel bad that they couldn't properly care for her, so they would give Rachi limitless amounts of money to spend on anything she pleased. They didn't mind so long as it kept her happy.

But money cannot but love or attention, and Rachi felt the brunt of this fact every day. So when Rachi turned 20, she took her most beloved moogle and only friend on the run with her, along with all of the cash she could muster, and bought her own house for her and her moogle to live in. She also joined the Temple Knights so as to have a steady income in order to make rent and buy the supplies she needed.

With this move, Rachi gained the attention of both of her parents. They were less than amused however, and upon hearing of their daughter's acceptance into the Temple Knights, delievered her an ultimatum: leave the temple knights and return to the manor at once or cut ties...

[Rachi]

Chapter 2: Family Business

It was at this point that Rachi decided to do something bold and unexpected. Always a bit of a rebel herself, Rachi decided that she would defy her parents once more and stay with the Temple Knights. This would provide her with all the love and admiration she would ever need, for who could be unloved when she was working to protect her country? Surely the citizens would appreciate her efforts.

As expected, Rachi's parents severed ties, and in an instant she was left poorer than ever and homeless. It took her a few days to adjust to the newfound freedom, but the prospect of gaining fame and fortune within the Temple Knights was very exciting, and she began her preparations immediately.

More than anything else, Rachi wanted to gain fame and fortune in order to prove to her parents and to herself that she was worth paying attention to. But one of her parents would not live to see that day come. Not long after she had left, Rachi's father died of a mysterious illness. Rachi's mother Hinaree blamed the death on her. She spoke at his funeral to all of San d'Oria saying that if Rachi hadn't have had the audacity to defy their wishes, her father would still be alive and well. It was not illness that he died of she proclaimed, but the heartache his daughter gave him after he had given her so much.

After hearing her mother's outrageous speech at the funeral, Rachi became even more determined to make a name of her own. A name so great that even a powerful woman like her mother would take heed of and respect. Rachi wanted there to be no doubts of her greatness. Though notorious she may start, victorious she would end. Thus Rachi redoubled her efforts to become the warrior she knew she could be...

[Rachi]

Chapter 3: The New Recruit

And so Rachi began her training with the Temple Knights. Many people laughed at the things she had never had to learn to do. Even moreso she was frustrated by the fact that her notorious name and the fact that she's a woman made it virtually impossible to get assistance from anyone at all. Many people shunned her because she was a woman, saying that she was not fit to be a Temple Knight. Because of this, her first few days as a warrior held nothing more than a few solo rabbit hunts that turned out more bruises than yields.

She was at the auction house one day trying to sell a stack of rabbit hides as her funds were rapidly depleting, when she accidentally overheard a conversation between two Elvaan men that immediately caught her attention. They talked openly about a certain guard standing near the exit to East Ronfaure who would give missions that were in the best interest of San d'Oria, and which most long-standing knights were too busy to do. These missions he gave out to any adventurer who wished to prove themselves worthy to their friend, their foes, and to the Kingdom of San d'Oria herself. All she had to do was speak with an Elvaan man named Ambrotien, and he would be able to help her from there.

Rachi memorized their conversation as completely as possible and decided that she would spend the rest of her day in her mog house to regain her strength and tend to her wounds. In the morning she would wake bright and early in order to check out the newly acquired information. Any new leads were better than none after all...

[Rachi]

Chapter 4: The Changing Winds

Morning dawned bright and early, and Rachi was simply not ready to take on the day. She was tossing and turning all night in order to find a comfortable position to sleep in because of all her scrapes and bruises, and her muscles ached in fatigue. She had been pushing herself to her limits, and this morning it showed. She looked and felt terrible this morning, and she was not looking forward to her meeting with Ambrotien. Somehow the prospect of more scrapes and bruises didn't seem to make her feel any better than she was already feeling.

Slowly she got out of bed, and she talked a bit with her moogle. She was a bit hungry so she ate a bit of breakfast, and got changed into her best gear. She gathered all of the things she needed for the day, and set out of her mog house. She made her way out to the gate that lead to East Ronfaure. In some ways she half-expected Ambrotien not to be there. But there he was, standing a little ways off from the gate, standing exactly where he was supposed to be, and she gave a sigh of relief. Finally something was going right.

