Ishelle Devries

## Appearances

The Shadow of What Was Lost
An Echo of Things to Come
The Light of All That Falls

**Ishelle** is an Augur secretly working for Tol Shen under the protection of Elder and sig'nari Driscin Throll. After learning about the presence of an Augur in Desriel, she and her mentor set on a journey to seek them out.

## Description

### Appearance

Ishelle is a remarkably beautiful young woman with long, black hair and a slender, full-figured and long-legged physique. Often Reading others to ascertain their thoughts, she is not oblivious about her looks, and often wears tight-fitting clothing to accentuate her figure.

### Personality

Ishelle is confident and forward, though her social abilities are largely reliant on her ability to Read others. As a consequence, she can be somewhat blunt during sensitive conversations. Generally, however, she is playful, upbeat and emphatic.

Her quick-witted exterior hides a very sensitive and emotional core. Her isolating life experiences have left her feeling lonely and in need of genuine companionship, but she finds it difficult to be emotionally vulnerable around others.

## History

Ishelle was found by the sig'nari and taken to Tol Shen, where she has been living with the full knowledge of their Council for the past two years. She worked undercover in the Tol's kitchens, isolating her from her fellow Gifted students, but left frequently with her mentor Driscin Throll to search for other Augurs. Under Driscin's supervision, she honed her use of kan in pursuit of eventually repairing the rapidly deteriorating Boundary, but never drew enough Essence to gain a Mark and blow her cover.

## Activities in *The Shadow of What Was Lost*

### Finding the Augur

Ishelle first learns of the new Augur when Driscin tells her of a man in Talmiel who recently showed signs of being controlled by an Augur. Curious, she joined him in following the Augur's journey through Desriel, eventually tracking them to the market in Thrindar. Eager to make physical contact so she can accurately track him, she manages to bump into the Augur, a young man named Davian, as he navigates the crowded market.

Flabbergasted by her beauty, her target apologizes for knocking into her, though she quickly disappears (likely through the use of time dilation) before anyone else sees her. She quickly reads him his companions as she leaves, discovering that Davian is taken aback by her looks and that Taeris Sarr actually set up the attack on Davian when he was a child to manifest his Augur abilities. After confirming this information, she and Driscin form a plan to recruit him into Tol Shen at a later date.

This plan is complicated when he seems to disappear altogether after passing through Deilannis. Ishelle can no longer sense him with her tracking ability and is entirely baffled by this concealment. Lacking a better solution, she remains hidden in a small Andarran village near the ancient city for nearly a month in case his signal returns. She is ready to leave when she finally feels a pull indicating his return emanating from the ruined city.

### Intercepting Davian

When the Augur re-appears, Ishelle intercepts him on his path to Ilin Illan. She waits for him inside an inn, aware that he is likely starving and susceptible to being tricked for food. He initially doesn't recognize her, allowing her to offer him a free meal and engage him in a warm and flirtatious conversation. There, she introduces herself, but is saddened to see that he does not recognize her from before.

Due to his incredible hunger, he doesn't notice that the food she gives him is laced with a sedative — in order to restrain him until Driscin can arrive. After he loses consciousness, she takes him to a private room upstairs, restrains his wrists with rope and places a Shackle on him. Driscin returns, and enter the room to observe Davian's method of escape. Ishelle uses her abilities to turn invisible, and observes the other Augur while protecting her mentor's mind from potential threats.

Davian awakens, deftly cutting his bonds and releasing his Shackle. After a brief conversation with Driscin, he attempts to read the Prefect's thoughts, but is successfully blocked by Ishelle. She reveals herself, and joins her mentor in explaining their circumstances and their need for Davian's help to repair the Boundary. Davian is upset by the deception, but softens his tone once he understands the full picture.

Davian accepts their offer to work together to fix the Boundary (after the Blind invasion is dealt with), but refuses to officially join Tol Shen, which angers Ishelle, who feels that their manipulative reputation is undeserved. To convince him, she reveals the truth of Taeris' history with Davian, causing the other Augur to become suspicious of his old companion. Further conversation with the assistance of Driscin opens Davian to the possibility of joining the Tol, but he still refuses to commit until the battle is done.

Satisfied with his offer, Driscin leaves the Augurs for the evening. Ishelle accompanies Davian down to the dining area once more and offers him a free meal — devoid of drugs this time. Davian skeptically accepts, and engages her in a more honest conversation: They debate the ethics of Reading normal people, and she flippantly asks him about his days at Caladel. She apologizes when she realizes she struck a nerve, and listens as he recounts his quiet life at the school, before conceding that it would not have been of much interest to her.

They lapse into more pleasant subjects before Davian finishes his meal and announces his intent to leave. Ishelle is disappointed, but she refuses his offer to help defend the city alongside him. She updates him on the recent situation in Ilin Illan, and questions how he escaped her tracking so adeptly. Davian offers to tell her in exchange for learning how to turn invisible with kan. She accepts, sharing her technique, but is surprised when he does not hold up his end of the bargain — calling this deception a fair trade for the drugged food. He offers the information once more in exchange for her help in Ilin Illan. Amused, she thanks him for the company and wishes him a safe journey before leaving the inn.

### Passing by Ilin Illan

Ishelle does not get heavily involved in the conflict against the Blind, but does visit Ilin Illan in the wake of the battle to pick up Davian, technically fulfilling her end of the bargain. She finds quickly finds Davian, after hearing word of some disgruntled Administrators that were looking for him, and interrupts his conversation with Asha to urge him along for his own safety.

She makes a pleasant introduction to Asha but, noticing Davian's attraction to the girl, shows a slight flash of jealousy. Her introduction includes a small touch, adding the Gifted girl to the full roster of people she can track. Once Davian is ready to go, she guides him to reunite with Driscin and head towards Tol Shen.

