About RonwnRonwn deFaen (PFS 58034)
Breleth was old - even for a witch - and welcomed the young legs and hands to collect herbs and perform basic preparations of simples and remedies. Ronwn was also tasked to "run" errands along the Gulf Coast. At fourteen, Breleth recommended to Ronwn's parents that Ronwn also take instruction from Faed, Ronwn's distant cousin and proprieter of an alchemy shop in the city. Breleth and Faed had done business in years past, which had diminished as Breleth's mobility decreased. With Ronwn as go-between, Breleth gained access to the broad array of herbal and alchemical items from town, and Faed gained access to Breleth's specialty potions, elixirs, and herbal items - and an additional pair of hands in the shop and laboratory several days a month. This fresh arrangement dramatically expanded Ronwn's horizons. Her errands punting through the fens and in the near reaches of the bay had introduced her to a broad variety of local hunters, farmers, fishermen, and bargemen. In the city, Ronwn met the spectrum of human experience. Her naturally retiring disposition served her well inititally - she avoided troublesome run-ins with the city watch or any local street toughs. Faed nurtured her alchemical inclinations. Breleth continued to develop her arcane capacities. And the city streets taught her lessons of cruelty and oppression that she found enlightening and appalling. She had not had a strongly articulated sense of morality before her time in town - just a basic level of religious observance at home and with Breleth. On the streets, that diffuse sense of 'rightness' was hammered against a growing sense of 'wrongness', galvanized in teenage absolutes and romanticism, and tempered by fear of the repressive authorities. As an outlet for her growing sense of outraged injustice, Ronwn pursued legend and rumor of a resistance to the local regime. This was not at all her forte, and subverted by the backwoods impression she conveyed and her native shyness. These attributes also probably kept her from serious negative attention. Almost unnoticably, in the last five years Ronwn has advanced from apprentice to journeyman. Her father passed away. Her mother lives with the family of one of Ronwn's older brothers. Though her brothers are not hostile, they are obviously uncomfortable with Ronwn's position of 'witch's girl', or increasingly, 'junior fen witch'. Breleth remains a mentor, and Ronwn still has call on the sleeping-nook near the old witch's hearth. But Breleth has settled into the late autumn of her years. Cousin Faed still values Ronwn as an occasional collaborator, and affords Ronwn a small room in the back of the shop and access to his compounding facility. But he does not command her time. Cousin Faed occasionally attempts to introduce Ronwn to 'suitable young gentlemen'. He is a respectable shop owner, and he feels a vague filial guilt at her unattached status. Ronwn is interested enough - her playmates of youth are largely married, and most with several children. Ronwn feels the passing of marriagability with vague regret. None of Cousin Faed's well intentioned meetings was any great success - from either end. Cousin Faed's crop of 'suitable gentlemen' are consistently moderately successful merchants and were put off by Ronwn's gentility, rusticism, and lack of enthusiasm for commercial pursuits. For Ronwn's part, she has found them cold, arrogant, and gratuitously cruel. Perhaps more importantly, none of these 'dates' resulted in a major disaster. Ronwn has not considered this explicitly, but has been reticent to accept more of Cousin Faed's oblique suggestions. Appearance
For all that her coloration is striking, her features are not greatly favored, somewhat overlbroad, and sometimes awkwardly sharp, rather than finely angular. In build and dress, Ronwn walks the same borderline - striking, but not well enough favored to be stunning. Ronwn is slightly tall among women, without overtowering the menfolk. She is wiry and broad across the shoulders. At the same time, the curves of womanhood have not passed her by. As long as the current fashion in gowns can accomodate her shoulders, she attractively fills out bodice and bustle. Ronwn does not, however, normally wear a gown. Her much more usual wardrobe includes stout knee-high boots, leather gauntlets (against poling and rowing), woolen or cotton blouse, leathern jerkin, and calf-length leather skirt. Punting on the bay, on the river, or in the fens, and walking the fens searching exotic herbals and other ingredients, she dresses for utility. She keeps her hair shorter and tied back from her face for the same reason. Though she knows how to clean up, and when it's appropriate, her daily wear, both in and out of town is a rustic paen to utility, for hard use in rough conditions. =======================
Ronwn feels Hessedher as more an extension of her self, than as a separate pet/companion. Ronwn will absent-mindedly feed Hessedher crumbs from her plate, or stroke him as he perches on her forearm or shoulder - in much the same way some people twirl their hair or stroke their beard. She will mutter or croon to him at times. Ronwn realizes Hessedher can speak, but it's not a capability she asks him to exercise often. It would, for example, frequently be convenient to send messages to cousin Faed using Hessedher as a carrier pigeon, but Ronwn is very uncomfortable with sending him distant from her, particularly to the city. Ronwn is somewhat more comfortable with Hessedher spending time away from her in the fens, and particularly near Breleth's home. Hessedher was fledged from a nest in the eaves of Breleth's home. Though none of Hessedher's family responded particularly to the witches (young or old), Hessedher was bold, and clever, and presumptuous. As a bare chick he came to table and stole crumbs from Ronwn's plate while she was still eating. Ronwn shooed Hessedher away, and he fluttered into the eaves. From her chair in the corner, Breleth smiled, sensing the start of a bond she was well familiar with. |
