In this world, there was a race called halflings.
They looked much like humans, but they were shorter, generally only half the height of an ordinary human. That was why they were called halflings.
And because they were so small and seemed harmless, posing little threat, they had managed to survive peacefully for at least several hundred years in this chaotic and dangerous world, squeezed into the cracks of an age rife with great-power rivalries, warfare, and constant strife.
It made sense when you thought about it. A race of short, seemingly harmless people would never be taken seriously by either allies or enemies. And if no one considered you important, and you were seen as entirely expendable, then of course you could get along with everyone and live quite well.
As luck would have it, there was a halfling village right along the road Annie and Edgin's group of four were taking toward the Neverwinter Wood. At Holga's insistence, they spent half a day there, giving them a chance to meet Holga's ex-husband: a halfling named "Marlamin," a strange little man about as tall as Annie.
That's right!
Holga, the towering barbarian warrior who could knock Edgin flat with one punch, had been married to a halfling!
And supposedly, Holga had even fallen out with her tribe just to be with Marlamin?
Unfortunately, that marriage, disapproved of by both their parents and their tribe, hadn't lasted.
The tall-and-small couple had split up before long for all sorts of reasons. Holga neglected her family, drank all the time, beat people up, had no honest work, liked to rob people, and often disappeared for ten days or half a month at a time, among other things.
After that, Holga met Edgin, a widower, and the two of them raised Kira together.