Lela is the daughter of Lady Melidia and Lord Andrew Hayes, twin sister of Kusha, and Princess of the Grey Wood. Born in Armon-Kal, partially outside ordinary time, she is a being of mixed Atlanian, Lafin, and HaLafin inheritance, beautiful in a way that is clearly not fully mortal. With her long black hair, glowing lime-green eyes touched by swirling red, too-long limbs, pointed ears, slightly too-large mouth, and three sets of canine teeth, Lela carries the uncanny elegance of her mother’s bloodline more openly than many mortals find comfortable. Her glowing metallic red wyrm tattoo, coiling from her ankle up her side and along her right arm, makes her appear even more like a fae witch from an old and dangerous story.

Unlike Kusha, Lela prefers the fineries of her grandfather Zukneere’s court, much to Melidia’s dismay. She grew up protected by her grandfather, aunts, uncles, Dendre, and the strange structures of the HaLafin court, which gave her status, luxury, attention, and power without fully exposing her to the brutality that sustains it. Those who understand Armon-Kal know privately that Lela does not have the whole picture. She sees much of the court as refinement, ceremony, games, fashion, magic, and superiority, while older and more damaged members of the household understand how quickly those games can become predatory.

Lela is selfish, short-sighted, egotistical, and often unwilling to help others without extracting some small favor in return, but she is not heartless. She cares deeply about those close to her, especially Kusha, Dana, Liam, Luke Talakar, and the strange inner circle of friends who manage to hold her attention. Mortal politics bore her, and she tends to view the material plane as backwater and provincial compared to the elegance of Armon-Kal, but she is fascinated by mortals as playthings, companions, audiences, and occasional beloved disasters. Her habit of sneaking through Atlania to cause trouble gives her the reputation of a mischievous faeling as much as a formal courtier.

Her magic is extraordinary. Lela is already a preeminent mage, gifted in arcane, primal, and summoning magic, and if she truly applied herself she could one day rival Zukneere. The problem is that she often prefers amusement, tea parties, fine clothes, china, sewing, wyrms, and courtly games to sustained discipline. Her pets reflect her taste for beautiful danger: several wyrms of different colors, with at least one growing so unnaturally fast that Dendre hurled it into the Astral Plane. Lela’s fondness for wyrms, drakes, dragons, lizards, and snakes fits her perfectly: elegant, coiling, predatory, magical, and difficult to handle safely.

Lela’s emotional center is more fragile than she would like others to know. Her on-and-off relationship with Luke Talakar ties her more deeply to the mortal world than her pride would admit, and his passing eventually drives her to withdraw from the material plane for a time while she comes to terms with the loss. This grief gives depth to her otherwise spoiled and playful nature. Lela may treat mortals as provincial, brief, and amusing, but she is not immune to loving them, and when she does, their short lives hurt her in ways even HaLafin luxury cannot soften. She is a fae witch, courtier, princess, troublemaker, and grieving immortal girl all at once: powerful enough to terrify, protected enough to misunderstand danger, and vain enough to think she is playing a game even when history starts taking her seriously.

Witch of the moonlit grotto's

Princess of the Grey Wood

~550 years old

Female

none

Lela wears her black hair either long and flowing down to her calves or arranged in large, elaborate buns suited to the finery of her grandfather’s court. When worn loose, it gives her an ethereal, moonlit quality, falling around her unnaturally thin frame like a dark curtain and emphasizing her fae-witch reputation. When styled up, it becomes more courtly and theatrical, decorated with pins, combs, ribbons, jewels, or delicate ornaments chosen to show status and taste. Unlike Kusha’s practical ponytail, Lela’s hair is part of her presentation: beautiful, excessive, and meant to remind everyone that she is a princess of the Grey Wood, not a mortal woman dressing for convenience.

black

6'1"

98lbs

Lela’s most striking identifying mark is the glowing metallic red wyrm tattoo that coils from her ankle up along her side and across her right arm. The design gives her the look of someone claimed by serpent, drake, and witch imagery all at once, especially when paired with her love of wyrms and other scaled creatures. Beyond the tattoo, her mixed Lafin, HaLafin, and Atlanian nature shows clearly in her pointed ears, slightly too-large mouth, three sets of canine teeth, too-long limbs, and unnaturally thin frame. These features make her beautiful in a deeply uncanny way: refined enough for her grandfather’s court, but far too strange to be mistaken for an ordinary mortal princess.

Lela is tall and thin in the uncanny HaLafin way, with a narrow waist, limbs slightly too long, and proportions that feel elegant but not entirely mortal. At 6'1", she has a delicate, elongated silhouette, more like a moonlit court apparition than a physically grounded Atlanian woman. She is not built for knightly strength like Kusha; Lela’s presence comes from grace, magic, posture, and the strange refinement of Armon-Kal rather than muscle. Her thinness gives her a doll-like, almost serpentine quality, especially when paired with her flowing black hair, pointed ears, too-wide mouth, and glowing wyrm tattoo coiling along her body.

Lela has lightly tanned skin, blending Melidia’s ultra-pale HaLafin complexion with Andrew Hayes’ darker Atlanian coloring. The result is still much paler and more porcelain-like than an ordinary Atlanian, but with just enough warmth to suggest her mortal inheritance. Her skin tone gives her an eerie, doll-like beauty rather than a healthy mortal glow, especially when contrasted with her black hair, glowing lime-green eyes, and metallic red wyrm tattoo. It suits her well as a princess of the Grey Wood: not fully of Armon-Kal’s cold court, not fully of the material world, but suspended somewhere beautifully and unnervingly between the two.

Lafin, Halafin, Atlanian

Lela’s eyes glow lime green, with twinges of swirling red around the edges of her pupils. The effect is beautiful but openly unnatural, making her gaze feel more like witchlight, venom, or fae fire than mortal eye color. The lime green ties her visually to Melidia’s HaLafin bloodline, while the red gives her expression a coiling, draconic intensity that suits her love of wyrms, drakes, dragons, lizards, and snakes. When she is amused, irritated, or working magic, the red seems especially noticeable, making it difficult to forget that Lela is not merely a pretty court princess, but the Witch of the Moonlit Grottos.

Lela is prejudiced against the material plane, often viewing mortal societies as backwater, crude, and embarrassingly provincial compared to the refinement of her grandfather’s HaLafin court. She tends to see mortal customs, religions, politics, and manners as quaint little games played by short-lived people who do not understand true power or elegance. This prejudice is partly arrogance and partly ignorance, since Lela has been heavily protected by Zukneere, her aunts and uncles, Melidia, and Dendre, leaving her with an incomplete picture of how brutal and dangerous HaLafin refinement actually is. She looks down on mortals for being rough and unsophisticated, not fully realizing that many mortals would see her beloved court as beautiful, monstrous, and deeply unwell.

none apparent

Lela is selfish, short-sighted, and a little egotistical, but she presents those traits with enough elegance that they often look like charm until someone realizes they have been maneuvered. She carries herself like a princess of the Grey Wood, expecting attention, deference, and amusement as though they are natural parts of the world. In conversation she can be playful, teasing, and theatrical, especially when she is enjoying her reputation as the Witch of the Moonlit Grottos. She likes making small bargains, asking for favors before helping, and acting as if mortal concerns are quaint interruptions to her fun. Around those she truly loves, however, her vanity softens into possessive affection, though she still rarely stops being dramatic about it.

Lela is motivated first by having fun, especially when that fun lets her play up her reputation as a faeling, witch, and princess of the Grey Wood. She enjoys being mysterious, troublesome, beautiful, and just dangerous enough that mortals are never entirely sure whether she is joking. Much of what she does comes from amusement: making bargains, causing small scandals, appearing where she should not, teasing people who take themselves too seriously, and turning ordinary mortal situations into little courtly games. Beneath the playfulness, however, Lela is also motivated by attention, affection, and the desire to feel important to those she loves. She may pretend mortal lives are quaint diversions, but the people close to her matter far more than she admits.

Lela is self-centered and rarely willing to help others without receiving at least a small favor, promise, gift, or bit of entertainment in return. She treats obligation like a game of bargains, which can make her charming in a fae sort of way but deeply frustrating to people who need genuine help. Her protected upbringing in Zukneere’s court has also left her short-sighted; she understands elegance, power, and courtly play, but not always consequence, sacrifice, or the quiet damage her amusements can cause. Lela is not heartless, but she is spoiled, vain, and too comfortable assuming that the world will bend around her if she smiles, bargains, or casts the right spell.

Lela is a preeminent mage, gifted in arcane, primal, and summoning magic, with enough raw talent that she could one day rival Zukneere if she ever applied herself with real discipline. Her power is instinctive, elegant, and often excessive, shaped more by mood, curiosity, and amusement than formal restraint. She has a particular affinity for wyrms, drakes, serpentine creatures, and the older magical forces associated with them, which makes her summoning and primal workings especially dangerous when she is focused. Lela’s weakness is not ability, but commitment; she is brilliant enough to become terrifying, but spoiled enough to treat mastery as something she can pursue later, after tea, dresses, gossip, and whatever mischief currently seems more entertaining.

Lela’s hobbies are collecting fine china, hosting tea parties, wearing and designing fancy clothes, sewing, and indulging the courtly games of Armon-Kal. She enjoys anything that lets her play the part of a refined fae princess: delicate cups, elaborate table settings, embroidered fabrics, lavender silks, impossible etiquette, and guests who can be charmed, teased, or trapped into little bargains over tea. Her sewing is partly practical and partly vanity, allowing her to alter gowns, decorate accessories, or make beautiful things that reinforce the image she wants to project. Even her hobbies have a mischievous edge; what looks like a harmless tea party may become a stage for gossip, favors, magical games, or Lela quietly reminding everyone that the Witch of the Moonlit Grottos is never entirely safe company.

