Malva was born at home. She is the youngest of four siblings; Mother Teawort raised her children alone in a modest home near the Hierophant's grove in Steinbjorn, as her father was dragged away by Imperial agents when Malva was young. Her oldest brother is laborer in the mines, but constantly finds himself strapped for cash. Her older sister was a hunter who surveyed and foraged in the forests surrounding Steinbjorn, but a serious injury has kept her home several years with their mother. The middle brother is a successful guild artisan; he moved away to Meadoros several years back, but does travel home pretty regularly to check on his siblings and their mother. On the whole, Malva gets along well with her siblings, but growing up others saw her as different or strange, and she had few other companions.
Malva's father taught her about the criminal life, since she seemed to have an aptitude for the work and didn't seem suited to crafting or mining like her siblings. He taught her a lot of tricks. The daggers she carries were a gift from him.
On one of her previous runs, hobgoblins attacked the wagons she was escorting. They were fought off but Malva ended up with a very bad wound on her right arm which left a nasty scar.