Editing Rivers in the Barrens:Amber (section)

==Background==
*Heidi grew up in Ashbarrow rather than Tarislar as her father Austri, a Night One mechanic, was never particularly accepted in the insular community of mainstream elves, and basically kicked out when he hooked up with Maria, a human courier. Both were Shadowrunners, but withdrew from that life to raise their children.
Austri and Maria were killed by a band of Night Hunters while buying time for their daughters and other neighbors on their block to escape; Heidi was raised mainly by her older sister Kenna after.
*Kenna scraped by on odd jobs until settling in at the Working Class. Heidi spends most of her social time at the Wall at least partly to avoid feeling like Kenna is judging her as she drinks and flirts. The two proprietors might sometimes use the sisters as a backchannel for communicating when their relations are most strained.
*Heidi started showing her magical talent young. Kenna, knew there was no way they could afford a proper education (at least not without effectively indenturing Heidi to a corp), but was able to track down one of their parents' old associates, an elderly orc (by orc standards), "Goði Tormund", who left what he would repeatedly describe as 'comfortable retirement in Touristville, surrounded by doting Valkyries' to take Heidi on as an apprentice. In the tradition of wise mentors everywhere and in accordance with his faith, the cantankerous old coot went out in a blaze of glory fending off a Halloweener foray, leaving Heidi the basement apartment he'd moved into. Said apartment has a sordid history, the stuff of slasher films, and Tormund had only barely finished cleaning out the background count before his death. It's still a magnet for ghosts and malicious spirits that Amber has to shoo off.
*Heidi's not entirely sure why plant spirits have it out for her; she's never managed to keep even the hardiest of garden plants alive, but it's not clear if that's a cause or symptom. Tormond shrugged and suggested that maybe Loki had it out for her (referring to Loki killing Baldr with a sprig of mistletoe, as the only thing he was vulnerable to), but without any sense of certainty.
*She was drawn particularly to Freya - glamorous and more than a little ruthless, always gathering more skill and power and unafraid to use her femininity to get there - and her 'runner name "Amber" reflects that.
*Her commlink is a gift from her sister, loaded with the IC to try and make it at least a little harder for people to take advantage of her extremely basic technical knowledge. She doesn't fiddle with technology much in general - even trodes start to get real uncomfortable after a while, which street docs tell her are a sign that even if she weren't magical she probably should stay away from 'ware.