Plamena had been living in Archet all her life, untill the Blackwolds burned down her house and killed her mother in their last attack. Digging through the ashes of her house remains, she found an intact book in a small chest, which turned out to be her mother's diary from younger days. From it she learned that her father isn't as dead as she had thought and that he is the cause of many wrongs in her life. Determined to seek revenge, Plamena decided to cross the boundary of her small town for the first time and to go on a journey to find her father. There are few things she knows about him - he is of Rohan origin and has several scars, the long one on his face especially noticable. 

Her mother being a drunkard and having no other family, Plamena found her ways to make a living. She learned how to make herself almost invisible in a crowd, with both behaviour and other tricks. While in Archet, she took reading and writing lessons from an old man in exchange for various goods she brought him by request. But, he soon died, and she never perfected those skills. She later learned how to make spears and simple tools and weapons out of wood.