Hmm, I didn't actually thought about her homeland. But your suggestions sound quite logical. Besides, there are not only Sun's words to think of Vacuo as a desert land. Here is the map of Remnant coloured by Monty: vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/r… I used to think Emerald grown up in the streets. But how did it came out? Maybe she lived in another kingdom (it may be Vacuo) and through deception she managed to get on someone's ship and move to Vale. And speaking of that, I believe she discovered her semblance quite early. And it helped her to survive.It also may be that she didn't travel from Vale at all, but one of her parents was originaly from the same Vacuo for example, and stopping by in Vale for some reason, and spent an unplanned night there with a stranger or something, so Emerald was originally an unplanned child, left by her parents right after she was born.Damn, so many theories...