Arden's Basic Story
Arden grew up on the move with traveling merchants. His mother was a hunter for the group and his father was one of the top merchants. Arden would take turns with each of his parents. As with the life of traveling merchants, they always had to be able to defend themselves. This combination of activity gave Arden the making of a Bardic Ranger. While he did not learn enough about any one train to gain the benefit of a favored terrain, no specific enemy. His best friend, was an apprentice of a Priest of Fate so Arden picked up his religion from her. From that point on, Arden's path was clear.
Or maybe this happened
___
As a young boy, traveling with his parents, a very happy Arden met a young girl while on a ship traveling from the mainland. Although he had not spent much time with kids his own age, the skills his father had given him about how to talk with anybody worked well when Arden meet Nace, as she liked to be called. They spent the first day on the ship just looking out at the expanse of the ocean, just talking enough to know that neither of them liked squirrels and both really wanted to ride a flying animal but did not expect to anytime soon. That night Arden thanked his father and told his mother he had found a kindred spirit. Then he fell fast asleep in her arms and slept and dreamed of his new life now that Nace was his friend. In the wee hours of the morning, before even the sun was up, there was a great commotion on deck. Everyone was yelling and Arden was dragged up the steps and stood up in a line before he was fully awake. He tried to make sense of it, maybe he was still dreaming. His mother and Nace were across from him, flanked by strangers with swords and his father was laying next to the side of the ship with whom Arden thought was the captain. Then a tall man with a scruffy beard grabbed Arden's chin and looked deep into his eyes. "This one is no good, already set in his way. Put him adrift with the old man. Just take the girls and the ship and dump the bodies to chum the water and let the Gods decide their fate. One glance at his father's corpse being thrown overboard, a look at his mother struggling to smile to her son one last time as she pointed to her heart and at him and one last chance to wave to Nace before he was thrown into the water where he was grabbed by an older gentleman clinging to a rotten piece of wood. This was not the new life he had dreamed of.
"Relax, young Arden, Apollo and I will take care of you. Just hold on for a moment while I ask for His blessing."
Arden watched as this stranger propped himself with the board under his arms and crossed his hands o pray. The ship could barely be seen as the first rays of light came over the horizon and the vastness of the ocean was show. The words he heard, did not make sense, but the tone was comforting.
"We will be ok, Apollo has promised. " he said to Arden when he was finished. "My name is Taylor, I knew your father well. He would have done anything for you, as would your mother. You must believe that we will be ok.
Arden was relaxed, especially considering how he day had gone, so he simply replied "Sure, I trust you but what choice do I have."
Taylor smiled and the two got to know each other as the sun finished coming up. Suddenly, Taylor puts his hand up to quiet Arden as he hears and then sees a disturbance in the otherwise calm sea. Arden held tight and looked to see what was coming when he saw a fin break the water and clenched his body as a dolphin push its nose between Arden and the board he was holding and Taylor had just a moment to reach out as a second dolphin surprised him, separating him from the wood and the two humans could only hold on as their fishy friends took them for a ride. Taylor took a second to clear his head and his throat to comfort Arden. "THIS IS A GOOD SIGN ARDEN." he yelled to make sure Arden heard.
"THIS IS SO COOL" Arden said as he hugged his ride.
It did not take long to see where the dolphins were taking their guests in such a hurry. An island appeared on the horizon and quickly approached before the weary swimmers slowed and dropped their passengers off at a sand bar that fed into a small cove. The water was shallow enough that Arden could walk but he was a little lost in the moment and started to jump. Taylor has to calm his young friend down and get his help as it was a long walk and the old man was not as spry as he used to be. They were both tired, hot, hungry and thirsty as they approached the island proper. The cove had a short beach before the tree canopy gave enough shade for Taylor to let himself go limp and take a real break.
For the first day or so Arden was kept busy by many tasks given to him by Taylor. Collecting wood and vines, helping carrying and cooking the fish that seem to sacrifice themselves as they needed them. He did not have the time to fully understand the situation, except at night. In his dreams, he spoke to his mother who comforted him and told him stories of her and Have and their adventure and Arden told of his. They all looked forward to seeing each other soon. The next morning, it was back to the tasks of Taylor, now with the added benefit of learning about Apollo and the rest of the Greek Gods.
