Matilda is very daring girl, and has a thirst for adventure. She is not made for the typical quiet life of marriage, and child rearing. She stakes all her property and even her life on luck, and being clever. She is strong, impulsive, courageous, agile, and sly. Basically everything she is not suppose to be as a medieval woman. She see things as black-white, and she can be idealistic to a fault.

Her fathers name was Augustine. At three years old Augustine was left to the church as a orphan. So he was educated as a boy, and expected to take the cloth, but he met a Irish young woman named Toiréasa, they fell in love, and ran off to elope. Five sons later, Matilda was born. Two days of painful labor in late winter, during one of the worst storms of the decade, she came into the world.

Her father worked as a Apothecarist, and also was a Storyteller for their small village of Seacourt. Her mother took care of all six children; Edwin, Patrick, Alfred, Paul, Jerome, and Matilda, but she also helped her husband as a herbalist for the apothecary shoppe they ran together.

As a child, Matilda and her family lived above their apothecary shoppe. It was a cramped and cluttered home, but also one full of love. Having five older brothers, Matilda was treated as one of the boys. She only owned two skirts, and she only wore it to church (when forced or bribed by her mother). Other then that she wore her brothers hand-me-downs, and ran wild with them and other village children. Climbing trees, flinging mud, swimming in the lake, sword fighting with sticks, and wrestling around.

She was very close to her father, who she called papa. Though her father was always very busy, he always had time for his only little girl. In his spare moments, he would teach Matilda about all the medical plants, how to read, and write, and everything else he knew. At night before bed he would tell her stories he remembered from the bible, and other books he read in his youth. He instilled in her to always follow her heart and do what she thought was right. She liked to help her father in the apothecary.

When Matilda was 10, her mother decided it was high time Matilda started behaving like a young lady. But the headstrong, fiercely independent, and tomboyish girl she was, had other ideas. Traditional women's pursuits, were not her idea of fun, so in defiance she cut her long hair off. Young Matilda didn't want to just marry, have babies, and spend the rest of her life cooking and cleaning, she wanted to forge her own destiny, and do as she pleased, She wanted a adventure.

Needless to say Matilda's relationship with her mother was typically a mixture of quarrels, frustration, defiance, and aggravation, with a few loving tender moment thrown into the mess. They loved each other, but they did not understand each other. Her mom wanted Matilda to be more girlish, to care about her appearance, to wear dresses, and play with dolls. Matilda wanted her mom to accept her for who she was.

By the time she was 13, things began to mellow out between her and her mother. As Matilda started to mature, most of the village boys had more interest in stealing a kiss from her, then practicing sword fighting, or running races like she wanted to do. Thirteen and her life was changing from a wild child into a 'blossoming young lady' as her mother like to say.

When Matilda was 14 her father died, after battling a fever for over a week. It was a crushing blow to Matilda, as her father was the person she loved most in this world. The death of her father helped her bond with her mother, as they both mourned over their loss. Her oldest brother Alfred took over the apothecary, and Matilda joined him for a short time. With her father gone, money became tighter then it already had been, so her mother took work in Nottingham as a spinster. Matilda had always wanted to leave Seacourt, her small little village, so she opted to leave with her mother. She was not going to stay behind and be a burden on Alfred, who had a family of his own to take care of now.

And so began the journey to Nottingham, and the many hardships to come. Her brother Patrick also tagged along, more in search of work then anything else. Even Jerome wanted to come along for the hell of it. Only 2 days into the week long journey to Nottingham, and they were already having problems; two broken wagon wheels, and a run in with a pack of rabid wolves, that resulting in having to put down their only horse. They were basically stranded in a town called Banesebury. And to add to all that that, Banesebury was having an outbreak of pox. Of course Patrick left town as soon as he saw the first cart of dead bodies, he was a pansy when it came to plauge.

So it was just her mother, Jerome, and herself stuck in 'pox' town. With the rest of the money they bought a few nights at the Inn. Matilda's mother caught ill only two nights later, and without money to buy another horse they were stuck in Banesebury indefinably. So Jerome went and found work as a Bricklayer during the day, and a grave digger at night, so they had money to rent a room and feed themselves. Matilda tended to their mother, who was not getting any better, as the days changed to weeks. A month later their mother finally succumbed to the pox. Jerome and Matilda were on their own. They both decided to work to save up enough money so they could get to Nottingham, and rent a place. Matilda sent word to her brothers in Seacourt of their mothers passing.

She needed a job, and there was no such thing as a decent paying job for a 15 year old girl, unless she resorted to selling herself, which was something she would absolutely not do. Being a burden to Jerome was not an option. After cutting off her hair, dawning her brothers clothes, and calling herself Matthew, she finally found work at the Locksmiths, and in the stables. Acquiring lock picking skills was a side benefit of the job. Jerome and Matilda left the Inn to rent the cheaper room above the candle-maker shoppe.

