​Pale Moonlight grew up running around barefoot in the vast expanse of the Appalachian Mountains. Her father was a descent of Scottish hill folk who'd lived on the mountain for generations. As a young man, he went to the big city looking for his bride. When they met, it was love at first sight. It didn't even matter that he was ten years older than his little honey bear. The old timers in the family often remarked that theirs was a love to transcend the ages.

Her family spent long hot summer days swimming in raging rivers, collecting arrowheads and other tiny fossils, as well as running free in the forest. Sometimes, they'd even bump into hikers, dressed to the nines with thick hiking boots. The outsiders would always freak out see young teens running around in shorts and no shoes. Mostly Pale just thought them foolish for carrying such heavy packs to do them for a day long hike. “City slickers. That's what we called them. To foolish to scare off a bear or find some pine nuts to eat. We worried about them and sometimes the boys would shadow them to keep them safe.”

Pale spent many a day with her brothers and sisters swinging on the vines growing off huge black walnut trees, while her father worked on his car in the shade. Just before dark he'd whistle to call them all down from the trees and they'd load up the trunk with bucket after bucket of black walnuts. He'd remind them time and time again. "Those be good eaten, so scoop em all up."
​
Their lives intersected with the local natives on a fairly regular basis, since their tribal lands butted right up against the twelve mountain region. Neither the hill folk nor the natives cared much for taking time out of their lives to go down the cities below. The city was a dangerous place for their kind. Local sheriffs left them to work out their own problems, except when they came to town. Lawmen were hawkish on mountain people, but town gossips, Child Protective Services, Truancy Officers, Revenuers, and haters of every stripe plagued their every step in the cities. The hill folk and natives alike preferred to keep to the hills and traded with each other to avoid going to town when they could.