[hider=Lei]
Name: Leilinlasia Lindaria
Alias: Lei
Race: sprite
Only 6½-7½ inches in height when fully grown, sprites are among the smallest of the fey.  They are also some of the most troublesome, ranging from mildly irritating to downright infuriating.  Most never live more than a few centuries, either taking a risk they shouldn't have or annoying the wrong person.  Their survival as a species hinges upon their ability to get out of trouble once in it, and avoid the retribution of those they provoke.  To this end, they are incredibly agile, and their speed relative to their size outstrips many larger fey.  Some even have the ability for very short range line-of-sight teleportation.  They are naturally able to blend in with their surroundings in most places, using subtle illusion, and their small size allows them to go where larger creatures cannot follow.

Sprites tend to be short-sighted tricksters.  A large number of them enjoy danger, and most are highly curious and very persistant.  There is a whole set of spell wards designed specifically to keep them out of things other fey don't want them in, though it's a constant battle to come up with protective measures faster than the sprites manage to figure out how to get past them.  They are often fond of pranks, though how mean-spirited such things are varies from one individual to the next.

Most sprites are not particularly strong, magically speaking, and though they are capable of using more force than one would expect given their size it's still not a lot.  They are pretty hardy, given that they are so tiny, able to take an average amount of damage compared to other fey.  They come in a number of different varieties and are found in the lands of all four seasons, though Winter sprites have become considerably scarcer over the last couple centuries.

Sprites as a species have a vendetta against pixies, and the two races very rarely get along, despite a number of similarities.  Calling a sprite a pixie (or vice versa) is a good way to get a very angry fey, and possibly a lifelong enemy.  Sprites are almost exclusively elf-looking, while pixies often sport insect features, notably antennae.  Pixies tend to group up with others of their kind, and their communities and families are much closer than the solitary sprites.  Though equally gregarious, sprites prefer the company of larger fey over that of other sprites.  This is probably a good thing, as having multiple sprites together can be downright dangerous, regardless of whether they are working together or squabbling.  Pixies have a number of bothersome habits, but on the whole they are far more tolerable than sprites, and it's a common adage that a single sprite is as much trouble as a whole troupe of pixies.  Both groups feel that's a compliment.

Court: Spring
Position/Occupation: doing community service; previously a general troublemaker with a side of part-time healer's assistant
Age: 250 or so (looks like a teen)


Personality: Lei is a tiny pest.  She doesn't try to get into places she shouldn't as much as most sprites, nor is she fond of danger, but she loves pranks and taunting.  She is sassy and sharp-tongued, with little to no filter on an often dirty mind.  She is often petty and vindictive, but her tricks and destructive tendencies can be curbed or redirected with a bit of effort.  Add her desire to be helpful to her aptitude for casting healing magic, despite needing direction on just what sort is needed, and it becomes clear why she is a tolerated presence in certain strictly defined places.

Appearance: Lei is seven inches tall with close-cut dirty blonde hair and eyes so pale a grey as to approach white.  Her face is heart-shaped, with a pointed chin and an upturned nose.  She sports the double set of wings standard to her kind, hers with a pattern of green and gold framing the nearly transparent membranes.  She prefers short skirts and close-fitting halter tops of greens, browns, and yellows, along with low boots.  A spelled cuff holds the binding for her service.

Family: she has them, but who knows where they are or what they're up to?
Ambition: finish her sentence and get turned loose.  In general, to have fun.  What even are long term goals?

Background: Lei's past is not what you'd call uneventful, but it's certainly not of much importance.  Her parents were a pair for the handful of years necessary to raise her and no longer, and then she went off on her own.  Most fey don't bother remembering which sprite did what this time unless it was something particularly unpleasant or an obnoxiously frequent offender.  She's lent her magic to a couple different healers over the years, most recently one near the center of the Spring Court.  Less than a decade ago she ran afoul of a fey with considerable clout, ruining something that had taken quite a lot of work, and she was sentenced to servitude as a result.  She'll get off after a sufficient period of good behavior, but that condition isn't very specific, and Lei wasn't able to get it solidified, which frustrated her greatly.  She was given to the healer she'd been helping, but with the arrival of Maxwell and his subsequent trouble actually treating things, given the differences between human and fey and the lack of most of his standard tools, she was tied to him instead.

Other: Lei can't go more than ten yards from Maxwell without his express permission, and he's forbidden to give it without a good reason that isn't because he doesn't like the idea of slavery.  If she even tries, she gets a nasty shock from her cuff.[/hider]