Lexandria, or Lex for short, grew up in a small farming village in Norland to Artoria and James Grenich. They raised her well and taught her how to sow a field and fend for herself. Ma was a soft-spoken woman with a lilted voice - she was always doing housework and cooking for her family of 7 - Ma, Pa, Grandma, and the 4 children. Her Pa was much more rough and did most of the fieldwork. Lex was the second youngest child. Her two older brother were named Luthor and Jasper. They were fraternal twins, born 3 years before her. Luthor and Jasper would often horseplay outside instead of helping Pa with the fields. That job often fell to Lex. Even as a young girl, she enjoyed the feeling of hard labor - of coming to dinner, tired, exhausted, and a little smelly, ready to devour her food, wash up, and pass out in bed. Her younger brother by 1 year, Johan, was born rather sickly and could most often be seen sitting by a fire, reading histories and tall tales of the Prophet. On days when the older boys would do their work properly, she would have time to sit with him and listen as he read aloud.
She could remember a priest stopping by occasionally to bless Johan and her Grandma. He often came with another little girl, Annabeth, who was almost the same age as her, but much prettier to look at, in Lex's mind. She was the only person Lex felt she could talk to. Unfortunately, after Lex pointed out that Annabeth's breasts were becoming rather monstrous around the age of 14, the girl stopped coming over.
When she reached the age of 17, Johan's illness began to worsen, until he was entirely bedridden and barely conscious most of the time. Ma and Lex took turns caring for him and reading him stories. He was in this state for about a year when he finally let go. Ma shrunk into herself after that, leaving most of the housework to Lex. Luthor joined the priesthood, looking for answers to a problem that no one could solve. Jasper decided to stay and help Pa work the fields. For a long time, no one was okay.
Grandma was 102 when she died; Lex was 19. On her deathbed, she gave Lex the key to a small bunker outside of their village. She had bought it when she was young "just like you, Darling," she said. She said to go look at it after she died - to learn from it and grow from it. It took her several months to find it. And almost another month to muster up the courage to look inside it. She found stories of a life exploring - all her Grandma's - and a blue adventurer's cloak. Lex realized that she didn't have to spend her life in this village, growing wheat for other people's bread. She could explore as well. Maybe even be a sailor or a knight in the name of King Halvar I. She realized the ache she'd long had to do something meaningful with her life - to change the world.
Only a few weeks later, she packed up all her belongings and headed away from home. Annabeth had agreed in a letter to come and check on her family occasionally - perhaps do some laundry or bring a meal. Things weren't ideal, but Lex felt called to go out and try something new. She promised to send money back home as well.