nicknamed her Elf). She was condemned to Obernewtyn after Madame Vega came to evaluate the orphans to discover any "mutants" among them, and became suspicious of Elspeth. Elspeth is tall and slim, with brilliant green eyes. She was given the nickname "little sad-eyes" by Brydda Llewellyn, due to her serious demeanour. Her hair is long and black, and she has pale skin. Elspeth is the Seeker, or Innle in the beast-language. Despite much evidence proving her to be the Seeker, Elspeth constantly denies this. Also known as Elaria to the Gypsies, she's been dubbed a figure of legends, and is said to do a number of things. The most important of these are to find the five signs and beat the Destroyer to the computers controlling the weaponmachines in time to prevent a second Great White, and to free the beasts from human dominance. Elspeth possesses many talents, which sets her apart from other Talented Misfits. She possesses the abilities of farseeking, coercing, beastspeaking, and possibly teknoguilding. Some futuretelling or truedreaming ability is also apparent, although this is vague and uncontrolled. She has the power to heal her own body, bestowed upon her by Nerat the Agyllian in The Farseekers. She also has a separate Talent of killing with her mind that she is too scared to uncover properly, however this ability can also be used to increase the strength of her other Talents. The only Talent she does not seem to have is empathy. In fact Elspeth struggles with emotions although she is trying harder to be understanding. Elspeth becomes betrothed to Rushton Seraphim at the end of Ashling, having realised that what she had felt for Rushton had been love, but she had been too scared to face it. The two of them are estranged for a time but reconcile in the Stone Key. Elspeth's friend Dameon is also in love with her but she fails to see it. Rushton Seraphim: Rushton is the eldest son of the former Master of Obenewtyn, Michael Seraphim. His half-brother is Stephen Seraphim. He is a Misfit with latent powers. He is approximately nineteen years-old at the beginning of the series, and is tall, with jade green eyes and dark hair. He is originally the heir to Obernewtyn, and as of The Farseekers, Master of Obernewtyn. Rushton is first known to Elspeth as the farm overseer at Obernewtyn, a post he holds