Awards:

Wolfpack Award of Valour

Beaucoup d'Armes 2005

Household:

Pirate Ship Discordia

Under the protection of Hawks Haven

Interests:

• Heavy Fighting
• Dancing
• Rapier Fighting
• Charter Painting
• Chain mail
• Bardic, especially instrumental (tinwhistle and flute)
• Leatherworking (or learning how, anyways ;) )
• Period Games
• Partying with crazy SCA people
• Eventing in general

Aibhilin's Story:

Aibhilin inghean Ui Braonain was born on Summer Solstice in Ireland in 1583. Her Father had left his home and his family to make a life for himself at sea before Aibhilin was born, so Aibhilin grew up fatherless. She lived in a small, one room hut with her mother and her older twin brother and sister. Aibhilin grew up happily with her small family, and though they didn't have much, they never went hungry.

When Aibhilin was 12, a stranger came to their little hut. He bore news about their father. Her mother was about to send him away, but Aibhilin begged her to let him stay and tell her and her brother and sister what they've been longing to know. Her mother relented, and the stranger, known only to them as Cináed the bard, spoke all day and into the night of the sea and a sailors life and pirates and stolen treasure and the feeling you get when you're on the sea on a sailing ship and the wind has caught your sails. Aibhilin was entranced with Cináed's tale. She knew she had no life of marriage and a family ahead of her in her village. What ever her mother could come up with for a dowry was not even enough for her elder sister. She had often dreamed of going off on an adventure of some kind and seeing the world. She begged Cináed to take her to her father so she could share his life at sea. Her mother, seeing that this would make Aibhilin truly happy, relented. She had noticed her daughter's adventurous side and knew that she could not be happy being tied down in a little village in the countryside of Ireland.

Aibhilin and Cináed went off to the coast to meet her father, the Captain of his ship, for the first time. Aibhilin took on the life of a cabin boy on board a magnificent 5-masted vessel. She worked the sea for many years and rose in the ranks as she learned as much as anyone could teach her. She was a bright child and quick to learn anything that was set before her. The First Mate, Davidh, took to the child and taught her everything about the ship, as well as reading and writing and speaking in different languages. Davidh was once the son of a nobleman who had answered the call of the sea, and so he had many wonderful things to teach his new apprentice.

One day, in her 19th year, the ship was caught in a storm. It was pushed off course and battered by the unrelenting winds. The sailors fought hard against the sea and the wind to keep their ship afloat when finally, 2 days later, the storm calmed and they were safe. The badly damaged ship was still able to catch a bit of wind, miraculously, and so they limped forward searching for land. What they found at the end of their search, was a strange new land they had never seen before. The ship anchored in a cove and the sailors quickly made shelter and started repairs on their ship. A local group of men and women came over to the company and offered their services to help with the repairs. They told the crew that this land they had found was called the Shire of Cold Keep. Aibhilin quickly decided that this was the path her life would now take. She had learned about the sea and life on a sailing ship and now she would set a new course with this group of friends. She bid her father farewell and went on to her new life, ready to learn new things. Aibhilin knew she would not stay with these people forever, for as always, her wanderlust would urge her to seek new horizons and learn new things, but she did know that this would be her home until that day comes.

Last updated on March 26, 2007

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