Melda
Melda is a nineteen-year-old half-elf ranger and one of Dîmeril Laeghartha's wards, whom Dîmeril openly regards as her children. Abandoned as an infant at a shrine of Ehlonna, Melda was brought to Merilrond and raised among the people of the Golden Woods. Nothing is known of her birth parents. Pretty, intelligent and naturally talented, Melda excelled from an early age. She became a gifted archer and woods-woman, but her ability also bred a degree of youthful arrogance. As she grew older, Melda began roaming beyond the boundaries permitted by Dîmeril and concealed these excursions with seemingly harmless white lies.
During one such journey she encountered Boreas, a charming son of King Windhorn of the Fawn Hills. Inexperienced and flattered by his attentions, Melda fell deeply for him. Boreas exploited both her feelings and naïveté, taking her to his father's hall where, after seducing her, he abandoned her and boasted of his conquest. Melda was subjected to cruel mockery, and her humiliation worsened as the story spread through the Fawn Hills and Golden Woods. The affair eventually led to the notorious confrontation at the Star Hall. Boreas came to Merilrond as a guest and then abused its hospitality by openly boasting of his treatment of Melda before the assembled company. An enraged Dîmeril struck him across the face. Boreas responded by drawing a dagger and stabbing her, whereupon Dîmeril disarmed him and killed him with his own weapon.
The experience profoundly changed Melda. Much of her former arrogance disappeared, leaving a quieter and more thoughtful young woman. She remains deeply embarrassed by how completely Boreas deceived her, although neither Dîmeril, Ehlonna nor the Anwyn Sect regards her as disgraced or diminished by what happened. There was, however, one consequence that could not be undone. Before meeting Boreas, Melda had possessed the potential to become one of the rare White Wards of the Sisterhood and perhaps, eventually, a unicorn rider. Only a minority of the Sisterhood ever follow this path, and fewer still are chosen by a unicorn, but it had nevertheless been a possibility open to her. Unicorns accept only maidens as riders. This is not a judgement upon virtue, purity or worth, nor a rule imposed by Ehlonna or the Sisterhood. It is simply part of their ancient nature. Melda can therefore never become a White Ward or follow Dîmeril's own former path as a unicorn rider. For Melda, this remains perhaps the most painful legacy of Boreas. She had never decided that she would become a unicorn rider, but now she can never decide that she wishes to. A choice about her future disappeared before she truly understood its importance.
Dîmeril cannot restore that choice, and she refuses to pretend otherwise. Instead, she later gave Melda Dîmeril's Heartward, a magical pendant protecting her against charms and compulsions, a mother's attempt to ensure that no one would again use magic to take such choices from her daughter. Despite everything, Melda remains kind, curious, courageous and already a capable ranger. Beneath her newfound reserve occasionally emerges the adventurous and mischievous girl she once was. Her challenge now is not simply to become more skilled, but to recover her confidence without recovering the arrogance that once accompanied it. A pretty young half-elf with long blonde hair and blue eyes, Melda bears enough resemblance to Dîmeril that strangers occasionally assume she is Dîmeril's natural daughter. Melda rather likes that mistake.
Tathiel
Tathiel has the unusual distinction amongst the Wards of Merilrond of having two living parents, both of whom love her very much and neither of whom ever intended to abandon her. She became a Ward largely because, having discovered Merilrond as a child, she proved remarkably difficult to persuade that she ought to live anywhere else. Tathiel first came to Merilrond when she was about nine years old, travelling through the Golden Woods with her parents: the human merchant Dorten Vale and his Elven wife Lethira. A damaged wagon wheel turned what should have been a brief stop at the Hall of Roses into a stay of several days. For Dorten and Lethira this was an inconvenience. For their daughter it was quite possibly the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her. Merilrond contained horses, Elves, Fey, adventurers, ancient trees, bows, swords and more interesting people than Tathiel had previously imagined could occupy a single household. There was an invisible pixie who taught her several expressions her parents would have preferred she never learned. There were young women who disappeared into the woods carrying bows and returned covered in mud. There was Luin and his magnificent sword, Glovanna and her ancient oak, and the extraordinary collection of people who had accumulated around the Hall of Roses. Most impressive of all was Heryn Dîmeril.
