Born in Pelargir, the daughter of a sailor and a barmaid, she grew up in a room shared with her mother at the back of the sea side tavern called the The Salty Swan. Her classroom was the docks and she learned to read only out of her own bright curiosity and patient scholars and officers who more often than not were there to visit her mother. She spent her days roaming over the docks with the other urchins of the ancient royal city. She dreamed of sailing on one of the great ships, travelling like her father must have. She did not meet him, he was a ship’s captain according to her mother and who first served in the Navy and after his service was up, he was commissioned as a privateer against the Umbarin pirates who were evading capture. After he left with his ship , he was never heard from and assumed lost to storm or enemy.

Laernith fell in love with both the sea and music at a young age, the latter more accessible as a woman. She has a quick mind and nimble fingers, learning from local and traveling bards to play several instruments, including the traditional harp, the lute, drum, fiddle, and mandolin. She has a strong and lovely singing voice and a good memory for recalling songs and poems. She sometimes writes her own but rarely performs them. She often plays with a group of locals who call themselves the Sea Cats an interchangeable group who played for local taverns and noble gatherings alike. They consist of musicians, singers, jugglers and jesters, mostly made up of people from the docks she grew up with.