Master Eldrin

Master Eldrin is the oldest and wisest mage of Moonroot Academy, the school of elven magic in Natali and Baudouin. He teaches the princess and the commoner side by side, judges their duels, explains the laws of the Heart Tree and guards secrets he would rather not speak aloud. Calm, patient and a little mysterious, he sees more than he says, and when it truly matters he is willing to say no even to his King.

Appearance

Eldrin is a very old High Elf with long snow-white hair, a deeply wrinkled, kind face and pale blue eyes. He wears an ash-grey robe embroidered with silver runes. His most recognisable feature is his staff: a length of living wood with small green leaves still growing on it, crowned with a blue crystal. The crystal reacts to magic and to emotion. It flares on its own when he first watches Natali, blazes when her power fills the lecture hall, and kindles softly whenever he is about to say something important.

Personality

Eldrin believes that magic is not strength but listening, and he teaches that way. He rarely raises his voice, he chooses his words with care and he prefers to ask a student to stay after class rather than scold them in front of others. His warnings are gentle but unsettling: when Natali asks what is wrong with her, he answers that nothing is, but that such power draws attention.

His faith in the Heart Tree is absolute. To him, the Tree is never wrong; people are. That conviction makes him a quiet source of courage in the story. He tells a forester’s son that he sees something in him the King cannot, and he refuses, calmly and with dignity, when the King asks him to influence the ritual. At the same time he is a keeper of knowledge that frightens even him. Speaking of the Gates of Worlds and of those sent beyond the Veil, he stops mid-sentence and rolls the scroll back up.

Story so far

Eldrin first appears at the end of Part 2, watching Natali from a balcony as the crystal on his staff flares by itself. In Part 3 he gives his first lesson, asks the students to bring withered flowers back to life and witnesses Natali’s power make the entire rotunda bloom. In Part 5 he referees the practice duel between Baudouin and Aelarion and declares the match to Baudouin. In Part 6 he approaches the King after the royal visit to the Academy and bows his head.

In Part 11 he draws a glowing Heart Tree in the air of the spiral library and explains the ritual: at twenty-one the Tree chooses, and on the wrists of each pair grow bracelets that no one can break. He falters when he mentions the Gates of Worlds, and answers Natali’s question about whether the Tree can be wrong with the most quoted line of the series so far. In Part 13 he sets the trial of the vortex, “Hold the light. Do not let it hold you,” and extinguishes Natali’s runaway vortex with one blow of his staff.

In Part 15, in his candlelit study, he tells Baudouin that he has a heart the Tree may listen to, and announces that seven days remain until the ritual. In Part 17 the King summons him at night and orders him to guide the Tree. Eldrin answers that the Tree cannot be bought, refuses again when the King insists that everything has a price, and walks out. In Part 20 he opens the ritual with “Let the Tree choose”, and in Part 21 he announces before the whole court that the Tree has chosen Natali and Baudouin.

Relationships

• Natali is his most gifted student. He sees the scale of her power from the first day and worries about what it may attract.
• Baudouin is the student he believes in, and the first to hear from him that birth is not what the Tree listens to.
• The Elf King is his ruler. Eldrin bows to him, but will not bend the Tree for him.
• Aelarion and Lyrelle are among his students; Aelarion overhears his words to Baudouin, and Lyrelle’s flowers turn to ash in his class.

To learn more about the Heart Tree and the Gates of Worlds, read The World of Natali and Baudouin.