Appearance
Bobbi never knew what land her parents came from, or why they settled in Ustalav. Such trivialities were unimportant. The study of magic was all that mattered, and they devoted their lives to it. If she'd been a certain kind of child, she'd have wondered why they'd had her at all. But she didn't have that type of curiosity within her.
Her parents, both wizards, were delighted when Bobbi started to show a magical aptitude at the tender age of three. But it quickly became apparent that it wasn't strict book-learning that she was recreating. There was something of the stink of sorcery around the child.
Horrified, over the next few years, her parents tried everything to discourage the spontaneous sorcery of their offspring. Positive reinforcement - they rewarded her for diligent studies and clever insights. Negative reinforcement - they punished her when she did anything they felt was improper. Which was a lot. At first it was she was shouted at, sent to her room, made to skip dinner. When that didn't work, they escalated to beatings, sending her to the basement, to be left in the dark, starved for days.
Bobbi, named for famous wizard Roberta Brightmantle, could not please her parents. She tried, she really did. She learned the spells, she copied them into her spellbook, she studied them every morning. But when she tried to do the magic, it just came out...sideways.
Finally, her parents became desperate. Bobbi hit puberty, and things were getting worse. They knew of a hedge-witch, well-respected (as they are in Ustalav). She knew of their struggles, and offered to cure the child of her sorcery. Bobbi's mother would have accompanied her there, but their research on that new spell was nearing completion, and she couldn't leave, not now. Bobbi was sent off, past the village, into the fens. She never came home.
Waking up in the cell, Bobbi was terrified, but that was nothing new. It seemed she'd been afraid her whole life. And now there was something new to be afraid of. Something she'd done, something horrible. Bobbi was pretty sure she didn't want to remember what it was.
