Phoebe is the youngest of four children, the eldest being Brahm Steadman . Her father was an original, commoner stonemason, her mother a horse shifter who raised her and her siblings as well as drawing carts of stone from the nearby quarry; both proud, hardworking common folk. As the baby of the family, Phoebe was always treated with a bit more leeway; rather a bit spoiled if you asked her siblings at certain points in their lives though she never acted as such. Her family was very protective of her and encouraged her in the things she enjoyed, though what she enjoyed made her a bit of an odd duck.
Early on her mother noticed that she was a voracious reader, finding much more enjoyment in her lessons than any other siblings. Eventually, her parents gave in and enrolled her in more formal school because it was obvious she needed more of a challenge. But that didn't give her an excuse to not work hard at more expected employment. Shadowing the midwife tended to meld with her school schedule best, so at the young age of seven she was following around the local midwife, assisting with birthing children and helping expecting mothers prep. By the age of eleven, she was a full midwife apprentice, assisting expecting mothers on her own; needless to say her family was very proud of her skill and maintenance of perfect grades at the same time.

It was in assisting one blueblood family during the wife's first pregnancy that she earned herself notice and favor with people of real status. The Countess's labor had been particularly difficult, and quick thinking on her part saved both her's and the child's life. Out of gratitude for her, the Count approached her father, wishing to pay to send the young Phoebe to finishing school so she might have some of the refinement of a blueblood - because certainly the opportunity to learn to guise oneself as a higher class would be the best way to show gratitude.

Her father and mother were politely dismissive of the offer at first. They were proud people, and being commonfolk wasn't a disadvantage in their eyes (though her mother did note that it wouldn't be terrible if this landed their youngest a blueblood husband because the blueblood life was a more comfortable one. Who didn't want a comfortable life for their children?). Phoebe was of equal mind in a sense, she didn't feel disadvantaged being a commom girl...but finishing school had the promise of more learning, more lessons, more knowledge. She craved the educational environment. Knowing their daughter was interested in the opportunity solely for the educational portion, and not in disdain for the way they had raised her, they finally agreed. To a point. Her father was a proud man - the Count could pay her tuition, but any supplies she needed he would provide for his daughter, even if it meant longer days.

Phoebe was deeply grateful for this and worked hard to earn perfect marks in all her finishing classes. The experience was new for the whole family though. She needed fancy gowns and petticoats - handmade by her mother and sisters (never so extravagant as some of the girls' but Phoebe loved them all the same) - as well as accessories, makeup, quill sets, books on subjects her family had never heard of before. It ended up being a full family effort to make sure she had all the tools she needed to succeed. To say her family was proud of her accomplishments was an understatement - at one point her father was so impressed with her handwriting he had a letter she wrote him framed and hung in the living room because, "Those aren't words, that's art!" as he put it. Phoebe did her part as well, still working as a midwife, being recognized as a full fledged midwife by age 15. She graduated her finishing school, top of her class at sixteen.

Of course, it is easy to say these things, but accomplishing all of this was no easy feat. Balancing the unpredictable work schedule of a midwife - babies never came at convenient times of course - and coursework was exhausting, and regularly she functioned on very little sleep. There were days she was so exhausted she wanted to cry - and there were other days when she did cry, though not from exhaustion. She was the only girl of common birth in her finishing classes, and girls at that age have the propensity to be some of the cruelest creatures in existence. She was regularly mercilessly teased for not having the expensive, pretty things the other girls had, or the fact that she occasionally spoke with a very common colloquial dialect, or anything else that they could pick on; which drove her to work harder and sometimes pushed her to the brink of her mental stamina. During these years as well, the sibling she was closest to was mostly absent. He was in the Storm Army, he had his own young family, and then he was sent through the portal to another realm. She understood all of that, but it was still easy to be hurt that he wasn't there for her during this difficult time.