Elsa Allorqua

"*I'll shoot an arrow in the sky to make it breathe. I'll shoot an arrow in the wind to make it bleed. I'll be an arrow in the sky to the weak innocents and an arrow in the wind to the powerful tyrants.*"
—Elsa begins her career as a vigilante

**Elsa Allorqua** is the vigilante known as **Arrow in the Wind**, originally from the village of Stratford Hamlet and operating in Carson Bay.

## Appearance

She's a tall thin girl with a bronze complexion, blue eyes and long black hair that she keeps tied in a braid.

As a child, she wore the typical clothes of her village and tied her hair in two braids. In Carson Bay, she adopted local customs to go unnoticed. She always wears a necklace made from the tip of the first arrow with which she managed to hunt, as required by village traditions.

When she operates as a vigilante, she reverts to her native clothing and wears a red mask reminiscent of the Faceless.

## Personality

She's generally calm and never loses her composure, except when fighting; she is also warm, friendly, affable and generous. She has a strong sense of morality and justice; she only resorts to violence on those who cause pain to others and, when hunting, she pays respect to her prey and wastes no part of it.

She is always willing to learn new things, help those in difficulty and face dangers instead of avoiding them. However, she's not reckless and never lets herself be caught unprepared, always studies and observes the area before acting so as to be able to exploit every characteristic and opportunity. She's also attentive and insightful and adapts easily to any situation and is not discouraged by adversity.

She seems naive when it comes to understanding other people's feelings, failing to understand how Sophia and Marcel feel about her. She also seems not to know the common definition of "love" or at least she doesn't associate it with its physical component.

## Relations

### Relatives

She was never able to know her parents as her mother Rama died in childbirth and her father Gandeo was killed a few months later.

* **Manto Allorqua**: She was very close to her grandfather Manto, who taught her several survival techniques.

### Allies

* **Matthew Doyle**: Matthew is the owner of the Green Phoenix, where Elsa and Sophia work. Since the two are the same age that his daughter Charlotte would be if she were still alive and they have both lost their parents, he treats them like a father figure.
* **Sophia Lamotta**: After being saved by Arrow in the Wind, Sophia decides to find her to thank her. In the meantime, however, she is also saved by Elsa. In love with both, she tries in every way to get closer to Elsa as a colleague at the Green Phoenix and to Arrow in the Wind as the new vigilante Shadow in the Night (posing as a man). The two vigilantes begin to fight crime together and feel increasingly closer, preferring, however, not to reveal each other's identities. When they are involved in a shootout and Shadow becomes distracted by her, Arrow shields her and is wounded in the shoulder but manages to keep the criminals away; while treating her, Sophia discovers that Elsa and Arrow are the same people and is happy about it but decides not to tell her about it so as not to alter the balance of their relationship. When she discovers Shadow in the Night's real identity, Elsa gets angry at Sophia for not telling her but they make up almost immediately.
* **Marcel Lamotta**: Marcel is Sophia's brother, is in love with Elsa and often frequents the Green Phoenix, where he writes his articles for the Carson Times; he's also the one who made the costume for Shadow in the Night and the second mask for Arrow in the Wind, as well as the vigilante known as Black Mantis. Elsa realized she was in love with him when she was disappointed to discover that Marcel was not the real identity of Shadow in the Night. When they nearly died, they confessed their feelings for each other and got engaged shortly after.
* **Todd Gant**: he's the boxer who owns the gym Tomcat Eye, frequented by members of the Arrows, that he joined after they saved him twice.
* **Robin Farinelli**: she's a friend of Elsa, Todd's daughter, Sophia's girlfriend and a member of the Arrows, that she joined after they saved her twice.

### Enemies

* **Leonard Barone**: Lenny Barone is the mafia boss and mayoral candidate who governs Carson Bay and, having nothing left to live for, Elsa has decided to free the city from his tyranny to carry on her grandfather's pacifist teachings.
* **Marcus Dolittlebringer**: Marcus Dolittlebringer is the criminal known as "Red Moth" and the leader of the group of arsonists Arson Carson; he's a close associate of Lenny Barone. He's mainly responsible for the numerous fires caused in Carson Bay and surrounding areas, including the village of Stratford Hamlet.
* **Boerius Churchill Fingerton**: Boerius Churchill Fingerton is a wealthy Metro City entrepreneur who's in business with Marcus Dolittlebringer and Lenny Barone. He buys the buildings burned down by the Arson Carsons at very low prices and then renovates them and rents them at higher prices, often using this process to collect insurance premiums too.

