Elan's father, Burswith, was an Easterling [tribe yet undetermined] who formed part of a raiding party or something of the sort, but he deserted when he discovered that the people to the west weren't nearly as savage and cruel as he had always been lead to believe. He set out on his own to explore these "new lands" and settles near Dale when he catches the eye of a curious Dale-woman, whom he meets as she is out gathering herbs. The woman, Elina, is intrigued by this traveler and has compassion on him, for he was ragged, travel-worn, and weary, but kind of eye, and she offered him what food and shelter she could. They took to each other, much to the dismay of the woman's family, who thought she has sided with a dangerous outsider. They pleaded and tried to convince her to break with him, and even threatened to have naught to do with her if she chose to wed him, but they had no success. The folk of Dale likewise disapproved of the match and weren't overly friendly to her, but she was always kind and generous, so they tolerated her existence. The rise of Easterling attacks changed this, however, and soon they fled Dale with their young daughter into Mirkwood, despite the shadow that still lay upon it. They made an existence there for awhile, until after a particularly deadly Easterling raid, a party of enraged and xenophobic Dale-men confronted Burswith and Elin, accusing them of supplying the invaders with information. They were not open to reason and grew violent, killing the couple and destroying their home. A party of elves sent to investigate the disturbance found Elin and Burswith's daughter and only child, Elanswith, nearby and one of them took her in.

she has reasons for not trying to go back to her homeland

And being raised a human among Mirkwood elves after what she went through, she's naturally wary of others and can have a sharp tongue

Burswithiell - Father-name; Daughter of Burswith

Elinien - Mother-name; Daughter of Elin

Bronhen - nickname from the elves; Enduring-Child

Elanswith: Given name, a combination of both parents' names

after the Mirkwood elves take her in, she notices that some of them refer to her as "Bronhen" rather than her given name or nickname, Elan. Curious, she asks her caretakers why. Her caretaker is a jaded Mirkwood Noldor, and she explains the Noldor way of three names and what Elan's elf-names are. Her nickname, Bronhen, means Enduring Child and was given to her because she has endured much hardship in her few years. This revelation and sign of favor is what started Elan in opening up to anyone after losing her parents

other characters

Rathor [Sindarin: To Wander (ran) Brother (tôr)] name of undeveloped character

1. A memory from childhood
2. A memory from tween years
3. A memory from teenage years
4. A memory from career/crafting
5. A memory she wishes to erase
6. Something that makes her angry
7. Something that makes her happy
8. Something that makes her laugh
9. Something that frightens her
10. Something that turns her on
11. Her childhood friend
    1. Ursa the Bear, grew up together
12. Parents
13. Former lover/crush
14. Present best friend
15. Worst enemy
16. What she does on a day off
17. What kind of books she reads
    1. She never really got into reading. She enjoys epic poems and songs, but only when others sing them and not to her. 
18. What kind of music she likes
    1. she likes the elves' epic poetry like what Frodo and co heard in Rivendell, but her favorites are the songs her father sung to her when she was a child, songs of the sun and warmth of the East, of hot winds that both caress and scorch and skies blue beyond fathoming
19. What she does when she wakes up
20. What she's like at social events
21. Food preferences
22. something petty/unimportant that irrationally annoys the guts out of her
23. does she get lost easily? what does she do when lost?
24. what would stop her from doing the Right Thing in a tense situation?
25. could she keep a small child alive for a week under normal circumstances?
26. what would cause her to choose to do something petty/pointlessly cruel?
27. on a scale of "Complete and Justified nervous breakdown" to "conquer the entire galaxy and become an immortal emperor" how well would she handle being kidnapped by aliens?
28. what song will she sing along to no matter what
29. what perfectly-normal-to-them-thing does she do that confuses/pisses off/annoys/terrifies the neighbors?
30. under what circumstances would she appear naked in public?
31. What thing did her parents do that she wishes they had a better explanation for?
    1. either Get Married or Die
32. how often does she zone out or go on autopilot and how bad were the problems that arise from that?
33. how strong is her impulse control? what are the worst things that have happened b/c of her impulsiveness or inability to be so
    1. Significantly weaker now that she's joined up with the Spoons. She learned fairly early on that she physically cannot Keep UP with elves and learned the hard way through a few stupid injuries (jumping out of trees from too high, falling when she failed to catch a branch trying to jump tree to tree, taking on dangerous creatures too big or strong for her, etc) Now she forgets her relative weakness compared to the group and does Stupid Stuff with the rest of them like jumping off bridges and small cliffs. But Env, who usually starts it, is there to patch her up again. 
34. how doe she sabotage herself?
    1. not letting herself to get close to others even though she wants to
35. what's the trashiest item in her wardrobe, when was the last time she wore it, and why does she still have it?
    1. Well. Her fashion sense was about nil when Gil met her, and it's only gone up from there. She doesn't own anything "trashy," but she has a really old floppy cap that belonged to her father which she refuses to re-purpose or let go of. She might consider covering a notebook with it. Eventually.

