Calder ap Cenn

**Calder ap Cenn** was a Seelie common fae, father of Crielle ferch Fnwy, and the maternal grandfather of Gwyn ap Nudd.

## Life

Calder married Adain ferch Fnwy, and Adain bore their eldest daughter, Crielle. Crielle used her dra'ocht to make her father always fill her room with flowers. She 'pushed her father past the point of endurance many times, using her glamour to make sure he kept the windows [of her room] open, kept providing fresh flowers, pinched . . . bees out of existence with his hand. If he missed the stinger, she became irascible. His hands were often swollen.' He was often injured so badly doing this that they had to bring healers for him. Crielle used her dra'ocht to have her mother move his bed into Crielle's room so she could watch him suffer.

Calder seemed somewhat aware that something was wrong while under Crielle's control, but could do no more than be slightly confused.

Rhiamon ferch anFnwy knew that if Crielle was left unchecked, Crielle would drive Calder and Adain into an early grave, so Rhiamon took Crielle away to Rhiamon's home, for training. Once out of Crielle's influence for long enough, '[h]er parents . . . were horrified to realise how out of control their lives had become. Crielle made them forget about Court appointments, carefully cultivated strategy meetings, themselves, each other, their desires.' Adain and Calder began to try for another child.

Eleven years after Crielle's birth, Adain gave birth to Penarddun ferch Fnwy. She and Calder doted on Penny, and were worried about their daughters meeting. They'd expected Crielle to be cruel to her, and were surprised when the pair got along quite well, and Crielle was rather sweet to her.

When Crielle returned to the An Fnwy estate to visit Penny for the last time during Adain's life, Penny went through so many servants that she was forbidden from killing them. Crielle taught Penny how to use her dra'ocht, and together they took control of the estate. Barely two weeks after Crielle's arrival, she murdered both Calder and Adain, and had Melchor the sixteenth remove their bodies.

## Relationships

#### Adain ferch Fnwy

It seems that and Adain and Calder cared for each other to some extent: when they were released from Crielle's control the first time, they realized they'd forgotten to care for each other during that time.

#### Crielle ferch Fnwy

Calder loved Crielle, but was afraid of her. Crielle 'had no respect for [her parents]. They were mannequins that brought her whatever she wished, or suffered under her increasingly unrealistic desires. She did not like the vacuous way they wanted her to be happy, their love was an empty object; it looked pretty enough on the outside, but she wanted the *meat*.' Crielle was seemingly crueler, at least physically, to her father, than to her mother.

#### Penarddun ferch Fnwy

Adain and Calder doted on Penny, but Penny was bored by her parents, and thought they were 'nothing'.

#### Rhiamon ferch anFnwy

Although Calder was not her blood relation, Rhiamon called him one of her children. When Crielle murdered him and Adain, Rhiamon took it poorly, and cut Crielle off from her life for a millennia.

## Quotations

* 'Mam and Dad are puppets,’ Crielle whispered, and Penarddun rubbed her nose into Crielle’s ribs and then nodded quickly, rabbit-like. ‘They’re nothing.’ ‘Nothing at all,’ Crielle said. ‘Vapour.’ ‘A blank space where people should be.'

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 not\_poignant. "The Curse.” *The Fae Tales Verse - canon extras. Archive of Our Own,* 28 July 2014. https://archiveofourown.org/works/2034456/chapters/4416066. Chapter 1.