Layla Mabray

* Season 2
* Season 1
* Child

**Layla Mabray** (born **Layla Kidelee**, credited as "**Mom**") is the daughter of "Nat" and Catherine Kidelee, the wife of Walter Mabray and the mother of series protagonist Molly Mabray. She and her husband run the Denali Trading Post, with her daughter sometimes helping out.

She also works as a bush pilot who owns and maintains her own plane. She has been a bush pilot for 10 years (Big Dreams and Blue Skies) and “can land on skis, wheels, or floats, depending on the season," as quoted by Molly.

## Appearance

Layla is an Alaska Native woman with tan skin, brown hair, and black eyes. She has her hair tied into a braid on the right side of her face. She wears a purple shirt underneath blue overalls and purple sneakers. In a flashback sequence of her shown as a child, she appeared to look like a child-like version of her present self. She wore the same type outfit she does now and wore the same type of braid in her hair.

As of Season 2, she has a different outfit. She wears her hair down, has a dark green shirt, beige pants, and pink-purple shoes. This reportedly caused some confusion for longtime viewers, because she was pretty hard for them to recognize until Molly called her by name.

## Personality

Layla is overall a highly gifted and talented woman and a good mother to her daughter. She is, like most mothers, very protective over her daughter and will do anything in her power to keep her safe. She also loves her job as a bush pilot and knows everything that’s going on in interior Alaska: what scientists are where and which ones get in trouble, what the weather will be, and if it’s dangerous to fly or not. She also loves to go on family trips with her husband and daughter and will do anything to prevent anything bad from happening, as seen in a few episodes of the series. An example is in "Berry Itchy Day," where she and her family tried to protect themselves from a swarm of mosquitoes.

## Relationships

##### Molly Mabray

Layla and Molly have a very close mother-daughter bond, even though Layla's work can keep her away from her family for weeks at a time. Molly loves making homemade gifts for Layla, and has more than once gone literal miles out of her way to get what she needs to complete her gifts. Layla frequently allows Molly to tag along on flights, and more often than not will give her the co-pilot's seat and allow her to help navigate. Layla is raising Molly to be confident and proud of her Gwich'in heritage.

##### Walter Mabray

Layla's relationship with her husband is a strong one, and they work very well as a team. When Layla is away, Walter is the one who runs the trading post, and vice versa. They have yet to disagree with one another on screen, and are very playful together, especially on family trips.

##### Nat Kidelee

Layla is very close to her dad, and it's implied she has the same relationship with him that Molly has with Walter. She trusts Nat to take care of Molly when she and Walter are both away. She can still get a little exasperated or annoyed with her dad on rare occasions, especially when he does things like tell spooky stories that convince Molly that giant ice worms are wreaking havoc across Qyah. She is well aware of Nat's difficult childhood and has never pressed him on it. She also encourages him to continue pursuing a dream that eluded him when he was young.

##### Atsaq Ookami

Atsaq is one of Layla's closest friends, and has been so since the two were young. While hiking one day, Layla spotted an eagle's nest in a tall tree and used it to orient herself so that she and Atsaq could find their way home. For this, Atsaq and their other friends began to call Layal "Eagle Eyes." Since Molly and Tooey were born within a year of one another, Layla and Atsaq have made sure they are raised together.

##### Aunt Merna

Merna is Layla's maternal aunt, and Layla has a lot of respect for her. Whenever Merna visits Qyah, Layla has her stay at the Mabrays' house. Merna is one of the reasons Layla enjoys visiting Sitka regularly. Layla and Molly both speak to Merna over video calls regularly. Merna prefers to call Layla by her Native name, Dak Niighit.

##### Ruth James

Ruth is Layla's sister, according to information from the PBS Kids website. Layla visits Ruth in Sitka regularly, and has been known to "steal" her away for a girls' trip on occasion. If there's a special event in town that Ruth needs an extra hand with, she doesn't hesitate to see if Layla would be willing to fly down to help out.

## Trivia

* Layla's maiden name is Kidelee, which is implicitly revealed when it is revealed that Nat's surname is Kidelee in Wise Raven and Old Crow.

* Layla’s native name is “Dak Niighit”, which means "she is rising up in the air," as explained by Nat.
	+ This is because ever since she was a girl, she wanted to achieve her dreams of flying, which she eventually would do later on in her life (becoming a bush pilot).
	+ Molly at first thought that her mother’s Native name was actually a mysterious place.

* Tooey's mom mentions during Porcupine Slippers that she and Layla were friends as kids.
* Layla is an excellent bush pilot, but reveals that she is not trained to pilot helicopters in Molly and the Great One.

## References

1. ↑ spoken by Molly SEVERAL times, at both start and end of Porcupine Slippers
2. ↑ childhood nickname per Porcupine Slippers

## See also

Dogs:Anka • Tukoni • Skippy • Jax • Luka • Laika • Rascal • Kiwi • Kobi • Atsoo • Sasha • Cali • Balto • Dolt'ol • Brownie • Thor • Lord Pinklefloss • Snoozle • Chinook • Four Spots • Kih Dhidii • Arluk • Esnu