Dîmeril did something very simple which made an enormous impression upon the little girl: she listened to her. Tathiel asked questions. Dîmeril answered them. When Dîmeril did not know an answer, she said so rather than dismissing the question. Within approximately six hours of arriving, Tathiel had therefore reached the firm conclusion that Merilrond was where she intended to live. Her parents explained that it wasn't. Tathiel appeared to accept this surprisingly well. On the morning the family was due to leave, she disappeared. The resulting search eventually discovered Tathiel concealed inside her parents' own wagon beneath several sacks and blankets. Since the wagon was precisely where her parents intended to put her anyway, the purpose of this strategy was never entirely clear. She was extracted. Twenty minutes later she disappeared again. This time Luin found her in the stables attempting to saddle a horse. She was returned to her increasingly exasperated parents. Tathiel disappeared for a third time. Énglantine eventually located her sitting high in a tree overlooking the road, announcing that she was not coming down. Dîmeril climbed up after her.
Precisely what passed between them has never been recorded. Eventually Heryn and child descended together, and Tathiel reluctantly departed with her parents. That should have been the end of the matter. It wasn't. Over the following year Tathiel wrote constantly to Merilrond. Most of the letters were addressed to Dîmeril, although Megilindir received several and Énglantine received at least one. Énglantine's reply was intercepted by Dîmeril before Dorten or Lethira could read it and has never subsequently been produced. The following summer Tathiel's parents brought their daughter back to visit Merilrond. She stayed three weeks. The next year she stayed considerably longer. Gradually Dorten and Lethira accepted that their daughter had found somewhere profoundly important to her. There was no abandonment, tragedy or formal surrender of parental responsibility. Tathiel remained their beloved daughter and continued to return home regularly. Her parents remained an active part of her life and were always welcome at Merilrond. She simply acquired another home. At some point Dîmeril jokingly referred to her as one of the Wards. Tathiel immediately announced that this made the matter official. Nobody ever succeeded in reversing the decision.
A Daughter with Parents
Tathiel's place amongst the Wards is consequently rather unusual. Dîmeril did not rescue her from an abusive household. She was not orphaned, abandoned or unwanted. Dorten and Lethira remain perfectly respectable parents who occasionally find themselves in the peculiar position of visiting their own daughter at the home of the famous Half-Elven Ranger Lord who somehow acquired her. Tathiel also never regarded Dîmeril as a replacement for her mother. She loves Lethira. She simply loves Dîmeril as well. This gives Tathiel a somewhat different relationship with the Heryn from many of the other Wards. There is enormous affection between them, but rather less reverence. Tathiel has always been perfectly comfortable entering Dîmeril's study, sitting down and announcing: “I have a question.” Dîmeril's customary response is: “Of course you do.” The question might concern woodland lore, Fey customs, the behaviour of horses or whether an acorn produced by Glovanna's bonded oak ought technically to be regarded as Glovanna's child. Tathiel has never entirely understood why some questions cause Dîmeril to stare silently at her for several seconds before answering.
Now eighteen, Tathiel has grown into a striking young Half-Elven woman with long dark hair, grey-green eyes and an unmistakably Elven cast to her features. She has also fulfilled the ambition that began during those first childhood visits and trained as a ranger. She is a skilled rider and archer, comfortable travelling alone through familiar woodland and increasingly capable as a tracker. She favours a longbow and wears the practical leathers, woodland cloak and travelling equipment typical of Merilrond's rangers. Tathiel has no interest in looking like a courtly warrior; everything she carries is intended to be used. Her particular strength is her affinity with animals. Horses have always been her greatest love, although dogs, injured birds and virtually anything small and furry receive enthusiastic attention. Larger and more dangerous creatures fascinate her as well, although her training at Merilrond has instilled considerably more caution than she possessed as a child. The death of Eleneth casts a long shadow over the training of every young ranger raised at Merilrond. Tathiel knows her story and understands why Dîmeril and Megilindir are so insistent that courage and judgement are not the same thing. Being a Ward of Merilrond does not make somebody invulnerable, and discovering a danger does not mean one must confront it alone. Tathiel has taken that lesson seriously. Mostly. She remains Tathiel.
Tathiel ultimately represents something important about what the Wards of Merilrond became. The first Wards were children who desperately needed somewhere to belong. Over time, however, Merilrond became more than a refuge for the abandoned and unwanted. It became a place where Half-Elven children caught between different cultures could discover others like themselves and determine what sort of people they wished to become. Tathiel never needed rescuing. She simply found Merilrond and realised that she belonged there. Her parents eventually realised it too. Dorten has occasionally complained that Merilrond transformed his perfectly sensible daughter into a young woman who regards riding through a forest in the rain as recreation.
