Glovanna of Foxglove Glade is a dryad of the Golden Woods and one of the beloved friends of Dîmeril Laeghartha from the latter's years at Merilrond. Although Glovanna's great oak is ancient, Glovanna herself is comparatively young, having first awakened as a conscious spirit during Dîmeril's time in the Fey World. Like other dryads, Glovanna is not merely a fey woman who happens to inhabit a tree. She is mystically bound to a particular living oak, which is simultaneously her home, her sanctuary and the physical anchor of her existence. To understand Glovanna, therefore, one must also understand Foxglove Glade and the ancient oak at its heart.
Glovanna normally appears as a beautiful young fey woman with light leaf-green skin, delicate Elven features and long pink hair the colour of foxglove flowers. Her appearance changes subtly with the seasons. Her complexion is freshest during spring and summer, while autumn brings warmer undertones to her skin and hair. During winter she becomes noticeably paler and quieter, reflecting the dormancy of her tree. Glovanna favours simple garments seemingly grown rather than made: overlapping leaves, soft plant fibres, flowers and pieces of living vegetation woven together through fey magic. Foxglove flowers frequently appear amongst her clothing and hair. Although capable of appearing entirely corporeal, Glovanna often seems slightly connected to the vegetation around her. Leaves occasionally move when she does despite there being no breeze, flowers turn subtly towards her and her pink hair can be surprisingly difficult to distinguish from the foxgloves surrounding her glade.
Approximately 500 yards west of Merilrond, the Hall of Roses, lies a secluded woodland clearing known as Foxglove Glade. The glade is not large. Ancient trees surround an open patch of soft grass and moss, while great banks of pink and purple foxgloves grow beneath the surrounding canopy. During spring and summer the flowers become so abundant that approaching travellers often smell them before reaching the clearing. At the centre stands Glovanna's ancient oak. The tree predates Glovanna's awakening by centuries. Its immense trunk is deeply furrowed and gnarled, its roots rise through the earth like great wooden serpents and its spreading crown dominates the glade. The oak is Glovanna's Heart Tree. Damage to it causes her distress and serious injury to the tree can directly harm her. Its destruction would mean Glovanna's death. For this reason, harming the ancient oak is amongst the gravest offences that can be committed within the lands around Merilrond. Not that many would be foolish enough to try.
Glovanna's Awakening
Glovanna first awakened beneath the light of a spring full moon during Dîmeril's early residence in the Golden Woods. Although her oak was already ancient, the consciousness that became Glovanna was new. Dîmeril discovered her during a midnight watch after hearing the distant sound of a woman crying. Curiously, none of Dîmeril's companions could hear the cries. Following the sound into the forest, Dîmeril found a frightened young dryad clinging to the enormous oak at the centre of what would become known as Foxglove Glade. Glovanna was confused, frightened and struggling to understand her newly awakened existence. She was equally astonished by Dîmeril. The dryad had instinctively concealed herself from outsiders, yet the Half-Elf had simply seen through the concealment and walked into the glade. Dîmeril made no attempt to interrogate or capture the strange creature she had discovered. Instead, she sat with Glovanna beneath the oak and comforted her. The two talked until dawn. Before retreating into her tree, Glovanna gave Dîmeril a simple kiss of thanks. It was the beginning of an enduring friendship.
Glovanna embodies one of the peculiar contradictions of dryad existence. Her oak may be many centuries old but Glovanna is not. The tree existed before her conscious awakening, and Glovanna possesses instincts and impressions derived from it. She understands her glade, recognises the rhythms of the forest and knows things about plants and woodland life that nobody ever taught her. Yet these should not be confused with mortal memories. Glovanna did not spend those centuries watching kingdoms rise and fall. Her personal memories begin with her awakening beneath the spring moon and the frightened young woman who found herself being comforted by Dîmeril. Consequently, Glovanna can sometimes display ancient woodland wisdom alongside extraordinary personal innocence. The contradiction is entirely natural to her.
Glovanna is gentle, curious and affectionate, with a playful streak that became more pronounced as she grew comfortable with the world beyond her glade. She has little interest in power or the politics of the greater Fey courts. Her concerns are usually much closer to home: her oak, her flowers, the creatures living around the glade and the people she regards as friends. She is nevertheless a fey creature rather than a Human woman with green skin. Glovanna's understanding of ownership, privacy, promises and time can occasionally differ considerably from mortal expectations. She is capable of disappearing into her oak midway through a conversation because something has attracted her attention elsewhere and then continuing the conversation several days later as though nothing unusual occurred. Her friendship, once given, is remarkably sincere. Threatening someone under Glovanna's protection can reveal a much less innocent side of the otherwise gentle dryad.
Glovanna possesses the traditional supernatural relationship with trees associated with her kind. Through Tree Meld, she can simply pass into a living tree. There need be no opening in the bark. Glovanna steps against the trunk and seems to merge naturally into the living wood until nothing remains visible. She can likewise emerge gradually from a tree, sometimes revealing only her face and shoulders while the remainder of her body remains within the trunk. Her Tree Stride allows her to pass magically between suitable trees within her territory. For all this freedom, Glovanna remains bound to her Heart Tree. Ordinarily she cannot simply use Tree Stride to escape that bond and wander wherever she pleases. There is, however, one remarkable exception. The Cutting Tree of Merilrond
During the early years of their friendship, a living cutting from Glovanna's ancient oak was taken and planted within the very heart of Merilrond, the Hall of Roses. Glovanna willingly accepted the young tree as an extension of her Heart Tree. The cutting flourished. Whether because of the magical soil of the Fey World, its connection to Glovanna or simply the extraordinary vitality inherited from its parent, the tree grew considerably faster than an ordinary oak. After approximately twenty years it stands around 40 feet tall, its vigorous branches spreading above the heart of Merilrond. It is known simply as the Cutting Tree. The tree is not a second Heart Tree. Glovanna's existence remains anchored to the ancient oak in Foxglove Glade. Nevertheless, the living connection between parent and cutting allows her to accomplish something normally impossible for a dryad. Glovanna can Tree Stride directly between the two. She may step into her ancient oak in Foxglove Glade and emerge moments later from the Cutting Tree inside Merilrond. To Glovanna, they are not entirely separate trees. The Cutting Tree is a living daughter of her ancient oak, carrying something of the same life within it.
The Cutting Tree effectively gives Glovanna a doorway into the Hall of Roses. She uses it frequently. Residents of Merilrond have consequently grown accustomed to seeing a green hand emerge unexpectedly from the bark, followed by a tumble of pink hair and finally Glovanna herself. At other times she emerges only far enough to observe whatever is happening before quietly disappearing again. Children quickly learn to look for her. Visitors generally do not. Glovanna does not regard herself as a resident of Merilrond. Her home remains Foxglove Glade, only 500 yards away through the Golden Woods. Nevertheless, the distinction is somewhat academic when she can travel between the two trees almost instantaneously. The Cutting Tree has consequently become one of the defining features of Merilrond. Benches and gardens have grown up around it, but the tree itself is treated with great respect. Nobody cuts its branches without good reason, and anything that might damage its roots is kept well away. Foxgloves have also begun appearing beneath it. Nobody remembers planting them.