Seraphina Brannet was the third child of a family of bakers who made a modest but honest living feeding the Korvosan Guard barracks -- as well as patrons who made their way to the Brannet Bakeshop tucked into a side street not far from the docks. Most likely, she would have gone into the family business too. Except... (there's always an "except," isn't there?)
When Seraphina was a toddler, she and her mother were walking along the shore when a wave washed up and pulled the child into the ocean. Her mother panicked, of course -- who wouldn't? -- and called for help. Passersby ran into the shallows, searching for the girl, but without success. After an hour, they gave her up for lost. Her mother prepared to return home, grief-stricken, when another wave rolled up over the beach, depositing Seraphina's unconscious -- but living! -- body on the sand.
No one was quite sure how she had managed to survive, and Seraphina herself was too young to be able to say. But from that day onward, she seemed irresistibly drawn to the sea. Whenever she had a moment free from schooling or working the shop, she was down by the docks, watching the ships and the waves. And it became clear that the connection went deeper, too. Certainly everyone was startled the day she first walked straight across open water! Something had touched her that day in the water, something that left a mark. She was naturally drawn to Gozreh, though she was too restless to follow the cleric's path.
It seemed inevitable that she would end up a sailor, and so she did. As soon as she was old enough, she apprenticed on a ship, and her natural affinity for the ocean showed as she quickly learned her way up and down the rigging, hauling ropes, and all the rest of it. Though a bit less nimble than many of her race, she grew strong through the heavy work of a sailing life. Serry, as she became known, became a regular in the halfling-sized ships that plied the Korvosan trade.
It did unnerve her colleagues when she would suddenly start babbling in a language none of them understood -- usually when the storms blew badly or they had to fight off pirates or sea serpents. Fortunately, she was competent enough with a sling staff to defend herself even when she seemingly lost all ability to speak to or even understand her shipmates. But once the battle was over, she would regain her senses, though these episodes usually left her staring wistfully out over the ocean for quite a while afterwards. Serry herself would say little about these episodes, only revealing to her few most trusted friends that she felt like the Aquan she spoke during those situations was her "real" language. Occasionally people joke that she must be half-mermaid; she laughs at those suggestions, but not very loudly.
Despite this difficulty, her personal warmth, unusual knack for understanding geography and the ways of the natural world, and general competence have made her a popular crewmember for various ships (not to mention the fact that having someone who can walk on water has its uses!). She has a reputation as "a little strange, but knows her way around the rigging, and there's no one better for sharing a pint and a tale when the work's done!" She has few very close friends, but makes friendly acquaintances at the drop of a hat. As such, she knows a lot of people, especially those connected to the docks.
