Laeni's family lived in Brandybrook her entire life. Her father was a grain merchant and her mother would run the stall where they sold fresh baked bread. They were a staple of their small community. Her mother was religious for a halfling and had a shrine to him in their burrow. Laeni was surrounded by a happy community that was constantly trying to get her to join their celebrations where they would gather around the fire and drink and tell stories, but she was never interested in any of that. She was very shy and didn't think that anyone liked her except for her sister.
Laeni grew up watching her older sister, Dilyn. Dilyn was beautiful and had a laugh that tinkled like a wind chime. People would tell stories and jokes all the time in hopes that they could hear it. And they almost always did because as much as everyone loved to hear it, Dilyn loved to laugh. Laeni never got the jokes. It wasn't until Dilyn's funeral when everyone gathered around telling those same stories and jokes to get Laeni to laugh, not because they wanted to hear it but because they wanted be the one to comfort Dilyn's sister, that she had a realization. She got the jokes. She just didn't find them funny. There was nothing wrong with her. She wasn't stupid or missing out on some inside information that would magically get that special laugh. She was just too smart for them. That was the thought she used to get her through the rest of her mother's ramblings about the coming of Lord Knox. She used it to make her laughs sound real at the rest of the tedious parties until she finally left Brandybrook.
