TLC Headcanon regarding Bree’s nearest ancestors in Vera’s line:
(AKA a theory I’ve had kicking around for awhile but have been fleshing out lately as I continue to work on SWMF.)
We’ve heard from Patricia that there are rootcraft Prophets & since we know Ms. Tracy never just puts details in for no reason at all, I think we’ve “met” one already in the books— Bree’s grandmother Leanne Charles.
I’ll explain: Leanne’s mother Jessie was the one who moved around a lot. In bloodwalks Bree sees her encounter the Hunter in Lafayette, LA, New York, & then somehow her daughter ends up in Texas (I think it’s most probable that Jessie moved them there to try to outrun the Hunter, but there’s no textual evidence of this.)
We know that Leanne was a hairstylist, died of cancer when Faye was 18, & had a different last name than her daughter’s birth surname. So from these facts I have inferred:
1. Like Bree, her rootcraft power of foresight was tied to the bloodcraft because her life’s work within the line of Vera was to get her daughter to UNC. She didn’t need to ask the ancestors to gain knowledge about someone’s future; it just came to her, usually while she had her hands in someone’s hair at work. She basically lived with her body partially in the ancestral streams, which is likely why she is the “signpost” ancestor who Bree encounters first when she taps into her Mediumship in LB.
2. She didn’t tell Faye she was sick because she knew how important it was for her daughter to go to & stay at UNC. She also didn’t seek treatment for her cancer because she knew that Faye would need access to the red root to fight with at some point very soon, & she didn’t want to be the reason her own daughter couldn’t protect herself against the Shadowborn. 😭
3. Faye’s father either died when she was young or Leanne never married him. She married her husband (Mr. Charles) when Faye was ten or so. Faye liked him okay, but he was kind of absent even when they lived in the same house & he faded into the distance after her mom’s death. Her mom really was her only support system in Texas despite Leanne having lots of friends from church & the salon. Many of these people reach out to Faye and try to be there for her after her mom’s death but she doesn’t accept help as her trauma response.
(I’m sorry that these hc are sad but I’m not sure how they could not be lol.)
Anyway let me know what you think or if you have a different idea about who Leanne was in life!