Síona Ní Ríordáin was the only daughter of Finbar and Niamh, an Irish couple. Finbar was a travelling bard who earned the appellation “Ríordáin” (royal poet), as he performed for a number of crowned heads in various parts of Ireland. Tragically, Niamh died giving birth to Síona, and the broken-hearted Finbar emigrated to Britain with his infant daughter, hoping that a change of scene might ease his grief.

After some further wandering, Finbar settled near the eastern border of the kingdom of Dumnonia, where he entered the employment of a noble couple named Dumnovall and Avitoria. He, too, died when Síona was only twelve years old, by which time she was already showing promise as a poet herself. By this time, Dumnovall and Avitoria had grown very fond of Finbar and his daughter, and, since they had no children themselves, they decided to adopt Síona legally as their heir, retaining her original patronymic out of respect for the late Finbar.

Since she was now technically nobility, Síona never became a professional bard herself as she had grown up expecting to do; however, this did not stop her from writing a great deal of poetry as an amateur. She was less skilled on the musical side, though she did have a good singing voice, and consequently she teamed up with a succession of bards who could set her words to music. She became very close to one of these bards, who had a silver ring made for her bearing a shamrock to symbolise blessing, a claddagh to symbolise their relationship, and a triangular knot to symbolise the Trinity (since both were Christians). Who that bard was, and what became of him, she will not tell you; but she always wears the ring.

Síona also developed a strong interest in fibre crafts, and became skilled in a number of them, notably the making of nets.