Sa'al

Sa'al is a character that only appears in Demon Guard (2019), one of the short stories set in the Elsaverse. She is a Bary'an female from the parallel universe who was freed by Xara on her way back to the Terran High Command bringing Morland and Crow to their world's justice. Sa'al is a Tech Witch, who can cast spells to learn how machines and electronic devices work, as well as to manipulate them more efficiently; however, it's yet to be determined if this is a power as such or just a learned skill.

Personal
Sa'al is a Bary'an, a race described as furry creatures evolutioned from tree-dwelling nocturnal animals, much smaller than the average Terran (or human being, for what it's worth), and with prehensile tails. Bary'ans don't seem to be much appreciated in this realm, and their small size makes them vulnerable against other races: they are usually enslaved by the Drae lizardmen and aren't exactly friends of Terrans either. In this context, it doesn't seem easy for a Bary'an to prosper, but Sa'al defines herself as stubborn enough to be a better than mediocre Tech Witch despite her race and upbringing, although Xara considers that she's far better than just a mediocre Tech Witch. Sa'al is smart and agile-minded, and she's said to have a nice voice.

Not many details about her life are known, though, only that she attended a "learning coven" and, at some point, was enslaved by the Drae during their war against Terrans. She was ordered to keep an interdimensional portal continuously running, an extremely unusual task as no one had ever kept a portal open for so much time. Sa'al didn't know where the other end of the portal was located, but she was locked in a space station for months, guarded by several Draegorai who sexually abused her during her sleep and her idle time. Unlike her predecessor, she was tough enough to endure that situation, and her skills allowed her to stabilize the energy flow through the portal and to spend some valuable time infiltrating the station systems, exploiting her captors' stupidity.

One day, while Sa'al was on duty, a blind Terran female came through the portal carrying two other Terrans over; after killing the three Draegorai that were guarding Sa'al, the Terran asked for help to restrain her captives and exit the space station. Seeing this was her long-awaited chance to run away from that place, Sa'al guide her savior, Xara, through the station. Xara killed every Draegorai that came after them, showing why she was part of the galaxy's most famous fighting squad, the Terran Elite Guard. They stole a ship and, with Xara acting as a pilot and Sa'al helping her with the controls, they managed to escape and set course to the Terran High Command; on their way there, Sa'al was a silent witness of Xara's punishment dream as, trying to feel safer, she entered Xara's quarters while her savior was sleeping. Even though Sa'al thought Xara would leave her as soon as they arrived at the Terran control center, the Elite Guard kept protecting her as if Sa'al were part of her team, and she was present when the Terran leader, Axis, informed Xara that it would be impossible to have her punishment lifted. Eternally grateful to Xara for having rescued her, and deeply moved by her cruel punishment, when the Elite Guard was discharged from duty and offered Sa'al to take her anywhere she'd like to go, the Bary'an decided to keep Xara company.

During a couple of weeks, Sa'al snuck into Xara's room every night while she was sleeping, waited silently for her to wake up from her punishment dream, and hugged her from behind, trying to calm her and comfort her, without saying a word. During the days, while Xara was still processing her new reality, Sa'al worked on an optical project, which could imply she was actually trying to restore Xara's vision. When Xara finally made up her mind and decided it was time to start a new endeavor, Sa'al looked for a safe place to make a stop and get some supplies, including suitable clothes for herself and some components for her project, and they set course to Beta, an asteroid that was not aligned with either side of the war. Upon arriving there, Xara named their ship "Demon Witch", a mix-up of their skills that showed how Xara considered Sa'al an equal, which impressed the Bary'an. Then, they were requested to visit Beta rulers, Ah-So-Ni, and Xara was forced to showcase her abilities for them, protecting Sa'al again. After that incident, Ah-So-Ni offered them protection for their ship in exchange for their promise to be at Beta's service, and both Sa'al and Xara agreed. A bit later, when a Bary'an male shopkeeper tried to pick up Sa'al after selling her some clothes, Sa'al politely dismissed him because she was interested in another person; when Xara asked her who that person was, Sa'al implied she was actually referring to Xara, although the Terran didn't seem to realize.

Powers
Sa'al is a Tech Witch who can cast spells to control machines and other tech devices. It's not clear whether that skill is an unnatural power, a learned skill, or something in between. In Demon Guard, she uses several spells and incantations that allow her to type commands without making mistakes, to learn instantly what each button does on a console she has never seen before, to hack and kill systems, even causing a power spike to burst out of a terminal, and to protect other systems from external attacks.

Miscellaneous

 * Although other races consider Bary'an's fur to be a cover, they actually use clothes to cover themselves. However, Sa'al tends to go naked on their ship, as she was used to do so during her captivity as a slave of the Drae, and due to Xara's blindness.


 * Partly because she still feels amazed by Xara's skills, and partly because she finds it funny to mess with her due to Xara's obvious lack of social skills, Sa'al always treats Xara as her superior, which annoys Xara.


 * As Demon Guard is a text-only story, Sa'al has not been depicted so far in the Elsaverse canon. However, back in April 2019, Tora Productions's artist, Mortze, created a concept art of her as a "weeklie" perk for Patrons, although she doesn't exactly fit the description given in the text.