Isilwen
Isilwen is one of the stranger Wards of Merilrond, a Half-Elven foundling whose extraordinarily pale blue eyes and instinctive magic reveal the strong touch of the Fey. Butterflies gather around her, animals are unusually trusting of her and tiny blue lights sometimes appear when she is emotional. Wild, curious and impulsive, Isilwen genuinely wants to be good, but is better described as amoral than immoral. She dislikes cruelty and instinctively protects the vulnerable, yet has a distinctly Fey attitude towards rules, property and promises. Dîmeril has consequently learned to be extremely precise when telling her what she must not do. Isilwen has taken naturally to the ranger's path. She is already a talented archer, rider and woods-woman, possessing an uncanny instinct for paths, animals and the moods of the forest. Her greatest difficulty is learning that ability does not make her invulnerable, and the older Wards watch her carefully lest curiosity carry her into dangers she is not yet ready to face.
She is particularly close to Dîmeril, who is herself Fey-touched and understands much of what the girl experiences. The two share a secret: both sometimes see strange blue-white lights moving amongst the Golden Woods which remain invisible to most others. Dîmeril has spent decades learning which Fey impulses should be resisted and is quietly trying to teach Isilwen the same lesson.
There is, however, a considerably greater secret which Isilwen herself does not know. Caelwen Briarstep eventually recognised the signs of a bloodline he knew extremely well. Isilwen is actually the unacknowledged daughter of Lord Vaeroth Amaranthine, Lord of the Violet Hart, the same Sidhe noble whose disastrous attack upon early Merilrond ended in the famous Flight of the Violet Hart. An inconvenient child, Isilwen was cast aside and eventually, through extraordinary chance, found her way into the care of the very woman who had once defeated her father. Only Caelwen and Dîmeril currently know the truth. Revealing Isilwen as Isilwen Amaranthine could draw the sixteen-year-old into Sidhe politics and expose her to claims, obligations and enemies she is not yet equipped to understand. More worrying still, Caelwen believes the harmless Fey manifestations surrounding her may be early indications that Isilwen has inherited considerable potential power from her father's ancient bloodline.
Isilwen has grown up seeing Vaeroth's captured violet banner hanging at Merilrond and has laughed at the story of the arrogant Fey lord who fled without it. She has no idea that the Silver Hart beneath the Crescent Moon is also her own ancestral emblem. For Dîmeril, none of that changes what matters. Isilwen may one day discover that she is Sidhe nobility. For now she is a wild, kind-hearted and frequently exasperating sixteen-year- old, trying to become a ranger and a good person.
Amaranthine is the blood she inherited. Merilrond is the family that chose her.
Estela
Estela came to Merilrond as a very young child, brought to the Sisters of Anwyn by someone whose identity has long since been lost. There was no letter accompanying her, no family token and no reliable account of where she had been born. Attempts to discover her origins produced nothing. Even the name Estela was given to her by the Sisters. There is, however, no great tragedy that Estela herself remembers. She was simply too young. Her earliest memories are of Merilrond: running beneath the trees, being scolded for muddy boots, learning her letters, listening to the older wards' stories and gradually discovering precisely which members of the Sisterhood could be persuaded to provide treats. To Estela, the Sisters are not substitutes for a family. They are her family. She occasionally wonders about her birth parents, particularly as she grows older, but the question has never consumed her. Perhaps one day she will seek answers. Perhaps she will not. Estela does not feel that discovering where she came from would change where she belongs.
Dîmeril's Daughter
Estela is particularly close to Dîmeril Laeghartha, whom she has effectively regarded as her mother for as long as she can remember. There is none of the uncertainty that sometimes troubles Aeryn. Estela will walk into Dîmeril's rooms simply because she wants to talk, seek her out when she is upset and hug her without ever wondering whether she has the right to do so. If someone described Estela as Dîmeril's daughter, Estela would probably see no reason to correct them. Dîmeril almost certainly wouldn't either. This effortless certainty occasionally contributes to Aeryn's jealousy, although Estela is largely oblivious to it. Indeed, if somebody explained that Aeryn sometimes fears Dîmeril does not love her as she loves Estela, Estela would probably be genuinely baffled. Aeryn is one of her older sisters. Obviously Dîmeril loves her. For Estela, the matter really is that simple.
A Budding Ranger
Estela has recently begun serious training with the martial Sisters of Anwyn and has already demonstrated considerable natural ability. She is quick, observant and particularly promising with the longbow. Her excellent eyesight, quick hands and instinctive understanding of distance make archery come easily to her, while years spent growing up in the Golden Woods have given her the beginnings of good woodland instincts. Her greatest weakness may simply be that things often come easily to her. Aeryn will shoot at the same target a hundred times because she is determined to master a difficult shot. Estela might succeed on her fifth attempt, grin delightedly and decide that she would now rather go swimming. Dîmeril has therefore begun teaching her that talent and discipline are not the same thing. Estela finds this lesson considerably less interesting than archery. At fifteen she is still very much a trainee. She has accompanied supervised patrols and is learning tracking, woodcraft, riding and the responsibilities expected of a Sister, but nobody at Merilrond is under any illusion that a single level of ranger training makes her an experienced adventurer. Estela herself may occasionally require reminding of this.
