Norelia "Li"'s page

Norelia never knew her parents and so wasn’t even familiar with the concept of a family name. She spent her early years in one of the many orphanages in Korvosa. Mamma Rilla was a nice enough person but she was not a smart woman. She was constantly making poor decisions and was easily taken advantage of. This meant that the orphanage was constantly in financial trouble. There was never enough money to keep the building in good repair or even enough money for food and proper clothing. From an early age, Norelia did what she could to help out and often searched through other people’s garbage for clothing and other goods. Even as a child, she was amazed at some of the things people got rid of. One of the other things Norelia did to help out was take on the roll of baking the bread for the household since flour and water were easier to come by and cheaper than buying bread that was already made.

When she was nine years old, Norelia returned home with some new finds to see a skinny old man with bad teeth sitting at their table and Mamma Rilla was serving him the last of the bread that Norelia had made. She peeked around the corner and watched, unsure of why this man was visiting. He looked too old to want to adopt any of the children but she was also confused as to why he was important enough to be served the last of their food. She heard Mamma Rilla’s voice call into the hallway, ”Norelia, come here please.” Busted for eavesdropping, Norelia sheepishly entered the kitched and said, ”Yes, Mamma?”

Mamma pulled Norelia over to stand in front of her while she introduced the man sitting at their table. ”This is Mr. Lamm and he has graciously agreed to adopt you.”

Norelia didn’t like the looks of the man studying her intently and began to argue, ”But Mamma, who else will help you with…” Her voice trailed off as Mamma sharply squeezed her shoulders.

”Mr. Lamm’s a good provider and you will do as you’re told. Understand?”

Norelia mutely nodded her head and forced a smile at Mr. Lamm. ”Yes, Mamma.”

When she was older, Norelia looked back on the first time she met Gaedren and had a better understanding of what had happened. Mamma Rilla had stood behind her the whole time because she knew what she was doing was wrong and couldn’t look Norelia in the eyes. Norelia had learned that Mamma Rilla had defaulted on a loan from Gaedren and that he had taken her as payment. This was a painful lesson that other people’s choices carried consequences that often affected those powerless to do anything about it. Norelia’s life was about to change drastically because she experienced the consequence of someone else’s choice.

Life with Mr. Lamm was great, at first. He taught her a bunch of new skills that he taught under the guise of games. Norelia thought the puzzles and games were fun and challenging. She always excelled at hide and seek and slowly improved with the ones involving misdirection. Once she got better at the ones where she could take something off of someone without them noticing, Lamm ‘s demeanor changed.

”Now you need to earn your keep. You will join the other ‘Little Lamms’ and you will be called Li ‘cause Norelia’s part of your old life.” He told her that she was going to play these ‘games’ with strangers because that was what the Little Lamms did. He tried to tell her that some people had things that they didn’t need and that she was going to take it from them, that the Little Lamms needed it more and that it wouldn’t be missed if she was careful. She told him that it was one thing to take it when someone threw it away but it was quite different to take it from them when they still carried it. That was the first time she was hit. Gaedren backhanded her across the face and her nose began to bleed. The pain was intense and she started to cry. Gaedren grabbed her arm and hissed in her ear, ”Li does not cry and if Li does as I say, she doesn’t get hit.”

That wasn’t the last time that Gaedren hit Li because it was his go-to method for training his Little Lamms. Over the years Li learned that if she trained hard, learned everything she could, and did what she was told that the hits came less frequently. Even though Li proved to be one of the more naturally gifted Little Lamms, she consistently came back with the least amount of goods. She had a hard time taking things from other people because in her experience most people needed what they had. Occasionally she would bring back a valuable item because she felt like the person had been rich enough to spare it. Li thought she had worked out a good balance of the value of goods she had to bring back in order to avoid being beaten. She thought she was being clever but Gaedren was keeping a tally of her exploits and had finally had enough.

”You eat my food, you take shelter under my roof, I teach you a trade, and this is how you repay my generousity!? You ungrateful, naïve girl”, he sneered. ”You’re going to learn a very valuable lesson in gratitude. Unfortunately, you won’t have an opportunity to put the lesson into practice.” On that note, Gaedren Lamm snapped his fingers and two of his men began to beat Li. It didn’t take long for Li to lose consciousness and crumple to the floor but that didn’t stop the numerous kicks to keep landing on the girl. Everything went black and Li assumed she had died.

Li came back to consciousness to the smell of rotting fish. Her eyes were swollen and crusted shut by blood. When she tried to move her arm to arm to try to manually open her eyes, she winced in pain as her battered body resisted the movement. She tried to sit up and immediately vomited as the movement upset the meager contents of her stomach. She rolled into a half-sitting position and managed to get her eyes open. She was near the water in the alley behind one of the fish mongers. She couldn’t move her left arm and she assumed it was broken. Thankfully both her legs were still ok and she managed to pull herself to her feet. She scrounged up a piece of broken wood to use to lean on and thought about where she could go. She remembered the orphanage and knew there was a cellar that Mamma Rilla hadn’t used because there had never been enough food. It wasn’t close but Li was fairly certain she’d be able to make her way there undetected.

It took about a month for Li to heal while hiding out in the orphanage’s cellar. Initially she only left the cellar to search for food and water. Being alone in that cellar gave her a lot of time to ponder what she had learned in her short life. Gaedren thought she would learn a lesson in gratitude for all he had done for her. He was sadly mistaken. Hatred grew daily for that man and how he had used her for his own profit. The true lesson she had learned was to look out for herself first. She had tried to help Mamma Rilla and had been given to Gaedren Lamm. She had thought of others and how they would feel to have their stuff taken and she had gotten beaten within an inch of her life by Gaedren. What did she have to show for her thoughtfulness of others? She was hurt and near starvation, sleeping in a disgusting cellar filled with bugs. Never again would she put others before herself. After all, when push comes to shove you can only count on yourself. She would never again let others make decisions for her. Self-reliance was the true lesson that Gaedren Lamm had taught her. That and how sweet revenge could be.

Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to get close to Gaedren himself without some proper equipment or help, Li decided to turn her attention to one of the men who had beat her. Kesh had a propensity for bordellos so Li knew exactly where to find him when he would be at his most vulnerable. Once she was strong again, Li tailed Kesh one night to his favorite brothel. It didn’t take much to stealthily make her way in. She took Kesh’s money, belongings, and weapons as she passively watched him enjoy himself and contemplated using one of the weapons on him. She wasn’t completely convinced that she was capable of outright murder but she was certain that he’d never forget it if she carved her name into his thigh after knocking him out. In the end she decided to just take his stuff. If she made herself known then Gaedren would know that she hadn’t died and she’d rather have the element of surprise on the day she was able to take her revenge.

Appearance and Personality:
Like most people in Korvosa, one can’t determine Li’s heritage from her appearance. She has an olive skin tone which dark brown eyes and blonde hair which she keeps cut quite short. She stands 5’6” and is quick on her feet and good with her hands. She dresses herself in studded leather armor that has been dyed dark grey – a gift to herself with the money she had taken from Kesh. She keeps a dagger close at hand but well concealed from casual on-lookers. She also carries a light crossbow which she keeps slung over a shoulder but under her cloak.

Li’s childhood has left her highly mistrustful of strangers. She keeps people at an arm’s length and chooses only to be around people if there is something they have that she needs. She can force herself to be friendly since this is what people expect; however, it takes a lot out of her and this can cause mood swings at times as she reaches the end of her rope. She decided long ago that others would never make decisions for her again so she can be viewed as opinionated and somewhat impulsive.