Freahilda

Character Name: Freahilda

Age: 21 (3011)

Date of Birth: Autumn 2990

Race: Woman

Residence: Formerly lived on a goat farm in the Westfold, then moved to Grimslade, a small village to the south of Isengard. Now she travels for a living throughout the plains of Rohan and further afield.

Profession: Matron of a traveling clan.

Appearance: Freahilda is slight of figure and waif-like, with ruddy blonde hair, usually left down and fairly unkempt, and blue eyes. She is of small stature for a woman of Rohan standing at 5'4". She has worn the same brown dress, faded and patched many times, for the past several years, and various knitted outer garments which were made even longer ago.

Personality: Freahilda was once a sweet natured and innocent young girl, doing everything her parents asked of her, keeping her sheep and goats, and helping her mother with the shearing and spinning. When one disaster after another struck her family, her innocence fell away piece by piece, and she had to steel herself to not fall into grief. In fact, she remains quite emotionless these days.

Freahilda has always been afraid of being alone. Though the fear was only over simple things in her childhood and growing years, it became a driving force in her life when things turned for the worse, and has made a great impact on her life choices putting her where she now is today. She is also filled with the stubbornness of the women of Rohan. She does what she needs to do to get by, not without some difficulty and has hope remaining for her future. She is not afraid to use some deceptions to get her where she wishes to be.



Parents: Father: Dernfara (Deceased at 40), Mother: Freawine (Deceased at 36)

Sibling(s): Sister: Deorhild (8), Brothers: Widfara (Deceased at 12), Derngrim (Deceased at 17)

Spouse: She doesn't exactly consider him as spouse, but she travels with Talfryn, and he provides for her and uses her body as he pleases, while she has great hopes that he will soon die so she can use his gold as she pleases.

(Grand)Children: Two “grandsons” aged 21.

History: Freahilda was raised among a family of goatherd's on the Westfold. When she was 16, a disease struck killing most of her family's herd, shattering their livelihood, followed by an incredibly harsh winter that froze her family to the bone and plagued them with illness, Freahilda was left to care for her young sister alone. Having no income and nothing to eat, they abandoned their family home and moved to the small village of Grimslade. It was not difficult to find a family to take her young sister in (aged 4 at the time), but the village residents were poor and nobody had a spare room nor bed for a near-grown young woman.

For two years time, Freahilda found her refuge in a tavern on the outskirts of Grimslade. It was a dim place, and the offer of employment even more bleak, but the tavernkeeper let her keep her last goat and donkey in his ramshackle stable, and gave her room and board in the back lean-to in exchange for a bit of cooking and cleaning the dishes. The requirements for staying were soon added to, and at the age of 17 it became necessary for her to offer her more womanly services off in a side room to the travelers who came through to sell their harvests, and drink and gamble. The thought sickened the girl for she had once dreamed of an honest life, a husband of her own, a farm, a way to take her sister home with her; yet she was at a loss for what else to do or where else to live, so she innocently appeased the first man who was sent her way, and many thereafter, though she took no enjoyment of it. It became apparent after a short time that once a woman enters a certain line of service, it is not possible to leave it again, and now she had made her bed and must sleep in it... with whoever would offer the tavernkeep the cost asked.

The life did not suit Freahilda, and when a new offer came to her at age 18; an offer that came with the idea of gold and prosperity, she jumped for it. One of the travelers who came to her for her services offered to take him along with her. He had said he was a traveling merchant, and roamed from village to village with his family. The man was a smooth talker, at least to Freahilda's ears, and he offered to take her with him, marry her, and promised she would live in comfort, and that they would send money to support her little sister until she was grown. For Freahilda, the offer seemed too good to refuse. Someone would still choose to take her as his own knowing that she was what most would consider tarnished? Even if she did not exactly like the man or have any feelings for him other than gratefulness; serving one man was better than the multitudes, and he was a merchant. If she had money… she could change the lives of both herself and her sister. Perhaps they could even move to the capitol city of Edoras some day and settle down in a comfortable home. She could serve her husband and nobody would need know of her past.

As soon as she had gathered her sparse belongings, said farewell to her sister, and tied her goat to the donkey, they set off for his encampment upon the plains and she met the man's “family”, which consisted of his adoptive brother and grandfather, whose features told her that they were both Dunlendings. The patriarch of the group was a traveling witch doctor, who worked his Dunlending concoctions, some of which were useful, and some not, and sold them to would be customers as they traveled.

Still, the man had showed her some of the gold and spoken so well of their business. It could not be worse than the life she was already living. They seemed agreeable enough for the time being, but as soon as they settled in for their first night in the encampment, the man and his brother had a disagreement as to who in fact she would be sleeping with. They began to fight, evensomuch as falling off the embankment into the mud on the rivers edge.

The two carried on for a long time, and meanwhile, their grandfather approached her, offered her a drink that made her quite drowsy herself, and took her to bed with him. When she awoke in the morning, she was sitting in the wagon beside Talfryn, who declared that she was now his “wife”, and that the other two men, who were bruised near beyond recognition from the spat of the previous night, were to call her their “Gran.” Talfryn was the Patriarch of the group, controlled the gold, and ran the business. It was apparent that all need listen to him.

Each time they approached a new settlement or a village, Freahilda thought to herself that she could simply stay behind. On the first few instances she made protest and even attempted to escape. There were taverns in each setting, and she could easily take up her previous life again, and perhaps eventually make it back to her sister and Grimslade on her own someday if she could save enough for the travel. However, Talfryn always seemed to have a sleeping tonic on hand, and managed to trick her into drinking it more than once.

To the men, after some months, it appeared Freahilda had become resigned to her position. She stopped attempting to leave them, and she cooked a good stew with the game that her grandsons brought back to her. She found that if she pleased Talfryn, he gave her some sway over their plans, and some authority over her 'grandsons'. By the time she realized Talfryn had been drugging her, she had her eye on the gold. Talfryn collected more and more of it as he traveled and made and sold his wares. He was also very old. Perhaps he would not live much longer, and when he died, she could take his wealth and leave him with much to show for it. Perhaps he would not die of natural causes, yet it could be made to seem that he did? For as time passed on she watched the witch doctor in his work, and began to learn some of the herbs he used for his tonics. She has even made use of some of the articles he carries to keep herself from bearing the man a child; though this has on occasion made her ill.

Perhaps a day will come when she will use her other knowledge and poison the whole trio with a fine rabbit stew, yet, not until they have amassed a bit more fortune. Yet still, even the thought of this treachery has done nothing but pass through her mind on occasion. If "they", her pseudo-family were gone, she has wondered even now if she would miss them in the end. They are, after all, her only true companions.