Ernestine Crowle

**Ernestine Crowle**, also referred to by her nickname of "Songbird", was a side character in *Truths of Bad Intent*, and the former lover of Morris Ferrel, as well as the biological mother of Tristan.

## Ernestine Crowle

### Relatives

Morris Ferrel (lover), Tristan Ferrel (son)

## Biography:

#### Truths of Bad Intent

Ernestine Crowle was first introduced when Morris Ferrel walked into her room in *The Bawdy Stallion* brothel, during which she chided him for standing by the door and appearing as though he were worried she would "bite [his] head off". Ferrel tentatively asked Ernestine for her name, to which she told him that the brothel workers weren't in the habit of giving out names, but that he could give her a nickname if he wanted to do so. Ferrel called her "Songbird", and asked her to call him "Old Tomcat" - a reference to one of the Fallen Angels' Gang's nicknames for him.

She agreed to the names and they had sex. After several months of doing so, they shared their true names with each other - well, Ernestine did. Ferrel gave another one of his aliases (Rhil West) instead. Shortly after, Ernestine found that she was pregnant. When Ferrel visited next, she gave him the news. Ferrel was overjoyed to learn that he was a father.

Ernestine, having had a feeling that Ferrel wasn't telling her the whole truth (though his feelings for her and their child certainly seemed real), decided to try and investigate for herself. When she tried to ask Ferrel about what he did when he wasn't meeting her, he brushed her off and told her that he preferred for them both to leave it alone. Unsatisfied with her partner's caginess, she pretended to take his word for an answer, only to get him extremely drunk afterwards. When Ferrel wasn't looking, Ernestine laced his drink with a mild truth serum, and to her satisfaction, Ferrel answered her questions, revealing that he'd been either lying or telling her half-truths the entire time that they had known each other.

Ernestine, predictably, was unhappy, and when Ferrel finally passed out from having had too much to drink, she snuck out in order to find the Fallen Angel's Gang in order to tell them what she had learned. The Butcher was initially unwilling to listen, but perked up once she told him that she knew what Ferrel was doing when he wasn't with the gang. Afterwards, the gang let her go in order to not arouse Ferrel's suspicions once he woke up.

A few days later, Ferrel, only remembering that he'd gotten extremely drunk, and nothing of what happened after, showed up to *The Bawdy Stallion* in order to tell Ernestine that he wanted to elope with her, that they could run away together with their child, and escape the people keeping them apart. Ernestine, knowing full well what Ferrel was up to when he wasn't with her, played along, telling him that she had a feeling that they wouldn't be making it out of this one unscathed.

Several days later, Ernestine set *The Bawdy Stallion* on fire, escaping in the process after lying to Ferrel and claiming that she'd been so focused on getting out that she'd forgotten to bring their son. Horrified at the idea, Ferrel made to run in and get Tristan, but Ernestine stopped him and went back inside herself, going out a back entrance with her son, and leaving Ferrel behind to grieve as he was dragged away from the scene in shock at his family's death.

Ernestine would go on to leave Tristan on the doorstep of the North Hundsted Orphanage, along with a note stating his name, but no other identifying information.

#### Whistler

Ernestine was mentioned several times indirectly, and never by name, throughout *Whistler*, by both Tristan and Ferrel. Toward the end, Ferrel reveals that he learned (from an unknown source) that Ernestine was still alive after all, and that he was planning to try and find her.

## Trivia:

* Ernestine was originally going to be a member of the Fallen Angels' Gang and would cross-dress in order to hide her identity.
* She was originally going to secretly be a member of the upper classes who found the rules of upper class society too restrictive, but this was eventually scrapped by the author.