Characters:Dun Barethsol:Ella
Ella of the Green
The Green Sister of Yendor, Ella of the Green, lives deep in the woods south of Waste's Edge. Ella is one of only three Green Sisters to survive the massacre which took place in Erinsford fifteen years ago. Her Knight, Gareth, did not survive. Her memories of that day remain sharp, as does the axe of her Knight. Her golem, which received some of the Knight's power and life when he died, is still active and will deal forcefully with threats to her person.
Ella wears browns, yellows, and dark greens most of the time. She suffered a deep hurt when her Knight died, because he was also her husband. Thus, much of what she wears carries the subtle suggestion of autumn and winter. In contradiction of her wintery dress, she has spent the last decade and a half studying the deepest secrets of the arts of healing. She gives special worship to the Lady of Spring, a form of the Green Lady which is associated with life and new grown. As a continuing student of the arts of healing, she can heal nearly anything. She does not deal in potions, as an alchemist would, but she will supply bottles of water from her "Well of Songs." Consuming such a beverage has effects similar to consuming a healer's potion. If someone is very kind to her, she might allow that person to sleep under her roof.
Ella is a spellcaster in the Syul tradition, the last surviving member of Erinsford's Coven of Summer. She is powerful, but also retiring. She derives much of her power from her deep knowledge of hurts and of healing and from her dedication to the Lady of Spring. A certain amount of her power flows out of her into the things around her.
Ella has relationships with Cirades Rymon, Risartus Solmanus, Andare dunVelain, and Tham the Learned, but each of these men guards her privacy fiercely.
In her age, Ella does not travel much, but she continues to offer healing and guidance to Rangers, Yetins, and such travelers as are allowed to darken her doorway. She does not pay much attention to the present inner workings of any group, but her background knowledge is considerable. She is now a Sister without a coven, but she would offer protection, healing, and training, or correction and stern advice, to any child of her Sisters, depending on the goodness and intentions of the child.
Ella's House
Her house, which is old past any living memory, sits in a forest glade, south-east of the Elenstroem. The surrounding woods are even older, darker and more eerie than any other forest in the area. There is no obvious path to and from Ella’s house, as she seldom leaves it. Neither does she have many visitors. A hidden trail starts not far from her house and leads northwards to the valley where Albrecht’s Hunting Castle is located.
The house seems, sometimes, to be alive. It is certainly enchanted. The power flowing from her adds to the magick already in the house. The end result is a house in which the most mundane items may have magical properties. The Forestkeepers of the Elenstroem can attest to the benefits of sleeping in her guest bedroom. One wakes from that bed fully healed in body and spirit. Some even say that one rises from the bed as a better person. The Rangers have made a byword of this strange property of the bed. A Ranger who had an experience which improved him as a person is said to have been "the guest of Ella."
Ella's memories of Redfall
Analis and Eberic were among the last to die in the bloodshed of Redfall, not because they were cowards, but because they were powerful. Eberic, in particular, was a gifted singer of the birds. The accounts that survive of that day tell that Eberic moved too quickly to be struck or shot by his enemies. But once his power was spent, he also fell. Analis removed her amulet and passed it to Ella before she went out to defend her wounded Knight and husband. In defending him, she did what none of the Hunters of Magick or Celandi expected of a Sister of the Green. She called up three trees of fire around her fallen Knight.
Ella remembers much more than this of the darkness and fire of that day, but she discloses little of it. Most of what she cares to reveal is contained within the song she calls "Fountain Falling" The other Sisters and Knights who survived the slaughter, Red though they were, stayed in her house awhile to heal and to leave their memories of Redfall to be sung to the Well of Songs and the Green-Axe Golem.