The Blanketfort (crying and throwing up)

She wasn't born Dalish. She was originally from the Starkhaven alienage. She grew up there, happy enough. Her parents were merchants for the alienage. Rowan's grandmother was Dalish. She had fallen in love with a "flat-ear" and left the clan. Her mother taught her how to read and write Common. Rowan fell in love with reading and books. She was pretty happy for awhile.

When she was 12, (about 9:32 Dragon) the Vael line was up in the air. It looked like it was going to go to the cousin of Sebastian Vael. He was very incompetent (which Seb talks about in DA2) and wasn't ruling well. As a result, there was more gangs and other groups that were bribing the guards. It was becoming similar to the Denerium alienage.

Rowan's parents feared for their daughter and knew they couldn't protect her if a gang so choose. They had already been pressed for extra protection and that "they have a very pretty daughter." This gang had also made it clear what was going to happen to Rowan's parents if they didn't pay up. Her parents didn't have the money and they knew it.

Out of desperation and love, they decided to contact the Dalish clan. Within a week they had cautiously agreed to find the child and take her in. Her parents gave Rowan a teardrop shaped pendant that had the full tree of Mythal engraved in the back. With heavy hearts, they told her where to go to find her grandmother's Dalish clan. The young elf had nothing but that pendant, her favorite book, a bedroll and a warm cloak. She left before dawn one morning. She never heard from them again.

Rowan journeyed for what seemed like forever. In truth, it was only two days. However, she'd become quite ill with exposure. The Dalish found her, sick and shivering on the ground. In her hand, she was clutching the pendant. They took her in and her became part of the clan.

For the next 6 years, things went well for Rowan. The clan was a little leery at first, with some of the other kids calling her "flat-ear." The adults put a stop to that and soon she was treated as well as any born Dalish. Her tales of the shem cities fascinated everyone. When she showed interest in the longbow at the age of 13, the hunters immediately began to teach her. How to move with almost no sound. How to notch the arrow quietly and how to track both rams and shems alike. She lost her city accent and had almost forgotten her old life.

Until the day she was to get her vallaslin. She choose Mythal. She prided herself on helping to feed and protect the clan. The Keeper approached her with the small polished brush, filled with tiny sharpened needles. Bracing herself for the pain, she agreed to the branches. It didn't take as well as it should have. Rather than the magical ink settling into her skin, she began to bleed out. Only the fainest bit of the ink remained. The Keeper agreed to try again in a few days. Rowan was eager to prove herself to her clan and agreed to go through the pain again.

The same thing happened again. All that was left was a faint amount of hazel-colored dye, along with a scar. Rowan wanted to try again, but the Keeper refused. She was worried about further scarring ruining Rowan's eyesight. Everything changed for good that day.

She was no longer a beloved member of the Dalish. Her former friends were calling her "flat-ear", "Chantry-lover," and everything else they could think of. Most of the adults look away or smirk at these comments. Rowan responded by expressing her doubts about the Creators, stating that they could have been merely powerful mages. That didn't endear her to the others but by this point she no longer cared.

Over the next three years, Rowan spent less and less time at camp. She preferred to be alone, tracking game or tracking shems. She began to sneak into some small villages and homes to borrow books. She would take them at night and return them the following evening. Local legends of a "spirit of learning with a love of books" circulated as a result.

She spent most evening meals near the statue of the Dread Wolf, usually looking for intruders. She was terribly lonely but had long learned to live with loneliness. Rowan did become one of the best scouts and hunters in her clan. She had her books and her thoughts. She wasn't happy, but she wasn't unhappy either. Until the day the Keeper told her she had to head south.