Rowyn was born somewhere north of Fort Weyr some twenty-one turns ago. 
Her family of her older brother, sister, mother and father lived in a small 
cothold there. As it was in most cotholds, Geman and father took care of 
the land and runners while her sister and mother learned cleaning, mending 
and the gentler arts like weaving. Wyn was the more boyish of the twins, 
and took to the jobs which involved creativity and getting dirty, though 
her sister got her share of dirt in her gardens. She discovered her talent 
for painting while she and Meara dyed the course cloth they had woven:
Rather than leave her cloth one shade, she tried mixing and darkening the 
colors. While Wyn's clothes weren't exactly the best for sewing into
clothes, they did have interesting patterns and shades. 

   One thing led to another, and Wyn would find ways to stretch her cloth 
over a frame to make a better painting surface, as she had sometimes seen 
at gathers. The clothing dyes were played with and thickened, and finally 
replaced with actual painter's fare. Looking into Wyn's old room in that 
tiny cothold, one might still find her early works brightening the walls.

   The day came when Wyn's father decided his children, then at eighteen 
and sixteen turns, were ready to seek their lives away from their family's 
tiny farming cothold. Geman took his favorite runner, Wyn took her paints, 
and Meara packed her tools. All three found and mended their traveling
clothes, and the trio left the only plage they'd really known. To Rua! 

   Upon making their way to Ruatha, Geman, Meara and Rowyn were eagerly 
taken in for their talents. Meara lost no time in flirting with the men
avialible, and Wyn Impressed two brown firelizards from the same clutch! 
Pride and Trouble lived up to their names, Pride being the more steadfast 
and trustworthy.

   Geman became one of Ruatha's guard, and Meara resumed her duties in the 
gardens, her green thumb bringing even more life to Ruatha's courtyards. 
Rowyn was allowed to seek her path, and spent much of her time sipping klah 
in the common room, sketching newcomers and other residents alike. When 
pressed, she would agree to be homesick, but she's happiest yet for being 
allowed to be Ruatha's painter.

   Meara left Ruatha and returned to their family's cothold after a failed 
handfasting. Rowyn rarely saw her brother Geman, as his guard duties were 
broadened to patrol outside of Ruatha and keep the other Ruathan cotholds 
safe. 

   In her eighteenth turn, Rowyn fell in love with a wanderer named Daruis. 
She fondly remembered his wooing her while she sat hiding high in a tree, 
cracking walnuts and pulling out marks. Darius the wanderer became Daruis 
the Storekeeper to give Rowyn stability in her life. The two planned to be 
handfasted as soon as they could go see Rowyn's father to get his blessing. 
In that time, she also managed to Impress two Green flits: First Joy, and 
then at a High Reaches' Gather, Mischief. She bought a feline at that same 
Gather, naming her Shy.
 
   The two were never handfasted, first by duty at Ruatha: Rowyn would get 
a large commission she could not refuse, or Daruis would be called upon to 
see that the stores were well stocked for Ruatha's winter. When it appeared 
the two would finally have time to be married three turns later, Darius was 
felled by a wasting illness. He was overcome by the sickness before the two 
could ever travel and seek out her father.

   The last heard from Rowyn was when Lord Eleos went mad and all of the 
residents of Ruatha left for Fort Weyr: the only traces of her are an empty 
ruin of her and Darius' cothold away from Ruatha, and the barren cothold 
near Fort Weyr that had been granted to replace the old. Where Rowyn is now 
is anyone's guess: The woman who journeyed to Ruatha is no more.

 The World of Pern is copyright © to Anne McCaffrey l967. 
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