Kirby Thatcher

Kirby Thatcher is a young witch who has a thirst for knowledge.

Appearance
In spite of her family genetics, Kirby was already quite beautiful at the age of 12, drawing many men from the surrounding area to seek her out as a possible bride. She stands around 5'3", quite short compared to her family, including her two year younger sister who is already almost an inch and a half taller than she.

The young lady is quite convinced that her mother dresses her like a child to keep her safe from the perverted predators that walk the streets and could snatch her from where ever she could be. As much as Kirby would like a change in her clothing, she does not wish to ruin her mother's comfort bubble, thinking that SOME men might like it better with small children. (The things you learn around an older brother that was hardly careful about who could be present to hear the conversations were amazing!)

Kirby has dirty blond hair, usually worn in curls which went perfectly with the childish look that made her mother so happy. She has resolved to change this whole thing when she gets to school and with her father secretly siding with her, a proper wardrobe is being prepared behind Elene's back. Her eyes are light blue with the smallest tint of green, which seem to light up whenever she smiles (which is quite often).

As much as she has to envy her sisters for, the one thing that Kirby lucked out with was a naturally pale skin tone. Women out there (including her mother) paid endlessly for bleach and potions to achieve the perfection Kirby was lucky enough to be born with. The young woman is convinced that, subconsciously, that is why her mother dresses her as a child - payback.

In spite of the poor choice in clothing, one thing the bride-to-be manages is to always be well-groomed, dressed properly, her hair prepared, and personage ready to go out at a moment's notice. Kirby has refused to allow her mother to hire someone to attend her make-up and hair, believing that she is more than capable of doing this herself. It is also a good opportunity to be a good example to her younger sisters and teach them to things such as this for themselves when the time comes that they are old enough to need to do this for themselves.

Personality
The most positive thing that Kirby's mother has to say about her is that she missed her calling, being born a female. As a male, the young woman has the brains to accomplish just about anything a man was free to do, as far as making his mark in life. Her mind is always working, though she has learned long before now to say quiet about it. Otherwise, men get too nervous and intimidated around her. Even her husband-to-be seems a bit jealous, whenever her true nature peeks out to show him her real talents.

So instead, Kirby must pretend that she is the lady society expects her to be. However, her mind, while creative as far as educational things, was hardly geared for the life of an actress. Many times, she finds herself confusing things and playing her part quite poorly. Her family and close friends just play it off like she was a slow learner as a child, her mother forbidding her to actually reveal to most people how much studying Kirby had done so that this excuse would protect her in the long run (though the young lady wonders if they are truly protecting herself or Elene Thatcher).

The young woman, despite her poor acting ability, is quite good at dealing with children - having grown up and helping to raise 6 younger siblings. Despite many oldest siblings who desire to just get away from big families, Kirby looks forward to married life, if only for this reason.

History
Kirby is the second born child of nine, given to Torr and Elene Thatcher. When she was born, her parents were both quite young. Her older brother had been conceived the day they had been married (or so her mother said) and at 15 and 13 (respectively) neither had planned on starting a family so soon. Torr still worked in the surrounding villages and towns with his father, learning the family business to be a thatcher.

The fact that they had not seen the early coming pregnancy still amuses Kirby, since her mother is a quite famous seer. In Britannia, the daughter of a merchant simply cannot marry a simple laborer.

However, Torr was quite an amusing and somewhat attractive man. He was kind to most people and dedicated in his work - something Elene saw through her many walks with her mother and/or escort. Though the thought of love seemed not quite the word to use for him, Elene decided that she did want him. Now she just had to figure out a way.