## Abilities

She's a skilled hunter, expert in various survival techniques and especially in archery. She learned these techniques as a child and developed them during the months she was stranded on an island.

Because of her childhood traumas, she was afraid of water. However, she was forced to overcome her fears and learn to swim to escape Ribbon Lake, so she is now an excellent swimmer, although she prefers to avoid diving into the water.

She was able to design and create various types of arrows with different effects: explosive, fiery, net-throwing, electrified, rope-throwing, with rounded tip.

She has repeatedly demonstrated remarkable leadership skills, managing to inspire and coordinate other vigilantes like her.

### Weapons

Her main weapon is the bow her grandfather gave her and she's an expert in using it, including the different types of arrows she created to fight crime without risking to kill someone. In hand-to-hand combat, she has a wild and instinctive style and is also skilled with the spear she built on the islet.

Her second mask, created by Marcel Lamotta, is equipped with numerous functions that improve her performances: night and heat vision, zoom, telescopic viewfinder, facial recognition linked to various international databases.

## Story

She's born on January 21st 2095 in Stratford Hamlet. However, her mother dies in childbirth. On November 16th of the same year, Gandeo leads a group of hunters to look for supplies for the winter; however, they are attacked by some bandits during a storm and only Iaru Ponfe manages to escape and return to the village before dying from bleeding. Elsa is thus raised by her grandfather Manto, who teaches her various traditions of the tribe such as riding and archery, as well as reading and writing.

On February 22nd 2099, a terrible storm causes a tree to fall on Elsa, who's trapped in a hole in the ground that gets filled with water. Several hours later, her grandfather manages to find her and save her: this experience profoundly affects the little girl, who is now afraid of water.

On October 31st 2108, the village is razed to the ground by a group of arsonists and the inhabitants are unable to escape. However, her grandfather manages to push Elsa into the Sand Creek River. The current takes her to one of the two islands in the center of the Ribbon Lake, where she manages to build a small hut and survives by fishing. To leave, she decides to overcome her fear of water and learn to swim.

On May 16th 2109, being confident in her swimming skills, she finally manages to find the courage to leave the islet. Having reached the shore, she sets out south until she reaches Carson Bay. She soon discovers that the city is run by the mafia: Lenny Barone controls every neighborhood, institution and politician in the city. Elsa then thinks of gathering rebels to fight local crime and restore legality, which however turns out to be more difficult than she thought since the citizens are too scared. Realizing that the first thing she needs to do is give them hope again, she begins to fight as a vigilante on her own.

After an initial period of difficulty, Arrow in the Wind manages to pursue her goal and rumors begin to spread about her: nobody has ever seen her up close, so everyone invents their own version. To survive in the city and not attract attention, on June 18th, Elsa finds a job as a waitress at the Green Phoenix.

On June 20th, during one of her first patrols in the city, she wounds one of Barone's men and, noticing the seriousness of it, takes him to the hospital. While observing him from the building across the street, she decides that she no longer wants to hurt the criminals she fights like this: she therefore begins several experiments to try new arrows with different effects, considering as her best creation the net-arrow that allows her to capture the criminals and leave them to the police.

In early 2110, Lenny Barone notices the vigilante's actions and pressures local politicians to openly challenge her and the police to declare her wanted. Arrow in the Wind then comes out into the open and shows herself to the public on May 16th: wearing native clothing and a red mask, she shoots an incendiary arrow at a billboard for Lenny's election campaign.

On June 12nd, she sees some thugs armed with knives and sticks approaching a girl: she reaches them and disarms them, making them flee, then walks away after calming the girl. The next day, she sees the latter being bullied by her schoolmates outside the Green Phoenix and intervenes, making her bullies flee; the two introduce themselves and Sophia tries to follow Elsa without being noticed, but loses sight of her.

On June 21st, Sophia returns to the bar as the new waitress and Elsa trains her. Over the next few days, the two bond and become friends. On the 24th, Elsa also meets Marcel, Sophia's brother and local journalist.

On June 29th, Arrow in the Wind notices a fight in the street and realizes that a new vigilante has appeared, so she helps him and he introduces himself as Shadow in the Night, asking her to collaborate. The two thus begin to fight crime together and feel increasingly closer, preferring, however, not to reveal each other's identities.

On July 18th, the two are involved in a shootout and Shadow becomes distracted, so Arrow shields him and is wounded in her shoulder, but manages to keep the criminals away. While treating her, Shadow sees Arrow's true face but pretends not to recognize her; Elsa notices Shadow's reaction but she decides not to talk about it so as not to alter the balance of their relationship.

