Amelia was born in Little India to a wealthy pharmaceutical family of German descent. Her father, Reinhold Kross, was a more than capable apothecary, able to both create and procure various potions and medicines, while her mother, Liesel, was in charge of running the business from a monetary standpoint. Though the Krosses were never frivolous with their spending, they made sure their daughter never went without. Amelia enjoyed the benefits of a devoted nanny and private tutor by the name of Emmeline Staedtler-Behari, from whom the girl was practically inseparable for the first thirteen years of her life. Emmeline had also grown up in Little India, among the servants of an Indian restaurant owner in the area, and eventually married the son of that restaurant owner. Thanks to this upbringing, Emmeline was deeply steeped in the ways of the Indian culture, and passed these learnings on to Amelia along with her more "mainstream" teachings.
Amelia split her time during these thirteen years between her own household and Emmeline's. When Emmeline was not present at the home, her mother would supplement the elder woman's tutelage with knowledge of business work—mostly mathematical calculations, monetary knowledge, and maintenance of financial records and inventory. Though the work was somewhat tedious, Amelia committed all of this to practiced memory for its importance in keeping a business steady on its feet, and had it in her head from early on that she too would be a businesswoman. While Liesel taught Amelia of the practical, Emmeline taught the girl of the proper: cooking, care and the other ways "the woman of the house" is expected to know. Emmeline was an infinitely kind individual, and took care to make sure her charge would also take to heart the need to strive for good and betterment.
The Kross household had a very small, fenced garden in back of its sitting room, and when Amelia was not engaged in her studies—moral, academic or business-related—she was often to be found there among the scraggly flowers and half-dead bushes, enjoying the little taste of nature while devouring book after book procured from her father's collection. Most of these books were nonfiction, ranging from business literature to encyclopedias of flora and fauna to tomes on varying religious beliefs. Most of these tomes were old and worn, purchased from the merchants that brought them in from far off, but Amelia took excellent care of them. Reinhold did have one shelf dedicated to fictional work, and it wasn't long before Amelia had half of them committed to memory.
One afternoon, at the age of ten, Amelia was seated in the weak shadow of her favorite withered rose bush, reading her beloved copy of Alice in Wonderland—a gift from her father for her birthday. The vague thought came to her that she'd like to be able to talk to the flowers as Alice did, but, owing to the fact that it was past even London's weak growing season, there were no blooms to be had in the garden. Her mind continued to focus on this fact; as she stared into space, she felt something tickling her hand—and looked down to find that a daffodil had sprouted up between her fingers. She started, breaking what sort of idle concentration she'd had, and the flower degenerated back into the soil as though growing backward in time. Amelia, at first, thought she was dreaming; however, over the next several weeks, she took to experimenting with her newfound powers, learning how and to what extent she could manipulate the scraggly plant life that existed in back of her home. Winter setting in impeded her trials, so she returned to her studies. She kept her power completely hidden from both her parents and Emmeline.
Over the next three years, Amelia continued to work as hard as she could at her studies, surpassing even her parents' proud expectations. As her physical and mental skills developed, she spent additional time crafting her powers, tending carefully to her parents' small garden and selling flowers for pocket money.
When Amelia was thirteen, Emmeline fell ill. The disease was tuberculosis, and thanks to the woman's aged immune system, it was not long before she succumbed to her illness. Amelia was grief-stricken, though she did her best to conceal her sadness from her parents, as they were not the sort of people to stand for "namby-pamby" shows of emotion. Indeed, the death of Amelia's tutor did no more in their eyes than provide opportunity for transition: they were removed of the need to pay one employee, and gained the time of another. Within weeks of Emmeline's death, Amelia was working in the apothecary.
For two years Amelia worked the more menial tasks of the business: keeping inventory, stocking shelves, and helping balance the books of financial records. At fifteen, she was allowed to begin working in the "back room" with her father, where the man mixed his tried-and-true potions and experimented with new ones. The majority of his components were organic, something that took Amelia's immediate interest. Herbal remedies, of course, became a specialty of hers—though her father also made certain she knew how to mix more unsavory concoctions.