The young woman was locked in her room for almost two weeks, shutting everyone out until finally her 'sight' paid off for her personally. The morning after her discovery, she went to her father with a very clear future for him to revel in. If her father married Elene off to the Thatcher boy, Torr would expand her father's merchant territory to twenty times what it currently was, as well as secure them a place with a shipping company to begin receiving better goods from across the channels to Ireland, France, and Spain

Elene's father, a greedy man at heart, never considered what could happen to bring about all these wonderful things. Though his wife advised he move slowly, to make sure his daughter's claims were even a possibility, the man went through and secured the marriage between the young couple. After the ceremony took place, the old merchant demanded of the young man to tell him how to do all this but, alas, Torr had no idea how to achieve any of this. Angry, the old man considered seeing the marriage annulled but by the time it was decided, Elene was already pregnant. Rather than scandalize their family, the merchant begrudgingly put the new son-in-law under his only son's wings to be taught the family business as well.

As soon as Torr seemed to learn the lay of the business, Elene's brother, the only son in the family, was thrown by a horse and killed. Stoically, the girl never cried once. No one else had known that she had seen it coming in her room all those years ago and had spent much of that crying in preparation. With her father going to his grave not much longer after that, Torr took over the whole business just as Kirby was born.

In the time to come, Torr will have completed all of Elene's predictions upon the day of Kirby's marriage to Garret, much to the woman's satisfaction. The oldest daughter still does not understand how her mother could enjoy her life at all, since the woman knew what was going to happen. As Elene replies, 'The big things are nice to be prepared for, though the little ones give me that much more joy'.

Kirby lived a peaceful life in a very nice home in the North of England for the first part of her life. However, once her father had made enough money, he purchased another even nicer home in Sussex, near the manor of Lord Thomas Ravenclaw where his numerous children could spend summers in the south of England where it was much warmer.

Showing her ability for magic at the age of three, Kirby's mother was quite disappointed that the gift for sight had not hit her young daughter, whereas Elene had found out somewhere between her third and fourth birthday. In Kirby's mind, it seemed her mother slightly withdrew from her - considered the young child something of a failure, since other than Elene's mother, all the women on that side of the family had the gift of sight in varying degrees. (In the end, only Haylee and Meghan have shown any potential for the art.)

Growing up in a family that had wealth was a privilege that Kirby learned quickly, not all people had. What she had, she had better appreciate. Her father made her learn that lesson as a child, the age of 6, when she screamed for a whole week that her parents had hired a tutor instead of letting her run in the fields and streets like she had done occasionally when accompanying her father to his store.

The man arranged to send her to live with one of his cousins that were a bit worse off (paying him, of course, for his assistance). After spending two weeks of living the life of a hard working peasant, Kirby begged to come back home and start classes, as her father had offered in the first place.

Faster than she had anticipated, the young maiden really took to school and knowledge to her. By the time she was twelve, she had been through four tutors (two for reading/writing/sums/history/basic Latin/and a little geography as well as two for magical arts), all of which insisted that there was nothing more they could honestly teach her. Promptly, her father put her in charge of her younger siblings' education, as well as assisting her older brother with sums. If the young man was going to follow in Torr's footsteps, he needed to have the head of numbers like his sister did - something Seaton did not like hearing, which led him to make Kirby's life a living hell until she agreed to do all of the number work for him and not mention it to their father.

In spite of her 'commoner' status, many knights have made offers to her father to have her hand in marriage. There was even a Lord once, though the man had a poor reputation and her father refused. Torr insisted he had enough money that he did not need to sell his daughters off to the highest bidder, just to increase his coffers. Though Kirby had little say in who she married, her father was quite sure of arranging a marriage with a man that would suit her in more than just a financial situation.

Garret Fairfax is the son of a fleet master. As the oldest son, he will take over his father's business and has already agreed to work out a deal with his future father-in-law to assist both of their businesses, just as Elena predicted so many years ago. They would have been married last year but Kirby heard of a school opening up in the Scott lands by the Lady Ravenclaw and her friends where they would teach magic to anyone willing to learn. Hearing her daughter's request and knowing that it was his own fault for encouraging her addiction to learning, Torr offered a bit more in her dowry to allow the marriage wait until she was at least 16 so she could have a few more years learning.