My all-time favorite memory of my life here, on a world called Famfrit, in the Land of Eorzea, is the day I first bought a house of my very own. I had sought long to find a place to belong, with friends close enough to be family - but, especially, a place I could really call "home." For I remembered none.
My name is Belinda. I took the surname Forrest, for I seem to remember a beautiful place, with great, red-barked trees with feathery, evergreen foliage, that I had loved. But I seem to have lost that place, along with the memories of my life before I came to Gridania almost two years ago. I wanted to find a place where I could start again, and knew I had the skills, maybe even the magical ones needed to be a good healer. I was seeking - something, but I knew not what. An elderly gentleman on the coach bringing me here kindly told me about the new city I was entering. He is, and remains, my earliest memory now - all else is a haze, that, and visions of a great crystal of loving light.
I did well in Gridania, learning the skills of a conjurer, a healer with defense training, and was promoted to White Mage in less than a year. I learned how to fight in partnership to defeat enemies, those who would hurt the innocent. Even better, I found a wonderful home with a small Free Company, who welcomed me & helped me learn many other things I needed to not only survive, but to thrive in this world, & I found myself fighting to defend this way of life. I visited and fought for the three great city-states, then others, but they were always new to me - a place I had never seen before, had no memory of. Yes, I had found a noble cause to defend in Eorzea - freedom of its peoples, and respect for the cultural diversity of this world. But it was always their homes I was defending. Where was mine?
So, in my journeys here, the best memory I have yet had was when, with the help of a generous gift of gil from my FC's leader, I was able to buy my very own cottage in the Lavender Beds. At last I felt I really had a home - a house of my own! Now I not only had friends to stand with, fight beside, and to defend, I, too, had a home among my friends. As I planted my very own garden for the first time, I watched the sun set over the lake, surrounded by great trees of ancient lineage, and knew I was home at last.
I was full of joy as my house slowly filled with items of comfort and peace. I love this place, Eorzea, and have become a useful part of my FC, although I still have many things to learn, as I grow both my crafting/gathering skills, and expand my fighting & defense skills. But it is always good to come home at night, back to a place of peace and beauty, humble though it is - a real home. There are two great gifts to give a child, and as a new citizen in Eorzea, I have been given both by my new friends - roots and wings. I feel both as I enter my door.