The small child stared across the room at the older man standing there. He wasn't as tall as Papa, just a few hairs shorter. His hair was slightly unkempt but in a way that made it seem like he had styled it as such on purpose. His eyebrows were monstrous and very distracting to the timid child. A gentle hand on on the child's back urged him forward and the child turns to see Papa. His blonde hair trimmed neatly in waves to just at his shoulders, his eyes set in a determined pout. The child saw no caring in those cold eyes. Looking back down to the bear held in small arms the child thought about their life up to this point.

Papa had seemed nice at first but had soon lost interest in the northern child, leaving the child to the care of others who saw it as a burden to care for the un-aging child. The child was left alone. When word reached them that Papa had lost a war and his enemy was demanding that the child be handed over to him he had hoped Papa would refuse, would fight more. No such thing happened. Papa had shown up and demanded the child be dressed in the best clothes available. The child looked down at these clothes now. Ruffles and lace everywhere. The top came to the child's knees and cinched at the waist. The servants had even curled the child's hair in the latest fashions, even if the soft hair hardly held those curls.

When the child had reached the half way point across the room the sound of a door shutting signalled that Papa had left. Not even caring enough to see this through to the end. It was too much for the small colony as tears welled in violet eyes. Quick steps strode towards the child but did not cause the child to look up. At least not until the man knelt before the child and wrapped his arms about the small frame.

"It will be alright lass. You'll like it at my place. You'll have friends you can play with and your brother has been asking about you."

The child stopped sniffling when the older man addressed her. This man thought she was a girl. Hadn't Papa told him that his name was Matthieu? But wait this man was being nice to her. Was it because he thought she was a girl? If that was true then Canada would no longer be Matthieu, she would go by a different name.

"He he has been?"

"Yes. Now why don't you tell me your name? I can't just call you Canada forever if I am to care for you properly."

Canada opened her mouth, but nothing came out. What should be her name? "Co could you give me a name?"

The older man gave her a quizzical look, furrowing his eyebrows. "Didn't France give you one?"

"He he did but," At this point her lip began to quiver and she had to fight to hold back tears, "He gave me up. I don't want the name he gave me."

The blonde looked down at the child pityingly before nodding. "Alright then. Let me think. How about Matilda?"

Matilda smiles through her teary expression at her name and nods. "Thank you. I like it very much sir."

"Ah no need for formalities. Feel free to call me Arthur."

"Arthur?" She ponders this for a moment. She had been abandoned by Papa and left with this new man who was kind to her. He even said she had a brother. Calling him Arthur didn't convey her feelings the best, at least she felt it didn't. "Could I call you brother?" She gives him a hopeful look that immediately causes the growing scowl on his face to soften.

"Certainly. I will be your big brother after all, so why not?"

At this time Arthur stands and holds out his hand for the child. She takes it an he leads her out of the room and into her new life. As she crossed the threshold of the door she felt no regrets in leaving Matthieu behind. He wasn't who she was anymore. She wouldn't be forgotten or ignored in her new life. She would have friends. She would have brothers. She did not need Papa, just as he did not need Matthieu. So she left it all behind and embraced her new identity as Matilda.

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I really hope you guys like this. And I know I really should be getting to work on finishing other things I've started but, I've never seen this done. So I really want to do it and share it with you guys. Hopefully now that I'm using Google Documents and can be terribly bad with working on things at work this will be finished quickly. Please review and let me know what you think.