Elda

**Elda** is a magus and a major character in the short story, *Natural Colors*.

## Appearance

Elda has the appearance of a woman in her thirties, with brown hair that was long and fluffy and pale brown eyes. She was short, at least compared to Kyleid, but carried herself with the appearance of being very strong-willed. .

## Personality

Elda is a kind individual, even if the way she talks sometimes gives the impression that she is bossing them around or hostile. She wouldn't change the way she worked around Kyleid but at the request of her old friend, Kai, she took him in and tried to help him relax upon seeing how pale and unstable he was. She loved beautiful colors, taking note that his eyes were an especially lovely shade of deep blue.

## Plot

### The Silver Yarn

The short story, *Natural Colors*, has Elda asking Kyleid how long he intended to stay outside of her home after he dithered there indecisively before, upon hearing his name, brought him inside and listened to his explanation about his Vibration Crystals. While she had no interest in the device herself, she wouldn't turn down a request from an old friend and so she allowed him to use the guest room to rest.

The next day she woke at around 5 AM and began working while Kyleid slept, infusing rose water with her magic as it was meant to later be used in a lotion for a client. As she explained, when she performed magic she usually picked a color that she felt was appropriate to the task and picked them out one thread at a time. Since it looked like a cloak when she was done, she was given the nickname of "Colored Cloak" or "Colors". She then sat him down for Lunch before listening to him explain that sometimes she gave the impression that she was constantly mad or upset, leaving her to realize that some of the locals also acted the same way and she would need to watch that.

It was around then that a young woman named Claire lost her ring in the forest and asked Elda to find it, with the promise of repaying her in strawberries and raspberries from her farm. While she does agree to look for it, she does wonder if things would be better if she hadn't move there because people will ask for help with sneaky things or things they want done in secret rather than discuss them reasonably.

She and Kyleid then head to the river where she uses a spell to call to the sapphire on the ring, but the act attracted the attention of a Kelpie. She warned Kyleid against taking his eyes off it before declining its aid and trying to reach out to the river faeries to retrieve the ring. It proved successful, but the Kelpie then charged at Kyleid as a warning that though they felt generous today they could always attack them at anytime before disappearing into the lake and shattering Kyleid's device. She used her magic to retrieve the crystal shards and led him back to her home.

There she listened to him and then sent him off to bed considering how exhausted he seemed, as well as revealed the reason that he had been sent to her. Kai, her old friend, had been worried that he was working himself sick and in trying to break down magic into cold numbers, was losing touch with his own passions. She hoped to at least help him, which she managed to do the next day.

After five more days of living together, she brought out a stuffed rabbit named Phil that was given to her by another artificer in the hopes that he could repair it. He agreed to try but would need to head back to his workshop. She bid him farewell and told him to come again when he felt like it.

## Abilities

* **The Sight**: As a magus she was capable of seeing magic and faeries.
* **Magic**: A skilled practitioner of magic, Elda's magic took the form of colored thread that carried out different functions, such as pink to infuse rose-water, blue to commune with the spirit of a sapphire, and white to gather up the pieces of crystal shards. For more intense spells she weaves the strands together into something akin to a rainbow.

## Quotes

* (**To Kyleid**) "When I use magic, I always pick a color I think would be appropriate. It's like I've got threads of all colors, and I pick them out one at a time. One thread after another until they're all woven together into a single cloth. It looks like a cloak, so people call me the Colored Cloak, or just Colors."
* (**To Kyleid**) "Just now, you felt the beauty of the world, and it touched your heart. Don't forget that feeling. Even if you complete your device, don't ever look at magic as being by the numbers."

## References

1. ↑ **The Silver Yarn***, Natural Colors,* page 63
2. ↑ **The Silver Yarn***, Natural Colors,* page 92