Imelda Erickson

## **History**

A dowdy, elderly woman (age 71 according to imperial records) who has been coming to the Hawks to make vague and/or unverifiable complaints for decades, like ghosts are stealing her knickknacks, etc. Despite these nuisance reports, she has become a popular institution, since she brings baked goods and stays to talk with the officer on the front desk with genuine interest and compassion. At age 11, her parents met a beautiful artist in the public square, who painted a family portrait, in which she has elaborate braids and an exotic flower in her hair.

She was evaluated for magical ability at age 13, and rejected by the Arcanum as talentless. This was premature, as she is in fact able to detect magic and dimensionally-shifted beings. These include four children who have been haunting her house at 14 1/2 Orbonne St since her birth: Jamal Rayan, Callis Creekson, Katie Holdern, and Esmeralda Noachin.

Two years before she appears in the book, her neighbor Brennan Oswald's wife Annalisa died, and he broke into her house, demanding she returned an unspecified item. When she couldn't, he broke her hip and has been bullying her ever since.

## **Books**

At the beginning of Cast in Eternity, she makes one of her visits while Kaylin is manning the front desk. Mrs. Erickson vaguely recognizes her as Severn's partner, and asks why his belt has magic that frightens her ghosts. Further questioning convinces Kaylin to visit her house, where Mrs Erickson is excited to be able to act as interpreter. This proves unnecessary: through Hope's wing, Kaylin can communicate with dimensionally shifted Amaldi and Darreno before even reaching her house, and meets the four children inside. Mrs Erickson's neighbor Brennan Oswald tries to intimidate Kaylin, causing her to suspect he was behind her injury.

Kaylin returns to take her to the new Arkon Sanabalis to be re-evaluated for magical ability. In the small golden lake within the imperial library, she unintentionally summons two powerful spirits who possess the dragon; working with Kaylin within the protective marks of the chosen, she convinces the two to come out of him in the form of two runes, which Kalin carries back to Helen. Sanabalis explains that Mrs Erickson is a powerful (though completely untrained) necromancer, a magic type rare enough it's unsurprising it wasn't tested for in a standard screening exam. She can not only see, but also compel, the dead.

Back at her house, Teela and Kaylin find her portrait and recognize the flower as a magical talisman from the Heart of the Green, concluding the artist was the previous owner Azoria. They return later with Serralyn and Bakkon and enter the dimensionally-shifted 14 Orbonne St that spatially overlaps with her smaller house. This is filled with Azoria's soul-trapping paintings, including a self-portrait. After Kaylin cuts her from her power source and heals her True Name, she is bound to a dead body and Mrs Erickson uses her necromancy to compel her to release the spirits from their paintings, and the six ghosts we know from her power.

Jamal stays around long enough to demand Kaylin look after Mrs Erickson, then go with them to Helen and inspect her new residence before moving on. She is so touched by Helen creating a perfect woodland cottage subspace just for her, she weeps openly.