Tilda Iron

Matilda "Tilda" Iron is a black faerie and the half sister of James Flint and Fey Iron. She is fourteen in faerie years, and is also slightly autistic.

Personality
A generally closed girl, Tilda will open up and tell you anything if you befriended her, often to the point of being annoying. In fact, she is often annoying, but very rarely means to be. Tilda is often deemed stupid due to being autistic, but she is actually quite smart. Tilda is generally quite forgiving, though she rarely abides by the "forget" part of the bargain. She also has an inferiority complex.

Appearance
Tilda is of average height for a faerie, and quite skinny. She has quite a feminine face, with a snub nose and quite large, amber eyes. Her hair is black, streaked with red, and is cut in a bob with a straight fringe. Protruding from Tilda's back are a pair of large black wings, reminiscent of those of a bat. She very rarely spreads them to fly, as they are riddled with large holes, which she finds embarrassing. Due to the holes, Tilda can't fly as fast or as far as others, and nor with such grace. As a result, she opts to walk and run, so she is fitter on her legs than most other faeries. Tilda has pale skin and pointed ears. Her wardrobe mainly consists of various outfits in red and black, varying from jeans and a T-shirt to a fancy dress. She does have clothes in other colours, but rarely wears them.

Childhood
Tilda was born to Maxmilian and Mariam Iron in Ephysae, the prosperous town which merged into Flaeme. She was always the least favourite child, as her father preferred her older half-sister Fey, and suffered abuse at the hands of her father, which involved ripping holes in her wings. Her mother never spoke up for her, as she was a sullen and generally unpleasant woman, originally a servant for the Iron household until Maxmilian got her pregnant and her family kicked up a fuss. When Tilda was ten, she became extremely angry towards her father and mother, briefly losing control of her powers. As a black faerie, she has fire powers, and started a fire that destroyed the Iron household. As a black faerie, she was also immune to the flames themselves, but her father was not, and he was killed. Tilda's mother, also a black faerie, was immune to the fire as well, but was killed by a falling roofbeam, which struck her on the head. For many years, Tilda believed that Fey had died in the fire too, when in reality she escaped the blaze and was sent to live with her aunt.

On the streets and the Fire Brigade
After the fire destroyed Tilda's home, she had nowhere to go. She camped out on the streets of Flaeme, begging and occasionally pickpocketing to buy her food. During the winter, she often nearly froze to death, not wanting to create a fire with which to warm herself after what happened the last time. Eventually, Tilda joined the group of thieves and rebels known as the Fire Brigade, a play on the name of the city. She stayed with them for three or four years, and briefly met James Flint, another member of the Fire Brigade, and later, fellow student.

Fitherington's School for the Magical
Tilda began to go to Fithers after a recommendation from an older faerie she met in the market one day. She joined the school at the age of fourteen, and slowly made a few friends, including James Flint, Twilight Allikin, and Olivia Pyron.

Interests and Skills
Tilda enjoys reading, but not as much as certain other faeries I could mention. She also enjoys practising with her powers, as she learnt that her powers were not as bad as she originally thought.

James Flint
Tilda considers James to be like an older brother, and, as younger siblings often do, pesters and annoys him frequently. However, she does love him, and never actually means to annoy him.

Twilight Allikin
Tilda originally considered Twilight to be a rival to Tilda's relationship with James. However, she soon realised that James liked that both in different ways, however cliché that sounds. The two girls never saw completely eye-to-eye, but Tilda was deeply saddened by Twilight's death.

Olivia Pyron
At first, Tilda disliked Olivia, and rejected her blatant romantic advances. She also disliked Olivia's devil-may-care, and foolhardy approach to danger. However, Tilda quickly discovered Olivia's positive traits as well as the negative, and also realised that she loved Olivia too.