Annemae grew up on her family's farm somewhere in the Shire, together with her younger brother and parents. While they may not have been particularily rich of well know, their lives were never lacking and they considered themselves lucky people. To Annemae, memories of early childhood are nothing but summer days by the stream, cheerful family dinners in warm firelight and days spent by her mothers side learning the arts of running a household.

That changed when Annemae was in her early tweens. Her mother fell ill and, after months in bed, passed away. Their lives fell apart, and it took a long time before life at the farm could be even a shadow of as happy as it was before. She did her best to help it along the way however, taking on her mothers role in the family, both as head of the house and kitchen as well as emotional support for her brother and father. She kept them going, and with time they started to feel like a normal family again.

It led to a somewhat isolated life for Annemae however, time she could have spent with  friends of her own age were instead spent working at the farm, making sure the entire family was well fed, well dressed and happy. As she started to near thirty, she found herself longing for something more, something beyond everything that made up normal everyday life.

She was drawn to fairytales and stories from the rest of the world, fascinated by the descriptions of strange places, people and events. While there was never any doubts about her love for the Shire, her eyes opened to the fact that the world was so much larger than that. She started asking herself if it was really wise to plan to stay ones entire life on a tiny farm in a tiny part of the Shire, which was only a tiny part of the whole world, when there was so much more to see out there? Eventually she made up her mind, packed up what few belongings she felt she needed to bring and a pocket full of saved coins, and set out in the direction of Bree-land.