Character one-shots

Chapter 2 - East B. Lock

Character Backstory - East Ben Lock (Gem Bonded)

East's mother was an adventurous woman, always hiking near the mountains and hunts every season for food or help gather materials. She was very charitable, she had a heart as large as the moons yet warm like the sun, she was her father's pride and joy. Her mother since birth had been absent, leaving her father to raise her alone in a nearly broken and abandoned home on the outskirts of the town of Linnea, on the edge of the forest. Her father was young and a hard worker, he had done everything to give his daughter a steady life even if they had to start from the ground up, planting fruit near their home from seeds bought (or stolen) from travelers, gathering and cutting their own wood to build and fix up their home, many skills were learned through trial and error and while they could not afford schooling or many books, many things were taught.

As she got older her natural adventurous spirit had its way and every morning she would head into the woods, clearing it out of any materials, food, specifically berries for her father had made a satchel for her to collect them in and easily wash. There would be times as the Town grew when hunting tournaments were hosted and set towards the forest close to the mountains, those who brought back the most not only helped provide the town with resources as the rest did and get their hunting thrill but also earned a good sum of coin, so naturally East's mother had joined when she was of age to apply. Each year she would attend and often or not would come out as champion and bring the money home for her father and he couldn't be any more proud.

She knew the forest like the back of her hand, when she wasn't home she was either in the forest or in town by the docks, there having been where she had met her first love, a sailor who shipped things from one kingdom to another but resided in Linnea. They loved each other so, they quickly bonded over life in the town. East's father admired her mother's adventurous heart and always talked about bringing her over the sea so they could dance with the waves under the stars, but East's mother didn't have the heart to leave her father behind.

A few years later after they had married, it was the darkest night for the mother when commotion was heard over by the docks. There were multiple boats in the sea heading towards the horizon and back, worried chatters hushed by the heavy waves as boats returned with one or so soaked shipmen either coughing up water or not moving at all, a heavy weight sank in her chest. Thundered roared as a storm passed by, making the beach air cold and smelt of salt. The only ship who's scheduled to come in the morning was the one her husband was on.

"There was a storm that had already come in overseas", she heard a shivering crew member say as locals helped him onto the docks and covered him in towels, "The captain wanted to steer to the left of it, yet the storm took a different course and struck half the ship down." The man coughed as others who steered the boats brought who all they could find in the water, worried chatter of women going 'those poor souls..', 'Is that what's left of the crew?', 'Where is the Captain??' was all that could be heard along with low gasps of shock.

She felt sick, her eyes and nose burnt not from the salty air as she pushed through the crowd carefully to see who'd all arrived alive with the rescue, before clutching the baggy cloth over her stomach when she did not see the one she swore to care and bring life with appear on the wooden docks.

"Where is my husband."
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A few months after the lost crew's funeral, more specifically East's father's burial, was when his daughter entered the world with only her mother and grandfather to care for. In letters when not overseas had they discussed the name of their soon-to-be-born child, both particularly hoping for a strong son to raise, they had settled for the name Ben and had made the father's last name the middle and the mother's the last name. However when she was born her mother and Grandfather had quite a laugh at the unexpectancy of a girl who would come to look just like her mother, so they decided to switch the first and middle name in order for her father to still have some resemblance to their child if not by looks.