Born to Yanah and Bahgur, her mother a gardener of no repute, her father a run of mill laborer. Neither with any accomplishments to draw attention of any kind to themselves, entirely unremarkable even if they contributed to society. Which is why Zihs birth was of such little fanfare, in fact, if you asked their neighbors they could not recall when the child came or if she had always been there. It was in this invisible, cautious, life that she was raised, though it could not be called isolation it was far from being inclusive.
As Zih grew she was raised as any Yludih is, without knowledge of what or who she is, as such it was an average up bringing though her parents kept her to strange rules. Playdates were only in large groups, leaving without every giving a name, schooling was done at home or when classes were too full for another face to be noticed coming and going. At an early age she was taught the layout of the land so she would never have to ask for directions, when strangers came around she was to only talk when spoken to. All laws were obeyed to the letter, never have need to guards. In this way, she was easily forgotten, just another faceless child running through the city.
As such Zih learned early on how to entertain herself, her imagination running wild as she helped her mother with their garden, another rule. The garden must never falter, the less you had to buy the better. Her father had a saying, "let no merchant recall you face", though when she was younger she had a hard time understanding it but to help the child taught herself to fish. It was through this fishing that she seen the Mer. Growing up in Ne'haer they were not unknown to her but their ease of hunting in the water was enviable and she found herself fascinated by them, learning as much as she could without ever asking a word about them. But this strange fascination would only serve to help when her parents finally broke the news of what Zih was.
The child had always thought her parents strange or perhaps that all people were raised like she was but when they told her of her people, of the wariness and danger that came with her very existence...well, it made much more sense. At ten Zih had been taught the world sought to reject her, and her safest way to survive was to hide within it. Unobtrusive and unassuming, though a tiny, distant part of her thought it was lovely she was made of beautiful gems people wore with pride but she took the warnings to heart. Keeping to the rules her parents had laid out until they were nothing more than a way of life she sought to help with, her Mer form being the first true form she made for herself and a way to catch fish without being seen or needing assistance.
And thus her life of little note continued until her mid teens when her mother simply vanished and her father was injured during housing construction. Though Zih tried to help heal him, and though she knew the blood was not real, her father died regardless so quite suddenly the young Yludih found herself an orphan. And orphans are always noticed. Panicked the almost adult fled her home and threw herself below the waves, hiding away from everything she couldn’t fix. Perhaps it was this desire to fix what she couldn’t or maybe for make a new quiet place for herself when Zih returned to land nearly two years later, not a soul remembered her or cared why this young woman from nowhere wanted to be a doctor.
But as she grew her skills she realized the healing came with a notoriety all of it’s own, her name now associated with a face. Guilt and panic woke anew in the confused young woman, she had abandoned her parents teachings the moment they left her and now she could be found out. Scared though she had little reason to be, Zih fled her childhood home as if the ghosts of her past were hot on her heels. This time fleeing to the mountains and finding herself in Melrath.