Estela has little interest in becoming a Unicorn Rider or following the path of the White Wards. She thinks unicorns are magnificent, loves hearing stories about Aelheryn and can happily listen to Dîmeril recount her old adventures for hours. She simply doesn't want Dîmeril's life for herself. Estela wants to be Estela. Her ambitions are consequently rather more immediate. She wants to become a proper ranger, explore parts of the Golden Woods she has not yet seen, accompany increasingly distant patrols and eventually be trusted to disappear into the forest without an older Sister demanding to know precisely where she is going and when she intends to return. Dîmeril considers that last ambition considerably more distant than Estela does.
Appearance and Character
Estela's long brown hair, dark eyes and distinctly pointed ears give her a strongly Elven appearance, although the precise mixture of her ancestry remains unknown. She is an attractive, personable girl with an easy warmth and confidence that tends to put strangers at ease. She has also acquired the slightly dangerous self-assurance of a child who has grown up knowing that several exceptionally formidable women will come looking for anyone foolish enough to harm her. Estela is cheerful, affectionate and naturally sociable. She lacks some of the emotional complications carried by the older wards because Merilrond has always represented security rather than recovery to her. She does not remember another home to mourn or another family against whom the Sisters must be measured. For Dîmeril, Estela is perhaps one of the clearest examples of what Merilrond has become. She arrived without history, inheritance or even a name of her own. She was given all three, not through blood, but through belonging.
Aeryn Velatha
Aeryn Velatha is a nineteen-year-old half-Elven ward of the Sisters of Anwyn, born to a human mother and Elven father. After her father departed, her mother eventually entrusted Aeryn to the Sisters, providing a substantial sum towards her upbringing which has always been held on Aeryn's behalf. Unlike several of Dîmeril's other wards, Aeryn was never formally adopted, and although she rarely admits it, she envies the almost daughterly relationship some of the others enjoy with the Heryn. Consequently, she strives constantly to earn Dîmeril's approval, often volunteering for responsibilities before she is truly ready.
Aeryn has gravitated strongly towards the martial Sisters, proving particularly talented with the bow, riding, tracking and woodcraft. Headstrong, independent and intensely determined, she already considers herself ready for dangerous patrols and becomes frustrated when older Sisters continue to treat her as a child. Her first favoured enemy is goblinoids, although she seldom explains the reason for this particular hostility.
A sincere follower of Ehlonna, Aeryn has become fascinated by Dîmeril's former life as a Unicorn Rider and dreams of one day following the same path. She is amongst the small number of White Wards who voluntarily practise the chastity traditionally associated with the Unicorn Riders, although Dîmeril has deliberately discouraged her from believing that such devotion will cause a unicorn to choose her.
With long copper-red hair, hazel-green eyes and a lightly freckled complexion, Aeryn is a striking and charismatic young woman who is rarely seen far from her bow. Approaching her twentieth birthday and formal adulthood, she stands between two lives: no longer truly one of Anwyn's children, but not yet fully accepted amongst its defenders. Aeryn must eventually decide whether the Path of the Unicorn is genuinely her calling, or simply the path she believes will finally make Dîmeril see her as someone she has chosen.
Almarea
Almarea came to Merilrond at eleven years old, a half-starved and badly neglected half-Elven girl travelling with a ragged company of players and minstrels sheltering near the Golden Woods. Exactly how she came into their possession was never satisfactorily explained, although the marks of mistreatment upon the child spoke eloquently enough. When Dîmeril discovered her condition, a brief and decidedly forceful discussion followed. The players departed without Almarea, and nobody in Anwyn ever troubled themselves greatly over the legality of the arrangement.
Eight years later, Almarea is still technically one of Dîmeril's wards, although at nineteen there is little of the helpless child about her. She has grown into a capable young ranger and martial Sister, skilled with bow and blade and fiercely protective of those weaker than herself. Some scars remain visible and others do not. Her experiences have left her more cynical than many of the Sisters and considerably less inclined to believe that kindness alone can overcome cruelty. She is not cruel herself, but neither does she lose much sleep over harsh measures taken against those who prey upon the vulnerable.
