Énglantine the Pixie
Énglantine is a pixie of the Golden Woods, adventurer, scout and one of the oldest Fey companions of Dîmeril Laeghartha. Small even by the standards of Dîmeril's unusual collection of companions, she possesses a courage, temper and determination considerably greater than her diminutive stature might suggest.
Énglantine first encountered Dîmeril under thoroughly unpleasant circumstances. She had spent several months imprisoned in a cold-iron cage beneath the ruined keep that would eventually become Merilrond, the Hall of Roses, having been captured while attempting to expose the green hag Mistress Ysabet Vale.
Dîmeril helped free her.
Énglantine subsequently intended to leave.
She never quite got around to it.
Appearance
Énglantine is a diminutive Fey woman standing a little over two feet tall, with delicate Elven features, pronounced pointed ears and translucent wings.
She has distinctive copper-red hair, which she generally wears long and has a tendency to decorate with flowers, feathers, ribbons or whatever else has recently taken her fancy.
Her clothing is colourful, practical by pixie standards and frequently changes according to season and whim. Énglantine has little interest in appearing solemn and even less interest in dressing according to anybody else's expectations.
Her wings are delicate in appearance but surprisingly strong. They were badly damaged during her imprisonment by Ysabet Vale, partly through repeated attempts to escape the hag's cage. Although they eventually healed, Énglantine remains particularly protective of them.
Like most pixies, Énglantine can become invisible.
She does so frequently.
Personality
Énglantine is cheerful, mischievous, inquisitive and extraordinarily self-assured.
She enjoys practical jokes, secrets, riddles and embarrassing people who take themselves too seriously. She possesses a quick wit, an even quicker tongue and a tendency to say precisely what she thinks regardless of whether anyone has requested her opinion.
Beneath this playful exterior lies considerable determination.
Énglantine is brave.
Long before she knew Dîmeril, she discovered that travellers were disappearing around an apparently abandoned woodland keep. Rather than sensibly deciding that this was somebody else's problem, Énglantine investigated.
She discovered the truth.
Unfortunately, the truth discovered her as well.
Her subsequent captivity demonstrated another aspect of her character. Énglantine can endure a remarkable amount without becoming submissive. Months of imprisonment, hunger and mistreatment by a green hag left her weakened almost to death.
They did not make her cooperative.
Mistress Ysabet Vale
When Énglantine first investigated the ruined keep, its supposed mistress was Ysabet Vale, apparently a charming Human woman who offered shelter and hospitality to travellers.
Énglantine discovered that Ysabet was actually a green hag.
The hag had occupied the ruins for years, using enchantment and deception to lure travellers into her power. Énglantine attempted to investigate invisibly and expose the creature, but Ysabet eventually caught her.
Killing a pixie was not necessarily difficult.
Keeping one alive and imprisoned was considerably more complicated.
Ysabet therefore constructed a small cage incorporating cold iron and magical wards. The iron caused Énglantine continual discomfort, while the wards frustrated her innate magical abilities. Her invisibility was of little use when confined behind locked bars.
Ysabet kept the pixie alive partly because she believed a living Fey creature might eventually prove useful in her magical workings.
Énglantine spent months in the cage.
The hag deliberately placed food beyond her reach and allowed her just enough sustenance to survive. Énglantine repeatedly attempted to escape, damaging her wings in the process.
She nevertheless refused to submit.
Her imprisonment finally ended when Dîmeril and her companions discovered Ysabet's true nature and pursued the hag into the cellars beneath the keep.
Behind a heavy door they heard someone swearing.
Dîmeril recognised the language.
Inside the chamber they found an emaciated, filthy and thoroughly furious pixie imprisoned behind cold-iron bars.
Énglantine did not ask Dîmeril who she was.
She did not beg to be rescued.
She simply pointed towards the passage down which Ysabet had fled and croaked:
“Kill that bitch.”
It was Dîmeril's introduction to Énglantine.
Glovanna and the Breaking of the Enchantment
Énglantine would later learn that she owed her freedom not only to Dîmeril but also to Glovanna of Foxglove Glade.
Ysabet had placed Dîmeril and her companions beneath a powerful enchantment shortly after their arrival at the keep. The hag's hospitality seemed entirely genuine, and even obvious warning signs gradually ceased to concern them.
Glovanna, whose ancient oak stood approximately 500 yards west of the ruins, sensed that something was wrong.
For a dryad, reaching the keep was no small undertaking.
Glovanna's existence was bound to her Heart Tree, and forcing herself so far from it caused increasing weakness and pain. Nevertheless, the newly awakened dryad struggled all the way to the courtyard in an attempt to warn Dîmeril.
Even then Ysabet's enchantment held.
Eventually Glovanna resorted to the most immediate method she could think of.
She grabbed Dîmeril and kissed her.
The shock finally broke through the enchantment.
Dîmeril saw the keep for what it truly was, and the events that followed ultimately led her into the cellars and to Énglantine's cage.
Énglantine has never forgotten that.
It also became the foundation of the enduring friendship between the pixie and the young dryad.
Dîmeril Laeghartha
After being freed, Énglantine was in no condition to go anywhere.
Dîmeril and her companions fed her, cared for her and allowed her damaged wings to heal. Énglantine initially remained because she believed herself indebted to those who had rescued her.
Dîmeril insisted that no debt existed.
Énglantine disagreed.
As her strength returned, however, obligation became increasingly irrelevant. Dîmeril fascinated her. The Half-Elf possessed an unusual affinity with the Fey World, perceived things concealed from ordinary mortals and could apparently find paths through the Veil between worlds that others could not.