Lela is a girly, spoiled, and mischievous fae princess who has been protected just enough to become dangerous without fully understanding how dangerous her world really is. She loves refinement, pretty things, magic, tea parties, elegant clothes, and the role of mysterious courtly witch, but beneath the glamour is a self-centered young immortal who often treats life as a game of favors, bargains, and amusements. She can be vain, selfish, and dismissive of mortals, yet she is not empty-hearted; those close to her matter deeply, even when she hides that affection behind teasing, drama, or demands for attention. Lela is best understood as a sheltered princess of Armon-Kal: beautiful, powerful, playful, arrogant, and far more emotionally vulnerable than she wants anyone to know.

Lela likes refined foods, especially delicate dishes that feel elegant, rare, and suitable for a princess of Armon-Kal. She favors beautifully arranged tea foods, sugared fruits, perfumed cakes, pale creams, fine pastries, spiced confections, and small portions of elaborate dishes served on expensive china. For Lela, presentation matters almost as much as taste; food should look graceful, feel luxurious, and give her an excuse to host tea, make bargains, or show off her sense of refinement. She is less interested in hearty mortal meals and more drawn to foods that seem almost too pretty to eat, especially if they make her guests feel slightly underdressed, uncultured, or obligated to compliment her table.

Wyrms, Drakes, Dragons, lizards, snakes

Magic

Lela’s favorite possession is the necklace given to her by her father, Andrew Hayes, especially because she later attached Luke Talakar’s travel compass to it. The necklace ties her to her father and to House Hayes, while the compass ties her to Luke and the mortal world she pretends to find so provincial. Together, they form one of the few objects Lela treats with real emotional seriousness rather than vanity or amusement. It is both ornament and anchor: something beautiful enough for a princess of the Grey Wood, but personal enough to remind her of the people who reached her beneath all the fae games, courtly pride, and moonlit mischief.

Lavender

Lela is a professional courtier of Armon-Kal and a mischievous faeling whenever she visits Sol Saris. In her grandfather’s court, she occupies herself with status, ceremony, favors, appearances, magical games, and the endless little performances that make HaLafin politics feel like refinement rather than danger. Among mortals, however, she becomes far less formal: a wandering fae witch who appears in grottos, courts, roads, gardens, and noble houses to cause trouble, make bargains, offer help at a price, or simply entertain herself. Her occupation is not practical in the mortal sense; Lela’s work is to be charming, unsettling, influential, and impossible to ignore.

Lela finds mortal politics boring and usually beneath her attention, treating kingdoms, titles, and court disputes on Sol Saris as brief little dramas performed by people who will be gone far too soon. HaLafin politics interest her more, but mostly as games of vanity, ceremony, favors, insults, and status rather than as serious governance. She enjoys the performance of power more than the responsibility of it, especially when it lets her act like a proper princess of the Grey Wood. Beneath the selfishness, however, Lela’s true loyalties are personal. She cares far more about protecting those close to her than about any faction, kingdom, or ideology, and when someone she loves is threatened, her usual boredom with politics can turn very quickly into dangerous involvement.

Lela does not practice religion in any sincere mortal sense, and her time among the HaLafin has given her a very low opinion of worship, priesthoods, and gods. To her, gods are not sacred moral authorities, but powerful beings that mortals flatter because they are afraid, ignorant, or easily impressed. This makes her dismissive of most religions on the material plane, especially when mortals treat doctrine with grave seriousness. Given her vanity and taste for mischief, Lela is more likely to let mortals mistake her for a divine or semi-divine figure than to correct them quickly, particularly if the misunderstanding amuses her or earns her gifts, favors, or dramatic attention. Beneath the teasing, her attitude reflects the HaLafin worldview: gods are not to be worshipped, but distrusted, mocked, avoided, or destroyed when possible.

Lela’s job is to be a fae witch and courtier, moving between the formal games of Armon-Kal and the mortal world as a source of magic, mischief, favors, and trouble. In her grandfather’s court, she performs the role of a protected HaLafin princess, learning etiquette, status games, magical display, and the dangerous art of making small things matter too much. When she visits Sol Saris, her job becomes far less official: she appears where she pleases, makes bargains, meddles in mortal affairs, and uses her magic to help, hinder, or entertain herself depending on the situation. Lela is not a servant of law like Kusha; she is a wandering court-witch whose usefulness depends entirely on whether one can catch her interest, earn her affection, or offer her a favor worth taking.

Born in the grey wood partially out of time she doesn't technically have a birthday, but she was born sometime shortly after the coronation of Robert LeTreis in the late rainy season

Unlike her sister, Lela prefers the fineries provided by her grandfathers court, much to her mothers dismay. She spends much of her time under the watchful eyes of her aunts and uncles, along with Dendre, the only HaLafin Melidia truly trusts. As her power grew Lela was allowed to wander between the the court, the Grey Wood, and Atlania. She would use this time to sneak about the world and cause trouble. Is known to have had an on and off again relationship with Luke Talakar until his passing. When she would retreat from the mortal plane for some time as she came to terms with the loss.

Well educated but is loathe to apply it

Three wyrms one green, one blue and one yellow. A fourth wyrm exists, it was hurled into the astral plane by Dendre when it started to grow unnaturally quick.

listed age is in line with the end of the demon plague