Almarea adores Dîmeril, although she is far less needy of her approval than some of the younger wards. In Almarea's mind, Dîmeril is simply her mother, whether anyone ever formally declared it or not. She respects Lusara and the priestly Sisters, sincerely follows Ehlonna and understands their gentler teachings, but it is Dîmeril's example that has shaped the woman she is becoming: protect what is good, give people a chance where one can, and when necessary be prepared to fight ruthlessly for it. She is particularly close to Melda. The two are the same age, both Half-Elven rangers, and spend so much time together that the younger wards have taken to calling them “the twins.” Their similar colouring and appearance lends just enough credibility to the nickname that visitors to Merilrond have occasionally taken it literally. Almarea pretends to find this deeply irritating. Melda, naturally, thinks it is hilarious.
Most significantly, Almarea has chosen to follow the White Wards, voluntarily embracing the chastity associated with Dîmeril's old Unicorn Rider tradition. Dîmeril neither requested nor particularly encouraged the decision. For Almarea, however, it represents independence as much as devotion. After a childhood in which others exercised power over her body and her choices, the vow is entirely hers. Whether she maintains it throughout her life remains her decision, but for now Almarea is adamant.
Eleneth — The Lost Ward
Eleneth was one of Dîmeril's earlier wards, a Half-Elven girl who came to Merilrond while still a child and grew up amongst the household of the Hall of Roses. Bright, courageous and naturally athletic, she took eagerly to the martial traditions of Anwyn and developed into a talented young ranger. She was a fine archer, a capable tracker and an increasingly confident swordswoman. Unfortunately, ability brought confidence rather faster than it brought judgement. Eleneth had grown up surrounded by remarkable people and even more remarkable stories. Dîmeril and her companions had fought dragons, hags, undead and monsters; hostile Fey lords had challenged Merilrond and been defeated. To a girl raised within the Hall, it was dangerously easy to believe that such victories were normal. Eleneth gradually developed an exaggerated confidence in her own abilities and, more subtly, in the protection she imagined came simply from being a Ward of Merilrond.
Megilindir, already an experienced ranger herself, recognised the problem and repeatedly warned her. Eleneth resented what she regarded as unnecessary caution. Their final serious conversation became an argument in which Megilindir bluntly reminded her that she was not Dîmeril. Eleneth angrily replied that neither was Megilindir. Not long afterwards, while ranging beyond the safer parts of the woods, Eleneth discovered signs of an ettercap and several giant spiders. She knew what she had been taught to do: withdraw, return to Merilrond and bring experienced companions. Instead, she followed them.
Eleneth fought well. When Dîmeril eventually tracked her down, several spiders lay dead and there was ample evidence that the young ranger had resisted fiercely. It had not been enough. Dîmeril found Eleneth still alive, but so terribly wounded that even the healing available at Merilrond could no longer save her. The young woman's confidence had disappeared by then. Frightened and dying in Dîmeril's arms, Eleneth admitted simply: “I thought I could do it.” Dîmeril answered: “I know.”
Eleneth died shortly afterwards. What followed remains one of the darker episodes in the history of Merilrond. Dîmeril was famous for giving even dangerous enemies one warning and one opportunity to leave. She offered the ettercaps no such mercy. Grief-stricken and furious, she followed their tracks back into the deeper woods, killed the creature responsible for Eleneth's death and continued tracking until she discovered the larger colony from which it had come. Dîmeril entered the lair alone and destroyed the ettercaps and their giant spiders without warning or quarter. There was no celebration when she returned.
Those closest to Dîmeril understood that they had witnessed something very different from her usual ruthless protection of the Golden Woods. Eleneth's killers were dead, but Eleneth remained dead. Dîmeril had taken revenge and discovered that revenge had given her nothing back. Eleneth's death profoundly affected the way subsequent Wards were trained. Dîmeril did not forbid them from adventuring or attempt to protect them from every danger. Instead, greater emphasis was placed upon judgement, retreat and understanding one's limitations. The Wards are still taught to be brave, but also that finding danger does not oblige them to face it alone, and that asking for help is not cowardice. Megilindir was particularly affected. She carried considerable guilt over their final argument and thereafter became considerably less tolerant of younger Wards confusing confidence with competence.
Eleneth was buried in a small clearing near Merilrond that she had loved in life. Her grave is marked by a modest woodland monument carved with a bow and a small spider. Flowers grow around it, and the Wards still leave feathers, ribbons, flowers and blunted arrows there. Before leaving Merilrond upon their first serious adventures, some young Wards visit Eleneth's Clearing with one of their elder sisters. Dîmeril has always resisted attempts to reduce Eleneth's life to the manner of her death. When somebody once described the girl as foolish, the Heryn quietly corrected them: “She did something foolish. She wasn't a fool.”
