I think we have some possible evidence that Valerie is probably from either Lira, Molain, or maybe Kailsii. Lira and Molain are both described as the higher kingdoms, whereas in her first interlude, she says this.
Valerie thought as her foot stepped in something slimy on the mushy 'barely a path' way into the low counties
If we go by a stretch, maybe counties is a typo for countries, which would imply she's not from there. She also talks about the Lolisvan countryside later, which would imply she's not from Lolisv, meaning she has to come from farther north. Besides Lira/Molain, the only other plausible country of origin that I can think of would be Kailsii, which given their attitude, I could see them calling everyone else the low Countries. Then again, Slyvena has been referring to them as the low kingdoms, so it's a real stretch.
Anyways, one thing we know for certain is that Valerie is definitely in Narisell now, much closer than Marigold. It's mentioned in the first interlude that she's in the
and it's mentioned by Abby later that she's
Given this, we're probably gonna face Valerie real soon, which might be a bigger immediate threat then Waters. In the first interlude, bandits or something come in from a copse of trees, and the path is described as mushy. Because of that, I think it's reasonable to assume she didn't start in the East, since that's all desert. However she's now directly north of us (as of interlude 2.1), so my guess would place her at around Cymrite or Mogan. I think she's been hitting towns along the way
Anyone else we need to see today?
-snip-
I'm gonna kill for a warm bath when we can hit the next town.
Whereas Marigold won't, but that still places her in a dangerous location. Given that she likely started somewhere in the east in a and then moved down to the Brassley area, she could've just started around Lolisv's capital area, or maybe being from Quarn is possible.
Anyways, since I'm in the mood for rampant speculation anyways, maybe the great change that the world will go through is related to non humans or beasts becoming empowered in some way (Maybe some are created or empowered by the Maw to subvert the existing cosmic order?) and starting to conquer all the human kingdoms. The opening blurb specifically only mentions humanity being able to save themselves, not the world as a whole. It also fits well with the "will she even want to help" in the quest description.
[X] [NIV] A walk amongst the Daisies (Preteen girl in Lira)
I don't really have strong opinions on the other votes and I haven't weighed them enough to where I think I can make a very good choice, but hell yes do I want to know about Flower/Lira