Maeve Downwind

Personal Information

Born: 575 ATA

Spouse: Johan Downwind

Children(survived): Johan Downwind Jr – born 597 ATA and Gunther Downwind – born 602 ATA

Grandchildren: At least one child by Johan Jr, more at your discretion

Occupation: Healer and midwife in the town of Lightholder

Description

Maeve’s appearance is both inviting and yet a force to be reckoned with at the same time. She’s of average height but after birthing multiple children of her own and midwifing many more, has accumulated an extra bit of girth. Her face is likewise rounded, capped in front by a short, curt little nose and dimpled, rosy cheeks. Her eyes are bluish gray and head is topped with a braided mop of graying, brown hair. Of amble bosom, she squeezes what she can into a corset ‘round her waist when feeling fancy. Her typical garments are of humble cotton and she dresses more traditionally in skirts, blouses, and gowns. Pants never did catch on with this woman.

Background

Maeve was one of many children born into a farming family that resided on the countryside within sight of the Palace. As a teenager she took a gambling roll in the hay with farmer Johan Downwind – a young man known widely for his infectious humor and gaseous backside. Somehow, Maeve found that trait to be endearing enough to pledge the rest of her life to the man. At age 17 she was wed and a year later came along her first son – Johan Jr.

By the time she was married, Maeve had already studied herbalism and the art of bone mending from local healers. Within the next ten years, her skills grew to the height of infamy – or as close to infamy as a freelander could get in those days. She stationed herself out of Lightholder Crossroads and so it is that her talents became more exposed to the passing populace. In the year 611 ATA, a distraught Duke by the name of Athell Mikin came to her with a proposition that the harried and suddenly-widowed mother simply could not refuse.

And so it was that a somewhat begrudged and grass-stained girl by the name of Rowena Mikin was planted on her doorstep, and as the Mikin carriage rode away from sight, she took the girl (nearly by force) into her home. Thus began Maeve’s position as a tutor. She instructed her adopted apprentice in the studies of herbalism, healing, and even a bit of alchemy for the next five years. When the girl reached age 18, she was sent for again by the Duke and released from Maeve’s productive imprisonment. Her apprentice of course had retained her love for the freelander lifestyle and for Maeve herself, so contact between the two remained very strong. Four years along the road after the Duke and Duchess Mikin had an unfortunate ‘accident’, Maeve became in a way Rowena Mikin’s surrogate maternal figure and even as an adult, the former apprentice would turn to her for advice from time to time. When that apprentice grew into the title of “Royal Healer” and was positioned in His Majesty’s Council, Maeve’s name was praised and made public as having been the Duchess’ tutor.

In the year 624 when tragedy struck and Shadow’s attack on Fastheld took full strength, Maeve was called in frequently by the Royal Healer herself to assist in managing healing ‘camps’ for the wounded and refugees. She also tended to, as a personal favor to Rowena, the former Chancellor Oren Nillu when his health failed him. Since that day, Maeve’s exceptional fondness for Oren has been blatantly obvious whenever she gets the chance to make it so.

Maeve’s husband Johan died in 611 ATA, suffering from a failed heart in his sleep. She enjoys speaking often about him and will not hesitate to share the story about how he earned his surname of “Downwind”. Let’s just say it had something to do with his rather disastrous flatulence at a young age...

Personality

Maeve is a loud, proud, and in-charge sort of soul. She can get a bit uppity from time-to-time but for the most part seems stuck insufferably in a jovial sort of mood. Especially when around Oren. She still looks on Rowena as her adopted daughter and won’t hesitate to mother hen the woman every now and again.

Other Notes

One fact that can be noted is that during the years she trained Rowena in the ways of healing, she never indulged the girl with the knowledge of how to be a midwife. According to Maeve, you cannot be that which you have never been - in other words, if you yourself have never given birth, then you cannot be expected to bring comfort and authority to one who is/has. That sort of knowledge, she insisted, would come with time. It never did, to an outstanding degree at least, as Rowena has yet to be wed or bear children of her own. When Rowena was about midway through her apprenticeship, she witnessed something terrible in Maeve’s home and it deterred her from encountering a birth ever again, if it could be helped.

As Maeve was tending to a delivering mother in her kitchen, the situation turned deadly when the mother began to hemorrhage. Rowena had been sent off on errand by Maeve to get the girl away from the sights and sounds before the labor even began, but Rowena returned prematurely from said errand. She watched secretly from the window as the baby inside was born dead, strangled by his own cord, and the mother bled out the rest of her life beside the hearth while Maeve held the woman’s hand in prayer. Maeve learned only too late of the prying eyes in the window when Rowena screamed from it and fled away into the gardens. It is that incident which is said to have caused her apprentice’s later aversion to courtship and marriage.