Hafwyn

Hafwyn (alternatively Hafwen) is a recurring supporting character in the Merry Gentry series. She is a powerful healer, and a member of Prince Cel's guard who eventually  joins with Princess Meredith.

Appearance
Her hair is "the color of yellow corn silk, her eyes are tri-colored blue, silver, and "an inner circle of light, if light had a single color." Her skin appears white at first, but is a gold "so pale that something had to make you see that other color." When she uses her magic, her skin turns "a pale solid gold."

While serving as one of Cel's guards, she wears armor. When she resumes her work as a healer under Merry, she wears "a dress that had been in stye in the 1300s or earlier, a plain sheath that clung in all the right places, but was short enough at the ankles to give her room to move."

History
As the power of the Sidhe faded, Hafwyn was one of the few healers who maintained her ability to heal with her touch. At some point, she healed someone who Prince Cel did not want healed, and he forbade her from using her healing magic. In A Lick of Frost, him forbidding her from using her magic is attributed to her denying Cel her bed.

Hafwyn served Prince Essus as one of his guards, the Cranes, for centuries. When Prince Essus left faerie, Hafwyn and the rest of his guard were ordered into Prince Cel's guard, although Hafwyn and the others had sworn no oath to Cel.

A Stroke of Midnight
Hafwyn is introduced in A Stroke of Midnight while following orders to attack Meredith's people. While bound, she offers to heal Galen from a potentially fatal injury. Melangell accuses her of betraying her oath to Prince Cel, but Hafwyn reveals that she never made an oath to Cel, saying, "No one living has my oath of loyalty."

Hafwyn uses her powers to heal Galen, surprising everyone present since healers were not allowed to be warriors, and she reveals her history. Afterward, she tells Meredith that she does not want to be one of Cel's guards anymore, and she asks Meredith to take her as she has done with Andais's male guards. Hafwyn reveals that Andais's order that any of the guards who go to Meredith's bed can stay with Meredith was worded in such a way to not be limited to the Queen's Ravens. Meredith accepts. Hafwyn also tends Adair's and Aisling's injuries. She reveals that the reason Galen was attacked is because he's the "green man," although she doesn't know more than that. Following Hafwyn's lead, Dogmaela also requests going to Meredith's bed to be free of Cel.

Meredith later asks Queen Andais if she can take a healer with her, and when Andais agrees, Meredith asks for Hafwyn. Andais is surprised to learn that Hafwyn still has the ability to heal, and she learns of Cel's command for Hafwyn to stop healing, as well as the fact that none of Prince Essus's Cranes were asked to give oath to Cel. Andais allows for the women to go into Meredith's service.

When the demi-fey are injured, Hafwyn comes to help heal them. She stops Penny from interfering with Royal's wound, and helps with Meredith's injury. When she lays hands on Royal to heal him, unknown magic heals all of the demi-fey and gives wings to the wingless.

When Merry marks some of the guards with her new power, Hafwyn offers to bandage the marks, and Doyle accepts.

A Lick of Frost
Hafwyn (spelled "Hafwen" in this novel) returns in A Lick of Frost as one of the guards who has joined Meredith in Los Angeles. After King Taranis attacks Merry's guard, Doyle and Abeloec are treated at a hospital. Hafwyn comes to the hospital to help, but a doctor won't allow her to use magic. Merry distracts the doctor so that Halfwyn can heal the men, although her powers are limited outside of faerie and in the man-made hospital.

Quotes
Hafwyn speaking to Meredith:
 * "Take me," she whispered, "take me to your bed, take me here, take me anywhere, but please, Goddess, please, don't leave me here for Cel. I owe him no vow, so I break no vow by asking this of you. I served Prince Essus as his healer for centuries. When he went into exile when you were six, if I had known she would give me to Cel, I would have gone into exile with you. But I thought that exile from faerie was the worst of fates. I ask you, as his daughter, do not leave me here. Now that the queen has opened the way for me to ask, I ask, I beg."