On August 26th, while the vigilantes save the inhabitants of a building involved in a fire, Arrow in the Wind's wooden mask is ruined, so Shadow in the Night introduces her to the person who created her technological costume: the "engineer behind the Shadow", Marcel Lamotta. When they see each other, the two are amazed to discover their respective secret identities; Elsa also feels disappointed because she hoped that her friend was Shadow in the Night, realizing her feelings for him. Once the initial embarrassment is over, Marcel builds her a new mask equipped with some functions such as night and heat vision, zoom and telescopic view. Elsa is particularly happy thinking about how she can best defend the city with this new tool; seeing a sincere and heartfelt smile from the girl for the first time, Marcel understands that he has fallen in love with her and Shadow notices it.

On September 4th, Marcel shows the two vigilantes a new technological suit and declares that he wants to join them in the field: he thus becomes "Black Mantis" and the three officially found the Carson Bay Arrows.

Three weeks later, the trio raid a warehouse run by drug dealers and find two other vigilantes chained. After having neutralized the criminals, they free the two prisoners, who introduce themselves as Boxer and Black Robin: Shadow recognizes the man as the boxer who owns the gym Tomcat Eye, who walks away angrily while his daughter apologizes for him and then follows him. The next day, some members of the Arson Carson set a fire at the gym and the Carson Bay Arrows intervene, managing to put out the flames and save those involved, while the boxer and his daughter captured the criminals. Having brought them to justice, the five address the issue seriously: they agree to join forces and, to establish mutual trust, reveal their respective identities. Elsa is shocked to see Sophia behind the mask of Shadow in the Night and asks her for explanations but Robin calms her spirits; once calm has been restored, the new members of the Arrows are made official.

On December 13th, the Arrows save dozens of people from a burning building but remain trapped inside: faced with certain death, the four teenagers declare their respective feelings, while Todd cynically comments that they should instead think about how to save themselves. Suddenly, they find themselves on the roof of a building with a slight sense of nausea: the mysterious hero Quicksilver has saved them and, after introducing himself, offers them to join a new group of heroes, delivering an azure letter to Arrow in the Wind.

## Quotes

"*"Lenny Barone"? What does that mean? Is that a name?*"
—Elsa comments on Lenny's name as soon as she reads it on a billboard

"*I'll shoot an arrow in the sky to make it breathe. I'll shoot an arrow in the wind to make it bleed. I'll be an arrow in the sky to the weak innocents and an arrow in the wind to the powerful tyrants.*"
—Elsa begins her career as a vigilante

"*Thanks, Arrow in the Sky!*"
"*It would be "Arrow in the Wind" actually...*"
—Typical exchange regarding the misunderstanding about the name of Arrow in the Wind

"*Stay calm. I'm here to save you, I won't hurt you.*"
—Arrow in the Wind calms Sophia after saving her

"*"Shadow in the Night", right? You fight well. If you want to join forces, that's fine with me.*"
—Arrow in the Wind knows Shadow in the Night

"*"Black Mantis", Marcel? It looks more dark green to me.*"
—Elsa comments on Marcel's vigilante costume

"*Arrow in the Wind, Shadow in the Night, Black Mantis... But don't these so-called vigilantes have a bit of good taste? My kids could come up with more catchy names.*"
—Lenny Barone comments on the vigilantes' names

## Trivia

* In the long history of Carson Bay, Arrow in the Wind is only the second vigilante to fight crime in the city and the first to do so publicly. This is ironic considering that she's not originally from here.
* Early in her career, Arrow in the Wind was often called "Arrow in the Sky".
	+ Ironically, both names are contained in the speech she utters to herself when she decides to become a vigilante.
* They often speak of "arrow that pierces the veil" referring to Arrow in the Wind: this, however, is to be understood as "the veil that hides crime from the eyes of the law" and has nothing to do with the veil between worlds.
* When she escaped from the islet in Ribbon Lake, she weighed 47 kg; after moving permanently to Carson Bay, she reached 52 kg.

### Behind the scenes

* The speech she utters to herself when she decides to become a vigilante and from which the name Arrow in the Wind derives is inspired by the song "Fiume Sand Creek" by Fabrizio De André.
	+ Ironically, so is the name "Arrow in the Sky".
* When acting as a vigilante, she wears a red mask reminiscent of the Faceless, the spirit his people associated with the passage between life and death. This may be a reference to the story "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe.