Corydalia is the daughter of Rubicund and Melondene Birdsfoot, of Little Delving. Her older brother, Franco, is a Bounder. Unlike Franco, she prefers to deal with problems such as the brigands who infest the Shire by slipping into the shadows and then bashing them from behind. She has always had an eye for pretty things, and began using her father's tools much earlier than he would have preferred. He accepts that his gift of combining metal and stone is simply not to be found in his son, and in hopes of setting Cory up with her own business someday, he has apprenticed her to an old friend -- a rather peculiar Dwarf named Nadvald who says he hails from the Lonely Mountain, and from whom he always purchases the rarest and highest-quality gems.