Rachi approached Ambrotien. He seemed pleasant enough. She talked with him a while, and with little difficulty attained her first mission: Go out into Ronfaure and slay as many Orcs as she could until she obtained an Orcish axe, and give proof of her loyalty to San d'Oria by bringing it back to him for inspection. He explained that she had time limit, though if she took too long to bring it to him he may forget he gave her the mission because of the sheer number of adventurers who gave up or failed their missions the first time around. This was also why he had to make the first mission a bit of a difficult one, so that he could weed out those who were serious about being a Temple Knight from those whose loyalties lay elsewhere.

Ambrotien was right. The first task- killing multiple Orcs in order to obtain a weapon she knew virtually nothing about-was a daunting one. Especially since the last time she was adventuring alone. An Orcish fodder spotted her from a long way off while she was trying to rest, and nearly killed her while resting. And he would have done too if it hadn't been for the the safety of San d'Oria's walls. Even a rogue Orc knew better than to mess with the might of all San d'Oria.

To Rachi, her mission was positively suicide. She stayed inside for three days afterwards trying to figure out the best plan of attack. There really ws no easy way to do it. She simply had to go out and kill Orcs-lots of them-and hope that she didn't get ganged up on. But if that's what it was going to take, she had to try...

[Rachi]

Chapter 5: The Wayside Adventurer

Rachi made her way out to Ronfaure the very next day. She decided to make an early start of it so that there were less Orcs on the prowl. She had no idea what in the world she was doing. She headed straight out into the woods. There were plenty enough animals there to make a day of it, but they were of no concern to her anymore. She needed to find an Orc who wielded an Orcish axe and slay him as fast as she could so she could get her first mission over with. The first battle is always the hardest.

She ran on at a steady pace till she was far south. It was there that she finally found what she was looking for. He was a big guy, and he was terrifying. Rachi ran up behind him as quickly and stealthily as she could, because she knew the longer she waited the more terrifying he would seem. She smelled his stench as she neared him, and took out her bronze zaghnal and struck him square in the back with it. It was no good. She caught his armor not him, and he turned on the spot, riled that she dared to provoke him so. A fight ensued between them, and minute by minute she felt her strength slowly waning. She tried to tap into one of the special abilities she posessed in order to hit in more critical areas, but it was to no avail because 30 seconds into it her body gave out again. The stubborn Orc was just too strong.

She kept fighting, and just as she began to believe she would die there fighting that Orc and began to despair, something wonderful happened. A lone Elvaan adventurer with a funny hat who was much more weathered than she came along and healed her completely with his magic. He ran off towards the proud city of the Elvaan folk without asking for even a word of thanks. It was only then after her energy was renewed that Rachi was able to land better hits, and finally slice the Orc's head off his shoulders. Thus she obtained his Orcish axe, along with a few other spoils.

She ran back to San d'Oria as fast as her legs could carry her so that when all the Orc's comrades found him and looked to avenge his death she would be far away from the place. She turned in her Orcish axe to Ambrotien with pride, and he gave her a short examining look before accepting it and in turn gave her a second mission to fulfill.

After that, Rachi went to the auction house to see if her stack of rabbit hides had sold. To her pleasant surprise she found that it had, and she felt a bit relieved. The worst part of it all was now over, and she could rest easier tonight knowing that her home was secured for a little while longer. She was so happy that she wanted to share with her moogle all the good news, so she turned around to run there, and nearly knocked the man standing near her over.

Embarrassed, she blushed a little and began to apologize when she realized that the man she had almost knocked over was the same one who had healed her earlier. She was sure of it. He had the same funny little hat. She thanked him profusely for the help back in Ronfaure and asked of him his name. Apparently the helper was named Kyoshi, and he was in San d'Oria because he had heard that there was curry powder being sold at the auction house here, and had a craving for some home cooking. He said it wasn't a problem to have helped her at all, and even offered to help her out and train her a bit on one of his days off next week.

Rachi thanked this strange new man many times for his offer, and they arranged a meeting. Then Kyoshi left and Rachi went back to her moogle to tell him of all her good news...

