Adelaide Gousselle
Adelaide Gousselle is an Encan Swamp Witch and matriarch of the Gousselle Family. She tends the souls of the dead and protects her children's right to choose their own lives.
The Darkest Night (unpublished)
This section draws on The Darkest Night, an unpublished story. The opening document and numbered DN documents are manuscript sources, not published AO3 chapters. Ages, relationships and events below describe this earlier point in the characters' lives.
The forge and the dead
Adelaide shelters survivors in the Gousselle forge, prepares hot drinks and organizes records of the dead after the invasion. She and Odette work as Swamp Witches, caring for the unquiet souls while the royal rites are delayed. Their work links everyday care, record-keeping and spiritual responsibility. (DN 2–3.)
Adelaide openly resists the Council's attempts to force marriages upon Remy and Odette or require Cida to return for reproduction. She recognizes what captivity in Seven has done to Cida and refuses to expose her daughter to renewed coercion. She also warns that the absence of blue magnolia blooms threatens future Guardian selection. (DN 3.)