They estimated that in four months they'd have enough to buy a good horse, and set off for Nottingham. But a lot happens in four months... Jerome developed a gambling problem, so all the money saved, was lost to cards games, and bets. Pretending to be a man, was more complicated then Matilda expected it to be. She missed her parents. She missed the days when her mother would braid her hair, and sing songs. She missed her father calling her his 'beautiful darling', and tell her all about medicine. She missed the days when she didn't smell like sweat and dirt. She wondered were she was heading with her life. As a child she wanted to be a knight who saved people, or an explorer who discovered new lands, and fought off assassins. But life was not panning out how she wished, as the four months turned into a year.

At 16 years old, she gave Jerome an ultimatum, he ether stopped gambling and payed his debts, or she would leave for Nottingham without him. Jerome was the brother she was closest to, but she was sick and tired of him coming home after losing all their money, or coming home beaten and bloody from not paying his dues. She had had enough with threats and fighting that came with Jerome owing money to half the town. They argued, and he marched out of the house. The next day the sheriff came knocking, Jerome was dead. After he had left during the night he got drunk, ended up in a huge brawl outside the bar, and passed out in an alley. where he died from internal bleeding. Matilda blamed herself, and considered herself a murderer of sorts, but she also wanted revenge on the ones who caused his death.

After his death everyone Jerome owed money to came to Matilda for their payment, which she refused over and over, only to get her ass beat on a weekly basis. She had only stayed in town to find out who killed Jerome, and she had found out who'd done it. It was the local moneylenders two cronies, Slim Eddie, and Franks. At first she had no idea what to do with this information, and the sheriff didn't seem to care. Then she came up with a plan, she wasn't going to kill them, though the thought had crossed her mind, no she would just steal all their money, and maybe burn their place down. She knew where they kept all the money, she had even helped install the locks to their "treasure" room. After planning the heist out she got to work. Saturday nights they were always down at the tavern drinking, so once it was dark she headed out. Getting into the place was easy, she filled up three huge bags of coins and tossed them out the window onto the cart she had waiting below. She was quick about it, and once she had all the cash in the cart outside she tossed a match onto the hay covered floors. She was done with Banesebury, and saw no reason to stay and watch the place burn. Letting her hair down, she left for Nottingham.

The four day journey to Nottingham was unpleasant, every town she passed buy she left a sack of coins in the churches donation box, gave handfuls away to beggars, and so on. She didn't want any of the money, it felt wrong having it, and she had begun to regret burning the place down, that had been a tad much. She tossed the last of the money into a field full of sheep for some shepherd to find. Once she got to Nottingham, she finally wrote her brother Alfred, on how Jerome had died, and where she was now. Coming into town she went straight to work on finding a job, as she only had enough money left for a week at the inn. The innkeeper took pity on her, and offered free room and board if she would work for him around the Inn, his last maid quit anyway to go get married. Matilda took him up on his offer, but she knew she would need to find payed work soon. So in her spare time she'd looked for one. Fortunately, she found one a few weeks later, as midwifes apprentice. Matilda had impressed 'Midwife Harriet' with her medical knowledge of plants, illness, and such, so after a long talk, she obtained the position of apprentice. The wage was nearly nothing, but she only needed money to but food, drink, and clothing.

Six months later her brother Edwin and his wife Elizabeth rode into town. Edwin always the lucky one, had received an old farm, and some land in Nottingham, after his wife's uncle passed. So they had come to run the old farm. Edwin of course insisted that Matilda come live with him and his wife. Seeing that they would need the help Matilda left the inn to live and work on the farm. Working on the farm helped out her brother a lot as he didn't have the money to hire a farmhand. Matilda kept to her apprenticeship, and helped out at the Inn for some extra money. Any spare time she had she spent shooting bow & arrows, throwing knives at trees, and practicing sword-fighting with a broom handle behind the barn.

She was 17 years old when she met Cedric. Edwin had hired him to help on the farm. They disliked each other immediately. She saw him as arrogant, and presumptuous. He was handsome, but she couldn't help wanting to roll her eyes every time he opened his mouth. He saw Matilda as stubborn, shrewd, and conceited. Basically she had mild disdain for Cedric and he was indifferent towards her. Overtime their bickering and retorts turned to playful teasing, and flirty remarks. Then one night of drinking, and a spontaneous kiss later, they were on their way to a cheeky romance.

Cedric proposed to her on her 19th birthday, and she said 'yes'. She had never thought she'd ever want to get married, but Cedric made her feel complete, he supported her, and loved her exactly for who she was. She couldn't see ever loving anyone, like she loved him. They planned to marry in a year or so, once they saved enough to have a proper wedding, and find a place to call their own.