Ivy is a member of the treefolk, who live on the continent of Tamar. Her family has been running the inn for many generations, as they have helped different travellers be safe in the forests. Their inn is a peculiar one, as per treefolk's settlements usually are, it also is in the treetops. The treefolk have a pact with Verbena, and in the pact they've agreed to take care of travellers who come into the forest. They do not take money as payment for staying at their inn, but they rather want stories. They collect stories, and everyone who stays at the treefolk's inns, has to tell a story. It doesn't have to be anything special, but unless you tell a story, you cannot leave. The treefolk also trade stories, and in exchange for an especially good one, the traveller might get another one to share later.
 
So Ivy has grown up listening to these stories, about wondrous lands near and far, and she loves stories. All treefolk do, but Ivy loves them more than most treefolk. She was a curious child, always following the travellers around in hope to hear more.
 
When Ivy got a bit older, she fell in love with a travelling man, a real charmer, who had the most amazing stories. He told about the Northern folks, who lived in a land that was covered in snow half of the year. Ivy had never seen snow, but it sounded magical. He was a human, but quite small, not much bigger than Ivy herself, and he was so generous and kept giving Ivy fun, pretty little gifts, as per courting tradition of the treefolk. He was polite and restrained, pale-skinned with fine hair and slender build. He spent a lot of time with the treefolk, but no stranger can stay forever, and if the treefolk want to bond with a stranger, they have to leave. They rarely do so however, because treefolk don't thrive on the ground. But Ivy left with him, they got married by human traditions. Ivy was 15, adult by treefolk standards, but young by human ones, even if in Naremma, where they settled, it was normal for girls to get married and have children around that age. Some time went by, and Ivy got pregnant. She never felt like she belonged on the ground. She got weary and unwell during her pregnancy, and her husband got increasingly frustrated. He was used to Ivy being happy and cheerful and taking care of the chores. Also he was getting bored of staying at one place, and one day he left. Ivy, who was quite unwell at this point, and very pregnant, fell into a hole of sadness. She gave birth to beautiful twins, a boy and a girl, but was too weak to care for them. She didn't know many people in the village, but the local healer took an interest in Ivy, and helped her get back to get feet, and care for her children. She told Ivy, that humans and fey often can't have children, but when they do, they're often more fey-like than human-like. She herself was of fey descent, and still possessed the ability to do fey magic. Time went past, the children grew, but Ivy felt increasingly restless, and she and her kids had a hard time really making friends or even being accepted. Since her husband left, Ivy had become somewhat of a cast-out, the weird tiny being, who wasn't even human, and who had weird habits. Something must be wrong, if the husband left too. And the kids, just as weird.