Although our family uses the name of Anstedt, we are actually of the Roe/Rowe bloodline. While not usually interchangeable, my great-grandfather was Roe and my great-grandmother was Rowe.

Some sources say the surname means, “red haired one,” while others feel it stems from “deer,” “fish” or even the “rose.” It has also been used to describe someone who is timid or shy. Another theory is that the surname is derived from the French word for king, “roi” or the Irish word “rua,” for “red.”

And the elven part? One piece of scholarly research notes the Roe family is one that has a banshee.

So have I ever heard it? Yes, three times to be exact. The first time was in 1991 and I was spending a summer evening with friends out at Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Just as we were about to go to sleep, I heard an awful scream from somewhere across the water. The night, however, was without any issues that I am aware of.

The second time was when I became pregnant. It was 2013 and one afternoon I heard a woman scream. The noise sounded as though it was outside of the apartment. Both my dog and I reacted so I went to ask my husband about it. He had heard nothing. A week later, I found out I was pregnant.

Finally, on January 16, 2018, around 4 a.m., I heard a distant scream. This time, when I left for work a couple of hours later, there were two men standing by the stairs of our apartment. Nothing violent happened but I believe she was warning me not only that they were there but also of my life starting to change.

So what if other families are listed in fairy books or they have royal/Scythian/Merovingian lineage? Doesn’t that make them special?

First, all humans are related if one goes back far enough. It’s not just a matter of having the correct bloodline. You may be of a related line but that does not a kindred make. One must also be of the tree. 

Why aren’t there more of our kinds? Despite being matrilineal, females have historically remained fairly unprotected and that has left them vulnerable to hunting. The result has been more males than females of the tree.  

Human-hybrids also tend to still prefer humans as their partners. So, after years of interbreeding, humans have become at least distantly linked to a bloodline shared by those of the tree. This means humans may be of the blood (an ancestor that is/was part of the tree) but since they are human, they are not of the tree.

Although they may overlap at times, humans have a fully separate lineage and history that runs parallel to the kindred.