Ro
Legacy Name: Ro

Rowan, otherwise known as Ro. Eighteen years old and raised by elk in the snowy mountain forests since his birth, he protects his herd from hunters and wolves. He has a very rough first encounter with Aria -- a fiery, young huntress skilled in the craft of archery -- when she attempts to shoot down one of his younger brothers. After a short scuffle involving Ro's jagged dagger, Aria's hunting blade, and a cut cheek, they strike up a tentative friendship.

Aria repeatedly visits Rowan's forest and teaches him how to speak. She's very well acquainted with the forest and its provisions, but he, in return, teaches her the forest's secrets: which ice-cold streams have the sharpest and clearest water -- straight from the glaciers, the softest and most flexible branches to fashion her bows, which jagged stones to take for arrows, the smell of a coming snowstorm, and the different trills of birdsong.

Ro's quiet and silent. Even after he learns how to speak, he prefers to communicate with body language; only Aria can understand and read the subtle changes in his frame, shoulders, and face. They connect and often communicate using glances and touches and short words. He speaks only when he feels a certain weight or importance in what he's trying to convey. Despite the fact that he doesn't speak often, he's extremely quick-witted and resourceful. Aria is more headstrong, assertive, and brash than he is, so together they balance each other like a set of brass scales.

basically wintry reverse princess mononoke w/ a lot of fire and snow

Ro and Aria both watch each others' backs and help keep each other safe; Ro finds and saves Aria when she's caught in a violent snowstorm on the mountainside, and Aria beats back and injures three large hunters who shoot Ro's mother and injure Ro himself when he attempts to defend her.

(His mother succumbs to her bullet wounds two days later. Aria offers silent and unfaltering support after his mother passes; she's the anchor that grounds him.)

+ Slender, wiry, lean, and strong.

+ A bit shorter than Aria

+ Dark chestnut hair with grey eyes (Aria describes them as the color of the horizon before the coming of a violent storm)

+ ~18 years old, but because he was abandoned as a child in the mountains, his real age unknown

+ Wears wolf pelts and soft moccasin shoes (stole them, along with a pair of pants and lynx furs, from a tradesman journeying through the mountain pass). Also has a grouse-feather and wolf-tooth necklace.

+ Hunts with a jagged, sharpened stone dagger and a spear