Asrai

Asrai
Etymology
Pronounciation	as-rye
Plural	Asrai
Wikipedia	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asrai
About
Element	Sea fae
Habitat	Undersea
Series References
Novels	One Salt Sea Night and Silence

Asrai are a type of sea fae known for their transformation abilities. They are first referenced in One Salt Sea.

About

Asrai are a type of sea fae who could easily transform clothing, alongside the Fuath. They are a tiny, silver-haired people who could pass for children, if not for the decades reflected in their eyes. They maintain the wards at the Duchy of Saltmist, and presumably in other Undersea territories. They are also able to scry closed objects for their contents. The Asrai can feel pain of other people very intensely when they scry for objects.

Characters

None

Quotes

• “What do you know about the wards here? How are they configured?”
  “They’re mastered and maintained by the Asrai. Clever things, the wards are.”
• “The Asrai don’t move much, but then, they wouldn’t, would they?”
• “I even glimpsed a few of the ward-weaving Asrai—tiny, silver-haired people who could have passed for children, if not for the decades I could see reflected in their eyes.”
• “We took it to the Asrai, who scried for the contents.”
• “The Asrai say they can feel pain when they look into the box.”
• Toby:“How do you do that? The clothes thing. The false Queen always used to do that to my clothes, but even when she was part-Siren, she never should have had transformation magic like that.”
  Luidaeg:“Your brain is a fascinating place. It’s old sea magic. Not common on the land, I’ll grant you, although the Hamadryads might be able to teach you a thing or two."
  Toby: “So Sea Wights can do it?”
  Luidaeg: “No. But it would have been easy enough to buy from one of the Asrai or Fuath. Easy as it is for land fae to borrow from the blood of one another, it’s a hundred times simpler for those born to the water.”

Mythology

In English folklore the asrai is a type of aquatic fairy that lives in seas and lakes and is similar to the mermaid and nixie. They are sometimes described as timid and shy, standing between two and four feet tall, or may be depicted as tall and lithe.