Lena's grandparents left the Qun and acted just as the stereotype suggests. They were violent, cruel, and wild. Eventually they met up with enough fellow Tal-Vashoth to get a community of sorts going, though it was based on being bandits and living off what they could steal. Both Rethsaam and Hissera were raised in this environment, though when Hissera became pregnant with Lena's older brother Aban, they decided they wanted better for their children and left the other Tal-Vashoth.

Raiding was all they knew, and they skipped from odd job to odd job before Rethsaam settled for mercenary work. Often Rethsaam would be gone for months at a time while Hissera took jobs washing people's laundry or taking care of livestock on nearby farms. Lena was born two years after Aban and together they grew up rarely seeing their father.

When Aban was sixteen, his father brought him into his mercenary company, leaving Lena behind with her mother. Determined to join them someday, she began practicing with daggers and achery. A neighbor taught her how to mix poisons (used to kill farm pests, but they had other uses), and she began coating her weapons in them. While she was decent with a bow, she preferred getting up close and personal with her knives. She often tracked rams, deer, or wolves to see how close she could sneak up on them without them noticing. With practice, she was able to get right behind them and strike. She took delight in being so large, yet being able to sneak up on prey.

At age sixteen, her father and brother returned to bring her into the family business. She took to the work easily and liked the jobs where she got to steal something. Of course, killing people was fun too. There was apparently a bit of her grandparents in her, even though she never knew either side. Years later, her father decided to retire before he grew too old for the work, and he returned home to Hissera. Aban and Lena switched between mercenary companies, eventually finding the Valo-Kas. It was the first time Lena fought alongside mages, and she took a shine to Korrin, though she always said Korrin was far nicer than she was. Blunt, sure. Takes no shit? Definitely. But Korrin would rather give someone a chance before shooting them with a lightning bolt, while Lena would prefer to gut them first and rifle through their pockets after. Still, she allowed Korrin to talk sense into her when need be. Sometimes she forgot that the job required the target stay alive. At the Temple of Sacred Ashes, several in their company were blown up, including Aban. Lena took off with the rest, bitter and angry at the loss, but with no one to blame. She dove back into work, showing a strong violent streak as she expressed her pain.