Shi'elle

Shi'elle is a sky pirate and serves the role of the antagonist for Arc 5, even though she is not actively hostile. She was introduced as an NPC in Arc 5.

## Decription

Shi'elle is a tiny gnomish woman with dark green hair.

Usually, she wears a pirate outfit, including nice tall boots and a jaunty little cap. This outfit does tell everyone around her about her occupation, though, and most people try to avoid even standing close to her.

Being avoided by the people in the towns she visits, and not having a crew made Shi'elle a lonely person, who is excited for everyone that is willing to talk to her. She is very open and easy to befriend, likes talking about herself as well as being told things by others. Contrary to many other pirates, she does not partake in the rivalry between sea pirates and sky pirates, but instead just tries to approach any pirate in the hopes that they won't shun her for her occupation.

Her openness includes her Eirden Rin, who she has trained very well. While she is protective of him, she is also more than willing to let other people pet, feed, or even ride him. While even most sky pirates usually live and travel in groups of three to five people per Eirden, she has noone but Rin left, no other friends or family.

Shi'elle is a Sorcerer. A trained eye can quickly see that she does not wear any religious or arcane symbols, but would not be able to work as a pirate on her own without powerful magic.

Even when she is not on her own, she is anxious in bigger crowds, and often leaves them rather soon.

## Backstory

Decades before the events of Arc 5, Shi'elle has a crew and a captain with which she travels and lives. Over the years, the captain retires, and most of the crew meet pretty grizzly fates, and so, more than a decade before 21 AP, only her and Rin are left, and continued alone together. She did not, however, see Rin grow up; he has seen a few different crews, and she never saw a baby eirden.

## Schedule during the Festival

During the Festival, Onyx and Wren observe Shi'elle and the schedule she follows if left undisturbed by their influence.

* Shi'elle starts the festival in the merchants district, where she is idly shopping, and gets a few trinkets. While she tries to put on the facade of the confident pirate lady, she is pretty anxious walking along so many other people.
* She then leaves the main town towards a clearing, where Rin sits, waiting for her, and flies to Snowdrop with him.
* Rin lands just outside the stadium, and as she decends, she scans the crowd, looking for people. She then tells Rin to fly away again, and he waits for her at the docks.
* At Snowdrop, people obviously avoid her and don't sit close to her, even though the stadium is filled with many people.
* Later, Shi'elle leaves the stadium, and goes to watch the musician Matrix Angelblood perform in town square. Again, people avoid her. As a parent obviously maneuvers themselves in a way that they stand between her and their child, Shi'elle leaves the town square to get to Rin at the docks.
* Together with Rin, she flies away, but decends again at the beach, because Rin suddenly got very weak. There, at the beach, Rin dies, curled around Shi'elle, and in her desperation, Shi'elle explodes and creates a time loop around the town and some of its surroundings.

## Character Arc

Over the course of Arc 5, Shi'elle re-lives the Festival of the Dawnfather's Rest multiple times, caught in a time loop she created herself. She is not aware of what she does, and cannot remember the time loops, so she cannot do anything to prevent it from happening. Finally, in one loop, Wren gets the chance to speak to her before it happens, and tries to comfort her. Shi'elle, grieving the death of the only one she had left in her life, asks for "One more time", and then explodes again. This time, though, she remembers something: she suddenly gets hit with a wave of sadness that she cannot explain, and remembers Wren's face and that they were kind to her.

Because of this, Shi'elle is very open to the explanation Booker, Wren, and the rest of the party give her. She tries to find a way to save Rin, but ultimately has to accept that Rin dies of old age, and there is no way to prevent it from happening. Instead, she gets to decide how she wants to spend the last hours together with him, and can even arrange for a proper good-bye and funeral in the tradition of the sky pirates.

With the help of the Arc 5 party, Shi'elle can accept her grief and feel it, instead of running away from it. She can come to terms with the unchangeable, and understands that she has to continue, that there has to be something on the other side of her pain.

At the end of the arc, she has the chance to, at least for a short time, join Booker and his crew. She has found new friends, even though they might not continue their ways together. She has lost everything, but this time, she knows that there is something else waiting for her.

As of 133 AE, Booker has become the Pirate King in Blue Haven, and Shi'elle, now an old gnome, holds the position as his lieutenant.

## Trivia

* Shi'elle likes to gamble, and does so with very high amounts of money. It is unclear whether her gambling is a problem, or something she can actually afford to do.