Having been raised by a dwarven Wizard and in order to pursue her own studies of Wizardry, Gem has consciously denied herself much of her carefree windling nature. It does, however, tend to break out during moments of boredom or stress and she is then apt to do things that surprises even herself.

When she was about 1 year old and had earned her secondname, K'tinall, her clan was attacked by something/someone? Her father, Baliga, and her mother, K'nama, hid her away deep within a hole in some rocks and told her to stay quiet until they returned. Although she was terribly frightened and could hear screams and the sounds of fighting and a fierce fire, she didn't make a sound. She only huddled further into the cold stones and waited for her parents to come back for her. They never did.

Fortunately for the little windling, a party of adventuring dwarves had seen an unusual amount of smoke in the sky and came to investigate. They found the burned ruins of the windlings' village and evidence of a battle, but strangely, there were no dead bodies.

The dwarves, in their thorough search for survivors, eventually found her and after quite a bit of coaxing they managed to persuade her to come out of the rocks.

She wouldn't talk to them at first, not even tell them her name. In jest, one of the dwarves called her Gem (they had to pry her from the rocks) and the name stuck.

Gem turned out to be the only survivor of her clan. She had no idea of who or what had destroyed her home.

One of the dwarves, an old wizard called Tubble, took pity on the orphan windling and offered to raise her as his own. The other dwarves agreed.

Gem was taken back to Bartertown and, true to his promise, she was raised by the gruff old Tubble.

Gem, because of her ordeal, was very withdrawn at first. She spoke little and was terrified of being alone. She clung to Tubble, riding his stooped shoulders nearly everywhere he went. When she had to be alone, she found comfort in books, their words speaking to her as a friend would. As she grew older, she began visiting the library quite regularly. The Librarians were bemused by the sight of a windling who liked reading and encouraged her by hunting out rare and interesting books especially for her. Many of the Librarians became her firm friends.

She did make other friends, of course. Not many, but good and true. Most of her childhood companions were dwarves and in truth she preferred their company. She was shy of other Namegivers, almost distrustful. She was especially shy of other windlings. Having been raised by a dwarven Wizard, she was often hurt and confused by the teasing of other windlings. (Isn't it about time you grew a beard? they'd ask her.)

Gem knows little of windling culture. (There isn't much about it in books.) She can remember some things of her life before the dwarves, but it's only abstracted snatches and meaningless until something she experiences pulls it into focus. The only thing she has of her past life is a small wooden doll. Her father had carved it for her and her mother made its clothes, but she doesn't know that.

Gem, having read so many of Tubble's books, naturally learned a great deal about the world and magic. She decided to follow in the kindly dwarf's bootsteps and become a Wizard Adept. She begged him to teach her until he eventually agreed.

In her anger at being so insulted, Gem cast Flame Flash, meaning only to shock some sense into Tareel and prove that her magic was indeed just as powerful as the dwarf's. She had expected him to recognise her spell as she cast it and step back, instead, the irate dwarf had stepped into the path of the flame. His clothes and beard caught fire. Although the flames were quickly doused, Tareel's anger was not. He would not accept Gem's apology.

News of this unfortunate (and somewhat shameful) event spread quickly around Bartertown. Tubble, on hearing it, decided that it was time that Gem left the city and put her Talents to better use.