## Activities in *An Echo of Things to Come*

**This section re-write is in progress.**

### Conflict at Tol Shen

After a few weeks of training with Davian, Ishelle has grown to be good friends with the other Augur. They remain socially ostracized from the other students and endure poor treatment from the Elders, but remain in good spirits due to the recently-announced Augur amnesty.

When Rohin, the only real Augur to come forward for the amnesty, arrives at Tol Shen, Ishelle is one of the first people to meet him. As she attempts to verify his status, she is unexpectedly entrapped by his unique power of Control. Given her Augur abilities, he uses her as his main enforcer to keep the rest of Tol Shen in line and to manage Davian's imprisonment within one of the Essence-blocking cells.

She is present inside Davian's cell the first time he wakes up, still partially under Rohin's Control. She confesses her romantic feelings towards him, and laments his devotion to Asha, wishing that he would choose her instead. To her disappointment, Davian insists that he only has feelings for his childhood friend before passing out once more.

After Erran and Fessi successfully break Davian out, she continues to help enforce Rohin's will inside the Tol. When they return to liberate it, she is duped into chasing Fessi in order to expose Rohin to a surprise attack. Though Rohin is successfully stripped of his powers, the other Augurs leave her inside Tol Shen until his Control fully wears off.

### Approaching the Boundary

Eager to depart the Tol, she bids farewell to Driscin and sneaks out to join the other Augurs as they embark towards the Boundary. While she lacks the previous kinship shared between Davian and the two palace Augurs, she does eventually integrate into their group.

After Davian repeatedly asks her for updates on Asha's whereabouts and well-being, she frustratedly leaves the campfire one night for a private stroll. This leads her into the path of an *eletai* swarm, who catch her unaware and impale her with several of their stingers. Davian, intending to apologize, arrives just in time to resuscitate her.

Despite making a full physical recovery, Ishelle begins to show some signs of mental deviation, often spacing out for minutes at a time. She reveals to Davian that she knew the *eletai* would attack her at some point, but kept her Vision a secret to not burden her companions with the knowledge.

### Across the Boundary

Once she arrives at the Boundary, she struggles to comprehend the highly complex kan mechanisms sustaining it. Additionally, she continues to be hampered by bizarre mental episodes — one of which causes her to unintentionally walk through a one-way opening leading into Talan Gol.

Davian and Fessi follow to rescue her, and continue following her direction as she feels compelled to move towards a remote cave by a mysterious telepathic force. Inside, the group finds a set of Telesthaesia armour, and discovers the origin of the force: A swarm of *eletai*. After discovering her connection to the Banes, she leaves the cave and is sent back through the Boundary by wearing the suit of armour. Erran later arrives to escort her to Tol Athian.

## Activities in *The Light of All That Falls*

**This section re-write is in progress.**

### Defending Andarra

As another year passes, Ishelle's mental condition begins to deteriorate. Tol Athian's structure is effective at removing the incessant noise of the *eletai* swarm, but if Ishelle leaves it for more than a few moments she is forced into a ravenous state which involves attacking those around her and frothing at the mouth.

Scyner, believing he can help manage her condition, convinces her to temporarily leave the bounds of Tol Athian so he can study her connection to the *eletai* as they communicate with her. She complies, but finds the experience overpowering and is sent into a frenzied state. Scyner still attempts to study her, but Erran prevents him.

Inadvertently, this incident manages to alert the swarm to her location in Ilin Illan, and several hundred of their number leave their hiding place in Desriel to find her. This results in a full-scale attack on the city by the *eletai* swarm, and causes the deaths of many of its citizens. Ishelle, still recovering, is unable to significantly help the defence.

When Caeden later arrives in Tol Athian, he remarks upon her mental strength, as most people who suffer an *eletai* attack are assimilated right away. He is unable to cure her condition, but manages to reduce the noise so that she can safely leave the Tol.

She joins Wirr's army as he rushes to stop the invading army from Desriel. While her combat abilities are severely limited, her telepathic connection to the *eletai* is instrumental in uncovering the location of the gil'shar army camp. With her help, Andarra's forces deactivate the large invisibility Vessels and launch a successful sneak attack to open the conflict with an advantage.

As the battle rages and the odds turn against Wirr's army, she gathers her courage for one last act of self-sacrifice. Instructing Wirr to tell Davian that he missed out, she surrenders her individuality and mentally joins the *eletai* swarm, causing her physical body to drop dead. Immediately after, the swarm of *eletai* wreaking havoc on the battlefield swiftly turn on their own side, causing massive damage before they are all killed.

## Abilities

As an Augur, Ishelle wields a significant number of kan abilities. Some of her skills are exceptionally unique.

* **Reading:** Ishelle is incredibly proficient at reading, almost always relying on it to understand people in place of speaking with them. She is skilled at blocking minds from being Read, even those of other people.
* **Essence Tracking:** Ishelle possesses the unique ability to track someone indefinitely by making contact with them once. She is able to pinpoint their general location from any distance.
* **Invisibility:** Ishelle can use can to refract light, rendering herself invisible. She discovered this by accident, while testing new uses for kan under Driscin's supervision. The result was a major surprise to both of them.
* **Time Dilation:** Like other Augurs, Ishelle can dilate time with kan.
* **Disruption Shields**: Ishelle's Essence-disruption shields are second to none. Davian repeatedly struggles to outdo her in this field, but is never able to top her creations.
* **Foresight:** Ishelle's ability to See the future is weak by Augur standards. She rarely has visions, and they tend to be trivial in nature.
* **Eletai Telepathy:** After being partially absorbed into the eletai hivemind, Ishelle is able to generally ascertain their location, as well as communicate with them non-verbally. This comes at great risk, as every connection she makes chances surrendering her individuality to the hive.