Born to Mikael and Elyse Neuberg, Talia was the second born to her elder brother Nicoli by a matter of mere minutes. Twins, though destined for vastly different futures, were considered a good omen in the Neuberg family and both children were welcomed with open arms by their parents, and the family that surrounded them. Clever, inquisitive, creative in a disruptive fashion and doted upon by their numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and extended family, the children were inseparable from birth and were often interchangeable when it came to blame casting and punishment being meted out. Nicoli would learn the skills of a hunter and woodsman as soon as he was old enough to follow in their fathers footsteps, though to be fair Talia tagged along as well for a good portion of these skills as well. Being able to set snares to catch small game, to sneak up on deer or other woodland animals - as much for the ability to sneak as to help with the hunting - was as much a game as a learned skill. She may not be fond of using bow and arrow, setting snares or cleaning and dressing game, but it was a necessary skill and their father made sure that both of his children had the skills to ensure that they would never go hungry.
Their mother, Elyse, was a well known herbalist and midwife, often sought out at all hours and trusted by the women in their village and further away as her calm manner and kind disposition. WIth such a large family it was no surprise that both children were offered a rather unique opportunity as they aged, gathering skills that some other less fortunate children may not have had access too. Having a merchants and farmers, ferriers and traders, tailors and cooks, maids, manservants and men and women from so many different walks of life made it possible for both children - in fact most children in the Neuberg extended clan - to gather all sorts of useful skills. Being able to read and write, tally sums, speak with a measure of education - even speak politely at that - gave both twins a hand hold into more options in life. Children of commoners, yes, but children of the huntsmaster for their local Lord and Lady, and a midwife who'd seen to the birth of all of their Lady's children, allowed both children to often be play-mates of same.
Of all the skills that Talia could've decided upon, maid or sempstress or merchant, farmer or hunter like her father and brother, the calling that tugged to her most had her following in her mothers footsteps. Even at a young age she had the keen eye to pick out the herbs that would help heal from the foolish ones that would cause harm. At her mothers side she learned how to help, how to soothe, hot to clean and dress wounds, to spot fevers and do what could be done to nurse the ill through the dangers of a mad fever. To help ease children into the world, to set bones, to make medicines and compounds, tease and tinctures, to stitch wounds, lance what cannot be stitched or amputate limbs when no other cure could be found. A healer, not just a midwife, had the grim duty of doing what must be done to save a life.
With the aid of her parents and the extended reach of her family, she was sent to study with a Churgeon who specialized in the dangerous arts of apothecary and the dangerous art of healing by use of a blade. The argument over this apprenticeship was, in family terms, rather epic. As proud as Mikael is of his wife and daughter, the idea of his daughter apprenticing to a Churgeon and Apothecary was not one that he was as easily accepting of. But faced with the not-insignificant indignant fury of his wife - a woman of red hair and green eyes to match the same appearance of the daughter they had born - and the equally if not quite as seasoned temper of Talia - eventually he had taken the path of wisdom. Fighting one woman in his family was tantamount to storming up hill, in the rain, while wearing a blindfold. Fighting against both was a losing battle. It is said that Mikael and Nicoli went for a hunting trip that lasted a full fortnight. By the time the men returned, Talia was firmly settled into her apprenticeship and things were back to Normal in their household.
Her apprenticeship lasted several years and she'd returned, skilled in the teaching of her mother and the other healers in their district, along with the teaching of her master, making her a formidable healer in her own right. She took up her position as her mother's assistant, helping treat the wounded of their town and the few rangers that came through that found themselves wounded in one manner or another. Time would pass and she would earn, quietly, a name for herself as a healer as well. At age eighteen, when many of her friends and cousins were already wed, including her brother, and now a aunt of a pair of devious toddlers, Talia was in no hurry to be wed, bed and have children of her own. As a midwife she knew more about childbirth and the dangers thereof than most women her age, more in fact than most women in general. Despite the gentle pressure of her family and the convenient arrangement of lunches and dance partners or long walks that just happened to require two not one, she'd used her temper to her advantage, chasing most would-be suitors away to women of milder disposition and more.. friendly natures.
That is, of course, until she met Savaric Ashlan. Grumpy, bearded, ill mannered, ill tempered ruffian. Those were her original thoughts on the man when he was directed to their doorstep at some ridiculous hour of the pre-dawn morning. She'd taken one look at his scruffy unfriendly exterior and nearly declined to tend to his wound, it would have been easier to allow her mother to settle the manner instead. But.. the hour was early and it was to her to tend to such matters at this hour of the day and she'd invited the grumpy man into their home and cleaned his wound before setting his broken arm. Now, Savaric was not the first man with a broken arm she'd ever set, nor the first man to sit quietly - stoically - while she'd done the work required to repair the damage, and caused quite a bit of pain while doing what she could to help. But… Well. She'd seen him settled, something to take the edge off of the pain, something to help him sleep as well, and sat beside his bed for those first few hours of the morning, listening to him breathe while he slept. There was no way she could know that, in his life, she was one of the first who had ever cared for him in such a manner, and be trusted - willingly or no - to guard him while he slept.
Their courtship, for that is certainly what it became, did NOT start off in that manner. He was grumpy, abrupt, surly at times, rude, and had a habit of looking DOWN at her when he addressed her. Now, to be fair, at more than a head taller than her in height, stronger, longer of limb, he couldn't exactly NOT look down at her when he spoke. But for some reason it absolutely infuriated Talia and on more than one occasion she would stand on a step or a handy spill of rocks or a stool in order to be nose to nose with this surly long haired grumpy man. How or why temper turned into something more, something stronger, or even WHEN.. neither could actually say, or explain. A few well placed punches, that'd be Talia to Savaric, pointed words, and what was possibly the most embarrassing argument of all when he'd made the ill-advised attempt to offer her COIN to spend TIME with him, eventually led them to the understanding that - as confused as they often were as to the nature and direction of this somewhat baffling courtship - that it was INDEED a courtship and one that they both wanted. When the time came for him to return to his training, Talia made sure to send along small pouches of medicine and useful herbs, offering him a single kiss upon one bearded cheek with the quietly voiced admonition to return for her, or she'd have to come find him.
The summer apart proved to be one of the longest summers of her young life, watching the trickle of visitors who made their way in and out of Sipdon every day, watching the guards and rangers who stopped along the way, she searched every face until at last, in the early fall, Savaric returned. They resumed their courtship, as difficult as it was, and after a few years of awkward starts and stops, they decided to seal their relationship with marriage. Their married life was as marked with fights and raided voices, she perhaps a bit prone to throwing things when truly riled. Epic fights? Blessed gods, what an understatement. Yet.. there is something to be said about adversity forging a path through flame and trial that cannot so easily be found in a more idyllic manner. Savaric's skills as a ranger, as a hunter, as a man whose judgement and justice was measured without bias or prejudice made him a man whose counsel was often sought. Her skills as a healer, as a midwife, made her a name sought in her own right. Oft times, as needed, she traveled at his side, or he at hers. More oft of late his skills or hers has them traveling father from their home, assisting with other rangers or - for Talia - to aid with delicate birthings or illnesses that local healers welcome assistance with.