More importantly, travelling with Dîmeril proved interesting.
Énglantine stayed.
Over the years the two developed an unusually close friendship. Dîmeril came to trust Énglantine's instincts, while Énglantine became fiercely loyal to Dîmeril without ever considering herself subordinate to her.
This distinction remains extremely important to Énglantine.
Scout and Companion
Énglantine's abilities make her an exceptional scout.
Her small size, flight and ability to become invisible allow her to travel ahead of a company with little chance of being detected. She developed the habit of ranging ahead before returning invisibly to hover beside Dîmeril and quietly whisper what she had discovered into the Ranger's ear.
Enemies occasionally found this disconcerting.
Dîmeril would apparently stop in the middle of a march, listen to empty air for several moments and then abruptly change her plans.
Énglantine avoids direct combat whenever possible. She prefers reconnaissance, invisibility, trickery and Fey magic to exchanging blows with creatures many times her size.
She is nevertheless quite capable of fighting when necessary.
Her months beneath Ysabet's keep cured her of any romantic ideas about what happens when dangerous creatures are allowed to continue preying upon the helpless.
Cold Iron
Énglantine possesses the traditional Fey aversion to cold iron, but her imprisonment has given the substance a particular significance to her.
She dislikes being near it.
She especially dislikes seeing it fashioned into bars, chains or cages.
Énglantine does not generally discuss her imprisonment, nor does she allow it to dominate her life. She recovered, her wings healed and she returned enthusiastically to exploring the world.
But she remembers.
The sight of a creature imprisoned in a cage can extinguish Énglantine's normally playful manner with remarkable speed.
Hags receive even less sympathy.
Glovanna of Foxglove Glade
Énglantine and Glovanna became close friends during the years surrounding the establishment of Merilrond.
Their personalities complement one another surprisingly well.
Glovanna was a newly awakened spirit tied closely to her ancient oak and knew relatively little about the wider Fey World. Énglantine was mobile, inquisitive and possessed an abundance of worldly experience that she was delighted to share.
Some of it was even useful.
Énglantine became something resembling an older sister to the dryad, teaching her about other Fey, the customs of the woods and the strange behaviour of mortals.
She also taught her practical jokes.
Dîmeril considers the latter an unfortunate consequence of their friendship.
Years later, after a living cutting from Glovanna's Heart Tree had grown into the Cutting Tree at the heart of Merilrond, Glovanna could Tree Stride directly between Foxglove Glade and the Hall of Roses.
The sight of Énglantine and Glovanna whispering together beneath that tree became a recognised warning that somebody in Merilrond was shortly going to be inconvenienced.
Merilrond
Énglantine knew the place that became Merilrond, the Hall of Roses, before it was a home.
She knew its cellars.
She knew what had happened there.
And she remembered the bones of those who had not survived Ysabet Vale.
Perhaps for that reason, Énglantine took particular pleasure in watching the old ruin become something entirely different.
Dîmeril and her companions repaired chambers and cleared the courtyard. Roses were encouraged rather than allowed simply to grow wild. Glovanna's Cutting Tree eventually stood at its heart. Woodland folk began returning to the surrounding country as Dîmeril removed the predators that had troubled them.
Énglantine watched an old hag's lair become a place of refuge.
She became part of its household almost without anyone noticing when it happened.
Énglantine carries messages, scouts the surrounding country, exchanges gossip with the woodland Fey and frequently knows who is approaching Merilrond well before anyone else.
Precisely where she sleeps remains uncertain.
Énglantine maintains several small residences around the Hall and appears to regard all of them as hers.
The Woodland Folk
Énglantine was amongst the first to recognise what was happening as the lands around Merilrond became safer.
Dîmeril saw neighbours who needed occasional help.
The woodland folk increasingly saw a protector.
Énglantine understood both perspectives.
She knew enough of Fey custom to recognise that authority does not always begin with crowns, laws or proclamations. Gifts, protection, obligations and loyalty create relationships of their own.
When woodland folk began bringing gifts to Merilrond and seeking Dîmeril whenever danger threatened, Énglantine understood that something resembling a little domain was forming around them.
Dîmeril repeatedly denied being its ruler.
Énglantine believed her completely.
She also knew that this would not necessarily matter to the Fey Courts.
The Fey World
For all her mischief, Énglantine is an invaluable guide to the customs of Faerie.
She understands that gifts can create obligations, that promises should be worded carefully and that hospitality can possess meanings entirely invisible to mortals.
She knows something of the great Sidhe, the lesser Fey courts and the dangers of the ancient Queen's Roads.
Dîmeril's ability to perceive such roads particularly fascinates her.
Énglantine can recognise many Fey paths and understands their dangers, but Dîmeril occasionally sees routes that even the pixie cannot perceive until they are pointed out.
This was one of the earliest indications to Énglantine that Dîmeril's connection to the Fey World was considerably stranger than ordinary Elven ancestry could explain.
It also means that Énglantine has occasionally found herself following Dîmeril down a path that she cannot see.
She considers this deeply unfair.
Énglantine and Dîmeril
Énglantine has travelled with Dîmeril for many years and has been variously described as her scout, companion, adviser and follower.
The first three descriptions are acceptable.
The fourth is not.
Many years after their first meeting beneath the ruined keep, somebody referred to Énglantine as one of the followers of the famous Ranger Lord.
The pixie looked genuinely puzzled.
“I don't follow Dîmeril.”
She pointed towards Dîmeril.
“We travel together.”
Dîmeril had long since learned not to argue the distinction.