Work continued in this way for Amelia until her nineteenth year. While her mother was spending a few weeks helping with the business of a friend who had fallen ill, her father took opportunity for a "business trip," traveling with a merchant caravan to a few settlements in greater Europe in order to find new potions and ingredients for his shop. Amelia was left in charge of both the shop and the household, charged with paying the servants and shop workers and keeping business in steady working order. She'd been caring for the place thus for a little over three weeks when her father returned—far earlier than anticipated. Amelia was surprised and suspicious, particularly when Reinhold claimed to have forgotten his key to enter the house. She let him in regardless, following the man into the study where the safe containing the better part of the family's earnings was kept. The safe was equipped with a combination lock, and after the man failed several times to open it, Amelia's fears were confirmed. He blocked her way as she attempted to flee the room—and promptly found himself tied at wrist and ankle by twisting branches sprouting from the doorframe. He did, however, manage to talk her down from dashing off to fetch the authorities—and with the story of his monetary predicament, particularly at the mention of his handicapped sister, was able to strike sympathy within the girl, however suspicious she remained.
The words of the man—one Alexander Brent, a young man a year younger than Amelia—needled at the do-gooder nature in the girl's heart, and upon the return of the true Reinhold Kross, she was able to convince her father to allow Alexander to work in the apothecary. He was set to stocking shelves, as Amelia held no trust for the young man to have anything to do with the register or finances in any way. In fact, she was often on the register when he was working in the front room, and worked in the back room whenever Alexander was on inventory, as a way to keep an eye on him. As the two were often in such close proximity, they naturally fell to casual conversation, which progressed quickly through half-trusting friendship into something more awkwardly romantic. Two years passed, and that romance furthered, evolving into something closer to what can only be described as love. Knowing how practical-minded her parents were, however, Amelia made sure that the romantic nature of her relationship with the less financially able teen was kept as secret as possible. She was twenty-one when the two of them finally caught on, thanks to snatches of an overheard conversation between a few of the family servants. Amelia was not disappointed in her expectations of Reinhold and Liesel's reaction, and they promptly fired Alexander in an attempt to remove him from their daughter's life. Amelia threw nothing short of a fit, demanding they rehire him, as he had done nothing to merit the loss of a job—he was a good worker, regardless of what they thought of him or of his relationship with their daughter. Reinhold remained firm, and Liesel in fact advised her daughter to "start thinking like a businesswoman and stop thinking like a silly teenager." Amelia moved out within the month.
Living with Alexander in the apartment he'd been renting in the Steam Quarter's Upper Riverway, Amelia began running her own small apothecary, using garden boxes in the windows and a large portion of the kitchen in which to do her work. Her botanical creations were superior to nearly all of those sold elsewhere in London, and she was prudent enough to sell them for considerably less than others sold theirs for. She gained a quick name for herself among those who used such remedies, and was able to gradually elevate her prices and begin scraping together a decent savings. Alexander's sister, Chloe, who had by this time had a prosthetic arm purchased for her by Alexander, lived in the apartment with the pair, helping her brother look for work while assisting Amelia in keeping the apartment clean and the "business supplies" organized. Amelia was just beginning to hit the upswing of her business when Alexander, who had become involved in the black market despite Amelia's disapproval, approached her with the proposition that she begin to produce more illicit and deadly substances to sell to the more unsavory folk associated with his new vocation. At first, she refused, but after some careful thought and much convincing on Alexander's part, she finally assented to the suggestion. Such substances were not difficult to produce, considering the rate at which Amelia could breed dangerous plant life, and the profits earned were a serious boon to the pair's income.
Time passed, Chloe moved out, and Alexander and Amelia remained a fairly devoted couple, though their commitment was purely emotional—thoughts of marriage could not have been farther from either mind. Amelia was at the age of twenty-seven when the thought came crashing into her mind, fostered by the realization that—thanks to a single broken condom—she was pregnant. Her first reaction was slight panic; she had serious doubts as to her ability to properly provide for a child. She was against Alexander's suggestion of abortion, however. Eventually they reached a mutual decision to keep the child, and followed this with a quiet marriage, keeping their own names purely due to concerns for safety, considering Alexander's vocation.
Amelia raised her prices again, produced more poisons for Alexander to sell, and the two saved up enough money to remove themselves from their tiny apartment and into a small place back in the Merchant Quarter. Amelia insisted on Little India, having fond memories of her upbringing there despite the circumstances of her exodus from the place.
unfinished
