Bio
Marian was born into servitude in a wealthy household. She was trained in the kitchen and worked as assistant to her father, the cook, for most of her life. She is intelligent and self-sufficient, but she never resented her station, and while the master of the house did not indulge her by any means, he was fair in his treatment of the household staff. Growing up in the manor, she didn't see much of the world beyond the local market, leaving her strong-willed but a bit naive.
When she was fourteen, one of the maidservants passed away, and Marian took her place. As personal servant to the master's daughter, Eliza, she began to spend much more time around the family than she had before. She got to know Harmon, the youngest son of the family, two years her senior and full of romantic ideas and thoughts of adventure. He wanted nothing to do with his parents' wealth or his father's aspirations for him. When he met Marian, Harmon was promised to a noble girl from a neighboring town. Marian knew of the match, of course, but she and Harmon were no more than friends, and so she thought nothing of it.
On her way home from the market one day, Marian was spotted by a pirate, half-drunk, from the window of a tavern. Liking the look of her, he followed her for a quarter-mile toward the manor, at which point he jumped her. After a brief struggle, during which Marian was able to bash him in the eye with a rock, he overpowered her and had his way. The incident left Marian badly shaken. Unsure of what to do, and not the type to admit weakness, she never told a soul what had happened, despite her father's frequent worries that she was quieter than usual. After a couple of weeks, she was back to her old self, all memory of the attack lodged firmly in the back of her mind.
Harmon's father knew of his friendship with Marian, and he was beginning to have suspicions that something more was going on. When it was discovered that Marian was pregnant, it did not take him long to put two and two together. Though Marian insisted that the baby was not Harmon's and that she and Harmon had never even been intimate with each other, the master relinquished her of her position, terrified of the scandal it would cause if Harmon were found to have been unfaithful to his betrothed.
Marian left the manor, and the master took pains to ensure that she left town, as well, never to return. Harmon wanted desperately to go with her, injured as he was that she had apparently found a lover (even now, she told no one about the rum-soaked pirate), but it was forbidden. Marian found work in an inn three towns over. She gave birth to Benji in its kitchen, aided by the innkeeper's wife. Before long, however, a newborn in the inn proved too expensive for the couple, and Marian and Benji were forced to move on.
Marian has been on her own for a year, now, finding work and boarding where she can. It is slow going, and few places are accommodating of a young girl and her newborn baby. At the beginning, she wrote to Harmon often, but she never heard back. Assuming her letters were being intercepted and guessing that she was probably only making things worse, she stopped writing altogether after her fourth message was not returned. She misses Harmon and her father tremendously. She will find a way to return to them as soon as she can.
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