Growing up in Mirkwood was never easy, be you human or elf. Growing up in Mirkwood as a human raised by elves was harder. It helped that she didn't like most of the other humans, as they were the ones who killed her parents. She was about 11 and still remembers them, but only details, like her father's soft gravelly singing voice and the way the light glinted off her mother's wheat-colored curls. How her father first taught her to mend a leaky pot and her mother to treat burns from the forge. Their cabin was small but comfortable, and they spent their evenings listening to songs from her father Burswith's homeland while her mother processes herbs by the firelight and Elan helps.

Elan felt a twig snap beneath the ball of her foot and groaned. How would she ever be able to follow Callondurion undetected if every being in Mirkwood could hear her progress?

"You would be quiter, Elan, if you placed the whole of your foot on the ground before committing your weight to it," came a voice to her left. She turned her head and wrinkled her nose at the dark-haired elf leaning against a slender oak.

"You would be harder to track if you bathed more than once in a full moon," she retorted. His amused laughter marked the line between encouraging and infuriating in her adolescent mind. 

"I had to give your weak human nose something to work with."

"If all the elves of Mirkwood smelled as you do, I would be glad of my 'weak human nose' being less offended than were it one of your fine elven noses."

"High words coming from one who spends all her hours with a bear!"

"Better a bear than no one." 

Callondurion's smile fell. Elan bit her lips and let out a long exhale through her nose. She had a singular gift for accidentally twisting banter into sharp, bitter barbs that plunge a friendly mood into darkness.

"Do you really believe you have no one, Bronhen?" her friend asked softly. She closed her eyes and turned her face to hide her tears, inhaling sharply.

"Why do you call me 'Bronhen' when my name is Elanswith?" 

"The Noldor have three names: the father-name, the mother-name, and the chosen name. My father was Alarco [1], so my father-name is Alarcion. My mother is Lindalie [2], so my mother-name is Lindalion. The third name is chosen by the elfling who will bear it when they are just old enough to form their thoughts into words. Callondurion [3] is the name I chose for myself. 

"On some occasions, one can acquire a fourth name, an epessë, a name given by another to honor the person receiving it. 'Bronhen' is your epessë."

Elan turned to face him, eyebrows scrunched in questioning surprise. "'Hen' means child," she said doubtfully, "but I don't know 'bron.'"

"Enduring. In your youth, you are still but a child to us who do not come of age until they have seen a full century, yet you have endured hardship far beyond any of so few years should ever have to see. Thus I call you Bronhen, Enduring Child, for you, even as a child, endure."

A black pit of grief swelled in Elan's stomach as the memories of losing her parents flooded her mind. She could almost smell the smoke of her burning home and hear the roar of a distant angry mob. She reached out her right hand and ran her fingers through Ursa's brown fur, reminding herself that she was safe, no longer a helpless observer of destruction.

The weight of a hand on her shoulder brought her mind to the present, and she stared at Callondurion's gloved fingers in shock at the familial physical contact so rarely given by the elves.

"Do not believe that you are alone, Elan-Bronhen. You have endured loss and grief beyond measure. Let not yourself needlessly endure another."

[1] Swift. Alarcion was one of Oropher's swiftest message-runners

[2] Melodious one. She is a favored singer, and this character inherited the sweet quality of her voice

[3] Son of a Hero's Servant. He looked up to his father and idolized Oropher, whom his father served in battle. Oropher was killed in the battle of Dagorlad, and his father then served Thranduil, later dying in the Battle of the Five Armies. Callondurion was there as well, probably just a couple hundred years older than Legolas.