It's time to hold a mirror up to those who want to impose hell and impossible decisions on you.-Nuala
Nuala is a fairy, former servant of the fairy court and a servant of Dream.
History[]
Season 2[]
The Key to Hell[]
Nuala and her brother, Cluracan, were sent to Dream as ambassadors by Titania and Auberon to ask Dream not to give the Key to Hell to anyone because of the agreement that the demons and the fairies had by which Faerie would send two of its citizens to Hell every seven years as tribute. With Samael gone from Hell, that compact was in abeyance, and the sovereigns of Faerie would just as soon it stayed that way.
Unable to sleep due to Cluracan having noisy sex in the next room, she decides to go for a walk around the palace. She meets Dream along the way. She asks him if he has made up his mind about the Key to Hell. He confesses that he is overwhelmed by such an impossible decision. Nuala tells her that if anyone can do the impossible, it is him and reminds him of how he made peace with the fairy kings through Shakespeare's work.
Though Dream did give the Key to Hell to Heaven's representatives, he got them to agree to end that compact in the bargain, so that Faerie would no longer have to pay tribute to Hell, something Dream credited to Nuala's diplomacy.
Surprise gift[]
After Morpheus determined to entrust the key to Hell to Heaven's representatives, the angels Remiel and Duma, her brother Cluracan announced that Nuala would be remaining in the Dreaming as a gift from the court of Faerie, much to the surprise of both Nuala and Dream. Morpheus attempted to set her free so she could return home, but she declared that she would prefer to stay in the Dreaming as a gift than to return to a queen who thought so little of her as to gift her without consultation in this way.
Dream's chef de cuisine, Taramis, was quite pleased at this development as she had "a garden full of flowers and now finally someone to eat them." Dream also requested that she remove her glamour—Dream mistrusts such magic in a place where the seeming is the real.
Service in the Dreaming[]
In discussing the repercussions of Orpheus' long-awaited death, Nuala suggests that Morepheus appeal his impending death sentence to those who made the laws to begin with, his parents, Time and Night.[1]
When she inadvertently reveals that she was Queen Titania's second-in-command in Faerie's military, the other principal members of Dream's court draft her as the new general of an army for the Dreaming, meant to repel the Kindly Ones. She begins training the others in archery while Morpheus is away, though Mervyn is skeptical as to the efficacy of bows and arrows against the Furies.
Her service ends when her brother, Cluracan, arrives to summon her back to Titania's court in Faerie. Dream, recognizing that Faerie will be by far a safer place for her than the Dreaming in the near future, releases her to return and gives her a gift: a Dreamstone that will allow her to summon Dream to her location and request a boon from Dream.
Return to Faerie[]
On returning to Faerie, her brother insisted that she resume her glamour. When she would not, he glamoured her and refused to remove it during her time there.
Queen Titania was immediately desirous of the Dreamstone she'd received, though on aesthetic grounds. Nuala told her that it was not something she could give the queen, as it was a gift and a boon. Eventually, though, Titania did acquire the Dreamstone, though whether by magic or by Nuala simply leaving it in her sitting room is never quite clarified. To Nuala's horror, Titania used it to summon Morpheus into Faerie, thinking that she could protect him by doing so. Once they all understand that in removing Morpheus from the Dreaming, Titania has allowed the Furies to enter, Nuala asks as her boon that Morpheus return to defend the Dreaming, which he does, though with some reluctance.[2]
Nuala insists on returning to the Dreaming as well, to help defend it, though Titania is reluctant to see her leave. Nuala insists that her life is in the Dreaming, with or without Dream. Titania gives her one final gift, saying, "I will now allow you to ride into battle without a sword," before allowing Nuala to depart for the Dreaming.[2]
Service in the Dreaming, Redux[]
Just after Dream takes Death's hand and departs, Nuala rides in, Titania's sword in hand, and strikes the head from the shoulders of Lyta Hall's dream-self. Lyta wakes up in the waking world, but Nuala's blade has ended her time as an avatar of the Kindly Ones.
Nuala is later seen, again in her natural guise, as a minister of the Dreaming, welcoming guests to Morpheus' funeral. After the funeral, she and Matthew decide to follow Lucienne in either staying in the Dreaming or departing. As Lucienne has agreed to become Daniel's new Prime Minister, presumably, Nuala will remain in the Dreaming to serve the new Dream of the Endless.
Personality[]
Nuala is a kind and gentle fairy, calculating and diplomatic as she is one of the regents of the fairy armies, she is also bold to speak when provoked.
Appearance[]
Nuala appears as a beautiful fairy with pale skin, rosy cheeks, and long, wavy blonde hair. Like all fairies, she has pointy ears. When her glamor is removed, her appearance is simpler; she wears no makeup, and her hair is short, light blonde.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Fairy Physiology: As a fairy, Nuala has a superior physiology to that of humans.
- Magic: Nuala as a fairy has some knowledge of fairy magic.
- Glamour: Nuala can use glamour which is basic fairy illusion magic to manipulate her physical appearance and become more attractive in appearance.
- Longevity: Nuala is long-lived like the rest of her species, she ages very slowly and apparently does not die of old age.
- Magic: Nuala as a fairy has some knowledge of fairy magic.