If anyone knows why an elf child was left in the Vulcan Valley to be raised by wild animals, they're not telling. If they know who her parents were; if their bones lie in the valley somewhere, if they cry at night about their lost child, or if they long since forgot about the baby they tossed in the forest to die - if anyone knows which or what it is, they're not telling.

A few things are clear.
An elf-babe was raised by wolves in the forest, growing of age thinking of herself as just another cub. Her innate powers manifested, largely as shapeshifting, but also as an affinity for flame that rapidly led to her assuming a degree of ascendancy in the packs of the forest, and remaining there for years.

Fortunately - or unfortunately, depending on who you ask - her pack was discovered quite on accident by scions of House Redford, better known as the Ironclaws. One of the prominent noble houses of the orc mountain empire Vultain, they were in constant need of more animals to 'enhance' with their artifice. Autumn was caught along with her pack, and was briefly the subject of a very intense period of diplomacy, as House Redford ensured that she wasn't a missing diplomat. No elven nation responded to their probing questions, and they claimed Autumn along with the rest of the wolves.

Unwilling to let "lesser minds" risk such a unique specimen, it was the princess Susannah Redford, heiress of the house, who claimed the wild creature as her subject. Despite her initial plans, she was unwilling to perform anything particularly experimental, and applied only particularly basic alterations, before giving up on using her as a test subject, resorting to the beastmastery side of House Redford's speciality. Here was a supreme success. The girl, soon named Autumn, was quickly trained to obedience, and was soon able to communicate, albeit only in very basic terms - and, frankly, she had very little to say, having a fairly animal mindset, despite her seemingly normal intelligence. A rousing success, and a hell of a status symbol, she became both a trusted servant and agent for the princess, and something of a pet, and has aided her from both near and far for several years since.