[Rachi]

Chapter 6: Adventures in Cooking and Gardening

Rachi spent the next few days in her mog house tending to her wounds and spending time with her moogle. She loved him very much, and though Rachi had taken him on the run with her, she never expected him to be as talented as he really was. He would clean while she was away, cook a meal if she was home, tend to her plants, and even knew a spell to treat her wounds properly so that they would heal completely within a few days.

In the days she spent with him while recuperating, he taught her all there was to know about gardening. Just planting the seeds in the flowerpot were not enough. You had to care for them every day. Rachi discovered that if she gave the plants a water crystal a few days into their growth, they would soon sprout sparkling flowers more beautiful than she had ever seen before. Even in the Chateau there were not many plants the likes of these. Her moogle was talented indeed.

She was also able to pick things off her plants such as chocobo feed and fire crystals, and she could turn a decent profit by selling them at the auction house or in a bazaar. Thus, within a few days, Rachi had found quite a profitable source of income, and was able to hunt down some new recipes for pebble soup and grilled hare which turned out to be quite a delicious change indeed from her norm of roasted corn and carrot broth.

With the positive change in events and the extra cash, Rachi was ready to prepare for her training with Kyoshi next week. She bought some Royal Footman's gear which she found in the auction house for quite cheap, and also a very nice brass zaghnal which proved much sharper compared to her dinky bronze zaghnal that she had been using. She brought it all home and changed into the new gear immediately. She modeled her new gear for her moogle, and then gave him her old gear to be put into the mog safe. Now Rachi was ready to take on anything!

[Rachi]

Rachi got ready quickly. She had woken up later than she should have, and was in a rush to get ready for her day adventuring. She was supposed to meet up with the Elvaan with the funny hat, Kyoshi at the beach called the Valkurm Dunes. She had no idea what was in store, nor had she been to the beach before, but she had heard horror stories of what it was like, and was loathe to be there. Although her bathing suit seemed like the most appropriate option given that they were heading out to the beach, Kyoshi had told her that they would be training hard, and that she should wear her best adventuring gear.

She asked a passing White Mage to give her a Teleport to the Crag of Holla and used up what was almost the last of her Gil to get there. She loved seeing the La Theine Plateau, but realized after having accidentally dropped into a Goblin camp that she probably should try to avoid dropping in on them if she wanted to stay alive for very long.

After her riff with the Goblins, Rachi made her way swiftly to the Dunes. Immediately she was struck with how hot and bright the place was. A distinct feeling of distaste started growing inside of her, but not wanting to judge a book by its cover, Rachi trudged along, down the sand dunes towards the Outpost. She was hoping beyond hope it was better than everyone made it out to be, but she was slowly starting to get a feeling that they were right.

There were Goblins loitering along the beach everywhere you turned, looking to ambush and mug you whenever you werenââ,¬â,,¢t paying attention. Leeches lay in wait in the cool of the trees, preying on the unsuspecting travelers who were looking for a restful reprieve from the sun. In addition, if you were one of the unfortunate ones to have been caught there after sundown, youââ,¬â,,¢d be face to face with the most foul of ghouls and bogy creatures alike.

Rachi had heard the stories, and as far as she could tell, they were all too true. She made it out to the Outpost to find Kyoshi sitting on the steps waiting. She had no idea how he had got there faster than her, but she guessed he had some kind of item that could get him straight to the outpost. If that were the case, she would have to seriously consider looking into it.

He helped her gather some people and together they made themselves a group. It took a while to get going, but with a little help from a white mage friend of Kyoshiââ,¬â,,¢s, they were up and running, striking back at those creatures who would threaten the peace and tranquility of a day at the beach. It was a long haul, but by the end of the day, Rachi was stronger and smarter, able to do two jobs at once. Kyoshi had noticed how hard she had trained, and told her that her efforts were finally paying off.

Rachi went back to her mog house at the end of the day. She was happy that Kyoshi had noticed her, and happier still that she was one step closer to becoming a knight of the land. Was her fateful meeting with the Elvaan in the funny hat the real love she had been searching for all these years? The love that not even her parents could provide? Was this day just a stepping stone in her life to something much, much more? Rachi pondered these things as she slowly drifted off into a peaceful slumber.