Rowan House
The sentient tree that forms the structure of Robin's house and is also its guardian definitely deserves to be recognized as a character. The tree cares deeply about the people it has attached itself to, helping Robin when he's working on a project or comforting him after a bad day. And while it might enjoy playing endless practical jokes on Cody, it's also fond of him, and latched onto him after Robin left to join his first agency and especially when Grandda Hamish died. Both Cody and the tree missed the people who used to be constants in their life.
The Rowan isn't just a helpful, devoted companion, though. It's the source of the magic that protects and cloaks the house. Grandda's glamours that make the house undetectable to humans have remained after his death since he transferred them into the Rowan's life magic instead of his own. As long as the Rowan lives, the house is protected.
The Rowan takes its guardian duty very seriously, and any humans who manage to pass through the glamour without the permission of the house owner will find themselves under attack by tree branches.
Robin is almost as closely tied to the forest and meadow surrounding his house as he is to Rowan House itself. Once he enters the space his grandfather created to protect them from the outside world, he can feel safe and protected, and he's also turned the area into a refuge for the animals who struggle to survive in the city as much as he does.
Because he's not a pureblood fae, Robin isn't allowed to live in the fae colony his grandfather used to be part of. Instead, he lives on the piece of land his grandfather chose and built Rowan House on decades before.
When Grandda Hamish chose a place to build so that he could marry the human woman he fell in love with, the area was still quite open. Over the years, the city has grown up around the land, but Grandda Hamish's wards are strong enough to keep the place intact. Most people walk right past the apparently vacant lot at the end of a subdivision, thanks to a combination of the glamours hiding the true nature of the land and the fae magic that turns humans, especially those over the age of twelve, away.
The area has attracted just enough notice to have a fence built around it and to have people occasionally complain about the ugly looking vacant space just outside the Woodhaven housing development. But the protective fae magic has ensured that anyone attempting to actually intrude on the land meets with a surprisingly terrible run of bad luck, and thus, the place has been left to itself, to remain an isolated oasis of safety for Robin in the middle of the chaos of Los Angeles.
Alterations
Rowan House grows new rooms as the people living in the house need them, and can also hide them from anyone the house's main owner decides should not access them. The only known instance of this is a room the Rowan grew to house Hamish's mementos of his wife and daughter, then closed off from Robin until after Hamish's death.
Architecture
Rowan house has an open floor plan, with the trunk of the main tree and several offshoots forming the main framework of the building. There is a large deck that opens off the main house and is open to the air most of the time.
Type
Tree house
Parent Location
Owner
Characters in Location
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